It did seem to me like the one person in the thread that asked about how it would go over BO and smoke and the other odours of the time might be onto something.
I've been thinking about that idea all morning now, how the landscape of scent has changed so much, not just as a backdrop but as a constant calibration of the sense itself. Wood and coal smoke, horses, dust, wax, iron fittings, machine oil, manure, starch, just thinking back to the old ubiquity of cigarette smoke, and the way the weather changes a house's smell when it's not closed up for HVAC.
It makes these old scents poetry in translation, or half of a conversation.
Yeah. Plus just a mingle of them: cinnamon smells different when it's mixed with the smells of apple and sugar than it does when mixed with bleach, you know? Even if it's "just" their smells. So.
Yeah, it's definitely true that older perfumes often have a much higher "skank" level, and people's exposure to and tolerance of body smells must have been higher.
I'm also just thinking that like . . . we know that even just straight body-chemistry radically modifies a scent. And obviously we know that scents mixed TOGETHER are in fact different than scents by themselves - that's the whole point of perfumery.
So even beyond tolerance: in a world where there's a huge amount more wood-smoke, shit, piss, sweat, cigarette smoke, manure, etc around, it's entirely possible Jicky PHYSICALLY SMELLED DIFFERENT, in the same way that cinnamon smells different mixed with sugar and apples than it does mixed with vinegar, mustard and ham.
haha, I re-read both the twitter thread and your post with pleasure. Did you ever talk in your reviews/perfume posts about Sécrétions Magnifiques by ELDO, I wonder? It's one of my very faves and I recently got a bottle *__* for my birthday.. I love it so much. (I never tried Jicky but I want to, someday!)
heee! I didn't expect so much excitement! So I take it because it makes you recoil, you've never yet written about it? It's late evening here, but tomorrow I shall endeavour to wear some and tell you in detail what I smell (although I mostly smell "I LOVE THIS OMG"). I know that I smell the ozone a LOT in the wet stage, and really like when that calms down a bit and I get more of the animalistic goodness I enjoy. That info'll be your teaser for now, I guess. :D
Wasn't it you who accidentally broke a vial of SM?
(And I laughed and laughed and laughed, because I cracked one once and had to do some serious painstaking Outbreak-level containment shit once and FELT YOUR PAIN.)
There are times I am very sad that the way my nose works means I can never truly appreciate mainstream perfumes but on the other hand I suppose I am free from ever having a moment like that? XD
Sécrétions magnifiques (I am bad at smells and have not been checking the list of ingredients recently so I might say something stupid!):
- wet and first stage: overwhelmingly “iodine”, soon warming up to a less “mineral” smell on my skin. Hints of something green starting to peak through the sea. - soon some pure salt comes through while the sea itself starts to fade. The note that lingers after inhaling at this stage starts to feel more animal but is very hard to describe (and fleeting). - 5mn later, I smell chlorine, somewhat muted, and more animal notes - a little like I’m close but not /in/ the changing room of a public pool maybe? But I can also smell something floral, white flowers I think, starting to rise. - dry, it’s powdery and still slightly floral, a little musk-y and spicy, with a clean animal skin smell. maybe a hint of honey or burnt sugar too? The iodine/ozone-piquant/mineral smell the turned to chlorine at an earlier stage has now disappeared.
My skin often enhances musky, spicy, honey/incense smells well :) I also love BPAL’s O scent on me. But I have to say, today when I finally put some on to try and describe it for you, Sécrétions felt a little more subdued than usual. I don’t know if it’s my skin, my nose, or the weather in the air right now… but I had the memory of a “stronger” smell. I might have to try this exercise again in another months or three, see if the combination of these factors changing alters what I smell. Anyway, it remains a delight to my senses. :D
Grave apologies for failing to reply (a Firefox crash ate my comment). Thank you so much for writing this up!
I am completely fascinated, especially because what you're describing sounds like something I would love (I love salty, seaweedy, musky, clean animal, etc.), yet I know for me it all gets drowned out by whatever-it-is that sends my limbic system into screaming panic.
Were we in the same geographical location, I'd be dying to smell it on your wrist (or other socially-appropriate location) to see whether your skin transforms it in a way that makes it smell different to me, or if it smells the same but our brains interpret it in radically different ways.
Also I'm delighted that it's such a delight to you! How wonderful!
Also, possibly relevant to your interests, the thing that reminded me I hadn't replied:
I was so disappointed to find that vintage Jicky is clean and fresh and well-behaved on me (and also pleasant enough that I shelled out for a vintage bottle, back when I still earned enough to splurge on such things).
I must say, although generally a big fan of the classic Guerlains (I've even come to love Mitsouko, although that did take a while), Jicky is the one I'm having most trouble with. And that is the reformulated version, which doesn't have actual civet in it!
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Jicky shocked me, which doesn't often happen with perfumes. I have nothing but respect for it.
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It makes these old scents poetry in translation, or half of a conversation.
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So even beyond tolerance: in a world where there's a huge amount more wood-smoke, shit, piss, sweat, cigarette smoke, manure, etc around, it's entirely possible Jicky PHYSICALLY SMELLED DIFFERENT, in the same way that cinnamon smells different mixed with sugar and apples than it does mixed with vinegar, mustard and ham.
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Did you ever talk in your reviews/perfume posts about Sécrétions Magnifiques by ELDO, I wonder? It's one of my very faves and I recently got a bottle *__* for my birthday.. I love it so much. (I never tried Jicky but I want to, someday!)
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*clutches at you*
*in a polite and non-threatening manner*
Sécrétions Magnifiques literally makes me recoil with terror. It hits some primitive part of my brain that interprets it as IMMINENT HORRIFIC DEATH.
But I know there are people who love it dearly, and have heard that some people's skin makes it smell great!
So please tell me what it smells like to you, because I would be beyond fascinated to hear.
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It's late evening here, but tomorrow I shall endeavour to wear some and tell you in detail what I smell (although I mostly smell "I LOVE THIS OMG"). I know that I smell the ozone a LOT in the wet stage, and really like when that calms down a bit and I get more of the animalistic goodness I enjoy. That info'll be your teaser for now, I guess. :D
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(And I laughed and laughed and laughed, because I cracked one once and had to do some serious painstaking Outbreak-level containment shit once and FELT YOUR PAIN.)
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YES. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. ON MY BEDROOM FLOOR.
I've still not quite recovered from that moment of realizing exactly which vial I'd just broken.
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Sécrétions magnifiques (I am bad at smells and have not been checking the list of ingredients recently so I might say something stupid!):
- wet and first stage: overwhelmingly “iodine”, soon warming up to a less “mineral” smell on my skin. Hints of something green starting to peak through the sea.
- soon some pure salt comes through while the sea itself starts to fade. The note that lingers after inhaling at this stage starts to feel more animal but is very hard to describe (and fleeting).
- 5mn later, I smell chlorine, somewhat muted, and more animal notes - a little like I’m close but not /in/ the changing room of a public pool maybe? But I can also smell something floral, white flowers I think, starting to rise. - dry, it’s powdery and still slightly floral, a little musk-y and spicy, with a clean animal skin smell. maybe a hint of honey or burnt sugar too? The iodine/ozone-piquant/mineral smell the turned to chlorine at an earlier stage has now disappeared.
My skin often enhances musky, spicy, honey/incense smells well :) I also love BPAL’s O scent on me. But I have to say, today when I finally put some on to try and describe it for you, Sécrétions felt a little more subdued than usual. I don’t know if it’s my skin, my nose, or the weather in the air right now… but I had the memory of a “stronger” smell. I might have to try this exercise again in another months or three, see if the combination of these factors changing alters what I smell.
Anyway, it remains a delight to my senses. :D
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I am completely fascinated, especially because what you're describing sounds like something I would love (I love salty, seaweedy, musky, clean animal, etc.), yet I know for me it all gets drowned out by whatever-it-is that sends my limbic system into screaming panic.
Were we in the same geographical location, I'd be dying to smell it on your wrist (or other socially-appropriate location) to see whether your skin transforms it in a way that makes it smell different to me, or if it smells the same but our brains interpret it in radically different ways.
Also I'm delighted that it's such a delight to you! How wonderful!
Also, possibly relevant to your interests, the thing that reminded me I hadn't replied:
https://bloomperfume.co.uk/products/i-am-trash-les-fleurs-du-dechet
A "pleasant perfume abstraction" -- with hints of Sécrétions magnifiques lurking in it. I am DEEPLY WARY.
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"I have a Shalimar waiting in my sample grab bag and I'm honestly afraid of it now after reading it described as "Jicky but vanilla"
I am very curious about whether this means Shalimar is "Jicky but with vanillin notes" or "Jicky but less kinky."
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I must say, although generally a big fan of the classic Guerlains (I've even come to love Mitsouko, although that did take a while), Jicky is the one I'm having most trouble with. And that is the reformulated version, which doesn't have actual civet in it!
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The only Guerlain that smells decent on me is Jardins de Bagatelle, and even that has a mildly bathroom disinfectant thing going now and then. :-/