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Guest Post by Dionne
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You Want Fruit? You Can’t Handle the Fruit!

or Happiness in a Bottle

Hey-o, fume fiends! It’s good to be back post-Christmas, and I’m hoping you all had a wonderful holiday as well.

One of the fun and interesting challenges of writing for APJ is deciding on a perfume to review, because I typically want to write about what I’ve been wafting lately. But like many of you, what I wear is influenced by the weather, and where I live it’s cooooold right now (was -25°C in these parts Christmas week) . I’m rocking my heavy snugglers. I had every intention of writing a review of Queen by Queen Latifah until someone at Facebook Fragrance Friends mentioned how hot it was in Aussie-land right now, and since there’s no way in Hades I could wear Queen in the heat of summertime, I’ll hold off until….hmmm…. maybe the southern hemisphere’s autumn when winter is still lingering around here?

Photo Stolen TrojanNews

So, what to pick instead? An idea came because of a discussion I had on Christmas Eve. We had a bunch of people over for our annual fondue, and as the evening wound down a good friend checked out my fragrance collection. As we smelled and chatted, she asked which ones influenced my mood most. After showing her one of my I feel really smart right now category, and my how YOU doin’? fragrance, and an I feel pretty, oh so pretty perfume, I mentally slapped myself in the forehead for not bringing out today’s offering at the start. “You have to smell this one. It’s the happiest perfume I own.” And sure enough, just the waft from the piece of paper I sprayed it on brought a gigantic grin to both of our faces.

Pulp by Byredo 2008

I first smelled Pulp in Las Vegas about two years ago, when The Engineer and I got away for our 20th anniversary. Good man that he is, he was perfectly willing to tag along for a day while I hit a bunch of perfume counters and squealed over a bunch of lines I’d read about but never encountered before. The SA’s at Barney’s were especially delightful: “Ohhhh, a perfumista. Take your time, we like you guys.” After a good hour moving slowly through different collections, sniffing and generally geeking out, the Byredo rep said, “Try this. I think you’ll like it.” Cue my first big Pulp-induced grin; it was love at first huff.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

That first rush of delight whenever I smell this has never gone away. Like many perfumistas, I have crushes and infatuations that come and go as some hot new thang comes along, but Pulp belongs to a select group that I can’t ever imagine myself going without. In fact, I don’t think The Engineer would let me be without this. I wear a lot of things he likes, but he can only remember the names of two of my fragrances, and asks for them regularly. Black Cashmere, and Pulp.

Notes from Fragrantica:
Top: bergamot, cardamom, blackcurrant
Heart: fig, red apple, tiare flower
Drydown: cedar, praline, peach blossom

Technically, Pulp is big dollops of fig and blackcurrant and apple, but once they’re all thrown in the magical pot of the perfumer and bottled, the vibe I get is rhubarb.  Juicy, tart, in-your-face rhubarb. And did I mention juicy? Technically again, this is supposed to be a fruity-floral, but screw that. Pulp went and created its own category: the fruity-fruity. I get great longevity off of this, but it’s rare that I don’t, so take that for what it’s worth. Also, this has some serious waft. In my experience that just amounts to oodles of compliments, but be advised. Grinch-type people could find their hearts growing three sizes when they smell you.

Byredo has 50ml/$145 but only send to USA & Europe
MeccaCosmetica in Oz have 50ml/$158 with FREE Oz Shipping!!
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml

Photo Stolen fabiovisentin

Have a joyous 2013!

Dionne

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