These shockingly hot days call for a strong dose of lemon's tart power. Nothing refreshes quite like a bracing sniff of lemon and I've arrayed my lemony things along one side of the bath. Shower with Bliss Lemon + Sage Soapy Sap Shower Gel. Take your time. Smooth body with a quick layer of Bliss Lemon + Sage Body Butter. On nails, rub Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream into nail beds, even on those popsicle toes, since you're about to wear sandals. And then, slather Jurlique's Citrus Hand Cream all over your hands right up to your wrists - this rich protective hand cream has tangerine, mandarin and lemon oils. Lastly, a generous spray of Eau D'hadrien by Annick Goutal and you're all ready to sally forth to brave the wilting heat.
it must be wonderful to be able to detect all the different shades of scents that, well, make up a scent. but i suspect this olfactory gift is like having perfect pitch: you are either born with it, or, alas, not.
ReplyDeleteas the science of genetics rapidly progresses these days, so many things are turning out to be predetermined by DNA aren't they? those parents/educationists/philosophers in the past who used to think of a child as a tabula rasa really got it so very very wrong...
Dear Anon: In the last decade, perfumes have really taken off in a renaissance of sorts and become the 8th art. Modern perfumery has enabled new scents to be created, and more complex formulas to be made; even the way the scents reveal themeselves in layers can be determined, so truly we are witnessing something really new. Perfumes today really could not have been made in the 17th century, for instance, because they simply wouldn;t have the technology.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the nature/ nurture debate... we really are not born tabula rasa are we???
thanks for the info; i didn't realise that there's been so much going on in terms of technological advances in the perfume industry lately.
ReplyDeletebut my original point still holds doesn't it: that no matter how complicated, or 'nouveau' or avant-garde, these new scents are, they still have to be detected, and ultimately appreciated and consumed, by someone with a brilliant olfactory sense, which, i'm suggesting, is inborn, rather than acquired; although of course, like anyone of our five senses, one's sense of smell can be 'educated' & improved upon by prolonged practice...
Dear Anon: "They still have to be detected, and ultimately appreciated and consumed, by someone with a brilliant olfactory sense" - agree partially: As you pointed out, one can be educated on perfumes as all things else. I don't think I have a special sense of smell - my interest came from wanting to know what each flowers and roots smell like and their so-called medicinal value; and then i discovered ambergris, myrrh, incense, etc. Also, for me, perfumes evoke images - l'eau d'hadrien will always make me think of that sunny day in capri sunning under a trellis drooping with fat pale lemons.
ReplyDeleteyes scent is indeed one of the most powerful evocators of memories & past emotions. but alas i also find it exceedingly fleeting & hard to hold on to, and it's frustration-making in that sense, at least to me...
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