CB I Hate Perfume's Winter 1972

CB I Hate Perfume #102 Winter 1972

Snow, snow, snow.  It keeps snowing here, like the winters I remember from my childhood.  In winter, we often don spicy scents, heavy like comfort food, slow to travel in the cold air.  Especially around the holidays, these spicy scents are wonderful.  Yet, there's a certain mood on these cold, quiet, snowy nights, after the holidays but before spring,  where the only scent I want is #102 Winter 1972, from the CB Secret History Series.  CB describes it as:

A field of untouched new fallen snow, hand knit woolen mittens covered with frost, a hint of frozen forest & sleeping earth

In Burning Leaves, the cold air is negative space in which the harmony of fire and maple leaves shine.  In Winter 1972, it is simply the negative space, cold and minimal and gorgeous.  There is a hint of wool, and a hint of earth, and everything else is just winter.  It is a love letter to that time of the year that CB describes as "a time to rest, a time to remember and to look forward... a quiet time to watch the stars and have hope."  

Walden Pond frozen over

The festive scents of winter- spices, Christmas trees, fires- are all very romantic, but there is something incredibly underrated about the stark beauty of winter.  Everything becomes black and white and silent.  There is an intimacy to be felt with both your own thoughts and with the starry night sky.

This scent is part of the CB Secret History Series, or scents made in reference to a particular memory of the perfumer.  Yet these memories remain secret, because scent cannot explain, it can only evoke.  CB describes the way these Secret History scents function with a Joseph Conrad quote, "we live as we dream: alone.”  In a culture where self-documentation and status updates are so important, these scents remind us of what can never really be shared.  The memory of a winter in 1972 is hidden from me, but in this beautiful, blank scent my own secret history emerges.

It's been quite some time since I remember Walden Pond freezing over completely.  The past few winters have been inconsistent, with record-breaking snowstorms being followed by weeks of 60 degree weather.  Weather has generally become warmer and more erratic here.  Yet this fall and winter were perfect, living up to every bit of nostalgia I have for New England.  Fiery fall foliage followed by a white Christmas followed by a cold, snowy winter.

My mom and I went to walk at Walden Pond, as we did during the fall, but now we could walk straight across it.  I was nervous though, because I've seen too many PSAs about children falling through ice and sinking in their heavy winter clothes to a frozen death.  I also have a very vivid imagination.

At certain points, where the sun had warmed the foot prints, the ice had melted a little.  I stopped at each one, pointing out the water as proof that the ice was melting.  My mom carefully checked each one, testing it with her mitten and then proclaiming, "It's frozen solid!".  It was as if I was still a child who needed to be comforted by her absolute certainty.  It was so sweet that I kept doing it even though I knew the pond was frozen, playing the child so my mom could play her role.

In the distance, you can see the cabin on the edge of the beach, where Walden Pond is open for swimming in the summer.  I think the only reason I ever leave New England is so that I can come back.

Twin Peaks Perfume Consulation: Laura Palmer is CB I Hate Perfume's Burning Leaves

She told me so in a dream last night, and a giant took my signature rose gold Blood Milk Obsidian tomb ring.

CB I Hate Perfume's #305 Burning Leaves, from the CB Experience Series, is exactly what it sounds like.  It is the smell of leaves, burning.  CB's description states, "The smoke of burning maple leaves - pure & simple."  Lucky Scent expands on this description, but the two significant notes remain smoke and maple.  As it dries, the sugary maple note melds into the skin.  What begins as a fire fades into a trace of smoke on sweet skin.  But what strikes me, in the top notes and the fade down, is that smell of cold air- the negative space around this dramatic perfume.  It's like you can smell the bite in the breeze that carries the smoke away.

#305 Burning Leaves, available in perfume absolute and water perfume

It's so simple and so obvious that at first I questioned it.  But wouldn't Laura wear something sexier?

The tragedy of Laura Palmer's sexuality is that from a young age, she is abused and objectified by almost ever single man she knows, including the adults most responsible for her.  She is so many things to so many people- the daughter, the prom queen, the girlfriend, the playgirl, the sweetheart, the whore, the best friend, the victim- yet how many of these identities were hers alone?  The mystery of Laura Palmer was an attempt, after the fact, to sift through the secrets, layers, and identities in search of the real one.  Each facet is testified through the character who had projected that particular identity onto her, since she is no longer there to speak for herself.  But even in life, was she ever there to speak for herself?  Was she ever allowed to?

The other female characters on the show (save for maybe Nadine and the Log Lady) are very classic- curves, red lips, curled hair- conforming to a distinctive 50s via the 80s style that became Twin Peaks.  Yet Laura Palmer's style is nondescript, girl next door, morphing to adjust to the situations she finds herself in- at home, with boyfriends, at the Roadhouse, in the woods.  She doesn't have to manicure herself to be an object of desire, because objectification follows her no matter what she wears or does.  It feels as though her sex appeal was something hoisted onto her, rather than her own invention.

Laura Palmer worked at a department store perfume counter, and there perhaps she'd don Obsession to push sales.  At school maybe she'd wear Love's Baby Soft.  At the Roadhouse I could see her choosing Charlie.  A scent for each costume, each identity created by someone else for her to wear.  Yet alone among the Douglas firs, what scent inspires her character?

CB's Burning Leaves is an ode to the memory of raking leaves with his father and the lost innocence of childhood.  I don't think there could be a more perfect perfume to summarize Laura Palmer.

Through the darkness of futures past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds
Fire walk with me

Rory Rants: Two years later...

Where have I been these past two years?  Working on a little film called The Audience:

My film should be coming out by the end of this year, but in the meantime, I'm moving to LA- the home of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Lucky Scent.

Much to my regret, I had to downsize some of my perfume collection in preparation for the move.  I also had to sift through a huge number of possessions- including a very large collection of Wrapped in Plastic magazines (they're coming with me).  As I was downsizing, I made decants of all my BPAL, covering myself in perfume oil.  This is a great way to get inspired to write again.  It's time for a revival. 

So where have I been?  When I last wrote, I was singing praises to my Dior job... how am I going to succinctly recap the past two years?  Let's just say there's a lot of material to draw from.  In the next few days, I'll have another review up.  Hint: