Throaty laughter captures your attention. Across the lane you see a buxom Venetian woman standing before a huge black and red striped tent. Her head is inclined towards a dapper, leering man, and they appear to be sharing a private joke. He reaches into his waistcoat and produces a gold coin. The woman plucks it from his fingers. He bows, and walks into the tent with a swagger. A sign flashes above the tent flap in letters that seem to be aflame: The Grindhouse, Dead or Live Girls.
The Madam turns towards you and smiles. As she approaches, someone within the tent strikes a few keys on a tuneless piano, and begins to play Jelly Roll Morton’s ‘the Crave’. The light within the tent illuminates the interior, shining behind the silhouettes of naked women gyrating lewdly upon raised stages, writhing in time with the music.
In the distance, behind the tent, you hear a whip crack, and a man’s scream. Tittering laughter follows, and the screams continue.
“Voulez-vous un morceau de la boîte de bonbon?” she asks, gesturing gracefully towards the tent.
The Madam’s perfume envelops you.
Florentine iris, red musk, mimosa, magnolia, Damascus rose, clove, and vanilla bean.
ashevo –
Firstly, I was overjoyed to see this perfume pop up. And I hoped it would be WEIRD.
It did not disappoint. In the bottle, it smells like BUBBLES (as in, the kind that come in a plastic bottle with a wand). I put it on my skin. One, two, three, *MORPH*. (I laughed, and made my spouse smell. Bottle vs 2 seconds on skin is a completely different scent. It’s like a magic trick.) It’s now a mixture of those spiced straw brooms my grandma used to keep during the holidays + pleasant soap. It also projects like your great-uncle Lester’s voice at the Christmas table.
Ten minutes later, I’m catching the blue cotton candy and copper, but it’s not cloying/cheap at all. It’s wacky in a weirdly sophisticated way, and less soapy. Will definitely reach for it regularly.