The Cult of Gluttony: Parfums Viktoria Minya HEDONIST

I don't know about you, but I've always been a denizen in the cozy realm of excess. Maybe it's because I'm a Gen-Xer, or perhaps genetics, but I was certainly the result of a perfect storm.

For this group post, I chose the theme of The Seven Deadly Sins for me and my fellow bloggers, which quite honestly, is a topic that's always a lot of fun to meander through. I had to choose Gluttony, which led to the necessity of looking back over my lifetime so far and calculating the damage. Come to think of it, I see a few threads of Vanity to add more color to my story (as if it needs it).

An imaginative, richly nuanced fragrance called Hedonist emerged this year from Parfums Viktoria Minya, a new name on the scene. What makes the scent hedonistic? Well, I don't think it's the scent, exactly. It's where your mind goes once you've drawn it in a few times-- dangerous breaths that self-modify from long and deep to staccato. There is a tenuous balance present at all times, it's like watching a Slinky flip over itself again and again horizontally, and just when you think you've caught the perfect moment of jasmine and orange blossom, the kinetic flow changes; something nutty and rich pokes through and forces you to rethink it all. But the main emotion is always the same: insatiable hunger; a desire for more. The bottle presentation is equally opulent and rich (see below), and even the perfumer herself is an incredibly beautiful woman. So, yes, more of everything! Ripe fruits hint at impending decay, but it's all so sexy and maddening that you must relent-- this is limbo, luxury style. Hedonist has left a strong impression on me, and if I could bathe in it daily, you know that I would. It's sheer magic.

notes list: Rum, bergamot, peach, osmanthus absolute, orange flower absolute, jasmine absolute, tobacco, vanilla, cedarwood, vetiver

Hedonist is available for sale in the US at Luckyscent.com, a 45ml bottle is $195.

 

My attitude and experiences regarding excess in its familiar forms has always tied into the arts and pop culture, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age has long been a favorite icon of debauchery. Here are the ingredients that equal one Joshua Homme:
top notes of scanty inhibitions (if any), excessive talent and intelligence, heart is prone to overindulgence, justified swagger and base notes of self-loathing and self-awareness.
Homme's facile charm cloaks worlds of hurt and sickness, danger and pleasure beneath. It's the kind of truly self-deprecating, vain destructiveness that could only exist for our generation. The will and desire to cast it all into oblivion with copious amounts of whatever-- that's the quandary, the symptom and most definitely the solution.




"I got bruises and hickeys, stitches and scars
Got my own theme music, it plays wherever I are"
-from "Smooth Sailing", off Queens of the Stone Age's newest album, ...Like Clockwork

So how does perfume really tie into all of this? Well, if you're reading this, you probably experience at least some of the same lust and debauched habits with perfume as I do. In my head, when I listen to music and when I enjoy perfume, I lose myself in rapid-fire thoughts that spit out words and images. I try to document them. I try to tell the stories that are born from my comprehension of the art- stories that could not exist without consuming my fill of everything I desire. Maybe sin is part of my DNA, but shame is something I don't entertain. Those are the purest, truest moments of my life, and I treasure them.

Please visit my blogging partners and see how they mash up their perfumes and sins of choice:
Persolaise
Olfactoria's Travels
Fragrant Moments
The Candy Perfume Boy