I am in the process of cataloging my scents and I am finding a lot of "neglected" ones. As I use them, I of course wonder why i don't use them more. Prada L'eau Ambree is one I think I have used once, twice tops since I got it. I was hesitant to spray today because it is a hot dry day, and when I saw the amber in here, I thought, gee will the harsh ambergis annoy me? But I know Prada scents are on the light side, so I sprayed anyway. This is perfect for a summer day, akin to the house's Infusion d'Iris. Actually, should have called this Infusion d'Ambre, because probably this gets lost in their regular collection (I myself cannot get them straight) Daniela Andrier has crafted a light take on the amber - it's there, but the light florals take center stage. It is very close to Prada Amber Homme (which I wore a lot when it first came out) without the men's soapy/lavander vibe. The florals here give the scent softness, with the amber edging it out. This is an elegant scent, perfect for office, as it stays very close to the skin, and has almost no sillage. I found myself tugging at my shirt so I could smell it. Even non-amber lovers will appreciate this.
Today will be a long day for me - a full day at work, and then flying to Los Angeles after. It's a short flight, but God knows where I will end up later. Whenever I have these kinds of days, I always want to wear scent that is tenacious - one that will stay with me till the wee hours of the morning. (I am almost positive I will go out after landing at LAX) Last week it was Dior's Oud Ispahan, and it got me through a similar day. Today I wore Chanel Coromandel - I wanted something strong, but also versatile - something that will withstand weather changes, bar hopping, and an after-midnight food trip. Coromandel is kinda rough - a big blast of patchouli and woods. But it is also pretty - amber, benzoin, vanilla. And since this is Chanel, it has the sheen of aldehydes. It's unique, but has an oriental feel that's familiar. I can imagine it on Coco Chanel, with her pearls and pearl buttons. I can also imagine it on a French businessman, with his blue shirt and navy tie. Whenever I wear it, I find something new to smell about it - as I sprayed this morning, I think I never noticed how pine-y it is in the beginning. Now, about two hours after, my arm smells mineral-ly - I sense a little bit of dirt in the patchouli. It is a perfume that evolves as you wear it, and I look forward to what it will smell on me after a couple of Gooseberry drinks tonight.
Does the world need another rose scent? Or more specifically, do *I* need another rose scent? That note is very much represented in my collection, but I don't mind. I like it in all forms: deep, dark, mysterious, or dewy, airy, light. When L'Artisan announced they were launching a new rose scent, I was excited as I adore their two previous rose scents. I wonder, how will they differentiate this third release from their other two (I do think one of the earlier releases, Drole de Roses, has been discountinued, though) Rose Priveé is a more light airy rose. It is sort of aquatic, but with a dark shadow. It opens like a rose fresh from the rain, tinged with a deep violet note. The contrast is immediate, and striking. It then continues to a more vegetal state - this rose veers more green than pink. It's slightly bitter with an oakmoss-y note, which makes this a lot more mature. The woods stay there to a woodsy rosey finish - I detect hints of patchouli which grounds it, and hay which gives it more softness. I like it a lot, and find it a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Though I won't be rushing to buy, it will be on my radar.
I guess Osmanthus Blossom was a big seller for Jo Malone when it was
first released as a limited edition scent that they decided to bring it
back this Spring as part of the Blue Skies And Blossoms series. I never
got a chance to try it the first time around, though I should say that I
did (and do) like he lace-crested bottles they had then. (Yes, I could
be shallow) So today I finally spritzed it, and asked myself, quoting
Peggy Lee: Is That All There Is? The Osmanthus note is not as common,
thought I love The Different Company's take on it. But here, in
Osmanthsu Blossom, I can barely sense it. It's so faint that all I get is the citrus and some fruit (peach? appricot?) and the over all effect is so pedestrian, akin to any other department store fruity floral. It borders on too-sweet too, and the drydown is that screechy artificial sugary thing that I was shaking myself, asking, is this Jo Malone? That is, if the scent even stays on your skin for long. I gave myself little less than an hour and I could barely smell it on my skin. Yes, I want something light and fun for Spring, but I kind of want to have it last a little bit too. I am told the other two int he series - the Sakura Cherry Blossom, and Plum Blossom, fare better. Maybe I will have better luck there.
Since I always have tons of perfume samples, they always come in handy when I travel because I don't have to bring bottles with me, and not to mention TSA friendly. I recently found a whole bunch of Jo Malone samples, so I grabbed them for my recent trip. I find I never instinctively grab my Jo Malone scents, even though I have a fair number of them. It was hot and humid in New York City when I was there recently, and I found myself wearing the sample of Lime, Basil & Mandarin. And I had forgotten how glorious this was. Jo Malone is a brand with a steady mix of commercial and niche (and nowadays the distinction between the two has gotten so blurry anyway) I do suspect that nowadays it is the farthest thing from a niche: turn any corner and you'll find it. But for the most part, there is some thought and vision to the scents, and I appreciate it more nowadays. But back to Lime, Basil, and Marin: for a Jo Malone scent I found it tenacious, and enjoyed the heady mix of citrus and vetiver: the scent never cloyed and always refreshed. Teh basil gave it the heft that a citrus needed, and character to make it distinguishable from all the "cologne" type scents out there. Is it the most imaginative perfume in the world? I don't think it set to do that, but it is crisp, bullshit free scenting, and on a hot hazy humid day, brought the ice cubes for my lemonade.
Margot Ellena's Tokyo Milk is a line I don't really talk about much, but I should. It's a
cheap thrill in the best sense of the word. And it's Femme Fatale
series - darker, more mysterious scents - really gives you big bang for
your buck. At $30 for a 1 oz bottle, your return of investment is huge.
Today I am wearing Tainted Love, and it's glorious. I know marketing is
just marketing, but the scent really evokes something dark and
mysterious. It's tonka bean, and it clings close to skin. It has a
rubbery note that reminds me of a basement of a leather bar. It has
white musk that is sexy and raw. And there's vanilla, but the effect
isn't of a baked good, but more sensuous. There's even a bit of tobacco
and clove. I am trying to think of something else that is similar, and I am getting a lighter version of Bvlgari Black, or a sweeter Etat Libre d'Orange
Tom of Finland. And for some reason, this doesn't turn too sweet on my
skin, as most fragrances do. It definitely is interesting, a
head-turner, a head shaker.
If you weren't invited to Grace Kelly's wedding day in 1972, you can at least have the olfactory experience of being there when you are wearing Creed's Fleurissimo, which was commissioned by the Royal prince Of Monaco for her to wear on her wedding day. Can you believe I never smelled this perfume until today? But, finally, I tried on a sample I have of it. It;'s a white floral, with notes of tuberose, violet, Florentine iris. It's a nice restrained floral, and I don't know if it was originally done like this, what with modern reformulations. The tuberose is discreet, not having the traditional indolic tropical feel of most tuberose scents, and I think it is because of the violet note which gets more prominent in the middle and dry down of the scent. I like it, but don't love it. Without the "back story" behind this, I don't know if I would even give it any attention, though I have to admit the idea is very tantalizing.
I remember I was at Harrod's London when I sampled the first batch of L'Artisan Parfumeur's Explosions d'Emotions trio, and of the three releases - Skin on Skin, Deliria, and Amor Noctourne - I opted to purchase Deliria (which is still me favorite of the three, a sort fo a winky nod to the fruity floral) All the releases from the series have showed up in the discount sites, and I ended up getting all of them for a song. So I am now, today, wearing Skin on Skin. When I first smelled it, I remember thinking that it was okay, but it's been done before, most notably from Dior and their classic Dior Homme. A bed of iris, dry, powdery, sultry, sure. Skin on Skin doesn't go too far away from that formula - but with these added notes: Iris, suede, leather, saffron, whisky, lavender, rose, musks, skin effects. Add to that this copy: “Skin on Skin awakens our animalistic instincts – to touch, to get
closer, to smell…A carnal creation to be used without moderation, ” and that little blurb of the scent being a "wanton embrace." If you were to go by their marketing, you would think thsi would be a sexy, leathery fragrance, but on my skin, on this cold-ish Spring day, it's still just iris - and it's a pretty iris. I never get the animalistic notes (skin effects?and where are the musks?) I just get a powdery, powdery, and more powdery. I get a little bit of aldehydes, and it amps up the iris. I wish it was more interesting, but it isn't. I don't even get that explosion of notes that the Harrod's salesperson was selling - how notes come and go in a circular notion as you wear the scent. This is a well-done iris fragrance, at a ginormous price point. I never succumbed to that, but at teh discount that I got, it delivers only at this level.
This is why I don't like testing. I have a mountain of samples that I just can't bear to sniff. Why? Because, to quote Larry Hart, i fall in love too easily, I fall in love too fast. I used a sample of Amouage Fate and I was instantly smitten - it's so me : the incense, the honey to sweeten it, the cumin to spice it. Christopher Chong makes such beautiful perfumes and i wish I could own all of them, but let's face it, it's not so economical. Today was a nice cold-ish day, and Amouage Fate men was just perfect for it - the perfume bloomed as perfumes do, the cumin and saffron mix provided just enough warmth and didn't get too hot, with the honey providing just right amount of sweetness. I read that there's a ginger note here somewhere, and even though it is not quite prominent, I can sense it more than I can smell it. Is Fate Men the most original thing? Probably not. Is it worth the high price point? Probably, because you can tell it was done with the best raw material out there. Do I want it? Of course. Am I gonna rush? Probably not. If I want a very quick fix, there are other scents in my wardrobe that will do the same trick. But you can bet that this is going on my wish list.
When is neroli just a neroli? If it's in a bottle, it must be MPG's Jardin du Neroli. This perfume is just orange, orange, and more orange, and maybe some bergamot. It starts out as a citrus burst of oranges, but it is not sharp - it veers more towards the powdery kind. I see on Fragrantica that there should be some jasmine in here, it is quite faint and hard to discern. It's a little bit unremarkable, but at the same time it's not really a bad perfume - am I making sense? It would be a great scent to wear on a lazy summer day, say, if you were just going to be watching television, or doing chores. Or perhaps because I found a bottle dirt cheap that I just have a good feeling about it.
Yes, the Orange Blossom. It's a note I have truly grown to love - because on my skin it casts a wide range, from soapy (Penhaligon's La Castille) to rich and pungent (Jo Malone Orange Blossom) In between hose two extremes, it still pleases. Francis Kurkdjian plays with it a lot, and does best with it - his Gaultier Fleur de Male is an Orange Blossom masterpiece, in my opinion. So when By Killian released Sweet Redemption, their tenth and last in the L’Oeuvre Noire collection, I gladly gave in to it. Calice Becker, its creator, is known for big bombastic creations, but here she is restrained in her use of orange blossom. It's still there, front and center, and it is big and bright, but it is framed well by sweetness. This is an orange blossom that makes you happy, there's no exploration of its dark side here. Today it was bright and sunny, and when I was doing my morning walk, the orange blossom not, um...blossomed. It was glorious, and while you could smell the sweetness, it did not cross that headache-inducing kind. I love this, this is one of those scents that would work well with a tuxedo: it creates a presence, and stays there, never overpowering, never disturbing.
It's St. Patrick's Day, and I didn't want to go too "obvious" with today's scent. So I searched for something that evokes green, and I chose Creed's Iris Tubereuse (Look, add the letter H to Iris and you got the greenest of the green!) This perfume is from the limited edition Acqua Originale collection. Look, I am not the biggest Creed fan for a lot of reasons, but I found a bottle of this extremely cheap, the kind of cheap that you would be crazy enough not to grab. And this line is supposed to be lighter and more accessible. Say, if you were a fan of Jo Malone, this would appeal to you. iris Tubereuse is exactly how you woudl picture this perfume to be: a white floral bouquet of both flowers, with a slight tip towards the iris, and the addition of lily. The acqua is more in execution than form - this is far from the aquatic perfumes of the likes of Cool Water. This is a transparent floral, with a rooty iris. You kind of smell a little bit of the stem, thanks to the combo of musk and vanilla in the base notes. The dry down is a little heavier than the top and middle notes - it smells like you used a lotion of these flowers, as those same petals ripen. It's a little bit of an odd scent, or maybe I just think it's odd for a Creed scent. I don't dislike it, but I think multiple more uses will make me embrace it more.
My brother has started collecting Bond no 9 perfumes, so I have had a chance to sniff a lot of them lately. One that recently caught my attention is the I Love NY line, which originally came as a trio: the pink bottle for her, the blue bottle for him, and the black bottle "for all" I really do not believe in genderizing perfume: it's all marketing and hype. Of the three, what appealed to me most was the black one, the one that's for all. The initial burst is fantastic: a creamy hazelnut cacao confection that should sound sweet, but really is on the dry side, perhaps because there's a little bit of pepper there too. The cream note kind of gives me pause, but it reminds me of a perfume that's underrated: Jean Paul Gaultier's Kokorico. The materials used for I Love NY For All is better - there's longevity here that's not projected, but exists. the middle notes (on me) get darker, which is weird, as everything normally turns sweet on me. The creamy caco note gets stronger, and I bet a coffee lover would love this perfume. The patchouli-ish clean musk-y dry down seems a bit generic, for sure, but I am already impressed so now I am jonezing a full bottle of this.
Yesterday was one of those "just staying at home and relax" days for me, and that is when I grab samples from my ever-growing samples box. I always say I do this because I can concentrate on smelling the new-to-me scents. But really, I try not to use my samples (unless I am traveling) because a lot of times I fall in love with a fragrance and would want to get a full bottle right away. Chanel's Gardenia called out to me yesterday, and this, of course, is the 'modern' version, the one on the Les Exclusifs line. And of course, it called to me because I was wearing Annick Goutal's Un Matin du Orange the day before,and was on an orange blossom kick. Chanel Gardenia obviously does not have a gardenia note in it : it is a bouquet of jasmine, orange blossom, and tuberose, a blossomign white floral. But this version is slightly watered, slightly aquatic, and though it advertises as having some musk, I don't get it. It's nice and fine, but that's about what it is: nice and fine. It's nice and easy to wear, but it did not challenge me, it did not want me to reach for it. It's inoffensive, and I would imagine it is perfect as an office scent: the sillage is not obtrusive, and it smells "classy" enough for someone past the age of 25. Crisis averted, I say. If I saw a cheap bottle, i would probably get it, but otherwise, I have other Chanel wants (La Pausa or Jersey, for example) on my list.
When I left New York, the idea of Bond no 9's scents - celebrating New York City neighborhoods started to appeal to me. I have always had mixed feelings about the house, feeling them over priced for what they are. But, these are well-done scents, if a bit too conventional and safe at times. I sprayed Madison Square Park on my palm today, and I feel liek suddenly I am in love. And I ask myself why - it's a fruity floral, a pretty basic one at that. Opening with a big burst of "red leaf rose," it's green and smells of crushed leaves, and I loved it. A rose slowly creeps in. It evoked walking through Madison Square Park in a way, as you first see the grass on the grounds, and discovering a patch of roses inside. Then some berries - raspberry? something red - bursts in and it's well blended enough to have a great mix of fruits and florals. The scent reminds me of a well-balanced bouquet - there's equal parts of any ingredient, that the freesia doesn't get lost with the vetiver root, or tomato leaf. And it's good i guess that not one note really stands, and what you see is a beautiful painting. I am kind of loving it, to be honest. It brought a little smile on my face, and I can't remember the lasttime a fruity floral did that. Maybe because I have smelled all these cheap incarnations that I have forgotten that there is beauty in the genre. I think this perfume perfectly represents the park on 32nd Street, which, incidentally, borders the New York perfume district. Oh, the memories.
I am sort of superstitious, and I was kind of scared of Serge Lutens De Profundis. Look at the copy:
As long as I'm alive, so is my Death.
Every hero on a quest for glory is racing towards the proof of his mortality.
The scent of chrysanthemums and incense. 
Scary, right? But today, on Friday the 13th, I thought it was an appropriate scent - and it would even match my Floral Friday criteria. It took me a long time to get used to wearing it, and now I finally have a bottle of this. Maybe because death has touched me recently, and well, what else have I got to lose right? Maybe I really should take my superstitions away, because this perfume is as gorgeous as it gets. The juise id a deep violet, but this is a green scent as it burst opens: a bouquet of freshly cut flowers (hyacinth and carnations) and you can the flower's petals, stems and even a bit of the dewey soil where it was pulled from. It's creamy, rich, and melancholy. I know the inspiration is culled from flowers from a funeral but I imagine it more like a gathering of flowers from an early morning walk as I contemplate love and life. The heart of the perfume is chrysanthemum, edged by teh Lutens incense, though the latter isn't prominent on me. I smell just a hint of rose, though. All the flowers stay in the dry down, muted but teh presence is definitely there - kind of like a smoother softer version of a photograph. I love this to death (haha) and this for me is an example of how perfuem can be art: it makes me think, makes me reminisce, like a painting or a piano concerto.
Sometimes, when I get off at shower at night before starting my evening, I am at a loss for what perfume to wear, and tonight I just decided to randomly pick one from my bag of samples. Tonght's pick" Elie Saab's Le'au Couture parfum. I hadn't paid any attention to this scent, although I do like (but do not own) the original Elie Saab EDP, of which L'eau Couture is a flanker of. I remember the original EDP as a vavavavoom of an orange blossom scent, signed by one of my favorite noses, Francis Kurkdjian, who I think is an expert of the orange blossom note. One of these days, I should hunt for a cheap bottle of the EDP. So I am going to comment on L'eau Couture pretty much on its own merit, not as a comparison to the EDP. The top note here is also an orange blossom, but it's a pretty sedate one - it's whispery, but you can definitely hear what it is trying to say, which is that this is an orange blossom that's pretty and manageable. It develops into greener territory - much like a a dewy, spring-like orange blossom. On my skin, there's vanilla, but it's sheer and not cloying. L'eau Couture is light, but it's also sheer. It feels pretty, and you feel like you are not skimping on your scent. I liken it to a scarf that dresses up a tee. This would be perfect on those days when you are unsure about what to war, but want to wear something, and don't want your perfume to have such presence. I like it lots, and maybe I will hunt for a cheap bottle of this one as well.
I love salty scents - they have such a unique texture to my nose that is subtle but so appealing. (The Different Company's Sel de Vetiver is an all-time fave, and L'Artisans L'eau de L'Artisan's salty seaweed-y accord always satisfies) I got Jo Malone's Wood Sage & Sea Salt over my late summer vacation last year, and loved it. I thought it was prefect for early autumn - that breezy salty smell combined with the late summer vibe. But today, on a coold-ish desert winter day, it just defeated me. I love its salty grapefruit opening, and it really cheered me up as I started my mornign walk on this briskly sunny day. And the middle light woods notes brought depth and weight to the smell. But less than an hour after I (generously) applied it, as I always do with my scents, it was gone. Even my scarf, which I spray with my scent of the day, only had remnants after my morning walk. I guess this perfume is more like a cologne, and should be reapplied rigorously. I write this a couple of hours later, and it's so faint that I can't help but feel disappointed. I know Jo Malone scents veer on the light side, but this is kind of extreme. This scent is Christine Nagel's swan song as Jo Malone's nose, and I wish ti could have been a more graceful exit.
I think Burberry is a fine fragrance house. They may not be truly innovative, but they are always well blended, have solid longevity, and never ever smell less than they should be. Last year's release, Burberry Brit Rhythm For Her was part of a his-and-hers set. I haven't smelled the masculine scent yet, but I truly like the female one. It's a cheap thrill - online discounters have the small bottle for less than twenty dollars, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. The perfume centers around lavender - a note that is usually associated with men's perfumes, with that barber-shop feel. It's a harsh and sharp note, and in here, perfumers Nathalie Cetto and Antoine Maisondue give it the powdery treatment that it almost smells like vintage. It's a very bright and transparent scent, but also cashmere-like: warm, comforting, and perfect on a cold day. It gives you that "hug" feeling, akin to being blanketed by a furry throw - a Burberry wool throw perhaps?That said, I think the marketing for this is atrocious: it's supposed to be youthful and rock-and-roll-ish when this would probably appeal more to a slightly older demographic.
Do you like tobacco note, but think it may be too rough, too manly? Well, Diptyque's Volutes is the probably the perfume for you. The other day, I was wearing Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille and I was again admiring its richness and depth, and as I wear Volupte tonight, my initial reaction is that this is no match for Tom Ford's masterpiece. But as Volupte lingers on my skin, I begin to admire it for its softer virtues. About an hour after I put it on, the tobacco is faint, happy to be in the background btu still exerting its presence. What is more appealing for me is the iris note that takes center stage. It's pretty. That's the only way I could describe it - its a half-bloom unobnoxious note that's timid and shy, but has presence. And the tobacco gives it weight. As a house, Diptyque seems to be more mainstream than niche nowadays, akin to say, Tocca. They make pretty, interesting but safe and some say uninspired scents. Volutes seems to have been made with a target market in mind: those seeking for unobtrusive perfumes that can claim "edgy" notes like tobacco. It;s not that I won't wear this, but it seems if you want mid-range perfumes with tobacco notes, you get better choices in the market (Spicebomb or Burburry London men, for example) Diptyque Volutes i in the higher end of the spectrum, but less imaginative.
