Snow falls, precipitates flurry

Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.  Oscar Wilde

White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black.  God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white.  Gilbert K. Chesterton

ELOQUENCE, n. The art of orally persuading fools that white is the color that it appears to be.  It includes the gift of making any color appear white.  Ambrose Bierce

Color, especially white, is rumbling rather persistently through my mind the last few days.  It has come up in in so many contexts over the years...color theory...philosophy...film versus video...fabric...language...fragrance...I think about that paths white has used to enter my conscious...

...how I like white, because it allows you to easily contemplate contour and shadow...

...the color of the good guy's ten gallon hat...GALLON water has no color...WATER makes the snow...WATER AND TEN frozen water falling now is ten times the volume it would be if it were rain...RAIN on my parade, would be embarassing if I were wearing white...WHITE is not the color of my true love's hair, but is the color I should wear if we get married.  Well, that if, plus one more "if"...

...not to mention all the white that is falling across the U.S. these past few days.  49 of 'em with snow on the ground.  Right now, thoughts are accumulating in my head as if I were in the path of lake effect snow.

Is white the absence of color, or the presence of all colors?  Depends if you are adding or subtracting.  A confluence of different approaches to one result ("white") that at the moment is making me think how both "luxury" and "art" are applied to perfume.

It's all questions today, folks.

Though I think my additive white perfume would be Douce Amere, while the subtractive would be L'Eau d'Hiver.

Does color steer our thinking?  Or does it augment it?

More ellipses....

Images:
snowscape, icicle lights, china mold, all author's own
"Snow Clouds off Lake Michigan" NASA Earth Observatory

~Lovely blog on things grammatical, including ellipses (providing clear evidence I can identify wise advice without using them in the least)
~Olfacta mentions color in the form of carpet dye (though I believe the careful reader will note an allusion); note also photo helping illustrate the snow situation, even there in the Deep South
~A while back I pondered perfume from the angle of color vs black & white; interesting to note that January seems to elicit these musings

No more Douce? Skip the Amere, go for the Amour

If you follow fragrance, you've no doubt caught the (now old) news that Serge Lutens has removed Douce Amere from the export line.  It's a lovely little scent -- gadzooks, did I just say "little" in relation to Lutens?? -- if you like lightly sweetened milk.

(Robin over at NST got a bit more out of it...her review is here.)

Honestly, though, I'm not shedding any tears.  I can get Kenzo Amour more easily, and less expensively.  It, too, is a very kind sweet milky something; again, someone else finds it somewhat more complex than the tasty rice pudding I get.  (This time, that someone is Victoria over at Bois de Jasmin.)

I'd like to think that whenever vanilla enters the game, certain of my olfactory receptors dedicate themselves to that input only.  And NOT that I am not as discerning.

I am practicing full disclosure, nonetheless.

Travel sizes of Serge Lutens Douce Amere and Kenzo Amour both from my own collection.


Hey!  Have you let me know if you are interested in a shot at the vintage LOTV pair of samples yet?  Scroll down to the Lily of the Valley post...you have until end of day today.