The Perfume of the Lady in Black

Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir

Written and Directed
by Marcel L'Herbier
1931







2005 film, trailer here


There are many beautiful parfums noir in the world!



and the 1974  Il Profumo della Signora in Nero (not shown here).

Autumn Alchemy

 








Almost tragic isn't it, autumn? But so beautiful

- Chef Giorgio Locatelli


Re-reading this line, I then came across my writings from August 2005 on Alchimie/Rochas, Jacques Cavallier 1998

For those unfamiliar with the bottle by Serge Mansau, it is reminiscent of a magic wand in a magic pumpkin of beautiful autumnal amber-orange.

Alchimie, you bewitcher.

Alchimie, you bringer on of autumnal nostalgia, the time when land hovers, for moments at a time - into a phrase of time, the ear can hear to the horizon.
Watercolor transparencies of rust colored leaves and woods. A walk in the damp barked green forest, dark soiled, dark limbed, the wild colors of Mother Nature's last ditch attempt, before shedding into winter's serenity. The ice crackling quiet. But, first, the party!

The bee buzz around grape must. Dried golden stalks. Browns. I think of Cavallier's palettes of browns within M7, Alchimie. Woods of santal, oudh. (I hold to my 2002 prediction that M7 (Alberto Morillas & Cavallier for YSL) will have a comeback and be an even stronger seller, as it is "found again".)

Just when I fear its fruit note will sour, Alchimie veers.

It's a skin veil that hurts with its mystery. A deep inhale grounds, then on to feel the mystery of sheer watercolor autumnal silk on the skin.

This one haunts. Evokes.

I remember, Cavallier doesn't care for flowers, florals. So, in this one those notes on the palette, the florals, are used for enchantment, the beauty sleeping in the forest. Either sleeping to be eventually awakened, or, sleeping to eventually die, autumn to winter. It is the Life-Death bloom-or-fade transition that disturbs, that Alchimie captures. Fruits & Woods - flowers used as coloring, tints, hues, sheers, wind ...

Definitely a rêve, this dream state perfume. There is a vulnerability with this one, the mature sensitivity before the ice coat is worn.

It's the most beautiful day in the universe, and I am allowed to attend. It is not classic beauty, or textbook, or Hollywood film. There is overcast burning off, Mercury out of retrograde, stationary direct. A veil.

Veil of mist, veil of burn off, veil of heart yearnings, veil of sun's shine, veil of Alchimie, veil of thyme in oil on skin, summer bug repellent, Raid in the memory, citronella, nail polish remover, hair sprays, Hairnet with hair net, spider's web holding a bun.

Because of my own training in autumn nights getting darker and darker, earlier and earlier, sweating in ballet rehearsals with cold chill goosebumps and then ... a pumpkin appears ... in Cinderella during Snoopy's pumpkin patch season, I present:

Sergei Prokofiev: Slow Waltz, from the ballet Cinderella Op. 87
Piano: Vladimir Ovchinnikov
Venue: Piano Festival 2008
(performing 17 October 2010 in Bushy, Hertfordshire, England info here)



Happy Autumn Equinox! 
Illustration: Trees Lura Astor

Smell It! in Amsterdam - 23 September 2010

Smell It! ... exploring olfactory dimensions in contemporary art at the Stedelijk Museum, click here

Presenting recent developments in smell culture with the experience of scent

Artists: Peter de Cupere (lecture), Sue Corke/Hagen Betzwieser (art work), Valentina Hulsman

(olfactory performance).

Jim Drobnick examines the practice of distillation in contemporary olfactory art, connecting the artistic search for new ways of addressing aesthetic and political dimensions of urban experience.

His must read: here

Round Table Discussion: Peter de Cupere, Jim Drobnick, anthropologist Yolanda van Ede, Adam Tasi of SmartNose.

Moderator: Caro Verbeek, olfactory art historian. The 2 lectures will include visuals and smells provided by Aroma Jockey Dr. Perfume and visual artist VJ ED (AromaVisuals).here

In the exhibition Monumentalism: History and National Identity in Contemporary Art, Job Koelewijn presents an olfactory art work.

The Stedelijk Museum has other art works in its collection that use the sensory experience of smell, such as Edward Kienholz's The Beanery 1965.

Painting: Calm: lastor

How Many Roses are Covered with Dew?

How much do I love you?
I'll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?

How many times a day do I think of you?

... how many roses are covered with dew?

How Deep is the Ocean
-Irving Berlin 1932

photo: Huntington Garden November 2009 lastor

Nosin' Around

A Day Put into A Book

Just because I love it

Yann Tiersen's Le Train

Parfum BIC

In 1988 BIC launched a perfume line. I did not know this, though I was around when the ad campaign Flick Your Bic! launched for their disposable lighters. It was a newly odd and memorable tagline at the time, alongside You Bet Your Bippie.

Their perfume bottles have a flick lid sprayer, like the portable, disposable, lighters. The company's name derived from founder Marcel Bich's name.

Parfum BIC® "the world’s first fine French perfume that combined high quality with affordable pricing and a stylish, portable design."

For women: Jour, Nuit
For men: BIC for Men, BIC Sport

Produced in France, introduced in Europe, North America, and some African and Middle East markets. In 1991, manufacturing and distribution of BIC® perfumes stopped in most markets, continuing in Iran where it is still manufactured and/or distributed.

Information, perfumes, bottles are welcome by this author.

Smell of Fear, Recovery, Ash, Cash, Balance

Pitti Immagine Fragranze No.8,  Florence, Italy, 10-12 September 2010, click here

Chemist, linguist, artist, scent provocateur, Sissel Tolaas of Norway presents FEAR: The FEAR of Smell vs the SMELL of Fear. 

A Saturday afternoon panel on 11 September 2010 addresses this year's Il Profumo del Futuro/The Fragrance of the Future No. 2: Olfactory scenarios for the next 12-24 months, organized by Pitti Immagine & Futuretaste, details here, titled The Smell of Recovery.

Future No. 1 addressed anthropological constants accompanying the historical-social changes in a globalized world influencing perception of odor and taste.  *note below

"Taken together, the opulence of floral scents (that peaks in the tuberose), the freshness of greenery (cut grass, essential oils, pine, rosemary, herbs of Provence), the sensuality of Middle Eastern oudh (leather, perspiration, animality), make us think of a greater propensity for optimism, extroversion and self-satisfaction, of a quest for nature and body sensations that speak to a desire to leave the crisis behind us."

We can shotgun an apple tree and it sprouts more flowers due to the stresses of imminent death. Humans breed like rabbits during war, thus war boom babies, and later big box sales. We can silence the buzz and see the dark with stars and produce lots of babies; referencing the NYC/NE Coast 1965 electrical outtage.

Knowing the pheromonic relays within perspiration, leathers and animalics, it is no wonder that these scents are back, for,

we live in a petrie dish world.

We can bomb or starve the crap out of humans elsewhere, but it still affects others in a completely different region, in our vibrating agar agar.

let's ".... speak to a desire to leave the crisis behind us."

Earth scents are nice.
Also consider which plantations, marketplaces and distribution channels open up, for these predicate which scents go to mass-market, with correct titillation/teatillation of course.

Smell of Recovery ... speaking of recovery cash ...

Spring 2010
Icelandic Sky
16,000 flights in Europe cancelled yesterday due to Icelandic ash.

I heard that in Iceland people looked up in the sky and yelled, We said Cash!

.. after last year's bankruptcy and billions of UK Sterlings deposited in Icelandic banks by UK city authorities, at high interest rates, it was one C short. Where's Vannah White (spinning for letters on Wheel of Fortune) when we need her?
ash
cash
ash
cash 

Summer 2011 Iceland changes its democracy click here

Spring 2009 an ocean away, sulfurous Funky Green Imposter pleases crowds in the Green Aria Scent Opera, Guggenheim Museum, NYC, click here.

 

The Scent of Petrol - Smelling Aliphatic Hydrocarbons

Near the Gulf of Mexico, bumper stickers change from Drill, Baby, Drill to Spill, Baby, Spill.

Conference No. 1 addressed anthropological constants accompanying historical-social changes in a globalized world influencing perception of odor and taste.

*Includes getting used to the taste of plastic packaging in our food, unappealing textures and tastes of irradiated foods, and, genetically engineered food, such as not being able to spit a watermelon seed into desert ground and have it grow.
Seed Savers Exchange here.

... my idea of genetically modified food is more sensual

and as a child it was more along the lines of strawberries the size of oranges, honeydews the size of blueberries or watermelons, honeysuckle nectar to drink by the mouthful, and honey-chocolate kiwi. But then, I'm an artist.

Earthy ... technology balanced with gender-integrated imagination.

The Smell of Balance

and I'm not talking double books

One of India's top actors produced a film that manages to bring humor to the dark subject of 15,000-plus farmers per year, during the last 10 years, commit suicide due to genetically modified patented seeds breaking the bank and the farms.

Click here for the trailer.

For English, click the person on the right, then Trailer, then International Trailer.

Laugh yourself sad with Peepli.

illustrations:
Snakes  lastor
Blue Green Leaf  lastor
Favored Tale  lastor
Volcano tourism is real, as are tornado and ambulance chasers
photo: People Admiring the Volcano Eruption at Fimmvörðuháls, Iceland, 27 March 2010
Henrik Thorburn   Latitude: 63.632875° N Longitude: 19.433594°
photo: Philip Seymour Hoffman as a huffer in the movie Love, Liza
photo: It Takes Balance to Look at the Sky: lastor See how here

If You're in London the Next Weeks

The Perfume Diaries

Multiple events at Harrod's
through 2 October 2010
London


click here and here

Fragrant Life

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred, I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.


- Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 letter difference
scared
sacred
fear
fare

Photo: Smiling or Winking: lastor

Scent of a Lion

We’re driving deep into the bush one morning when the Jeep shudders, swerves, and we go spinning off to the right.

What happened?

We nearly ran over a lion sleeping in the middle of the road. The lion sits up and stares with an expression that says, You woke me. His head is enormous. His eyes are the color of lemon-lime Gatorade.

The smell of him is a musk so primal that it makes us lightheaded.

- Andre Agassi from his beautiful book OPEN




Lion Photo: Ltshears

4 & 11 September 2010 Online Isolate Workshop

There is a lovely place in California called Carmel.

It is by the Pacific ocean.



Clint Eastwood was its mayor for some years.

Paul Anka has a home there, filled with original Andy Warhol paintings.

Perfume artist Shelley Waddington sculpts in the medium of air, using a palette of scent molecules to bottle the fragrances and history of her native Carmel-By-The-Sea.

Offering an online course this coming week, there may still be room to join...

The $175 (plus postage) includes a kit of natural isolate samples and reference bibliography.

Information here

Natural Isolates is a current trend in natural perfumery.

Waddington's course teaches the basics of what an isolate is, how it is produced, how to incorporate isolates into perfume compositions.

4 & 11 September 2010
2 PM PST
includes Question/Discussion time after each session

Seating is limited
Contact: dariaesque2001@yahoo.com

Shelley Waddington, MA
11 years as a classically trained perfumer
8 years experiences with online seminar training
holds a California Teaching Credential

photo: What Do You Sea? lastor
part of an upcoming installation

Cocktail, Anyone?

Summer's Almost Gone Growing up in New England, nature's four seasons clicked to distinct rhythms. As bees' buzzing died, light and leaves crisped and darkened, smells heightened from lazy towards winter sharpness. BUT summer's not so gone we can't enjoy a tasty Summer Cocktail inspired by garden goodies, in this case gardens in Brooklyn, New York ... Inspiring infused recipes here at Herbal Alchemy and here at indieperfumes. Summer's Almost Gone lyrics by The Doors its softness and refrain haunt as season turns to season ... Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone Almost gone Yeah, it's almost gone Where will we be When the summer's gone? Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be Where will we be Where will we be Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone We had some good times But they're gone The winter's comin' on Summer's almost gone - The Doors September 2, 1965 demo recording from the World Pacific Jazz Studios Los Angeles. Rick & the Ravens - Jim Morrison - vocals, Ray Manzarek - piano/background vocals, John Densmore - drums, Rick Manzarek -guitar, Jim Manzarek -harmonica, Patricia "Pat" Hansen -bass guitar (née Sullivan; of Patty & the Esquires the band she had with Chuck Hansen whom she later married).  

 photo: Drink Me lastor

You Do Something To Me

 















Do do
that voodoo
that you do so well For you do something to me

-Cole Porter

What is it that smell does to us?

It makes us jump, it makes us happy, it makes us want to smell more, it repulses us, it intrigues, entertains, lingers, disappears, reappears, informs, dresses and undresses. It makes us want to do, to not do ...

Sniff
Sniff
Sniff



Fireworks in a Small Town on the 34.595N Latitude: lastor

smile of roses

The scent of roses
has a smile on its face.

- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
German physicist, author 1742-1799

For me, the hardest is the rose to put in a bottle.
I sniff many fantasy roses, but never a real one in the juice. They mostly smell like the rose oil, not as the rose itself.

- Vedat Ozan perfumer





photo: Lura Astor

Peace of Mind

I will wave the magic wand
for a spritz of top-shelf,
lovely, Peace of Mind ... see what happens.

Powerful top notes,
soporific middle notes and
a dry down that lingers and
reminds one of something ... but what?



 




Illustration: Peace of Mind Lura Astor

Smell with the Breath of the Sky

 














I tien tien fung
... a sigh in the sky

from Lyall Watson's work on Winds

In the language of Tewa Indians
a 3-syllable term translated as
art or creativity means
water-wind-breath
A beautiful evocation of
the creative process
about catching the current,
breathing in, breathing out
in-spiration, breathe in spirit,
ex-halation, release it into the world
        
 - Robert Moss
 
from his book 
Dreamgates: An Explorer’s Guide to the Worlds of Soul, Imagination, and Life Beyond Death

Pastel: Wellfleet Bay Deb Dwyer

"You can’t sterilize yourself & think there won’t be consequences.”

 
"Well, clearly,” said (Gianfranco) Soldera (considered the single best producer of Brunello di Montalcino in the world),
“if you don’t have a nose, you can have all the customs in the world and you still won’t know a thing about food.

You need a nose with a memory.

But it’s much harder now than ever to have a nose.

We’re losing our sense of smell.

“Our nose was once the most important way we could survive. Man could smell danger before he could see it. He could tell when food was bad. With his nose, he selected the person with whom he wanted to reproduce. In the 1700s, they used to cover odors, but now we’re eliminating them. Pollution is killing our olfactory sense and then we’re finishing off the job with deodorants, shower gels, perfumed soaps. Your brain can no longer decipher what real smells are, what’s natural. You can’t sterilize yourself and think there won’t be consequences.”

- Sergio Esposito Passion on the Vine

What do you think?

Watercolor: Brushstroke In It  Lura Astor

Roses, Vanilla, Earth

And saw roses that smelt
like the vanilla of the earth.

-Lura Astor



... awoke from this dream bit and put on Caron Rose ...

 


photo: Huntington Garden Rose Lura Astor

Happy Solar Eclipse!

What's a sunny fume?

Cinnamon, honey, clover
singe, flare














Art: The Sun Behind Lura Astor