Jass Menta

L'Air du temps

The Velvet Asymmetric Crystal Pump features an asymmetric crystal strap and a satin-covered heel.

Jayne Mansfield - Sophia Loren photo

In April 1957, Jayne Mansfield’s breasts were the focus of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect media attention from Sophia Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star’s honor at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills.

The best-known photo showed Loren’s disapproving gaze falling on the cleavage of the American actress when Mansfield leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple.

Amo Ferragamo Flowerful - Salvatore Ferragamo EDT

Amo Flowerful, la nuova fragranza di Salvatore Ferragamo. Una fragranza ancora piú giovane, fresca, pura espressione di gioia di vivere, ottimismo e frizzante vitalitá. La donna Amo Flowerful esprime tutto ció che ama: i fiori, i colori, i suoiviaggi, i suoi sogni, il potere della sua libertá.È un profumo fruttato-fiorito.

Notes: bergamot, pimento, pepper, cinnamon; rose, jasmine, narcissus, incense, labdanum; vanilla, patchouli, benzoin, castoreum, leather, oakmoss

This one moves fast. Blink and you’ll miss it.

The opening is, I think, frankincense; silvery-gold, shining, piercing. Beautiful.

Next up is a smokier, browner kind of incense that I associate very strongly with hippies or Burners. This is what showed up most strongly on paper when I smelled Fate in the store.

There are little barely-detectable whiffs here and there of what might be a winy rose.

And then, within the first hour really, it settles into the drydown for the long haul: a spicy, powdery, ambery, cinnamon-and-incense thing that wraps around me like a coppery shawl.

I’d picture this on a woman in her fifties or sixties more than on me; it has a “grande dame” manner that I’m not sure suits me.

Notes: cardamom, bergamot, orange, sage, lemon; carnation, patchouli, orris, basil, jasmine, cedar; leather, oakmoss, styrax, vetiver, amber, vanilla, coconut.

Oh yeah. This one hits the spot.

The opening is surpassingly weird; funky, rotten-sweet, fruity, almost earthy or mushroomy? I like it, because I’m weird, but it’s definitely a trip.

In a few minutes, though, what you’ve got is a great leather chypre. To me, this is a feel-good scent. Rich and rollicking. Not far from Azuree, I think; except Azuree’s accents are citrusy and Bel Ami’s accents are spiced and earthy-warm.

The far drydown is creamy, dusty, sweet-ish; I get orris root (in the low doses that give buttery texture without screaming “Carrots”) and a warm brown resin, maybe the styrax. Cozy.

If there’s a defining distinction between “feminine” and “masculine” leather chypres, I don’t know what it is. In my opinion, if you like the genre, try em all, independent of gender. Bel Ami gets reviewed as really “masculine” but I truly don’t see a hard line between it and Azuree.

Bel Ami is definitely on the warmer side, as leather chypres go; yes, there’s oakmoss, but there’s not much else in the green/bitter column. Definitely friendlier than Bandit, Cabochard, Brood, or (shudder) Le Sillage Blanc; on the other hand, not as mellow as Habit Rouge (which is much more vanillic and resinous). And definitely not in the sweetened-leather category that includes, like, Cuir de Russie or Tuscan Leather or Cuir Mauresque. Bel Ami is friendly — not unctuous.

You ever had a study buddy? Like, actually sit next to someone translating a text together in real time, so that when you figure out a word, or he does, you both laugh out loud kicking yourselves that you didn’t get it sooner? It’s surprisingly intimate because you’re letting someone inside your thought process; and that means when it *works*, it’s the second most fun thing you can do with another human.