Eau so macho!

When we wear a fragrance we would like it to reflect our character. I don’t wear make-up except for occasions that happen once in a blue moon---just lipstick and I can face the world, but I don’t feel “dressed” without wearing a scent. Perfume is an everyday accessory I can’t do without. I believe this is pretty common with women. I imagine Cleopatra or an empress in some ancient dynasty used perfume to feel good and sexy, or to seduce their men. And women throughout the ages followed their footsteps. But with men, scent-wearing was not very popular until the modern times. It was even once scorned by many as a menace to masculinity.

Nowadays, fragrance has wormed its way into men’s dressers, and a friend even told me that he uses perfume to make a long lasting impression on women he dates. And I believe he’s been very successful in doing that---the nose knows!:D Although I find his scent a bit too heavy for my taste, his perfume indicates personal style and passion, it speaks of his attitude and defines his own fashion statement.

When I smell men’s fragrances, I recognize the smell of spices, tobacco, sensuous woods, musk, notes of leather and whisky, even old books. But I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I entered the elevator and smelled something new in the air. There was only one passenger and he was male. We stood side by side and I swear, his perfume was floral, and the most feminine flower of all, the rose! It was heady and provocative and elegant! I almost asked the guy what his perfume was, but I was chickenhearted.

So I did some googling while having coffee and learned that rose is taking prominence in men’s fragrance. Paul Smith’s Story has rose at its heart, as does Rose 31 by Le Labo. Les Parfums de Rosine spells it out with its Rose d’Homme, while Tauer has Lonestar Memories---the cowboy on the box reeks of manliness, but the center of the smell is rose. This trend is probably in response to the blending of genders. New fragrances are now not confined within the traditional boundaries of what is masculine and feminine.

Guys, believe it or not---flowers have long played a role in your perfume, but they have not always been flagged up. My favorite men's scent, Dior's Fahrenheit features violet, and one of the 20th century’s classic men fragrances, Eau Sauvage by Dior, features jasmine. Rose is found in ten percent of all men’s quality fragrances, but it’s rare that it has dominated. Now, perfumers believe that creating the perfect rose fragrance for men is the holy grail.

Rose as top notes in men’s scents---I love it! It brings a refreshing new aspect to contemporary men’s personality and challenges the way women look at men. My elevator encounter was a pleasant surprise and yes, memorable. I guess that’s what happens when rules are broken, people stop and take note. Or, in this case, stop and smell the roses.

Unexplained phenomena

Inexplicable things bother me. It’s those random, chronic silly little details, mannerisms, events, accepted but incomprehensible. But no one bothers to explain or ask why. Maybe it’s the mole on my forehead. Maybe it’s from lack of sleep and over-analyzing everything. Maybe I am indeed kooky. But do you ever stop to wonder why some things are and why do we let it grow and fester and the next thing we know, it’s got a life of its own, like some infectious disease. There are things that defy explanation that nags me endlessly. Here’s my current list:

• Why “me” not “I”? I’m sure you got at least one text message like this---“d2 na me wer na u”, or “go lang me sa SM”, “busy lang me” then it mutated and now I actually hear it being said. “Buy lang me sa 7-11”, “paid na me this morning”. Where did this come from? I can’t even say that it shortens a sentence! It’s getting pervasive like the weird adding of the silent H in everything from “ubeh” to “Anahbelle”. My co-worker, Tomas, signs his name as Thom (ewwwww)! Whoever invented this and thought it’s cute, I hope you would grow a huge boil in your armpits. Meanwhile, cry na lang me! :(

• The white supremacy. Whitening products are all over the place. Look at the billboards with women showing off their white, flawless armpits. And Juday on TV, proud of her white elbows, knees, back, and face. Another set of celebs telling us that nothing touch their [fair, white] skin but Belo! With the deluge of whitening products to whiten the face, body, armpits, even food supplements we should have erased the brown race by now. My neighbor who used to be a morena has now a delicate pinkish white complexion that looks like the underbelly of a fish. I see women in the streets with white/reddish faces---like they were skinned and left to burn under the noontime sun; weird thing is, their necks are brown! Aside from papaya soap, does eating achara could turn our skin white, too?

• The photo menace: the V for sungay! While the Nazi had the Hitler salute, the Japanese have the trademark “peace sign” in every photo op, we have the devil’s horn by the way of the V sign. I can’t explain it or why I even do it occasionally. An American friend once asked me what it meant…I just said that maybe it’s from a need to pass blame and say---the devil made me do it and look, HERE HE IS! V sign and click!

• Naked men in webcams. I can’t explain why there are men who invite you to view their webcams and there he is in all his naked glory! Their profiles are also filled with their naked or half-naked photos. What did you eat to make you think it’s sexy? Jessica Zafra was right when she said it on her radio show that when men see a naked woman, they become silent. But when women see a naked man, they laugh! Totoo nga! Unless you’re a male underwear model, please keep your clothes on. Maawa ka sa makaka-view sa ‘yo! Sorry, boys!

• The flock that go to the women’s toilet. Often discussed but even as a woman, I can’t explain it myself why anytime, anywhere, anyplace, if one goes, all the ladies have to go too. Why is that? They say we gossip about the men left behind but isn’t it a better strategy to let one stay behind to listen in to what they say about us?

There is a great deal of unexplained phenomena from “why do men have nipples?” to “why are there still people who believe Erap is innocent of plunder?” I must share though, one mind boggling thing that drives all those around me bonkers: why I have closets full of clothes and yet, claim to have nothing to wear? I know. It baffles me, too.