You know what the hardest part of writing a post is? Coming up with a Subject and Title. Once I get that, it writes itself. I’m thinking of being bold, shucking off my Titling undies and going Title-less. But, no, my two years of High School Journalism — which consisted mostly of checking out the camera, heading to a football/basketball/wrestling event and drinking beer and creating fuzzy pictures, or skipping class on the excuse we were going to sell ads, but instead spending it in the car with my off-and-on “Mandatory Volatile Relationship” boyfriend burning one — will not let me do that. It’s like planning a meal. Shopping is fine, cooking is fine, even doing dishes is fine. Figuring out what to make blows.
Amouage Ciel — notes of gardenia, cyclamen, violet leaves, peach, waterlily, rose, jasmine, amber, musk, cedarwood, sandalwood, and the elusive frankincense. I am not so crazy about the opening –It’s nice, but a little busy. I’m finding with most of the Amouages, for me, they come into their own as it dries down, the open can be off-putting for those who don’t like what appear to be big florals. The drydown is when I keep resniffing them and finding so much joy in each one. Perfume Smellin Things reviewed it here (hoping Blogspot permalinks are somewhat behaving). I’m not crazy about the waterlilly (as M notes too) note that appears early on, after all the busy bee around the flower notes at the beginning, but once that subsides, I find my nose glued to my arm, it is incredibly lovely. Hang time on it is all day, and it gets prettier even when it is down to whispers on my arm. Be prepared to give it an hour or so at the start before you form a judgment. I don’t think it is listed as being available at Suravionline, but I’m pretty sure they either have it or can get it. So far, of the Amouages I’ve tried, this is the one I’m most likely to buy.
Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist — So much pressure from so many of you! I have tried Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist at least four times. From a sample vial at least twice, spritzed briefly from my decant when I got it. It’s the open that almost kills this deader than a squashed tick – it is so cold and slightly metallic, it is very hard to not form an opinion too quickly.
This time, I have concentrated as much as my Short Attention Span allows me on Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, endured that open without scrubbing it off or spraying something over it like a cat covering its dookie, and this is what I get:
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!!
I am a complete tool for ignoring this and hating it on the open. For pete’s sake, I know better with Serge stuff (think Tubereuse Criminelle). Once that open is gone, and the roots start behaving themselves so I’m not thinking I’ve fallen into a mud pit of iris tubers and can’t get out, there is a delicate spiciness to Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist that is just astounding and I never got to before. Very delicate, still a little cold and metallic, but incredibly lovely.
You can get a Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist sample at Surrender to Chance
Patty, no, no rumors, just figure everything will make it there eventually(?) Just hopeful, I guess!
Patty, woohoo! Yes! We must meet up! :d
Ina, if you weren’t such a nice person…. 🙂
BTW, I think I’ll be in Chicago in November, we must plan a sniffing expedition then.
Leopoldo — I’m still glad we are friends on this one. 🙂
Robin — do you think or have you heard rumors it may be one of those eventually? I’m stocking up from now on out on every limited run export from Serge.
Marina — >:p
Cait — I am hard pressed to even know what silk smells like in my head, but if I could give silk a smell, it would be Jalaine silk. I think you’d love the green tea and the vetiver, though, and maybe the Vanilla. I think I only ran across one so far that didn’t trip my trigger.
E — you are so not helping on the Jalaine thing.
I wish she’d package up in a plain tube a pack with a little more in it, but I’m thinking this sampler pack thing could work for me, just buy one a month.
March, I’ll bring my decant to NYC and wear it, it’s really nice for hot weather, so then you’ll know.
I didn’t think the waterlilly lasted too long, maybe 20-30 minutes, and then it’s been pure heaven. I’ve had just had to revise what I’ll put up with to get to the pretty, because the whole rest of it, after that, is just amazing.
Veronica, wow, nice score there!
Judith, agree on the Green Tea. I’m afraid to keep trying these, I can NOT afford to get even three of the. 6 mls for $90 if I do the refill. :(( :(( :((
Sariah, the first blast IS turnips! earthy, dirty, unwashed, just a little off, but stick with it, it gets tons better.
Thanks, Chaya. The open can be really offputting, like so many Serge things,a nd getting past them somehow warpedly makes the drydown better. 🙂
*looks around in bewilderment* Me? Was that me? Ah, but Silk *is* gorgeous! :d
ISM is gorgeous. Still waiting (impatiently)for it to be the yearly fragrance to join the export line.
Good.
On Iris Silver Mist — yes, it is beautiful, isn’t it?
I have often wanted a scent that smells like silk. Will Jalaine fit the bill?
AHA! Toldja!!
Phew! So glad you like ISM! It’s that touch of cinnamon that just puts me over the edge w/ this one and makes it my all time favorite iris scent. Oh, and that iris photo is *gorgeous*. Jalaine love is a painful thing for the wallet, but many are truly divine. I could not continue existence w/out her Patch, Vetiver and Green Tea. I’m in deep mourning for the loss of the Bagutta Life Lime which she didn’t bring over to the Jalaine line.
Hah — I KNEW it!!! I knew there was noooo earthly reason for you not to love that icky thing.:x I believe ISM is the one (repeating myself here) that Luca Turin said in his comments once that contains all the known iris-smellin’ components. Sort of the More Cowbell Effect. I would love to smell it on a genuine person other than myself.
Seriously, I bow to it as Queen of the Irises. It is not Serge’s fault that his cedar, in its many quaint guises, registers the precise note of armpit on me…
The Ciel, that waterlily note is just awful. I am still trying to make up my mind about the Dia. The Gold, however, is luscious.
Iris Silver Mist wax samples were included in both of ‘The Little Book of Samples’ I received from Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido. (I wrote a thank you letter and was rewarded with a second book. Having good manners – and poor French – finally paid off. Yes!)
From what I understand, wax samples only give an impression of the fragrance. I recall ISM as very pleasant; I stayed true-to-form and sought out Vetiver Oriental.
Agree about the beauty of ISM–and about those Jalaine samples! Now I would never even have THOUGHT to try Green Tea, and I love it (along with Patch and Vet, which I assumed I would). And the Vanilla grew on me–I think I may love that too. And I haven’t even tried the rest. . .Oh, boy! Perhaps we could talk her into making a somewhat larger “sampler.”
PS Thinking “Patch and Vet” would be a good name for a TV series–2 perfume=obsessed cops? Need more coffee. . . .
Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to give ISM another chance. First impression was TURNIPS, and I left it at that.
SO glad you enjoyed the ISM…now, all one has to do is bribe friends going abroad ! The rhizomal earthiness just blows me away- it makes me feel like a dog with its head loling out the window, while drving late at night down through Virginia… that wet, red soil smell you encounter after the rain.
I’m curious about the Amouages, but haven’t yet had the pleasure of sniffing them.
Enjoy your day-