Between Oranges

A few years back, Musette over at Perfume Posse wrote a review of Ramon Monegal Entre Naranjos, which she translated as "Among Oranges "or "Between Oranges".  I still haven't tried the Monegal, but Between Oranges kind of stuck in my head.

As you may have noted, recently, I have been getting orange fragrances, with Mandarine-Mandarin and Theorema forefront. Although citrusy colognes read summer to me, I guess oranges are indeed a winter fruit.  In Japan, mikans are one of the things I -- and probably everyone in Japan -- associate with New Year's celebrations.  Anyway, I've been craving oranges lately.  There are limits to where I will go -- looking at you, Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine, unless I want to relive the smell of my grandmother's kitchen and orange juice concentrate. I suppose I could layer it with Annick Goutal Sables for the aroma of a pancake breakfast.

I recently got a bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur Mandarine, the reissue of Mandarine Tout Simplement. L'Artisan reissued it a few years back as a limited edition at $100 for 100 ml, but lately are charging their regular price for edt.  Beauty Habit still had it at the $100 price point, so I grabbed a bottle. It is in the newer bottle and cap, so I'm not quite sure why Beauty Habit does not charge $145, but I'll take it!

Mandarine is very light, and probably will work better in the summer.

Photo from Luckyscent. 

Barneys Perfume/Wine-Tasting Event

Trillian (sp?), an SA at Barneys, organized an event for last night involving wine-drinking and how it enhances the whole scent experience.  I'm not sure that the objective was met, but it was a whole lot of fun, led by L'Artisan people Amy and Karen from the New York headquarters.

I'm not much of a wine drinker, truth be told, but Trillian did a good job selecting wines, I thought. The perfumes they chose to focus on were:  Rose Privée, Mandarine, Ambre Extrême, and Amour Nocturne. Three out of the four I do not own, which I was glad for, as it made the event more interesting for me.  I was able to appreciate Mandarine and Rose Privée much more than I had originally and might reconsider purchase at some date.  I still don't like the amber, but it made me realize why I liked Amour Nocturne in the first place.  The Explosions d'Émotions have not gone over too well, at least critically, from what I can tell. Paired with a dessert wine, it really shone among the night's offerings.

In addition to not really knowing much about wine, I haven't had a drink in ages. Consequently, I was rather tipsy by evening's end (we had four full glasses of wine within an hour and a half, with some nibbling on cheese and bread).   Hopefully, I wasn't too giggly.

Five attended (among 17 or so who RSVP'ed, so there were a lot of leftovers). L'Artisan was extremely generous to attendees. With a L'Artisan purchase, we received a bag which included: La Chasse aux Papillons shower gel, a 175 g Tilleuls au Vent candle, a small bottle of La Provence room spray (which they don't actually sell -- it probably smells of the new Boules de Provence), and a 50 ml bottle of either Timbuktu or Nuit de Tubéreuse -- I chose the latter, as I'm not much of a fan of Timbuktu. Anyway, this was completely unexpected.  I was thinking we would get a 15 ml of something and leave it at that. Very nice. Probably over $200 in giveaways!

I ended getting a bottle of Caligna as my purchase, which I had planned on.  I probably should have gotten the Mandarine or Rose Privée, as I would probably get more use of those than of Caligna. Or maybe backup bottles of Tea for Two or Dzing! Well, it just adds to my collection.

Anyway, it's nice to see me getting out and about.  I've tended to be a hermit lately outside of work.

Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle

I went to Barneys today on the way to a doctor's appointment.   I had a $22 gift card and was prepared to walk away with something cheap, either L'Artisan's Mandarine or Comme des Garçons 2 Man.  Instead, I got a 50 ml bottle of Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle.

Spend! Spend! Spend!

Image from Frédéric Malle.