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Looking for fragrance gift ideas for Father's Day? Here is a cool list, courtesy of Guillaume Crouzet from L'Express Styles. Even if you do not read French, you can still get the meaning of this style-exercise by looking at the pictures on the right. So what should the Adventurer, the Trendy Man, and the Romantic-at-heart wear? By the way, we loved the latest Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! I think it's the most sophisticated film in the series and I never laughed so much watching an Indiana Jones....
Continue reading "What Fragrance for What Kind of Man? {Perfume List}" »
Safe Fragrances For Mother’s Day - May 11th 2008!
These are fragrances we recommend as potential gifts for Mother’s Day (or if you are looking for a safe present on other occasions) when you have no idea what to offer and your mother is leaving no subtle hints to help you. They are suggestions that might be especially good for moms who are not into perfume but whom you feel would be pleased to receive a scent as a present.
What do we mean by “safe fragrances”? It means mostly that they are safe to offer. Sometimes we test a perfume and at the end derive an impression that it would be well liked by a fairly wide circle of people. Intuitively they appear to us as compositions that offer a certain sense of restraint and elegance without showing too many strong facets. They are generally easy to wear but are not that easy and pandering to the lowest common denominator as to feel bland and uninteresting. In fact, it is quite an achievement to reach this quality of being. Receiving them, we hope, will provide the same sort of pleasure as that of receiving a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Safe Fragrances to Offer To Your Mom In General
• Prada Infusion d’Iris
This one comes on top of our list, the rest of the list is free style. Elegant, discreet, feminine but still capable of making you feel excited about it. It is the equivalent of a crisp white feminine shirt worn by Grace Kelly. A masculine version is in the works but otherwise this composition is so versatile, it feels it could be worn by a man.
• Gucci by Gucci
A modern chypre with a very good sense of balance; it is very pleasurable to wear. Again, it is elegant, feminine without having just good manners to show for herself, but a real charm.
A Bit Riskier But Still Safe
In these two some notes - ripe full fruits - stick out more, yet they retain a sense of, again, balance and elegance that is easily transferable to a number of different personalities. Their glowing warmth is very appealing.
• Piguet Visa
The equivalent of a warm classic tweed made out of a sensual rich material.
• Badgley Mishka
A wonderful fruity chypre with a warm stewed fruit effect. It is elegant but somehow easygoing too. It offers great diffusion and is extremely long-lasting. It is a scent that never quits on you, in a good way......
Continue reading "14 Safe Fragrances To Offer On Mother's Day Or Any Other Day {Shopping Tips} {Perfume List}" »
Here are some suggestions for wearing spring fragrances, in several installments. Today, we turn to the "effortlessly chic" category. By that we mean that as lighter, fresher perfumes these fragrances tend to dress down a bit, but not overly so. They retain an air of elegance and sophistication about them mixed with a dose of studied nonchalance and casualness. Why should some perfumes be considered to be particularly appropriate for spring time? Their vernal quality is suggested by their rich yet still frail floral notes, their freshness, and their luminosity speaking of the spring equinoxe and daylight saving time. Green notes that are just a bit crunchy also contribute to this feeling of smelling half-open buds. These scents offer transparent, airy, cool nuances rather than ripe, decaying ones. When brainstorming about the topic, we had to realize that the house of Guerlain had been particularly committed about offering interpretations of spring perfumes. Nina Ricci too although only one of their scents is mentioned.
This is just a snapshot of a state of desire and daydreaming filled with memories about spring and evocations of some classic perfumes that might represent it best or accompany it best.
1- Diorissimo No list about classic perfumes embodying the yearning for spring would be complete without Diorissimo by Dior. Composed by master-perfumer Edmond Roudnitska in 1956 it remains a central reference as the lily-of-the-valley fragrance that has come to embody the very spirit of spring for generations of wearers. It is like drinking muguet-scented champagne on the pristine empty streets of a clean Paris in the wee hours of the morning listening to a party laughter that never ends. You own the city of lights and you own spring. It too could have been called Joy......
Continue reading "11 Effortlessly Chic Spring Fragrances: The Classics " »
 The Oriel Window, Lacock Abbey by William Henry Fox Talbot, 1835 or 1839 Halloween is upon us and with it the possible question of what perfume to wear to partake of the festivities or honor the dead. Halloween is not really celebrated in France. There was an attempt in the 1990s to implant the tradition there but it eventually failed although by 2000 it seemed to have picked up a bit. By 2006 however Le Monde and Le Parisien both declared Halloween to be dead. One can still remember an encouraging picture in a daily showing a spectacular row of pumpkins at the esplanade du Trocadéro with the Eiffel Tower in the background. It seemed to be opening a Roman Appian way or inroad into French culture. But somehow the symbolism of the pumpkin never took hold nor the horror movie cultural references past a few fashionable force-fed years. One can see it as a fashion, like the Christmas trees garbed in artificial snow and dyed in red or blue a couple of years ago in Paris and it soon died as a new tradition. Perhaps what the French were lacking was a vibrant Irish community to keep the fire of Samain burning. Cultural resistance to a wholesale import of a cultural practice now perceived as very American is faulted too.
Halloween in the US on the contrary is a monster event for the majority. The olfactory images it conveys are rich or at least potentially rich. But before we leave the shores of France, a country where a tradition of Halloween perfumes could have developed, we can evoke an immediate All Saints' Day association with the scents of Chrysantemum and Immortelle flowers that are laid out on tombs on the day of La Toussaint . We know one perfume that can suggest this tradition and it would work well in the US too with its dark maple syrupy tones, Sables by Annick Goutal........ Halloween party invitation on an old ice truck by Walker Evans, 1973-1974.
Continue reading "Halloween - Perfumes from the Crypt....... {Perfume List}" »
Without further ado, here is our Musk Hall of Fame list that offers short and longer reviews of eminent musk perfumes and our very favorite ones (at the end). • Auric Blends Love
A subtle clean yet warm musk oil perfume with woodsy undertones
• Auric Blends Egyptian Goddess
The most popular perfume in the line and a mild sexy floral Egyptian musk that blooms beautifully on the skin making you think of natural flowers.
• V’Tae Egyptian Garden
It smells like a musk perfume from the Egyptian antiquity would, steeped in herbs, mysterious unguents, and secret macerated formulas. It used to be worn by a high Egyptian priestess and evokes the honey, date, and almond effluvia that wafted from her well-oiled and well-massaged body. Longevity is so-so.
• Gap Musk
A clean discreet, and lightly sweet white musk oil.
• Coty Wild Musk Oil
The oil, we think, is better than the alcohol-based versions. A sweet woodsy musk oil reminiscent of high school dates for many people.
• Kiehl's Original Musk Oil
This is another classic musk oil that we also prefer in the oil-based formula. It was discovered abandoned in a turn-of-the-century to 1920s vat labelled "Love Oil" in the basement of Kiehl’s, established 1851. Everyone went crazy for it decades later. A musk oil with a marked floral lily of the valley facet, which is a natural phenomenon associated with musk in small quantities.......
Continue reading "Musk Hall of Fame: A List of the Best &/or Most Talked About Musk Perfumes {Perfume List} {Perfume Short (Reviews)}" »
 If you thought professional perfumer-composers shunned perfume layering, you were wrong. Fragrances considered to be masterpieces and classics of perfume history can all be tweaked to make them smell....different, equally or more interesting. Here is a little guide to perfume layering by a master perfumer, Jean-Claude Ellena, the author amongst others of Van Cleef & Arpels First, Bulgari Eau Parfumée Au Thé Vert, Terre d'Hermès, Hermessences, Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, Cartier Déclaration, L'Artisan Bois Farine etc.
PERFUME COMBINATIONS SUGGESTED BY JEAN-CLAUDE ELLENA No5 de Chanel
[to enhance the] Iris: Après l'Ondée (Guerlain)
[to enhance the] Masculine notes, aldehydes and lavender: Tabac Original.....
Continue reading "Perfume Layering Suggestions by Jean-Claude Ellena {What Celebrities Love To Wear} {Perfume List}" »
 Still looking for inspiration for a fragrant gift for Mother's Day on May 13th 2007? Here is a list of Mom's Day perfume gift ideas from Fragrance X.com. They offer 10% off your purchases. I realized they carry a number of niche brands and even sell samples. So the big question now is, is your mother a "Nurturing", "Desperate House Wife" or "24/7" mom type or ....? Check it out: • The Fashionista – She shops in the hippest stores and wears the latest styles even before you do. She’s chic and always makes a fabulous entrance. She’ll flip over Prada Perfume, Dolce and Gabbana’s By Perfume, and Alberta Ferretti’s Femina Perfume , a contemporary blend of green mandarin, guava, with a drydown of sandalwood, amberwood and vanilla......
Continue reading "List Of Fragrance Gift Ideas For Mother's Day - 10% Off At Fragrance X {Perfume List} {Shopping Tips}" »
Valentine's Day is upon us; don't you feel the excitement? I have a date with my husband and I know what cologne I will be offering him (see below included in the list of perfume recommendations for V Day.) I have taken this opportunity to compile a list of perfumes I think are particularly sexy - men on the street tend to sniff harder around these or smile brighter smiles - or which alternatively have that reputation and that I plan to try. They are usually one of two kinds for me; either they offer a kind of dry, feminine, and sophisticated sillage which puts a certain seductive distance. Or they are perfumes that have been made to blend in particularly well with your skin. I am not referring to one's personal body chemistry but to fragrances that explicitly use ingredients or bases that enhance the scent of one's skin.
Perfumes as Love Potions In popular parlance, terms like "love elixir" or "love philter" and even more commonly "love potion" have come to designate perfumes that have such mysterious effect ascribed to them as to be capable of arousing extreme sensual thoughts and even invite deeper amorous feelings through the sheer power of their scents. The very word "philter" speaks of love as it comes from Latin "philtrum" which borrowed the term from Greek "philtron" which in turn is derived from Greek "phileo" meaning "to love". We see a transfer of meaning from the original notion regarding what a love potion is. Originally - and nowhere else is it more famously illustrated than in the myth of Tristan and Isolde in the West - a love potion would have had to have been ingurgitated so that the magical combination of the various ingredients contained in it would have had the effect of securing eternal love through their absorption.....
Continue reading "Love Potions Or My Top Super Sexy Scents for Valentine's Day & Beyond {Scented Thoughts} {Perfume List} {Shopping Tips}" »
“I’m too sexy for Milan, Too sexy for Milan,
New York and Japan.” An Article by Dusan Z  Yeah, I wish. Picture your granny (no disrespect to Grannies Worldwide) in Victoria’s Secret’s latest lace extravaganza. Yep, she is sexy, not me. From time to time, though, I like to slather myself with a certain scent believing it will give me the aura of sexiness that I desperately need around me. The one that always manages to arouse (only me, of course) is Opium Pour Homme. Ah, oh, ooh and all manner of interjections come out of the bottle. It’s hot, smoldering, spicy and rich and so plush and creamy in the drydown that I just want to sneak off from seeing eyes and have mindblowing sex with myself. (Did I just say that out loud?). For a more intimate atmosphere I suggest the velvety EDP as it lacks the jarring fresh note in the EDT which will, however, make you stand out in the crowd......
Continue reading "Sexiness Expert Dusan Z Offers a List of Perfumes To Wear On Valentine's Day {Perfume List} {Men's Colognes}" »
From the niche perfumery Luckyscent and in particular the lovely Michelyn Camen comes the idea of a selection of fragrances and candles that was especially put together for those of us who won't be able to share the joys of the holidays with our families. A fragrance can be like a presence and so these carefully chosen aromas will fill you with memories or prepare for new ones. I don't know about you but after perusing their selection I couldn't help but think that these would be great choices to use in the period prior to the holidays in order to make these last longer than a couple of days and prepare us for the spirit of the season. I especially envision myself starting to burn holiday-themed candles in the period of the Advent...
Continue reading "Smell Like Home For The Holidays by Luckyscent {Shopping Tips} {Holiday Gift Ideas}" »
 I have finally come up with a list of Beautiful Black Perfume Bottles. Writing down these names and comparing the bottles amongst themselves made me realize certain common points that they share and some of the ideas regarding the treatment in black of perfume bottles. I will pick a few to see if the contents match the aesthetics of the flacon. I have already come up with the thought that some perfumes should be dressed in black to convey the full impact of their personalities, like Dzing!, Femme, Youth-Dew, Royal Secret, Réglisse, Sables, Patchouli Antique, or Lonestar Memories (yes, Andy). Which brings me to think that Coffee scents, as I see it, would be enhanced by black flacons for containers although if that became a dictum it would soon become boring. When I try imagining a coffee scent held captive in a pink bottle, it somehows makes me feel ill in the stomach...
Continue reading "Beautiful Black Perfume Bottles & Smelling Black {Scented Thoughts & Perfume List}" »
 Patriotism on holidays which celebrate national independence is expressed through many semiotic activities and foci of symbolic activities worldwide. In America, manifestations of patriotism vary from region to region of the American motherland (or is it a fatherland we should be speaking of?) -- in Boston for example, people feel Bostonian by going to listen to the Boston Pops -- but we can rest assured of two things: there will be national barbeque-partying and fireworks illuminating the many corners of the sky all over the 50 United States tomorrow. From an olfactory standpoint, we can muse on and say that the 4th of July smells in the base notes of gourmand smoky burgers, burning hot coal, gunpowder, tangy, sweet and sticky tomato ketchup, rich boozy beer and maybe sweet cotton candy and apple pie with spicy cinnamon and let's not forget, musky sweat. In the heart notes there are green grass, tangy-green citronnella, soft wheat, aqueous cucumber, sweet corn, iceberg lettuce notes, and a dash of car interior and car polish. In the top notes you might find fresh mint, tart pink lemonade, coca-cola, frosted ice cubes, and light, cool, and fresh baby powder notes. This olfactory rêverie may smell hellish a priori to some but since each year the same note combinations reappear and people still throng the 4th of July events, you might have a formula of success here.
Napoleon once haughtily remarked, "Impossible n'est pas français" (something like, "the word 'impossible' is not to be found in the French language.") This seems to be the motto of many a perfumer today and since many of them are French you might get a phenomenon of double-whammy hubris due to the fact that they are French and due to the fact that they are perfumers.  In any case, since no one has yet dared to combine these multifarious aromas of the Fourth in a single bottle, let's turn to alternative, ready-made solutions to express patriotism and love of the motherland through perfumes. How shall we convey that patriotic message? It is often said that olfaction is the neglected sense and hence, in our case, a clearly neglected source of rich patriotic symbols. As of today, it is not consciously tapped into by the vast majority of the population to express patriotism alongside with wearing star spangled sartorial signs. So if you contemplate wearing something more celebratory of Americaness than just deodorant, please read on and see what my practical suggestions are.
Continue reading "Scented Thoughts: Patriotic (American) Perfumes to Wear on the 4th of July, Some Modest Suggestions" »
 This is part II of my review of my library of scents for the summer. It is more than probable that by the end of this summer I will have made new additions to this list of favorites, especially so since I have decided that perfumes were like movies, able to set a mood, an atmosphere and easily consumptible in succession in the space of a day. A good dry down should last longer than a film though. This is on the reception side. On the creative side, I have come to think that the best artistic analogy for perfumery is cuisine. In keeping this idea in mind I understand better why perfumes can be variations only of a core recipe idea, rather than unique works of art. At the same time, it may well be that perfumery experiences unique constraints and deals with a different material altogether. It will probably take decades to sort this out. The Cour de Cassation in France has recently decided that perfumes did not merit copyright protection and that authorship in perfumery was a shaky idea. I think that they reached this conclusion because they laid great emphasis on the traditional heritage of French perfumery, the idea that all this know-how was accumulated over the centuries and that it has become part of the texture of society. Therefore perfumes, like recipes, should be reproduced with variations in accordance with your taste and the raw materials at hand. The uniqueness of a scent may well lie in the search and the finding of uniquely harmonious proportions, the creation of a superior recipe to be appreciated by the finest of palates, and the quality of the material used. But, just like one's taste for food can be eclectic and is influenced by one's personal history, one may well love both simple tastes, even childish ones, and more complex ones. Since the mega hit that Angel was and still is and the development of gourmand scents or notes as a result, the association between food and perfumes has become closer. And now, oenologists like Ginestet create perfumes because they see the intimate parallel existing between wine and fragrance.
So after this excursus which may explain why one may want to taste different variations of the same type of food or perfume, here is my list:
Continue reading "Perfume List: My Favorite Summer Scents, Part II" »
 1 - Favorite Summer Musk scents:
Pamplelune by Guerlain
Although no musk is officially included in this fragrance, as far as I can tell, it has a marked musky accord of the raw, uriney type. It smells like sophisticated sweat.
L'Autre by Diptyque
This one is very spicy and very musky. The musk note or accord is of the raw, dry, uriney variety. It smells like the armpits of a sexy, unshowered man, pardon my bluntness and giggle of delight.
Egyptian Garden by V’Tae It has a pronounced musky accord or note blended together with spices. It starts off smelling like the sweeter type of musk one finds in Musc Ravageur and ends up smelling slightly uriney. It has a great, spicy, and animalic drydown which I find very sensual.
Jasmin de Nuit by The Different Company It's a very musky jasmine. It is an interesting dualistic perfume associating the animalic with the floral while managing to keep these two themes separate from each other.
Continue reading "Perfume List: My Favorite Summmer Scents, Part 1" »
Here is another list of masculine fragrances for Father's Day from France. Some of these fragrances are available in the US, such as YSL Kouros Eau d'Eté, Hermès Terre, Herrera Aqua, and Givenchy very Irresistible for Men. And just for fun, I have translated some of the psychological characterizations attached to the fragrances. Expert in manliness, Maddox, writes in the Alphabet of Manliness that the hetrosexual man (yes, not heterosexual) is, or should be at least, deeply weary of any scented concoctions that are meant to be applied onto a manly body, "Acceptable fragrances for men are: sweat, grease, rum, or some combination thereof." You decide. I think it's a call for a new manly celebrity fragrance called Maddox which would include these daring notes. It now strikes me how the word "manly" nowadays cannot be used without some nuance of irony, while the word "womanly" can still be utterred without provoking the same type of grin. The term "feminine" is widely used, in particular, when describing fragrances. My Google searches retrieve 1, 770, 000 occurrences for the expression "masculine fragrance" and 274 000 for the expression "manly fragrance." Regarding the expression "feminine fragrance" I find the highest number of occurrences with the number 2, 730, 000 and for "womanly fragrance" the lowest, 90, 100. I still think that "womanly" flies better than "manly".
I will have to think more about these discrepancies...
Continue reading "Perfume List: European Father's Day Fragrance List " »
 I received this list, "Out with the Old Spice!", from Luckyscent and thought it might help you start thinking about the best-suited fragrances for the dads you know and love around you. Father's Day is on June 18. BTW, it is of interest to know that Old Spice was initially released in 1937 as a women's fragrance under the name Early American Old Spice for Women, but was quickly converted to a men's fragrance after just one year and re-issued in 1938 as Old Spice for Men. Initially, the Early American Old Spice for Women purported to develop a feminine colonial theme. The fathers' types list: •For the Outdoorsy Dad, opt for Divine's L'Homme de Coeur. With this masculine mix of juniper, cypress, and wild vanilla, he'll be transported to his favorite camping spot with one sniff.
•The Mogul Dad has no time to waste on weak aromas. He'll choose the rich and complex Bursch by Acqua di Bella. It's a deep blend of woody incense and myrrh with aromatic traces of pepper and coriander.
•Your Rock and Roll Dad will jam to the captivating aromas of Dorissima's Narziß, a favorite of Trent Reznor. It's a fresh mix of warm herbs, sweet green, fig leaves, and royal sage.
•The Metrosexual Dad appreciates the finer things in life. Kisu, a brand new scent from Tann Rokka, is a sleek embodiment of Asian traditions, with smooth and exotic hints of cedar, rosewood, and ylang ylang. Jude Law's already wearing it, and your discriminating dad will love it too.
•A Gourmet Dad will devour what you've cooked up when you give him Idole by Lubin, an exotic brew of rum, saffron, sugar cane, and bitter orange peel. His taste buds will tingle with this thoughtful gift.
Photo credit: Mildred Grossman (1916-1988)
Untitled (Father and child at the Pilgrim Prayer March, Washington, D.C., 1957)
Silver gelatin print
A list of the best scents for each season according to a perfumery buyer at Fenwick's Department Store and the manager of L'Artisan Parfumeur in London (be warned that there are annoying pop-up ads on the site). Check out the other articles on perfumes on the same site.
Seasonal Scents
 Here is a digest of a posh list of masculine scents as compiled by French journalist Claire Mabrut for the Figaro, September 28, 2004:
- The Man with the British Touch: he is chic but he is also an eccentric, seemingly conservative and classic in his appearance, but revealing a bit of a nutty personality.
What should he wear? Falsely classic scents which are a bit skewed:
• London for Men, by Paul Smith (his clothes are also by Paul Smith)
• Brit for Men by Burberry, inspired by 70's icons Keith Richards and Mike Jagger
• Original Vetiver by Creed (when in the City)
• Penhaligon Racquet's Formula (when in the City)
• Sonia Rykiel Grey when he goes back to France (where he is allowed to be more sensual apparently)
-The Business man: on the go, organized, busy. He favors a discrete type of elegance.
• L'Essenza di Zegna (his clothes are by Zegna)
• Ferre Lui de GF
• Jil Sander Pure for Men
• Carolina Herrera Chic
-The Bourgeois-Dandy: he just doesn't know how to behave ordinarily. His perfumes as well as his clothes and art objects are meticulously researched. Each ingredient in his perfumes must correspond to his personality.
• Cologne Blanche by Hedi Slimane for Dior (based on an 18th century recipe)
• Colognes à La Russe, à L'Italienne et à La Française by Institut Très Bien
• Guerlain L'instant for Men
• Hugo Boss Baldessarini (when on a romantic date)
-The Luxury Sportsman and Traveller: he drives luxury cars, goes yachting and travels to exotic destinations
• L'Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu (brought it back from Africa)
• Issey Miyake L'Eau Bleue
• Roger & Gallet Cologne (reminds him of Sicily)
• Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto for Men
-The Mountain Type: he likes to be seen at hip ski resorts. Likes refinement and follows fashion. He is also a seducer.
• Armani Black Code
• Escada Magnetism for Men
• Gucci for Men
• Yves Saint Laurent M7Fresh (when he skis)
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