I am a perfume decant lover. I love decants so much that when eBay caved to pressure from companies and banned users from selling decants, I stop using the site entirely. Now, I spend my time browsing The Perfumed Court and adding things to my wishlist for later purchase.
My interest in perfume started simply enough; I was entranced by the idea of capturing moments, forever to be remembered through smell. I collected scratch and sniff stickers and placed them, meticulously, in a homemade construction paper scrapbook. My favorites were the ones that smelled the most convincing: bananas, pineapple, root beer. Then there was being able to send my mind away from whatever was happening to me by thinking about the green smell of watermelon rind and the cold, crisp indescribable scent of the fruit itself. Scents could be like words; capable of saving and transforming, creative and personal. I loved Maude’s contraption that allowed for Smell-o-Vision and wished I could have been there to try it out, too. I watch Harold and Maude over and over, partly because of that scene.
All of those decant purchases now stem from that exact same desire for something intangible and visceral: pleasurable transportation. I get the opportunity to try many scents without breaking my bank. The only two full bottles of perfume I’ve bought are Hermés Ambre Narguile and Idole de Lubin.
Idole de Lubin is the first perfume from the house of Lubin of this century and it was crafted by Olivia Giacobetti, who is a simply brilliant perfumer. At first spray, the smell of dark rum is immediate and almost overpowering. Then, suddenly the smell thickens and grows sweeter, smokier. Sugar cane is up next, and the scent takes on an almost gourmand quality, except there’s something warm underneath. Familiar. It smells like damp, clean skin. The cumin note comes off for some people as sexual, dirty. In my experience here it smells more of the human press of the dance floor, bodies sliding apart and meeting again. It’s a subtle note but there it is, reminding me of humidity and rhythm all at the same time. It’s the way that I’d want my lover to smell; or, more likely, how I’d like for them to smell me.
Somewhere in the drydown of the scent, it changes again and becomes muskier. Now I can smell the saffron note fading into the background and the smell teeters between masculine and unisex with its injection of leather, never quite falling either way. Still sweet, still rum without the booze aftertaste, still gorgeous, it’s now muted and quiet. Like a drive home after a party. It could also be the moment after you’ve kissed someone for the first time and your heart stops hammering. This is a smell I love, and one I use judiciously so I won’t ever grow tired of it.
Top notes: Rum Absolute, Saffron, Bitter Orange Peel, Black Cumin
Middle notes: Doum Palm, Smoked Ebony, Sugar Cane
Base notes: Leather and Red Sandalwood
Idole de Lubin can be purchased here.
Erzulie Freda had been on my mind a lot lately. I even hennaed her vever on my left hand. She is light and grace, beauty personified. Her only desire is adoration and sweetness. The lover and never the bride. In the Yoruban faith she is Oshun, the river meeting breath and coming to life, her veils never far away and the taste of honey left behind in her wake. Still, my mind has been on Erzulie. Her hunger is endless, her joy overpowering. She lives. Nothing stops her and she cannot be contained. 
