Today, our fourth annual Haiku Challenge (if you like, you can check out 2010, 2011 and 2012 for inspiration).
Pick a perfume or a perfume house (or really, anything related to perfume), 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: image is Morning at Miyajima by Gihachiro Okuyama, 1949.
This was so much fun last year
Pretty Machine
Bright honeyed linden
Prettiest opening–Ooh!
Happy love love. Mine
Lovely haiku 🙂
This made me want to try that Pretty Machine
I *so* want to try Pretty Machine. Kerosene’s offerings are never boring.
I just checked the Haiku challenge from last year to remind myself what I wrote then – that was funny. Now let’s see what I can come up with this year.
➡ Atelier Cologne Rose Anonyme
Dark rose on paper
Tiniest hint of oud resin
I’m addicted
➡ Histoires de Parfums 1725
Elegance and chic
I am not Casanova
Can I seduce you?
➡ Van Cleef & Arpels Bois d’Iris
You drift to here now
Approaching me this minute
Don’t make my hands wet
Serge Lutens Boxeuses is what I wear today. I forgot that I had a sample, so I decided to find it after a friend mentioned it few days ago.
Anyone minds giving me a proposition of a lovely linden blossom or lemon verbena perfume?
Nice haikus, Lucas!
What did you think of Boxeuses? or…must we wait for a review???
It was quite nice, on my skin mostly smoked plum with dried apricots. Don’t know if I’m gonna review it, I have quite a few things planned for reviewing for the couple of weeks. And your favourite is coming on Monday 😀
Eeeeek, I can’t wait!!!
So you know what I meant? Love that you can read between my lines. If you want I will be happy to tell you what perfume are included 😉
If it is in the SL Palais Royal Exclusives line, I know what it is!
Then I think you didn’t really get what I was talking about 😉 I wanted to tell you that MQS are coming on Monday 😛
Ah…now I get it. I’ll just wait to be surprised with what you’ve included!
The humility of “Can I seduce you?” is quite endearing 🙂
Really, thank you? I wrote those haikus without any special or long debating – I just let the syllables flow. Thank you 🙂
Great job, Lucas!
Thanks sweetie-pie
I also meant to say a really nice lemon verbena is Guerlain’s Philtre d’Amour. Hard to find as only the Guerlain boutiques have it, but I know the sample sites have it.
I’m a grad student
In New York–afford nothing
But can sample all
Haiku after my own heart!!
Grad student sniffa?
Meet at MIN, Bergdorf, Osswald
I’m free Saturday
ebayer’s lament
love gone or transformed
postman leaves parcels galore
receiver still yearns
Perfect!
Sing it, sister. 🙂
Yes! Well put!
No More Lemmings
An empty wishlist
Allows my bank account to
Sigh with sweet relief
Ha! I wish I could relate. . . 🙂
Perfume contentment
Perfume contentment
Did not arrive easily
Nor at a young age
I spent many years
Chasing new perfumes
Possible HGs
I must smell it now!
Perhaps this will be the one
Scent to end all scents
Many sad letdowns
Did not quench the thirst to sniff
I must smell them all!
Love, like, meh, or loathe
I still continued the quest
Despite the steep price
After many years
And hundred–thousands?–of sniffs
It grew less intense
Fewer new scents pleased
So many so forgettable
Not bad, but not great
Tiring of the cost
And all the disappointments
The mad drive abates
All my must-haves bought
My sniffing more relaxed now
At last I find peace
Bravissima.
Brilliant! I’m saving a copy of it. 🙂
Just wonderful! I, should post these on the wall beside the monitor as a reminder the next time I get the wandering eye.
I wonder if my wish list will ever be empty…
Kyoto:
It would be perfect
to write about. But on me…
Kyoto quits. Sigh.
Oh, that made me sad! I do love Kyoto.
Dioressimo:
Empty bottle says, “Goodbye,
Sweet smell of springtime”
A *deeply* personal poem. It was my last bottle of perfume from my pre-perfumista life, and I finally decided to finish off the bottle. Alas, won’t be buying another bottle, as the new version doesn’t smell right.
My, two sad haiku in a row. I do not look forward to draining my bottle, because I’ll never buy it again either.
The Perfumista’s Dilemma
Too many perfumes
And too little time to sniff
What am I to do?
Perhaps be thankful
For my perfume eating skin–
Change scent thrice daily
One in the morning
A change midday and evening
Again at bedtime
For I do not eat
Only one food all day long
Why just one perfume?
Or else I could take
A hedonistic approach:
Wear them all at once!
Worn in tiny dabs
On wrists, hands, arms, or elbows
I may avoid offence
Sniffing in secret
Savoring each one in turn
Keeping it private
Or when crowds oppress
Spray them all with abandon
Behold! Crowds retreat
The lesser-loved scents
May yet serve noble purpose
To sweeten linens
Or to scent the air
And dispel foul miasmas
No Glade plug-ins here!
Whether sprayed or dabbed
Their fragrance makes life sweeter
I sniff therefore I am
Wonderful!
Very impressive! A wonderful job, that’s quite a story told with the haikus. I really enjoyed it!
Oh Fifty Roses
Number One Haiku Writer
Loved, Loved, Loved Your Post
Incredible! Do take a bow, you deserve a standing ovation.
Second this! Applauding madly!
My hat off to you.
You just won the Internet
for today. Applause.
Hard to top that. Bravo 50_Roses, bravo!
I started out to just write one verse, but it just sort of kept going.
Beautiful poetry. Hope you’re keeping track in a collection for future publication!
The New Jo Malone
Sugar and Spice Collection
Eh, but I bought two
Which two did you buy?
Do tell me I don’t know them
I wish I could try 😉
now giving up on answering via haiku….
I ended up getting the Bitter Orange and Chocolate and Ginger Biscuit. The Bitter Orange and Chocolate is now sold out everywhere. “Limited Edition” usually spurs me to make a decision quickly.
That’s exactly what I’ve heard – those limited editions are really *limited* and I read somewhere that Bitter Orange and Chocolate was gone everywhere first.
Too bad that they can’t be found anywhere. I wish I could try the past limited JM Tea Collection, I think Verbenas of Provence would be perfect for now.
‘Eh! But I bought two.’, LOL!
Why don’t you come up
and see me sometime, Mitsouko?
No? That’s OK, too.
Even in Coco,
smelling of sweet cloves and tonka,
I long for Coco.
Nice!
Sorry, don’t have a haiku to share, but wanted to ask what people think of Etro’s Paisley. I tried it recently and liked it a lot, but I would need to try it on its own (instead of with another three elsewhere on my arm! I can’t find many reviews, so it seems like it didn’t get much attention…
Another I tried on cardboard strip was Les Rosines Rose de Poussiere. On cardboard it was delicious (I love cinnamon); have others tried this?
Oops, I thought this was also an open forum! If not, can my comment be removed?
We’re amongst friends 😉
Unfortunately, I have not tried either of those so I would be curious what others think as well. During a recent Barneys sniffa, I tried Etro Rajasthan and I was not impressed.
🙂
Rajasthan has received a lot of attention; perhaps it’s the colourful bottle!
Kevin’s review of it here was not very positive either…
No need to remove the comment….always fine to chat 🙂
I tried Paisley about a year ago (I think) and thought it was nice and spicy but at the same time transparent and summer-friendly.
Thanks! I found it transparent but also with a subtle vanilla warmth that my nose got attached to:)
I haven’t tried the Etro, but I got Poussiere de Rose as part of the Rosine sample set. On skin, it reminds me of Tresor from the ’90s.
Sampling Rose Poivree
Peppery melons
Where did all the roses go?
Skanky up in here.
LOL — love it!
Aftelier Secret Garden
Lovely garden blooms
Mingled with sunshine and rain
And a hint of dirt
Amouage Dia
Ah, lovely Dia
Claims to be a daytime scent
As she winks her eye
You are really on a roll today 🙂
Those are beautiful. I love Dia winking her eye. You are a poet.
Frozen caresses
Paralyse my fleeing steps
The Unicorn Spell
Ups! There goes the fuse
The Fat Electrician
Will turn my light on
A leaking purse spray
Makes for a shifty ambush
Goodbye Guet-Apens
Enchanted Forest
Who is playing the lion?
The Vagabond Prince?
Honey, peach and rum
A sofa and a good read
Me, the Hedonist
Excellent — especially love Fat Electrician.
Yes! These all make me smile 🙂
Excellent! And ouch! on the leaky purse spray with a discontinued scent. Not one you want to lose a drop of!
To Jean-Claude Ellena
with one whiff you
can fill my heart and
empty my wallet!
Ha!!!
Lovely! And so true.
fantastic
modern faux chypres
are unworthy of the name
give my oakmoss back
clearly we need to compose a derogatory limerick aimed at IFRA (haiku being too spare a format…)
YES.
So true.
Why I am Angry at IFRA
Many lovely scents
Oakmoss, citrus, and jasmine
Restricted or banned
Oh, perfect! So sad and true
Sigh…. Yes.
Amouage Opus V
You are intriguing
Opus Five you make me think
Bookish things and such
It is time to risk
The impertinent Fracas
If you’re bold enough
Oh, very nice!
painful sinuses
will not stop the enjoyment
of my Shalimar
hee hee most excellent haiku!
Skanky do you care
Go down that road or must you
Live forever clean?
La Fille Berlin
You made me laugh,
after everyone said
You were so dark!
(apologies for totally departing from form)
I expected something
sad
Or at least
a little bit bad
But a giggling rose will do.
Diorissimo
Some Lily-of-the-Valley
And some naphthalene
For Valentine’s Day
He gave me Coco Chanel
Now we have two sons
I was surprised by the ending on this one and it charmed me!
Hehe!! This made me laugh out loud! Good one.
Looking for my niche
Found Enlevement au Serail
and Timbuktu too
Oh, I so want EaS – love it!
Patty Nicolai
sometimes awkward, always chic
you’re the fragrance geek
Cool!
I like it 😀
How much fun is this
Saturday night on the couch
making a haiku
New perfume lover
is wecomed with open arms
Thank you, perfume friends
Lovely!
Oh, very nice!
Why, Sephora, why?
Just big and too big.
No Rose Anonyme minis!
I bought the Vanille.
Oh, haiku of shopping frustration. Touches me.
IFRA
Can’t have that oakmoss.
Someone might be allergic.
Let’s ban everything!
Everyone Else
Can’t have citrus now?
Jasmine is restricted too?
Why do you hate us?!
And on a related note…
Super Ultra-Niche Underground Perfume Line
Breaking all the regs
Being bad smells oh so good
Call it Contraband
The Chanel SA 🙂
Was generous with samples 😀
…I maxed out my card 🙁
Birthday coming up
New bottle is in order
Amouage at last?
Dear yellow rose “L”
Amouage IS in order
You only live once
Can’t believe you got that into a haiku! Thank you!
On the Misapplication of Noir
Fruit’s not the new black
Someone needs to learn their French
Just more shades of pink
Jasmin Noir smells like
A tonka bean with BO
Mated with sugar
Prescriptives Calyx
—-
Lush tropical fruit
Followed by soap and oakmoss
A chypre? Who knew?!
Dior Addict
—-
Our girl Vanilla
Has been smoking in secret.
Reformulate her!
Mugler Cologne
—-
Soap and shower steam
Married to a potent musk
Makes great summer scent.
Cartier Declaration
—-
Cardamom smells great
Cumin is a bit dicey
Bergamot makes nice.
Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb
—-
Make Angel sweeter
Add lots of fake patchouli
Voila! Flowerbomb.
Clinique Aromatics Elixir
—-
Bilious substance
Sits on skin for an hour
Then turns fabulous.
Tax-Free Amsterdam
Testing with wild abandon
Stink up entire plane!
Sounds like a good time!
Tuberrose Criminelle
I leaned down to sniff
my garden’s strange sweet tuberose
smelled the rich earth too
Ooops. I got a call in the middle of my syllable count
Tuberose Criminelle
I leaned down to sniff
brutish strange sweet tuberose
smelled the rich earth too
Little quality
in all the new releases
Damn IFRA
Longing for vintage
Where have all the flowers gone?
Blame IFRA
Down the rabbit hole
Trolling, searching auction sites
Thank IFRA
A little bit ticked off, are we? I wonder what (or who) might be the cause of it….
😉
A Fragrance Confession
As a child, I oft
peaked into the New Yorker
an Adult World
Spread out in small text
Cartoons not yet knowable
Ads for dreams to come
Yet somehow I knew
On seeing Denuve, this was
the fabled face that
Launched a thousand ships
though I did not know of what ships
or what poet so spoke
So when in those ads
Denueve, the oracle
proclaimed glamour
She propheszed
for eternal womanhood
and beauty undoubted
And she spoke thusly
Every woman Alive wants
Channel Number five.
And Thus I believed
I would, become a woman
And I would so want
And now I am of age
I have my own New Yorkers
My own scented bottles
And yet I can not
Bring myself to want the scent
of number five
I now know faces
don’t launch ships, and are paid
to prophesize
But stll sometimes
feel myself at fault to not
want number five
Di Orio Vetiver
Mono’s Vetiver:
A snake of perfume weaves through
A river of grass
That’s a perfect poem. Makes me want to try the fragrance. Who cares about No. 5 anyway?
Viktor + Rolf Spicebomb:
Not much of either spice or bomb,
but nice, very nice.
1000 Flowers Reglisse Noir
Licorice surprise
Never liked black jellybeans
But fell hard for you
L’Ete en Douce on wrist
In oven L’Eau D’Pizza
ACK!! I pressed “enter” too soon and it posted without my last line:
“Each one I love. Yum.”
A note on my experiences with Philosykos and Eau Duelle, both of which I love, but….
Diptiques, so lovely
so fleeting. I need my fig
to please stay awhile.
And another, based on a decant I purchased from ebay unsniffed during a horrible pity party I held for myself the day I had to have my beloved cat put to sleep:
Interlude Woman
sexy? your cake and coffee
just make me hungry
Aw sorry about your cat. I don’t much care for Interlude Woman. But I really love Interlude Man:
Coriander man
Javanese burning ember
Welcome to my wrist
Lol, thanks! Every Amouage I’ve sampled was worth sniffing but they are way out of my league.
And thanks for your kindness about my cat.
Heartfelt condolences to you. I also lost my dear cat lately, so I know what you’re going through.
In my cart unsniffed
Molinard Patchouli goes
Darn that PMS
Bad perfumes tempt me
Stay away from Sephora
That time of the month
Perfumes of the past,
Today’s scents don’t often match,
Will future fumes long last?
An ode to Acqua di Gio:
I pull her in close
She embraces, inhaling
“You smell like my ex”
I moved to Hong Kong
with my coupon from luckyscent
when will I go home?
Amouage Beloved
You’re all I have here
But the weather’s just not right
Will love you back soon.
Guerlain Mitsouko:
I hate you. I love you, but
you have never loved me back
That last line should have been “you don’t love me back”. So much for accurate cut & paste…
Why are fumes so sweet
When all I want is to smell
A 90’s fume bomb
Bring the 90’s back
Bring the Poison and old Guess
But keep CK One
Circle, Circle, Dot
Dot, Now I got my Marc
Jacobs Cootie Shot:).
Darn, messed up on line 2 forget it, Dot just sucks, lol!
Circle, Circle, Dot
Dot, Now I have got my Marc
Jacobs cootie shot.
There I am officially back in 5th grade:).
Lancome, please go home
and take your raspberry and
caramel with you.
Bieber, why make a
bottle that is a slinky
and why the plastic?
Big bottle tops big
bottle tops, you make me hide
sometimes, even cry.
Ode De Coco….
Bois Des Iles
Cuir De Russie, Number Five,
Chanel… Eternal!