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Delicious Night by Donna Karan is said to aim to capture the atmosphere of New York City at night. As is made clear by the website supporting the launch of the perfume, uncoverthecity.com, the scent targets bachelorettes in particular who are believed to be its ideal fragrance consumers and thought to be always potentially interested in a sexy perfume to wear on a night out with a band of girl-friends. Looking sideways at a potential mate is of course not forbidden and even encouraged if you read the perfume clearly.
Continue reading "Delicious Night by Donna Karan New York + Sample Giveaway {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}" »
Givenchy recently launched a new collection of fragrances called Les Parfums Mythiques (Mythical Fragrances), which includes a library of ten perfumes that were recalled from the prestigious past of the house. They are for the men's fragrances, Vetyver (the first Givenchy masculine scent), Monsieur de Givenchy, Xeryus, Insensé; women's scents are: L'Interdit, Le De, Givenchy III, Eau de Givenchy, Extravagance d'Amarige, and Organza Indécence. Certain perfumes had become true rarities. Vetyver is one of them; it comes enshrouded with the aura of legend as one of the best vetiver fragrances ever made.
Continue reading "Vetyver by Givenchy: Les Parfums Mythiques (2007) {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume} {Men's Cologne}" »
Hyacinths and A Mechanic is one of the latest creations by perfumer Andy Tauer. The evocative, slightly incongruous title of the fragrance refers to the initial vision of a rough mechanic, covered with just the ideal amount of grease, holding a bouquet of dainty hyacinths. The name wants to provoke a little gender clash between the terms used, between a feminine floral symbol and a masculine erotic one, homo-erotic we can assume in this case. Hyacinths & A Mechanic can be seen as Andy Tauer's daring answer to Jean-Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle. Flowers and man conspire together to create an unusual muscular floral bouquet with A Mechanic, who prefers to go for a slap of oil rather than a bath of milk.......
Continue reading "Hyacinths & A Mechanic by Andy Tauer {Perfume Short (Review)}" »
Kyphi Oil by Alchemy Works is sold as a magical oil, which is based on the 2200 year old recipe of Kyphi found on the walls of the temple of Horus at Edfu. Kyphi is one of the most ancient perfume recipes known to exist and there are many variations of it but they always consist of an incense compound macerated together with honey, wine, and raisins. This incense perfume was endowed with both spiritual and medicinal properties and burned in the evening by the Ancient Egyptians who customarily burned different kinds of incenses to mark the different times of the day. Edfu Kyphi more particularly symbolizes the transition from day to night. The reason why we suddenly felt the need to seek out some kyphi more recently is because when we received our sample of Hors Là Monde Shiloh earlier this summer and started feeling the charm of a perfume that has an ancient mystical and haunting quality about it, we wondered if it might not have been inspired by something very ancient like kyphi? When we put the question to Symine Salimpour, she would or could not say anything, so we decided to hunt down a flacon of kyphi.......
Continue reading "Kyphi Oil by Alchemy Works {Perfume Short (Review)}" »
Unforgivable Woman by Sean John is, perhaps not surprisingly so, like the macho dream of a women's fragrance. The slight surprise comes with the realization that this is not just a sexy fragrance. The scandalous flavor of the ad campaign made one expect to discover a sulfurous potion. It is indeed a man's trap, but in a more complete sense. In this case and after a while the soft powdery and creamy floral that is Unforgivable Woman betrays the desire of the man who envisioned it to be both seduced and protected by the woman who wears it. The age-old dichotomies of "la mama y la puta" or again the virgin-mother and the whore are somehow weaved into the perfume with its suggestions of innocent baby powder and powdered milk allied with the subliminally comforting notes of apple, pina colada, coconut, and orange flower and then the racier musk, patchouli, and woods.........
Continue reading "Unforgivable Woman by Sean John {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Fragrance}" »
Osmanthus Interdite (lit. Forbidden Osmanthus) by Parfum d'Empire makes a well-known cultural reference to the prevalence and appreciation of the scent of osmanthus flower (Gui Hua) in Chinese culture notably through tea consumption, as well as to the seat of power of the Chinese emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City. Marc-Antoine Corticchiato the founder and nose behind the perfumes of Parfum d'Empire uses the world history of empires to illustrate the point that raw materials used in perfumery were the objects of transactions and exchanges over the continents put in communication by deeds of war and conquest. The osmanthus flower in this case however is native to China.......
Continue reading "Osmanthus Interdite by Parfum d'Empire - New Imperial Trilogy, Part I {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}" »
Black Orchid Voile de Fleur is one of the latest Tom Ford additions to his house catalog of perfumes. As its name indicates, it is a twist on his previous major feminine launch, Black Orchid. It was originally conceived as the lighter eau de toilette version of the dark heavy floral that is Black Orchid, which is such until its dry-down, which toys with the idea that the best endings should be light-hearted. Voile de Fleur was created by perfumers David Apel and Pierre Negrin.....
Continue reading "Tom Ford Black Orchid Voile de Fleur {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}" »
Caron perfumes, especially in the pure parfum concentrations are deep compositions, complex, and from this very complexity derives an intriguing duality that one can find in several of them. Oftentimes they seem to oscillate between an oriental nature and a chypre nature, a deeper more introspective self and a brighter more self-conscious one. Yes, we thereby decree that chypre perfumes are self-conscious entities, aware of their effect onto others, whereas orientals just want to be left alone with themselves and exceptionally a few chosen loved ones.  The new Montaigne eau de parfum seems to have decided to lean more in the direction of its chypre facet, while retaining its oriental nature. This would be in our eye, a typical and logical Caron move, not surprising at all as it is a possibility contained in their structures. It is, in other words, a choice presented between more intimacy and more social ostentatiousness, between more skin and more sillage.The press release actually describes the edp as a floriental, a word that is a contraction of "floral" and "oriental"........ Dorian Leigh in Dior coat on Avenue Montaigne by Richard Avedon, 1949
Continue reading "Montaigne Eau de Parfum (2007) & Montaigne Eau de Toilette (1986-87) {Perfume Short (Reviews)} {New Perfume/Advance Review} " »
Parfums d'Orsay was first founded during the Romantic period as Maison Parfums d'Orsay by Count d'Orsay, reportedly in 1830, this date according to the brand but other dates are also put forth. 1908 is the more recent date at which the brand was brought back to life by German and Dutch investors with the approval of the d'Orsay family. The first date nevertheless alludes to a period in which the famous French dandy and man of many talents Comte Gabriel Alfred Guillaume d'Orsay (1801-1852) was creating perfumes in Great Britain where he had taken up residence.......
Continue reading "Tilleul by Parfums d'Orsay {Perfume Short (Review)}" »
Cadjméré is the latest perfume creation by Parfumerie Générale whose founder and perfumer is Pierre Guillaume. Like many other perfumes by the same house, the scent draws its inspiration from exotic elements as well as gustatory delights in what is fast becoming a sophisticated gourmand signature for the house in general. Since the beginnings of the brand, the fragrances have gained more and more in subtlety it seems and Cadjméré reveals a further level of refinement; the ingredients are blended more seamlessly, daring juxtapositions express themselves effortlessly, and the grain of the perfume is simply more refined.......
Continue reading "Cadjméré by Parfumerie Générale {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume/Advance Review}" »
Infusion d'Iris by Prada offers this well-known contrast metaphorically referred to by the expression "the iron hand in a velvet glove"; well not quite perhaps. It is not as velvety, nor as harsh as the expression might imply. But this is just an image and it helps define this principal contrast one finds in the fragrance between soft, fresh, floral-aldehydic and feminine facets and the more masculine and assertive woodsy vetiver and cedarwood notes that emerge later on to reveal a rugged side to the fragrance. The scent was created by perfumer Daniela Andrier working together with Miuccia Prada over a two-year period and is considered to be "the biggest launch in the Prada portfolio", which already includes Prada Women, Prada Tendre, and Prada Men. Miuccia Prada wanted a modern interpretation of iris pallida, of the much sought-after root of the flower originating in Florence, for the modern woman......
Continue reading "Infusion d'Iris by Prada {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}" »
In 1966, Christian Dior introduced a new men's fragrance that had failed consumers' tests, deciding to follow their instincts instead. Eau Sauvage (Wild Water), composed by Edmond Roudnitska, can be seen retrospectively as deserving of its name due to this initial movement of irreverence and freedom from marketing rules of caution. It owes it more particularly and evidently to its fresh aromatic notes; the perfume evokes nature and an air as bracing as if you were inhaling these notes standing by a torrent. The eau de toilette became a classic, adopted by both men and women, reaching across gender thanks to its fresh eau departure and its floral heart, enriched by a new jasmine-scented raw material called Hedione. The floral accents were felt to be a little provocative from the mainstream masculine standpoint at the time. Another element which might have contributed to its popularity among women we think is that despite its dynamic sport-scent-like opening suggesting the movement of a slap of aftershave on the face (rather than its smell proper), the scent retained a reference to a classic chypre, notably perceptible with the assertive oakmoss peaking through from the base and offering its contrast with the luminous top notes...... Christian Dior - Eau Sauvage corresponds better to this picture than the new one would, due to its more retro feel.
Continue reading "Eau Sauvage & Eau Sauvage Fraîcheur Cuir by Christian Dior {Perfume Short (Reviews)} {New Perfume} {Men's Cologne}" »
For almond perfume lovers, L'Occitane en Provence has a scent that is both pretty and comforting. It feels as comforting as a drink of Turkish sahlep sipped in misty autumnal Istanbul. The fragrance is called Blossom Dew in English and Rosée de Fleurs in French. The packaging gets high marks from us as the flacon is charming with the perfume itself offering a lovely milky and opalescent color due to the use of almond proteins in it........
Continue reading "Blossom Dew/Rosée de Fleurs by L'Occitane {Perfume Short (Review)} {Bath & Body}" »
Gwen Stefani L and Dior Midnight Poison -- we hesitated between categorizing them as "New Perfumes" or "Fragrance News". Technically speaking they are 2007 new launches, but the real news are not that they are new perfumes but rather copies of previous fragrances poured into new bottles. This is going to make our task easier but less fun also if all we need to do is type an = sign between two different packages. Alfred de Musset once famously wrote "Qu'importe le flacon pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse!....." calling attention to the effect wine has as being more important than the bottle containing it......
Continue reading "Gwen Stefani L & Dior Midnight Poison: When Bottles Matter More Than Perfumes {Perfume Short (Reviews)} {New Fragrances} {Scented Images} {Celebrity Perfumes}" »
Molinard is one of the oldest French perfumeries in existence, established in 1849 in Grasse, in the ancient European capital of perfumery for raw materials. Jasmin is a jasmine soliflore, whose first embodiment appeared in 1860 at the time when Molinard, following the fashion of the times, was building its reputation thanks to its eaux parfumées and soliflores. The scent is part of the collection Les Fleurs de Provence (Flowers of Provence), which to this day continues to propose a range of soliflores. It continues a cultural tradition that associated the personality of a woman with her particular bloom of choice. Like a medieval lady exhibiting her personal colors, a 19th and early 20th century lady would have left her signature trail of violet, heliotrope, rose or tuberose........
Continue reading "Jasmin by Molinard (1860) {Perfume Short (Review)}" »
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Fin O'Suilleabhain on
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