Bornéo 1834: Falling in Love...

Today, I have received a card from Les Salons Shiseido, in Paris. The usual lovely message from Amélie, directrice, and the announcement of their new fragrance, being released this coming September for their Eaux Anciennes series. The 1st, to be precise.

As usual, it included a card with the wax sample: Bornéo 1834. The wax smells gorgeous, I cannot wait to get the juice! Bornéo is pure magic, conjuring old memories of distant places - imaginary places, fairy tales, all dreamy and beautiful things under an autumnal, dusky light. A blast of camphor in the head notes, then patchouly, sweet cocoa accords and something mildly spicy - which I cannot quite identify. I detect dark woods starting to make an appearance in the middle notes and becoming quite prominent in the almost smoky, chocolate-ish drydown. But that chocolate, cocoa powder, whatever... It gives the composition smoothness and douceur. Bornéo 1834 is a forest out of a good dream, dark and comforting.

The initial camphor notes remind me of our ancient Chinese carved blanket boxes back home in Rio - which still nowadays let that delicious scent waft all over the place when we open them. I am wondering how it might smell like once layered with some Vétiver Oriental, which also contains patchouly and dark chocolate notes. But that experiment, only when I have the real concoction here!

Finally, here is what the card says about it:

"Bornéo 1834: on patchouly leaves, a dry and soothing perfume. The smoothness of a waltz, in a long forgotten Paris."

Nahéma, Guerlain (pure parfum)

Creamy, almost edible dark red roses enveloped by sheer, delicate lace, on a base of soft vanilla and precious sandalwood.
Use it sparingly. Light-handedly. Never too loud.
Just a whisper.

The Glasses...

I am posting a photo of myself wearing those glasses! I do look older!

Gail, this is for you! And the little dog is called Shiro (aka "Lucky", from Crayon Shin-Chan)...

New Kitty Item: Kawaii!!!!

Long time without posting, very lazy indeed! And it's getting really hot here in Ireland these days. A real Summer, which, by the way, I don't appreciate very much, favouring a bit of cold, breezy weather instead.

I have ordered a beautiful Kitty doll from JBox! It took some time to arrive (it was actually out of stock but I just needed to have it, thus the delay - otherwise it's all very fast!), but man! Was it worth it! Look at her here, graciously holding a "sensu" (traditional folding fan)!

She is wearing a beautiful brocade silk kimono, and comes in a neat box, like those traditional Ningyo dolls. She's a beauty, made of delicate porcelain, its texture like an egg's shell. I highly recommend JBox for all your Japanese needs, it's a cool website and I love buying aromatic oils, Kitty goods and those fantastic tatami slippers that they sell up there... Just love it! My other Kitties (the ones from the Kabuki collection) are also from them:


Apart from my Kitty, not much news here, I'm afraid. I am reading Osamu Tezuka's Buddha series at the moment, but I must write more about it in the next few days.

(Now, I need to go because my head is pounding again, it's been like that lately, don't know why... Ouch... And it just started raining here! I love Summer rains, they smell so nice! Will rest my head a bit and open the window just to feel that wonderful rainy smell...)

News: Wearing Glasses!

OK, let's face it. If you have more than one pair of glasses in your handbag, you are:

(a) a fashion victim?
(b) getting old?

In my case, check (b). I am getting old! Well, SITA sent us for some eye tests in order to check if we need to use glasses for VDU (fancy acronym for monitors, or "video display unit") and my results were... "positive"! I am near-sighted - as I already suspected.

And I have more than one pair in my handbag because I need to use sunglasses as well. I just cannot stand the sun on my eyes, thus I need sunglasses. I hate bright, blinding lights, thus I need sunglasses, and so on... Shades, whatever you want to call them. And, yes, I must admit these are a bit of a fashion statement. Utilitary, but glamourous.

As for the serious glasses, things got worse after I had the optic neuritis, almost 3 years ago, when I lost part of the vision in my right eye. Moreover, I turned 40, 41, 42... And started realising that my vision was not as sharp as before. In short, I needed glasses (or so I thought, having suspicions confirmed thanks to my employer). I need them for VDU use, reading, drawing (whenever I decide to come back to it, that is) and "close" stuff. For watching TV it turns out to be quite handy as well.

I have now a lovely pair of DG's (yeah, babe! Dolce & Gabbana alright! For that asphyxiated fashion-victim portion of me!) and I am quite glad because they not only look good (a bit of a retro vibe and so on) but I am also getting used to it! So used to it, that two nights ago I tried to go to bed wearing them and then, while switching off the bedside lamp, noticed: "what the hell am I doing with these here?".

Well, they seem to be helping me, though it was not easy when I started some 2 or 3 weeks ago. Everything looked a bit floaty, out of balance, with a strange, surrealistic "depth", blah-blah... Probably because my right side is much stronger than the left, but hey, it was not comfortable, oh no! But now I am happy to say I am adusting. As with (mostly) anything in life, I am adjusting. That makes me kinda happy!

My Latest Manga Reading

Last night I read the 7th and last volume of Tokyo Babylon, by Clamp. I have followed this series for almost one year and was really loving it. It follows the story of Seishiro-san and Subaru-kun, two onmiyoji (mediums) whose lives have been misteriously linked some years before, under the cherry trees. Subaru-kun has a lovely twin sister, Hokuto-chan, who has no psychic, paranormal abilities, but lots of common sense. A really "down-to-earth" girl.

The series were fun, with lots of amusing situations and sweet, loving moments. Artwork is just fantastic, as it always happens with Clamp, the characters looking gorgeous, with their wide-eyes, wonderful hair, impeccable costumes, and always inside the most exquisite scenarios.

However, the closing was perhaps a bit disappointing. And disturbing, I should add. I so much wanted a happy ending! And those guys deserved it (or seemed to, at least). And it's not what you get, unfortunately. It is tragic, to say the least. But at the same time it is great to see how Subaru changes, and turns into a man so suddenly. He becomes stronger, harder, taller, and even prettier. Well, he also starts smoking, which is not a good thing by all means, but somehow shows how his life is turned upside down by all the events. Tokyo Babylon is a beautiful and short story, but also makes you feel at a loss in the end.

I am not sure, but it seems it is a bit of an introduction to Clamp's X/1999, with pretty much the same kind of characters and more of a dark, violent plot. I should re-read X and see if either Subaru or Seishiro reappear...

My Kitty-chan's Kabuki Display!

I bought this display from a lovely EBay seller in Japan, have a look at that...



It is a lovely Kabuki display, containing Kitty-chan dressed up as 9 different characters of renowned Kabuki plays: Fuji Musume, Shizuka Gozen, the Hanagasa dancer from the Dohjohji play, Shiokumi etc... I still could not identify all of them, since I don't know much about Kabuki, unfortunately. I think I should perhaps buy a book about it next!

In the pictures below you can see it with more details...




(I am intrigued by the lady at the upper left corner, top tier, holding an umbrella, wearing a kimono and with her head partially covered... If anyone knows who that is, and from which play, please let me know...)

New Perfume Today!

Today I received a beautiful perfume, from Les Salons Shiseido, in Paris. It's Un Bois Sépia, and it was already in my Wish List for some time. Bought it unsniffed, because I knew I would love it, since I had a wax sample from Les Salons and was quite impressed by the scent. It's been conceived by the genial Serge Lutens (the above website includes a mini-biography) and contains some of my favourite notes:

• Precious woods - cypress, oakmoss, a hint of cedarwood perhaps, and sandalwood for sure...
• Earthy tones - vétiver and patchouli roots...
• Resinous, dark opoponax...
  

It is an almost masculine fragrance, which doesn't bother me at all, since I am not a "flowery" girl when it comes to perfume, favouring oriental or woody, earthy scents instead. Besides, the fragrance I use the most these days is Guerlain's Vétiver, which is a classic man's fragrance (with my beloved vétiver and again some patchouli alright!), so, not surprising...

I think this scent is pretty much related to Shiseido's Feminité du Bois, whose dominant note is cedarwood. This has a delicious, and almost nostalgic smell of colour pencils, a big box of colour pencils, pencil shaves everywhere! However, Un Bois Sépia would be a more discrete, and almost shy version perhaps, not nearly as pungent or strong as Feminité. It doesn't seem to have a very long lasting power by comparison, it simply melts onto your skin, slowly, graciously, a "solitaire" kind of scent, a scent for oneself - almost like an olfactory secret. Adagio.

There is another thing I love about it, which is the name. Un Bois Sépia. Like an old photograph, a distant memory, or something out of a Mishima's book. A tad bit melancholy perhaps, and I like to think it was probably raining on those woods. But I am digressing... It is a wonderful fragrance, subtle, and comfortable. There is also something sweet in the remnant, base notes, probably tonka beans? I am not quite sure, but it looks - or rather smells - like it to me. The tonka beans work as a "fixative" in a perfume, and are quite often found at the base notes. It also provides an almost sweet, nutty and sometimes "smokey" note, that we can sometimes detect in a number of fragrances.

Here is the new acquisition then!



(I received that today but... before you say anything... no, no, no, I did not use that much! Those missing 20ml I have decanted into a spray bottle, for the original one - as you may be able to see here - is a splash, traditional bottle, and I don't want to "harm" the fragrance with the constant skin contact, or even the air of course!)

These are the news for tonight. Need to go now! Good Night!

The Most Beautiful Short Animation Film Ever...

... must be "Overtime". I watched that on TV last weekend, in TV3's "Wonderscreen" and was simpy amazed. If you are a bit blue though, get a box of tissues because you will definitely have the tears flowing.

Basically, "Overtime" is a tribute to the Muppet Show creator, Jim Henson (1936-1990), and is a wonderful black and white, 3D animated short film of more or less 4 minutes. The music is very beautiful, and the story is simple, and very touching.

The film shows how a pupeteer, who creates kermit-like cute rag dolls, is found dead on his bed by his little creatures. It seems they quite do not understand (or do not accept) what has happened to their Master. Nonetheless they strive to keep living "as normal" and try to cheer up their creator, as they would normally do while he was alive: playing, cooking, eating, and having fun together. Until they finally realise that he will not wake up anymore.

The film has been created and executed by Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland and Damien Ferrié as a graduation project, from what I could find in the web. It also seems it has received several prizes in competitions all over the world. Very well deserved, I just hope they will release a DVD one day!

Oury Atlan's website is noteworthy, and you can see some of his work (and CV) there: http://oury.3dvf.net/wip.htm

Directed, Written, Animated, Filmed & Edited by: Oury Atlan/Thibaut Berland/Damien Ferrié
Music: Sielberman Ochestra/Ornadel and the Starlight Symphony
Producer: Supinfocom

Slightly Disfunctional but Funny, Very Funny...

Thanks to the Digital TV, yesterday for the very first time, I watched an episode of Kureyon Shin Chan ( クレヨンしんちゃん ). To say it's wacky would be less than adequate. Possibly the funniest (and yes, wackiest) thing I've seen lately. I love the animation style, which looks like something I would have attempted to draw myself when I was a kid, possibly. And those bright, basic colours, funny expressions, and hilarious plots - some of it quite plausible from what I could see!

Pity the cartoon is dubbed. The actors' voices are quite good, but I would sell my soul to listen to it in Japanese (and English subtitles, of course!).

The kid is such an uncontrolable brat, with a big, funny head, and a language and quick-tongue that would humiliate the likes of a Bart Simpson. I love it. A bit insane? Maybe it is, but who doesn' want that once in a while? Do not expect any "politically-correctness" from that, oh no! Just relax and enjoy the pure, subtle wackiness of the show. I am not sure if we can compare it to the Simpsons, but Shin Chan's type of humour works better for me, because it sounds more "realistic". The characters are quite likeable as well. For example, with the Simpsons I not only grew tired of the overdose of episodes everyday on several different channels, as I cannot stand Lisa anymore, or Marge. They are just too plain boring. But that's my opinion anyways... I used to love it to bits years ago, but suddenly could not stand it anymore! Aw, that's life I s'pose...

Anyway, Shin-Chan seems so addictive I have immediately ordered two DVD's, which I could only find on EBay (where else!):



Here are some of the episode titles, so you can have an idea of the stuff...

• Me Want Cookie
• Mom Runs Away From Home
• We're Getting A Divorce
• I Get Recycled
• Mom’s Getting Fat
• Dad’s Lost his Eyebrows
• Dopes at the Slopes
  

Sounds like fun, huh? Well, I ordered this from a Seller in Sydney, AU. It may take up to 2 weeks to arrive. Meantime, I will watch that on TV, of course! I'll keep you posted...