Smooth Operators: DKNY Gold, Ormonde Jayne Woman

Smooth, baby...not a harsh edge or transition in sight, never anything too sweet or too sharp...just enough butterfat to sloodge the flavor across your tongue...sliding it would be too fast, you wouldn't have time to let it rest, savor the flavor...yet doesn't sit idle clogging up the inputs, either, always a bit of movement or loft....

Here's the thing. One is greenish, one is goldish, both in color and flavor. Ormonde Jayne Woman makes a confection out of things from the woods, DK Gold makes a confection out of a bodacious flower. Neither whomps you, and neither one will ever back down. They combine at your skin with a little hovering. Not suitable for a light pick-me-up, is either one, nor will they knock you down with just half a punch like, say, Shalimar.

They are just creamy enough to be rich without excess. Someday, I'm going to find a way to indulge the love of Woman to get more than I've been able to via swappery. Gold, on the other hand, is well in hand, because you can get edt and edp concentrations online for nearly a song. Back up bottles - check. Gift bottles - check.

Ack! I need a comfort scent

Help. My brain, which I enjoy using, is being taxed a bit.

I planned on spending this post either taking another trip down testing lane (yesterday, I had three scents running up the left arm and two up the right), or talking about a couple of smooth operators (DKNY Gold and Ormonde Jayne Woman), or maybe my reluctant discovery that the House of Chanel might bring me a number of happinesses.

Plus, I've got to discuss how I've had a conversion, and come to understand how a person could find Mitsouko pleasant.

Instead, I'm taking a quick moment to say "UNCLE!" I've been responding to Avery Gilbert's First Nerve blog, and getting into a dialogue that has moved into "is perfume art?" territory. I've obviously been thinking about this for a while...you've heard some of my connections between perfume and music, for example...but am neither an olfactory expert, nor fully thought out on this topic. That was part of the point of starting the blog...not just to natter on about playing with perfume (though I enjoy that, thank you very much), but to figure out where perfume sits in my concept of the world.

Why? I don't know. Some people explore the secret life of bees. Others ponder the virtues of microeconomics. Me, I was having an existential crisis in my personal life, and appreciated having fresh fun territory that I knew my colleagues wouldn't be paying attention to. Plus, I could dive in without worrying about academic posturing. Academic posturing being something I gave up over a decade ago. Now, the alert among you might be saying, wait a minute--sounds like she was just unhappy with intellectual rigor. Not quite true. I was just wanted to keep a sense of play and creativity in my life, and it wasn't happening down the academic path I was forging.

In other words, I said to Academe: It's not you, it's me. And I left.

But I still have fun yammering, and I opened my yap. And, like a dutiful person, once committed, I shall follow through. But methinks I'm going to be schooled.

Speaking of being schooled...Mr. Gilbert runs a wonderfully amusing and informative blog. If you haven't been, do check it out.

Meanwhile, I'm going to get back to my bellybutton, erm, my thoughts about Mitsouko. Actually, given recent events, I think maybe I'll conjure a pairings post first...it's been a while since I came up with cocktail-perfume combinations.