Scent Signals

A Day of Beauty in Houston

It's that time again - Beauty Day at Kuhl-Linscomb. If you're looking for a way to escape the heat, and want to score 20% off some great scents (for your body and your home), skin care and makeup products, be there tomorrow from noon until five.

Kuhl-Linscomb carries Serge Lutens, Keiko Mecheri, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Parfums Del Rae, Santa Maria Novella, CdG, MPG, Manuel Canovas and several other niche perfume lines you won't find elsewhere in Houston. They also stock skin, hair and makeup products from Caudalie, sjal, Billy Jealousy, Phyto, Fresh, NARS, and Lipstick Queen among others. 

There will be specialists from several of the product lines, refreshments, door prizes, massages, facials, and makeovers, jewelry trunk shows, plus that 20% discount on apothecary and jewelry items. 

It's a relaxing way to spend a hot Houston afternoon, and an excellent time to test new fragrances, skin care and makeup. The staff is low-key, fun and informative, so you won't feel pressured to buy something you don't love. 

Come out and play with the perfume! 

For those who have yet to discover this gem of a shop, it is located near the corner of Kirby and Alabama, across the side street from Whole Foods and almost directly across Alabama from the Barnes & Noble bookstore. 

Try this: if you walked out of Whole Foods and looked to your left, you would see it. 

The store actually comprises several houses, which contain some very chi-chi housewares. They're totally cool, but way costly. The main shop contains the apothecary, jewelry, and gift items.

And no, I am not affiliated with Kuhl-Linscomb. I just spend money there.

For more information, call 713.526.6000, or visit Kuhl-Linscomb's web site.

Spring Fling: Nine Scents I'm Wearing Now

This is a shot of George demonstrating what Spring is all about for me - sniffing the air. There is so much to smell these days. From the many beautiful plants in bloom to the flooded bayou to the hot tar they're using the re-do the roof at work, Spring is full of smells, both enchanting and headache-inducing. 

The warmer air brings them all into sharper focus, perfume included. Everything seems more vivid these days. And strangely, I find that I now like several scents I wasn't able to appreciate the first time I encountered them.

I may write about them when I get a chance, but they include Keiko Mecheri White Petals (hated it the first time), Narciso Rodriguez for Her EDT (couldn't smell it to save my life), and the original Vera Wang (she confused me with all of her flankers). 

I also keep returning to a favorite, Vivienne Westwood Libertine, these days, and keep Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental close at hand. And I have reached for Narciso Rodriguez for Her EDP and his new Essence more than once in the past few weeks. 

Two new Spring fling fragrances for me are Versace's Essence Exciting and Valentino V Absolu. Neither is new on the market, but both are new to me. As you can probably tell, even as it warms up I like perfumes with substance, and a sexy, musky dry down.

Think Scent is Powerful for You? Just Remember That Ant

You think scent is powerful for humans - all those evocative, time-warping Proustian Rushes and such? 

Well, we humans ain't got nothing on those eternally fascinating little creatures, ants. For ants, the power of scent is so strong it overrides the proof provided by other senses such as sight and touch. At least when it comes to death. 

It seems that about two days after an ant dies, it gives off a unique odor that informs the other ants of its demise. Until then, the other ants simply ignore the corpse. But once that "I'm dead" odor is released and telegraphed, the dead ant is picked up and carried to the ant graveyard.

The scientist who noticed this behavior was able to isolate the "I'm dead" odor. It's oleic acid. The rascal placed a drop of oleic acid on an unsuspecting live ant, and voila, that ant was whisked away to the ant graveyard. Kicking and screaming (so to speak) all the way. This kept happening until the ant was able to wash off the "I'm dead" aroma. (That's what I'd call a real scrubber.)

 

What's so interesting is that the ant's squirming and struggling - obvious proof that it was very much alive - weren't enough to override the scent signal. In the ant world, if you SMELL dead, you ARE dead, case closed. 

Here's the full story and broadcast from NPR's All Things Considered. True scent lovers will enjoy the description of the different chemicals the scientist "enjoyed" as he worked to find the "I'm dead" scent. They include a favorite among us perfumistas - skatole.

Narciso Rodriguez Essence EDP: Radiant Floral Musc

Maybe it was my mood: having just dodged the latest layoff bullet at work, I was feeling relieved and celebratory. But instead of heading for the nearest bar, I went to the Galleria to sniff the scents I hadn't yet tried. Nothing interested me at Neiman's so I walked down to Saks. 

I was in the right mood to deal with the sales associates at Saks. No one, no matter how dour, annoying or pissy, was going to bring me down. As it turned out, one of the two friendly SAs they have happened to be there. 

When I asked to try the new Narciso Rodriguez Essence, she told me how nice it was and how everyone was asking her what she was wearing. I know to tune this stuff out, as they say the same thing about every new release. And, because I usually wind up disagreeing with their assessments.

But this time was different. This one hooked me immediately and wouldn't let me go. There was something so bubbly and happy and shiny about Essence - something that matched my mood - that I fell for it then and there. 

I spritzed it on my skin, walked around with it for maybe ten minutes, then went back to buy it. Thank goodness it only got better as time went on. I felt a little like Goldilocks, finding the chair, the porridge and the bed that fit her just right. 

How to describe it. Essence feels clean, yes, but in the way of sheets drying in the sun and wind, not that starchy, synthetic, fabric softener-clean. Aldehydes aren't listed among the notes, but Essence has to contain them. The fragrance triggers a memory of a pure aldehyde I got to experience once in a perfumer's lab. It gave the sensation of buttery champagne and brought a smile to my face. 

The rose note in Essence is dark pink-red, jammy and sweet. The iris adds just a touch - not too much - of powder. The amber is golden and doesn't smell like head-shop amber. I don't get baby-powder powder from the iris and amber, which in my case is a very good thing. 

And the musc. The musc is delicious and warm and sensual and blossoms on the skin. I am a big fan of dirty muscs, like Muscs Kublai Khan, but I also find this musc very satisfying. It smells different from other muscs and is somehow shot through with the heat of the Sun. It's as if it's been pre-warmed in preparation to be on your body. Yummy.

I wore Essence this weekend out in the country on a breezy day. We drove around for hours looking at bluebonnets and other wildflowers, getting out the shoot pictures of especially beautiful fields of flowers. 

When the wind changed direction I would get whiffs of the most wonderful skin musc. It felt very in sync with all the nature and glorious flowers around me, not synthetic at all. At first it didn't register that it was Essence, it was that naturally a part of me and my experience.

I find Essence to be infused with sunshine and happiness. And so for once, I can agree with the copy the press folk put out. Here's a quote from the press release for Essence:  " ...the purity of 'essence'...encompassing the sensuality of a woman with the radiance of sunlight." Yep, sensuality and sunshine, that's about it.

Alberto Morillas is the nose behind Essence, and I'd like to thank him for interpreting the marketing brief in this way. He's made me very happy. I also love the silvery bottle, which was designed by Ross Lovegrove.

Saks has the exclusive on Essence until April. You can read the entire press release about it right here.

Passionate Perfumista Passes: R.I.P. Venitta Baxter

Here in Houston, there is a street called Harwin where you can find almost anything at a discount, including brand-name perfume. This is where I met Venitta Baxter, in a narrow shop near the back of a nondescript strip of stores. 

You can't see Discount Perfume from the street, and the sign for the shopping center was torn up, so I have no idea how I found it that first time. But once I did I kept coming back for the deals, and because of Venitta. Because Venitta knew her perfume. 

She knew something about every single fragrance in that store. And Lord knows, she had a personal opinion about all of them, too. I noticed that she watched her tongue with customers who just wanted the latest releases or an old favorite (though she would gently guide the male customers to try the things she liked), but with me she shared her honest reactions. 

When I'd ask to try something, I'd get a face or a look that told me exactly how she felt about it. And when I'd ask her why, she'd tell me. And I could tell her why I liked or didn't like something. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we didn't. But we always agreed to disagree because we recognized and respected each other's passion for scent. 

You could carry on a real conversation about perfume with Venitta, which any perfumista will tell you is a rare commodity among sales associates. I kept hoping the other sales ladies would watch and learn from her but they never did. They seemed to have only a perfunctory interest in perfume, and couldn't talk about the history or the notes of the scents they were selling. 

While this made for a quieter, quicker shopping experience, it wasn't nearly as much fun. Venitta was a perfume chatterbox, loaded with Southern charm and lots of "honeys" and "sweeties." She always greeted me by name, which she prefaced with the Southern-polite "Miss." With Venitta you could cackle over the truly bad scents and dream about the devastating effect you'd have on men when you wore the really good ones. 

Early last year I had heard that Venitta had moved off the sales floor to the back office, having grown weary of the perfume haze (her allergies) and all the standing (her feet). I feel bad that I didn't learn until yesterday that she'd died back in July. 

One morning she didn't show up to work (she was always the first to arrive), and when an employee went to her home, they found her, dead from a heart attack. The sales lady who told me about it said that Venitta had been having pains in her hand and arm, but hadn't had them checked out. 

I am glad to have met Venitta, and to have been able to write about her and her wonderful customer service for a local shopping guide, and to have had her on our morning talk show. I don't know anything about her life outside the perfume store, but I am sure she is missed there as well. R.I.P. Venitta Baxter, and thanks for everything.

(Photos are of the article I wrote and shot for the Harwin Guide back in 2004 or 2005. Click on them to enlarge.)

What Scent Really Turns Men On?

That's the question we women have been asking ourselves for years. And now it seems Italian scientists have finally found the answer: rotten eggs.

Yes, the smell of rotting eggs - caused by hydrogen sulfide - apparently has a Viagra-like effect on men.

In fact, their penises even release tiny amounts of the gas right before they have sex! The gas relaxes muscles in the region, allowing for improved blood flow and a better erection.

Will wonders never cease?! 

You can read more about this fascinating and fragrant finding right here, in the Sun.

Now I'm just going to sit back and wait for a perfumer to come up with a women's scent that includes the odor of rotten eggs. If they think they can sell it, they will. 

(That's Peter Cat helping me out yet again on a photo shoot. He volunteered to do the sniffing!)

Perfume Bottle Survives the Black Death - But Does the Perfume Survive?

As the Black Death rages, a wealthy Jewish family hurriedly buries a cache of treasures. They know they are about to be expelled from their town in Germany - the townspeople blame them and other Jews for the Plague. 

They hope to return to their treasure trove, but never do. 

Nearly 650 years later, the family's treasure is discovered. Among the beautifully crafted items is a gold perfume bottle, designed to hang at a woman's waist. The bottle still contains a small wad of cotton. In the family's time it would've been saturated with scent. 

Does the cotton retain any of the perfume's aroma after 650 years? Is there a lingering whiff of the Middle Ages to be snuffled?

Perfume-loving correspondent Maev Kennedy noses around for the answer in this video of the Black Death exhibition at The Wallace Collection, London, posted by The Guardian, UK. What she gets to do would make any perfume lover jealous. Such a cool assignment! Check it out.

Answers to Some FAQs about Buying Perfume for Valentine's Day

Buying perfume for Valentine's Day can be confusing for many of you. This morning I did an on-air segment for the Houston talk show Great Day Houston, in which I tried to make it easier for you to find the perfect scent (to watch, click on the Relationships tab, then choose All in the Family or Love & Marriage, and then scroll down the list of videos until you find Scent Signals). Here's some of what we talked about on the show, plus a whole lot more. Hope it takes some of the confusion out of finding a fabulous fragrance for your sweetheart.

Where do I start when shopping for perfume for my Valentine?

Knowing which perfumes or colognes your valentine currently wears is a great place to start. This can give you clues about other scents they may like. At the very least, you can replenish their stock or buy a more luxurious version of it. For example, if she would never treat herself to the pure perfume in her scent, you could. 

You can also use the notes in her favorite fragrance to find others. You can find out which notes are in a certain perfume by googling the name of the perfume along with words “perfume notes.” Once you know which notes are in it, you can bring that information to the mall and look for other scents with similar notes. 

When you google the scent, also take note of which perfume category (also called a fragrance family) it belongs to. Sometimes you can sniff it out simply by smelling the perfume, but not always. Knowing the fragrance family helps refine and narrow your search. 

For example, if you go in knowing you're looking for a floral-oriental with rose and jasmine at the heart, you can avoid wasting time on all the spicy, woodsy, green and gourmand scents. 

Conversely, if you don’t like the perfume your valentine currently wears, you can use the list of notes to help you avoid perfumes like it. Even better, just use your nose.

Should I go with what the “perfume ladies” at the counter recommend?

Sure, if you think it will smell good on your significant other. Which means you need to have a fairly solid idea of how your sweetheart smells - naked and scented. 

Just remember: the first thing the perfume ladies will grab, show and try to spray on you is the fragrance they’ve been encouraged to push the hardest that month. It is the one that will get them the biggest commission. Yes, they need to earn a living, but not necessarily at your expense.

If you don't think the perfume they're pushing will smell good on your loved one's skin, don't buy it. This is why the more you know about the way your SO smells and what smells good on them, the better off you’ll be. 

What should I do if I don't know all that?

Try to remember one thing. Perfume makers expect you to make an uninformed, snap decision. So they make the first few minutes of a scent – those few precious seconds right after it’s been sprayed – as alluring and enticing as possible. They want you to fall in love and buy it then and there. 

But here's the deal. Those first notes (they're called top notes) fade in about 10-15 minutes. And when that first thrill is gone, you can be left with something that doesn't move you in the least. Guess what. That's the part of the perfume you actually live with all day and all night (the middle and bottom notes). 

So take your time. Don’t make the mistake of only smelling a perfume for a couple of minutes. Give it time to develop on the tester strip, or even on your skin. Give a scent at least a couple of hours to show you what's it's going to do. 

You don't rush your lovemaking. Don't rush your perfume buying.

But it gets so confusing, trying all these different scents. 

Yes, it does. Here’s what I do. I spray the scent on a tester strip, wait, sniff, wait again, then sniff again. I do this for a few minutes. Then I put the tester strip aside and move on to other scents. If, after a few minutes, I like something well enough on paper, I will try it on my skin. But I try to limit the number of scents I apply to my skin. Two on one arm, two on the other. I've done more and gotten totally confused. 

If you don't want to try anything on your skin, that's okay. It usually helps to smell perfume on skin, but if your body chemistry is a whole lot different than your sweetheart's it may not help you at all. Just write down the names of the perfumes on the tester strips so you can keep them straight. 

Then go do the rest of your shopping and revisit the tester strips toward the end of your shopping trip. You will probably find that one of the scents now appeals to you more than the others. And it may not be the one you expected. Can you imagine smelling and enjoying it on your sweetheart? Congratulations!

Should I buy something I like, or a fragrance I think my valentine will like?

Some guys and gals know what will smell great on their loves. Some don't. For those who are clueless, here's an idea. The next time you smell something you really like on a friend or a stranger, find out what it is and remember it. It's as good a starting point as any. 

I always tell women to wear what makes them feel sexy and confident, because we women are so much in our heads – if we don’t feel good about ourselves, it shows. And men like confident women, so you want to wear scents that make you feel great. He will pick up on it. 

That said, the fragrances that turn US on aren't always the ones that turn GUYS on. So what is a guy to do - should he buy something HE likes, or something YOU like? 

Guys, I suggest buying something you would really like to smell on your gal, something you think would make her feel wonderful and sexy and special. Something you would like to smell on her (and you) all day and all night.

The worst you can do is buy something your sweetie doesn’t totally love. It will still be okay, because the perfume will have come from you, and that is enough to make it special.

Is there any way to get a good deal on perfume? 

Yes, there is. We who live in Houston are lucky to have a street called Harwin, where there are many discount perfume shops. The two I shop at are Discount Perfume and Perfume Time. I’ve found that they have the “real deal” and a decent range of scents - even some hard-to-find and vintage fragrances. You can save quite a bit of money shopping there. 

You can also save a lot of money shopping for perfume online. If you email me, I can tell you how. ((scentsignals@mac.com))   

What’s the bottom line?

For me, the bottom line is that scent is a fantastic adventure. Have fun with it. Go perfume shopping together. There are far worse ways to spend an afternoon. Or bring home samples and try them out on each other. 

My valentine says the best perfume is the one that gets all over him when he and I snuggle. He's absolutely right. Because I love it when I get his scent on me. 

So go out and find something you'd like to smell on your sweetheart and on yourself. Then get to snuggling!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Laughing Stars

tonight i looked for our constellation,

the one with the dancing star,

but found only others.

then in my mind's eye i saw

us lying on that hill country road,

glowing in our white terry robes.

radiant in our newfound love,

like the stars themselves.

that night the stars seemed to follow us.

they turned as we turned,

shooting and twirling.

the earth spun so fast we almost fell off.

we were laughing.

we called for UFOs to appear,

but none ever came.

we thought they must be flying over other parts of Texas.

later we saw stars up at the lake.

shooting star after shooting star.

so many we lost count.

but no UFOs.

we were still laughing.

just now at dusk i saw the most amazing shooting star.

i thought of you,

wishing you had seen it.

i wanted to hear you laugh.

you see, when i see stars, i think of you.

stars, you.

you, stars.

stars, you, laughter.

a couple of laughing stars we are.

i must remember.

(for phantom)

Of Beauty and Aging

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of writing about beauty and aging. As a woman of a certain age, moderately vain, and involved with a younger man, these issues stare me squarely in the face every day.

Each day is different. Some days I remember who I am and realize that how I look is just a part of what makes me "me." I am able to make peace with the changes I see in my body. I thank God for good genes and for the many blessings in my life, including when I was born. I feel good about being me.

Other days I find myself loathing every line, sag, and spot, feeling energetically shriveled, and even worse - ugly. I hate these days. It takes a lot of energy to fight these feelings, and sometimes I just want to curl up in a ball and cry instead. 

Where do these feelings come from? What standard of beauty am I holding myself up against? Is it valid? Am I too hard on myself, or not hard enough? Am I seeing myself through my eyes, or through the imagined eyes of someone else? Who or what is this internal critic, and why is it so harsh?

I know I'm not the only woman who has days like these. But I didn't realize how serious the problem was until I read this column by Janice Turner in The Times.

Here's a humorous, pointy, and extremely eye-opening excerpt:

"While there is much anxiety about how teenagers are rendered anorexic by size-zero fashion plates, older women are reckoned too sensible to be sucked in. Except that according to the Mental Health Foundation a quarter of British women aged 45 to 54 suffer from depression, up by a fifth in ten years. That same age range has seen a rise in alcohol-related deaths and has become the principal female suicide flashpoint. Now I'm a hyper-sceptic of all gloomy stats, but separate studies in Australia and America have uncovered similarly deepening pools of midlife female misery.

Little wonder, perhaps, in this most cruel and judgmental of decades. Once a woman of 63 embraced elasticated waistbands: now she is supposed to despair because she can't rock a red bikini like Helen Mirren.

Once there was little you could do to hold age at bay: now the possibilities are infinite - so what's stopping you then, slattern? The current ad campaigns offer a tantalising deal to fiftysomethings: you can remain visible, as your mother never was, admired and lusted after, you don't even need to lie about your age, but only if, by means of self-punishment and perpetual vigilance, you never grow old."

That last line is a killer. You can be visible and desired - as long as you never look old. Ouch. 

Well, at least there is some recompense in growing older. We women of a certain age are no longer as likely to take other people's crap without saying something about it, and we are also happier sexually. 

"But this week I read a report that proclaimed women have “the best sex of their lives” in their forties. At first I snorted at yet another weary attempt to sex up older women, as if - like Madonna proffering her crotch to the cameras - knowing we are still foxy is the only way to prop up our self-worth. Yet the report suggested that why older women get happier in the sack could be chemical: as our production of caring-sharing oestrogen diminishes and we start pumping out stroppy testosterone, we suddenly start to put our own needs - sexual and otherwise - first. So it seems this being less nice is caused by growing a teeny bit more like a man."

Turner goes on to make the point that women of a certain age should be hired for important positions in government and business because of all the good things we bring to the table. Why aren't we? Good question. Do we need a touch more testosterone?

Ack, I think I've grown weary of worrying about how I look. Looks are so surface, and I've always been more interested in what lurks beneath - in what gave you those looks, how you earned them. So I'm not entirely convinced that I want to write about beauty and aging.

Then again, I may decide to take on our assumptions about beauty and aging and turn them on their heads. Yes, I think that's more likely. 

I'm going to leave you with one last, great line from Turner's column, in case you don't take the time to read it (though you really should). 

"Instead, let us grant women an age armistice, when they cease to be judged on appearance but for who they are. How rarely they get the chance, how magnificent when they do."