In a recent post at Perfume Posse, Musette described her adolescent self as "Geek before Geek was cool". During a week when I watched The Social Network and contemplated buying a Gregory Brothers / Auto-Tune the News t-shirt, her description was just another sign that we have lived to see the day my mother was always promising me would come: nerds have inherited the earth. We've come a long way since the 1980s and nerdom has evolved: gone are the high pants and the pocket protectors (as well as most of the pens), nerds of every gender and race are acknowledged, and globalization and the internet have opened up new, niche fields of nerd inquiry. No longer restricted to math, science, computing and Star Trek conventions, nerds are becoming foodies and bespectacled mixologists, pop musicians, graphic novelists and film bloggers, beekeepers, adventure travelers, market watchers, reality television competitors and whistle-blowing website activists. Nerds have money. They own the best home theatre equipment and make the coolest Halloween costumes. They know the only coffee place in town with a Clover. And, increasingly, some of them are smelling really good.
Perfume is a great hobby for geeks and systems wonks. It can involve hours and days and weeks of research into a secretive, trend-driven and detail-oriented industry. You end up collecting bottles and vials, ordering or swapping rarities through the mail and building storage units or furniture to organize your collection. You exhibit a lot of mavenish behavior, like checking currency conversion websites multiple times a day. Almost every perfumista of long-standing I know keeps a spreadsheet or electronic notepad full of data on sample testing count, fragrance notes, prices, perfumer names or vintage scent markers. Samuel Butler once wrote that knowing what gives us pleasure is "not easy, and how to extend our knowledge of it is the highest and most neglected of all arts and branches of education". Dedicated fragrance nerds take this to heart.
Two of the most common ways for those in the online fragrance community to study what pleases them is to follow: 1) a perfumer's known body of work; and 2) different representations of a given note. It is particularly enlightening to study both at the same time. After years of working confidentially behind the scenes, unknown to the public, noses are understandably skittish when asked about their style and process. It is rare that you get an answer like Sophia Grojsman's: "Perfumers have signatures. You can pick up a fragrance and know who the perfumer is by the way certain ingredients are put together. I’m known for floral accords, bottoms and cleavage."1 And yet, examining those signatures or the way a perfumer handles a specific genre or note can be one of the most fruitful ways of determining what you like and/or don't like about it. Recently I've noticed that some of my favorite noses seem to have a unique way of approaching notes I find problematic in other fragrances. Please find below the five perfumes that started my musings on this topic and comment with observations on some of your own favorites.
Parfums de Nicolaï Eau d'Été: I am a fan of the way Patricia de Nicolaï handles many notes, but I am always especially impressed by her use of lime. In cuisine, lime juice or zest gives such sharp, clean radiance to a dish that it seems to focus other flavors; in perfumery, all too often it comes across as flat and indistinct. Several of Nicolaï's summer scents have started with a kick of fresh-squeezed lime — in addition to my beloved Eau d'Été, there are Eau Exotique, Eau Turquoise and Balle de Match. Even Vanille Tonka opens with a bright burst of lime that complements the otherwise powdery and PEZ-sweet top notes. Wearing Nicolaï fragrances has made me realize that I like lime best when it is executed like marching band music: brisk, bracing and clear as brass. It gets me walking faster.
Ormonde Jayne Champaca: Like Nicolaï, Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne has overseen beautifully fresh openings with lime (Frangipani and Tiare). Another of her many tricks seems to be to the use of pink pepper to give pop to lush florals. A ubiquitous note lately, pink pepper is commonly set on top of a dry woody or clean patchouli fragrance, almost like a bubblegum-colored wig: "I'm spicy! Racy! Modern!" The result is a very bare, generic fragrance. Meanwhile, Ormonde Jayne fragrances like Champaca and Ta'if use it to balance very full heart notes. Despite its pink pepper, creamy musks and green tea base, when I smell Champaca, I am not reminded of a dozen other recent fragrances: it somehow manages to smell uniquely and wonderfully like itself, which is perhaps the greatest compliment a perfumista can bestow. (See Robin's rant of yesterday or the close of her excellent Champaca review.)
Christian Dior Cologne Blanche: (R.I.P, my good friend. This one is apparently discontinued.) I am wary of orange blossom. I love the wild, airy, innocent jasmine-like presentations of this scent — maybe see Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue for reference — but as Angela has pointed out, a lot of cheap soap and drugstore cologne smells like orange blossom. It's hard to shake your association of the note with shrill and thin functional products. A few months ago, though, I noticed that almost all of the few sunny, baby-powdered orange blossom fragrances I liked were done by one man: perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, also the creator of some of my favorite heavy-hitters, like MDCI Enlèvement au Sérail and Dior Eau Noire. Like Kurkdjian's Fleur du Male for Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior Cologne Blanche highlights the bright, white-tiled cleanliness of orange blossom by off-setting it with a sprig of aromatic notes normally seen in fougères: there is a lovely accent of rosemary in Cologne Blanche. Of course, when I first noticed the orange blossom-Kurkdjian connection, I thought I had made a discovery to be reported to everyone... until I recalled that Maison Francis Kurkdjian features something like four variations on orange blossom cologne. Ah, somebody noticed before me.
Armani Privé Ambre Soie: Christine Nagel is another of my favorite perfumers. Her amber fragrances — the first feminine Mauboussin, Fendi Theorema, several of her Thierry Mugler scents and this one — are gorgeously lush without being too dense. While sweet and warm, they avoid the vanilla bottom-heaviness of traditional orientals. I think her secret involves cedar and musks... but it certainly involves what my brother would call "mad skills".
Parfums DelRae Emotionelle: Edmond Roudnitska was a master of melon notes (among others) — his oeuvre includes Diorella and Frédéric Malle Le Parfum de Thérèse, after all. It somehow seemed inevitable that his son, perfumer Michel Roudnitska, would tackle a melon perfume with his characteristic take-no-prisoners approach. Emotionelle is reportedly based on the Paris breakfasts of line founder DelRae Roth. It smells like the Cavaillon melon that ate Provence: it is a huge, loud, balls-to-the-wall monster that lasts for days. It is liberally laced with jasmine, but not so as you'd notice. As with many of M. Roudnitska's creations, I initially hated it, yet eventually found myself coming back for more. There is something so compellingly juicy and real about it. I would have sworn there was melon in another of my DelRae favorites, Amoureuse, but I don't see it listed in the notes.
1. Quoted in In the World of Fragrance, Reputations Rest on the Nose at the New York Times.
This is why I love NST so much – we get great, witty, informative writing that covers such diverse topics as nerds, bacon chocolate bars, perfume books, perfume reviews, industry rants and polls. Where else are you going to get all of this at this price?!?
Thanks so much for your kind words, and I agree: it’s like an Amex commercial. Bacon chocolate bar: $8.50…. Oolong tea sampler: $85…. Sample Sets: Amount undisclosed, in case my husband is reading. Perfume nerd community: Priceless!
Cheers!
Ditto! Fantastic article Erin!
Thanks – love your gravatar!
hear, hear!
Ha! You beat me… I had to log in first.
Nerds are fast readers
This post has a special place in my Star Trek lovin’, Pokemon Stadium playin’ heart. But counterintuitively, I prefer to keep my nerdiness out of my perfume. I tend to go for comfort scents (aka intellectual no-brainers). Hey, I can’t help being a geek, but at least I don’t have to smell like one.
Ha! Whereas I wouldn’t mind being a perfume nerd, but I feel that it’s gonna take years to develop the cred! (Now, if you want to discuss abiotic factors that have influenced species diversification in the spiny desert forest of southern Madagascar, I would reclaim my nerdiness in a heartbeat!)
Yes, nerd cred can be difficult. If you feel like an Old School nerd, perhaps try the 500 Point Nerdity test: http://www.armory.com/tests/nerd500.html.
You know, it wasn’t until I checked the box for “Were you ever on a chess team?” that I thought “Oh, I really have always been a nerd.”
I was on the chess team throughout senior school. I used to have a “gold” medal somewhere for it.
Yes, I’m afraid chess is a nerd activity. I think there should be questions like: “Do you ever dream about playing chess?” and “…Tetris?”
Okay, this is leading inevitably to speculation on what Nerd EdT will smell like. Anybody tried that Shirtless Kirk?
No, but I TOTALLY PLAN TO as soon as I try Sulu Pour Homme!
Who wouldn’t want to be a jaunty, fearless swashbuckler of a man?
Oh yeah, let’s hear it for us geeks.
When I was first on the hunt for a signature fragrance – before I hit the interwebs and everything changed – I’d take those silly little polls that were designed to tell me what style of perfume fit my personality best; was I sporty, classic, romantic, nature-lovin’, blah blah blah….. and I remember thinking, “Isn’t there a category that says I’m brainy, thoughtful and research a topic to death when I get curious?”
It turned out that for me there is a category of perfume that says that for me, and it’s iris in all its cool, metallic glory. IdI was the first iris-centric perfume I smelled and bought, and I dubbed it my “I’m presenting my thesis now” perfume. Since then I’ve sampled just about every iris ‘fume, and being the geek I am I’m constantly doing the wear-two-at-a-time to compare them. Samples really get used up when you’re making notes about BdI vs. 28LP, BdI vs. Hiris, 28LP vs. ISM and so on and so forth. Two-at-a-time is one of my favorite pastimes of this spreadsheet’ed hobby of ours.
And speaking of us geeks and our passions, I wanted to share this great video by the author John Greene in praise of nerds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMweXVWB918&feature=relmfu. “Becuase nerds are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff.” It’s great to be a nerd.
Oh, I love that quote! I want to get back to that… so so cynical these days. I think it’s a side effect of working against Wall Street.
Geek Pride! (Did you know they have a Geek Pride Day in Spain? It’s May 25th.) Your quiz story reminds me of my childhood, when my grandmother would purchase seductive orientals and bright lipsticks for my busty, flirty cousins and I would get “Sporty Fresh Wave” shower gel or some such, despite the fact I have never been, and will never be, sportif.
Love the link, as well as the Vlog brothers generally. So true: it’s an insult that means you like stuff?
“Becuase nerds are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff.”
I love it!
That’s a wonderful quote! Anyone who has an acute passion for learning is a great person.
Great article, Erin! Alas, I haven’t quite gotten that far down the road. I have the mongo spreadsheet, and yes, there are columns for perfumer and notes, but I haven’t gotten around to analyzing things just yet.
Data collection is the more important step. Please get back to us when you have some theories
I’m just trying to update my spreadsheet more thoroughly to include all the bazillions of decants samples I have. It is a lot of work, but I know when I am finished I’ll be very happy indeed.
Ha! I totally scared off the clingy SA at a new, kinda shady fragrance store at our mall when he asked me how many fragrances I own and I said “Oh, I’m not sure. I haven’t updated my spreadsheet in awhile. Last count was 108 and I was only halfway through my cabinet.”
You think they’d be delighted to find somebody who could be a big potential customer… instead they mostly seem incredulous or nervous to meet you (there are exceptions, of course). Does this happen in other industries? Do music store SAs panic when they meet a CD or vinyl collector? SAs in book stores? Wine stores? Antique places? I don’t know.
I am so a perfume nerd. Someone was laughing at me today cause I get so excited talking about it. He thinks it’s cool, though.
I have backed off on the spreadsheets and whatnot – I have gone down a more visceral route and tend to not look at which perfumers are doing what or whose work I like or want to follow. I just smell things and if I like them, great, if not, oh well.
Sometimes I struggle with things – although some of Kurkdijan’s fragrances for other houses have amazed me, his own line has been a fail for me. Mostly I’m scared of it, cause one smelled like dog pee and another was just vile (the Absolue everyone loves so much). Someday I will revisit. So, I do try to see and understand what everyone is talking about.
This was a great post – I love nerds. A guy I love dearly is outwardly a super-cool working musician who has the best undercurrent of nerdy dorkiness I have ever known – it is hard to explain, but it endears him to me so much.
My brother has this story where he was talking to my uncle and my uncle said: “How did Erin get so completely obsessed with perfume? She seems like the sort of person who would be more interested in… I don’t know, tube socks.” My bro nearly died laughing and my uncle begged him not to tell me. Which, of course, he immediately did. So I know what you mean about your excitement and your dorky friend. And I think the Absolue is *supposed* to be vile – so you’re not missing that one.
(I really like that one, really.)
Nerds have not become cool. We’ve just started using the word “nerd” to describe things we thing are cool.
Totally agree Tom.
Yeah, I’ve often seen this sort of narrative in the past 5 years, and as a lifetime “nerdy” person, I’ve seen little/no increase in interest in nerdy subject matter, it’s just that the internet lets you see more nerds, and there’s now a “nerd” aesthetic in fashion which has nothing to do with attitude/lifestyle/interests/knowledge. It just has to do with ugly shoes and those awful Buddy Holly glasses in this thread – something nerds have not worn for over 50 years.
As my brother would say: “I earned these scars. You can’t join my Walking Wounded club…” ??
So you mean all those SAs who say my scent knowledge and awkwardness around retail staff make me cool were LYING? Crap.
I’d say both yes and no to “have nerds become cool.” For my teenage boys, being nerds meant junior high school was really hard – unfortunately, it’s still not cool to like your classes and get great marks – but high school is already a lot better.
One of the things that has changed, though, is how the internet has changed things for those who have geeky interests. If you’re like me, a lover of Discworld books, StrongBad e-mails and anything done by Joss Whedon, you will find like-minded people online. Comic-Con has become big business, and these days it’s hard to find a teenage boy who DOESN’T game.
Partly though, it also depends on what you define as a geek, a nerd, or a dork. Are they the same or different? (For example, I consider myself more a geek than a nerd, and I’m not a dork. But then that’s my geeky former-English-major self coming out.)
I always think of dork as an endearment regardless of nerdiness.
I think of a geek as being more drawn to tech stuff, a nerd as a super-enthusiast about stuff, and a dork as someone slightly socially awkward but endearing. Some or all can be present in one individual.
My teenage daughter is proud to be a “band geek” (as in school band, not rock) and a “science nerd” – her terms.
Good for her!
Tama, I think of it the other way around, with nerds more often being techies, while geeks are enthusiasts (hence the “Gleeks” for the t.v. show).
That’s how I define it as well. The nerd test you posted skewed that way as well – most of the questions were math, computer programming and chemistry, and all the lit references were sci-fi. I found myself thinking, “Sci-Fi but not fantasy? How come there are no questions about playing three different instruments in band, or wearing braces, or Weird Al Yankovic?”
See? Geek.
Or how about listening to Randy Newman or Tom Lehrer? Geek, fer sure.
Nerds are smart and get good grades, esp in math and science; geeks like computers and iPhones and all that jazz; dorks are just goofballs (maybe they’re the enthusiastic ones?). Obviously, there is a ton of overlap. That’s how it works in my head.
And I thought I was the only mom who appreciates StrongBad emails!
Nope! We have lightswitch raves at my house ALL THE TIME.
I didn’t think we were going to get this serious about the semiotics of this, but, yes, I agree, Dionne: “geek” is often used as the most inclusive term, with connotations merely of obsessive intelligence of any type. “Nerd” usually means the intelligence + social dysfunction, while “dork”, I think, implies the social dysfunction, without necessarily including the intelligence. But I like that Ann uses dork as an endearment.
And this is one of the things that marks us as who we are. We can happily debate the fine nuances that distinguish the nerd from the geek from the dork.
Let’s face it, we’re all the same species, only the color of the fur or feathers are different.
Sort of the Trekkie/Trekker/Trekkist debate.
This thread made me smile. It reminds me of one of my favorite OI (oratorical interpretation) pieces from high school, which a good friend of mine gave, called “Dork” by Paul Anthony Hutchinson. I wish I could find the essay online as it’s quite hilarious and discussed the 9 denominations of dorkdom. =)
Oh, dork is totally an endearment in my family too. Typically, someone will do something goofy, and another will shake his/her head and say “you’re such a dork!”, which basically translates to “you’re goofy, but it makes me laugh, and I love you”.
YES! A fellow Discworld/Pratchett fan! I knew i could not possibly be the only one to love perfume AND Pratchett books!! sorry, could not help myself…
So I’ve now had shoutouts for both Terry Pratchett and StrongBad. Any takers for BtVS/Angel/Firefly/Dollhouse/Mr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
I know there are a lot of Joss Whedon nerds who post on Perfume Posse…
Hooray for nerds! I don’t actually fit many of the stereotypes–I’m not a Trekkie, my computer skills are only moderate, and even in my mid-40’s, I still do not require any sort of corrective lenses. Nevertheless, as an analytical chemist whose favorite subject in school was math, who memorized the periodic table and the first 60 decimal places of the number pi, and who has more random information crammed into my head than anyone else I know, I hereby proudly declare that I am a nerd and I’m proud of it!
I have 20/20 and will paraphrase Truman Capote for my tech skills: That’s not computing, that’s typing. I wish I was better at math and chemistry, but I’m more the lit nerd, as might be apparent.
Great post.
To me, it still feels like there’s still something ironic or camp implied in the term “nerd.” For me, “anorak” works better. IMAO.
Pokemon Stadium Shoutout! ◕‿‿◕
Never heard anorak, the slang term, before: very interesting and love the apparent origin of the term!
I kind of take anorak for granted because I’m a King Crimson fangirl and it seems like anorak is always the way that fandom gets described.
I think there was a King Crimson doc at the documentary festival here two years ago, but I missed it. Have to admit I don’t know much about them… Love the anorak, so thanks!
I don’t mind being called a nerd, and I wouldn’t object to being called a geek if I thought it fit (I tend to think of a geek as being someone with very deep computer/techno skills, such as a programmer), but DO NOT call me a dork!!!
Or a dweeb!!!!
I remember finding out as a teenager that dork began as a very crude slang term for “penis”. I was shocked, because when I was growing up, we used it all the time in polite company, and, as Ann indicated, often used it affectionately.
Similar shock at finding out what “shmuck” meant. I used it all the time.
Haha, thanks for this list! I have never been anything other than a huge nerd. At least people don’t throw things at me quite as much anymore.
Now, back to my video games.
I’m just relieved adults have much smaller gym lockers. I used to fit in mine just perfectly.
this post is great, so funny and so interesting! new scents for me to lust after smelling..thank you for educating my nose via my computer on a daily basis!
I posted about Mary Greenwell Plum on my A Certain Vintage blog but I just can’t get my head around all the technicalities of perfume writing you handle so well!
Champaca sounds amazing…I have yet to smell anything Ormonde…can’t wait for my next trip to London to go sniffing!
Thanks for pointing me towards your review of Plum: I’m desperate for descriptions of it, as I haven’t tried it yet! If you get to London, do try the Ormonde Jayne fragrances: the whole line is very cohesive and compelling. Fragiapani, Tiare, Ormonde Woman and Champaca stand out the most for me.
Hello, my name is Isa and I am a nerd. And a geek. And a cinema, books, comics and perfumes freak. ^_^
Thank you for this article!
I think I’ll have to try Ormonde Jayne Champaca. It sounds right up my alley.
Thank you for joining us, and please report back on the Champaca!
This article evolved in very interesting ways. I expected nothing like what I ended up reading! Very enjoyable. and, of course, makes me want to try all mentioned perfumes.
All lovely compliments, considering how digressive the post was. Thank you very much and I hope you get to try them all!
Great post!
I firmly believe the internet has been the equalizer of nerdome as far as finding others that share your obsessive (or unpopular) interests. When a community can be vocal without being marginalized it empowers the people in it, which is why I am completely unashamed when my husband looks at my perfume collection and says “I think you have a problem.”
My brother-in-law builds mini-bikes (yes, like Shriners ride) and there are all these intense online forums with people from everywhere spending hours trading info and parts. And some people believe that the internet has failed to deliver on its promise of connecting people from all over the globe…
Oh, in case anyone didn’t know, the word “nerd” is believed to have been invented by Dr. Seuss, in his book “If I Ran the Zoo.”
I think that was the only Dr. Seuss book I ever had as a kid. My folks didn’t like him for some reason.
Maybe they knew that he didn’t like children (it’s true–he didn’t even like to be in the same room with them.) I didn’t know that, though, and I learned to read from Dr. Seuss long before I started school. I loved his stuff, and it was such a letdown when I got to first grade and we had to read those boring “Dick and Jane” books.
When I was a kid and he was still alive, I visisted San Diego and a convertible went by with the license plate “GRINCH”. A local tour guide we were with claimed it was him and that he was indeed grinchy, but I’ve read the opposite, too.
Oh, I loved Dr. Suess when I was a kid! So subversive.
I think we should just start inventing our own terms. Have you seen “The Social Network”? I love how they call Eduardo Saverin “Wardo”. From now on, all my friends who are interested in meterology and/or futures trading (surprisingly, I can think of at least three immediately) are going to be called wardos.
Erin – great post! I always think of myself as an information hound – I love to learn about a subject and memorize as much as I can (It’s a habit I picked up and enjoy from when I was an art history/archaeology major in college). Aside from being a perfume nut most of my life, I find the vast, limitless quantitiy of information in the field of fragrance to be a very happy place to spend my brain energy. There is a never ending stream of houses, notes, noses, bottles, vintage, new and god only knows what to explore and sniff and notate until I can stuff my brains full. The more I smell and know, the more I want to smell and know somemore. I love the idea of being infinitely challenged to learn, and fragrance satifies my curiosity on many levels. The only place this is a problem is on my wallet, lol, but I’m dealing with that too!
Ann S, your a woman after my own art. I love what you wrote. I was a painting major/ art history minor in college, btw.
I really appreciate the art part of fragrance too. It’s an easy way to carry a smell-visual in my mind all day long. I often find that fragrances have a shape or form or motion to them which is very satisfying to me. I used to try and paint but not so much since I had my daughter – no room for all my favorite toxic cadmium colors with little hands around!
Information hound – very good! My wallet wishes I would stop researching, too
Thank goodness for swaps!
I’m a total nerd (or obsessive-compulsive – take your pick!). Loved Star Trek(s), sets of things and keep my FB purchases and wants on my smartphone as you never know when fabulous perfume for sale & memory failure may simultaneously occur…. Also love Gilbert & Sullivan operettas – the Star Trek of the opera world!
It’s so true about the memory failure. I’ve had that happen a few times, when I’m out without my references, and you end up purchasing the wrong perfume or a reformulated version. I’ve not yet bought one I already own by mistake, but the day is surely coming!
I scored as a “closet nerd.”
What I loved about nerds in school was that they were the people that were accepting, enthusiastic, and genuine. I was a new kid 13 times before ninth grade, and at every new school, I bee-lined it for the nerds. Safe-haven!
I think that, in the perfume community, there are the nerds, and there are cool kids. I know where I fall (and scrape my stupid knee).
I’m sittin’ with YOU.
Scootch over guys!
<3
We’re in good company, if I may say so!
Nerd party!
Whoa, 13 times? That’s hard. I don’t have as much experience that way as you, but my family moved long distances (from West to East Coast) when I was a kid four times, and I really feel it made me better prepared for my adult life. I got used to making new friends, adapting to new ways of doing things, manuevering my way through cliques, etc. – which came in handy in university and my various places of employment over the years. So just think of yourself as well-adjusted!
My experience was that nerds can have their cliques too, though. I think it depends on the type of nerd. But I know what you mean about the perfume “cool kids” – I’m sitting with you, too! OTOH one thing I’ve noticed is that all the online perfumistas I’ve met in person, cool or no, are really great, friendly and enthusiastic.
First off, I don’t know if I’d consider myself a “nerd” so much as an overachiever. I’m at university, I take notes excessively, I’m a member of the honour society and manage to have maintained an almost-perfect GPA. That makes me a “nerd” in some ways, I guess, but I just think of myself as working really hard.
Secondly, I’m not really sure I like the whole “Oh, nerds are cool now!” thing. It has become a trend of late, and to me it seems kind of patronising. It’s almost like Avril Lavigne calling herself “punk”, you know?
I think in the perfume world, the lines between “nerd”, “perfumista/o”, “cool/uncool”, etc. begin to cross. A lot of the comments here I would consider not “nerdy”, more “passionate”. To me, a fragrance nerd would be breaking down the chemical structure in a lab – a spreadsheet just ain’t gonna do it. The Red Door offenders in my midst I would consider “uncool” more than “nerds”, the true “nerds” in the sense of I-carry-a-calculator-everywhere-I-go-in-case-I-need-to-do-some-trig in my mind would wear something they think the ladies would like, like the Silver Scent by Jaques Bogart (or, in the lady-nerd’s case, something mainstream but soft – Naughty Alice?). Or, alternatively, the true nerd wouldn’t wear anything because he or she would be too concerned with saving the world
Well, I certainly didn’t mean to patronize anybody, and you’re right that definitions of “nerd” and nerdy subject matter can vary… which I take as a sign that nerdom is now big enough for their to be disagreeing factions. Must also say that I believe that feeling compelled to mention your high GPA is almost inevitably a sign of high nerdity scores!
(J/k – it’s a dig at my hubby, who was the guy at law school most likely to ask your GPA.)
Ugh, I had a classmate who styled herself an “intellectual snob” and said “the world needs more of us” (I disliked the implication I was one of “us”, as I’m anything but a snob). Every time we got a test or paper handed back, she’d ask everyone what they got (knowing she did better). Blech. So I would have really, really loved to have a picture of her face the day we got back our GRE scores. It was truly priceless.
Ugh, “holier than thou” nerds are the worst. The kind that look down on you for watching How I Met Your Mother while they watch Discovery Channel? (Or, more likely, post to forums online about the implications of the discovery of such and such a type of fish or something) Hope your “friend” got a good kick in the bum one way or another… hahaha.
Hahaha – my partner does like to call me a “nerd”, so I’m used to it
I wanted to point it out more to illustrate the possibility that it could be interpreted as a symptom of nerdiness, but it could equally be interpreted as a symptom of hard-work/perfectionism. 
Oh, what a fabulous post, Erin!
a) I’m a total nerd for sci-fi, graphic novels, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (most recent), birdwatching, perfume and more – I’ve moved a lot and tend to focus on a new hobby/obsession for each location.
b) Erin, I love your insights and perfume choices above, the ones I know, anyway, and will soon try to sample any that I don’t now that I realize you might be a scent twin or at least wise older (in perfume years) sister
c) The other perfumer I adore is Calice Becker. To me, her perfumes are ravishingly beautiful, perfectly balanced, elegant but relaxed, and never heavy, even when dealing with the most extravagant notes (tuberose, rose, lavender, fruit or oud) as in her Kilians. Denyse best describes this presence of breathing space in the review of Liaisons Dangereuses on Grain de Musc and compares it metaphorically to bubbles or air in a rose confiture. It’s a quality I find in all the CBs that I’ve tried so far.
d) It’s funny, though. LT has made the opposite point, that while one can usually identify music by Bach or paintings by Picasso, it is much harder to identify the nose behind a scent. E.g, would you ever figure out that the same person composed both Timbuktu and Traversee du Bosphore? Once you know, you may find commonalities, but not necessarily.
Love graphic novels. I think it would be a riot if we had an open thread picking fragrances for Hellboy or Prometheus or Grandma Rose from Bone or the like.
My husband has his comics and graphic novels… and I have my fragrances!
Noz, sorry it took me so long to respond! Continuing our trend of being scent twins, I love Calice Becker’s work, too, including Liasons, which I own. (Great image of Denyse’s…) Wearing Rose Oud today – yum!
I’d never read that LT argument before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. I see where he is coming from with it and speculate that, if it is true, it is because composers and novelists and painters (maybe particularly in days of yore) were more free to create art in their own style – i.e. no editor, brand or focus group setting the terms from the beginning. In support of this line of thought, it’s most often you can guess something is by a certain nose when it’s from their own self-directed line – Giacobetti’s Iunx brand, for example, is unmistakably hers.
*happy sigh*
Love this, and all the comments. I was describing my perfume passion to someone, and how it evolved from my foodie tendencies, and she said, “Oh, so you’re a sensualist!” And I paused for a moment, and then said, “Well, I guess so. But a nerdy, intellectual kind of sensualist…”
I prefer the term aesthete myself.
I really love the word aesthete. It’s like athlete, but much, much more interesting.
And I have more chance of being an asthete, as well. Athlete… not so much.
I have one friend who said I was a woman who took her pleasures seriously.
I’ve always been partial to “sensualist” and “hedonist”.
“Taking your pleasure seriously” – such a wonderful phrase. It *is* something to be taken seriously, and not lightly, as many people seem to think.
Unforunately, “hedonism” always brings to mind those silly, all-adult resorts for me now.
I had someone find out about my perfume obsession, look at me strangely and say, “You’ve kind of got an Asperger’s thing going on there, don’t you?” I think I’ll rather take sensualist.
Oy – that’s funny – so I guess anyone who collects anything from baseball cards to Hummel figurines has Aspergers? That’s a strange comment for sure.
I do know some baseball-obsessed collectors who may have a spectrum disorder, I admit
Though I know what you mean. (Hey, have you read Coover’s “The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop”? Great book…)
Yes, I know just what you meant! “Sensualist” always conjures up a Venetian-style Venus (or one of the Rubens woman they inspired) for me. I do a lot of lounging, but generally in flannel pajama pants and reading The Economist. I don’t do a lot of sexy fruit-eating in the nude. Indeed, not a lot of seduction generally, to my hubby’s dismay.
I have never considered myself to be nerdy in any way, yet I respect nerd culture. And hey, “some of my best friends are nerds”. I find that my obsession with perfume is more of a psychological tic; it can be viewed as a deficit or a benefit, depending on the day. I’ve latched on to a few notes in the past year, the most significant to me is cedar. I like when fragrances are built around the note, and I like it when it’s used as an accent as well. If I were going to geek out on something for real, it would be cedar. This was a really fun article to read, excellent job, Erin! That brings to mind the difference between nerds and geeks. Is there one? (besides the origin of the word geek, as in circus sideshow acts involving unfortunate chickens)
I really enjoyed this article and reading the threads of comments attached to it. I’m a total nerd and always have been though I’m definitely a n00b still when it comes to perfume. I dabbled a little in undergrad and am just starting to get back into it so I’m just starting to get the idea of noses though I haven’t acquired any sampler sets of them yet. OJ Champaca sounds divine though, so I think I’ll start there! =)
Excellent post.
That’s a very fine post. It responds to Robin’s “rant” the other day by offering your allegedly geeky methods for dealing with the flood of fragrance out there. And yeah, it makes quite clear that you’re using Excel, or something, to organize your thoughts. But you’re a librarian, right? Not a geek, though. I know some tres hip librarians.