*Currently Listening: Ironic (Acoustic version) by Alanis Morissette
It's a grey and rainy Musical Monday here at No Disassemble Charlie No. 5 Headquarters - and by "Headquarters" I mean me, sitting on my bed in my PJs with my laptop on a pillow. Let me get this off my chest before it sours this post: THIS WEATHER SUCKS! It has sucked for three days now, and will continue to suck for four more days after today. All this weather makes me want to do is stay in the bed, pull the covers over my head, and listen to acoustic Alanis, Jewel, Tori Amos or Celine Dion! (Aaaand now you know the music of my teenage/early '20's melancholy!) Even the cats have sensed my foul mood and are staying the f--- away.
Anyway, onto perfume and Percy...
Today I'll be "scenting" movement V (that means we've only got II left - which if my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE). If you need to play a bit of catch up, click on the corresponding links for Mvt I, Mvt III, Mvt IV, and Mvt VI.
Now, take a listen to Movement 5 - Lord Melbourne....
Fun fact: Never have I ever, EVER seen a female conduct this movement. Which actually have a lot to do with my feelings and how I scented this movement.
This movement has nads! There's no other way to say it. I used to think it was schizophrenic nads, but now I think its nads with a heart and even a bit of complexity.
In the beginning, both Lord Melbourne and Muscs Koublai Khan are the same: way too much. "Oh my god what is going on!?!?" At first sniff of MKK I thought, "Oh my god it smells like ass, ACTUAL ASS. Actually DIRTY ass." OK, it smells like perfumey ass. Which is different from oh say...bathroom ass. OK I'm done talking about poo.
The initial animalesque hit is offensively strong for only a split second (if only we get get PEOPLE to behave the same way.) I really like how the Lutens website describes MKK: "a radiant fur" - I get it.
Sadly - for now; I have hope for the future of perfumery - a fragrance can't da capo the way a piece of music can. Once the top notes of the fragrance are done, they're done. So in MKK's case we have to stretch our imagination a little, but in Lord Melbourne's case we can be a bit more literal.
We all know guys like "Lord Melbourne" (Let me be clear here not the Lord Melbourne song that Grainger recorded, but the actual personification of what Lord Melbourne sounds like: and for purposes of this blog what MKK smells like.) He's full of that self confidence and swagger that would actually be a little sad if he wasn't so damned committed to it. You roll your eyes, because it's too much all the time. (Think of it in perfume terms: how much civet does one ACTUALLY want?) Here's the thing, Lord Melbourne actually isn't a civet monster. Maybe you want him to be one, so you can hate him, but people (and perfumes and music) just aren't that one dimensional. Sadly...or fortunately, the world just isn't wrapped up in a pretty little bow.
MKK jumps off it's civet-y platform pretty quickly. There's amber, there's some musc-y-ness of varying degrees, there's the wafting of opium dens (this is Koublia Khan we're talking about after all), it dries down to be warmly sensual and almost comforting. I couldn't help but thing, "WHAT THE HELL!? This was not what I was expecting, nor what I think I initially wanted, but I think I kinda like it..."
Muscs Koublia Khan takes a look at the whole person, just like we should with Lord Melbourne. I liked MKK way more than I was expecting to. It actually helped me see LM through new eyes. (Trust me, that's saying quite a lot - as I have some PRETTY STRONG OPINIONS concerning Lincolnshire Posy.) You can't judge a book by its cover, a perfume by its top notes and music is so much more than those initial strains.
*Currently Listening: Glory Box by Portishead
HUGE congratulations to you! see more. Brazilian Blowout
ReplyDelete