When Stevie Wonder Smiles

*Currently Listening: "Rockin' Robin" by Michael Jackson
*Current Fragrance: Frederic Malle's Geranium Pour Monsieur, but this morning it was Chinatown by Bond No. 9. (THANKS ARIELLE!)

I oscilate between two extremes (in both my life and my writing): drippingly sardonic and well, the emotional equvilent of a cup of hot coco, but if the hot coco had JUST a little bit of sparkle to it. (Chicly shimmering - not Disco Queen Dazzle!).


Most of my posts of late have been of the drippingly sardonic vibe, but today...I'm going to need to get my favorite hot coco mug out:

 

It's been pretty busy at LUSH since I started; you know - Yuletide and all, and I have been loving every second of it. Especially when I get a customer who is MOSTLY concerned with smell. That's when I light up and really connect. (Although I get tickled by instances such as when a gentleman somewhere between say 45 & 60 on his way out of the store asked discretely where he could find super nice lingerie for his wife, I sent to Agent Provocateur.) Back to my point...

Two days ago, about an hour and a 1/2 from the end of my shift, a young gentleman came in with his seeing eye dog and his friend. I just happened to be walking by the door when they walked in, and they turned into my customers. I feel that I should also point out that I was immediately turned to mush by his adorable seeing eye dog that was a black lab. I had black labs while I was growing up and turn all nostaglic and fuzzy when I see one.

How could this NOT make your heard melt!?

The customer asked to see our Christmas shower jelly, and as I was walking him back to the shower jellies (which I'm obsessed with...who doesn't want to bath with soap that is just like Jello!?!), I thought to myself, "I've never actively watched a blind person react to smells, and they must play a pretty big part in his life if he's choosing to come in our store. This is going to be FUN!" I let him smell our holiday shower jelly which smells of figs and subtle herbs. His face LIT UP with joy!!!! It was one of the most heart-warming things I've ever seen in my life, and I'm pretty sure I lit at up HIS lighting up! It made me think of the way that Stevie Wonder smiles when he's making music....

We looked at some other things around the store, and ended up at the small perfume counter, as he was looking for a fragrance for a female friend. He said he wanted to get her a floral fragrance, but wanted to smell everything JUST to make sure. Again, watching him smell, I mean REALLY taking in the scent from the glasses was fascinating; and in all honestly pretty inspiring. You could see him really taking pleasure in the journey a scent could take a soul. I really enjoyed telling him the stories behind the inspirations each particular fragrance and both of us discussing what it evoked with-in our minds-nose. (Is that a term!?! Well, it is now!) The two he was most drawn towards were Orange Blossom and Breath of God. (He ended up with Orange Blossom.) I must admit, I really love every orange blossom fragrance I've sought out...but the first and dearest will always be Jo Malone's Orange Blossom. It reminds both myself and my sister of mornings at my paternal grandparents farm in SETX when they temperature hadn't gotten opressively hot, but things were just starting to warm a bit and the morning dew mixed with the scent of flowers were there most fragrant. It's delicate, childlike, yet sophiticated & a childhood memory I'm more than happy to carry through my life in scent.

So, clearly this was a fantasticly fun customer to work with! All in all we spent somewhere from 45 minutes to an hour together. It was just so fantastic. I left work positively giddy that evening. I'd had about 3 customers in the past two days come in and want to work on just lavendar cominations for the bath, and that was nice. I'm willing the universe to send me someone that loves blackcurrent and rose just as much as I do...do you hear me universe?? Tomorrow's my last day to work before Christmas and it was be a great gift from the cosmos if you did so!

Just think and smell...it's sublimely lovely! (If I EVER start to blend my first fragrance...my first one will contain roses, black currents and or blackberries.)

Walking in from work yesterday, I was greeted by 1) Al being very excited about his Bacon of the Month Club gift (combined Christmas gift to him from myself, my parents and my sister!) and 2) a sample of Bond No. 9's Chinatown, courtesty of Arielle from Scents of Self. It also came w/ a DARLING little card! I'd show the picture, but blogger is having an attitude with some of the photos I want to upload. (Does anyone else ever have this problem?) I really like Chinatown on my skin. Normally tuberose settles too powdery on my skin for my taste. I think the cardamom in there makes it just lovely. I can see myself wearing Chinatown in the spring to a nice, but not STUFFY-nice dinner in the early Spring - OR in the dead of winter when I've had it up to the proverbial "here"with the cold and the grey. Next Bond No. 9 fragrance I want to sus-out a sample of is Coney Island!


I think I should leave you all with some Stevie Wonder....just to make you smile (and groove a little too)!

* Currently Listening: "Dancing In The Streets" by Martha & The Vandellas
*Currently Sniffing: From my bottle of cardamom pods I grabbed out of the cabinet. :o)