Thursday Notes on Beautiful Things

• Whether you're fascinated by beautiful things, all things French or all things perfume, Life in Paris (link right) will interest you ...
• Searching for a poem to do the photo justice, I found this, by Ezra Pound. Again proving that art transcends the artist:

The jewelled steps are already quite white with dew,

It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stockings,

And I let down the crystal curtain

And watch the moon through the clear autumn.

The Jewel Stairs' Grievance

Today's fragrance: because I wish for fall (be careful what you wish), Serge Lutens' Chergui with notes (thank you, bela) including honey musk, leather, incense, tobacco leaf, hay sugar, amber, iris, rose and sandalwood. From experience I know this will evolve over an hour but smoky sweetness is my first impression. An hour into it, the rose and sandalwood come forward. Beautiful.

Two hours into it, I contrast it with Caron's Tabac Blond: the Caron is dry, dry, dry compared to Chergui -- and comparatively bitter. Odd that I didn't get that bitterness when I wasn't comparing them. For me, the Chergui is preferable.