Diplomatic Ties part 508: HN White.

Suit from Belvest, Canali shirt, tie from HN White, Berg & Berg ps and shoes from Morjas. Scent: Heeley Cardinal.

Also check out our website: Diplomatic Ties.

And if you are interested in music, check out: All Kinds of (Good) Music as well.

Esprit du Tigre (Heeley)

Years ago I worked in a New Age shop owned by a socialite with alimony to burn. She ran the shop as if it were the entrepreneurial equivalent of vanity license plates-- her name on the business cards; otherwise, as little involvement as possible. She didn't seem to expect much effort from me, either. Every day I came to work, lounged around, read metaphysical books, played Loreena McKennitt CDs, and sampled the perfume oils that filled the countertop tester racks.

Most were predictable New Age fare-- patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, musk. But there was one tester that excited me from the moment I unscrewed the cap: basil essential oil. Expecting the scent of the fresh green leaf (or possibly even a murky pesto accord), I was startled to discover instead the distinct cinnamon-wintergreen scent of old-fashioned ribbon candy. I promptly purchased my own bottle, which I still own today.

Have you ever eaten ribbon candy? It's bulky, sharp-edged, painful to chew, and attracts a diabolical amount of dust if left to sit in an open candy dish. On the other hand, it comes in dozens of gorgeous jewel-tone colors, looks fantastic piled high in a glass jar (with lid, of course), and smells divine. It may be hard to justify a candy that exists only for appearance and aroma, rather than for eating. Yet ribbon candy seems so eager to please that it's difficult to hold a grudge against it-- and so it's one of my favorite things. Even today, the sight and smell of it seem to me like emissaries from my childhood.

Aside from the candy dish -- and that surprise encounter in the New Age boutique -- I never expected to stumble across that reminder anywhere else. Imagine my surprise, then, when almost two decades later, I opened a sample vial of "serious" perfume and found my childhood inside!

I'd been given to understand that James Heeley's Esprit du Tigre drew its inspiration directly from Tiger Balm, the Chinese traditional remedy famous for its quaintly attractive packaging. I happily use Tiger Balm liniment myself, so despite warnings about EdT's medicinal qualities, I went looking for its magic.

Did I find it? Without a doubt. Tiger Balm? Maybe just a touch. Ribbon candy?

Scads of it.

Remembering my last encounter with this beloved scent, the only thing to do was to fetch my bottle of pure basil oil and conduct a two-arm simultaneous scent test. The verdict: a stunning counterfeit of nature.

Esprit du Tigre contains no basil oil (and neither, incidentally, does Tiger Balm). The accord I interpret as basil is a hologram artfully constructed of everything but the real deal. Yet James Heeley has taken that girly-pink, confectionary accord far beyond its natural, linear limit. Esprit du Tigre tempers basil's piercing sweetness with hot, earthy spices, adds a touch of camphor to keep it sparkly, then grounds it with the earthy salt-musk tang of vetiver-- in essence, lifting it out of the candy dish and recreating it as a grownup pleasure.

Such differences may be subtle, but they are also significant. I welcome the chance to discover what new memories, connections, and illusions Esprit du Tigre will unlock for me.

Scent Elements: Camphor, peppermint, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, vetiver

Heeley Vetiver Veritas

notes: mate, lavender; vetiver, grapefruit; woody notes, green notes

This is a light, dry, tangy vetiver. The grapefruit is apparent. It gets quite dusty & maybe cedary as it dries, with a little bit of smokiness.

Vetiver Veritas reminds me of Smuggler's Soul; light, casual, greenish vetiver, a bit ascetic for my tastes but nicely balanced and goes down smooth.

I got a Harley for ya! God I hope they do a Birds of Prey-esque movie again. And they ask a botanist for advice about Ivy… I’m so close to graduating and don’t have a job yet… *twirls hair*

Kay Heeley 2024 Bridal

Michael wears a hybrid of Heeleys and light up sketchers.

Joey Wheeler deserves heeleys. Boy would rock that shit. Boy would LOVE that shit.

We all hear of hobie who’s not one for labels/government/settling down, but he’s also not one for consistency.

Hobie who needs a label on what you are because he just needs to know. He needs to know you are his, and he is yours. He’s confident if everything but he still has spots he’s insecure in.

Hobie who’s anti government but would totally call you nicknames like princess or ‘my queen/king’.

Hobie who despite not wanting to really settle down, would absolutely be the best dad. Would absolutely have soft moments with you and have the urge to have the soft cottage-house dream life. Hobie who if ended up being a dad by accident would never admit that, [HE WOULD BE THE BEST DAUGHTER DAD] makes little overalls & dresses for them. Matches is clothes with them, or makes patches with the designs the kid made. Would absolutely bring them to shows, turning em into lil punks. He would absolutely sto stealing as much for their safety. Being forced to buy the light up sketchers/heeleys they really wanted. (But ends up getting some for himself cause he thinks they are badass)

That’s a whole thought. He would totally wear heeleys/ light up sketchers when he doesn’t feel like wearing his boots

>>>>🧃(if it isn’t taken??, If it is taken maybe 🫖?)

this is so cute :(( the labels part oh i'm crying

Indie comics editor and writer Jo Heeley hospitalised, fundraiser launched

Comic writer, editor and promoter Jo Heeley (The77, Pandora, This Comic Is Haunted) is in hospital, after she broke her neck in a fall during Thought Bubble Festival

Comic writer, editor and promoter Jo Heeley (The77, Pandora, This Comic Is Haunted) is in hospital, after she broke her neck in a fall during the Thought Bubble Festival last weekend. Jo Heeley (left) is in need of help after a terrible accident The77 Publications team are now trying to urgently raise funds to help her after she comes out of hospital and returns home, for what sounds will be,…

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Whoever gave Bart Allan heeleys did not think this through.

sometimes its okay to be a little irresponsible with money in order to feel joy

Sel Marin (Heeley)

Memorial Day is close upon us, bringing waves of tourists from all over the world to the Jersey Shore. The season interjects such a range of obstacles, conflicts, and indignities into beachgoing that many of us residents never go near the ocean all summer long. To stew in bumper-to-bumper traffic, battle for a parking space miles from sight of the water, lug heavy beach gear for blocks to the crowded beach entrance, fork over five bucks to a sullen teenager in exchange for a one-day-only beach badge, then roast in the sun while drunk'n'disorderly twentysomethings from "up north" play out their Beachtowel Named Desire dramas at maximum speed and volume as far as the eye can see.... thanks, but I'll just wait until after Labor Day.

What if we could have the beach in a bottle instead? Silly question-- we'd rather have the real thing, preferably all to ourselves, with no other soul in sight except the seagulls. But if a virtual beach is better than no beach at all, James Heeley's Sel Marin makes a convenient substitute for land-locked shoredwellers.

The hologram is a little wobbly and thin in places, but all the requisite elements of a beach experience are here. Lemon and bergamot provide your daily RDA of sunlight, while salt and vetiver contribute a natural ozonic shimmer that veers close enough to sea air to evoke a pleasurable startle response. For interest and surprise, a touch of birch essence wedded to a low-key cedar drydown proves reminiscent of a clean wooden boardwalk (sorry, Seaside Heights).

But what really makes Sel Marin special is the algae. That's right: the slimy green stuff. More than sand, salt, or (god help us) low tide, algae lends the touch of biological reality that defines the littoral bouquet. Heeley's inclusion of algae extract in this composition is at once novel, logical, and appealing, transforming what could have been a run-of-the-mill seashore cliche into a feat of parfum vérité.

This natural approach is a departure from the usual "fresh marine" genre, which largely depends on calone for its oceanic effects. Calone is a fearsomely powerful synthetic which broadcasts a cool, silvery aquatic accord for light years around. It's utterly linear, deathlessly persistent, and pitched at a frequency capable of making dogs howl. I generally go out of my way to avoid it, both in the bottle and on other people-- so when I heard that Sel Marin achieved organic salinity with no calone, I jumped for joy.

Unfortunately, I was not airborne for long... and neither was Sel Marin. What it gained in authenticity by eschewing a chemical boost, it lost in radiance-- dying down to a dim mumble after only ten minutes.

Here, I find, is where Sel Marin most faithfully parallels reality. I know firsthand how it is to live "at the shore" yet never see the beach, to fill my lungs every day with salubrious salt air but never be able to get close to its source. Sel Marin is a true-to-life breath of wind from a salty emerald sea-- experienced as a sadly diminished allusion from far, far inland. Whatever beach Heeley modeled it on must be paradise-- I simply can't see it from where I live.

I understand what Sel Marin is reaching for, and what it comes just short of achieving. Initially I felt that it might trump L'Eau Serge Lutens in the "fresh" department, but actually, it's the other way around. Calone may make me wince, but I almost found myself wishing for a drop -- just a drop -- to fill in the missing puzzle piece.

The good news is that Sel Marin's seaweed-and-salt accord has a curious 'Iceland spar' effect on other perfumes, whereby it refracts and magnifies scents layered underneath to double their impact. I tried it with a touch of Etro's Vicolo Fiori, and boy, did those flowers pop! A pairing with the aforementioned L'Eau Serge Lutens also produced some interesting ripples. I'm planning on layering it with just the barest trace of Hugo Boss Pure to see if its sweet music is enough to tame that savage beast.

And if it fails? At the very least, I'll still end up with a fragrance that sends the tourists packing... and clears the beach just for me.

Scent Elements: Lemon, bergamot, sea salt, algae, vetiver, birch, cedar

o yeah babyy actual art and not shitposting i drew this a little while ago but i still like it enough to post it anyway 👍, so heres my jetsetradio sona :#)

i think their outfit is similar to someone in jsrf but erm i never played it so it doesnt count >:#) i think fun lore in-game would be theyre only kind of an asshole cause they need a haircut, n’ once recruited they knock it off n get their shit snipped (inspired by the fact that my ass needs a haircut 👍 )

Sharks in the Time of Saviors

By Kawai Strong Washburn.

Design by Gill Heeley.

WIP!

I just got my lichen & fungi sequences ready to ship out! Wooo! There was even DNA in them from my extractions 🥲

Ivy has Virginia creeper under her skin and variegated houseplant leaves (I don’t know what kind! The pic didn’t say. If you have an idea lmk) in her hair.