Perfume Haikus Are Fun

Recently, Now Smell This had a fun perfume haiku challenge, and what a challenge it was! For a lady like myself who likes to go on and on, suddenly, I had to reduce my impressions of a perfume into three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. (I've written lengthier reviews on all of these, by the way.)

Challenging, but doable. Here are some I came up with, and I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to include a haiku with every perfume review from now on! (We'll see if I actually do it.)

As for the Mitsouko ad...it's so gorgeous, and possibly the only perfume ad I've seen with an Asian woman in it. Too bad she's also styled like she's going to be in the next Shogun television miniseries, but, I guess you take what you can get.

So without further ado(s), my haikus.

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Fille d’Eve by Nina Ricci

Lover’s dirty hair
Skin plus yesterday’s perfume
Chic can be sexy

 

Giorgio by Giorgio of Beverly Hills

Bubble-headed scent
You’ve been stinking three decades
Please go away now

 

Bandit by Robert Piguet

Leather tobacco
Tied with a green rubber bow
Ends warm and mossy

 

Eden by Cacharel

Top smells like plastic
Humid tropical fruit heart
Still, it intrigues me

 

Diorella by Christian Dior

Shows you how to look
At both garbage and flowers
Vintage one’s better

 

Comments

[Anna in Edinburgh]

I love playing with words so I've tried too.

Diorissimo
Bright breath-taking Spring
Soaring, so delicately
feminine ... fleeting

[Perfumaniac]

I love it, Anna! And Diorissimos not bad either. ;-)

[Anna in Edinburgh]

Thanks, you're very kind.

In my word play enthusiasm I forgot to applaud your witty haikus, and I meant to comment on the Giorgio one.

I recall how a very elegant and striking post-grad colleague wore this and somehow eliminated all of Giorgio's OTT aspects, rendering it a very different scent. Amazing what the right person can do to the otherwise very wrong scent.

Giorgio (again)
Young Hong Kong lady -
Fit, blonde, green-eyed, well-to-do:
Giorgio just purred!

[breathe31]

perfumaniac
a writer extraordinaire
knows her perfume stuff

[Perfumaniac]

breathe31 is
making me blush but really
I love compliments

[Perfumaniac]

You tamed Giorgio with your wordsmithery, Anna!

[Joan]

Oh man, this is awesome! I just put some on my blog. Here's one:

Washington Square Bond No. 9

Feet hit pavement after
Snacking at streetcart.
Art types hang out under
Arch. Good eats cover concrete.
Not the other way around.

[Perfumaniac]

They are fun, arent they Joan? I commented on your great perfume haikus!

[Marion]

Aaah I went in that one too....

And thinking more about my dark love, yet again

Mitsouko...
'the heart is
A lonely Hunter'

[Perfumaniac]

Lovely, Marion!

[breathe31]

L'Heure Bleue

The scent of violets
not melancholic at all
fresh as a spring day

[Perfumaniac]

Ahhh, a haiku dissenter! I like it, breathe31. :-)

[breathe31]

Glad you liked it Barbara! I decided to write one yesterday for several reasons. For one, it was my birthday and I wanted to post on this day! Secondly, I finally read all the haikus on Now Smell This and became inspired. Finally, my daughters were discussing their "signature scents" and my eldest asked if L'Heure Bleue was mine. You know that you are a "bad Influence" as a mum when your 11 and 13 year old are already determining yours and their "signature scents"!!!

[Perfumaniac]

Bad influence? Bah! breathe31, I think it's great your kids are asking you what your signature scent is! How sophisticated. And Happy (belated) Birthday! Did anyone get you perfume?

[breathe31]

Several weeks ago I purchased two full size EDP of Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue so they count as my birthday/mother's day gifts.My hubby would not have a clue as to what perfume to buy me and besides, he already believes the females in the house have way too many perfume bottles!(LOL!!!) He opted for the safer gift of flowers. Come to think of it that would be a fantastic thematic blog- perfumes that are great to give as gifts! A good reference guide for the men/special individuals in our lives who are clueless when it comes to perfume!

[Perfumaniac]

Great idea, breathe31, except I don't know if there is such a thing as a safe gift of perfume unless you're getting a bottle of something for someone that you know they already wear! I'd give advice to people on perfume they might like, but perfume is too expensive (and personal) a gift to risk as a gift, I think. (Having said that, I just recently got a friend some perfume and hope he loves it! I think I know what he likes, though. Gonna cross my fingers.) And kudos to you on your perfume self-gifting! I think that's probably the best way to go...

[Nancy]

I totally agree that gift giving with fragrance can be a wee bit worry-inspiring. My problem is what to give for a H.S. graduation. I did sneak a peak at the family's perfume collection in the bathroom, and I didn't recognize anything other than names like "Britany". Since Mom's favorite fragrance has been a recent topic, might I suggest "my Teen fav". When I was a kid back in the 1970's all the girls wore "Heaven Sent" (Helena Rubinstein) and Avon's "Sweet Honesty". Is there anything similar throughout the generations, like very sweet, or white florals? Does it echo adult tastes, or do we grow out of them? As to a haiku about this, and Sweet Honesty;
Sweet smell of youth,
both green and in full bloom,
A prom corsage pressed in a popular novel.

.

[breathe31]

Having a teenager and pre-teen I can attest to the fact that taste in perfume changes and there can be a generational gap. My girls prefer lighter, fruity, clean scents (in their bathroom they have DK Be Delicious,new Chloe, Escada Marine Groove and several scents from Pacifica). You might want to check out the Pacifica line- their fragrances are all natural and appeal to a younger audience (although every scent in their wood/resin category appeals to middle aged me!). www.pacificaperfume.com Good luck finding the right fragrance!

[Nancy]

Thank-you for the suggestions! I would rather gift a quality scent such as Chloe than a "celebrity" fragrance. There was a phase in my Middle-school years that the kids did the whole "fruity" fragrance thing, so perhaps fashions do come around again. The wood/resin by Pacifica would certainly appeal to me, too. Is it really middle-age, or because those fragrance types made such an impact when we were at an impressionable age?

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Nancy,

I can't even imagine what you would get a teenager to wear today! I think breathe31 came up with some good ones — light and fruity doesn't always have to be bad. As you know, I'm so mired in vintage, I barely keep up with what's new in perfume. Even if I tried, there are so many new scents released every day. They all seem the same to me...

[Nancy]

I totally agree about the new fragrances, particularly the ones "made" for celebrities. This Mother's Day there were plenty of such bottles out on store counters, all too similar to my untrained nose and probably totally synthetic. Although most are attractively packaged, I doubt many will be on the market long-term. Britney's Circus? Fragrance purchases/gifts to me used to be special. The choice was personal, unique, and certainly not "disposable" in the idea sense. Perhaps a haiku to celebrity fragrances is suitable for today:
Exotic personae with familiar faces,
Evoking conformist Passion.
Impossible flowers blowing in the winds.

[breathe31]

Nancy- great Haiku! And yes, please refrain from purchasing celebrity scents!!! I would give Pacifica a try because not only are their products natural but they are an enviromentally conscious company and don't do the mass market/advertising thing. I wear some of their fragrances to work (Spanish Amber, Sandalwood,Nerola Orange Blossom) because they are light enough for the co-worker that has bad allergies and baulks everytime I wear a vintage scent, such as L'heure Bleue. All of the scents in the fruit category and the floral category are good for young women. And they also have gits sets.

[Carrie]

I couldn't resist. *snicker*

I am surrounded
fruit flies on rotten melon
Oh Diorella!

[Mi Jong]

Requiem

I circle the sun
keeping you within my breast:
O, Bellodgia.