Side B: Bleu de Chanel and Mark Jacobs Bang

By Tom What better way to celebrate Labor day than wandering around the mall? Well, there are lots of them, but part of the day I wandered around the mall anyway. The mall was the Beverly Center, which is a 20 minute stroll from my hovel in Beverly Hills' glamorous "Industrial Triangle". I was there to see the new iPod line- not that I was going to buy one since I already have two that I don't use much since I have an iPhone. I was sadly thwarted in this pursuit so onward I wandered. Bloomingdales had both of these new releases, which I am perhaps the last person to smell in the blogosphere. Bleu de Chanel is listed at Bloomingdales website as a "woody aromatic" with "a procotave blend of citrus and woods" and admonishes us to "Be unexpected" Sadly the juice doesn't take it's own advice. The square blue bottle dispenses rather square blue liquid that takes the idea of "blue" in it's most literal form. Yes, the dreaded aquatic. It's so clean, so fresh, so stridently inoffensive that frankly the name should be "Blah". Or perhaps "Bleech" $59 for 1.7oz and $79 for 3.4. Marc Jacobs Bang is listed (in all caps) as "FREE AND ELECTRIFYING, SEXY AND ALLURING" and "FRESH, PEPPERY AND WOODY". It is. It does have that "fresh" aspect to it but the pepper and woods keep the seashore aspects to a minimum, just a light metallic shimmer. The bottle looks like something from the "Fortress of Solitude" set in "Superman 2" but I can't fault the scent, it's very nice. I would caution to go steadily, the first couple of house were ALL CAPS on me- the one spray in the crook of my elbow was throwing massive sillage until it calmed. Not for the over-applier... $55 for 1.7oz and $75 for 3.4. Reminder- while the draw for the samples is closed, the deal offering all PST readers an introductory discount of 10% off their first order at Indiescents is still open. Just enter “PST” at checkout. Offer is good until September 30th.