hortus conclusus

in the darker, more atavistic versions of Sleeping Beauty, the dormant castle is surrounded by an impenetrable wall of rose briars, with gigantic thorns that impale the hapless princes who try to push through to the interior in which the lovely princess lies in her enchanted coma. The princes’ bodies hang on that monstrous rose hedge, decomposing until they are naught but skeletons. This image haunted me when I was young, as it still does now, being one of the most disturbing of a a whole series of folktales which emphasize not only the rose’s beauty, but also its danger—for below the smooth silk-plush blossoms, like spikes and thorns, jagged leaves, and pain. This is one of the reasons I believe the rose makes such a perfect symbol for love—a thing of great beauty as well as undeniable pain. Dyptique’s l’ombre dans l’eau captures this dark green danger of the rose, I believe. It is not as menacing as a wall of gigantic malignant thorns, but it does explore the stems and leaves a...

. Krh'ssai nu' pot? w?^d? e?mmele'ws po'dessin w?rxeu^nt? a?pa'lois a?mf? epo'enta Bw^mon po'as te'pen a?'nðos ma'lakon ma'teisai. Thus sometimes, the Cretan women, tender footed, dance in measure round the fair altar , crushing the fine bloom of the grass. Grassy scents for your consideration: Balmain Vent Vert Tommy Hilfiger T Girl CB I hate perfumes To See a Flower Nasomatto Hindu Grass Tauer Vetiver Dance Demeter Firefly Weil Bambou and antilope Gap Grass (I haven’t tried this) Annick Goutal Petite Cherie And a grass scent that ‘de-stresses’ here Marc Jacobs Grass Other ideas? CREDITS: Claude Lorraine painting and 3 dancing nymphs relief from Wikimedia Commons, Sappho poem and translation at Sacredtexts.com

I overpurchased, I think! At left, see the boxes of perfume straight out of the box with foam peanut residue still clinging to them. “But there was a sale ”, I say in my defense---“20 percent off at Parfum1.com—with a free gift!” I know it’s no excuse for buying 9 bottles, but, oh well, I did it. And it DID only cost 110 bucks—not so heinous, right? right? right?, she asks herself in the echo chamber of her own resounding guilt…. Ah well, what’s done is done, I guess, and now I get to enjoy the spoils. It is not as cool as Carol at WAFT’s serendipitous find , but still a pleasant group of frags for enjoyment and leisurely review. I am looking forward to comparing my new balmain vent vert in the early 90s formulation against my vintage parfum….I’ll let you know how that goes in a few days.   I have to show you the size of the box this all came in. I mean, you know you have a problem when your fragrance purchases come in a box of this size, that weighs (gulp…)   seve...

This is a revelation. The second I smelled this, I knew I had to have a bottle, immediately (and I bought one, immediately, on Ebay--Pure Parfum, original formulation). Vent Vert accomplishes over a long span of time what CB I hate Perfumes Black March only accomplishes for the briefest of moments--capturing the early green growing things/wet overturned dirt scent of earliest spring. This is classic yet entirely original, masculine, and delicate. I think this is a supergreen, but the earthiness of the vetiver and the galbanum brown it intensely as well. I have never experienced a better earth fragrance for women. This is a little miracle of perfumery, and it is certainly a deep tragedy that it was reformulated with so little care! What are these people thinking? Obviously I am going to have to stock up on the older bottles so I can keep this around me.