Note: I started this in the Shoutbox. I had settled down for some non-web reading and as I am assessing my reaction to this new-to-me scent, I figured, hey: live blog!
4:33 First impression: strong lemon. Wait up: strong rose/rosewood?
Quite complex. I'm curious how this plays out.
Thoughts that waft through my brain: This was first released in '65. What did it smell like then?
I can't remember what Luten's Chypre Rouge smells like. Was the rouge part a nod to this scent. I suspect so.
I have an untrained nose.
4:53 Why does my left and right wrist always smell differently? That is a true mystery.
4:54 My right wrist smells quite a bit like Dzongkha. Mmmmm. My left wrist, I think, has not caught up. It still smells sweet, while the right is more dry. Ah, the mystery is solved, I suspect: the right wrist is further along in the drydown.
Checked Basenotes to see what I'm missing. I got the lemon/rosewood thing right, at least.
4:59 I find it hard to identify woodsy notes, though I love them. I'm discovering that patchouli isn't the horrible thing I've always felt it to be.
Thinking back to when I managed a clothing store, I realize I must have seemed like a monster of a boss when I told a girl, "You can't work here today because you smell like patchouli. You can wash all you want, but I'll still smell it. Don't wear it to work again."
Then, when I hired a girl to work at my tat shop, I told her I only had three rules:
1. No patchouli.
2. No showing up to worked stoned or drunk.
3. Be on time.
She failed on all three, but that has little to do with Habit Rouge, does it?
5:04 This one is a winner, so far. Could even wind up on favorites list. Time will tell. Stay tuned.
5:11 More Dzing! than Dzongkha, though sweeter and certainly not as weird. Yes, Dzing! is weird. Not the type of description that makes me sound like an authority on anything, but I never claimed to be. Dzing! was meant to remind one of the circus, elephant poop and all. How could it be ordinary?
Habit Rouge? I'd say it was ahead of its time.
6:08 Ah, the highs and lows of first sniffs. . .I'm now disappointed. Let this be a lesson to anyone who tries a scent at a store, knows enough to let it drydown, walks around for half an hour and falls in love. This love affair may be over sooner than you think and you'll be stuck with a scent that you're trying to trade away to someone else.
The final verdict: If it had stayed the way it was at 5:11, I'd be delighted. But no, the final lasting impression of Habit Rouge is one of rosewood,or really, a old musty rose. I think of a bottle of German rosewater that my mother once had, never used (but pretty to look at) and the small tin of cold cream that my grandmother carried in her black purse, or maybe even the exact scent of her lipstick. From "ahead of its time" (which still may be true) to "old-lady-ish". Yet, I still find it likeable and admirable. And I will try it again. Well, maybe not. We'll see!
Photo note: Jean Paul Guerlain with the new Habit Rouge
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