Perfume Shopping with Miss T

It seems like ages ago since I've written anything about perfume shopping. And the reason is because there wasn't any. Aside from the fact that I don't NEED any perfume and the financial burden of overseas relocation and home renovation - we now live in the COUNTRYSIDE. And the only thing resembling a perfume shop in it is my very own perfume studio.

But recently Miss T and I were able to poke our snouts out of our little cave and go perfume shopping again. The spark that got me sucked back into this activity after such a long period of hibernation (or is it celibacy?) was a new shop that opened in the nearest mall, which carries some niche lines such as Penhaligon's, Tom Ford, Tocca, Initio, Reminiscence - and now I see on their website that they also carry some of l'Artisan Parfumeur's, Aerin and Atelier Cologne fragrances. Their definition of "Boutique Perfumes" is a little unclear sometimes, but in any case it is good to see that perfume shopping in Israel has expanded its horizon a little beyond the designer fragrances, at long last... Today I even stopped at the drugstore and was almost overwhelmed by the amount of lines that I'm unfamiliar with that crowded the shelves, as well as a couple of scents that you'd never see in Canada (Chanel's Egoiste, and Dior Homme Extreme come to mind). 

Anyway, what I really I wanted to tell you about is how Miss T, at her mere wee girly naiveté, woke up yesterday morning inclined on going perfume shopping for "Kitty Cat Perfume". I always dreamt of the day she'd do that (ask to go perfume shopping, not ask for Hello Kitty perfume - we need to be absolutely clear about that). So we went and thankfully for me, there was no Hello Kitty perfume in that shop. But there were many others which I tried, such as Reminiscence Patchouli on my left wrist, and Patchouli Elixir on the right one (the original is better, and also doesn't come in a hideous gold-plated bottle). And also, Miss T, after not finding any cats to spray on her wrists, ended up specifically picking one of the Hermessences eau de colognes. Last time we were there she tried the red one. This time she carefully sniffed both the red and the yellow, and picked the yellow. If you don't know Miss T, you don't understand the significance of this. This girl lives in a RED world. And if it's not red, it has to have some red in it (orange or pink, or at least purple). But no, she picked the "Yellow Pee Pee" perfume. That's right. And then we went to eat ice cream. 

And then (lo and behold), the moment every perfumista dreams of, but also hopes would never happen to her daughter: the girl obsesses over the perfume even while at the ice cream parlour. So we go back to the store and when asked which one she wants she explains "Yellow PeePee Perfume" once more yet she grabs another very similar yellow bottle by the same brand. I want to make super sure she knows what she wants, so I let her smell both "Yello PeePee Perfumes" side by side, and she decidedly goes for the one she tried earlier on, based on the smell. 

I don't know if most of you realize which kind of a breakthrough this is in terms of communication. Odour perception is hard enough to describe for neurotypicals. So imagine how even happier I was when she mentioned her "girl perfume" (which is how she called her Le Petit Prince Eau de Toilette - she thinks he looks like a yellow hair girl). It is also citrusy, so I was just over the moon that she can communicate the similarity and recognize the citrusiness they both have in common;  even though that's a lemony fragrance, and the one she chose now is more about neroli. 

Dream Display

Dream Display, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Happy to brag with my newly designed packaging, now on display at Dream Apparel (356 Water Street @ Cordova in Vancouver's Gastwon) and Adhesif Clothing (2202 Main Street @ 6th Avenue), which is the first store to carry Lovender perfume!

Dream also has some of the old selection (in smaller sizes), which is at 20% off while quantities last.

Scent Bar

What a pleasant surprise it was to find out that Scent Bar moved just a month ago to a roomy and beautiful location, AND is also exactly 7 minutes walk from where I'm staying in Los Angeles this weekend. It was also a very pleasant surprise to find out that this strip of Beverly blvd has experienced a transformation and is now buzzing with nifty little boutiques of vintage clothing and vintage shoes, antique furniture stores, and awesome restaurants. Randomness sometimes just pays off...

Selling fragrance is an art all on its own. Luckyscent is one of the ultimate online destination for finding fascinating fragrances - from niche and obscure brands (A Lab on Fire, Hilda Soliani, Xerjoff) to classics such as Caron and Creed - I was always wondering how such a space would be in real life. So with that in mind, I had no idea what to expect from the

As it turns out, much better than online: it's organized beautifully, and with a team of perfumista staff that are far more knowledgeable and responsive than any fragrance database.

Some collections and brands have their own display areas around the shop; but the best part is - all of the fragrances are arranged by categories on shelves along the walls: some predictable like fragrance families, unique notes (i.e.: Oud, Patchouli and Incense each receive a shelf of their own); and some more surprising (such as an entire shelf dedicated to "Avante Guarde"), and of course - a Chypre shelf, which brought me back there today, tagging along my students from my Chypre intensive weekend I'm teaching at Persephenie's this weekend (if you missed it - you might want to sign up for my Citrus Week July 30th - August 3rd).

Some fun finds for me there were Keiko Mecheri Bespoke, in their beautiful presentation of black and gold; Santal de Mysore (Serge Lutens) and Tubereuse Criminelle (Serge Lutens), which I haven't caught a whiff of since my visit to Salons Shiseido; Odalisque (Patricia de Nicolai) which was a new chypre discovery for me, Andy Tauer's Rose Vermeille (congrats on the new octagon bottles, by the way!) and my most unexpected find - 100% Love by Sophia Grojsman, which I recently noticed I ran out of my decant and had to leave with a full bottle of.

But ultimately, I was most impressed with the staff, who really know their stuff and make visiting there such a fun experience. They can carry a conversation, give genuine recommendations, and spontaneously list the notes of any given perfume, not because they memorized it - but because they actually know what they smell like.

Harajuku Lovers

Harajuku Lovers, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

I always get lucky when I go shopping with Tamya. Last Saturday, when after we went for our weekly swim at the YWCA, I decided to overcome my inferiority complex and go check out the new member of Les Exclusifs at the Chanel boutique next door. We were both wearing our heart-illustrated gum boots and feeling great but looking everything else but glamorous. I secretly like taking Tamya to fancy boutiques, as a test to see how nice the sales people really are. I can tell you that in both Chanel and Holt Renfrew they are very, very nice to kids and usually also to adults. This time, I scored 2 “samples” from the Les Exclusifs – Sycomore and 31 Rue Camon (they really are minis). Obviously, Tamya is my lucky charm...

We than continued to a the drugstore to check out the new doll collection htat hides perfumes inside. I saw them a couple of days earlier and could not for the life of me make up my mind about one. So I thought Tamya could help me, and after all – her Bat Mitzvah was just a few days ago so she deserves to pick a perfume for herself!

I have to say, this was difficult. The dolls are all very cute. In fact, irresistibly cute. The juices, however, are not as nose-catchy as the dolls are. There was only one that I found to be really distinct – G. But I couldn’t really decide if I like it or not. The others all smelled like something I smelled before. There was Baby with a curly black hair which smells like a fancy baby powder; Music, a brunette with a fancy hairdo reeking of a non-descript musky floral; G with an overly symmetric blonde hair and smelling oddrly of coconut and something green at the same time; Lil’ Angel, dressed as a tomboy, and smelling very pineapple-y and a very MiamiGlo kind of way; and Love, the prettiest of all dolls with an asymmetric Asian-inspired hairdo which smelled like a very pretty yet quite generic light floral with a musky base (at first I had a hard time distinguishing between Love and Music).

After spending about an hour staring at them, sniffing, making up our minds only to change again two seconds later, both Tamya and I unanimously decided to adopt Love and take her home with us. We got home and almost forgot that she even existed (she’s very well behaved). We did the perfume-box-opening ceremony and from this point on I was just immensely impressed by how accessible this perfume was. This was the first perfume that Tamya really seemed to be into, spraying, sniffing her wrists AND showing off. And I suspect it wasn’t just the doll, because when her daddy came home, and I asked her to show him her new perfume – she let him smell her wrists rather than bring the doll. Love smells lovely on Tamya, by the way. It also smelled good on my wrist (though not as good as on Tamya). It reminded me very much of Spring Flower but a little softer.

Ayala Moriel @ Portobello West

Ayala Moriel @ Portobello West, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Here is a glimpse of my table at Portobello West. I had very little time to take photos (snapped only two shots of my own table, and none of the market itself). It was plenty of fun and a busy, busy day at the market, even though it was raining cats and dogs outside.

It was fun meeting fashion-savvy Vancouverites who love to support local art and feed them my scented chocolate truffles... My Blood Truffles (dark chocolate, rose otto and chilli) were a hit. The Charisma truffles (matcha & jasmine white chocolate with hints of osmanthus, spearmint and litsea cubeba) were admired too... Of course you have to love matcha to truly appreciate them. I will be definitely bringing truffles to the next market - with flavours you won't even imagine... This time they will be for sale.

The next market is July 29th, 2007. Hope to see you there!

Holt Renfrew Re-Opens with "Holtscents"

Good news for all Vancouverites: Holt Renfrew re-opened today at its new location on 737 Dunsmuir St. (Pacific Mall) with several new lines of niche perfumes which were never available in either Vancouver or Canada before.

This afternoon, I went to check out the new selection at the “Holtscents” corner, devoted to these new lines. It took me a while to find the place, as I am notorious for losing directions in the mall. You’ll find Holt Renfrew where the “bridge” between the south side and the north side of Pacifi Mall was (as pictured above), or you can get to the scents via street level on the north side of Dunsmuir street (pictured below).
After getting lost for a few minutes in the mall, and inside Holt Renfrew (I went all the way down to the lower level, where only “men’s scents” can be found alongside other manly luxuries, I finally got to the right place, which happens to be simply at street level, and located on the left side just a few steps away from the entrance (if I had the smarts to approach it from the outside word rather than the maze of the mall…).

Drazana, the lovely Sales Associate, greeted me with her pleasant and friendly presence. She guided me through the new lines – some of which I was already familiar with (such as Miller Harris), and some are in Canada and/or Vancouver for the first time. These include:

Ineke
Etat Libre d’Orange
Carthusia
Miller et Bertaux
Juliet Has A Gun
Frederic Malle Edition de Parfums

I received samples for most of the lines, for the scents that interested me, anyways, so I am going to keep my comments about the scents I’ve smelled today brief and informative:

I started with Etat Libre d’Orange, because I am least familiar with this line (I have never smelled it at all actually). While some of the scents are interesting, such as Jasmin et Cigarettes (think stale cigarette butts and deflowered jasmine blossoms) and Encens Bubblegum (it’s what you’ve just heard: incense and bubble gum) and Putain de Palaces (sweet leathery floral), the line left me with a very bad taste for the entire day as I kept getting phantom whiffs of blood gushing out of flesh cut by rusty metal. You know which scent I’m talking about. I smelled to much of it trying to overcome my initial olfactory shock, and the scent just stayed with me for the rest of the day. Clearly the perfumer tried to create shock, and succeeded. To me it smells like injury trauma.

Once I got some samples of these to fool around with if I have th guts to mess up with them again, I moved on to more aesthetically coherent lines such as Carthusia, which has a few very nice, clean yet interesting scents which I am going to love trying as the summer heat is becoming unbearable already (for me anyways, but I prefer to have room temperature anywhere I go…). Numero Uno and Io Capri captured my attention immediately and I will be wearing a lot of them soon…

Miller et Bertaux has the most lovely packaging I have seen in a while, think French meets Zen with their legged carton boxes and the branch tied to the top… Of their three fragrance, I think I like the first perfume the best, Parfum Trouve the best.

Juliet Has A Gun offers two fragrances, and they are both rose-themed. One comes in a black bottle (and is more spicy, I think I smelled saffron in there), and the one in the white bottle is lovely, with Turkish rose I believe, it’s sweet but not overly so and does not smell as artificial as many roses I’ve smelled lately.

I re-visited the Ineke line, paying a bit more attention to the two scents I am less familiar with. I think Chemical Bonding is a vibrant citrus and I like it quite a bit even though I am not known for being a huge citrus wearer. It’s sweet and with a powdery dry down, which makes it a bit different.

I also revisited Tangerine Vert and smelled Coeur d’Ete for the first time (I really liked it by the way, it has a banana note and is sweet and powdery in a very comfortable way).

And finally, I paid a visit to the Editions de Parfums boutique, where the large red “inhaling cells” are erected and being utilized about 30 times in the 10 minutes I spent in that area. You spray the perfume in the cell, wait for 10 seconds, and than you can smell how the scent will smell 20 minutes into the dry down. It’s an interesting concept, but I still think that nothing beats a skin test. As I was already familiar with the entire line (almost) I concentrated on smelling Un Rose, which I was not familiar with at all, and it almost won me over. If the day was not so hot I would have tried some on. Instead, I smelled it in the “red cell” and I took the card with me, which still smells magnificent, 8 hours in. I was hoping to get a whiff of French Lover, but apparently, it will not be launched here until September, and by than it will have a different name, as to not offend the North American men, who must feel terribly inferior to French lovers and wouldn’t buy a perfume bearing such name. Shame!

Mini Sniffapalooza in Vancouver

I was blessed with a fragrant guest from out of town today: Sofia Madeen from Colorado. It’s very unusual that anybody that I know comes to the city who loves perfumes, and so we went on a little perfume expedition in downtown Vancouver, and explored some of the best perfume destinations.

Sofia stayed at the Listel hotel, just a block away from where I live, and just a block away from where our perfume adventure started. We had breakfast at the nearest creperie, and spent a good time there getting to know each other in person (as opposed to emails and perfume forums) and talked mostly about perfumes.

Our first stop was at the Bay, which is the exclusive retailer of Annick Goutal in town. We sniffed our way through the entire collection, and exchanged our impressions. I always find the vocabulary each person uses in reaction to the same fragrance is sometimes completely different. While I find the Goutals very fragile, yet sharp and green (for the most part), Sofia mostly ldescribed them as soft and feminine (which they are). We lingered loner on describing and discerning notes for Grand Amour, Quel Amour!, Folavril, Passion, Eau de Charlotte and Eau de Camille.

We than set to go across the street to Holt Renfrew, which carries many boutique lines, which I don’t think Sofia can find in Colorado.

The Armani Privee collection waited for us at the entrance, with the solemn black wooden cases and the smooth gemstones at the top. The ones that cought our attention the most were Cuir Amethyst, Pierre de Lune and Bois Encens. After showing off a perfume-proficiency beyond what the SA is familiar with, she was convinced to give us samples of our favourites. I think Sofia got Pierre de Lune and Bois Encens, and I got Bois Encens and Cuir Amethyst. The latter, unfortunately, unfurled on my skin completely differently than on the scent stripe: while my initial impression of it was of burnished leather with powdery cassie notes, on my skin it turnes into too much powdery, with none of either (cassie nor leather) managing to maintain their presence. Bois Encens is exactly what the names suggest though – inencese – primarily frankincense – which is very true to the burning resin as many of us know mostly from Catholic churches.

We than discovered the location of the Dior Homme exclusive boutique colognes. The sales lady was really nice and not pushy, and she said she would let us make our own samples next time we come in. Here are my initial impressions as I remember them from the scent stripes:
Bois d’Argent – soapy and musky, clean, similar to the dry down of Thiery Mugler’s Cologne. I really liked this one and will have to try it on my skin for a day or two.
Eau Blanche – the most citrusy of the three and I quickly dismissed it even though I am ready to be surprised upon a proper skin application.
Eau Noire – unusual, original, earthy and spicy, aromatic. With notes of turmeric and dry licorice root which reminded me of the old Muslim market in Jerusalem, and also notes of lavender absolute. The colour of this cologne – a rich green tint – gives the lavender absolute away (the raw material is turquoise liquid, and changes the colour of the fragrances it’s used in similarly).

We than set to check ouit the Jo Malone’s boutique, to try the new Blue Agava and Cacao. To me, it smelled like a repulsive bathroom cleaner at first, than dries down to a nice Coty’s Musk Vanilla combo. Sofia did not think it smelled repulsive at all. We than sniffed our way through some of the highlight of this very English collection – including the handsome Lavender & Amber, and the Grapefruit Colognes, but also the more unusual ones such as Pomegranate Noir, Vintage Gardenia and Black Vetyver Café.

We than wanted to try Soir de Lune, but a sales lady wanted to get us into MyQueen and Stella, but we had to leave as my nose at this point was just too tired. We tried Soir de Lune on a scent stripe, and Sofia mentioned something about a honey note in it that makes me want to go back and try it more seriously. After all, it is a newly released Chypre that actually smells like Chypre! We had a little tea break – we both drank Matcha Latte at Blenz, sweetened with honey, which is my favourite drink, yum! I was very pleased to see that Sofia liked it too.

We went back to Holt Renfrew to try Tom Ford’s Black Orchid. Of course they didn’t have samples (and they don’t have any to this very day, I check every time I visit there!), but I did want to try it on my skin this time. At first, Black Orchid seems to stand up to all the expectations the packaging and the anticipation has created: luxurious, Femme-Fatale infused mushrooms sautéed in spices. If you think these are the base notes you’ve been deceived: these wear off quickly, gradually revealing a phase of rum-soaked berries and than a rose opens its velvety petals for a short while as well. From this point on, it’s all goes downhill: the patchouli showing some unlikely affiliation to a marine note, and the whole thing turns into a better version of Allure Sensuelle – not as obnoxious, and definitely more wearable. Black Orchid is disappointing: I can accept the idea of some scent having less than lovely top notes, even marine top notes, as long as they evolve into something more than just that. Tom Ford has shown us that this is possible in reverse, and created the most disappointing fragrance in 2006.

We continued to the Hermes counter (where I showed Sofia the wobbly display table that Tamya was unfortunate to knock off and break the Terre d’Hermes when it just came out LOL! The saleslady was not even in the least upset, and that gives a thousand points immediately to a retail store in my book!). We sniffed some Hermes scents – Hermes Rouge, Hiris, Bel Ami. Talked about Olivia Giacobetti. Which our mutual friend Hilda has introduced me to when we met in Toronto, and talked about her signature “paper” notes (something that Hilda pointed out to me, and she was very right; It wasn’t till later that I learned that many of my favourite scents are Giacobetti’s creations – Philosykos, Ofresia, Premiere Figuier, and of course – Dzing!).

Once we sniffed everything we could at Holt Renfrew, we set off to visit Nasrin at The Perfume Shoppe. Nasrin is the most knowledgeable perfume retailer in town, probably in entire British Columbia. Her love for her perfumes is evident, and her shop is a wonderful gem in a city that otherwise smells like rainy rain drizzled with more rain on the top.

I tried Alamut (on my other wrist) for the very first time – a very soft, well-rounded floral chypre, outstandingly gorgeous with a rich floral heart (orange blossom is one of the main notes, but none really stand out). The drydown, however, is too ambery for me.

We also sniffed some of the oudh line of Montale: Black Oudh, Roses Musk, Oudh Rose Petals, Oudh Ambre, Royal Oudh, Oudh Cuir Arabie (with lots of castoerum) and Blue Amber.

We tried Yosh’s Omniscent (on Sofia’s wrist), and another scent that to me smelled sickly of synthetic tea rose.

Sofia bought a bottle of Dzing! – as a souvenir of our day. I would have done the same if only it wasn’t the last bottle!

We than had to go back home and passed by the Hermes boutique without stepping in, as we ran out of time and it was time to get something to eat. We had a late sushi lunch on the way at my family’s favourite Japanese restaurant called Tsunami Sushi (they have a bar with little boats floating with sushi and you can just pick what you want, a thrill for kids, but if it makes you dizzy you can always sit at a table). We had edamame, gomai and yam-and-avocado sushi rolls, as we sniffed along a gift box of my sample vials.

Image: Read Between Your by RobinThom
(It was taken on Robson Street in Downtown Vancouver, and I believe it's a window for the Lush store. Can you recognize any interesting words in the text?)

P.s. I apologize for not having uploaded any original photos for a while. The downside of having my fabulous new Mac is that I can't insert the little Sony memory cards right into the computer (like I could with my previous Sony laptop) and I can't find the cable that connects the camer to the computer!