Miller Harris L'Air de Rien- Dirty, Dirty Girl

When Miller Harris launched L'Air de Rien in 2006, some of the discussion around it was about the muse for its creation, 60s sex icon and singer Jane Birkin. But when the hype dies down and people seem to forget or stop caring about the information in the press releases or the celebrity interviews that accompany such event we are left with the juice.

Does it matter that Jane Birkin did not wear perfume until Lyn Harris created L'Air de Rien for her (funny, I thought she'd smell like what's left of patchouli oil after three days), or that Birkin wanted to smell like old houses, chests of drawers and her brother's (hopefully clean) hair? Is this another case of us buying a perfume because we cannot afford the other luxury item associated with the celebrity, the Hermes Birkin bag? Is any of the above even relevant when trying to assess a fragrance?

I don't know if I can answer any of this. what I do know is that I didn't get to try L'Air de Rien until about a year and a half after its release (another case of so many perfumes, so little free skin). Once I started testing it, I knew I was going to need it. I have a thing for musky skin scents with a hint of a dirty, dirty girl. Rumor has it that there's vanilla and maybe amber in the composition, but for once this is not what my skin and nose are telling me.

I get a lot of dry, polished wood here, quite similar to one of the notes in Chene by Serge Lutens. This part is almost prim, austere and masculine. But the musk makes it a lot more human, cuddly and quite tactile. You'd want to touch the skin that radiates L'Air de Rien.

I've learned that if I spray it, the scent becomes a bit disturbing. It has so much personality I feel haunted. But when I dab it, the perfume melds with my skin and becomes part of me. I have to say, it's a very pleasant sensation.

This clip is of , a duet by Jane Birkin and Beck is cool (and despite what Luca Turin says, her music is worth checking out):

Photo of Jane Birkin from mooninthegutter.blogspot.com

L'Air de Rien ($160 for 100 ml) is available from Luckyscent and Saks 5th Avenue, which is where I bought my bottle, but if you're lucky, FragranceNet sometimes have it in stock and there's always a coupon code available for them. Just Google.

Miller Harris L'Air de Rien- Dirty, Dirty Girl

When Miller Harris launched L'Air de Rien in 2006, some of the discussion around it was about the muse for its creation, 60s sex icon and singer Jane Birkin. But when the hype dies down and people seem to forget or stop caring about the information in the press releases or the celebrity interviews that accompany such event we are left with the juice.

Does it matter that Jane Birkin did not wear perfume until Lyn Harris created L'Air de Rien for her (funny, I thought she'd smell like what's left of patchouli oil after three days), or that Birkin wanted to smell like old houses, chests of drawers and her brother's (hopefully clean) hair? Is this another case of us buying a perfume because we cannot afford the other luxury item associated with the celebrity, the Hermes Birkin bag? Is any of the above even relevant when trying to assess a fragrance?

I don't know if I can answer any of this. what I do know is that I didn't get to try L'Air de Rien until about a year and a half after its release (another case of so many perfumes, so little free skin). Once I started testing it, I knew I was going to need it. I have a thing for musky skin scents with a hint of a dirty, dirty girl. Rumor has it that there's vanilla and maybe amber in the composition, but for once this is not what my skin and nose are telling me.

I get a lot of dry, polished wood here, quite similar to one of the notes in Chene by Serge Lutens. This part is almost prim, austere and masculine. But the musk makes it a lot more human, cuddly and quite tactile. You'd want to touch the skin that radiates L'Air de Rien.

I've learned that if I spray it, the scent becomes a bit disturbing. It has so much personality I feel haunted. But when I dab it, the perfume melds with my skin and becomes part of me. I have to say, it's a very pleasant sensation.

This clip is of , a duet by Jane Birkin and Beck is cool (and despite what Luca Turin says, her music is worth checking out):

Photo of Jane Birkin from mooninthegutter.blogspot.com

L'Air de Rien ($160 for 100 ml) is available from Luckyscent and Saks 5th Avenue, which is where I bought my bottle, but if you're lucky, FragranceNet sometimes have it in stock and there's always a coupon code available for them. Just Google.

Miller Harris L'Air de Rien- Dirty, Dirty Girl

When Miller Harris launched L'Air de Rien in 2006, some of the discussion around it was about the muse for its creation, 60s sex icon and singer Jane Birkin. But when the hype dies down and people seem to forget or stop caring about the information in the press releases or the celebrity interviews that accompany such event we are left with the juice.

Does it matter that Jane Birkin did not wear perfume until Lyn Harris created L'Air de Rien for her (funny, I thought she'd smell like what's left of patchouli oil after three days), or that Birkin wanted to smell like old houses, chests of drawers and her brother's (hopefully clean) hair? Is this another case of us buying a perfume because we cannot afford the other luxury item associated with the celebrity, the Hermes Birkin bag? Is any of the above even relevant when trying to assess a fragrance?

I don't know if I can answer any of this. what I do know is that I didn't get to try L'Air de Rien until about a year and a half after its release (another case of so many perfumes, so little free skin). Once I started testing it, I knew I was going to need it. I have a thing for musky skin scents with a hint of a dirty, dirty girl. Rumor has it that there's vanilla and maybe amber in the composition, but for once this is not what my skin and nose are telling me.

I get a lot of dry, polished wood here, quite similar to one of the notes in Chene by Serge Lutens. This part is almost prim, austere and masculine. But the musk makes it a lot more human, cuddly and quite tactile. You'd want to touch the skin that radiates L'Air de Rien.

I've learned that if I spray it, the scent becomes a bit disturbing. It has so much personality I feel haunted. But when I dab it, the perfume melds with my skin and becomes part of me. I have to say, it's a very pleasant sensation.

This clip is of , a duet by Jane Birkin and Beck is cool (and despite what Luca Turin says, her music is worth checking out):

Photo of Jane Birkin from mooninthegutter.blogspot.com

L'Air de Rien ($160 for 100 ml) is available from Luckyscent and Saks 5th Avenue, which is where I bought my bottle, but if you're lucky, FragranceNet sometimes have it in stock and there's always a coupon code available for them. Just Google.

Guerlain Sous Le Vent

The first whiff of Sous Le Vent by Guerlain is so fiercely chyper it's hard to believe one is experiencing a 2006 re-issue. This androgynous creation smells mossy, classic and very dry.

Originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1933, the same year Vol de Nuit was released, the muse for this scent was Josephine Baker, which in her early career was more of a cabaret dancer (often wearing very little), than a celebrated singer. But even back then, Ms. Baker had an iconic style and a larger than life personality, allowing her to unleash her pet leopard on the orchestra pit to the dismay of the musicians accompanying the performance.

Sous Le Vent is my pet tiger. It starts with a sharp green citrus note with quite a bit of lavender, mellows into an ambiguous spicy floral (I've heard rumors of jasmine, but I get more carnation than anything, with a hint of cinnamon and clove). The scent becomes dusty, earthy and powdery once the iris takes center stage and morphs into the promised oakmoss, which is probably more of an illusion, given the strict regulations on its use.


The current release of Sous Le Vent from 2006 is an EDT. I should try to get my hands on some of the vintage parfum, which in my fantasies is more of a green velvet scent. I dearly wish someone up there at LVMH would consider a heavier concentration. As it is, the scent is very light, especially if you dab from the splash bottle. My solution is to decant into a sprayer and spritz with abandon. When properly saturated with the juice, it lasts for several hours, though it stays close to the skin.

Sous Le Vent is in very limited distribution. You can find it at the Guerlain Champs-Elysees store, Bergdorf and Saks flagship in NYC and a handful of Guerlain boutiques around the world. I bought my bottle last summer in Paris, because after sampling almost every one of the typical sweet gourmands they offer, SLV was a welcome change. Sometimes I think I should have gotten Derby instead, but then I take another hit of this green wonder and all is well.

Images: Josephine Baker- somewhere on the web (sorry, I saved it ages ago). Bottle: mine

Guerlain Sous Le Vent

The first whiff of Sous Le Vent by Guerlain is so fiercely chyper it's hard to believe one is experiencing a 2006 re-issue. This androgynous creation smells mossy, classic and very dry.

Originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1933, the same year Vol de Nuit was released, the muse for this scent was Josephine Baker, which in her early career was more of a cabaret dancer (often wearing very little), than a celebrated singer. But even back then, Ms. Baker had an iconic style and a larger than life personality, allowing her to unleash her pet leopard on the orchestra pit to the dismay of the musicians accompanying the performance.

Sous Le Vent is my pet tiger. It starts with a sharp green citrus note with quite a bit of lavender, mellows into an ambiguous spicy floral (I've heard rumors of jasmine, but I get more carnation than anything, with a hint of cinnamon and clove). The scent becomes dusty, earthy and powdery once the iris takes center stage and morphs into the promised oakmoss, which is probably more of an illusion, given the strict regulations on its use.


The current release of Sous Le Vent from 2006 is an EDT. I should try to get my hands on some of the vintage parfum, which in my fantasies is more of a green velvet scent. I dearly wish someone up there at LVMH would consider a heavier concentration. As it is, the scent is very light, especially if you dab from the splash bottle. My solution is to decant into a sprayer and spritz with abandon. When properly saturated with the juice, it lasts for several hours, though it stays close to the skin.

Sous Le Vent is in very limited distribution. You can find it at the Guerlain Champs-Elysees store, Bergdorf and Saks flagship in NYC and a handful of Guerlain boutiques around the world. I bought my bottle last summer in Paris, because after sampling almost every one of the typical sweet gourmands they offer, SLV was a welcome change. Sometimes I think I should have gotten Derby instead, but then I take another hit of this green wonder and all is well.

Images: Josephine Baker- somewhere on the web (sorry, I saved it ages ago). Bottle: mine

Guerlain Sous Le Vent

The first whiff of Sous Le Vent by Guerlain is so fiercely chyper it's hard to believe one is experiencing a 2006 re-issue. This androgynous creation smells mossy, classic and very dry.

Originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1933, the same year Vol de Nuit was released, the muse for this scent was Josephine Baker, which in her early career was more of a cabaret dancer (often wearing very little), than a celebrated singer. But even back then, Ms. Baker had an iconic style and a larger than life personality, allowing her to unleash her pet leopard on the orchestra pit to the dismay of the musicians accompanying the performance.

Sous Le Vent is my pet tiger. It starts with a sharp green citrus note with quite a bit of lavender, mellows into an ambiguous spicy floral (I've heard rumors of jasmine, but I get more carnation than anything, with a hint of cinnamon and clove). The scent becomes dusty, earthy and powdery once the iris takes center stage and morphs into the promised oakmoss, which is probably more of an illusion, given the strict regulations on its use.


The current release of Sous Le Vent from 2006 is an EDT. I should try to get my hands on some of the vintage parfum, which in my fantasies is more of a green velvet scent. I dearly wish someone up there at LVMH would consider a heavier concentration. As it is, the scent is very light, especially if you dab from the splash bottle. My solution is to decant into a sprayer and spritz with abandon. When properly saturated with the juice, it lasts for several hours, though it stays close to the skin.

Sous Le Vent is in very limited distribution. You can find it at the Guerlain Champs-Elysees store, Bergdorf and Saks flagship in NYC and a handful of Guerlain boutiques around the world. I bought my bottle last summer in Paris, because after sampling almost every one of the typical sweet gourmands they offer, SLV was a welcome change. Sometimes I think I should have gotten Derby instead, but then I take another hit of this green wonder and all is well.

Images: Josephine Baker- somewhere on the web (sorry, I saved it ages ago). Bottle: mine

She's Just That Into Purple

Still talking about the movies, even though not exactly Oscar material: I watched He's Just Not That Into You (and enjoyed it quite a bit. Then again, my street cred must already be gone considering how much I liked Mamma Mia!, and that I've found Pierce Brosnan's attempts at singing to be quite endearing). They put fashion and makeup to a very good use where it came to defining the different characters, but the real star was purple nail polish.

While almost all the women had either a French manicure or a simple clear polish, Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Gigi, had metallic purple nails. If I'm not mistaken, there were two different shades: one lighter and more on the lilac side, the other dark and very purple, maybe with a bit magenta in it.

Purple polish is not the easiest to pull off, especially on skin with yellow or olive undertones. Personally, I'm more into mauve, but you just can't deny how pretty it is- in theory and on Ginnifer's hands. Here are some options for this look:

Essie It's genius (left) and China Doll (right):


Zoya has a great selection of purples with different levels of shimmer. Several of their colors could have easily been the one(s) from He's Just Not That Into You, but I have a soft spot for Juno, though I probably shouldn't wear it:

Different than the purples in the movie (and not entirely wearable for the olive skinned), but interesting and worth mentioning is Purple Rain from the Lippman Collection, originally created for Zac Posen's Spring 2009 collection:

Do you have a favorite very purple polish?

She's Just That Into Purple

Still talking about the movies, even though not exactly Oscar material: I watched He's Just Not That Into You (and enjoyed it quite a bit. Then again, my street cred must already be gone considering how much I liked Mamma Mia!, and that I've found Pierce Brosnan's attempts at singing to be quite endearing). They put fashion and makeup to a very good use where it came to defining the different characters, but the real star was purple nail polish.

While almost all the women had either a French manicure or a simple clear polish, Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Gigi, had metallic purple nails. If I'm not mistaken, there were two different shades: one lighter and more on the lilac side, the other dark and very purple, maybe with a bit magenta in it.

Purple polish is not the easiest to pull off, especially on skin with yellow or olive undertones. Personally, I'm more into mauve, but you just can't deny how pretty it is- in theory and on Ginnifer's hands. Here are some options for this look:

Essie It's genius (left) and China Doll (right):


Zoya has a great selection of purples with different levels of shimmer. Several of their colors could have easily been the one(s) from He's Just Not That Into You, but I have a soft spot for Juno, though I probably shouldn't wear it:

Different than the purples in the movie (and not entirely wearable for the olive skinned), but interesting and worth mentioning is Purple Rain from the Lippman Collection, originally created for Zac Posen's Spring 2009 collection:

Do you have a favorite very purple polish?

She's Just That Into Purple

Still talking about the movies, even though not exactly Oscar material: I watched He's Just Not That Into You (and enjoyed it quite a bit. Then again, my street cred must already be gone considering how much I liked Mamma Mia!, and that I've found Pierce Brosnan's attempts at singing to be quite endearing). They put fashion and makeup to a very good use where it came to defining the different characters, but the real star was purple nail polish.

While almost all the women had either a French manicure or a simple clear polish, Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Gigi, had metallic purple nails. If I'm not mistaken, there were two different shades: one lighter and more on the lilac side, the other dark and very purple, maybe with a bit magenta in it.

Purple polish is not the easiest to pull off, especially on skin with yellow or olive undertones. Personally, I'm more into mauve, but you just can't deny how pretty it is- in theory and on Ginnifer's hands. Here are some options for this look:

Essie It's genius (left) and China Doll (right):


Zoya has a great selection of purples with different levels of shimmer. Several of their colors could have easily been the one(s) from He's Just Not That Into You, but I have a soft spot for Juno, though I probably shouldn't wear it:

Different than the purples in the movie (and not entirely wearable for the olive skinned), but interesting and worth mentioning is Purple Rain from the Lippman Collection, originally created for Zac Posen's Spring 2009 collection:

Do you have a favorite very purple polish?

Oscars 2009 Red Carpet Recap

So what did we have, other than the Tim Gunn alternative on ABC (I will never watch the E! red carpet show ever again)?

Red dresses:



Asymmetric necklines:



Belted dresses:


Godawful dresses:


When it came to hair, the formal updos are back, replacing the messy buns as they ought to for such a glamorous event. Those who opted to let their hair down have done it in long and pretty waves.

My favorite part was the attitude towards makeup. There was no one ruling trend and the stars went for individual looks and let their tastes (or that of their stylist) and their best features make a statement. Queen Latifah was radiant in the nude, natural look while Evan Rachel Wood was all glam. Angelina Jolie was all about her eyes (and earrings) while Tilda Swinton chose a bold red lipstick (I'm not sure that was the best choice ever, but at least she's never boring). Generally speaking, things were quite tasteful on the red carpet last night, and I think we can officially say that the overdone, too dark smoky eye is gone (and not a moment too soon).



All photos: A Socialite's Life

Oscars 2009 Red Carpet Recap

So what did we have, other than the Tim Gunn alternative on ABC (I will never watch the E! red carpet show ever again)?

Red dresses:



Asymmetric necklines:



Belted dresses:


Godawful dresses:


When it came to hair, the formal updos are back, replacing the messy buns as they ought to for such a glamorous event. Those who opted to let their hair down have done it in long and pretty waves.

My favorite part was the attitude towards makeup. There was no one ruling trend and the stars went for individual looks and let their tastes (or that of their stylist) and their best features make a statement. Queen Latifah was radiant in the nude, natural look while Evan Rachel Wood was all glam. Angelina Jolie was all about her eyes (and earrings) while Tilda Swinton chose a bold red lipstick (I'm not sure that was the best choice ever, but at least she's never boring). Generally speaking, things were quite tasteful on the red carpet last night, and I think we can officially say that the overdone, too dark smoky eye is gone (and not a moment too soon).



All photos: A Socialite's Life

Oscars 2009 Red Carpet Recap

So what did we have, other than the Tim Gunn alternative on ABC (I will never watch the E! red carpet show ever again)?

Red dresses:



Asymmetric necklines:



Belted dresses:


Godawful dresses:


When it came to hair, the formal updos are back, replacing the messy buns as they ought to for such a glamorous event. Those who opted to let their hair down have done it in long and pretty waves.

My favorite part was the attitude towards makeup. There was no one ruling trend and the stars went for individual looks and let their tastes (or that of their stylist) and their best features make a statement. Queen Latifah was radiant in the nude, natural look while Evan Rachel Wood was all glam. Angelina Jolie was all about her eyes (and earrings) while Tilda Swinton chose a bold red lipstick (I'm not sure that was the best choice ever, but at least she's never boring). Generally speaking, things were quite tasteful on the red carpet last night, and I think we can officially say that the overdone, too dark smoky eye is gone (and not a moment too soon).



All photos: A Socialite's Life