I'm sitting here in the left office very late at night. I'm distracted, as I've perfumed myself with L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain. As its scent spreads, I am haunted by the sensation that another woman is in the office with me. It smells so unlike my usual smell of soap. I breathe in, "How divine!" then later "How nauseating!" This old perfume has such a sovereign if funerary scent. It makes me think of candle wax, old churches, and the colors blue, purple, and mauve. I can never make up my mind whether its scent is rather nice or perfectly horrid. Nevertheless, tonight I have an interesting woman to sit next to while I work.
Image via We Heart It
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A lot of people who try L'heure bleue describe it as sad and melancholy. To me, it is quiet, not sad. It is a bit chilly, which may be what you are describing as funerary.
ReplyDeletei don't often wear perfume but when i do it is Guerlain. smells are so hard to describe but Guerlain draws me in as much by the colours, the flacons, the names... how can i resist smelling of samsara?
ReplyDeletehowever, i do share the slight confusion - one moment i think of velvet, porcelain and that Paris café, the next moment there will be images of rotten flower stems and very old ladies with lilac hair and too much jewellery.
for me it is amusing to see Guerlain and Anais Nin on the same page here - i discovered both the same autumn in Paris years ago.
i hope you are well.
You've descibed the experience perfectly. I'll have to search down a sample of samsara. There's something about me that gravitates to Paris at the turn of the century, particularly in autumn. Pretty soon I expect I'll be blogging about Collette (another favorite).
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