It's Friday and National Cranberry Relish Day. Birthdays: Abigail Adams, André Gide, Hoagy Carmichael and Billie Jean King. Our community project for today: we're off to Nepal! Wear a perfume that is named for a place in Nepal, or that reminds you of a (real or imaginary) trip to Nepal, or that features a local ingredient, or ?
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I did some reading this week about traditional Nepalese rope incense (short starting point here if you are interested), and decided on Chanel Bois des Iles for the sandalwood note.
Reminder: on 11/29, pick your Black Friday poison: wear the last fragrance you bought, wear a cheap thrill, or wear a fragrance you love but refuse to buy in a full size because it's too expensive. (We've done this project several times.)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2024, where I'll try (but usually fail) to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Bhaktapur [cropped] by Keith Roper at flickr; some rights reserved. [You can read about Bhaktapur Durbar Square at Wikipedia, or see the UNESCO entry for the Kathmandu Valley.]
Adding for anyone who missed my comment the other day, Now Smell This is now on Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/nowsmellthis.bsky.social
I’m in Tea for Two, from a full bottle, perfect for autumn, spicy notes for Nepal. I love it in fall and winter.
Great choice!
Hello and tgif!
Mum’s surgery had gone smoothly and she is feeling stronger by the minute! Thank you all for your kind thoughts. ☺️
No sotd because I am still in the hospital but if I was out and about I’d be wearing Tam Dao for the sandalwood and I imagine it’d also pair very nicely with Diptyque’s Rich Butter body cream, which I have a mini sample of and smells divine!
Glad to hear all went well for your mother.
Thanks!
That’s great news about your mother! I’m sure you’ll appreciate your fragrances even more when you’re out of the hospital!
I miss smelling great already and it’s only been a couple days!
Wonderful news! Sending wishes for you and your mother to be out of the hospital soon. 💟
You have just created a new lemming for that body cream.
The cream is really luscious and non-greasy, pretty sure I will get it some point.
So glad, enjoy the body cream.
Because the sample is so small, I only use it where I can smell it, lol!
That’s wonderful! Be prepared for a sort of slump to happen… I think it’s somewhat common. After a major surgery one often feels great upon realizing you’ve made it through, and then after a bit longer you realize it’s still a long struggle ahead….. the after-effects can kick in later (I think this has to do with recovering from anesthesia, feeling new pain as the tissues heal, and so on). I sound like a downer and don’t mean to be! Honestly it’s great that she’s doing well, and I hope you are feeling better yourself, too.
Yes, so true and good advice. Just keep on chugging and get through the slump.
That’s really good advice! Thank you and I will prepare for it. Thank you 😊
That’s great news about your mother’s surgery.
We will definitely be celebrating once she’s out!
Yay! good news!
So glad!!!
Belated but nonetheless sincere wishes for healing being sent!🤗
Thank you!
Glad to hear that your Mom’s procedure went well!
It’s such a relief because her surgery time took 45 mins longer and that scared me, thankfully it was just the doctor being careful.
I think someone mentioned that mangoes are a popular fruit in Nepal, so I’m wearing the mango-forward “Bombay Bling!” from Neela Vermeire.
Happy Friday, everyone.☺️
Bombay Bling is such a fun and happy fragrance, perfect for a Friday!
You smell wonderful, that’s such a happy fragrance.
Sounds like you picked a perfect mood-boosting scent!
Rope incense? I love it when we’re on the same wavelength, Robin!
I dedicate the final day of the CP to traditional Nepali rope incense.
While I’ve already mentioned some of its ingredients, today I’m focusing on cedarwood, sandalwood, juniper, agarwood (oud), frankincense, and cardamom.
Micallef Shanaan + Amouage Interlude Man + Goutal Encens Flamboyant
– Shanaan: incense, cedarwood
– Interlude: frankincense, sandalwood, oud (agarwood)
– Encens Flamboyant: incense, frankincense, church incense, cardamom, fir balsam
Although fir balsam is not traditionally an incense ingredient, it grows abundantly in Nepal. As noted:
“Silver fir (*Abies spectabilis*) forest is predominant between 2,900m and the treeline (3,850m).”
I enjoyed all the layerings this week. Yesterday’s was the most balanced and easiest. Today I went easy on Interlude and Goutal but sprayed a lot of Shanaan on my neck, since it is the lightest of all three. And it is mostly Shanaan I smell now. Let’s see if it holds – I might play with extra sprays from any of the three later, if needed.
I already said yesterday that you win the CP, hands down, and you’ve outdone yourself today Glannys!
Wow – you are amazing!
Thank you both! I had so much fun with this CP!
Interlude Man is one of my favorites from Amouage! And Encens Flamboyant is the first AG perfume I ever got.
Joining the sandalwood cohort in Tam Dao edt, my gold-standard sandalwood scent.
Always perfect.
I think of mountains when I think of Nepal, so I went with one of my favourite ingredients, one that happens to be a Himalayan plant, jatamansi/spikenard, and I’m wearing Chiaroscuro by Roxana Illuminated Perfumes. Aptly named, this is shadow and light play inside of a temple high in the mountains: herbal, earthy and resinous scent with a beautiful jatamansi note.
Aha, good thinking! I did not think of jatamansi at all.
Wow, that’s so interesting!
Robin mentioned honey yesterday as an export of Nepal so I’m wearing Swiss Arabian Noora, a cheapie and a goodie, which combines honey, orange and musk to smell like liquid sunshine.
That sounds pretty.
It’s really lovely.
SOTD is Indochine. It has honey and cardamom, so I believe I am compliant today🙂 I do love this scent!
Indochine is lovely. Honey and cardamom make me think of baklava.
I never thought of baklava when wearing it, but if you say so I will believe it!
That sounds delicious.
It really is. You must try it if you haven’t yet.
I may even love it more than Chergui. It’s just such a lovely and unique fragrance.
Whoa, I love these both soooooooooooo much. I think I love the one I have on that day the most.
I have never tried Chergui, but I understand they are similar.
Chergui was spicy, powder-y, woodsy, and had a big wallop of tobacco on me. YMMV.
As planned, I unearthed my bottle of Ambra de Nepal today. It smells just as I remembered it!
Yay. I wish I had replaced my bottle when I drained it.
I have more than I’ll ever use, I’ll email you!
That is so kind but keep yours and use it in good health! I wish I had some but I also wish I had no more perfume than I already do 🙂
Well, if you ever change your mind, reach out!
Unearthed along with you today, tulipani!
I have a few boxes of dhoop that are more than 40 years old and they still smell as if I was in Kashmir buying them.
We’re smelling great, scent twin!
I am wearing Hermes Galop and drinking a cup of Irish Breakfast tea.
Happy Friday Barqs!
Wearing Musc Ravageur for coriander, clove and sandalwood.
A triple threat 🙂
Hello all!
Being somewhat compliant in Rose & Cuir today (my phone tried to correct to Rose & Cutie) which has a Timut pepper note. It might have been the first to use it, if I remember correctly. I really enjoy this scent though I know it’s quite polarizing.
I’ve had a headache for two days but unfortunately I can’t spend today in bed. Officially two weeks from my Physical Chemistry final, which I don’t feel ready for! Luckily I’m staying in town so my distractions will be at a minimum.
Have a great day everyone.
Sorry about your headache, but you certainly smell great!
Thank you! It went away yesterday, blessedly.
Oh too bad about your headache. I wonder if it’s related to our recent weather front. Hope that will go away soon. Good luck with exams!
Yes it probably was the pretty weather. 🙁
Best of luck with P-Chem!
Thank you! 🥲
I went to Nepal and was astonished by how large the rhododendrons grew, some were as tall as trees. I have no perfume with the note, so I am going with my favorite honey fragrance, Slowdive.
It must be the altitude, foxbins! The ferns are as high as some trees grow!
You smell fantastic! Off to find my sample.
Wearing one of my top 10 favorites today, which just so happens to fit the CP like a hand in a glove. Notes are:
Top notes are Cloves, Cumin and Mandarin Orange;
Middle notes are Cardamom, Caraway, Licorice, Mango, Ylang-Ylang, Heliotrope and Gardenia;
Base notes are Vanilla, Amber and Patchouli.
Guess that perfume! 😄
I’m a pretty low key, “dress for the weather” kind of gal, but every once in a while I come across a very fancy OTT dress I’d love to wear. This is the latest in my imaginary signature sartorial adventures. WOWOZA! I just love it. It’s like being dressed in the riding sun. ☀️
https://youtube.com/shorts/4dloOCN54dk?si=iQnnZzWrSoaljau0
It’s another gorgeous sunny day here. Happy friYAY to all!
*rising sun!😃
Jungle Elephant?
Ding! Ding! Ding! 🥇🏆
It’s one of my favorites too
Whatever it is, you smell fabulous!
Great dress and perfect for van life and dog walks!!!
She can swan around in her van smelling delicious!
We’re perfume twins today!
Deva-Did you see the Year of the Snake candle by Glasshouse that Robin had on here today? I thought you might jump on that!
Burberry Brit is my scent of the day. Dreamt that I found multiple bottles of Tibetan Mountain Temple heavily discounted in a store.
Too bad your dream wasn’t real! 🫤
😂
Have you seen the Burberry Brit Red display at Macy’s? It’s got teapots in this gorgeous red that is not quite shiny and not quite matte. I’ll take a picture next time I go and post it on Insta!
Haven’t seen it but it sounds fabulous!!! Did they bring back Brit Red? That was a limited edition. Looking forward to your photo!
I have to double-check!
If Burberry Brit Red is back, I might have to blind buy that one. I’m willing to take a chance on it!
I hope in that dream I was at the cash register with one!
The last time I saw Tibetan Mountain Temple on EvilBuy, it was going for something like $400. Insane!!
I’m so glad it’s Friday, even though I really love my job, I love my time off even better.
My SOTD is Eau du Fier, because of the tea note even though my favourite tea from Nepal isn’t smoked (I don’t even know if smoked Nepalese teas exist), but is a stunning black (red) tea called Sagarmatha Gold. It’s a bit like a good quality Yunnan, but slightly earthier, now if someone would bottle that smell…..
Double points for Sagarmatha ( Mount Everest). Have a good weekend
https://www.gwt.org.uk/news/tihar-explained/
I was thinking of the brightly coloured flower garlands that you often see in images of Kathmandu or placed around the necks of visitors . Marigolds are one of the most common flowers for festivals such as Tihar. I looked through my perfumes for a marigold note and funnily enough it’s the first note listed for Boucheron ( never fails ).
I am also wearing Journey for the honey note for a NZ a link to Edmund Hillary who was a beekeeper ( with his brother) for many years
I love the look of those garlands but honestly would not enjoy being swathed in a marigold scent.
Have a garland picture queued up for tomorrow’s poll 🙂
SotD for the CP is Lyric. In addition to rose, it also has notes of incense, cardamom, and sandalwood.
Robin, thanks for the info on
Nepalese incense. My high school boyfriend introduced me to this, and I have always liked it. I have some squirreled away somewhere, but now I have to find it since I know how to burn it, lol!
Lyric is so gorgeous. (At first I read it as your high school boyfriend introduced you to Lyric. I was thinking that’s amazing!! And so young…)
Too funny! Although that would make me much younger. 😄
Ha, good luck! I put all my incense in a bin and of course came across it months later, having completely forgotten 🙂
I can relate. And of course, I have it stashed in several places in the house. 🤔
Enjoy your incense! I gave all of mine away, since it isn’t a good idea to burn incense with cats around. I figure I might be pushing my luck with scented candles, but so far it hasn’t had any effect on Teflon kitty.
The Nepal theme has encouraged some wonderful creativity here, NST folk are a clever bunch!
I’m continuing with the incense theme in CdG’s Kyoto. It’s not quite Nepal, but in the geographic neighbourhood.
Plus you smell fantastic.
Vintage Estee Lauder Cinnabar for me today. Super strong and like a very slightly more sweet vintage Opium on my skin at least. With its giant bucket of exotic spicy incensey notes, there have got to be a couple that ping the CP. And Glannys, I’m thinking of you today because I bought a packet of whole millet in efforts to expand my consumption of grains and lo and behold, it is made in Ukraine! I knew that Ukraine is known as the ‘breadbasket’ of that region for its rich black soil and wheat cultivation, but I was tickled to find that they also produce millet, which is not that easily found in U.S. supermarkets. Now to hunt down some recipes.
Cinnabar totally works for the CP – cinnamon and incense for rope incense. You smell awesome!
Ukrainian millet in a US store? Interesting. Grains are a staple in the diet of many Ukrainians. I am not sure what kind of millet you bought, but the one commonly sold in all Ukrainian supermarkets and grocery stores is pshono (пшоно), and it looks like this – https://zernovita.online/products/pshono-krupa-shlifovana-zernovita-1-kg
In our home, we just cook it similar to porridge (and it is referred to as pshono porridge). And then we eat it as a side dish with meat and possibly a salad.
Glannys, yes, that’s almost exactly what I bought! Says krupa and pshono in Cyrillic. The grocery store is known for its ethnic offerings and called Jon’s. I think its local to the SoCal area and Armenian family owned so it caters to that community which has emigrated from former USSR, Lebanon, and the Middle East so it has food from all those regions as well as Latino foodstuffs. I also got some pearl barley/farro that was imported from Lithuania!! They must have 50 different kinds of buckwheat/kasha. Anyway, I am going to make it as a porridge but also make it as a grain salad bowl, with herbs and nuts and greens and maybe a bit of chopped chicken, we eat a lot of those in my family. Nothing perfume related in this post, alas, except to say that we also buy the rose-scented water which is really nice.
Frozen mango and yogurt smoothie
For the CP, it’s chai tea, Omnia and my most cardamom-forward scent, Hermès Voyage parfum.
We were twins with spice notes! I definitely smell cardamom in L’Elephant.
Elephant is a spice fest.
Omnia is so great!
It is Lillyjo, I’m finishing a bottle but have bub. I always associate it with Deva.
Inspired by Glannys, I’m wearing Interlude. So beautiful, so potent!
I went out for lunch today–it was great getting out of the house, where I’ve been feeling trapped, and our weather is just delightful!
So glad you were able to get out!
Eris Mxxx. today. So gorgeous. Not fully Nepal, but maybe the ginger note works?
Going out for dinner with Mr. SP. He won’t tell me where – it’s a surprise for me. 😀 Happy upcoming weekend, all!
I love Eris Mxxx. !
I love both Mx. and Mxxx.!
You smell wonderful and Mxxx. is perfect for a special evening out💃
Thank you and thank you (for the Mxxx. – very special). ♥
Enjoy your mysterious dinner out!
Thanks, we had fun!
Have a great time!
Thanks, lillyjo. Hope the work drama improves.
I thought for sure someone else would wear MCMC Noble this week, since it was directly inspired by a trip to Nepal. Anyway, I’m not wearing it because it’s at home in Vancouver, but I would be if I were there. It’s one of my winter go-to scents, and the first to come to mind for this CP.
I know you mentioned it once already, so guessing nobody else has a bottle?
Must be. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s takes on the CP this week, anyway.
Noble is one I’ve been interested in trying for a long time but just never have. I have and love Amara, a limited edition from MCMC from 12 years ago.
SOTD = Parfum Satori Satori
Incense, anyone?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCsF320xbyU/?igsh=OTBoczAwMXh5N3U4
I saw the below microwave tips in NYTimes Wirecutter where I could never get a gift article. Anyway, I haven’t replaced mine in a good long while and I am not planning to unless it conks out. In case you use it to heat up stuff (versus “cook” because I barely do), here are 7 tips:
1) Cut food into even pieces
2) Spread food out
3) Use a cover
4) Separate different food items
5) Start at a lower power (TBH, I don’t because I think mine is all one temperature)
6) Stir, flip or move your food
7) Let it rest
… just in time for leftovers!
💯% agree with you on covering things! Not only does food heat up more efficiently, it also prevents food from splattering all over the inside of your microwave. Cleaning that up is a pain.
I just use the same temperature. I don’t like to mess with the settings too much, in case I can’t change them back. Lol.
Thank you for the tips😀
I was at first stymied about finding a scent for today’s cp, but upon researching Nepal, I stumbled upon a fact that had me look twice: Nepal has 5 seasons – What? I thought there were 4 seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. But, no, apparently monsoon season is considered a 5th season in itself ( I love how I always learn something new because of NST 👍! )
So my SOTD for today’s cp is Dame Perfumery Monsoon! How’s that for a match? Its notes include orris root and Iris flower; LOTV, water lily and jasmine; creosote bush and cedar. A good match for today’s dreary, gloomy weather, it’s exceptionally well blended so no one note stands out, although I’m really enjoying a slightly dusty, smoky note that I’m thinking might be creosote.
Yesterday’s first snowstorm of the season really came down hard with about 3” here – it’s been so mild up til now it felt like we jumped from mid-October to mid-January! But all melted and gone now. Had a nice week with our monthly Green Drinks get-together, a yoga class, and a great library program yesterday on How to Stay Positive in a Negative World (much-needed!). A quiet weekend ahead, and wishing everyone a great weekend ahead, weather notwithstanding!
I did not know Monsoon was considered a “proper” season in that sense either!
The southwestern US also has a monsoon season. I did not know that until a few years ago, when my brother told me about it.
Cloudy day here, which is kind of unmotivating. But temps were mild.
I’ve been looking up pigeon repellents online. Lately they have been camping out on the deck railing. I don’t appreciate the “gifts” left behind. 💩
SOTD = Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant. Two sprays of this is plenty! I picked it for the spices, but it also has mango in it as well. Plus, I think there are elephants in Nepal? 🐘
I wouldn’t appreciate the gifts either!
Right now I have some packing tape on the rail, sticky side up. I will come up with something a little more permanent.
Sounds like a good scent though I have never been a Kenzo person. I think I have only tried their original perfume.
This is the only Kenzo perfume I have. Very spicy in the beginning, and a vanilla amber at the end. No floral notes with this on me at all.
NOT a safe blind buy, so sample first!
Hi, twin! 👋🏼
Aren’t they scared of Teflon or is the deck a no-go for her?
https://youtu.be/4s1-e88R3OU?feature=shared
I really hope this is a good cp song match. Cp Perfume match is Coco edt.
Lot’s of work drama today/ tonight. I need a vacation.
Want to get on an airplane with Bob Seeger? 😉
I love Bob! I grew up in the Detroit suburbs.
Me too foxbins!
Oh great, maybe plan a fun vacation soon, or a day out with the kids.
*great song I mean.