Basenotes Chicago Meet-Up

I met a bunch of people this weekend from Basenotes who all came to Chicago to walk around, shop, and talk perfume.  I had a great time, and I hope we can all do this again.  Some came all the way from Boston and Seattle! I felt ind of odd-man out, especially as I was the only man there not married to one of the participants.  But everyone was extremely nice and mdd me, as well as other newcomers, very welcome.

I ended up getting L'Artisan Parfumeur Amour Nocturne.

I'm surprised this is the second of the Explosions d'Émotions that I got.   I was expecting to get Skin on Skin, but, after multiple wearings, decided it was kind of sweet.  This may have to do with the soap I have been using lately, this interesting gel foam by this brand called Rituals.  The can of soap came with the Barneys bag.  Because I bought more this weekend, Andy gave me another bag, PLUS two more cans of the soap! Anyway, the soap is supposed to be scented of cherry blossoms (I never knew they had a scent), which may explain the heightened sweetness of Skin on Skin.  I will try it again later, without the soap.

We also went to Hermès, where I got, oddly, the Terre d'Hermès Parfum.  I like it more than the edt, but I wasn't really feeling it when I wore it today.  Nice cap/sprayer, though!

Again, my reaction may have to do with the dang soap. I could have gotten it at a discounter, rather than pay full for it at the Hermès boutique on Oak Street.  Also:  when I checked the Hermès web site, they had a different bottle (1 oz) plus a large refill bottle for the same price.

Saks has the Christian Dior Collection Privée line, and I was looking forward to testing them all out.  However, several people wanted to decant my bottle of Byredo Black Saffron (and one of my M/Mink), so I took the bus home, got stuff, and then came back, missing their tour of Neiman Marcus and catching them at the tail end of Saks.  I live here, so I suppose I can go myself any time.  Also, I didn't need to spend still more money! But I wanted to sniff.

After Saks, we went to Nordstroms, which I guess I have never been to before, and I was kind of lost, not seeing much that I was interested in.

Finally, we went to Merz Apothecary.  They have Santa Maria Novella, and this time, they finally seem to have the potpourri, but only for the terra cotta urns.  They also had the terra cotta pomegranates.  So I may get one or the other for someone for a Christmas present.  Alas, no Nostalgia!

From there we went to Quarry's room at the Palmer House, and everyone swapped samples.  There was nowhere really to sit except the floor.  As I was not feeling especially limber, I stood the whole time, and finally just pooped out and went home on the bus with another newbie, Annette, who lived near me.

Amour Nocturne photo from Barneys.
Terre d'Hermès Parfum photo from Badger and Blade.

Explosions d'Émotions

Today, I went to Barneys.  They were having yet another bag event.  Ashley had called me Thursday to ask me to come to a L'Artisan thing that was also going on today.  The last time there was a L'Artisan thing at Barneys, I was on my way to Japan, and couldn't make it.

Anyway, the L'Aritisan event coincided with the release of their Explosions d'Émotions trio, Amour Nocturne, Déliria, and Skin on Skin.

For some reason these come in 125 ml bottles, and kind-o-deluxe packaging.

Don't know about you, but whenever I hear Explosions d'Émotions, this song goes running through my head.... where it has been stuck all day. Maybe I'm showing my age.

Anyway, I liked all three of these.  Déliria is the weirdest scent L'Artisan has come out with in a while.  I'm not sure how to describe it. Delirious kind of fits.  On another customer at Barneys, it was very sweet.  On me, not so much, thank you.  Skin on Skin is a nice leather -- non-sweet for all you who were wondering.  The closest I can think of is Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. I'll have to compare.

The woman from L'Artisan was lovely.  I was kind of confused at one point, because all press I have read lists gunpowder as a note in Amour Nocturne.  The woman from L'Artisan said, no, it is in Skin on Skin.  Smelling the latter, I do smell it there, and not in Amour Nocturne.  So I don't know what to think about this.  Even the L'Artisan site says gunpowder is in Amour Nocturne.

I ended up going home with a bottle of Déliria, along with an atomizer full of Skin on Skin.  If I wanted to shell out all the money, I could have gone home with all three full bottles, which would have been signed by Bertrand Duchaufour.  Well, now. Other perks include a 15 ml bottle of La Chasse aux Papillons, which, you know, is not me! I'll probably give it to Janet.  Continuing with my free-association trend today, whenever I hear La Chasse aux Papillons, I think of being chased by a pack of these things:

In the 1960s, Mattel had a line of their Liddle Kiddle dolls called Kiddle Kolognes, with scented dolls in perfume bottles. To me La Chasse aux Papillons smells exactly like the doll Janet had when we were kids, Honeysuckle Kiddle.

No wonder we grew up so twisted!

I had a selection of the minis to choose from, and I had the other ones already, or didn't like.  (I think they were Mûre et Musc Extrême [which I hate, actually] or Premier Figuier.)

The bag from the bag event actually was very nice, with more that I can use than usual.  I think Andy gave me double on certain items since I am such a good customer/easy mark.  I'll talk more about some of what I got in a later post.

Déliria photo from L'Artisan Parfumeur.
Papillon photo from thedogtrainingsecret.com
Kiddle Kologne photo from etsy.com. 

George Nelson Swag-Leg Chair

This is the most used piece of furniture in my apartment.  I'm sitting at it right now.

I have this color-scheme.  My chair's legs, however, are chrome.  I've had the chair at least five years.   I sit at my desk, which is an Eames Desk, as below.  I guess, since I sit at this desk every day on that chair, both of these get equal use.  I bought the desk right after I moved in here, so in 2005.  To be honest it is kind of beat up.

Anyway, about a month ago, two of the bolts holding the legs on the chair broke.  I paid Pedro who works in this building to fix it.  He fixed it yesterday. 

Prior to getting the Swag-Leg Chair fixed, I had been using a Vitra Visavis chair, by Antonio Citterio.  This is my favorite chair.  I have six of them.  I bought them on ebay from a place in Houston, which had bought a bunch of them when Enron liquidated.  I love the design, and they are comfortable.  I don't have a dining room table, though.  I meant them to be dining room chairs.  The backs are somewhat scratched up, and I don't like the blue upholstery on the seats.  One day I'll get that changed. 

This may be the actual color of my seats.  But these are the chairs. I love these chairs but they are too low for desk chairs.

Actually, I found a picture of what pretty much my chairs looks like, from a web site called Metro Retro Furniture.  Which is the store from where I bought them.

Photo of Nelson Swag-Leg Chair from Herman Miller.

Photo of Eames Desk and single black Visavis chair from Architonic.com.

Room full of blue-seated Visavis from smow.com. 

Photo of single blue Visavis from metroretrofurniture.com

Okay...

OK, I got these, which are pretty much the same shoe as the Puma AMQDek Mid II, only the AMQDek Lo II.  I was waiting for them to drop to a certain price, and, well, they did.

Photo from canalmasculino.com.br.