My hand smells like Napoleon...
...And Josephine. Together. Which is significant, as will be explained.
During our Tuesday class, my English teacher was giving us an example of what a good profile looks like. In this case, he had interviewed a guy named Chris Tsefalas, who owns a place in Portland, Oregon called the Perfume House. The profile itself can be seen here: www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/02/09/feature.html
To get to the heart of things, I will explain backwards: Napoleon Bonaparte, before his coronation, commissioned two perfumes from one Francois Rancé. Rancé was to create a scent for Napoleon himself and one for Josephine, his mistress, under very distinct terms. When Napoleon and Josephine were in the same room, their individual scents were to be structured such that hers was dominant, but when they were closer together, the two scents were to combine and create an entirely new scent. No one else was allowed to wear these scents; they were reserved solely for Napoleon and Josephine. Recently, someone found two sealed casks of these perfumes, opened them, and discovered that they were still good.
The debut of these scents was at the Perfume House, which is how the profile my English teacher wrote plays into this. Apparently, Mr. Tsefalas was so enamored with the profile that he gave my English teacher two bottles of the perfume.
Today, he brought them to class, and we were given the opportunity to smell them.
Napoleon smells AWESOME. There is no better way to describe it; I've never experienced a fabricated scent so attractive. It was musky, like pine needles and oranges, tangy and woodsy at the same time. I'm not a perfume connoisseur by any means, but when it comes to shear enjoyment, I have to say: if he smelled like that, no wonder Napoleon was so popular!
Josephine smelled very flowery, like hand soap, almost, except with a lot of undertones. I didn't like her scent as much as Napoleon's, but as our teacher pointed out, Napoleon's was made to be attractive to women, Josephine's to men. She also has a citrus flavor, but less than Napoleon's. It was balmy and full of flowers.
The two scents together smell like flowers but with pine needles and oranges thrown together--the tang is there, and also the sweetness. I have a little bit left on my hand from holding the tissues each scent was sprayed on for our sniffing benefit, and I can't stop smelling it. Obviously I can't take a shower tonight at risk of losing Napoleon/Josephine.
Now I want to go sit in a public area and wait for someone to ask me why I'm smelling my hand so much. "Because," I would say, "It smells like Napoleon and Josephine making love!"
During our Tuesday class, my English teacher was giving us an example of what a good profile looks like. In this case, he had interviewed a guy named Chris Tsefalas, who owns a place in Portland, Oregon called the Perfume House. The profile itself can be seen here: www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/02/09/feature.html
To get to the heart of things, I will explain backwards: Napoleon Bonaparte, before his coronation, commissioned two perfumes from one Francois Rancé. Rancé was to create a scent for Napoleon himself and one for Josephine, his mistress, under very distinct terms. When Napoleon and Josephine were in the same room, their individual scents were to be structured such that hers was dominant, but when they were closer together, the two scents were to combine and create an entirely new scent. No one else was allowed to wear these scents; they were reserved solely for Napoleon and Josephine. Recently, someone found two sealed casks of these perfumes, opened them, and discovered that they were still good.
The debut of these scents was at the Perfume House, which is how the profile my English teacher wrote plays into this. Apparently, Mr. Tsefalas was so enamored with the profile that he gave my English teacher two bottles of the perfume.
Today, he brought them to class, and we were given the opportunity to smell them.
Napoleon smells AWESOME. There is no better way to describe it; I've never experienced a fabricated scent so attractive. It was musky, like pine needles and oranges, tangy and woodsy at the same time. I'm not a perfume connoisseur by any means, but when it comes to shear enjoyment, I have to say: if he smelled like that, no wonder Napoleon was so popular!
Josephine smelled very flowery, like hand soap, almost, except with a lot of undertones. I didn't like her scent as much as Napoleon's, but as our teacher pointed out, Napoleon's was made to be attractive to women, Josephine's to men. She also has a citrus flavor, but less than Napoleon's. It was balmy and full of flowers.
The two scents together smell like flowers but with pine needles and oranges thrown together--the tang is there, and also the sweetness. I have a little bit left on my hand from holding the tissues each scent was sprayed on for our sniffing benefit, and I can't stop smelling it. Obviously I can't take a shower tonight at risk of losing Napoleon/Josephine.
Now I want to go sit in a public area and wait for someone to ask me why I'm smelling my hand so much. "Because," I would say, "It smells like Napoleon and Josephine making love!"