I am often losing things. (I have even lost my keys while holding them in my hand.) So it's no surprise that when I closed my eyes and spun my Spotify list this morning, landed on something, then hit play, what came out of my speakers was something I realized I was finding after thinking it had been lost.
Today's music comes from Robin Spielberg, and per Wikipedia is, "is an American pianist, composer and author." According to her website, she is "heart and soul of interpretive solo piano."
My mother has been a pianist for years. At one point in my childhood, our church needed a place to store their baby grand piano, and it was moved into our living room. There was enough room for a walkway from the front door to the kitchen, but if you wanted to sit anywhere in the room, you had to crawl under the piano and sit on the floor.
There were times my mother would practice for services or special events, and would often pull in classical pieces from memory to warm up with. Piano music has always been part of my life, and maybe it's because of my childhood, but I can listen to a lone piano for hours.
When I was in college, I discovered several "modern" pianists and played their music in my dorm room after my mother went overseas for missions. It kept her close, but also helped me navigate through my fears of her never coming back. That music was a lifeline to me.
Piano music is something that both soothes me and makes my heart ache. It can immediately throw me back to times where I crawled under that baby grand piano and listened to my mother warming up. Piano can be haunting. Fierce. Dreamy. Suspenseful. Soothing. Sometimes, I would stand up and watch the little hammers strike the strings, watch her feet move on the peddles to evoke different sounds, watch her fingers press the keys. The whole of it fascinated me. How can something that looks so simple create so many moods and emotions? I am feeling the same way today as I listen to Robin Spielberg's compositions.
Today, when the piano began to play, all of the feelings I remember having while lying under that baby grand came back to me. Those sessions while my mother played were some of the few times I saw her truly happy (even when she was frustrated at mistakes she said she was making). I felt at home, wondering, hopeful, longing. I remember often feeling like listening to my mother was like watching falling stars: it was a wonderful experience that I knew would end, and I kept wishing it wouldn't. My childhood was often chaotic, and I mostly remember feeling that chaos. But, today, while I listened to the first songs play out, I connected back to some of the times that I felt safe and happy. I didn't even realize how much of that I'd lost, until today.
I don't remember adding today's artist to my Spotify list, and I don't recognize any of the songs I'm hearing. I'm being reminded again that I don't have to recognize a song in order to connect with it, and I'm so glad this was an artist I had added to explore. I had created a Peaceful list on Spotify, for those days when I really need to shut everything away for a while, and I'm finding that instead of picking through and adding a song here or there, I'll be adding Robin Spielberg's albums to that list, then removing songs that don't quite appeal to me (if I find any).
This is a perfect backdrop for testing a perfume, and I'm thankful to have it.
Today's perfume is Hidden Lodge by Solstice Scents. Solstice Scents used to only do perfume oils (and some other products like whipped soaps--which are wonderful), but a few years ago Angela St. John (the perfumer) decided to branch out into alcohol based perfumes. I have stuck with the oils (although I would dearly, oh so dearly, love to get my hands on her House Vanilla perfume) so this review will be for the oil version. Since I haven't tried the alcohol versions of her perfumes, I'm not sure how much they differ.
Again, I'll be giving my impressions, then post the official notes.
I only have a sample vial of this one, so I can't get as much out of it as I would from a bottle, but in the vial and on the wand, I get the feeling of windswept desert, something a bit herbal and green underneath, and the sense of dry underbrush and wood that has been lying in the sun for years. I grabbed this sample because I like the idea of hidden places where we can wander off, explore, find serenity. I am also finding it amusing that the music for today seems to pair so well with the concept of a Hidden Lodge. I often felt like I was in my own hidden world when I would crawl under the piano, so this fits perfectly. I also am getting a note in the perfume that reminds me of peanuts, which means there may be some form of sandalwood or oud in here.
On my skin, oh this is lovely. There is a part of this that reminds me of one of my favorites from Solstice Scents called Witch's Cottage. That one has soft herbs, sweetness without being sugary, and always makes me feel grounded and hopeful at the same time. This reminds me a little of that in the herbal edge, but this seems to have more woods added to it. I'm still getting a faint peanut note, which is opening up some more which makes me lean toward a soft sandalwood (although I suspect oud may also be playing a role). On my right arm, I'm getting a smoky note that isn't apparent on my left arm. It's a beautiful silvered campfire wood smoke that again reminds me of a desert, but one at night with the stars brilliant overhead, and the faint call of wild things beyond the light from the fire.
As it dries, the sweet herbal note remains dominant on my left arm, but definitely grounded and centered by a very dry wood. What I suspect is oud is wrapping through it all, mixing it all together very beautifully. This comes across as a dry perfume, but still has edges of sweetness. This would be amazing on both men and women. On my right arm, the smokiness merges with the dry wood, making it more dry wood than smoke, but still retaining that elusive smokey quality. This is dry, but soft, not hard or wrung out as some perfumes can be.
Dry, this has become a warm and soft wood with a faint sweet herbal edge with a lick of smoke. My right arm continues to hold a much more dry and smoked edge, but the whole feels like I've somehow found a way to compress an old wooden building with boards bleached by sun, surrounded by soft herbs and dark dessert with the memories of fire, into a perfume.
It is beautiful.
According to the website, "Hidden Lodge is a dry woody blend with traces of spice and smoke and delicate animalic undertones. The dry wood portion of this fragrance is comprised of a number of fragrance and essential oils. Sandalwood, copal bark, cedar and amber combine with additional wood aromas to produce a diffusive, warm, dry foundation for this scent. The addition of the woodsmoke with very conservatively applied nutmeg and clove enhances the incensey slightly sweet woods. A touch of a botanical castoreum blend conveys a very subtle and enjoyable animalic hint to the blend. Natural oud adds a rich and intoxicating body to the total composition. Hidden Lodge smells very incensey, warm, woodsy, smoky, slightly spicy and even has a bit of well-worn leather on the skin. The spices are more detectable after initial application and fade quickly to a subtle supporting role. On initial application, there is a sweet note similar to brown sugar along with a peppery zip. These nuances are an added dimension from the combination of wood and spice notes. Some of the woods in Hidden Lodge have a natural sweetness similar to that of caramel. Though this sweet characteristic is detectable, it is subtle and Hidden Lodge is not a sweet blend. Natural sandalwood and oud were used generously in this fragrance. Unisex leaning masculine." The notes are "Dry Wood Blend, Oud, Woodsmoke, Spices, Castoreum (Botanical Interpretation)
Aha! I don't get much of the animalic, but I am tickled to see that this is very along the lines of what I got from it on my skin. Angela really is a master at setting a mood with her perfume, and this one is just perfect for me today, especially paired with the music pick. I find myself balancing between feeling peaceful and thankful for finding moments of happy memories. All by determining to discover something new.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Flamenco and Perfume? Yes, please.
(Otherwise known as The "Meaning To" Beginning, With Gipsy Kings and The Arabian Dance)
For several years, I have had an idea of diving into music. I know what I tend to gravitate to, but I have been on a journey of asking myself, "Is this who I am, and how do I know that," in many areas of my life. Music somehow remained static. I liked what I liked, and didn't stray much from that. But, as I continued to question myself regarding what I was "sure" I liked and wanted to add to my life, music began to take on a focus.
Music, like perfume, is often considered a personal taste. Also, like perfume, there will be those who think your personal taste is terrible (and should not be aired to the public, lest ye offend). With both, some will be interested in more than what is traditionally offered. Like perfume, there are music brands and types sold for mass consumption. Then, there are the steadily growing niche perfumers and bands that have developed loyal followings because they offer something else/more, something that isn't being acknowledged by the mass consumption gods.
Music, like perfume, even though developed by others, is considered an intimate form of self expression.
I have taken several years to explore perfume (although I admit that even there, I have tended to find one thing, obsess over it for a little while, then stall out before moving on). In doing so, I have discovered more of myself--things I thought I didn't like but ended up loving, new words to describe my tastes and interests, ways I tend to self-care (and ways I can improve), the way I approach something I'm not sure about (and how I can work on expanding my experiences).
I have often not understood not wanting to learn, whether it's more about self, about others, about the world we live in. I see people going about their day-to-day, sometimes candidly expressing that they don't want to explore anything else. They want the routine, the predictable. While, I do understand how comforting sameness can be, I also crave discovery and truths that may lurk beyond what we think we know and experience. I've been told by several people (in varying tones and degrees, and sometimes meant as an insult, sometimes as a compliment) that "You are a very different type of person, Maya. Not everyone is as __________ (bold/willing to explore/critical of self/whatever the thing is at the time) as you are."
When I've heard that, I have allowed it to set me back. Should I be as curious about the world, about people, about what makes us all tick? Why is this insatiable desire to know inside of me?
One thing I seem to have to keep learning is that whether I am the same as everyone else or different, it's not going to change who likes me, loves me, hates me and even more importantly whether I like or hate myself. So why not test a horizon or two?
Which brings me back to exploration. I have, through the past two years (and especially so last year), been adding to my "Someday I want to explore that" list in music. I've asked people what they listen to, and have added those artists and songs.
While I've been doing this, I have also been adding to my perfume lists as well as looking at the boxes of perfumes I have set aside to fully test, explore, make decisions about.
For over a year, I've been meaning to get to both the music and the perfume with the idea of combining them. Test a perfume. Test a new artist. I have held back because sometimes I scare myself by how much I want to do something (and I also realize the big risk of exploring an artist, not liking them, and having someone tell me how stupid they think I am).
But the idea has persisted. Persists. Probably will continue to do so.
So, today, I basically closed my eyes, spun the list on Spotify, and picked a group at random that I added I don't even know how long ago, and pressed play. I also closed my eyes, reached into my box of perfume and grabbed.
I didn't realize that just doing those things would make my hands sweat a little bit.
I probably won't give as in depth a review on the music that I pick as I do this (although who knows how it will evolve), but I do look forward to seeing what I connect with and what I decide to add permanently.
On to the reviews!
Gipsy Kings
The group Spotify landed on today was the Gipsy Kings. Per Wikipedia, "The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in the south of France, who perform in Andalusian Spanish." Their website was fun to wander through and read. They hail from an area very close to where most of the well known perfumes in the world have been developed and come from (as we know them today). Both this music and perfume have history behind them--weighty, bold, and beautiful.
I also have liked flamenco music through the years, but have never really taken the time to focus on it. The Gipsy Kings grabbed me immediately, and I found myself adding more of their songs to one of my permanent lists. I find it almost impossible to be cranky while listening to flamenco music, and the Gipsy Kings kept making me happy from track to track.
However, reading their story also reminded me of a different history when it comes to gypsy culture, and how gypsies have been treated through the years. I found myself wondering what joy, what cultural impact, what influence would have been lost if the people who had wanted to rid the earth of gypsies and their culture had succeeded.
Today, I am grateful for a chance to listen to masterful guitar work and powerful vocals. I will be keeping this group's music around and look forward to more days spent with the Gipsy Kings.
Today's perfume grab was The Arabian Dance, and I admit to chuckling over how life can sometimes pair things. I'm listening to music that makes me want to dance, and it is paired with a perfume with dance in its name. I probably would have had to hunt for hours to find that pairing, and yet closing my eyes and picking made it happen. It tickles me.
Today, for the fun of it, I'm going to go through the review first before I find the scent description and notes from the perfumers website.
The Arabian Dance
In the bottle, I get a bunch of things that smoosh up together. I start to pick them out and at first get the sense of a dark and woody chocolate or coffee. It's dark and just shy of bitter. But, immediately dancing around that and lifting the whole is a sweet fruity note that feels like it's tangling with raw silk. It's compelling in the play of light and dark.
On my skin, my left arm immediately gets a beautifully spiced note (like an amazing spice cake, loaded with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove), threaded with a touch of coffee. I also get the sense of sugar. On my right arm, I get more of the sweet fruit that turns very perfumey. The raw silk edge lifts, then drops down to become part of the perfume base.
As it dries, the spice on my left arm is beautiful. The coffee note drops into a deeper and softer chocolate vibe without smelling like chocolate, and continues to play along a line that dashes between light and dark, without ever becoming heavy. It is (on my left arm) completely what I would like my cozy days to smell like in wintertime: charming, uplifting, slightly spiced, warm. On my right arm, that coffee note begins to rise a bit and brings up the raw silk aspect. It also comes across as very perfumed with a sweet edge. It also has a note in it that reminds me a little bit of Phyllotaxis also from Possets, which had a black musk and coffee note blended with chai and lavender notes. My right arm has a slightly plastic edge among the notes, but it is not dominant and only noticeable when I put my nose on my skin and sniff. I suspect there is clove in this one, as clove can sometimes go to a weird plastic on my skin (but only up close, not in the throw). The waft around me is glorious: warm spices, a distinct snugglycuddleness, and yet lifting into a really beautiful perfume with soft and sweet edges, without being too sugary sweet.
Fully dry, the perfume softens a lot, but stays warm and cozy spices, a faint hint of coffee base, and keeps that lovely perfume edge with a soft sweetness. This is perfect for me right now in our winter months. (I suspect it would be too much in our heat and humidity.) I will be putting this in my autumn-spring rotation pile.
The Arabian Dance is a permanent at Possets, so if you think you may like to try it, it would be available as a sample. The notes for it are: Clove, coffee, a drop of mild oude, and very light smoke. Very spice sensuous and lovely like a sunny afternoon in a coffee shop in Dubai in January. A glorious simple pleasure.
The mention of smoke surprised me a little, but I suspect that is the raw silk edge I was getting. Overall, I'm a bit pleased that I picked out the clove (or spices) and coffee. For people who may be afraid of smoke fragrances, this seems like it would be a good one to try. I have other perfumes that literally have a smoke-from-a-bonfire smell. This is a much lighter, more "clean" smoke, and soft. It is a beautiful perfume and deserves to be out more. I'm thrilled to have rediscovered it.
Both the music and the perfume are perfect for today, and both are keepers (although I know some will not be). I look forward to seeing what else is out there just waiting for me to discover them.
For several years, I have had an idea of diving into music. I know what I tend to gravitate to, but I have been on a journey of asking myself, "Is this who I am, and how do I know that," in many areas of my life. Music somehow remained static. I liked what I liked, and didn't stray much from that. But, as I continued to question myself regarding what I was "sure" I liked and wanted to add to my life, music began to take on a focus.
Music, like perfume, is often considered a personal taste. Also, like perfume, there will be those who think your personal taste is terrible (and should not be aired to the public, lest ye offend). With both, some will be interested in more than what is traditionally offered. Like perfume, there are music brands and types sold for mass consumption. Then, there are the steadily growing niche perfumers and bands that have developed loyal followings because they offer something else/more, something that isn't being acknowledged by the mass consumption gods.
Music, like perfume, even though developed by others, is considered an intimate form of self expression.
I have taken several years to explore perfume (although I admit that even there, I have tended to find one thing, obsess over it for a little while, then stall out before moving on). In doing so, I have discovered more of myself--things I thought I didn't like but ended up loving, new words to describe my tastes and interests, ways I tend to self-care (and ways I can improve), the way I approach something I'm not sure about (and how I can work on expanding my experiences).
I have often not understood not wanting to learn, whether it's more about self, about others, about the world we live in. I see people going about their day-to-day, sometimes candidly expressing that they don't want to explore anything else. They want the routine, the predictable. While, I do understand how comforting sameness can be, I also crave discovery and truths that may lurk beyond what we think we know and experience. I've been told by several people (in varying tones and degrees, and sometimes meant as an insult, sometimes as a compliment) that "You are a very different type of person, Maya. Not everyone is as __________ (bold/willing to explore/critical of self/whatever the thing is at the time) as you are."
When I've heard that, I have allowed it to set me back. Should I be as curious about the world, about people, about what makes us all tick? Why is this insatiable desire to know inside of me?
One thing I seem to have to keep learning is that whether I am the same as everyone else or different, it's not going to change who likes me, loves me, hates me and even more importantly whether I like or hate myself. So why not test a horizon or two?
Which brings me back to exploration. I have, through the past two years (and especially so last year), been adding to my "Someday I want to explore that" list in music. I've asked people what they listen to, and have added those artists and songs.
While I've been doing this, I have also been adding to my perfume lists as well as looking at the boxes of perfumes I have set aside to fully test, explore, make decisions about.
For over a year, I've been meaning to get to both the music and the perfume with the idea of combining them. Test a perfume. Test a new artist. I have held back because sometimes I scare myself by how much I want to do something (and I also realize the big risk of exploring an artist, not liking them, and having someone tell me how stupid they think I am).
But the idea has persisted. Persists. Probably will continue to do so.
So, today, I basically closed my eyes, spun the list on Spotify, and picked a group at random that I added I don't even know how long ago, and pressed play. I also closed my eyes, reached into my box of perfume and grabbed.
I didn't realize that just doing those things would make my hands sweat a little bit.
I probably won't give as in depth a review on the music that I pick as I do this (although who knows how it will evolve), but I do look forward to seeing what I connect with and what I decide to add permanently.
On to the reviews!
Gipsy Kings
The group Spotify landed on today was the Gipsy Kings. Per Wikipedia, "The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in the south of France, who perform in Andalusian Spanish." Their website was fun to wander through and read. They hail from an area very close to where most of the well known perfumes in the world have been developed and come from (as we know them today). Both this music and perfume have history behind them--weighty, bold, and beautiful.
I also have liked flamenco music through the years, but have never really taken the time to focus on it. The Gipsy Kings grabbed me immediately, and I found myself adding more of their songs to one of my permanent lists. I find it almost impossible to be cranky while listening to flamenco music, and the Gipsy Kings kept making me happy from track to track.
However, reading their story also reminded me of a different history when it comes to gypsy culture, and how gypsies have been treated through the years. I found myself wondering what joy, what cultural impact, what influence would have been lost if the people who had wanted to rid the earth of gypsies and their culture had succeeded.
Today, I am grateful for a chance to listen to masterful guitar work and powerful vocals. I will be keeping this group's music around and look forward to more days spent with the Gipsy Kings.
Today's perfume grab was The Arabian Dance, and I admit to chuckling over how life can sometimes pair things. I'm listening to music that makes me want to dance, and it is paired with a perfume with dance in its name. I probably would have had to hunt for hours to find that pairing, and yet closing my eyes and picking made it happen. It tickles me.
Today, for the fun of it, I'm going to go through the review first before I find the scent description and notes from the perfumers website.
The Arabian Dance
In the bottle, I get a bunch of things that smoosh up together. I start to pick them out and at first get the sense of a dark and woody chocolate or coffee. It's dark and just shy of bitter. But, immediately dancing around that and lifting the whole is a sweet fruity note that feels like it's tangling with raw silk. It's compelling in the play of light and dark.
On my skin, my left arm immediately gets a beautifully spiced note (like an amazing spice cake, loaded with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove), threaded with a touch of coffee. I also get the sense of sugar. On my right arm, I get more of the sweet fruit that turns very perfumey. The raw silk edge lifts, then drops down to become part of the perfume base.
As it dries, the spice on my left arm is beautiful. The coffee note drops into a deeper and softer chocolate vibe without smelling like chocolate, and continues to play along a line that dashes between light and dark, without ever becoming heavy. It is (on my left arm) completely what I would like my cozy days to smell like in wintertime: charming, uplifting, slightly spiced, warm. On my right arm, that coffee note begins to rise a bit and brings up the raw silk aspect. It also comes across as very perfumed with a sweet edge. It also has a note in it that reminds me a little bit of Phyllotaxis also from Possets, which had a black musk and coffee note blended with chai and lavender notes. My right arm has a slightly plastic edge among the notes, but it is not dominant and only noticeable when I put my nose on my skin and sniff. I suspect there is clove in this one, as clove can sometimes go to a weird plastic on my skin (but only up close, not in the throw). The waft around me is glorious: warm spices, a distinct snugglycuddleness, and yet lifting into a really beautiful perfume with soft and sweet edges, without being too sugary sweet.
Fully dry, the perfume softens a lot, but stays warm and cozy spices, a faint hint of coffee base, and keeps that lovely perfume edge with a soft sweetness. This is perfect for me right now in our winter months. (I suspect it would be too much in our heat and humidity.) I will be putting this in my autumn-spring rotation pile.
The Arabian Dance is a permanent at Possets, so if you think you may like to try it, it would be available as a sample. The notes for it are: Clove, coffee, a drop of mild oude, and very light smoke. Very spice sensuous and lovely like a sunny afternoon in a coffee shop in Dubai in January. A glorious simple pleasure.
The mention of smoke surprised me a little, but I suspect that is the raw silk edge I was getting. Overall, I'm a bit pleased that I picked out the clove (or spices) and coffee. For people who may be afraid of smoke fragrances, this seems like it would be a good one to try. I have other perfumes that literally have a smoke-from-a-bonfire smell. This is a much lighter, more "clean" smoke, and soft. It is a beautiful perfume and deserves to be out more. I'm thrilled to have rediscovered it.
Both the music and the perfume are perfect for today, and both are keepers (although I know some will not be). I look forward to seeing what else is out there just waiting for me to discover them.
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