I doubt it. However, I haven't felt the desire to blog as often as I used to.
As a reader of blogs, I know it's nice to see a new entry (or more) each day. And judging from my blog stats, I can see my readership is down. So, have you all caught up? There's a large amount of entries here, and the majority of them are not topical.
Jaime suggested I write about shoes, socks and mittens. I've written about shoes and mittens before, and there are even drawings of shoes (see the tag "EIIIProduct" in the sidebar). I started writing about socks last night and wound up deleting the entry. I guess I've got some sort of writer's block. Normally, I could write about socks for hours if I didn't stop myself. Last night, writing about anything was about as difficult and not worth the effort as trying to squeeze the last little bit of toothpaste out of its tube.
And normally, I'd now be writing about toothpaste. But that stream of consciousness has dried up, for now. I have no doubt that I'll be back to my normal babbly self at some point. When? I make no promises!
And now, a little story:
Last week, I was wearing Annick Goutal's Encens Flamboyant. Dick and I were standing in front of an open cupboard. I guess we were looking for food. Of course, that has nothing to do with anything, except to explain that we were in close proximity to each other.
He asked me, "Do you smell something burning?" I answered, "No." He then said, "Well, it's not really a burning smell. It's more like the smell of a dryer sheet." I told him I had just put on some perfume. I offered my wrist for him to smell. He wasn't sure if that was the smell he was smelling. And that was the end of that, for him.
It wasn't the end of it for me, however. I kept sniffing my wrist and asking myself, "Does this smell like Bounce or Snuggle or whatever the name of our dryer sheets are?" And the answer was a resounding "Yes."
Because I'm terribly lazy, I just googled "Snuggle" to see if the box looked familiar. Dick and I raced each other to see who'd find it first. He won. And Snuggle is the brand we use. I don't know why. I do like the way it makes the clothing smell.
And though I would assume that Annick Goutal would be nearly horrified to discover that Encens Flamboyant smells like a dryer sheet, it does. It's not a duplicate, but there's a definate similiarity. I think that only a nose who can differentiate between manufactured scent molecules would be able to explain this similarity.
Today, after I put my clothes in the dryer, along with a sheet of Snuggle, I had a strong urge to wear the fragrance that will now be forever linked to the mundane task of clothes washing. Do you think that Snuggle could be described as having "a mystical, arousing and intense scent?" That's the opening sentence of the Encens Flamboyant description. As for Snuggle, the original fragrance is only described as "fresh" and "clean". But, wait (and wow!) the Snuggle website says "Snuggle - on a mission for upliftment."
I didn't think that "upliftment" was a real word, but I found it in Merriam Webster's Dictionary. Is there something wrong with sentence? I was going to say that I didn't care for the sentiment, but that's not true. I'd be a hypocrite and a snob if I thought that only top of the line perfume had the power to lift one's spirits. After all, I'm the one who bought the Snuggle dryer sheets.
Photo note: I find the official Snuggle bear a bit creepy. Maybe it's because he (she?) has an open mouth. I can't think of another reason. The Snuggle bear is pretty classic in every other way. Since I like stuffed bears, here's a photograph of one I do like. I found it here.
6 comments:
This bear actually looks quite a bit like Snuggle (that's officially the bear's name, and I believe it's meant to be a he, though I'm not sure how one sexes a teddy bear, other than gut impression ... mine were always male). No creepy open mouth, of course, but otherwise strikingly similar. I used to like th smell of dryer sheets, but they've started to irritate me of late. We started buying "natural" ones with scents like lavender. Still gaggy and cloying, though. Lately, I've gone without, and don't notice a real difference in the level of static in my clothes.
The Snuggle bear is super weird.
And I will hold out for the sock entry...I know it will come eventually!
For somebody with writer's block, you've turned out a pretty decent post here.
I think the Snuggle/Encens Flamboyant thing is a minor burden to all perfume freaks--especially now that the same inexpensive chemicals are used to scent everything. Personally, I do like to imagine that my favorite perfumes are somehow unique or precious, and that's getting harder to do.
There's a strange olfactory leveling taking place. No major perfume house today makes anything as exquisite and complex as the classic Lanvins and Carons. That's a huge loss. At the same time, Palmolive Lavender and Ylang Ylang dish detergent smells better than anything our grandmothers ever dreamed of using to do housework. It smells as good as most contemporary perfumes. It's hard to see that as a bad thing.
A few comments about the comments:
1. As the image came up and I saw this bear, I thought, "Oh, he's the junkie cousin of the Snuggle bear." And I didn't know his name is actually Snuggle.
2. I never used a dryer sheet in my life until 2008. I was trying to remember why I started (and how I chose Snuggle). It's because I commented on how nice a friend's towels smelled. And it was Snuggle. Now she uses Caldrea, I think.
3. Palmolive makes Lavender and Ylang Ylang dish detergent?
4. And yes, I did note that I wrote more than a paragraph when I finished this post.
5. Though some think it is NOT a good thing that everything is scented nowadays, I agree it's an improvement. Of course, some people go overboard, and then others go for the unscented. Moderation in everything, folks! And, have any of you ever smelled soap made of lard? It's truly horrible, and that's what our great-grandmothers used (or great-great grandmothers, depending on our age).
Yay,it's good to see a couple of new posts!
Hmmm, Encens Flamboyant smells like dryer sheets you say...I'm not surprised. Another day I was testing AG Myrrh Ardente, another one in that series and to me it smelled overwhelmingly of hot iron, or just hot metal. there's a common note in those two that smells very very dry. So dry it makes the back of my throat itch and it's hard to breathe.
I'd like to know what the heck this is.
I never use anything scented for laundry, but I'm a total sucker for a good smelling dish soap, it just makes doing dishes so much more enjoyable. Right now it's some
natural brand(can't remember) with the scent of Apricot, it smells good enough to drink:)
Nika
Re #3: Yes, they do. I've got a bottle at my kitchen sink right now. Check the shelf at your local Satanic Big Box emporium.
Re #5:My grandmother had a pal who loved her homemade lard soap. "Nothin' else gets you as clean." Ack!
Post a Comment