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 Dzongkha is a Bhutanese word meaning the Bhutanese language and is the name given to one of the two latest L'Artisan Parfumeur creations, the other being Fleur de Narcisse. Dzongkha was composed by Bertrand Duchaufour and is a reflection of the nose's impressions while visiting the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan located between China and India. Duchaufour also created Timbuktu, Méchant Loup, Patchouli Patch, and Piment & Poivre from the same house. Dzongkha is the third fragrance issued in the L'Artisan travel series.
Dzongkha is an exotic leather scent further described as a woody chypre and contains the notes of lichee, peony, cardamom, Chai, incense, cedar, vetiver, spices, Indian papyrus, iris, and leather...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Dzongkha by L'Artisan Parfumeur" »
 1740 is the year the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) was born. As with the other eaux de parfums in the collection by Histoires de Parfums it is the name of one of their historically-inspired perfumes. The memory of the sulfurous Divine Marquis is said to have inspired the composition of a fragrance meant to convey the essence of seduction. The French text likes to stress that this is the scent of the most libertine of all the seducers and proposes itself to be the instrument of limitless seduction. This program will be carried out with the help of a "woody and leathery alchemy". Head notes are Italian bergamot, South Indian Davana Sensualis. Heart notes are patchouli, coriander, cumin, Indian cardamom. Base notes are patchouli, cedar, birch, Spanish cist labdanum, leather, vanilla, Everlasting (Immortelle)...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: 1740 Le Marquis de Sade by Histoires de Parfums" »
 The new perfume by teen star Hilary Duff, With Love, continues the very popular, some would say, unimaginative, trend of fruity floral fragrances given a creamy, buttersccotch-y twist. The genre was made popular by Britney Spears and is primarily destined to please a younger set of women (15-24). In this case, fine wood notes make it a more sophisticated type of fragrance susceptible to appeal to a more mature audience looking for a sensual playful, yet elegant perfume.
The perfume was created by Stephen Nilsen and Rodriguez Flores-Roux of Quest. It is a luscious gourmand fragrance with delicious fruity notes and seductive woods: sandalwood, cedar, and rarer "textured Cocobolo woods" undertones. I absolutely love the woods in this perfume; they are very finely textured. Notes are, among others, Mangosteen fruit, spices, Mangosteen blossom, Cocobolo wood, amber milk, and amber musk. I also detect a boozy note which turns out to be Champagne according to one source. There is also a rich sandalwood, cedar, and coconut milk. The Mangosteen smells more like candied pineaple than Mangosteen only approximating the delicate and subtle frutiness of the Mangosteens of my childhood...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: With Love by Hilary Duff & Some Thoughts On Its Similarities With Betsey Johnson" »
The latest creation by Serge Lutens and nose Chris Sheldrake is called Mandarine Mandarin. The lilting name given to the perfume reminds one that the mandarine fruit originally meant "the orange of the mandarin"and originates in East Asia. The historical evocation of an official from the past eating delicious oranges conjures up all the more golden yellow images of Imperial China. A sumptuous blue celestial Chinese dragon decorates the 30 copies of the limited edition of the perfume which will be available for 800 Euros from November 2006 at the Salons du Palais Royal. The price for a bell-shaped flacon of Mandarine Mandarin, without the blue engraving, is 100 Euros. Notes are Chinese orange, nutmeg, candied orange, peels of mandarins of Sicilia, Black Mandarin, Cashmere musk, clove, honey, beeswax, smoked Chinese tea, thyme, labdanum, rock rose, Tonka bean, and ambergris.
The perfume evokes to me a slightly complicated atmosphere of both intellectual and sensual exoticism. The perfume wearer is invited to travel on the notes of crystallized Chinese orange peels, Lapsang Souchong (black smoked tea), and the drool of the dragon or ambergris, amongst others...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Mandarine Mandarin by Serge Lutens" »
 Zibeline (sable) was created during the jazz and flapper era, in 1928, by Jacqueline Fraysse according to one source, or Claude Fraysse according to another (and perhaps by both) for the Weil house specializing in luxury fur coats and established at the turn of the century. Chinchilla Royal is another perfume by the same brand issued in 1927, the year of the founding of Weil Parfums by the three Weil brothers Marcel, Alfred, and Jacques. Both scents were innovative perfumes created as functional scents destined to be worn directly applied onto furs to cover the slightly musty smell that emanated from sable pelts. As an advertisement read in the 1930s, Zibeline was meant to be "Strictly an odor for furs." Indeed, both perfumes were advertised as fragrances that had been chemically treated to scent the elegant woman's furs without damaging them...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Zibeline by Weil" »
 Certain perfumes call to imagination the supernatural. These slightly unsettling scents retain an original magical quality about them and subconsciously impart to us the idea that they are the direct descendants of a witche's brew, are secret elixirs whose recipes have been closely guarded for centuries in the muted darkness of a dungeon, or equally, are love potions transmitted through a line of strong females who decided in the course of time to lay at rest their warrior suits to engage instead in the war of seduction. That type of scent, of course, is first handed down from mothers to daughters during a mysterious sylvestrian puberty ritual and marks their symbolic passages into womanhood.
Gucci Eau de Parfum has the irresistible aura of deep seduction. Its color, to me, contributes to its charm. The jus is dark brown, the color of root-beer with shades of greenish black. I personally love dark brown almost black-colored perfumes like Youth-Dew oil or Royal Secret as they seem to have macerated with the most profound secret spices you could imagine. My anticipation when I see those hues is that the perfume will reveal a complex, multi-layered hidden beauty that was captured in rare concentrated form and that the power of the plants was fully harnessed. The perfume was created in 2002 by nose Daniela Roche based on an idea by designer Tom Ford. Head notes are orris, heliotrope, orange blossom, and vanilla absolute. Heart notes are cistus, cumin, and thym. Base notes are patchouli, vanilla, and deep musk. At the time of its release, Ford declared "I wanted to create a classic fragrance that is very, very Gucci, something that is incredibly feminine and chic". The house of Gucci was confident enough to assert that Gucci Eau de Parfum "has the power to last far beyond the moment, and become a signature scent that is worn for a lifetime". To me it indeed reveals enough substance and character to be contending for a signature scent spot in any woman's life...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Gucci Eau de Parfum by Gucci" »
 Magical Moon is the latest perfume launch by the grande dame of Japanese haute couture, Hanae Mori. It makes its debut eight years after the design brand's previous fragrance creation, Haute Couture. The name of the perfume is said to be inspired by a flower harvesting ritual that takes place according to an ancient lunar calendar. The festival of Tsukimi or moon-viewing and the representation of a rabbit to be found in the moon reveal enduring beliefs in the magical character of the moon in Japan. The Nordstom site tells us that either in reality or in a dream or perhaps in an atmosphere evoking a little bit of both "Magical Moon was blended in a vat lined with blue moonstone. It was bottled under a full moon." It specifies that "Hanae Mori celebrates the rising of Magical Moon, the first fragrance whose creation was ruled by the moon..."
The fragrance offers a superb polished feel. I cannot help but note that just like Soir de Lune by Sisley which took about the same amount of time to bring to completion it seems to have benefited from the attention devoted to it instead of having been rushed due to multiple competing perfume launch projects. It is almost as if time itself allows perfumes to undergo a process of technical refinement as if having been sifted through a conceptual sieve...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Magical Moon by Hanae Mori" »
 The Piguet brand just released its re-edition of one of the classic scents from the catalogue of the former Parisian couture house of Robert Piguet following Bandit and Fracas. The original Baghari, named after the evocative name of an Indian town, was initially introduced in 1950, a year before the closure of the Piguet fashion house due to the designer's frail health. Piguet died two years later. (The reformulated Baghari on the left in the parfum concentration). I had acquired a small flacon of the vintage fragrance created by perfumer Francis Fabron in parfum concentration and was eager to compare it with the newer version in eau de parfum which was "rebalanced" by nose Aurélien Guichard of Givaudan. Judging from an advertisement I saw, the shape of my bottle is the same as one that was still commercialized around 1967. Aurélien Guichard is also the author of Love in Paris by Nina Ricci, Les Belles-Cherry Fantasy by Nina Ricci, and Chinatown by Bond no 9. In 2005, the young Grasse-born perfumer was recognized by the Fashion Group International and named one of its Rising Stars. The new Baghari is a lovely powdery and flowery concoction with discrete aldehydes giving it vibrancy. After the initial burst of fresh, aromatic notes it develops depth revealing a more sensual indolic heart where the jasmine rounds off the fragrance. A mix of slightly candied notes unfolds on a deeper sensual background composed of amber, vanilla, and musk. More austere woodsy notes such as vetiver, violet, and iris balance out the sweetness of the perfume. The drydown leaves a trail of powdery softness...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Baghari by Robert Piguet (The New & Vintage Versions)" »
The new Aromatics Elixir Velvet Sheer came in today. I suspected as much after having visited the Clinique website and seeing that the new version of Aromatics Elixir was already available for sale. So I decided to pay a visit to my local Clinique counter. And yes, there it was, the new bottle, standing all prim and elegant in the midst of a perfume tray, surrounded by its predecessors: Happy, Happy in Bloom, Chemistry, and of course Aromatics Elixir which was created 35 years ago in 1971.  The new jus is in a flacon that is sleek, willowy, and sophisticated. As you may have heard already, the juice offers a different physical texture. It is described as a gel but prior to reading about it, it felt to me like an oil of medium thickness on my fingers. For this reason, the new Aromatics is only sold in a splash bottle. The Clinique website has taken pain to specify that the perfume does in fact contain alcohol and that information that was circulated to the contrary in the press is not accurate. The tall stopper is made of transparent glass. It is all very elegant-looking and a pleasure to handle...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Aromatics Elixir Sheer Velvet by Clinique" »
The latest fragrance by Jennifer Lopez, Live Luxe, was created by Claudette Belnavis of Takasago. The fragrance is dedicated to J-Lo's love of dancing. Notes are among others, pear, peach, amethyst freesia, muguet petals, diamond musk, and soft amber.  Live Luxe starts with a sharp outburst of slightly tart fruits. It smells of mandarine, perhaps green apple, and overall of the concentrated and juicy smell of a Del Monte fruit salad. Underneath the frutiness, a creamy undertone already indicates the direction in which the perfume will evolve later. As the perfume unfolds a slightly clean ozonic smell envelops the fruits balancing out the creaminess to prevent it from becoming too cloying. (Now that I have read that there is an electric citrus note, that might be it; there is something in the air). Little by little, the fruit medley becomes less indistinct and a juicy pear appears on a peachy background...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings & Sample Giveaway: Live Luxe by Jennifer Lopez" »
The latest fragrance by Sisley, Soir de Lune (Moonlit Evening) was reportedly 7 to 8 years in the making. Philippe d'Ornano, son of the founder of Sisley Cosmetics stressed, "You can do a fragrance for a season, or a lifetime," (...) "We are choosing to build a fragrance that will last a lifetime."
The perfume comes 16 years after Eau du Soir (1990) and 32 years after Eau de Campagne (1974) the two previous perfumes introduced by the Sisley cosmetics brand established in 1973 by Count Hubert d'Ornano.
Soir de Lune is officially described as a floral chypre but it is just as much a fruity and animalic chypre to the nose. This new composition seems to embody the very Platonic ideas of elegance and refinement bringing those qualities to a new level and in particular making the scent appear significantly more sophisticated than the previous chypre found in the portfolio of the brand, Eau du Soir at the risk admittedly of cannibalizing the first.
The commitment to quality on the part of the d'Ornanos can be felt immediately upon inhaling the scent. You are struck here with a sense of accomplishment and refinement that makes you think that Sisley did not waste their time indeed as the fragrance has benefited from the extra attention and accumulation of experience. Soir de Lune is a great example of how perfumes can progress from one creation to another while paying attention to the same idea. Sisley have thus taken the same concept, the idea of a luxurious chypre, but it has now gained further polish and elegance, further depth in other words, characteristics that would be hard to just improvise or simply will, it seems. One can well imagine the number of trials and errors, the number of suppression of unnecessary details and effects. And the result is outstanding...
Continue reading "Sisley Soir de Lune (2006) {Perfume Review & Musings} " »
 The French jeweller from Saint-Tropez, André Gas, just introduced his first fragrance in 2006. It is called Ensoleille-Moi (Cast Sunshine on Me, Bathe me in sunshine, literally). It was composed by perfumer Mathilde Laurent. This profane prayer to the sun-god is yet another take on a beach scent, this time centered on Monoï. In Maohi, monoï means "sacred oil". In this case, it is more particularly a reference to a popular brand of suntan oil in Europe called Monoï Tahiti, but the Gas perfume derived from it is more sophisticated and polished than the original fragrant oil itself in which a tiare flower is seen macerating in coconut oil contained in a glass bottle. The original oil smells great but is more simply structured.
As the summer wanes, a little too soon alas in New England, my appetite for summery aromas may already feel a little décalé and out-of-season but how could I resist the luscious notes? If you like tropical beach scents you will fall for this one; it is a very good quality, complex, and elegant beach fragrance. If you uncork its flacon in winter it will easily ressuscitate for you the best days of summer or of past sojourns in tropical countries. Top notes are bergamot and tiare, heart notes are ylang-ylang and coconut, base notes are vanilla and white musk...
Continue reading "Andre Gas Ensoleille-Moi (2006) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 When one looks for a musk scent, and more than with any other scents, one hopes to find that sexy musk that will prove to be the perfect marriage of seduction and intimacy. When one searches high and low for a lovely powdery scent (like I used to), one hopes to find a scent evocative of something rare and precious, a concoction that will transport one through the sense of smell to a refined ancient boudoir, a lady's powder room in the 18th century. Both Musk and powder share this in common that they can powerfully call to imagination the skin of the perfume wearer through a series of olfactory, historical, and cultural associations. The latest offering by Les Néréides, Musc Samarkand, is a powdery musk scent that would have been even more evocative in my opinion had it seized upon an imagery such as that of "Madame de Pompadour à sa toilette" painted by François Boucher. I must say also that I have been several times to Samarkand and I have trouble connecting the perfume to that city. We need more spices to succeed in doing that. Of course, the word "Samarkand" is mainly used here as an Orientalist motif and probably in reference to the vegetal musk found there called "sumbul" which I believe is the same thing as or related to spikenard. On the other hand, had it been called Musc à la Pompadour or Boudoir et Musc, I would have accepted those hints without any hesitation...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Musc Samarkand by Les Néréides" »
I have just rediscovered Ginger Fragrance by Lush.The first time I tried it, the experience was disappointing as the opening made me exclaim "Wow!", but then later on I became gradually turned off by what smelled to me like a cheap, synthetic drydown that seemed to never want to let go of you.What happened? I have no idea, or rather I have some ideas that are purely speculative. One of them is the following: did they reformulate it? The perfume, by the way, was composed by Simon Constantine. This time the perfume is amicable all along. It opens with a complex aromatic bouquet that says "I am not a middle-of-the-road boring perfume'. The Jamaican ginger is nicely outlined, quite tonic and sweetened by the mimosa, jasmine, rose, and geranium. The drydown finally evokes the softeness and sweeteness of honey. There are woodsy undertones to the honey and a light tea-like aroma. It is a very nice, aromatic scent. Staying power is a tad disatisfying. It feels natural. I see it as a kind of affluent middle-class hippie scent...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Ginger Fragrance by Lush" »
 I will first review the advertisement for Insolence and then the perfume. My illustrations are in reverse order though; hope you're not confused already.
So I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to review the new Insolence by Guerlain as it would help me clarify my own impressions of it. A little trip to Sephora last weekend allowed me to get hold of a generous sample of Insolence as I felt that the couple of spritzes that were drying off my hand wouldn't be enough to get to the bottom of it. After all it's a perfume by Maurice Roucel, the author of Musc Ravageur, 24 Faubourg, Iris Silver Mist, and Be Delicious, to name a few; there might be hidden complexity there. It is a also a newly heralded Guerlain generation of perfumes as the very bourgeois and posh perfume house is attempting to break its classic image and reach out to a younger set of women. With this battle plan in mind, Guerlain has decided to appeal by putting out a rebellious, insolent perfume and hiring Hilary Swank/Million Dollar Babe as its icon. Swank is perfect to embody insolence, the value, but the strange images used in the advertisement campaign seem to want to deflect the potential threat posed by the representation of an insolent young woman: the actress looks stultified, frozen, immobile; in brief, her insolence is safely put away in a place that looks like it might be a locked Swiss bank safe with the key completely lost in the netherland of aborted rebellious dreams...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Insolence by Guerlain" »
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