A Night of Scent and Song
On Monday night I got the chance to hang out with two of the best fragrance experts in the blogosphere. Sali Oguri of Pink Manhattan invited me to join her and Marlen Harrison, The Perfume Critic at The Duplex, a piano bar in The Village.
Regular readers of this blog know about Sali, whom I like to call the performer-perfumer. Her fragrance and CD set, Pink Manhattan was released last year and, she is now getting ready to market her newest perfume blend the "unreleased mix." I will try to post a review when it is formerly launched. Marlen's been in the perfume business for years, in many capacities, including working as a fragrance model. In addition to his own blog he writes for Basenotes and for Now Smell This. More importantly though, he is a genuinely nice person. He arrived at the bar with bags of perfume samples (some of which were not samples at all but regular-sized bottles) which he encouraged Sali, and her friend Peggy and me, to try and to keep. I was overwhelmed with all the vials and bottles spread out on the table in front of us and didn't know what to try first, until a little red box from Bond No.9 caught my eye. It was The Perfumista's Color Blending Box. Marlen asked me if I liked coffee and chocolate scents and, when I said yes, he suggested I look in the box for the New Haarlem perfume. I did and, I fell in love with it!
I'm not a big fan of heavily floral scents and New Haarlem, with its notes of coffee, vanilla, and patchouli is the furthest thing from that. It's one of Bond's unisex scents and it just smells so comforting to me; comfort food without the calories. I slipped it into my purse with a secret smile on my face, as if I'd gotten away with something.
So the scents were a big hit that night. So were the songs. I had fun watching as patrons got up and sang to the pianist's accompaniment. Sali took her turn and gave a great jazz performance, losing herself in scat. Marlen also sang! What a nice voice! After a while we left and went to Rose's Turn, another piano bar, where Sali and Marlen sang a duet. To borrow an often-used saying, a good time was had by all!
Regular readers of this blog know about Sali, whom I like to call the performer-perfumer. Her fragrance and CD set, Pink Manhattan was released last year and, she is now getting ready to market her newest perfume blend the "unreleased mix." I will try to post a review when it is formerly launched. Marlen's been in the perfume business for years, in many capacities, including working as a fragrance model. In addition to his own blog he writes for Basenotes and for Now Smell This. More importantly though, he is a genuinely nice person. He arrived at the bar with bags of perfume samples (some of which were not samples at all but regular-sized bottles) which he encouraged Sali, and her friend Peggy and me, to try and to keep. I was overwhelmed with all the vials and bottles spread out on the table in front of us and didn't know what to try first, until a little red box from Bond No.9 caught my eye. It was The Perfumista's Color Blending Box. Marlen asked me if I liked coffee and chocolate scents and, when I said yes, he suggested I look in the box for the New Haarlem perfume. I did and, I fell in love with it!
I'm not a big fan of heavily floral scents and New Haarlem, with its notes of coffee, vanilla, and patchouli is the furthest thing from that. It's one of Bond's unisex scents and it just smells so comforting to me; comfort food without the calories. I slipped it into my purse with a secret smile on my face, as if I'd gotten away with something.
So the scents were a big hit that night. So were the songs. I had fun watching as patrons got up and sang to the pianist's accompaniment. Sali took her turn and gave a great jazz performance, losing herself in scat. Marlen also sang! What a nice voice! After a while we left and went to Rose's Turn, another piano bar, where Sali and Marlen sang a duet. To borrow an often-used saying, a good time was had by all!
Buzzing off for now...
2 comments:
Hey there...sounds like you had a fabulous evening.
Hey, Glamourous Bee! Thank you so much for coming to my shows and for hanging with us. It was lovely meeting you. Let's do it again! xoxo
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