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—Yves Saint Laurent
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I've often walked by Yves Rocher in the mall (there are actual stores in Canada; I gather this is not the case in the States), but never had any interest in going in; I'm not sure why. I think I figured it for some kind of vaguely snooty spa right up until the day I started figuring it for a French Fruits & Passion. In fact it's rather like a French cross between The Body Shop, Avon, and Bonne Bell, with constant sales and a moderately priced salon in the back.
This amuses me: was there ever a makeup item more clearly intended for twelve-year-olds? LipSmackers, I suppose. This confirms for me that the innate good taste of the French is a half-truth. French good taste is fantastic, French bad taste is just...bad. (Nobody who has walked past the Moulin Rouge can be surprised by this. Yikes.)
Anyway, despite what Luca Turin calls its "resolutely downmarket" image, Yves Rocher actually has a decent reputation in fine fragrance; they often use famous noses (Annick Ménardo, Sofia Grojsman), and they're said to use better ingredients than you might expect from a cheap line. I tried a few of their offerings the other week, before I ran out of arm space; I have samples of a few more, although not much to say about all of them.
I'm not sure why I don't like patchouli; I should like the rich, spicy, vaguely dirty quality of it, but to me it has too many hippie associations, and my skin tends to amplify it unpleasantly. Cocoon has a patchouli drydown for patchouli-haters, very comforting and soft. Unfortunately, before I got to the drydown, I had to smell like a stale Dairy Milk bar for a couple of hours. Perhaps this is just me. A mini of this stuff sells for $4 CAD ($3 USD), and there are frequent sales, so trying it might be worthwhile if you like patchouli or gourmands.
Rose Absolue (Rose Absolute over here) was composed by Christine Nagel, who also composed Lancôme's lovely but stupidly overpriced Mille et Une Roses. Rose Absolue is not quite as soft as Mille et Une Roses; it's fruity, as most rose soliflores are, and the fruitiness of the rose is amplified by an apple note that I rather like. Smelling this on my skin, I was overcome by a wave of nostalgia; the first perfume I ever owned was The Body Shop's Tea Rose, and this put me in mind of that, but also of the rose garden my father doted on when I was a child. In October, around the time the Ontario apple harvest started to come in, the last flowers would be blooming, and he would pile straw around the rosebushes to protect them from the frost. I suppose for me this is an autumn fragrance. 
Un Jour Se Lève (sold in North America as "A New Day Dawns" -- is the French name also a cliché?) is the EDT version of YR's Comme Une Evidence. I read on The Scented Salamander that this is one of the best-selling fragrances in France, up there with Chanel No. 5 and Angel, so I ordered some when it went on sale. It's billed as a chypre, but it doesn't smell like a chypre to me (at least not the chypres I know); it smells to me like a contemporary fresh/fruity floral, dominated by lily of the valley and an interesting rhubarb note. (If my nose is failing me and this really is a chypre, it is the chypre equivalent of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc: smoother, sweeter, less weird.) It's incredibly nice, though, neither cloying nor screechy, very long-lasting for an EDT, and pretty great for the price. It makes me think of a group of young mothers I saw in Paris, pushing tastefully sized strollers, dressed simply in well-fitted sweaters and neutral slacks, hair tidily pulled back: wholesomeness well done.Labels: perfume notes, yves rocher
9/19/2008 [3]
I'm moving into a new apartment at the end of this week, in preparation for the school year. I'm preoccupied, of course, with the bare practicalities of flying myself and my stuff to the town where I go to school; I left a lot of my stuff there over the summer, but moving is always a pain. But I am starting to fuss about decorating the place as well; the previous tenant was a bit of a Hugh Hefner wannabe, and although his vintage soft-core porno ads are gone, he left behind some vaguely mod-looking furniture. (It is cheap furniture, and shipping it would have cost more than replacing it. I am tempted to slipcover it in the most obnoxious floral prints I can find, but that would annoy me too.)
I think I could spend a lot of money decorating, if I had it to spend, but it makes no sense to spend significant money on an apartment I'll only have for a school year. I am looking forward to bringing in a few things that may make the place a little more mine:
Yves Rocher Pivoine is incredibly pretty, one of the softest, cleanest floral scents I've ever smelled. I think I might be too curmudgeonly to wear such a sweet-and-innocent scent in EDT, but the soap, shower gel, etc. are charming. The hand soap is $10 CAD at regular price ($7.50 on the American site), but Yves Rocher has very frequent sales, and last week they were selling this for $4 on the Canadian website. Also, the bottle is hella girly, which will help to get rid of the aura of swingin' bachelor pad (and I can easily decant the soap and recycle the bottle if I later find myself entering an "ugh, no more girly pink crap" phase).
I'm not really big on cooking. I joke about being incompetent, but it's more that I just don't enjoy it. Coffee, on the other hand, I love; I love the whole process. Since I don't have the space or money for a good espresso machine, I use stovetop moka pots; the classic ones, made by Bialetti, are widely available (prices vary by size, but the 6-cup size -- bear in mind, by "cup" they mean espresso cup -- is currently $24.95 on Amazon).
I hope these mugs become available again, because I think they're adorable. I also collect teapots because I love the way they look, but I've decided I should stop; it's silly to have more than one teapot when you don't really like tea.
I hope these mugs become available again, because I think they're adorable. I also collect teapots because I love the way they look, but I've decided I should stop; it's silly to have more than one teapot when you don't really like tea.
I don't really own any art and I don't like buying posters at university poster sales. I'm not really much of a photographer, but I enjoy playing with my Holga; it's terribly hipster-pretentious ("ooo, look at my 'cheap camera' that isn't actually remotely cheap, I'm so ironic"), but I do like the vignetting and the light leaks, and I occasionally get a shot I like enough to blow up and frame, at least temporarily. Aside from that, I expect I'll mostly be decorating the walls with chiyogami -- not exciting, maybe, but cheap and portable and more homey than bare walls (and hey, something has to take the place of the porno ads).
In other news, I need something to read on the plane back to school. I'm thinking I will re-read Wuthering Heights, since I am in a cynical mood and a friend's description of this book -- "a slow and steady descent into hell" -- sounds more appealing than usual right now. (Wuthering Heights is still marketed as a love story -- how many generations of readers has it disappointed? And yet it's fantastic, just not what people are led to expect.) I already own a copy of Wuthering Heights, but I'm always tempted by Norton Critical Editions; I made a crappy English major, but I still love reading litcrit.
Labels: bialetti, lomo, notes, yves rocher
8/27/2008 [18]
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