MADE FOR YOU AND ME 2: hive Being (Stanzas 2017--part 70)
scent of the day: Ambre Sultan, by Serge Lutens
Deep labdanum musk along with an herbal greenery that makes it a distinctive amber even while hightlighting amber enough to be a benchmark in most lists. It is not as gooey as Ambra Aurea, which is why I think Ambra Aurea is a better benchmark, but it is more artistic and interesting with its herbal side. Fiore d’Ambre—which has really climbed my list—comes with a similar in that it comes with artistic flair and, even though it is more girlie, is something I prefer more—it’s opium note I find completely captivating.
Ambre Sultan is still one of the most celebrated curl-up-with-a-book ambers ever created, this wildly balsamic fragrance from 1993 moves seamlessly between sweet-warm-smoky-woody-herbal-medicinal tones and transports me to the cozy evergreen forest home of some fairy tale grandmother as she digs through her spice cabinet for more elements to toss into her autumnal potpourri: sandalwood chips, cinnamon sticks, twinned bundles of vanilla and patchouli sprigs all glugging away in a cast-iron cauldron of smokey myrrh, caramelic-fungal opoponax, creamy benzoin, and leathery labdanum melted to near molasses consistency—a burgundy syrup, almost chewy, that never gets cloying given the heavy dose of desiccated herbs and spices pestled into a sweetness-muting mélange in her mortar: nutmeg, all-spice, clove, more cinnamon, and even medicinal bay leaf, citrusy coriander, peppery oregano, musky angelica, and green-aromatic myrtle that balance out the extreme density we see in more streamlined ambers that lack such uplifting elements (for example, Profumum Roma’s more richer and opulent amber: Ambra Aurea) /
the old ambre sultan is dirtier (sexual edge) and longer lasting and smokier and more buttery whereas in new these are stripped back to reveal more green./ new version is lighter and airier like lddm / Ambre sultan is really the shit. / Ambre sultan is honeyed bay rum with sandalwood and resins for fixatives to make it into a fragrance / The bay and oregano give it such a unique camphorous herbaceousness. / Patchouli has an attitude in serge lutens ambre sultan, it reads a bit older both for wearers and in terms of feel than camel / Whereas kiso is a boozy medical sultan is boozy herbs and smoke / Sultan makes me appreciate the uniqueness of Kiso and LDDM, both of which esp latter seems lighter (but this does not mean sultan is thick, for it is not as thick as Ambra Aurea) / Sultan make’s medicinality and unique greens of Kiso stand out, the thickness of the ambra aura and single point focus of amber to stand out, and makes the fruits and animalics of camel stand out, and makes the dustiness (and cumin) of my LDDM stand out ((the question is how does it make my Ambra Russe stand out) (I use sultan as a benchmark in that way, although Aurea is perhaps best for that technically because it is a soloflore) /
Benchmark for amber, perhaps even in the current formulation—although, like I said, Ambra Aurea or even Sultan Pasha’s new spray amber are likely better contenders / definitely a benchmark for spice-rack amber with all the cinnamon alcohols in here and bay leaf and all-spice/ Like amber scents in my collection Ambra Aurea, this scent has a comforting factor that might ease me during music play / if this si cauldron potpourri of a good grandma, laudano nero is the potpourri of a witch (but they do overlap with the basalmic syrup glugging away)—but Laudano is a bit more artistic and brooding and amberwoods-stricken.
I can see how the newer version is thinner and more linear than the old. I will sell my new version even though it does have its own style tha tis not necessarily better or worse. Arabian souks, ancient temples, or desert landscapes—I can see how many get that, but I more so get that fairy tale grandma image / definite curl up with a book scent but not as good as the more enveloping Ambra Aurea. Ambre sultan does not show its age—it seems almost timeless. / This must smell very exotic to cultures that don’t have all the grandma spices (I’d love to experience it that way). Bay rum dusty drydown is crazy good.
MADE FOR YOU AND ME 2: hive Being (Stanzas 2017—part 70)
meth to stay awake to do enough fentanyl to stay well
always the lie that the next trimester you will to stop the drug
hook a caged kid to the needle and she will beg to get fucked
a kid raped so bad thank God he found drugs
the Tibetan monastery has become too touristy once Israeli beauties start flocking there, banging the monks
the grass is greener approach, endlessly hoping around in FOMO as if to avoid some deep despair, spoils the discipline to appreciate what you have
“invest in your wealth” has now become “invest in your interest”— a wise change: unless you find your passion, in wake of AI’s ascendance you will be dashed harder against rocks than what retired people feel
real cowboys do not have the luxury to be racist because it is about a person’s character, his work ethic and word—well beyond idea
where do the lovers stop speaking to the point and start speaking from the wound?
feeling inferior compared to scoured lives curated on social media
local rappers promoting themselves by taping posters to their car doors
torched calories dripping upon those desperate for merely the minimum
when belief in God corrupts what we find intuitively moral, such as when doctrinal duty binds us to justify the goodness of God’s mandate to slaughter the infants of enemy tribes
the same principle that declares borders illegitimate because “we’re all on stolen land” dissolves your property line too
the old lover, old as you, is not the person you remember and so longed to love again
an entity who would subject any finite being to interminable torture is worthy of our worship only for the pragmatic end of ducking the same fate
how much horror seems permitted if there is that God: stoning recalcitrant children
psychedelic initiatory experiences for young adults who think they know it all
intrigued by the neighbor’s moan
surprised to learn how many before-shots were really after-shots
melanoma spots so enlarged because no one was in his life to check his back
