Thursday, February 3, 2011

Mica dust / L'Ombre Fauve

One thing that never ceases to fascinate me is sparklies upon the water.  In the summer, sunlight glints on the water, making sparklies that hover just above the water's surface, sometimes seeming to lie on it, but not a part of it.

In the winter, snow, frozen water, offers its own special sparklies.  Bits that remind me of mica chips I used to love to find in rocks.  Tangible, now lying on but also embedded in the surface.  Unlike the glints on the lake, these you know you can touch.  They add a beautiful texture to the surface of the snow.



If you click on the picture, it will enlarge.  And you can see some sparklies.  Sorry I can't offer you a handful to actually touch.

***
I reached for L'Ombre Fauve this morning with eagerness and trepidation.  I love this fragrance, this rough on the surface deep pile beauty.  It's a scratchy dark amber that ends up all animal cozy.  The scratchiness is in the same way I've talked about before in Chamade, and the same way there's a rough powder in Habit Rouge.  I think I've said here a variation on the idea that it's like wrapping in an animal skin inside a wool blanket and laying down in a gentleman farmer's barn?

I've been so busy with other scents this fall/winter--testing or lolling about in a given for a while--that I missed wearing this during my traditional L'Ombre Fauve happy time, cool and cold fall into early winter, when the air is snappy but the sun still has a shot at warming you up.  Once the holidays came, then my foray into counter-season scents in January, I had lost my window of opportunity.  It was either wear it now, and take my chances, or wait until fall equinox 2011.

Why be afraid?  Because I was pretty sure the deep, deep cold (still single digits here, Farenheit, and covered in this just blizzarded two feet of snow) would render L'Ombre Fauve cruel.  That the depth would disappear (no sun to warm it up), and the sharp edges would have time to actually cut.

On the opening, I was afraid I was right.

But given a little time, it is behaving like the big cat I hoped it would.  Threat of danger, but ends up purring under my layers.  I'm glad I dared.

photo author's own

12 comments:

mandy said...

i love mica. i just bought a chunk that looks like pages of a book. i am very inspired by it
mandy aftel

ScentScelf said...

Mandy, that sounds like a fabulous beautiful intriguing something.

::cocks head slightly to side:: Speaking of intrigue, I am intrigued by your inspiration...

Thanks for stopping by.

Marina said...

Love the picture. And the faux tiger that is L'Ombre :)

Vanessa said...

You capture the animal cosiness perfectly. The French have a great word for "snuggle" - "cocooner" - and this is absolutely one of those scents.

L'Ombre Fauve is one of my top hypothetical pulling scents, though I may be misguided here - it emerged over on Katie P's blog the other day that men want women to smell of strawberries.

I happened to wear Dzing! yesterday for the first time in ages, and it also felt daring, and like a less scratchy version of L'Ombre Fauve.

And I would like to shake the hand of whoever translated the name as "Bestial Shadow"... : - )

ScentScelf said...

Thanks, Marina. Yes, I remember our shared love for said tiger... :)

ScentScelf said...

Vanessa, I agree, that translation of the name is top notch in spirit. Man, that stuff was still present and ready to snurfle 12 hours later, too.

You know, I need to revisit Dzing!. I have not clear idea of what that is to me. It is most certainly NOT strawberries, though...I have to hop on over to Katie's blog and revisit that entry. Strawberries? Bacon and pumpkin pie and lavender I knew, but...strawberries? And why am I having so much trouble with that???

"Pulling scent." Filed. :)

Rose said...

oh dear I haven't tried this and it sounds like I must!

There is something magic about snow and I don't know what it could be but there is

ScentScelf said...

Rose, sometimes we don't really need to explain magic, right? :)

When you do try L'Ombre Fauve, please share your impressions.

Anonymous said...

I love L'Ombre Fauve, and like you, I've been neglecting it during prime wearing time to test new things... I think it will be my sleep scent tonight! ;)

indieperfumes said...

Sounds wonderful, and now I want to try it. I understand the sparkle attraction. For me it is dots. Tiny buds, tiny texture details, once you notice them you see them everywhere...

ScentScelf said...

Dee, I am always happy to return someone to the presence of an old love. :)

ScentScelf said...

Oh, yes, texture...smiling at the thought of tiny buds and details...remembering spending some time staring at an unfurling fiddlehead backlit by morning sunlight, with water droplets held...

Lucy, I love bark and stones particularly for their texture(s). And fabrics and/or threads and yarns. Come to think of it, sometimes I think about the way different thickness of ink lays down on paper.....

Hmmm. I'm going to have to add the "painful realities of the occasionally obsessive mind" tag to this if I am not careful. ;)