Friday, January 23, 2009

Foulard de la semaine et dejeunner avec La Belette Rouge

This is my attempt at the softer grey and pink look that Duchesse and Karen posted about. (Originally featured at The Sartorialist.) The only light grey piece I own is the sweater; the trousers and top are both charcoal grey. The scarf is my pink "Ecole Portugaise" which I'm finding myself wearing frequently.

I had a much-anticipated, lovely lunch with the gorgeous and vivacious La Belette Rouge yesterday, after which we wandered over to the Big Three (Barney's, Saks, and Neiman Marcus) to sniff out some new fragrances. At our final stop, Choo Choo the very fast-talking sales associate for the Clive Christian perfume line was dropping names like Perez Hilton on crack. "Oh I sold this one to Beyoncé, to Celine, to Katherine Heigl, to Marie Curie! And this one, Katie wore it at her wedding to Tom!" all the while spritzing La Belette's and my wrists. "Wear it around, you'll be back, everyone comes back to buy!"

The one fragrance I sampled ("made with the flowers of fifty thousand baby white roses!") wasn't bad at first. For the first twenty minutes I liked it. Then it started to bug me, its cloying propensities increasing to the point that I was scrubbing my wrist with an alcohol-soaked kleenex three hours later trying to remove it. But this stuff is Zombie Perfume! It wouldn't die! Finally, I tried dousing my wrist with some Neutrogena Sesame Body Oil, which didn't entirely kill the fragrance, but cajoled it back into a somnolent stupor.

On a whim we popped into David's Shoes right before saying goodbye, and La Belette found....wait, I'll let her tell you.
~
Posted by at 5:00 AM
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27 comments:

  1. Hope you've showered and scrubbed the perfume off with some steel wool to eradicate the smell - I hate that when it happens - I tend to go for it on the bit of card first before I let them spray it on my skin!

    Those boots were divine - great find Deja!

    Love your elegant chic look - works for you.
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  2. If you wanted to scent to last, it would have faded away immediately. I am so glad that you and Belette had an adventure. I wish I could have been there.
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  3. To get rid of a "scrubber," (perfumista lingo for a perfume you cannot abide) rub some oil (olive, baby, whatever) into the offending area, then give that a good cleaning with an oil-dissolving cleaner like a countertop cleaner or dish soap. You can also rub over the perfumed spot with solid deodorant, which is surprisingly helpful.

    Now, repeat after me: "No, thanks, I'm already wearing something, but I'd love a sample to take home and try later."
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  4. Imogen - thanks!

    Re: the perfume, usually I do spray the card first. And I did like it at first on me, but after a while it started to smell like something someone would have on in an elevator that would be too overwhelming.

    Julianne - I hope someday you'll be able to join us!
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  5. It was a delightful day. Thank you!!

    I too can still smell Clive. I will give it credit for staying power. Actually, the day time one doesn't smell horrible this a.m.( not a ringing endorsement).

    Thanks again. I look forward to part 2 of our BH adventures!!!
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  6. What fun! Despite the risk of lingering scent, you really do have to try it on the body, not the card, to see how it wears. The card is the book cover, and can fib.

    Wish I could meet the two of you, sounds like a delightful day!
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  7. It's always good to haul out the winter whites and pastels at this time of year, Spring is just around the corner.
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  8. I wish I could have been with you ladies!
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  9. Thanks for the virtual trip to LA and a visit with The Spritzer Girl. Luckily the fragrance overload did not make the cyber journey.

    Talk about wardrobe essentials--an Hermes carre in one's best shade of pink. You look great. Do you have a Neige d'Antan to take to Aspen? They made it in a salmon colorway and I found one on ebay. Any colorway is darling in that design.
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  10. I've got so terribly fussy about fragrance in the past few years and find everything I try ends up annoying me or giving me headache. But recently whilst cruising through the airport duty free I tried the new Chanel Eau Premier, which is a lighter younger version of their classic No5 and was absolutely blown over by it. It's really feminine and unlike most scents on me, actually gets better as the day goes on. It doesn't have that underlying heaviness that the classic No5 has. It really is like wearing a bunch of sweetpeas and roses.

    I'm probably the ignorant one here, but I had not realised that Chanel had released a new fragrance recently. This one I would definitely recommend.

    Love your shades of grey outfit. I'm tying my scarves that way this winter after discovering your blog.
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  11. great interpretation of that colour combo -- so glad (and envious!) you and LBR had a good day together and you lent her a bit of your shopping luck.
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  13. How lovely that you two have met! As I earlier in bagsnobs told,I have lost my mother-I´m her only child-just after xmas. We didn´t keep in touch for all too many years. It was such a rotten relationship. I´m feeling bad that she never got to know her grandchildren at all.
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  14. Style Spy - thanks for the Zombie perfume removal trick, and for the superb avoidance mechanism!

    LBR - I'm looking forward to it too! There's still plenty of BH territory to cover.

    Duchesse - I agree with you about trying fragrance on. I find a most scents really "mutate" on my skin in the first hour or so.
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  15. Rita - I think an all-pastel palette would wash me out, but a few lighter touches here and there seem to work.

    Wendyb - I'm hoping we'll all be able to have a Fabulous Bloggers get-together soon, either here or in NY.
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  16. Daffodil Planter - you know, it wasn't a *bad* fragrance, just one that wasn't me. It's funny, I've never been one to wear much pink, but I'm finding it really does look good with my coloring, and mitigates a darker color next to the face. Probably like red, there's a particular shade of pink for everyone.

    greying pixie - I'd avoided trying that scent because it seemed somewhat blasphemous to fool with No. 5. But from your description, it sounds like something I'd probably like. I've had my best luck with Chanel and Hermès fragrances.
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  17. materfamilias - maybe someday we can all get together for a Girls Day Out, either here or in Vancouver or somewhere in-between.

    Couture Allure - it's from Pure Collection (www.purecollection.com) and on sale right now!
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  18. metscan - I'm so sorry for your loss, and sorry that you mom was difficult to have a relationship with while she was here.

    It's been so wonderful to meet some of my blog friends; maybe someday we'll be able to meet as well!
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  19. You look great! Your days sounds heavenly (minus the crazy, everlasting perfume).
    Bon Weekend!
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  20. Deja - I know what you mean about fooling with no5, but actually I doubt the No5 we can get today is anything like the one Coco Chanel invented. I even think it's changed in the last 30 years since the very first bottle I ever possessed. I think it's become very heavy of late and hardly a day perfume at all. I suspect that the Eau Premier is much nearer to the original scent that Coco Chanel approved and wore. It has a freshness and feminine lightness to it that seems to encapsulate the freshness of her design philosophy. Try it. I'm sure you'll agree.
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  21. Pseu, you need to dig out your pink Gerard Darel bag for this outfit!

    I will do a "copy" post soon on that outfit!
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  22. Oh it sounds like you had such a delightful day despite the perfume spritzing. That combination of shades and colors on you looks fabulous and very intriguing. I love how the grays, even the two charcoals don't match but blend in harmoniously, the perfect foil for the scarf.
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  23. I appreciate your kind words. Thank you!
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  24. Kelli - thanks! Fortunately by the time I left for work on Friday the zombie perfume was back in the grave.

    greying pixie - I did try it over the weekend and really liked it! My husband, however, was unimpressed. He did like the sample of Malle Lys Mediterannee I brought home from Barney's and wore Saturday night. He prefers a the tropical flower fragrances.
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  25. Karen - oh you're so right! Next time for sure.

    Mardel - thanks! I like mixing different shades of the same color, and I've found that grey works especially well for this. (I guess there are some who would argue that grey isn't a color, but you know what I mean.)
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  26. metscan - you're very welcome. Am sending good thoughts your way.
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  27. Oh man. I'm not fond of perfume so I can imagine what it's like being assaulted with foul-smelling stuff.

    And you look fab in this outfit. Tres chic.
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