B. Boop Gets Ready for School ...

And she just received a Back to School package from my Rocky Mountain friend, Clearing.

C sent a themed package, not just of fragrance but of her three daughters' artwork (this package featured a complete hand-created Betty Boop Goes Back to School paper doll collection, including a cutout Bucky on a leash and a poodle skirt ensemble for Betty. Also enclosed was a wonderful hand-drawn cartoon sequence of a little bird taking off for school far away ... the best part was the bird hotel she stayed at mid-way. p.s.: the bird made an A+ in school. Excellent.).

The autumnal theme continued with individually wrapped, plaid-ribbon tied surprises (creams and vials and ...) accessorized with pressed autumn leaves. Plus neatly wrapped packages of home-made gingersnaps.

So: C is pretty much a renaissance woman who I would have to dislike (out of sheer envy) if I didn't love her so much.

I've talked a lot about C's fragrances on the blog, because I think she is that rare perfumista: a nose in her own right. Many are called, few are chosen ... and she has true skill.

I've only witnessed her creative process by email proxy, but I've "seen" her labor over each of her scents, taking weeks to develop a fragrance, using fifteen or more individual oils to achieve her base scents and then calibrating them through to the EDT or EDP stage.

They aren't commercial and she is adamant that they not be, sometimes to the tune of my gnashing teeth. She refuses to self-promote, and barely lets me talk about what she does. She'll never play the politics of perfumery, it just isn't in her.

Just know that if and when she ever decides to approach this as a commercial endeavor, after she dies a thousand deaths over every bottle she lets go of, that person will own a jewel. The product of her labor is so personal, so much a carefully crafted extension of who she is.

And who is she? One of the most accomplished women I've ever known. Thanks for the back to school present, C (and please thank the girls, too).