Miller Harris' Citron Citron

There continue to be signs that I may someday grow up to be an adult.  For instance, it isn't at all unusual for me to find that something I once looked down my nose at has in fact been above my head (a trick of the ego, all done with mirrors).  Like Jeffrey Eugenides, I didn't appreciate Henry James' Portrait of a Lady the first time I read it, in my teens, but in my 30s found its bitter, twisted heart and saw the shimmers on the surface, too.

The same thing happened the other day when I absently dabbed on some of Miller Harris' Citron Citron.  I've had the bottle for years, and always keep it out as it's one of the prettiest I own, but I remember distinctly rolling my eyes at what I considered yet another citrus scent for sissy girls who can't handle perfume for real women.  At the time I was heavy into the orientals, and no fragrance without dark, narcotic weightiness seemed worth my attention.  Sophomoric?  You betcha.  Like a college student who has discovered Sartre and Genet for the first time....

But now I find that the Miller Harris citrus scent has layers of aromatics and woods, including basil, cedarwood and cardamom, rolling like smooth bass notes beneath the sparkly lemon-orange surface (which also hides a dash of bitter lime).  It's not the least bit "pretty," nor even "womanly."  It is, however, extremely ladylike in that vaguely threatening, complex Jamesian sense of the word--every bit like something Isabel Archer would wear.

Comments

[nancy]

Please quit your other jobs and get one writing copy for this perfume, and all other scents aimed at thinking women

[Jackie Danicki]

See, this is why I rarely review perfumes: Hillary just sets the standard so friggin' high.

[Mary]

Wow, count me in the fan club. One of the best perfume reviews I've ever read.