Just Do It With Love

18Jul08

I refuse to front on Chandler Burr’s flawless examination of perfume, although I once did on Paestum Rose by L’eau d’Italie, because quite frankly, it’s too cedary in a weird, flowery coverup kind of way. Needless to say, my critique of the fragrance suffered in comparison to Burr’s intelligent review. So I’m going to have to say, I want to sniff out Hilary Duff’s “With Love” due to his latest blog The Moment.

Since I have recently gotten into reading about food – or rather tales written about life through food essays – I have started to really think about how fragrance is much like wine or even a cheese. There are many sensory inevitabilities that are derived from the whiff of a fragrance, and Burr really hit it on the head with his summary:

With Love smells, interestingly enough, comforting. It’s not identifiably “floral,” not “perfumey” — no aldehydes — and not, honestly, particularly reminiscent of any fragrance I know. It is instead an abstract example of the contemporary naturalist school, a scent one might encounter were one lucky enough to be hugged close to the suntanned neck of a pretty volleyball player on a Malibu beach: a bit of sunscreen, a hint of the breeze from the California hills and the smell of a girl who really knows how to play at the net. Were you not to know the scent’s celebrity origins, you would be left, as she released the hug and rushed happily back into the game, with the impression of olfactory sweetness and the white of her smile. You would not be torn. You would simply smile back.

It’s that emotional pang in your stomach. Remember, you smell everything and fragrance is the most associated sense with memory. His description builds up Duff’s fragrance while keeping it on the playful baseline where it should resign. It’s not horribly complex, but it still has a complexity that insinuates personality.

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