Best of 2009. Or something totally different. I don't know.

Warning: Due to readers' request, there'll be more cellulose.

Helg prompted me to join another joint blog project. A list (or something) of best of 2009 – with all these people participating:
1000fragrances, Smelly Blog, Bittergrace Notes, Shoes-cake-perfume, Scent Hive, Olfactarama, Roxana's Illuminated Journal, Eiderdown Press Journal, A Rose Beyond the Thames, Mossy Loomings, Notes from the Ledge, I smell therefore I am, All I am a Redhead, Perfume In Progress, Savvy Thinker, The Non Blonde and The Perfume Shrine

So now, off you go to read something that is at least a little bit interesting and meantime, I'll watch some of Big Bang Theory.

The general feeling I got from Helg's mail was that it should better be related to perfumery. I didn't have a clue because lately, I've been grumpy and I only felt like creating and filling the category of 'Best kick in the shin'. Nobody volunteered to supply the shin, though, so this one will be lacking and there's just a plain boring list, perfumery included.

Best scent I stumbled upon: Shiseido's Val de Loire vingt et un mai mille neuf cent quatre vingt dix neuf (review will follow), with Shiseido's Basala being a very close second (review will follow)
Best scent I stumbled upon that one can still get somewhere: Chanel's Sycomore (review may follow but it's been ranted about already all over the internetz)
Best scent I stumbled upon and can be bought normally, where 'normally' be defined as 'just about anywhere': Hermes' Le Jardin sur le Nil
Best el cheapo scent: The Body Shop's Rose du Maroc/Moroccan Rose
On a side note, as Notes from the Ledge has it: I'm purging, should you want to inherit a bottle, wait in the queue.
Best stuff for calluses and cracked heels: anything with urea and salicylic acid
Best acne ointment: Skinoren. Doesn't work the slightest but it isn't annoying.
Best antimycotic: not discovered yet.
Best stuff to heal wounds caused by fungi that eat away your calluses and bloody cracks in your heels (works for other wounds, too, but I lack decubits to try on): HemaGel
Best explanation why basic research is useful: HemaGel
Best anti-wrinkle crap: do not grin as I do
Best discovery in clothing: black is the new black
Best discovery in the realm of houseworks: washing powders are oxidizing agents. In normal words, they bleach your things. Mix yours with water, it'll produce bubbles and these will make pale stains on your black clothes. It's about as good as adding that powder that comes with hair decolorants
Best discovery I lack in the realm of houseworks: how to make my stuff black again
Best shoes: Siwa Birks
Best random plant: Any purple Vanda orchid. Nothing that grows naturally should be allowed that kitschy colour. I'll buy one someday, I'm good with the easy orchids
Best music score: the critical edition of Dvořák's Slavonic dances
Best website: Ravelry

I don't think I'm good in lists. I have problems making my own shopping list and choosing what was best and what of the bests should be listed was simply a pain in the arse until I stopped taking it seriously. For much better lists of anything, check The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon (Nope, I'm not paid by anyone for advertising old Japanese literature. By the way, that gal would be a damn good blogger, given the opportunity.) or a taxonomy textbook - I haven't read any yet so I don't have any good recommendations. For the esoteric meanings of shopping lists, check Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum – you won't ever try planning your shopping after that. Now, I can go off to knit and eat bon-bons; those who got as far as here can be easily counted, totalling most likely zero.