As I mentioned in my opening post, this blog was largely prompted by my partner's total lack of interest in perfume, and my wish to find an outlet for my musings on the subject. Along with 40% of British men, he uses no form of scent, moisturiser or other male grooming product except for soap and anti-perspirant, and falls into the category of "retrosexual"(!) according to a recent research survey by Mintel. Before learning of this amusing label, I had come up with my own classification of his fragrance leanings as "Palmolive/industrial". So imagine my delight when I walked into the living room last night to be greeted by the comment: "Whatever you have got on today doesn't smell like 'craft shop' - in fact it's okay, actually - like an expensive soap." I approached and proffered my wrist for him to smell - I was wearing Poussiere de Rose by Les Parfums de Rosine. "Ugh!" he exclaimed, recoiling. "That's not what I smelt - that's horrible." After a bemused pause, I remembered that I had just been to the bathroom and washed my hands. "Could it possibly be the soap I used to wash my hands that you are smelling?" I inquired, crestfallen, as I extended three fingers in his direction. He took a sniff. "Yes, that's it! Nice. Like I say, expensive soap."
Well, well, Heyland & Whittle Tea Tree is the surprise soapy interloper than won my partner over. He doesn't want me to smell of feminine roses, or heady jasmine or sultry tuberose - no, he likes his woman to smell of tea tree oil. Which explains a lot...
4 comments:
How curious. But if I remember correctly, a certain British Palmolive retrosexual also loves Rose Kashmiri on his woman: all hail roses with edible spices! Men will be men.
My DH loves soaps as well. Creamy and higher end stuff are his favorite: cue Roger & Gallet Lettuce Leaf shower gel. However, with all my fanatical fragrantisisms (it is a word) over the last year, he's begun to enjoy scents of his own....to my delight!
I don't believe it was Rose Kashmirie he liked - indeed I am pretty sure that made him sneeze! He did once say that SJP Lovely was better than the things I normally put on, but only because he could barely smell it. Anosmic to certain gauges of musk molecule is my working theory).
I love Roger & Gallet Sandalwood soap, though Lettuce Leaf sounds nice. That would be the very thing to wash my fried's tortoises in... And am very happy that you have a "metrosexual" man who is fully groomed!
Fully groomed, definitely, metrosexual, definitely not!
As for your partner, I was certain there was something involving neck snuggling and Kashmiri....could it have been Scandal or Jasmin Noir???
Ah yes, I see now that there is a nuance of narcissism with metrosexual, which I wasn't aware of and which I didn't mean at all in relation to your man!
Sadly, I recall no neck snuggling with my other half - he has to steel himself even to sniff my wrists for fear of what he might encounter. A neck sniff would be a very high risk venture for him.
Post a Comment