UPS Delivered My Poup'ee

Ooooh! I'm so happy! My Poup'ee is here! I'm just waiting for the day when someone comes up to me and says, "My, that is an intriguing scent you're wearing. What, praytell, is it?" and I can bat my eyes coquettishly and reply, "Oh, tee hee, it's Poup'ee."*

It helps that I like the scent, too. I got one of those little tester bottle tubey sample things last year when I was getting some lipstick at the Sana'a Trade Center (one of the only places in Yemen where you can actually get cosmetics that won't make your face rot and fall off) and fell in love with the name and the smell. But I'm lazy so it's taken me until now to actually get the stuff.

In the box they also included even more free samples (well, two of them anyway). I'm not quite as taken by these, but they are a bit intriguing in a strange sort of way. "Cigar" by Remy Latour doesn't really bring to mind any cigar experiences I've ever had. It does have a peppermint-lemon-floor-polish quality to it though, which I'm sure appeals to someone**.

The other is "Network" by Lomani. At first whiff it made me think of computers and BO, but at second whiff it grew on me. I wouldn't bathe in it certainly, but it's better than Kathmandu. And the description amuses me:

Une Eau de Toilette jeune et moderne pour tous ceux qui voient le monde sans barrieres ni frontieres. Parfum du present, parfum du futur, Network, le parfum qui rapproche***.

So, as I was experimenting with all of these fragrances and depositing them in my bathroom I found my other perfumes. Bellagio is still my all time favorite scent, which is a good thing because I have enough of that stuff to last until my grandchildren die.

And I found Eden, my horrific mistake of a purchase at the duty free in the Naples airport. I liked the bottle and the box and the name. I was in a hurry and I forgot to make sure the scent was pleasant. See, I had been sick and quite stoned (probably a little drunk, too) and hadn't realized that my armpits smelled like a used camel's ass. By the time I did realize it, my deodorant was in my checked baggage and I was horrified to think that I would be imposing such a thing on my fellow passengers (not to mention the friend that was picking me up in Berlin). If you've ever tried to buy deodorant in an Italian airport you know that it is impossible so I headed to the perfume section. Instead of subjecting my fellow passengers to used camel ass, I subjected them to the cotton-candy-roach-spray that is Eden. Honestly, I'm not sure which was worse. No one died though, so that's good.

*That's not entirely accurate. If someone really said that to me, I'd call them a jackass, smack them, and skip merrily away

**Someone I hope I'm never stuck with in an elevator

***Yes, I still hate the French language, that doesn't mean it can't amuse me