Musings from Marilyn

Posts Tagged ‘scent’

My curiosity got the better of me again yesterday when I decided to go back to Target to check out the Missoni goings-on there.  I must admit that I started coveting the colorful zigzag shoe box and somehow felt I just had to have it (I know, I know; caving into the hype).

The Missoni clothes rack was completely bare at my Target.  When I went to look at the shoes, there was one box of shoes left.  They were the suede pump and, get this, they were in my size (10)!  So I took this as a sign that this pair of shoes was meant for me.

I was kind of thrilled to get the box, it is very cool.  I was actually pretty impressed with the shoes.  They have a suede upper and a leather sole, which I thought was quite remarkable.  The 4″ heel is a bit too high for me; I will stand 6’1″ while wearing them.  But they are quite solid and comfortable, with a cushioned insole.

What struck me the most (literally) was the overwhelmingly toxic stench of the shoes upon opening the box!  I am pretty sensitive to smells, and this was really quite awful.  I opened the box and put them out in the garage to air out.  After a day of airing, alas the smell is still there.

This brought me back to the reality that these shoes were made in China, not Italy.   Who knows in what kind of conditions, and what kind of toxic chemicals were used?  The jury is still out on how this will affect Missoni’s image in the fashion world.  But I’m sure that I’m not the only buyer who noticed this.

I’ve got the box, and I’ve got the shoes.  It will remain to be seen if I’m actually able to use/wear them.

~Marilyn Huttunen

If you don’t know it by now, I am a bit of a green-laundry diva.  Yes, I admit it.  The past five years or so I’ve ditched the dryer, opting for complete air drying with an out door clothesline or indoor drying rack.  Since I no longer use the dryer, there is no need for dryer sheets, so I ditched those too.  To complete the green aspect, I’ve been washing with unscented, ‘natural’ detergents in cold water.

Recently though, I’ve realized that I may have gone a bit too far over to the stoic side of laundry.  I’m not quite at pounding the washing on rocks at the rivers edge, but I was headed in that direction – ha!   I realized that I was missing a key element in the laundry process: scent.   I love scent, I love perfume, I love all of nature’s aromas – why did I give that sensory delight up in the laundry?

Sure, if I hang my laundry outside, it does pick up an outdoorsy scent; but after a particularly long, cold winter of indoor drying, that was missed greatly.  My laundry was hung indoors, wet and scentless.  Something was missing.

So I decided to go back to scented detergent.  I washed a load this morning and half the laundry is drying outside, and half inside.  The aroma is amazing, it smells so clean!  The drying laundry inside freshens up the whole house.  The drying laundry outside mingles with the outdoor scent and combines to make an intoxicating smell that can’t be reproduced in the lab.

I will continue to do cold-water washing and air-drying, but I will take back some scent in the process.  I’ve decided that even green-laundry divas need their aromas!

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”  –E.B. White

~Marilyn Huttunen

Now that winter’s here, my sweater wearing is on full-force.   My personal yarn of choice is cashmere.  It is incredibly soft, thick, and luxurious…and is really the only natural wool that I can wear next to my sensitive skin.  It adds needed warmth without unnecessary bulk;  I don’t like looking like a linebacker in those thick, chunky sweaters!

Of course, most of my cashmere sweater collection is vintage.  I look for the thick, plush cashmere, preferably made in Scotland.  There is just no comparison to most of the “whisper thin” cashmere sweaters that are out there today.  Good quality cashmere can last a lifetime, so it’s a good investment.  In fact, several lifetimes, as someone wore these sweaters a long time before me!

I love how cashmere retains scent.  One of my favorite things to do is wear a different vintage perfume each time I wear a certain sweater.  The scent gets picked up and blended with the others, forming a whole new evocative aroma.  They become pieces of  poignant delight, a magical signature, which is especially nice on these dark, dreary days.  I’m a bit sad when I have to wash the sweaters though.  All that captivating scent down the drain.  But it just gives me the chance to start a unique combination anew.

I shall remain forever devoted to cashmere, but sometimes it’s good to spice it up!

-Marilyn

Yardley of London – any fashionista who lived in the late ’60s/early ’70s will remember their fab advertising campaigns; I know I do!  My blog post on vintage bar soap spurred Yardley of London, oh wait, now it seems to be just “Yardley London” to send me an assortment of their bar soaps to try (more on this later).  This inspired me to look through my collection of  late ’60s/early ’70s Seventeen magazines, knowing that I would find some great examples of the vintage Yardley of London ads that intrigued me so.

Who could resist the beautiful English actress, Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet in the film “Romeo and Juliet”?  She was featured in a flowery romantic ad for Oh! de London fragrance in 1968.  “Oh! Romeo, Romeo, Oh! Falling in Love, Oh! Happy Dizzy Wonderful World, Oh! Rapture”.  Just incredibly effective advertising I’m sure, given the smashing success of the movie.  It was the “Twilight” of the day.

Another ad from 1969 featured the impossibly gorgeous (English, of course) model, Jean Shrimpton.  Dressed in country Victorian attire, in pigtails (?!) Jean glowingly hawked the Country Treats soap/skin care line.  “Remember the way girls used to be?  Innocent…shy…They smiled a lot and their skin had a pure glow, fresh as rainwater…the soft fresh country clean, men dream about…the clean that’s really beautiful…the way girls used to be…the way YOU can be now.”   Wow – makes me want to go scrub my face right now if I want to look like Jean Shrimpton!

Anyhoo, back to the soap.  As I’ve said before, I love vintage bar soap, so I was eager to try the current Yardley soaps.  They have a new natural soap collection which is fabulous, combining the great features of traditional bar soap with natural vegetable-based ingredients.  They have the gently cleaning and softly scented features I love.  I also got to try, once again, their traditional English Lavender soap which they have been making since the 17th century (now that’s vintage)!  It has the very poignant, familiar scent that is so lovely.  It is nice to know that vintage-type bar soap is still being made, and I don’t necessarily have to hunt it down in estate sales!

It was good to be reminded of fond vintage memories of a great product.  Yardley may not have the splashy ad campaigns of the past, but it’s nice to know that they are continuing the tradition of creating fine luxury soaps in this day and age!

~Marilyn

I am a big fan of old-fashioned bar soap; those hard milled, dense bars that smell of  some strong floral combination.   Yup, love it!  The trend now is for liquid body washes to be used with those ghastly nylon scrubber things.  It’s rare to see a bar of soap in a soap dish in the bathroom anymore.

There are still bar soaps out there, to be sure.  But most times they are some gelatinous brightly colored glob that dissolves almost instantaneously.  It’s hard to find the old time stuff; the kind that was always present in every vintage bathroom soap dish.

I love the vintage ’40s and ’50s advertisements for bar soap in women’s magazines.  Such charm!  Such hope!  “It will leave your skin softer, smoother…flower-fresh and younger looking!” claims Cashmere Bouquet.  “For velvet-smooth Beauty Lather that caresses your skin, leaves your body glowing with a warm blush of fragrant loveliness, enjoy a beauty bath with Bath Size Palmolive”.   Or, for the ultimate prize of ‘catching a man’ using Woodbury facial soap, “Jim wed his Woodbury-beautiful bride at majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.”

I mean, really…who wouldn’t want to try bar soap after all those promises, vintage or not?  Just wash your face or take a bath with it, and presto…instant allure that no man will be able to resist!

I’m always looking for the old-time soap, and find it from time to time in interesting places like rummage sales and thrift stores.  I recently found a box of vintage thick, sturdy, tuberose scented French milled soap.  No doubt it was probably given as a gift, and then donated (I’m always grateful to those who donate).  The bars are just so solid, and the scent is divine.  It really makes taking a shower a lovely experience, and the bars seemingly last forever.

The scent of these vintage soaps is what gets me.  Such poignancy that touches some memory in the recesses of my mind.  The feel of the delicate lather gently cleaning, the softly scented skin as a result.  Just lovely.  Maybe those vintage ads are true!

Marilyn

I have bottles and bottles of lovely perfume on my dresser.  So many, that I don’t even know what kinds I have collected over the years.   What can I say?  I love perfume!

There is nothing so evocative as the smell of a fine perfume.  It seems to touch the depths of memory and evoke strong feelings.  Over the years I have pretty much narrowed my favorite signature perfume choices to YSL’s Opium in the winter, and Nina Ricci’s L’air du Temps in the summer.  I try some of my other perfumes from time to time, but I always go back to Opium and L’air du Temps as my mainstays.  I think that when other people comment: “what is that wonderful scent you are wearing?”  then you are wearing the right scent for you.

Lately though, I admit that I’ve been getting a little tired of a long winter wearing Opium.  I dug through my bottles and found a vintage bottle of Bellodgia by Caron and sprayed it on.  It has the most amazing, mysterious vintage-y scent and I immediately felt a jolt of poignancy.  I think it will be my new signature scent for spring.

Okay then!  Feeling more adventurous, I have also tried Lanvin’s Arpege and Chanel No. 5 from my vintage stockpile.  I don’t want to overwhelm myself with scent change, but these three all seem to have the same warm, poignant effect on me.  They just seem so complex and interesting with a wonderful history behind them.  And touch a depth deep within.

Here’s to a very aromatic spring!

Marilyn