Archive for April, 2007
It’s become a yearly tradition on the fragrance board of Makeupalley to conduct the Top 25 Favorite Perfumes survey. I didn’t participate this year, and to make up for my negligence I’ll list them here (good excuse!) Lists are never fun when it comes to perfume for there’s no way I can ever limit myself to a meager quantity of 25. Neither am I willing to provide any sort of ranking for my fragrant soul is ever so capricious. Here goes, in no particular order, my top 25 as of today, Tuesday, April 17, 2007 (I feel like I should add the time but I’ll refrain):
- Guet-Apens/Attrape Coeur by Guerlain
- Metallica/Metalys by Guerlain
- Bois d’Armenie by Guerlain
- Apres l’Ondee by Guerlain
- Eau Noire by Christian Dior
- Bois d’Argent by Christian Dior
- Diorama by Christian Dior
- Miss Dior (in parfum) by Christian Dior
- Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens
- Messe de Minuit by Etro
- 31 Rue Cambon by Chanel
- No 22 by Chanel
- Coco (in parfum) by Chanel
- Coromandel by Chanel
- Cuir Ottoman by Parfum d’Empire
- Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle
- Iris Poudre by Frederic Malle
- Orchidee Blanche by L’Artisan Parfumeur
- Songes by Annick Goutal
- Le Jasmin by Annick Goutal
- Bvlgari Black
- Doblis by Hermes
- Enlevement au Serail (FK #3) by Parfums MDCI
- L’Air de Rien by Miller Harris
- Angelique Encens by Creed
P.S. Shame on me for not having reviewed all of them yet. This will be remedied in the near future.
April 16th, 2007
Seems like ages since I’ve written here but what can you do, when work sends you to New York with plenty of free time to sniff, your priorities change drastically (plus I had no internet access). But I’m glad to be back and report on my fragrant adventures. The first time I traveled to New York was about three and a half years ago when I had barely started out in my perfume addiction. I was thrilled to visit the fancy perfume shops but was also highly intimidated by the abundance of scents I knew nothing of, so the result was quite lamentable – I barely sniffed anything and bought nothing (the fact of accidentally kicking a dog in a shop didn’t help either). Many a times since I’ve looked upon that adventure with piercing regret – ah, if only I had savored the experience! That’s what you do when you find yourself surrounded by the multitude of perfumes – you savor and partake. This time around, I did just that.
My first fragrant stop was Aedes de Venustas, a posh boutique in West Village that’s an absolute must for any self-respecting perfume aficionado. I could literally spend hours in that store (it was close to two this time). Besides charming and very knowledgeable owners, the selection of niche/hard-to-find scents is simply incredible. Having previously smelled a lot of what the shop offers, I must say I didn’t so much discover as rediscover – Musk by Lorenzo Villoresi (powdered rose musk), Bursch by Acqua di Biella (warm, boozy spices), and, new to me, Yu, the $5,000 perfume that smells gorgeous and very much along the lines of Gardenia by Chanel.
Bergdorf Goodman required a couple visits. The beauty and fragrance department is one of the best around. My first point of attraction was obviously Guerlain. Iris Ganache, while a bit weaker now, is still a lemming. From the one drop I was able to spray it was a lovely mix of Cuir Beluga and Insolence. The Garden Ouds I whimpered about earlier are a disgrace to the house of Guerlain. Not only there isn’t anything remotely oud-like about them but the utter flat character is inexcusable, especially for such a hefty price. Thankfully, there was one fragrance I fell for upon first sniff – Mayotte, the reissue of Mahora, with a couple distinct changes (a separate review to come soon). Another magnetic appeal at Bergdorf’s was the new Tom Ford scents. I must say the appeal waned the minute I found myself standing in front of the display table – 12 scents in identical bottles with lots of similar sounding names (there’re lots of “noirs” and “blacks”), all smelling suspiciously like clones or distant relatives of Black Orchid. Frankly, I was overwhelmed. I started picking them up, one by one, and spraying on a card, only to discover one heavy smell after another, with not much identity or charm. But I won’t judge them yet as I still hope to obtain samples to conduct further thorough testing. What I found deplorable, however, was the presentation – way too many perfumes, way too alike, with nothing to back them up (what’s behind the name, for instance?) The conclusion: exclusivity doesn’t equal mastery.
My other stops were Barney’s and Takashimaya, neither of which had any substantial thrill (although still worth visiting). A real highlight, however, was the L’Artisan Parfumeur boutique on Madison Ave. It was my first time visiting the boutique, and I fell all over in love with the line. The perfumes are neatly and tastefully arranged on the shelves for you to interact with, the staff is ever so smiley and helpful (and French!), the whole atmosphere is just charming. I fell in love with the Mood Swings coffret again as well as the new Jatamansi organic body care products (I hear the body mist is due to be released in May).
Pardon my eloquence today – too many fragrant impressions at once. That’s what four days in New York would do to you. Ah, I want to go back already.
April 16th, 2007
I’m still in New York City, so no post today (flight got canceled due to snow in Chicago – really?). I’m having lots of fragrant and non-fragrant fun. A short overview of my sniffage will show up on Friday, hopefully. Good day to all!
April 11th, 2007
Everyone knows what a rose smells like, right? Well, not so fast. Those who have only a passing acquaintance with roses may think they all smell pretty much alike when they have any scent at all, but in truth the world of roses is a vast one, with a correspondingly broad spectrum of fragrances spanning a range from sublime to unpleasant. I cannot possibly touch on all of them here, but just a few examples may get you thinking about sampling some different roses, either in your garden or in a bottle of perfume.
Let’s get the unpleasant part out of the way first. A species called Rosa Foetida, a native of the southern Caucasus area of Europe, was introduced by rose breeders many years ago as a way to get the yellow and orange colors into northern European roses, which were virtually all white, pink and crimson. The hybrids did inherit the color – as well as a fungal disease called blackspot and sometimes the pungent odor of Rosa Foetida, a turpentine-like acrid smell. However, as new varieties were developed and crossed further to make new generations of hybrids, the smell of this rose mostly disappeared. It crops up in some interesting places, however. The very famous tomato-red Hybrid Tea ‘Fragrant Cloud’ has a distinct and pungent odor of turpentine on very hot days that cuts right through its sweetness. I never grew it for that very reason. However, one if its progeny is an interesting example of floral fragrance genetics. ‘Dolly Parton’ is a cross between ‘Fragrant Cloud’ and a black-red rose called ‘Oklahoma”, a descendant of the ‘General Jacqueminot’ rose famous for its sweet scent in the 19th century (and the subject of the famous first perfume by Francois Coty, La Rose Jacqueminot in 1904). Dolly got a generous dose of thick, jammy damask fragrance from this parent, and no matter how hot it gets, she is never anything but delicious.
Speaking of damask, that is the ancient archetype of rose fragrance, what we all think of as “rosy” and immediately recognized by everyone. It is also the type of rose most used in perfumery (it includes those called Moroccan or Turkish roses) along with Rosa Centifolia, known in the trade as Rose de Mai. Damask roses are powerfully fragrant and very intensely sweet, while Rose de Mai has a soft, dewy demeanor that is well suited to blending with other essences in perfumes. Sometimes Musk roses are also used in perfumes. They have a honey-like almost powdery scent that is very pleasing in the garden and in perfumes.
In modern times, old European roses were crossed with roses from the Far East called Tea and China roses. This is a broad term for a group of tender roses from Asia that brought a whole new range of fragrances into the West, adding delicious fruity and spicy aromas to the rose breeders’ scent palette. This has resulted in some wonderful roses that smell of oranges, lemons, apples, raspberries, peaches, cloves and other delights. One of my very favorites is a Hybrid Tea called ‘Rosemary Harkness’ that has the heady zing of fresh passion fruit. Another is ‘Comtesse de Provence,’ a majestically old-fashioned looking flower that smells exactly like sun-warmed ripe apricots. You can imagine how often my nose is buried in this one! My “Holy Grail” of this group, too tender to succeed in my climate without careful winter protection, is a butter-yellow climbing Noisette rose called ‘Marechal Niel,’ said to be scented of ripe wild strawberries.
One of these roses has actually been made into its own perfume – the Crabtree & Evelyn company bought the rights to a wonderful rose by the master breeder of English Roses®, David Austin, and named it Evelyn. They used it in an eponymous fragrance line that highlights its fruity scent. This rose smells (to me) of ripe nectarines, and is not very “rosy” at all. The perfume is the same way, and it is the least rosy of any soliflore type rose fragrance I am aware of. The English roses are probably the most fragrant of the modern roses, and many of them have unusual scents. My special favorites among them are the ones that smell of myrrh, which you may know from such perfumes as Caron’s Parfum Sacre or the many incense-based perfumes on the market today. The cool thing about these flowers is that the myrrh is built right in, no need to add it! It is extremely pleasing but not really sweet at all, just heady and bracing, an exhilarating aroma. Of course, I have my favorites in this sub-group as well, and the one I would choose above the others is ‘Emanuel,’ introduced in 1985 and named after the designers of Princess Diana’s wedding dress. This apricot-pink beauty hard to find now but its exquisite fragrance is a perfect blend of myrrh and damask, and I treasure my one bush of it. If I had room for a thousand of them, maybe I could have my own special perfume made too. Now, that’s my idea of a soliflore.
By Donna Hathaway
Image source: Illustration of ‘Marechal Niel’ by Hermann Friese, from Julius Hoffmann’s The Amateur Gardener’s Rose Book, 1905
April 11th, 2007
Quiet on the set! Dim the house lights, ready the “applause” sign, cue the guest-blogging-husband theme music… and, action!
“Hello and welcome, folks, to another edition of Ina’s Husband Knows Nothing About Perfume! Yes, your regularly-scheduled dose of perfume reviews and insights has been moved to tomorrow, when perfume aficionado Donna Hathaway will steer this ship back on course. In the meantime, an olfactory-challenged novice has the helm! Watch out!”
Okay, enough of that shtick. It was going from cheesy television show to something nautical, and that transition is too much for my tired mind to make right now. As long-time readers of this fairly young blog may know, when my wife gives me the task of writing here, my first instinct is to run away. Perfume is not a subject in which I am knowledgeable or even very interested. (I can hear your shocked gasps from here — an American man not interested in perfume?!) But over time, I must admit that I have grown to enjoy them. Part of being home with my wife is smelling perfumes, whether just floating in the air, on her, or when she asks me to smell something. Some women will wear a perfume for years (not to mention men who wear Old Spice or Polo for decades), making it part of their identity, but I don’t associate an individual fragrance with Ina. She is always trying something new and will often be covered in pleasant smells that she has dabbed on here or there to test. Ina will always be Ina, but she smells different all the time… and it’s always enjoyable to find out what she’s going to smell like today.
Before Ina became the perfume nut connoisseur that she is, perfumes were in two categories for me: “Smells good” and “Yuck”. That hasn’t changed much, but the other day Ina had me smell Stoned, and after it died down a bit I found myself saying, “There’s something animalic about this that I don’t like.” Ina was just as shocked as I was at the utterance, and with wide eyes she said, “There is an animalic note in it!” I think she may have even been proud of me in that moment. Yes, even Neanderthal husbands like hers can learn a thing or two about perfume, given enough time, exposure, and patience.
April 10th, 2007
I’m off to New York for a short trip (that also promises to be a very fragrant one). Mr. Aromascope has kindly offered to handle the matters in my absence – please stay tuned for his post tomorrow (the content and nature of which I’m completely unaware of). On Wednesday, my contributing writer Donna will do a wonderful piece on roses. I’ll be back on Thursday! Happy week to all!
April 9th, 2007
Olivier Durbano is a French jewelry designer whose keen interest in gemstones has expanded to perfume as an olfactory poem to the gem it represents. The correlation between precious stones and perfume is not a novel concept as it has already been explored in Armani Prive fragrances (Cuir Amethyste, Eau de Jade, Pierre de Lune) as well as the eclectic Stoned. The concept as such might not be novel but the approach certainly is – to convey the mood, the symbolism of each stone. This proved to be true for me as I caught myself focusing on the general feel of the scent more than its ingredients. The first two fragrances in the line are Rock Crystal and Amethyst (with five more to come), created in collaboration with the perfumers of Grasse.
Rock Crystal (the colorless variety of quartz) represents the belief that wearing quartz crystals benefits health and spiritual well-being. Hence, it is an incense scent built around frankincense and dry spices. Rock Crystal evokes images of old, forgotten small village churches with dusty interior and incense smoke instilled in the air. It’s dark but not brooding, aloof but not cold. I find Rock Crystal soothing and contemplative. It embraces and stays close to skin. While not particularly original (Rock Crystal could be a cousin to the Incense series by Comme des Garcons or Armani Prive Bois d’Encens), it is definitely well-balanced, a sort of a mellow take on incense.The scent features the notes of orange, pepper, coriander, cardamom, cumin, olibanum, benzoin, myrrh, cistus, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, everlasting flower, oakmoss, musk.
In contrast, Amethyst, much like the gemstone, is a vivid, robust scent. Symbolizing peace of mind and protection, it is a playful composition with an uplifting effect. The scent is built around fruity and floral notes (quite successfully, I must say), spiced up by pepper, and rounded by vanillic orris. It’s rather sweet and aromatic bringing to mind such scents as Haute Couture by Givenchy or even Putain des Palaces by Etat Libre D’Orange. The incense here has a suede-like, slightly minty undertone. The scent very much conveys the intensity of the color purple. While I find it quite pleasant, it doesn’t seem to grab me as much as Rock Crystal does (which is probably due to my general lack of interest in fruity-florals). The featured notes are bergamot, pepper, grape, raspberry, incense, palisander wood, jasmine, orris, vegetable amber, sandalwood, musk, vanilla.
Rock Crystal and Amethyst are available at Luckyscent and Aus Liebe Zum Duft.
Image source: luckyscent.com
April 8th, 2007
Being a slight organization freak, I store my samples based on their category: vintage, niche/rare, niche/rare in plastic baggies, department store, and miscellaneous. The containers I use are along the lines of these boxes from IKEA, except mine are plain paper appliqued cardboard, of 4 different sizes (the store must be out of them right now). When the Needle In A Haystack project started, I’ve drawn from only one box – the niche/rare one. This time I’ve decided to add more variety and used the niche/rare in plastic baggies box. Yoo-hoo! Are you still awake? Back to the project at hand – a rather funny turn of events this time. Just as the weather got menacingly cold again, I pull out none other but a springlike white floral – Cradle of Light by CB I Hate Perfume.
CB I Hate Perfume is a New York based niche perfume house established by Christopher Brosius (previously known for Demeter fragrances). If I had to characterize it in one word, I’d say CB I Hate Perfume creations are avant-garde. They’re experiences more than scented commodity, “an art that shows us who we can be if we dare – an invisible portrait of who we are” (in the words of Christopher Brosius himself). Cradle of Light is no exception.
Built around white flower absolutes (Moroccan, Indian, Egyptian, Tunisian jasmine grandiflorum, Indian night blooming jasmine, jonquil, narcissus, tuberose, white lotus), it doesn’t smell like your typical spring white floral. In fact, the initial impression is borderline unpleasant – the flowers are raw and unpolished, with a dirty undertone, as if they’ve just been uprooted from the damp spring soil. Strange as it may seem, in spite of having so much jasmine, what I smell more than anything is daffodils. I absolutely, passionately adore daffodils but have not found a perfect daffodil perfume. Cradle of Light very well might be it. As the scent settles on skin, the flowers grow more and more illuminated, as if blooming right in front of your eyes. The drydown is where everything changes. Based on sumac, tomato, and violet leaves, CBMUSK (a rich, sour-animalic accord), and sandalwood, it sort of smothers the effervescent daffodils. I keep having this image of someone viciously stomping this gorgeous bouquet into the dirt with their rubber boots. The Cradle of Light turns into a cradle of dirt, and the weird thing is – I think I actually like it.
Cradle of Light is available at CB I Hate Perfume online shop as well as Bergdorf Goodman in New York.
Please be sure to check Marina’s lucky draw of the day.
Image source: cbihateperfume.com, corbis.com
April 5th, 2007
Today I just want to dream (and drool) about a few scents from my wishlist. Being a Guerlain maniac, I can’t help but get all atwitter about the following new releases:
Chamade Pour Homme – bergamot, black pepper, violet, hyacinth, nutmeg, precious woods, vetiver, leather. Available at the Paris boutique since February.
Le Muguet – originally created in 1914 and released yearly since 1998 as a one day limited edition (300 bottles only), on April 28. A luxurious lily of the valley! Ah, the bottle makes me weak in the knees.
Garden Oud Oils – yes, I kvetch about the price (200 Euro for a mere 20 ml bottle) but, truth be told, I’m dying to smell these. Garden Sensuel for Women – neroli, ylang-ylang, gardenia, peach, tonka bean, vanilla, sandalwood. Oud Sensuel for Men – neroli, cardamom, geranium, iris, oud, cedarwood, tonka bean.
In my book, Guerlain can do no wrong.
What’s on your wishlist?
Image source: parfumessence.com
April 4th, 2007
Today I’m comparing three scents that are not exactly smell-alikes but that have at least three notes in common out of leather, violet, birch, and rose. The three scents are Armani Privé Cuir Amèthyste, Heeley Fine Leather, and Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces. Leather is actually not listed among the notes I found for Cuir Amèthyste but since it’s in the name I assume it’s there, which means it scores four out of four:
Cuir Amèthyste: coriander, bergamot, rose, violet, birch, patchouli, labdanum, vanilla, benzoin
Fine Leather: violet, mimosa, birch, leather, vetiver
Putain des Palaces: rose, violet, leather, mandarin, ginger, amber, animal notes, face powder
I didn’t quite trust my nose when I did the side-by-side tests, so my impressions are based partly upon my old notes from when I tried them one by one, weeks apart. I blame PMS, which I will henceforth take to stand for Perfume Muting Syndrome, since that’s what it does – making all scents weirdly dull and flat and plasticky. At least I hope it’s PMS, I want my pretty smellies back!
Fine Leather is supposed to be a sophisticated leather scent for gentlemen. The leather is refined indeed, so refined I can hardly detect it at all. What dominates is the cool, sweetish, slightly stale scent of birch sap. The first time I tried it I got a lot of cool, unsweetened, slightly soapy/sharp violets, and I didn’t find it particularly masculine. I thought it was a scent for a sentimental, very young, early 20th century poet wandering around in a birch grove on a melancholy spring evening. Retrying it, I get a lot less violet and find it much more masculine. In fact, it verges upon the generic type of supposedly “fresh” men’s scents I loathe. It’s not the coolness of mint, luckily, it’s the coolness of birch sap, which makes it a little more interesting. The birch and leather also make the scent slightly spicy or aromatic, verging upon a fougère rather than some horrid ozone/aquatic. Still a huge letdown after my romantic first impressions.
When I first tried Cuir Amèthyste it reminded me a lot of my first impression of Fine Leather: cool violets and birch on soft, subdued leather. Unlike Fine Leather, it had the added sweetness of rose and a subtly earthy tone, but it was just as melancholy and beautiful, like a cool early summer night in a palace garden. Upon retrying it, I find it powdery sweet with candied violets, more in the vein of Putain des Palaces. It’s still cooler and less sweet than Putain des Palaces, with a more pronounced violet note and the slightest hint of birch. It reminds me mostly of the soft, supple floral leather that is Chanel’s take on Cuir de Russie. They share a quality I associate with white musk: a certain soft, powdery sweetness not uncommon in luxurious scented lotion. Alas, where did my palace garden with a variety of natural odours floating upon the cool evening breeze go?
The violets in Putain des Palaces are definitely candied, and it’s more evocative of a boudoir than of a garden or grove. Still, it has something in common with Cuir Amèthyste. Judging from the last time I tried Cuir Amèthyste, they’re both soft, sweet and powdery with some candied yet cool violets thrown in. Putain des Palaces isn’t all sweet either. It’s almost sweet-and-sour, with emphasis on sweet, but still with a rather mouthwatering green/citrusy sourness which I assume is the ginger. It makes it more chic than white thrash, despite the candy sweetness. Another quality I really enjoy is a feeling of warm skin with smudged makeup and a hint of fresh perspiration. Just a hint. This may be due to the face powder and the powdery warmth of amber, one of my favourite notes.
By Tove Solander
Image source: osmoz.com, luckyscent.com
April 3rd, 2007
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