(PSA: the splitmeet is now open for business!)
Today, our fourteenth annual Haiku Challenge (if you like, you can check out past years for inspiration). We're also happy to include other forms of poetry if haiku don't inspire you. Have a perfume-related limerick or a sonnet you'd like to share? Please do.
If you're writing a haiku, pick a perfume or a perfume house (or really, anything related to perfume), and write a haiku about it.
Use the simplified English form — your haiku should have three lines, the first line with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables. You can put the perfume name in the title if that makes it easier, and at any rate, don’t stress over the rules of traditional haiku — this is just for fun.
Note: top image shows A White Macaw, ca. 1900 print from original by Itō Jakuchū (Japanese, 1716–1800), [color adjusted] via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.
Lavender, lemon,
Greens. Yes, it’s unusual
But I want it still.
(Get it? SJP Covet.)
Fun! Makes me want to try Covet..
If you can find it, you should! It’s genuinely peculiar, but what a relief to have a celebuscent that wasn’t a cookie-cutter fruity floral, and what a great ad, too, well worth finding on YouTube. I gave away my bottle years ago, because it really wasn’t me — a floral fougère with chocolate? Nah — but I admire its moxie.
Oh, the ad. How I love it.
It’s pretty reasonable on fragrancenet and fragrancex. (Not affiliated.)
I think Covet was great, but there seemed to be a mismatch between the perfume and the bottle.
This floral hater
Loves buttery tuberose
Oh Frederic Malle
Carnal flower, from a new bottle. Be sure to check the splitmeet.😉
The hazy skies from the Canadian wildfires have cleared and today is a bluebird of a day. The extended forecast looks like more of the same, I love it!🌞😎
We finally have blue sky again ourselves.
It’s been gorgeous today. The kind of blue sky with not a single cloud.
Enjoy!😎
Love Carmel Flower. I am wondering if your eBay person has another bottle for sale.
“dealzag” Doesn’t look like it, just En Passant. I thought it was a good deal, I hate to pay full retail for just about anything, including perfume.
Yes, especially FM scents. I just got En Passant at a pretty good price, didn’t end up liking it and swapped with another NSTer and got something else.
Sunshine and green trees
Winter is finally done
Baiser de Russie!
Love this one!
No haiku from me but I enjoy reading everyone else’s. I’m wearing Lost Cherry and hoping the spring heat here hastens cherry ripening. They’re my favorite fruit and the season is so short!
There’s nothing like a good cherry. Our spring is so chilly I wonder if we’ll even get decent local cherries.
Midnight Poison, they
Named it, but honestly it’s
Dior Poison Homme.
And really, it is. Despite the advertising with Eva Green in that immense blue ballgown, it reads as a unisex-tilting-masculine rose/patchouli. (It’s not very midnight-ish, either, while we’re at it: more like early winter evening.) I was always surprised that Dior hadn’t launched a Poison Pour Homme a year or so after the unprecedented success of the original in 1985, since that was a common marketing tactic at the time. As soon as I smelled it I thought, well, finally! (Even though it was 20+ years late.)
Also, Adjective day six.
Really odd Dior did NOT cash in on Poison pour homme…the door is still wide open.
I never have been able to smell the rose in Midnight Poison. It’s all citrus and patchouli to me.
Lush,a favorite
Dirty, Vanillary and
Next on the thunk list?
I tried.Lol
SOTD!Wick Fabulous Human for a symposium on anaesthesia,a fabulous lunch and a great afternoon spent curled up on my bed in the afternoon sun.Winter has arrived in full swing.That’s great because then Spring is just around the corner,Lol!
Happy weekend boys and girls.
XO’s
Sounds like the perfect day to me.
J.B.
I love Lush. Obviously, check out the splitmeet! You reminded me my Vanillary is dangerously low.
I’ m getting low on a lot! I haven’t been a thunker in ages. Lush has been thunked a lot! With help, of course. 🤗
Happy Weekend!
Whooo celebrates Spring
with Lily of the Valley
and Musk? Snowy Owl!
This smells pretty on me – my sister sniffed the bottle and was horrified, but admitted it smelled less bad to her once it was on my skin. And yet, she adores vintage Arpege, which is quite skanky to my nose… olfactory individuality is neat, when we have been told we look like twins ever since we were 4 and 5 respectively.
Also Haiku Day is neat, too! I love reading everyone’s offerings!
Love the poem!
Thanks!
Bluebells grow white and blue
shy creatures of the woods in spring
gone too soon every May.
A gorgeous spring day, white clouds and blue sky, a fresh 18C. Errands this morning, then reserved tickets for Oxford for June 28, looking forward to this day trip, I already visited Cambridge as a teenager.
I am finishing a bottle of Mandorlo di Sicilia, I have a BUB though, I drenched myself in it as it doesn’t have the best longevity. Tonight I spritzed vintage Bal à Versailles edt and reacquainted myself with a little travel spray of Clinique Cookies and Kisses I had misplaced but really, all I can smell is BAV, a very heavy-duty scent I have to be ready for, never a casual wear.
I’ve seen pictures of the bluebell fields over in Europe. So pretty.
It doesn’t last long but yes, it really is a pretty picture.
Ah, I was going to ask if anything could beat through the BAV! I love it, but will probably never have a function to attend where it would be appropriate…large overheated ballroom on the third floor of some huge country estate where women are baring their shoulders in gowns with yards of velvet in their skirts, and men trade their heavy winter boots for dancing shoes in the coat room, and then feel almost overcome by the heated air redolent of so many scents, and the sight of all those milky, seldom seen collar bones, shoulder blades, etc.
Sorry to fall into slightly purple prose! I do love BAV!
😀 Love the images you conjured up.
Thanks, it is a symptom of waiting in line. 🙂
I’m excited for your trip, Aurora.
Good for you.
The good one’s are gone
Real stars do not need to stand
You stink L’oreal.
It feels like October here. I turned the heat up to 66. I should be able to turn it off this coming week.
I am continuing my theme from yesterday, and wearing a treasured decant. TM Cuir Impertinent. Another should have bought it when I could have.
Love the haiku, Lillyjo, witty, really L’Oréal deserves it, discontinuing Angel Muse for eg I beieve, I don’t have a BUB of the edt which I adore.
Enjoy your Cuir Impertinent.
I have started hoarding my Muse edp.
Thank Heaven for MossyBerry! Swap meet saved me. An enabler pin to pl67!
*Love* your haiku; I wave that banner re: Mugler/L’Oreal. However, I first encountered Angel edt in the coughcoughstanding Star, and did like it. But then, I have a Glamorama Angel star, so I’m good.
I’m jealous of your glamorama!
Have you ever tried the original edt in the comet bottle? I just wish they would have kept the originals and had given the new stuff different names. I recently tried a current version of Alien and they have added ambroxan to it. It’s just a shame.
Your haiku made me smile today. Thanks!
Good!😊
Ha! That’s awesome.😂
Felt a little fall-ish here today too, but I know warmer temps are coming!
Yeah… the corner should be turning tomorrow.
I love the snarky haiku!
Thanks!
Nice! I can relate. 😉
On my way to the wedding and found a dabber of Gris Charnel Extrait. It’s a beautiful rendition of the original.
Have fun at the wedding Dawn!
Dame Perfumery
Cassis, Rose and Sandalwood
Beautiful fragrance
Yes indeed!! And great haiku
Thanks 😊
You fell hard for that particular perfume from Dame.
Yes, I really like that one a lot. Some of his others I have liked too, but especially this one.
I made a haiku for my sotd
Narcisse by Chloe
Big flowers so sweet
Memories from my high school
What a lovely time
Yeah I wore this (edp) when I was 17/18 years old. I still remember my mother frowning a bit (disapproving because its so loud) when I sprayed this on and went to the supermarket or library. 😅
Hindsight, yes it was too big for shy me. But to me it felt like a scent for grown upd, it fitted my long summer dress and (also important), my boyfriend adored it.
I still love it.
Chloe Narcisse WAS very loud, no surprise in those times, but also staggeringly beautiful. Applied with a measured hand, it was glorious.
Jiji, it wasn’t too loud for shy you. It was a way for you to proclaim to the world “I am here!” .
In high school I was an introvert and all of 85 lbs soaking wet. But from the time I was six years old I wore fragrances that were loud, bold and not within my era. It was my way of expressing myself and showing my “extrovert “ side.
Perhaps it was the same for you?
Yeah I think you are right about that ☺️
I know it was for me. Also an introvert in HS and when I first smelled Obsession, it was just *me*!
I love that!! I think we introverts use fragrance as a vehicle for being loud and expressing ourselves. You may not hear us but you can definitely smell us! Now smell this!!
😂
Gorgeous!
Haiku challenge! I love seeing how clever you folk are 🙂
I’ll have to think about this and come back later. Meanwhile, I followed yesterday’s Jubilation 25 with Papillon Perfumes Salome last night, and realised they have some similarities. Salome is a lot more skanky, I really can smell the hyraceum, but it dries down to be a lot softer and more akin to Jubilation 25.
You smell amazing! I love both scents. Salome is still on my wish list…
Graduation day
We both wore Melograno
So proud of my son
My youngest graduated college today!! From the oldest engineering school in my country that prides itself on being one of the hardest schools in which to obtain an A in classes. The incoming class has six students with perfect SAT scores.
He graduated summa cum laude with a dual major of Computer Engineering and Computer Science.
After nine years of college expenses we are finally done 😂
Which explains why I have a lot to report to Donatella this quarter.
And there are some of you here who remember when my ELDEST started college nine years ago which prompted my no buy!! In August she’s graduating from a masters program…. time flies!!!
Wow! Congratulations to both of them and to you too for being done with expenses!
Thank you!! It’s a huge relief 😅
That long ago?
Congratulations on every possible level!
Congratulations on your son’s graduation. 🎉 What an amazing feat!
Thank you so much Jiji!!
That’s wonderful news. What a genius!
Thank you Kanuku! I know you’ve been around long enough when the first of the three started! So to have the last one done is a big relief 😅
Congratulations!!
Thank you so much !! You also remembered my budget and resolute no buys 😂
It was a beautiful ceremony and he was so happy!
Big congratulations to your son! That is quite the accomplishment.
Are any of the next gen Marzipans pursuing an advanced degree?
Right now just the eldest is finishing graduate school. Middle one graduated last year as a nurse and most programs want two years work experience. My son, who knows?
Congrats to you for surviving all that tuition! 🤑
You ain’t kiddin’😂😂
Wow, congrats to your son, and you proud mom!
Thank you , mtg!!
yay! way to go cm8 mama and son. 🙂 congratulations all around!
Awww… thanks, tiffanie!!
Congratulations cm8!
You should be very proud!
Thanks so much 💚💚
What a happy occasion, congratulations to the proud mother, how cool that you wore the same perfume.
Yes we share a lot of fragrances 😂and thanks !!
That is huge for both of you!! What a happy day, congrats to both of you.
Robin, thank you so much!!! It’s definitely huge. I never thought the end would be in sight 🙂
Wow! What a great achievement. Proud momma. Go crazy, Donatella!
Thank you! Hahaha! I’m actually scared to tally up the damage-LOL
Congrats, big accomplishment.
My 2 are both done, for now anyway. One of my colleagues said of the end of college expense: biggest tax free raise you will ever get.
oh gosh yes!!!!! definitely a nice raise for sure 🙂
Huge congratulations!! (And looking forward to your Donatella reports.)
thanks sp! You know I am looking for a whole bunch of excuses not to report (birthday, mother’s day, just because LOL) I mean I am sure it isn’t as bad as I think but then again for me being so strict the past few years I did go a bit overboard by my standards.
Yay for being done with college,congrats!🙌🏻🙌🏻🌹❣️
Yay indeed!!! Thanks JB!!!
Congratulations to you both!
Thank you Gail!! ❤️
Empty dawn silence
Broken by a blackbird call
Listen! Raise from sleep
We have sunshine at last and everywhere looks washed clean. Wearing Coffee Break
Beautiful, Kanuka, and helped ease my early morning awakening today.
Love this haiku and the picture that it paints.
Just lovely, thanks Kanuka.
I’ve been AWOL since my husband arrived with a truckload of stuff I’ve been digging my way out of. Then I went on a five day meditation retreat. Unfortunately I came home with a cold so I’m just lying low, but managed to spray a bit of Cuir Cannage as encouragement.
The best miracle is all the perfumes fit in the cabinet and I don’t have to buy a second one, yay!
Woot!!!
It’s nothing short of a miracle – there were 9 boxes of perfumes and lotions!
Ahaha!! You did it!!!!
Tubs or boxes? 😉
Cardboard boxes, kind of like banker box size.
You smell divine!
I noticed your absence. How was the retreat? That sounds so blissful.
It was wonderful. So much easier to focus away from all distractions.
Good to see you! I was just starting to worry. I hope your cold goes away soon.
That retreat sounds great. Get well soon and enjoy your perfumes.
Huzzah for all the perfume fitting into place!
Welcome back.
Hooray, must feel so satisfying to fit all the perfume in one cabinet!
I hope you kick this cold soon!
Yes to the perfect perfume cabinet.I’m yet to get there.
Hope you feel better soon!🌹
Glad your bottles (and your hubby) arrived safely! Hope you are feeling better very soon.
Another rainy Saturday here. It’s an excuse to stay inside and do a load of laundry.
Something once loved, now
No feelings left at all only
A dull ache inside.
“Grief”.
It’s not perfume related per se, but this one came pouring out full throttle. Sometimes poetry isn’t pretty. And now for something completely different.
Teflon kitty, so
Smart; Definitely wary
Of pills in her food!
SOTD = still commando. But I have been wearing scented lotion on my shins every day, so maybe that counts?
My last cat, who had a really good run for a really long time, was the same about pills — fought me as hard as he could. But in his final year we had a cat sitter who was basically a cat whisperer. She could get that cat to do anything, even take pills! I’ve always wondered what her secret was.
Thankfully, I can give some of her meds transdermally. That’s easy.
Teflon kitty is something else. I love your haiku about her.
Yes, any type of scent applied anywhere counts.
Teflon kitty stole my heart when I was looking for a bonded pair of cats a few months after my Jinx kitty crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I was looking for older cats at the time.
Teflon, a 9-month old kitten then, had other ideas…
isn’t it funny how that works? They most DEFINITELY chose us! When my daughter went to the animal shelter near her college in Pennsylvania she was looking at a completely different cat. But then a seven year old , seven pound all black female came out of hiding and rubbed herself against my daughter, meowing and practically throwing herself into my daughter’s lap as she was crouched over trying to pet her. The volunteer at the shelter said “Oh my gosh! She NEVER does that!!!!! She’s usually fearful and hiding and doesn’t even come out for food! you have to adopt her! She CHOSE YOU!”
And the rest is history!!!!!!
Aww, how sweet!
Are Teflon and Spooky the same age?
Teflon is 6 months older than Spooky.
IIRC, we got them back in 2012.
Delightful Teflon kitty haiku!
Thank you!
“Grief”
It is raw. Poetry doesn’t have to be pretty. I prefer it from the heart.
And my heart goes out.
*Lotions count a lot!!! Love lotions, creams anything moisturizing. No need for perfumes when you don’t feel it.
💜
“Grief” tore out of me at Warp Speed. Better that it’s written out instead of rattling around in my head.
Apparently I see most things through a perfume lens, because reading your lovely first haiku, I immediately thought of the last perfume given to me by my now ex-boyfriend, which I once loved, but now think about offering up every Swapmeet.
Oh wow.
Commando at the moment — I’ve spent the day so far smelling of clean laundry, intermittently alternating with Eau de Garage Cleanout. BUT after a beer and a shower I think I’ll indulge in something fun, like Fox in the Flowerbed or Lubin Grisette or Philosykos.
Question for y’all: has anyone compared the EDT and EDP versions of Bel Respiro? I have almost used up a 15 ml decant of the EDT version and I’ve loved every molecule, but I don’t think it’s available in that formulation anymore … but I want more, and I’m worried the EDP version won’t measure up. Any advice?
Wish I could help, but I’ve never smelled either version of Bel Respiro.
Useless, here, but 🍻!
I have not compared the two, but I have sniffed both versions of a few other Chanel Exclusifs, and they have had noticeable differences, for better and for worse.
sotd = CDG Kyoto
because haiku!
too true, we have far
too much perfume, but when will
too many be enough?
NEVER 😉
happy weekend, everyone!
😂
😄 great haiku
And great perfume as well!
Excellent, not least because I’d love a bottle of Kyoto!
Perfect!
Frame this!
Agreed, it’s perfect!
Last day of poems and perfume! While this one wasn’t written by Jane Hirshfield, it was translated by her so it counts in my book! Written by one of the “Great Four” Kobayashi Issa, along with Basho, Buson, and Shiki are renowned by those who know their haiku stuff (I am NOT one of those in the know!😬). And for you tea lovers, he went by Issa which means “Cup of Tea.” Straight from wiki so it must be true!
“We wander
the roof of hell,
choosing blossoms”
Wearing Au Dela Narcisse, because I too am choosing blossoms. 🌹🌸🌺
I really love that haiku, thanks Deva.
I’m glad. 😊
💐
Unfortunately the sore throat got much worse over night, thank heavens for aspirin with codeine. Wearing Rose Prick for a little pick-me-up. Hopefully I can feel better tomorrow, as they are coming to install the new blinds.
Oh no, hope it doesn’t turn into something serious — feel better soon!
Ugh, I just got over a bad head cold. Hope you recover quickly.
feel better!!!!
Get well soon, hope the meds help, how are the new blinds?
We’ll find out tomorrow!
Oh no! Hope it isn’t something serious, and that you are feeling better ASAP.
🤞 it gets better quick.
Commando for now, hoping to squeeze in a walk. I have a bunch of office work left this weekend. I did the grocery store and cleaning yesterday so today it will be the dreaded sitting at the computer for hours. Yesterday, I wore a sample of Nishane Ambra Calabria which was nice but seemed to fade out fast. Exactly 25% of my ancestry is straight up southern Italian/Calabrian so maybe I am a sucker for anything with that in the name, even though I am really more Scandinavian than anything else.
Love the haikus, everyone.
SotD:
Tasting Pogo Paste,
rhubarb, fresh greens, and sweet cakes:
spritzing on Aura
Clever!
And now for a haiku that is at least somewhat related to perfume:
Scented lotion; a
Way of flying under the
Perfumed radar, ha!
SOTD = sort of commando, but wearing Korres Guava lotion on my shins.
Excellent haiku!
Thank you!
I know I missed quite a few days of NST posts. Are you commando lately for a reason or just cuz?
Stress. There are a few home improvement projects coming down the pike. Plus cat issues.
That’s a great lotion.
Yes! And it works beautifully with Samsara, fwiw.
No, Jalapeno.
Lotions worn hajusuuri
Style, shout, “I am here.”
I responded to yesterday.
Do what works and lifts. Big gigantic wafting lotioned up twin.
If I stop wearing perfumed lotion, then something is well and truly off.
And I think head to toe scented lotion would be hajusuuri style!
Just leaving my haiku, then I’ll read the comments.
Little white bells wave
Of course, Diorissimo
Who else could it be?
All of the lilly of the valley was in bloom at my mom’s house yesterday, so I picked them all and brought them inside. Some of the bottom bells were already turning brown and they don’t usually bloom until June. All the flowers have been early this year, I would hate to miss the lotv!
They are early!
I’m going to really miss the hydrangeas.
Great visuals with this haiku!
I’m Irish and I slightly resemble a leprechaun with my ears. Here’s my limerick and I’m out of practice.
“Robin”
There once was a woman named Robin,
Who gave perfumistas a place to keep chatting.
From releases and reformulations
To families and difficult situations
That woman Robin has a heart of gold within.
Commando, but about to deep dive into a mega swap.
Crazy stories this week, coming up!
Awesome limerick AP!
🤗
Thanks, lillyjo! It always feels like family here, minus the fact we all get along😂.
And we have Robin ❤ to thank.
ITA that Robin deserves a met-ton of thanks for keeping NST going!
Hear hear!
Oh, that’s perfect! NST is such a lovely place, thanks to Robin.
AnniePerfumes, how lovely, thank you so much!
You forgot the line about how perpetually behind I am, I can’t believe I am just seeing this today 😉
My late haiku entry:
Stems, grass, moss. Vent Vert,
Metal, 19, Silences. Oh,
the sirens call – green.
Lovely! If you haven’t tried Robert Piguet Futur, I recommend it.
I have not – thanks for the tip!
SOTD
Twilit, anise-kissed
neroli and Guerlainade.
No longer sold here.
(L’Heure Bleue edp)
One more:
Once I smelled vintage
Dioressence, I could not
forgive House Dior.
(The debacle with Joy and Jean Patou didn’t help.)
And thanks, Robin, for NST. The Meets have really been something to look forward to the last few years, even though I managed to miss the last Swapmeet.
Oh good.
I will join you in not forgiving Dior. Why do they get rid of or change everything that was once good.