Week 27, 2026

Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jul 06, 2026

What I saw:

A vintage Jontue perfume ad.

I just discovered an old perfume bottle I have that belonged to my grandmother has a little sticker on the bottom that says “Jontue” so I looked up the scent and found some romantic 70s ads that blur the line between corny and dreamy: a frolic through flowers in silk chiffon, a rendezvous with a lover on horseback, etc…now I want to make Sapphic versions for Calyx perfumes.

What I heard:

“The beginning of everything is chaotic.”

⁃ Mervat Nasser (speaking on a philosophy of hope and drawing an analogy to a lotus flower growing in muddy darkness.)

What I smelled:

1996

I’ve had this scent for 5+ years, I wore it for a bit then put it aside and kind of forgot about it. I’m down to a few spritzes but returned to it after completely running through two bottles of Bastille Bataille, which has become a beloved daily scent for me. This shift took me to a completely different energetic space, where Bataille has a refined coolness that balances the warm spice notes, 1996 is all body heat (fitting for the current July weather)…in this now it evokes a hot damp sexiness…it reminds me of the sweat that accumulates under ones breasts on a 90 degree day.

What I tasted:

A late night quesadilla.

I’m typically the friend/sister/lover/mother who makes the meal. The combination of my genuine love of cooking, an intractable control fetish and an inborn orientation to caregiving usually results in me being the one who ends up in the kitchen attempting to materialize an impromptu meal. Because of this, there’s something deeply special about having someone else tenderly flip a greasy tortilla filled with cheese, post tequila infused holiday revelry…just for me.

What I touched:

Different versions of self.

What I wore:

Inappropriate footwear for the terrain…as per usual.

Made a stop at a roadside cemetery and walked around admiring the artificial flower arrangements and solar powered lights while my heels sunk 2 inches into the hallowed ground. Obviously Death Becomes Her was my favorite film as a child.