Those of you who follow me on Twitter may be aware that the bathroom at Maison Persolaise is now a disaster area. Well, that’s probably a slight exaggeration: the workmen are being quite tidy and trying to keep disruption to a minimum. But a certain amount of mess is unavoidable, as is the fact that we haven’t got a bathtub or shower.
In an effort to escape the chaos, I settled down to an hour of formulating yesterday (the jasmine accord is still coming along, one slow iteration at a time) but for some stupid reason I completely forgot that my study backs onto the bathroom. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the workmen hadn’t used a particular substance (an adhesive maybe?) on the bricks and wood work. The stuff’s odour is lethal: petrol and noxious glue cranked up to levels that make your eyes water. To cut a long story short, the smell seeped into my room, making my nose utterly useless. And I spilt some of my synthetic oud. Not a good move!
Oh, and it also looks like my invitation to next week’s Jasmine Awards ceremony has been lost by Royal Mail, which is a real shame, as I’d hoped to keep it as a souvenir.
Shall we end on a less depressing note? The TV advert for Belle D’Opium has been banned in the UK, on the grounds that its depiction of simulated drug use is “irresponsible and unacceptable”. Could we now please have the perfume itself banned on the grounds that it is equally irresponsible and unacceptable?
Persolaise.
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Synthetic Oud and Eau de Bathroom combined sounds like a miasma I am glad not to experience.
Sorry about your invitation, but it will probably be showing up weeks after the event.
Ten people got the cards we posted for Christmas on Tuesday so don't give up hope !!
P,
The reaction to the commercial is nuts. I watched it and it's, to me, well-done and pretty. I do think the finger down the forearm probably is suggestive, but I'm so naive I wouldn't have "gotten it" without someone explaining it to me. In my opinion the movement was pointedly done to the point of awkwardness (it's the only, deliberate, non-flowy piece of the ad).
That said, if this commercial can drive someone to try drugs instead of perfume or sufiism or dancing or rolling on the ground then they're pretty easily led and would have found drugs on their own at some point!
Meanwhile, I have notified IFRA about the ad and your bathroom. I'm always on the hunt for things to add to the forbidden list. I'm referring fresh mountain spring water and Spring air next…
xoxo,
*jen
Olfactoriastravels, yup, it was quite a mix.
And I hope you turn out to be right about the invitation.
Angela, you're joking!! That's ridiculous. Oh well, I suppose I can wait till April…
*Jen, PLEASE don't give IFRA any ideas!
Ha! Is Belle d'Opium really that bad? I haven't sniffed it. I do like the original quite a bit.
Poor Persolaise! I don't understand the ban on the Belle d'Opium commercial either, considering that it is horrid, horrible juice. You wonder what they're smoking at YSL (their perfumes have gone from astounding to OK to…terrible), but I'll bet it isn't opium…;-)
Carrie, I think Belle d'Opium is terrible. And I'm afraid Opium itself has been messed up by a poor reformulation. The original is just amazing; a true classic.
Tarleisio, you're right. They ought to pour something adventurous into their water coolers…
I must lead a very sheltered life, for I have seen that ad numerous times and it never once occurred to me that the model was simulating drug use. I just though it was the natural euphoria of the young.
On the subject of noxious odours emanating from bathrooms, I recently poured sulphuric acid down our bath plughole to unblock the pipework beyond. Worked a treat in just 10 mins but would have added a rather eclectic note to your jasmine prototype.
Just realised I need to change your blog address in my blog roll! I wondered why it was stuck on that road sign picture….
: – )
Vanessa… I won't ask where the sulphuric acid came from. And yes, I'm sure it wouldn't have done my nose any favours at all!
You can safely ask – it was Plumbits!
And there was me picturing you breaking into a top secret chemical research lab…