In my mind’s eye, it went down like this: “Amber? You want us to develop an Exclusif focused on amber?” I picture four or five people around an ebony table in a taupe-tinted room with black moldings — the board room version of a Chanel suit.
“You did it with patchouli,” the executive says. “No one smells Coromandel and thinks of Woodstock.”
“Not at that price,” the intern mutters…
Hey Santa, looking for something to tuck into the sleigh for perfume lovers? Check out The Handbook of Great Italian Perfumery: Fifty years of exceptional scents by Marika Vecchiattini.
The Handbook of Great Italian Perfumery is a combination encyclopedia and compendium of reviews featuring fragrances from Italian perfume houses and fashion brands from the 1970s to the present. It’s both an engrossing read and a handy reference manual…
Today my county eases into phase one of opening up. That’s three months of lockdown; a quarter of a year; a whole season, from snowfall to sunburn.
Here is an olfactory summary of how I spent this time:
A day into a conference for mystery writers in San Diego, the pandemic shut it down, and we all scrambled to find flights home. That night, I stood on my hotel room’s tiny balcony and watched sheets of rain before going downstairs to the restaurant, noisy with chatting authors, to catch up on industry gossip. I wore Ciro Danger in Extrait.
A few days later, I was out of a job…
By now, we’re all hip to the pandemic. We hole ourselves up, register the death toll, panic over our checkbooks, and take our temperatures. I sincerely hope every one of you is healthy, and that your loved ones are, too. Stay home, and take care of yourselves.
But, let me drop my usual blog persona and get real. I live alone, and I’ve been in social isolation for almost four weeks now. I’ve had a varied life, from waitress to congressional investigator, but today my living comes partly from writing and partly from being a shopgirl. Half of my income vanished with the pandemic, and the other half is on life support. I have my moments, and although I’m not at all a cryer, I’ve suffered a few bouts lately.
Yet, I feel lucky. I’m healthy. I enjoy my own company. I live well on a dime, and, better, I know how to appreciate the little things in life…
I’ve been house sitting in Guanajuato, Mexico, for almost two and a half weeks now, and it’s been wonderful. I feel relaxed and stimulated at the same time. I’ve gotten a lot of writing done, and my brain is stuffed with beauty, from the soundscape of church bells, barking dogs and crowing roosters to the old tile floors and street shrines I see during my daily walks. I’m the luckiest person ever.
There’s just one thing: I really miss my perfume.1
Sure, I miss my friends, but we talk…