I like pink. It’s one of the most intriguing and unpredictable colors–cheerful and aggressive, uplifting and alluring, delicate and tawdry. Pink in its pale, ballet slipper manifestations can seem precious and dainty, but saturate it–or contrast it–and the effect becomes much more subversive. Move anywhere outside central Europe, and pink’s reputation for girlishness and frivolity begins to appear less certain. Already in southern Spain and Italy the simple coquetry of this shade turns seductive and smoldering–in the hot pink of the matador’s cape and flamenco skirts, the Sicilian church frescoes and the intensity of bougainvillea against the chipped white stucco of Moorish palaces. Forget about pink being just for debutantes when in India; real Indian men wear pink. The intense tropical sun bleaches pastels to nothingness, but pink holds its own, forcefully.
The monochrome January palette needs an infusion of brightness, so my interest in things rose and fuchsia colored is correlated with the length of winter. This is probably why by the time spring arrives and the beauty magazines insist on pastels, I instead turn to greys and ambers. Pink can find its many expressions, in perfume, blush, lipstick, and it need not be only about roses.
Consider Frédéric Malle Geranium Pour Monsieur. The polished woods and musk would give it a sober air of an Oxford don, if it weren’t for a vivid geranium boutonniere. It’s bright and dramatic, an interplay between geranium’s green metallic and velvety floral notes. Pour Monsieur uses a particularly intense geranium essence, and I see it as shocking pink, nothing delicate about it.
One of my winter standbys is Hermès Rose Ikebana. This is the type of perfume that smells uninspired during the summer, just another fresh cologne that evaporates within minutes from hot, sweaty skin. In the cold months, however, weighted down by layers of wool, it gives me a few hours of roses soaked in grapefruit juice. The pungent, bitter citrus makes a big difference in what otherwise would have been another fruit rose.
Comme des Garçons Palisander is my Indian pink fragrance, if you will. Created as part of Rei Kawakubo’s Red Series (also featured Rose, Carnation, and Harissa), Palisander is a play on a rosewood theme with a dose of sweet spices and saffron. It open on the hot intensity of clove and cinnamon before mellowing to the warmth of resins and woods.
Cartier Baiser Volé smells either delicate pink (Eau de Toilete), true pink (Eau de Parfum) or shocking pink (Essence), and I like all three. But since they’re too close enough to keep all variations on hand, I’m content with the Eau de Parfum. It’s a lipstick smeared lily that has both the intensity of a white floral and the richness of a classical oriental.
L’Artisan La Chasse Aux Papillon is a charmer. What makes me classify it as pink is not the presence of berries or roses, but rather a certain lighthearted personality. It’s the frothy tulle and macarons in a bottle, a happy, smiling perfume. The flowers (jasmine, tuberose, linden) are in soft focus, the citrus is sweet and the musk is plush. But if that’s too precious, I have two other bolder pink L’Artisans on hand: Voleur de Roses (dark and husky) and Traversée du Bosphore (sweet and sultry).
If I were to select a pink with a seduction factor, I’d go for Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces. It smells like a candlelit boudoir strewn with roses. There is also leather and rice powder somewhat in that frame. Slightly odd and not entirely well-behaved but memorable.
When it comes to pink I smear on my face, few things are as satisfying as creams, in lipsticks or blushes, especially since there are now many new interesting formulations. For instance, Yves Saint Laurent Crème de Blush looks like thick fudge in the pot, but it has a lightweight texture and goes from cream to a powder finish. The scent is a watery floral, not strong enough to be noticeable. I have #7, a matte rose petal pink.
Another new product is by Terry Hyaluronic Blush, a watery gel that gives an intense stain. It can be blended to tone down the effect, but if you have darker skin and aren’t satisfied with the wan hues of many cream blushes, by Terry is a good option. My choice is #3 Bubble Glow, a hot pink shade with an orange nuance. Despite the description, it’s versatile, and it doubles as a lip stain. The scent is a surprise, a sophisticated ambery oriental that smells more expensive than some of by Terry’s perfumes. On cheeks, it’s not noticeable.
Becca Beach Tints have been around for a while, but the collection always evolves. Right now I have Guava (pink with a generous dose of peach) and Grapefruit (peach with some pink). Out of the two, Guava is my favorite for the luminous but shimmer-free effect and the subtle color that can bridge both the cool and warm tones–despite an occasional impulse, I don’t deck myself in pink head to toe. The downside is a strong odor, candy-like for Guava and citrusy for Grapefruit.
I like glossy finishes on lips, but I don’t like anything tacky or heavy. This is where Dior Addict Fluid Sticks come in. They have gel-like textures and intense colors. 575 is my current favorite, the color of Sicilian blood oranges and prickly pear jam. A cloying crème brûlée scent fades within minutes, but the color lasts through my numerous cups of tea.
Finally, Clinique Chubby Stick in 07 Super Strawberry is what I’d call a staple. It’s a classical rose pink grounded with warm tones. Simple but pretty as only pink can be.
And of course, please share your pink favorites!
Photography by Bois de Jasmin
171 Comments
Nick: About Geranium Pour Monsieur, you are spot on with the particularly intense essence. It makes me think of the time when I crushed a whole pot of geranium. A towering figure.
Personally, I prefer geranium a little less pungent and blended in damask rose in Égoïste. January 15, 2016 at 8:24am
Victoria: Usually I also prefer geranium to be more of a subtle accent, but Geranium Pour Monsieur uses such a great quality geranium that it’s irresistible. But you’re right, geranium is perfect with roses, especially since they share some aroma-molecules in common. It’s one of the classical notes in masculine perfumery, but depends how it’s used it can appear as either sharp or velvety. January 15, 2016 at 10:24am
Tamara: I thought I was the only one who liked Rose Ikebana better in the winter. January 15, 2016 at 8:36am
Victoria: And it’s always good to mix things up. January 15, 2016 at 10:26am
Tamara: If I think “pink,” I think Annick Goutal Quel Amour. MAC Chatterbox is my Pink lipstick but it looks better if I have some tan. Fun post! January 15, 2016 at 8:38am
Victoria: Quel Amour is a great “pink” perfume, and it’s not as simple and cute as it appears at first, because it’s also loaded with lots of geranium. It’s pink with an edge. January 15, 2016 at 10:29am
Joan: Pink is a happy color. I usually wear pink on my lips because it’s less demanding than red and more flattering on me. Right now I’m loving Estee Lauder Infamous and Maybelline Carnation. January 15, 2016 at 8:53am
Victoria: My favorite pinks for lips are on a darker side, because anything too pale washes me out. But I see exactly what you mean about pink being less demanding. If you wear red, you really have to make sure that your skin looks flawless, otherwise, any red spots or blotches are magnified. January 15, 2016 at 10:33am
Sandra: I happen to love pink as well! This article makes me want to dig out my pink sweater.
When I look at my tiny perfume wardrobe I think Petit Guerlain would maybe be a pink type fragrance. On the sweeter side, Angelique Noire is my soft, romantic, pink like perfume. Especially the opening. Shalimar Initial for its pink like color.
For blush, Rose Petal by Chanel is a great pinky rose. The smell of the blush is divine.
Lips I love Pudgy Peony a bright pink from Clinique chubby stick, a pale almost nude pink Cecile Rouge Coco. Chanel also makes a nice lip pallet with pinks Harmonie Levres, I think its discontinued though. For a berry pink Emotion rouge coco shine. January 15, 2016 at 9:00am
Joan: I love Pudgy Peony! January 15, 2016 at 9:12am
Sandra: Me too. Such a great happy pink color! January 15, 2016 at 9:19am
Victoria: I swiped it on my hand earlier today, and I liked it very much. Bright but sheer. January 15, 2016 at 10:43am
Victoria: Is Rose Petal in their cream or powder blush collection? In general, I really like Chanel’s blushes, because the colors are nuanced and can be layered easily.
Petit Guerlain is such a clever cologne, and the combination of milky nuttiness and mimosa is memorable. I only wish it were more saturated, as it were, but perhaps, it wouldn’t have the same delicacy then. January 15, 2016 at 10:38am
Sandra: The blush is in their powder collection.
I tried one of their cream blushes but it didn’t work for me.
I agree, its good for layering. Do you have of their powder blushes that is your favorite? January 15, 2016 at 11:36am
Victoria: I have Orchid Rose (dusty pink) and Frivole (orange pink). Orchid Rose looks kind of dull in the pan, but it’s a great color, with enough versatility to play up cool or warm shades in a makeup look. The only thing is that it has some shimmer. Frivole is satiny but not so obviously shimmery. January 15, 2016 at 11:43am
Sandra: I will give those a try the next time I visit the store. Thanks for your suggestions! January 15, 2016 at 11:59am
Mary: I own La Chasse and Putain and love them both, although they are as different as two pinks can be: one is light and playful, whereas the other has a considerable sexy heft. I also have a couple of pink Chubby Sticks, one fuchsia and the more of a baby pink. You can see I’m a woman of contrasts! I like pink in small doses but my only pink garment is a 25 year old thick sweater which I get out when it’s really cold. That is, not yet this year. January 15, 2016 at 9:15am
Victoria: One of my most complimented dresses is a hot pink, Schiaparelli pink shift. The shape is very simple, almost austere, but the color is so bold and dramatic. I don’t own many pink clothes, but I love fuchsia accessories–scarves, jewelry, etc. January 15, 2016 at 10:41am
Bonnie: I’m a sucker for Pink Sugar. I love to spray it at night so I sleep in a cloud of calorie-free confectionary. It’s a very comforting scent in winter, and Pink Sugar never hurts my skin the way that many other fragrances do – it’s pure pink gentleness. January 15, 2016 at 9:17am
Victoria: Yes, so comforting and fun! January 15, 2016 at 10:42am
LaDomna: I have a hard time with pink. Never really liked it… mostly because it feels like too feminine a color for me I guess. I’m just not a girly girl, or a feminine sort of woman. But there are some exceptions. I like dirty pink shades, the dusty pinks or carnal pinks, all the impure pinks!
Slumberhouse Sådanne isn’t a favorite of mine but I do enjoy it, and it is a great example of how my color preferences carry over into fragrance… The juice is a dirty pink color and it smells dirty too, in just the right way! Strawberry wine and roses with an animalic edge! January 15, 2016 at 9:41am
Victoria: When I was growing up girls were not automatically dressed in pink–kids wore the same colors, and there was nothing particularly gendered about this shade. It just seemed fun and uplifting.
Your description of Sadanne as strawberry wine and roses with an animalic edge is terrific, and it got my attention. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 10:45am
Marco: Real men aren’t afraid of pink. 🙂
P.S. Need to try Geranium Pour Monsieur. January 15, 2016 at 10:20am
Victoria: They sure aren’t. I remember shopping for some clothes with my husband in Mumbai and the sales people kept offering him shirts in various shades of pink. He asked for something “more masculine” and they were totally confused as to what he wanted. January 15, 2016 at 10:50am
Patricia: I love it when my husband wears his pink button-down shirt! January 15, 2016 at 12:02pm
bregje: In general i agree ;).
But here in Holland some healthy blond boys wearing pink remind me of Piglet for some reason.
But i guess that’s true for everyone:you have to pick the right tone for your complexion.
Personally i like pink more on men with dark hair or skin. January 15, 2016 at 7:24pm
Rebecca: I have a weakness for Brousseau Ombre Rose. I know that it is not universally admired (Turin is brutal, or course) but it makes me like a pampered 1950s startlet… what I might imagine Marilyn Monroe wearing if I didn’t know she wore Nº 5. January 15, 2016 at 10:24am
Victoria: Well, it’s a perfume legend for a reason. I find it too powdery on skin, but the way it’s construction is so interesting, and yes, it does evoke a very vivid image of retro glamour. January 15, 2016 at 10:51am
Patricia: I love pink, too! Just minutes before reading your article, feeling desperate thinking about spending yet another winter in my black puffer coat, I ordered a pale pink winter coat. It’s not practical, and I don’t care!
My favorite pink lipstick is Clinique Pop Lip Colour in Sweet Pop, blush is Urban Decay Afterglow in the color Fetish, and nail polish is Zoya in the color Mia. One of my favorite “pink” perfumes is Sarah Jessica Parker’s Lovely. January 15, 2016 at 10:27am
Victoria: Practical is overrated at times, and one of my favorite coats is a beige A-line. I also bought a bright purple coat during the winter sales.
You’re reminded me of one of my favorite nailpolishes, Chanel Fracas which is a hot pink. I rarely wear nailpolish on my fingers, since I work with my hands so much, but when I do, it’s an instant boost. January 15, 2016 at 10:54am
Patricia: I feel naked without nail polish, but stick to nude and light pink shades so the chips don’t show as much. Also, I do my own and am not clever enough to do a red nail without getting the polish everywhere! January 15, 2016 at 11:23am
Victoria: Granted my attempts at bright colors look clumsy, but I still try. I don’t get my nails done, since I end up with bleeding fingers afterwards, and the shape I can do myself. So, it seems like a waste of time to go to a salon just to get my nails painted. January 15, 2016 at 11:27am
kpaint: A pale pink coat sounds perfectly practical to me – at least with my winter wardrobe that’s dominated by grey, black, ivory and camel. I remember fashion magazines making a big to-do about designers putting out winter coats in pastels last year. It was a bit jarring at first since pastels are so associated with spring, but it seems like a nice alternative.
Every year I look for a wool coat in bright kelly green, but no luck thus far. January 21, 2016 at 6:27pm
spe: Your experience with Rose Ikebana being longer lasting in the winter was my experience with Bel Respiro yesterday. I couldn’t believe it!
Most of the perfumes on your pink list have been in my possession and given away or sold. Perhaps I’m through my pink phase?! Well, maybe not. I still have Lipstick Rose.
Lipstick-wise, I use sparkling pink (d/c) from Mercier and Indian Rose from Tom Ford. Love pink lipstick! I’ve never been a blush fan as I have mild rosacea. January 15, 2016 at 10:31am
Victoria: I was thinking of Lipstick Rose for my list, but then I realized that I see it not as a pink but as a poppy red. Either way, it’s a brilliant perfume and an ideal choice whenever you need a splash of something bright and dramatic. January 15, 2016 at 10:56am
Briony hey: I try to stop myself loving pink – it’s all those girlie connotations I fight against – but I can’t help myself. Bright pink is such a happy colour. My all-time favourite shade is the really pale almost ballerina one with that pale grey hue that makes it all wistful and nostalgic. I’ve been trying to think of a perfume that encapsulates that but they’re either too pretty (Drole de Rose) or too assertive (Agent Provocateur/ Lyric). January 15, 2016 at 10:35am
Victoria: The conventional division of pink for girls and blue for boys gets on my nerves, I admit, but pink is a great color. Moreover, there are so many different available, and the way you pair it can tone down the sweetness that some shades of pink have. Of course, it’s less of an issue for perfume or makeup.
I realized looking at my ballet paraphernalia the other day that a classical ballet slipper shade is actually a flesh-toned peach, rather than true pink. I think that it’s the color you’re talking about, and yes, I also see it as wistful, even slightly melancholy. One perfume that captures that feeling is Guerlain Apres L’Ondee. January 15, 2016 at 11:05am
Briony hey: Yes I, too, think of it as melancholy, and you’re absolutely right about Apres L’Ondee – one of my all-time favourite scents. January 15, 2016 at 11:09am
Victoria: Or another one, very closely related to Apres L’Ondee, Frederic Malle L’Eau d’Hiver. January 15, 2016 at 11:15am
Briony hey: I’d love to be able to smell that one properly again. I’ve managed to become anosmic to some ingredient or other in it and now I can hardly smell it. So annoying because I remember really liking it years ago. January 15, 2016 at 11:20am
Victoria: I don’t think it’s you. It’s the reformulation. They’ve changed the formula a couple of years ago, and it hasn’t quite been the same. Perhaps, it was at a another time, but I only noticed it a couple of years ago. It’s still a good perfume, but I also notice differences. January 15, 2016 at 11:22am
Briony hey: I never thought of that – thank you! January 15, 2016 at 11:25am
Victoria: Oh wait, one more melancholy peach–Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan. I wonder what you think of it and whether it also conjures up the same shade for you. January 15, 2016 at 11:28am
Briony hey: Yes – Osmanthe Yunnan – another of my absolute favourites. I’m nearly out of my 15ml travel spray and deciding whether I need a full bottle. I love that one so much! January 15, 2016 at 11:33am
Briony hey: To my mind Osmanthe Yunnan is perfect for that peachy shade of pink. January 15, 2016 at 11:35am
Victoria: I see a new list in the making. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 11:38am
AnnieA: Briony, what about Bas de Soie for agreed pink? January 15, 2016 at 11:07am
AnnieA: Bloody auto correct. “Greyed”. January 15, 2016 at 11:09am
Victoria: For some reason, my auto-correct keeps changing “pink” to “punk.” 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 11:12am
Floramac: Pink punk! Many years ago, I Had a student with flame-colored hair and milk-white skin who used to wear ripped jeans with hot hot-pink, shiny Lycra tights and leotard showing through. January 15, 2016 at 12:52pm
Victoria: Now that’s a statement look! January 15, 2016 at 2:30pm
spe: Love that! More fun, warmer (and classier) than bare skin showing. Thank you for the idea! January 15, 2016 at 3:16pm
bregje: That takes me back…
In my grunge-days i once dyed my hair Elmo-pink,lol.
Never again. January 15, 2016 at 7:18pm
Briony hey: I must try Bas de Soie again. I wasn’t too keen on it when it first came out but I can’t remember why. Iris is my favourite note so it should be right up my alley. January 15, 2016 at 11:13am
Phyllis Iervello: I am not sure if they still make it, but I also like Nanaberry Pink. January 15, 2016 at 11:00am
Victoria: They also had Green and Bronze, I believe. January 15, 2016 at 11:06am
Phyllis Iervello: Yes, you are correct. They had three perfumes to my knowledge–the pink, green and bronze. January 15, 2016 at 12:55pm
Phyllis Iervello: Oops, it’s Nanadaberry I think. January 15, 2016 at 11:01am
Phyllis Iervello: Second oops…it’s Nanadebary! January 15, 2016 at 11:02am
Victoria: I just looked it up, and yes, it’s still made. Luckyscent carries the brand. January 15, 2016 at 11:07am
kayliz: Lovely lush topic! You’ve made me want to try out Rose Ikebana again — it hadn’t occurred to me to try it in winter. I’m sure I have a sample at home…
Now the cold has finally arrived, I’m craving Chinatown. Somhow deep /and/ shocking:) January 15, 2016 at 11:23am
Victoria: Peaches and incense–such a decadent combination! 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 11:29am
Austenfan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9iYvSztyHs
Contains an interesting little titbit about the use of blue and pink. January 15, 2016 at 11:28am
Victoria: This is really interesting! I knew that in the 19th century pink was considered the most appropriate color for boys and blue for girls, since blue was seen as the most delicate of the two (and the color of the Virgin Mary), but I didn’t realize that the distinction persisted well into the 20th century. And the part about all children, boys or girls, being called girls is fascinating too.
But this also explains why I never considered pink to be such a froufrou and feminine color. It was just not treated as such when I was growing up. Most of the baby things were pale green, as I recall, with no gender division. January 15, 2016 at 11:36am
Austenfan: Well I don’t remember what it was like when I grew up. I happen to love pink, and I think it suits me. However, I don’t like the ‘pink’ sections in shops designated for girls.
This is actually one of QI’s better episodes, just after this fragment there is a very funny part where Sandi and Jack share some banter, topped off with Stephen being very funny. January 15, 2016 at 11:46am
Victoria: I don’t like the all pink sections for girls either, but I also don’t like toys marketed to girls. A friend in NY wanted to buy Lego for her daughter and was tartly informed that it’s “not for girls.” Utter insanity. January 15, 2016 at 11:57am
Austenfan: It just might make them grow a a mustache! January 15, 2016 at 11:59am
Victoria: Here is an interesting article on this topic:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/22/gendered-toys-stereotypes-boy-girl-segregation-equality January 15, 2016 at 12:05pm
Austenfan: I’ll read this later, just glanced at it. A book I read in part, a couple of years ago, is ‘Delusions of Gender’. Might be interest as well. January 15, 2016 at 12:33pm
Ioanna: Despite a persistent belief in “blank slatism” and that gendered preferences are “culturally constructed”, there are innate differences in preferences for toys and color between the sexes, which can even be observed in young infants and primates. For example, female primates display a distinct preference for pinkish tones, which offers a road to figuring out pink shifted so strongly towards girls, despite being culturally geared towards boys. Lego was actually conceptualized and marketed for many years as an entirely unisex toy, but boys showed an overwhelming preference for it, and the company responded accordingly. Little surprise seeing as large and replicated studies show that males and male primates are far more drawn to building and disassembling things, including in very young play. The weak counter-argument to this is that there are exceptions, and that gender preferences exist on a spectrum. Well, of course there is a spectrum, one you would observe with any living dimorphic organism. We are different sexes, not different species. As for gender exceptions, as with everything else, outliers serve to confirm the norm.
Anyway, Chloe EdP from 2008 reminds me of pale pink tones, both because of the fragrance and the beautiful peachy pink color of its box. Givenchy Hot Couture (before reformulation) reminds me of brighter, richer pinks – it’s the raspberry liqueur note, I think. I’m also a big fan of Clinique Super Strawberry, only wish it lasted longer. All of my lip and cheek colors are pretty much pink tones with a touch of berry, plum, or mauve. Straight-up pink is surprisingly difficult on my skin, but I love it in clothing and home decor. The second sentence of this article describes pink so well, it’s a color that can shift so easily from beautiful to cloying in the wrong tones and doses. January 15, 2016 at 1:34pm
Victoria: Of course, preferences in primates aren’t the same thing as preferences in humans, and there are numerous strong studies against the “innate preferences” argument. But that’s not even the point. My argument is not that girls shouldn’t be dressed in pink or not allowed to play with dolls but that the choices shouldn’t resisted from the outset. I, as did other girls I knew, adored playing with Lego and those kind of assembly toys were our favorites.
Some pink tones are very difficult for me as well, especially close to my face, but anything with berry or plum is the opposite–those are some of my favorites. I was also thinking of Givenchy Hot Couture, but then I reconsidered. The change made it too cloying, and I haven’t been able to wear it since. I’m not even sure if it’s made anymore, since I haven’t seen it in stores lately. January 15, 2016 at 2:26pm
Ioanna: Of course primatology is extremely relevant to the study of human behavior! In fact, if someone who studies sex and gender behavior for a living doesnt have a strong knowledge of evolutionary biology, they are missing crucial information and their work will suffer for it. That is inarguable. What recent studies against innate gender preferences are you referencing? In my experience, such studies tend to have a strong confirmation bias and ideological bent, obsufucating and misrepresenting empirical data (see Cordelia Fine), especially any study covered heavily in the media, as in a recent, widely reported study purportedly showing minimal cognitive differences. http://www.wiringthebrain.com/2016/01/sex-on-brain-tale-of-two-studies.html
As to your point, I was responding to your citation of Guardian article that conveys the umempirical belief that different gender preferences are culturally constructed rather than largely innate. I’ve no doubt there are girls who enjoy Lego and other assembly toys, and boys who love dolls and playing house, and I sincerely hope parents cater to their interests rather than resist them. But it doesn’t make economic sense to ungender the marketing of toys, as many instances have proven, including the failure of unisex Lego marketing. Nor does it make sense to encourage unisex play, as many such failing experiments in schools and even school systems (ex. Sweden) are now showing. January 15, 2016 at 3:23pm
Victoria: Well, experiences do change our brains, and exposure to different things is always a good idea. (Incidentally Lego’s problems started when it began to gender its toys in the 90s. Until then it was gender neutral, not just in toys but also in its marketing and advertising.) January 15, 2016 at 4:31pm
bregje: I used to love playing with Lego too!
And i always preferred blue when i was little (until i started ballet 😉 )
So did my best friend and my sister in law.
I think it has a lot to do with what you are exposed to.
My friend’s daughter for instance used to wear a lot of pink(mainly because people give you pink things when you give birth to a girl) but since she became a fan of Elsa from Frozen(like every little girl on the planet 😉 ) she’s all about blue.
I don’t think genders are neutral but there’s still a lot questions regarding nurture or nature.
I’d rather give my children the option to choose whatever they’d like to explore and not give them the message that they have to be a certain way because of their sex whether that makes economic sense or not.
My brother and his wife chose not to know the sex of their baby before it was born.This made it nearly impossible to find clothes etc because everything is divided into boys and girls these days.
Another friend was told she’d have a girl,but it turned out to be a boy!So he has a pink bedroom and so far it doesn’t seem to be a problem.
(although we did have a good laugh about it when he was born) January 15, 2016 at 7:58pm
Victoria: You put it really well, and I completely agree. The most important thing is to have choices and encouragement to explore, and this is what’s sorely lacking at times. January 15, 2016 at 8:38pm
Victoria: Thank you, I will take a look at it. January 15, 2016 at 2:28pm
Floramac: Ironic too, since Lego is always trying to figure out a way to market to girls. January 15, 2016 at 12:56pm
Victoria: I admit that when I play Lego with one of my friend’s kids, I get into it as much as they do. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 2:31pm
Floramac: My son and I spent a very happy summer building our own village out of Legos. It had a hospital, a cafe, a playground, houses and a swanky hotel. It was so much fun. January 15, 2016 at 4:32pm
Victoria: Lego had a big presentation in Brussels a couple of years ago, and it was so much fun. It made me realize how many interesting sets they have right now. January 15, 2016 at 5:00pm
AnnieA: That is pish-posh. That said, have you heard of GoldieBlox sets? “Turning little girls into engineers” – possibly a paraphrase on my part re its motto… January 15, 2016 at 7:27pm
Victoria: Cool! January 15, 2016 at 8:12pm
Jackie: While Goldieblocks is marketed as a progressive or feminist toy, they are among the worst offenders as I see it. By creating “blocks for girls” (huh?), the regular, heretofore neutral blocks become, by default, “boys toys.” And, like the pinked up “Lego Friends,” girls playing with blocks becomes a “special case” (tomboys), derivative of the “norm” that blocks are for boys. Blocks, and balls (!?) and other toys are now gendered in a way they never were when I was a kid.
Colours are not inherent gendered! The “meanings” attached to colour are culturally relative (where pink is attached to girls/femininity and then disparaged is testament to an endemic cultural misogyny). As Bregje’s examples show, before they’re even BORN, children are being inducted into a binarily gendered world, whose biggest symbol is the pink/ blue divider.
I naively thought we were living a progressive, post-feminist age (cloistered in academia as I was!) until i became a parent and witnessed the relentlessness of gender indoctrination. Anyone who thinks “blank slatism” is the predominant thinking these days hasn’t visited a playground lately! You might be as shocked as I’ve been at the doggedness of gender indoctrination by parents, teachers, daycare workers, … everywhere!
In short, gender construction is so deeply ingrained that no scientific method could possibly discover what’s “natural” or “innate” underneath centuries of human social construction (our primate cousins notwithstanding). We are currently living a backlash to the feminist movement and gender stereotyping has returned a hundredfold. Such categories perhaps offer comfort in ringer’s of great and uncertainty. “Social Psychology” is a weak “science” whose mandate is an ideological nostalgia for a (largely imagined) world of neat categories that would make gender a simplistic binary (either/or; pink/blue), rigid, stagnant, and repressive of human fluidity, richness, diversity, creativity and freedom. It is, IMO, one of the worst crushers of human spirit, and someday generations after us will look back at us with pity and scorn. January 17, 2016 at 3:12am
Jackie: But to get back to the main topic: I love pink in all its many-splendoured variations. I love your description of it, Victoria, as intriguing and unpredictable. I love it in clothes, art, lipstick, fragrance…I have a hundred pink lipsticks. My bedroom is painted a soft, warm pink and I find it calming and enveloping. Pink just makes me happy, and so did your article! Hail pink!! January 17, 2016 at 3:22am
Victoria: Colors are in general fascinating, but pink is especially so because it comes loaded with so much baggage. The history of military uniform is telling. Because it was thought that bright colors helped to distinguish friend from foe, and also because bright shades enhanced morale, military coats of many armies were made in bright colors up to the end of the 19th century. Pink, as light red, was seen as a military color.
And red! Now that’s a color about which I can talk about at length. Red lipstick is on the list of my many obsessions. 🙂 January 17, 2016 at 4:19am
Jackie: That colour (some more than others!) is fraught with meanings is evidenced by this very discussion! Interesting that pink used to be a military colour. These days pink is rather confusingly associated with girls and girlishness, anti-bullying campaigns (esp in LGBT context), breast cancer — it’s interesting. Don’t even get me started on these “pink shirt” days they do in the schools where kids “proudly” wear pink that day but disparage it the rest of the year….
Would love to read your thoughts on red some day. 🙂 January 23, 2016 at 2:33pm
Victoria: Red is a good topic, and I can talk about it at length. But after all, I come from a culture in which red=beautiful. 🙂 January 24, 2016 at 8:14am
Jackie: Autocorrect! “ringers of great and uncertainty” should read “times of fear and uncertainty”! January 17, 2016 at 3:51am
Victoria: Jackie, thank you for putting it so eloquently. Gender by its definition is a social construction, and if one knows anything of the world outside Europe and North America, one can find many different expressions of gender differences. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t grow up in a pink tinted world–all kids in the USSR wore the same colors and had the same activities. Engineer and doctor were the most common professions among the women I grew up with, and it was news to me when I came to the US that supposedly those are masculine fields. The USSR, of course, wasn’t some egalitarian utopia–the emphasis on hard sciences for all was part of the industrialization program, but the indoctrination of gender differences just didn’t happen to the same extent as it does now. Which is why when I read that “girls are hardwired to like pink” (especially when a monkey study is used to support it), it bewilders me. Ironically, the gender coding of colors, toys and activities started in earnest during the consumer boom of the 50s (in the US and Europe), and it makes economic sense to the manufacturers, because that’s how they expand their market share.
Ultimately, these discussions aren’t innocent, because political implications of “biology as destiny” are significant and damaging. It’s not a coincidence that the markers of gender equality in the UK and US have been slipping over the past decade. Preventing people from exploring the world of possibilities and circumscribing their experiences in general is exactly why this thinking entails, even if their proponents don’t seem to realize it. January 17, 2016 at 4:03am
Jackie: A belated thank you, Victoria, for this thoughtful and nuanced reply! Yes, you are so right that this gender encoding of colour was/is a marketing strategy. Sadly, consumers have bought into it in a big way, so the companies keep pumping it out, and round and round it goes. Now, I suspect we’re going to see a raft of these “toys for girls” like Goldiblocks that appropriate and recoup a quasi-“feminist” progressiveness as a marketing ploy.
LOVE your last paragraph. Very quotable! You should write a socio-political essay on the way in which the proponents of “biology as destiny” circumscribe possibilities and experience, even if they “don’t seem to realize it.” It’s a cultural backlash against the gains made by feminism in the 70’s and 80’s. Let’s hope the pendulum starts to swing back the other way soon!
Anyway! I love the way your blog writing moves so effortlessly from the delights of the senses to the analysis of their cultural embededness. 🙂 January 23, 2016 at 2:30pm
Victoria: It’s true that none of these experiences exist in a cultural vacuum, and in the end, it makes the topic all the more interesting to explore.
Thank you for your interesting comments, Jackie. January 24, 2016 at 8:22am
Trudy: What an uplifting topic on this cloudy and gray California morning. I like pink too. It can be sweet and lovely and it can be seductive and intense. Recently I impulsively purchased a set of pillow cases in a small deep pink and white gingham. They don’t really go with any of my other linens but brought to mind the sunny French Riviera a la Brigitte Bardot. One of my favorite dresses is a hot pink linen number that I wear in the summer when I have some color. I too like the Clinique chubby sticks, I have one in a deep pinkish color (can’t think of the name offhand). I think I might classify Paris by YSL as pink (as in pink roses) and Naricsso Her in the pink bottle. I love the look of bright pink geraniums in a pot or window box. Eden climbing roses are beautiful. Pale pink tulips are springtime to me. January 15, 2016 at 11:46am
Victoria: Your pillow cases sound so perfect for adding a splash of color. One of the reasons I liked our apartment when we first saw it was because of a large red-pink canvas our landlord used to decorate the all white wall. I usually don’t like anything on my walls, but that rectangle of color was so striking and memorable. We ended up keeping it.
Few things are as exquisite as pale pink tulips. January 15, 2016 at 12:00pm
Jackie: YSL Paris is what comes to mind for me too! And pale pink tulips and roses. 🙂 January 17, 2016 at 3:24am
Lily: I don’t have a pink perfume yet but my favorite lipstick is a fucshia – Revlon Cherries in the Snow. Sounds red, looks red in the color tag, wears as a deep, bright vibrant pink. Not a discreet color but I feel extra beautiful when I wear it 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 11:55am
Patricia: Ohh, that one has been around forever! I remember it from rummaging around as a child in my mother’s makeup drawer. January 15, 2016 at 12:00pm
Victoria: Cherries in the Snow does the same transformation on me, as do many reds. One of my favorite colors. January 15, 2016 at 12:01pm
Jackie: Me too. And it was one of the first grown-up lipsticks I every had. Hard to believe it’s still around. One of the reasons I love going into Sephora is simply to marvel at the endless varieties of pink lipstick colours, and the never-ending search for that elusive perfect colour! January 17, 2016 at 3:28am
Victoria: Revlon’s colors were revolutionary. Fire & Ice is also still around, and I still don’t know of a better orange red. January 17, 2016 at 4:08am
Nora Szekely: I love Cherries in the snow, I read it is made since 1953. It also turns pinkish red on me. I find it easy to apply, I don’t need a lip pencil with it and feel like a geisha when I put it on my lips. January 18, 2016 at 9:03am
Victoria: It also has such a great texture and no scent. January 18, 2016 at 11:28am
Jackie: I remember and love Fire & Ice too! Hard to believe these colours could still be around after 65 years!!! Such vibrant colours haven’t always been in style over these last decades; it would be interesting to see their sales on a graph. January 23, 2016 at 2:36pm
Victoria: I was thinking about it too. Call me a geek, but sales data are fascinating. January 24, 2016 at 8:13am
N: I see perfumes as colors and it is funny that I imagine a pale buttery golden yellow for La Chasse aux Papillons and not pink. My favorite pink blush of the moment is a heavenly soft shade of pink from Clinique Cheek Pop in Pink Pop. They also have more intense rose and berry pink shades too. Pale almost neutral toned blush colored shirts have been creeping into my closet lately. January 15, 2016 at 12:19pm
Victoria: I’ve been eyeing those Cheek Pop colors, but I’m waiting to finish what I have. Pink Pop is a great pink, which is bright but not over the top. January 15, 2016 at 2:28pm
Jackie: After reading this, V and N, I went out that afternoon and tried the Clinique cheek pop in pink pop (it’s talc-free!), and bought it on the spot! Love it! The colour is just the right mix of warm and cool! Subtle but buildable, and very cheerful! 🙂 January 23, 2016 at 2:43pm
Victoria: That color is just impossible to resist in the tube, and on skin it also looks great. Enjoy it! January 24, 2016 at 8:12am
maja: Oh, I don’t think I have a pink perfume either (apart from the obvious roses) but I love pink lipsticks and blushes. Just yesterday I wore a bit of Dollymix by Mac and couldn’t help but wonder what a difference it made. I am (sometimes) brave enough to wear a my only Rouge Volupte in Provocative Pink. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 12:41pm
Victoria: I tried Rouge Volupte in Provocative Pink, loved it and made a note to get it once I finish one of my other pinks. Reds I can rarely resist, on the other hand. January 15, 2016 at 2:30pm
maja: The colour and the packaging are gorgeous but I believe that Rouge Volupte are too creamy somehow. If the formula were a bit drier, it would be perfect. Matte pink lips look gorgeous in my opinion. January 15, 2016 at 3:17pm
Victoria: It does settle into lines if my lips aren’t properly moisturized, so it takes slightly more effort than I would have liked. But the colors are beautiful. January 15, 2016 at 4:51pm
OperaFan: Oh I love pink! It brightens the complexion like no other.
For me, the first perfume that comes to mind is Iris Poudre. Nahema is also a pink, as with AG Rose Absolue – on opposite ends of the scale, one extremely deep and rich, the other ethereal.
Love my pink lipsticks: Dior Addict Diablotine and Armani Brick. Because of my olive-yellow toned skin, I even use the Hourglass Ethereal Glow Ambient Lighting Blush as a finishing powder, which achieves the same brightening effect as Guerlain’s Mythique Meteorites pearls.
Also love seeing pink on men! January 15, 2016 at 1:32pm
Victoria: I didn’t think of Iris Poudre as pink before, but now that you put the idea in my mind, I can see it! January 15, 2016 at 2:39pm
elisa p: Iris Poudre feels very pink to me as well. More of a dusky rose. Maybe because it has a cosmetic cream vibe or seems very femme that I see it in that color. It’s not the evocation of the iris which isn’t pink. Synesthesia is an interesting thing. January 16, 2016 at 1:29am
OperaFan: When I think of Iris alone, it’s the vibrant violet tinged blue that comes to mind, but that combination of iris and rose and the powdery aura, more than any fragrance I know makes me think of an elegant dressing table – and that always makes me see soft pink. January 16, 2016 at 12:55pm
AndreaR: I enjoy the more vivid end of the pink spectrum. I don’t really purchase anything in that range, but do love fuchsia nail polish. My daughter passed on a bright fuchsia quilted jacket and I get many compliments on it, especially from dashing young men. Guess with my silvery hair they think I’m zippy grandmother.( I am :-)) With these brights I’d spritz some of Terry de Gunzburg’s Rose Infernal. January 15, 2016 at 6:48pm
Victoria: Silver and pink is a great pairing! I bet it looks gorgeous on you. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 8:08pm
Ariadne: Check out the 2016 Pantone Spring Colors! Rose quartz (pink) and Serenity (lt, blue). I am going to wear them both together in some sort of outfit this April!
I also just discovered Chanel’s Les Beige Healthy Glow Sheer Colour compact, a whisper pink finishing powder that does wonders for those of us stricken with vampire complexions. January 15, 2016 at 7:27pm
Victoria: I think I need this Chanel powder, because the longer the winter draws on, the more vampire like my complexion becomes. Is it very shimmery or just satiny? January 15, 2016 at 8:12pm
Ariadne: The finish is invisible! just sort of fresh and new! and pink! Their Vitalumiere aqua liquid foundation is unbelievable too. January 15, 2016 at 8:24pm
Victoria: You’re such a temptress, Ariadne. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 8:40pm
limegreen: Another lover of pink chiming in! The only pink I probably do not automatically love is bubblegum pink (except maybe for sandals?). I have a pair in limegreen and bubblegum pink!
It’s a bit boring but my pink perfume is Diptyque Eau Rose. And I’m going to spritz some Rose Ikebana, never would have thought colder weather would be the right time to wear it.
(Love how you went from the bright yellow of Ostara to pink today!) January 15, 2016 at 7:34pm
Victoria: Tomorrow might be all green, because I have a bunch of green perfumes to test.
Eau Rose is not boring at all! It’s such a delicate but radiant rose. January 15, 2016 at 8:13pm
limegreen: Ooohhh! Can you write a column on green perfumes? 🙂 January 16, 2016 at 12:57am
Victoria: I’ll add it to the list! January 16, 2016 at 4:58am
kpaint: I’d love to read this, too. Green florals are amongst my favorite scents but there don’t seem to be too many on the market. January 16, 2016 at 4:03pm
Victoria: That’s true. It’s one of the least popular genres among florals, since many people find green smells too aggressive. But since they are some of my favorites, they’re a big part of my perfume wardrobe. January 17, 2016 at 5:06am
behemot: It seems I have to try some new blushes! January 15, 2016 at 7:58pm
Victoria: Blush–my favorite beauty product. 🙂 January 15, 2016 at 8:39pm
Jackie: Victoria, have you tried Too Faced’s powder blushes in the heart-shaped compacts (themselves pink)? Gorgeous and talc-free — I can’t wear anything with talc. 🙁
I have Justify my Love and Love Hangover (I want them all! Justify looks very bright and sparkly in the case, but goes on more subtly. January 17, 2016 at 3:42am
Victoria: I also don’t like talc in my powder, and I avoid it if I can help it. I need to see if Too Faced is available here. January 17, 2016 at 4:04am
Old Herbaceous: I love pink! Here’s my contribution: pink perfume. Vicky Tiel’s Sirene. Yummy pink juice in a fun bottle; plenty of rose with a spicy vibe. I wear it to bed at night! January 15, 2016 at 9:49pm
Victoria: Thank you for reminding me of Sirene. It’s been such a long time since I’ve smelled it. January 16, 2016 at 4:57am
Aisha: I’ve been wearing Bite Beauty’s Kir Royale lip gloss a lot lately. It came in a gift set for the holidays, so I’m hoping it’s not a limited edition shade. It looks really bright in the packaging, but goes on a little softer. I still love those YSL Glossy Stains though.
I never thought of Baiser Vole as “pink” before, but I guess it does have that quality. 🙂
Thanks for featuring some new items for me to try! 😉 January 16, 2016 at 9:02am
Victoria: Same here. My YSL Stain in #31, peach with pink that becomes pale red on my lips, is one of my most worn colors. But most of my favorite YSL colors are in the red and berry family. January 17, 2016 at 5:21am
Hamamelis: Lovely pink post, thank you! As a freckled redhead pink isn’t an easy colour for me. For my lips I found the perfect ‘my lips but better’ rose warm pink in Catrice’s Pure Shine Colour Lip Balm Rose & Woody 010, a Clinique Chubby Stick dupe with a very friendly price, 4,99 euro’s. I can wear this always, casual, dressed up, at home our out. I don’t have a rose perfume to match, like the colour, rose is a difficult note for me. Sometimes Traversee du Bosphore is perfect, but I have yet to find a ‘my skin but better’ rose perfume that I can wear always. Iris does it much better for me in that department, it almost always is right, in any accord. But iris is more blue, grey, purple to me than pink. I think you did an anyplace anytime anywhere perfume list once V., I seem to remember Infusion d’Iris was the winner, perhaps with no 19 a close second, but I would be curious if you do it again which ones would be top of the list. For the list? January 16, 2016 at 9:37am
Victoria: You probably look gorgeous in magenta. I had a friend in college who wore these bright shades with such panache. My hair is reddish, but it’s dark enough that the effect is not as interesting.
Do you mean the most versatile perfume?
https://boisdejasmin.com/2011/01/little-black-dress-perfume-best-versatile-and-elegant-fragrance.html
It would be interesting to run the poll again and see what people will choose this time. January 17, 2016 at 5:17am
Hamamelis: It is interesting that you recommend magenta, something that according to the normally advised colour schemes would not suit me. But, I do have one cashmere jumper which has magenta in it, and when I wore it the other day my husband remarked I looked great! And today I am testing a perfume with a dominant rose note, and he remarked how lovely I smelled (I still have difficulty with it, another matter altogether if other people love a fragrance on you, but you don’t!)
This was the article I meant, very much in the same vein and great to run the poll again.
https://boisdejasmin.com/2012/09/cant-decide-what-to-wear-fall-back-perfume.html January 17, 2016 at 7:48am
Victoria: More and more I come to a conclusion that many color rules are entirely arbitrary. Mostly, because not all redheads have the same complexion and different nuances in skin and hair make different colors more or less successful. I have redhead friends who rock reds, a color redheads are usually advised against, and although I’m fair, the best colors for me are the deep, jewel-tones. As much as I like pastels, they don’t look as interesting on me as more dramatic colors. One of my favorite rules to break is on combining black and navy. Now, depending on how you play it, it’s such a chic pairing.
Yes, it’s hard to wear a perfume you don’t like, whether or not others enjoy it on you. Mostly, it’s because perfume is such a personal pleasure that it’s more important that I enjoy it on myself.
I just remembered the post, and I will run it again next week. January 17, 2016 at 8:34am
Elizabeth: Pink is not a color that suits my warm complexion – unless it’s a very warm pink, like salmon or coral. Nars Orgasm blush is the pinkest I can go in makeup. But I do love roses! I always thought Rose Ikebana was very underrated.
Also I use Ren’s Vita Mineral skincare line, which has rose extracts. Rose seems to reduce the redness and roughness of my skin in cold weather. January 16, 2016 at 10:29am
Victoria: Salmon and coral variations are my other favorite pinks, and for me too cool pinks on lips are difficult. Not as bad beiges and nudes, but similarly unflattering. January 17, 2016 at 5:15am
kpaint: When I do pink lipstick I do PINK. Some faves are UD Catfight, Smashbox Electric Pink, Givenchy Magnolia Organza, Dior Lucky, Smashbox Punch. Winter is generally when I wear a bright pink (or bright red) lip as the right shade can have a tremendous effect in brightening my otherwise pale complexion.
As far as pink perfumes, my associations come generally from packaging or the color of the juice (YSL Baby Doll, Hermes Kelly Caleche,) or obvious rose associations (Ann Gerard Rose Cut, Rosine Glam Rose.)
But there are others that conjure pink as well: I find Chanel Misia terribly romantic like the deep pink of a Spanish Rosé. Organza Indecence is a bright candy pink, as it’s so unabashedly feminine. Narciso EDP is the soft, beigey pink of a Ryan Roche cashmere sweater. Hermes Cuir d’Ange is the greyed mauvey pink of leather gloves.
La Chasse is not pink to me, as others have said. I associate it with a soft, soft chartreuse – what Crayola dubbed “spring green.” And Rose Ikebana I associate with red. Not red roses, but an abstract stemmed red flower in a black vase.
Thanks for the article on this topic. I may be in the minority on this, but I would love it if more manufacturers tinted their perfumes. I find myself drawn to bottles just because they contain dyed juice – perhaps because it’s so rare. Can you imagine how much more fun it would be to open a drawer or cabinet of perfume and be delighted by a rainbow of colors – along with beautiful bottles and their scents? January 16, 2016 at 4:42pm
Victoria: I like colored perfumes like Serge Lutens Sarrasins or by Terry Rose Infernale, but such strongly colored fragrances aren’t popular. On the whole, coloring perfume means changing the formula and rarely for the better. For instance, natural essences have their own color, and it’s very hard to get color over them. The push for lightly tinted juices or water colored juices among brands is one of the reasons perfumes get reformulated and why they seem to lack richness. Decolored bergamot essence, for instance, is just as interesting.
I have a sample of Givenchy Magnolia Organza lipstick, and yes, it’s instantly brightening. By the way, I wish more brands would do lipstick samples. January 17, 2016 at 5:02am
kpaint: Ah – I hadn’t considered the effect of colorants on volatile oils et al. I was thinking of the aforementioned Baby Doll, and 2 perfumes I wore in the 90s: one pink and one green, which hinted at the fragrances inside. Lutens does seems to tint a lot of his scents, which I hadn’t noticed until now – except that I am acutely aware that I was drawn to La Fille en Berlin and De Profundis solely because of their colors.
The Givenchy Le Rouge line is one of my favorites. They manage to do intense colors very elegantly (where they might otherwise look garish.) And agree on lipstick samples – though come to think of it, I don’t know that I’ve ever had or even seen a blush sample offered. I wonder why that is? To my mind, everything should be readily available as a sample. There is no better way for companies to market their products.
Thanks again for the reminder to Think Pink! I’ve been wearing pink lipstick all week and it has added some cheer to an otherwise dreary week. January 21, 2016 at 6:45pm
Victoria: The smell of Le Rouge lipsticks is also fantastic, and I completely agree with you on colors. It’s one of my favorite lines, except that the packaging is slightly too clunky. January 24, 2016 at 7:56am
Katherine: Totally on board with your selection of Cartier Baiser Volé – nothing could be pinker – though I have to say the Essence feels yellow to me with that big dose of vanilla. Dusty pink lipsticks and blushes go best with my complexion, though occasionally I stray. On the pink more generally – my favorite pinks are pastels on walls and building facades – a la the Art Deco movement (and others). Our house has a pink and grey bathroom (toilet,tub,sink etc) from the 50s/60s that we managed to love for many years because my husband convinced me to paint the walls a pastel pink to embrace the design. Best move ever – so cheerful and Deco retro. January 16, 2016 at 9:17pm
Victoria: Your house sounds beautiful, and I love the idea of a mod touch. Jean Patou boutique in Paris used to have a 60s decor, and their upstairs room was open as a perfume bar, a place where you can smell raw materials and fragrance. Such fun. January 17, 2016 at 4:55am
Katherine: Me too – I love decor that transports you to another time. Last month we stayed at a hotel that was retro-designed to be like a 50s-60s Florida beach resort. Space-age mod with a kitschy and cheerful slant (there were Christmas trees with colorful ball ornaments were in abundance). As for my house – please don’t be jealous – it dearly needs a “facelift.” And I’m reticent to do the bathroom right away because I’ll miss the pinkness so much. I suppose I could replace the old fixtures with new pink ones – but probably isn’t a good idea for resale. I am comforted to a degree, in knowing I can “pink” my walls anytime. January 17, 2016 at 11:31am
Katherine: I meant to say there were silver tinsel Christmas trees at the hotel, not just green ones. January 17, 2016 at 6:22pm
Victoria: My friend painted her living room fuchsia and her bedroom pink. I have always thought that being surrounded by so much color would be tiring, but it feels uplifting. My apartment, on the other hand, has a grey color scheme in the bedroom, and this couldn’t duller. Not sure what our landlord was thinking. January 18, 2016 at 12:04pm
Katherine x: The grey sounds like a move towards modern? It’s a tricky color though – and can be downright cold if you don’t get it right. Then again – you could add a splash of pink to give the room a lift! February 9, 2016 at 10:15pm
Victoria: It’s a dark shade of grey, and he added black curtains. But it means that bright colors, including purple and dark pink work really well. February 10, 2016 at 11:06am
Lavanya: I’ve gained an appreciation for pink in recent years as an adult. The color as well as the idea of the color were never that appealing to me as a child..Recently though, I can’t get enough of pink – especially a certain shade of dusty rose as well as fuchsia..I think it all may have started when my sister chose a a sort of dusty fuchsia (if there is such a thing) colored (chiffon, I think) saree for me that I would never have picked for myself but that I instantly fell in love with.
I usually don’t like pink lipsticks since they don’t always suit me (berry and brownish reds are my go-to lippies) but I really liked Besame’s dusty rose (which of course they had to discontinue AND I lost my makeup bag which contained it and a host of other favorites..LOL).
I don’t think I have too many pink perfumes, though I really enjoyed the YSL La Parissiene that you once sent me a decant of – that was a lovely pink perfume, girlish but not silly – just liltingly lovely. MdO’s Rose de Hollande is also a pale pink perfume that I wear occasionally.
oh and I almost forgot – I recently tried Parfums Lalun’s Qajar Rose and loved it – I usually like my roses dark, dirt and woody- but this one was a ‘pastel pink’ , especially the drydown- so delicate and lovely with a creamy saffron and rosewater drydown on my skin (the top and middle were a darker rose but because of the dry down the perfume is ‘pink’ in my mind)..Didn’t last too long but lovely while it lasted. January 17, 2016 at 2:14am
Victoria: There is nothing like pink in India. Not only do you find an overwhelming range of shades, you see variations of this color everywhere–buildings, food, flowers, clothes of brides and grooms, saris of women working in the fields. Bright colors in the intense sun don’t look the same as they do under our grey skies, but I still love my magenta sari and scarves. I also noticed that because color plays such a big role in daily life, people in India have a very precise color vocabulary and a great eye for combining shades.
Qajar Rose sounds like a beautiful idea, especially since the Qajar era art was infatuated with lush pink roses and used them to everything, from furniture to paintings to Qoran ornamentations. I need to see where I can find it. January 17, 2016 at 4:25am
Victoria: I’d love to see a photo of your sari. January 17, 2016 at 5:10am
orsetta: oh, I agree with Lavanya – I started to appreciate pink as an adult too, mostly because my mother, really sophisticated in the way she dressed, truly abhorred pink 🙂
while for clothes i’m most happy with more pale or dusty pink shades, for for perfume i love the shocking pink end of the spectrum.
and so, to complement (and contrast) my latest purchase of a dusty pink sweater (in a very demure, masculine shape, actually) i also got a small bottle of Gucci Rush, which for me is the epitome of ‘shocking pink’ – and it works brilliantly, i have to say 🙂 January 17, 2016 at 3:36am
Victoria: Oh, Gucci Rush is a perfect shocking pink. Thank you for mentioning this gem. 🙂
I have been noticing interesting grey-pink shades, and I really like those. I suppose they can qualify as dusty pink. January 17, 2016 at 4:07am
Aurora: The magic colors in L’Ile Rose (a French children’s Classic of no particular gender I should add) are rouge groseille and gris argent and I rarely pair hot pink with any other color than grey. It’s a lovely topic, Victoria, was very interested with pink in India. I totally agree with Baiser Vole/pink; last summer I found the EDT both light, as in easy to wear and cheerful, and long lasting, and last fall I acquired on a whim a dinky 15ml bottle of the essence, so I wear that, thinking of it as a silver and pink brocade as it’s richer.
My carnation scents are all pink: Bellodgia, a deep salmon pink and Oeillet Sauvage, a light one. January 17, 2016 at 8:23am
Victoria: For me these bright colors always seemed festive, but I realized traveling in India that they’re just everyday shades. And when you’re surrounded by the vibrantly colored nature, it makes sense. It’s also fun to see men’s clothing in vivid shades and not just khaki or grey.
Bellodgia is also pink to me. Time to revisit it, along with Oeillet Bengale. January 17, 2016 at 8:46am
Katherine: One of the things I love about Indian movies is their richness of color. It really enhances the experience and sets the mood! January 17, 2016 at 11:35am
Victoria: Me too. They’re my ultimate escapist fantasies. January 18, 2016 at 12:01pm
Austenfan: By the way what kind of pink hue would you assign to BV Extrait de parfum?
I’m glad that the Essence is a sort of neon. I’m very much considering a bottle of that version. It’s ever so slightly trashy, which is what I often fall for in perfume. January 18, 2016 at 6:15am
Victoria: I keep thinking of it as salmon pink, but don’t ask me to explain why.
Yep, I like that kind of trashy floral myself. Nothing lifts the mood better. 🙂 January 18, 2016 at 11:47am
Nora Szekely: Hi Victoria and perfume lovers,
Oh pink. My favourite color in my childhood dismissed for a few years when entering adolescence. I joyfully reunited it at adulthood, though I have to be careful as I’m a fair skinned blonde with light blue eyes, and some shades make me look like a candy doll, a look not that flattering once you passed age 9.
Just last week, I decided I needed color in my wintry life and decided to put on my light pink and milk colored knitted jumper ornamented with my silver cat brooch (crazy pink cat lady).
I paired it with Une fleur de Cassie by Frederic Malle, that I bought last week for need of spring’s promise. I know that for some it’s a Black swan scent but on me it’s utterly innocent and puts me in an angelic mood and though the temperature is low in Budapest, the crisp air accentuates its eerie nature.
My make-up would be Bobby Brown sheer lip color in Pink, paired with light pink shade on my eyelids and Dior Cheek and Lip color for blush. I used to believe that pink on eyelids would make me look ill but with the right shade, it creates a fresh country rose effect so I recommend you to try it if you’re attracted to that kind of look. January 18, 2016 at 6:26am
Victoria: Such a beautiful look, Nora! Is it Dior Cheek Tint gel blush or some other product? January 18, 2016 at 11:48am
Karen 5.0: While reading your fun and Spring-hopeful post, the tune “Think Pink” from the charming Audrey Hepburn film, Funny Face, kept running through my head 🙂 January 18, 2016 at 9:03am
Victoria: I love Funny Face. “Pink is the new black!” January 18, 2016 at 11:29am
Sara: Nice photo and lovely products. January 18, 2016 at 10:10am
Victoria: Thank you, Sara. January 18, 2016 at 11:34am
Ayesha: Pink has always been one of my favorite shades; basically a go to color. Conjures up images of shocking pink brocades, pale pink Chantilly lace, and fuchsia chiffon. Favorites include pink blush Chanel’s Pink Temptation and Virevoltante Chanel lipstick. and Yes like Karen am reminded of Audrey Hepburn in funny face-pink really is the new black. January 21, 2016 at 1:01pm
Victoria: I was recently as a lace store and the owner was measuring out yards of pink lace. It was like being in a fairy tale! January 24, 2016 at 7:51am