Patrick Dempsey Smells Wonderful

It's not that I'm in the habit of smelling other men but I thought I'd fill you in on the happenings here Tuesday morning when I was ON THE PHONE WITH PATRICK DEMPSEY.

You know, he's a perfect example of what I call the "Sean Connery Effect." A man who gets better and better looking the older he gets (Andrew has it going strong). However do you notice they don't have a female equivalent? It's terribly unfair. Why is it that a little gray and a few wrinkles can be so comfortable and attractive on a man while no one says, "You've filled out--it looks so good on you!" to a woman.

At any rate I want you all to know that yes, he is even handsome on the phone.
So what did we talk about? Oh the usual . . . Maine . . . snow . . . the back of a woman's neck. . . .

Maybe I should back up the trolley. Mr. Dempsey is married to the lovely Jillian Dempsey who was a make up artist but now works for Avon on their new product lines and seasonal palettes. In fact, she is their "lead global makeup artist" and in the course of a conversation with her husband and Avon execs it was suggested that maybe he'd like to help create a fragrance.

Now I wouldn't have thought that a man who races cars when he's not saving lives on t.v. would have jumped at the chance to make a cologne but he said he "likes what Avon stands for" and how they promote women's causes such as cancer treatments and preventing domestic violence (if you recall, after his mother's double bout with ovarian cancer he opened the Patrick Dempsey Center for Healing and Hope in Lewiston, Maine) and the result was his fragrance Unscripted.

As he explained it he was excited "to be allowed to be part of her [his wife's] world" by working creatively with her and the Avon team to create a scent that was "a true reflection of the man behind the fragrance."

So if you're wondering what Eau de McDreamy smells like just put your nose up really close to the computer monitor, close your eyes and breathe in deeply . . .

Actually, that was a fun part of the interview. The day before Avon sent me a bottle of Unscripted but they also sent me three smaller bottles that broke the fragrance down into its three basic components: the "top note" made up of lavender which I really, really loved. Patrick (yes we're on a first-name basis now) said he wanted that top note to smell particularly fresh, like "wind-blown hair" and it alone is so pretty I'd be tempted to wear that as a scent by itself. It seems that Patrick particularly loves the lavender and it became the running joke that whatever they did it had to have lavender in it. I don't know that my hair has ever smelled that good but I'd be willing to bet his does.

Then the next part was the "textural heart" which had fig--an unusual scent--and then came the finish which smelled very woodsy and aromatic with patchouli and other musky things like your musk and musk oil and musk ox--wait, not musk ox, scratch that. But this last part gives it a little bit more of the "man" smell that you tend to identify with men's fragrances. Which, by the way, is my only bit of skepticism in this whole thing.

He said several times that because it's a softer scent (and it is) they think of it as unisex, for both women and men to wear and that not only does he wear it but his wife does too on occasion. I have to politely disagree on this one and say while it is a pleasing scent for a man that it doesn't smell quite feminine enough for me--I prefer more of the floral scents myself--but then it's all in people's taste I suppose. If it's good enough for Jillian Dempsey who am I to disagree? After all apparently the woman knows a thing or to about attracting superstar Hollywood actors, right?

He even said he gave boxes of the fragrance to the whole Grey's Anatomy cast and that the stuff is sitting around on the set so that people can randomly spritz themselves at will. Hmmm . . . so I guess that means if you want to pretend you're visiting the show just spray yourself down with this stuff and don some scrubs.

But enough about the perfume itself, what about the man, right???

I took your questions to heart (except the "ask him if he'll marry me" one) and got some answers. Andrew wanted me to ask him if he felt intimidated by the legendary good looks of Alaskan men but instead we talked about his creative contributions to the project.

First off, he wanted this project to be more than just a photo shoot with "him holding a box." When it started he ran to Barney's--and right there it tells you what different worlds we live in. When he says Barney and I say Barney it's two different things, as I'm pretty sure he's not talking about the dinosaur--and he cleaned out their fragrance counter so he could start sniffing away and later sat down with the perfumers to decide what he liked and how he wanted the project to develop.

He was open and relaxed and said the most difficult part was finding a good name and package for it--that all the "good names were taken" and they wanted the packaging to keep costs down (I think this was the point where someone interrupted things by ringing the doorbell in his home to deliver some mail or something).

So I asked him if he had scents that brought back any memories from his childhood and he mentioned how he liked the smell of lilac but particularly remembered that smell of springtime when all the snow had melted and the ground was thawing and slushy which is really quite funny--I mean here in Palinville we call that "break up" and it ain't a pretty smell folks, but nonetheless it is quite distinctive and I can relate to how it holds quite a few memories. I bet you don't get much of that down in the Hollywood way. You say "break up" down there and people think you're talking about the tabloids.

He mentioned multiple times his love for Maine (his home state) and how he'd like to raise his children in a place where they can experience the excitement of the change of the seasons. Yes, I can hear you all swooning as I type this.

Andrea from Cosmopolitan asked him (and I quote): "Where is the sexiest place a woman can wear perfume?" Which made me simultaneously gasp and smile. First, because hey, she's from Cosmo and wouldn't you just expect the Cosmo question to have SOMETHING to do with sex? Heh. And then second I did a little gasp from the relative audacity of it. I mean here she is talking to P.D. and she asks him how to be sexy? Wow. I'm in awe. Even if I'd been able to think of such a question I wouldn't have had the guts to ask it. But then maybe that's why I don't work for Cosmo--audacious questions aren't my specialty.

Funny thing is when she mentioned who she was and who she represented he said, "Oh I know you!" and every woman there was completely jealous. Maybe those Cosmo questions stick in his memory.

Oh I almost forgot--what was his answer? Just in case you ever happened to meet the man yourself he said right away: "the back of the neck."

So there.

In conclusion, I am now going to tell you that I have a bottle of Unscripted for one lucky person here today, just comment and I'll draw a name at random Monday morning. I tried to get Avon to let me give away Patrick Himself--Holy Boost in Traffic Batman!--but his agent objected.

If you want to smell Eau de McDreamy yourself then I'd suggest picking up a bottle on your own because Avon is offering free shipping with a $30 order up until January 31, 2009 when you enter JINGLE30 in the box at checkout.

And while I'm on the subject . . . Avon has a clothing line out and they were kind enough to send me one of their dresses, some jewelry and a pair of shoes to try out and I have to say if you're looking for reasonably-priced clothing this is a great spot. The brown suede platform peep toe pumps they sent were adorable (I got several compliments on them thank you very much). Please note they ran just a tad big but not overly large.

I loved the red knit wrap dress though unfortunately it didn't fit me well--it was too short in the arms and in the overall length. I guess that's the breaks when you're that tall.

BUT . . . it was good news for Grace because I gave it to her to see if it would fit her better and it was fabulous! How many places offer you a dress for $30 or a pair of cute shoes for $34? Plus with the coupon code you get free shipping.

Anyway, the lucky random winner will get a bottle of Unscripted and a bangle bracelet such as you see above from Avon's jewelry collection. Not bad huh? Now if I could just get Patrick to do a guest post here . . .

Sponsored by Bugalug--Stay-put accessories for the urban girl.

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