About Me

Patty White launched Perfume Posse in 2005, and we've been yapping on and on about perfume endlessly since.

Multilingual Website

EnglishFrenchGermanItalianPortugueseRussianSpanish

Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium – major whinging ahead

Jan 262015
 
 January 26, 2015  Posted by on January 26, 2015 14 Responses »
Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium Perfume

Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium, when I first read about it, got my heart going a little faster.  A darker, more smoky, coffee-infused Opium?  OMGOMGOMGZOMG.

Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium Perfume

 

Then I read that Hedi Slimane said no to Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium by making it clear he had zero to do with the creative direction of the fragrance.  Damn, Hedi, I’m alarmed by this.  Early reviews of Black Opium seemed to go in the same sad direction.  It was initially released in Europe, and I did find it when I was in Paris. Oh!

I forgot to apologize for the lack of a post last week.  Never, ever think you can go to Paris for four days.  I spent at least that much time traveling, and I was exhausted from start to finish.

After spending almost 48 hours in airports and on planes, it’s an understatement to say I had some time to browse in the airport duty free.  There it was, YSL Black Opium. I sniffed the cap.  This was not the dark, smoky perfume in my dreams. This was a slightly sweet, generic concoction that I expect of mainstream perfumes.  Sweet.  Reeeeeeally sweet.  I tried to back out of expectations and wonder what I would think of it if it weren’t named YSL Black Opium, if it didn’t have that legacy behind it.  Who cares?  The people behind that legacy chose to slap the name on it, so I don’t have to forget its history. I felt the same way about Chanel Coco Noir.  Not a terrible fragrance exactly, just forgettable and in no way the heir to the Coco name.

Black Opium is a sad heir to what Opium was.  A frothy sweet dessert that would fit better in Paris Hilton’s lineup that YSL’s.  Ugh.  Why do two great perfume houses decide to double down on some of their best perfumes and do such a horrible job with seemingly no historical connection to the fragrance that lent them their name?

I’m pretty turnt up about the whole situation.  Notes of Pink Pepper, Orange Blossom, Jasmine, Coffee, Vanilla, Patchouli and Sandalwood (not listed, sugar, sugar, maple, candy corn, more sugar and syrup).  AND incredible stupidity.  Welcome to Chanel’s Stupid Flanker Idea Club, YSL.

I’d offer some samples as a drawing, but everyone would bail on me.  Instead, what have you guys been up to the last couple of weeks?  Missed you!  Have you tried this one yet, do you even want to at this point, even out of curiosity?

Mini-disaster Monday: Spilled perfume — broken bottles, broken vials

Jan 252015
 
 January 25, 2015  Posted by on January 25, 2015 31 Responses »
perfume disaster

perfume disaster I knew it had to happen sometime, but I really hate it when something breaks in the mail, and especially when it was a little gift for someone else. I had gotten a couple of Bond No. 9 Wall Street samples for a goodie bag for a friend’s son and they arrived just the other day. But I knew I was in trouble and a perfume disaster looming when I opened the padded envelope and the scent hit me with a wallop.

Upon opening, I found one vial had gotten completely cracked in two; the other seemed intact, although its wrapper was ruined, bubbling up, and drenched in scent. It might be OK, albeit unwrapped. But despite the obvious ruined gift, you know what was the worst part? Black ink all over my hands that I’m having a whale of a time getting rid of, that and fingers smelling to high heaven of a scent that’s not really my cup of tea.

When DH gets home tonight, I know he’s going to walk in the door, take one sniff, and give me “the look,” which basically asks, “For the love of Pete, what have you been up to?”

I know, wah, wah, wah, whine, whine whine. It’s a tough life, isn’t it? :)

But I’m just counting my blessings it wasn’t something nearly irreplaceable, like Attrape Coeur or Theorema or some other discontinued lovely. Now that would have been cause for inconsolable weeping.

Some might say, oh, it’s just spilled perfume, but we frag lovers would beg to differ, because it is so very, very disappointing. Especially when it’s a rare, impossible-to-find scent that we adore, and then it’s more than a disaster, it’s a real tragedy, out-and-out heartbreaking.

Anyhoo, please share your perfume mishap/disaster/crisis, and we can all commiserate with you.

Regence Kölnisch Juchten

Jan 232015
 
 January 23, 2015  Posted by on January 23, 2015 6 Responses »
photo

photoSeveral years ago when Marina at PST reviewed this scent calling it one of the best leather scents she’d ever smelled I know I had to get a bottle. She described it as almost “meaty” smelling, writing “It is a smell of old, black leather, tar, charred woods and unhealthy, barbaric but tasty meat cooked on campfire.”

Well how could I resist that?

So several years after that I happened to be in San Francisco and decided to pop into the only shop in the states that sells Kölnisch Juchten, Jacqueline Perfumery in Union Square. I have to write that I did so with some trepidation, since some people shared yelp reviews that painted a fearsome portrait of the proprietor. He has tossed people out of his shop, seemingly at random. Well, he was certainly the soul of gallic charm to me- slightly formal, but very polite and kind enough to show me some other items.

So- onto the scent. It’s one of the better leathers out there, and Marina is right- it’s so rich and tarry it’s almost fatty. Then the beautiful, soft patchouli comes in. Yum.

One of the odd things about Los Angeles winters is that although the days can get up into the 70’s the nights can dip into the 30’s, and most buildings built before, say 1990 don’t have much in the way of insulation i the walls. My old apartment on Maple had a crummy gas wall heater that would run for an hour tops before turning itself off, I suppose rather than just burning down the building (my new place has central, which is nice.) So bankies and comfort scents are a must for me in Winter.

Kölnisch Juchten is bottled comfort.

You can get samples of the original (which Marina wrote was even better at Surrender to Chance. You can get the one I did from Jacqueline Perfumery in San Francisco. I believe they ship. (415) 981-0858

Photo of my bottle taken with my iPhone. I have mo idea why it decided to lay down on it’s side. Maybe for comfort?

Jo Malone GIVEAWAY WINNER

Jan 222015
 
 January 22, 2015  Posted by on January 22, 2015 5 Responses »
Winner Is OnlineMr

Hey Crew, Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies doing a little GIVEAWAY of Jo Malone.

Jo Malone GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Jo Malone Red Roses Candle

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:(I am so sorry, this is a typo. there is ONLY ONE WINNER FOR ONE CANDLE)
1 x MINI Red Roses candle
P&H Anywhere in the world

I have added a second prize of 5 x samples from my collection

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide

Tell me a story of a favourite Jo Malone fragrance, or a time when you got red roses.

HOUSEKEEPING

Jo Malone GIVEAWAY! entries Closed Monday 19th January 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winner Is OnlineMrPhoto Stolen OnlineMr

CANDLE: Claire Ryder

SAMPLES: Solanace

The winners will have till Monday 26th January 2015 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

 Older Entries
%d bloggers like this: