Wednesday Scent of the Day: Cats, Quirks, and a Green Snake

If Wednesday had a pulse, it would beat like a sly cat paw on hardwood. It is National Cat Day, so I chose a perfume with claws. I’m wearing All Good Things by Lush, that bittersweet little paradox that smells like caramel caught in woodsmoke. It opens warm, almost forgiving, then drifts into smoldering resins, peppery woods, and a vanillic ember that sticks to knitwear. It feels like walking out of a bonfire with a smile and a secret. Not the loudest oddball in the lineup, but it has a crooked grin that earns it a seat at the quirky table.

Today also brings birthdays for Fanny Brice, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Bob Ross. If you want a scent match, reach for Niki de Saint Phalle the perfume, a green chypre that slinks like a serpent through galbanum and oakmoss. It is elegant and a little venomous, the kind of green that cuts the air clean, then warms with floral breath. The snake-trimmed bottle is not just decoration, it is a thesis. For Fanny Brice, I imagine powder boxes and lipstick iris, a vintage shoulder-shimmy of aldehydes and face powder. For Bob Ross, happy little trees translates to pine, cedar, and the kind of woods that calm your pulse. If you layer All Good Things over a crisp conifer, you get soot, sap, and comfort in one inhale.

Consider this your midweek scent dare. Wednesday is no place for beige. If your shelf holds something a bit off-center, wear it now so you are in fighting shape for Halloween. On the 31st, let the odd ones out, the weird ones, the bottles you love but only at night. Think smoky gourmands with bite, greens that stalk the room, musks that flirt with danger.

So yes, I am living in All Good Things today, and flirting with a spritz of Niki de Saint Phalle on my coat. Cats have nine lives. Good perfume has at least that many moods.