I’m foregoing trashy Friday because the gossip is just not that good or interesting these days.  Instead I’ll review L’Artisan Dzongkha, which is good and interesting.

Up for Monday is the new Narcisse from L’Artisan.  Preview on that — I’m smitten. It’s not at all what I expected, less and more, and completely unique.

Dzongkha has notes of Litchee, Cardamom, tea leaf, peonoy, incense and iris, along with some leather notes.

When this first goes on, it is really bitter on me briefly, but it only takes about ten minutes, and it softens and gets spicier and warmer. I can smell the iris in there, it’s not the prominent note on me.  It stays buried under the incense and spice, just floating in and out of the smell zone. I know Marina got a lot of iris when she tested it. I’m getting spice and tea and incense, like Passage D’Enfer and Tea for Two combined with a couple of other notes just to mix things up.  I find it incredibly charming and original and absolutely perfect for fall and the colder weather months coming up.

So an update on the restylane/botox saga.  I did make an appointment to do the restylane for the upper lip, I need my pout back. Don’t know about the Botox. I may give it a try in a couple of areas, just to see, but I’m still debating and am leaning to not right now. The good news is, when I have it done, about mid-October, you all will get the complete report here!  Another thing I found out at my consult, they have all sorts of lamps and lasers that can get rid of ruddy cheeks. I’ve had ruddy cheeks forever, just sensitive skin and some broken capillaries. Not terrible, just annoying. But I’m going to sign up to do one of those treatments that gets rid of the broken capillaries. How cool will that be?!

Also coming up – hopefully next week, if it gets here — a review of the new foundation from Giorgio Armani.  I’m a huge fan of their illimuninating foundation, it’s the only thing I’ll wear, but this new one sounds like absolute perfection, it is supposed to smooth your face as well.

Now, bear with me when March is gone, it’s tough for me to do five days a week of posting, but I sure will try!  Some of the posts could be weak to quite weak, though.   You are welcome to poke fun at me when I do something really lame out of desperation.  Y’all have a great weekend. I’m off to go to the fall colors in my hair, the ambers and golds and beige and caramel instead of the blonde highlights. I love this time of year and the switch to the warm tones.

Patty

I´ve been conducting an experiment wherein I wear one – and only one – fragrance for an entire day, to see 1) if I notice anything new in the drydown and 2) what it´s like for the other 99% of folks who aren´t running around wearing six (eight?) different scents at the end of the average day. I had originally planned for this experiment to last a solid week; I lasted three days before falling off the wagon, but the experiment was sound enough that it continues on an occasional basis. This experiment also coincided with that peculiar time of year here, weather-wise, where it feels like fall but is not quite cool enough to be fall (or dig out my heavier fragrances), so I struggle to find scents that please me. But there does seem to be a trend in the type of smell I´m drawn to…

Hermes Hiris – When I was a nascent scent slut, this one shocked me – there is nothing particularly perfume-y about it. I love its chilly metallic élan. An entire day allowed me to enjoy the drydown, which is almost vegetal, a fact I´d not noticed before.

Andy Tauer Orris – I did a full review of this. A powerful, all-day iris, slightly medicinal, on a sandalwood-frankincense base that stuns me with its beauty. The drydown is spectacular, woodsy/incense and still quite present the following morning. I am still thanking the perfume gods that Andy decided to release this for purchase later on this year.

L´Artisan Orchidee Blanche - actually a very iris smell on me (are you noticing the trend here?) But there is something both sharp and sweet that begins to smell annoying after a couple of hours. I cheated on this one and buried it under some Passage d´Enfer.

Parfumerie Generale Iris Taizo – Well… I dumped on the whole vial, and I have to say I was less in love this time, it was very powdery on me except when I really dug my nose in and looked for the orris. I´m fond of the woody base, though. Still a strong “like.”

Acqua di Parma Iris Nobile EDT – Okay, I like it a lot, the opening is sharp and green-ish, but it´s only “iris” on me for maybe the first 20 minutes. After that it´s pretty much all neroli. It turns powdery and then is gone in less than an hour, so lots of re-application. Once my decant is gone, I probably won´t buy more – I want more lasting power.

Dior Homme – the iris part is lovely. If I could just beat the homme part down with a stick, it´d be FBW.

Lancome Cuir – I only had a tiny sample of this, not really enough to do it justice, and I can´t find anything about it, with the exception of Colombina´s review. I´m fascinated by the way it morphs from a rich, ladylike vintage floral into an almost shockingly butch leather. You leather fans should definitely check this one out, if you´re lucky enough to find some… my guess is eBay is your only source.

Miller Harris L´Air de Rien — I just had to stick this one in. Wow. Their website says it is “an exquisite oriental fragrance of amber, vanilla, neroli, oak moss and musks.” I say it is somewhere between a horse stable and the elephant house at the zoo. Strongly reminiscent of the barnyard JAR, Ferme Tes Yeux, that Patty and I smelled – only more so. Ina at Aromascope got some different angles, but at the end of the day it was manure to me. Lasting power is excellent. Unfortunately. I´m not sorry to have smelled it – it was interesting, and there are certainly worse smells than dung – but I cannot imagine wanting to wear this.

Well, that´s it – I´m off to Vienna and Budapest for the next two weeks, for some fun, some food and (I hope) some sniffage. Patty’s driving the perfume bus until then. If you can’t be good while I’m gone, for God’s sake, be smelly.

March

I’ve got three more Profumum samples to go, so I’ll finish them up today.  I was reluctant to do that since I was floating in a Iris Silver Mist cloud all day, and it kinda ruined my ISM buzz.  ISM is the only perfume I know where it is impossible to spray too much of it on. It lasts forever, but stays moderated, and… well, I’m still all swoony.  There’s never a bad day when I’m floating through it in Iris Silver Mist.  Okay, moving right along…

Antico Caruso –  Notes of citrus, almond and sandalwood, it’s inspired by the scent and atmosphere of a classic, old-fashioned barbershop.  Okay, I totally get that. I spent some time in the barbershop with my dad when I was a pup, and it does have the barbershop vibe.  I really liked the barbershop and watching my dad get his hair cut.  Um, I don’t want to spend $180 to smell like that.

Aqua di Sale — Notes of myrtle, cedarwood, marine algae, the aroma of salt on the skin.  It’s meant to be the smell of the ocean.  Well, let me see if the surf is up and pounding outside my window. You know it’s not bad as marine smells go, which I don’t care for normally, though it doesn’t seem to last too long on me.  As far as salty smells go, I still prefer Sel de Vetiver, which it reminds me of a little. The price point on all of these Profumums, given the originalityll and longevity, really leaves me a little cold. I like this one and would probably buy it if it was below $100, like 60-80, but not for the current price.  Tis a shame.

Aqua e Zucchero — Notes of orange blossom, wild berries, vanilla. It is meant to give the feel of orange blossom dipped in sweets with a hint of berry.  Okay, this is like caramel, only yummier. I need to eat my arm and grab an apple to go with it. Good lord, this is one of the sweetest, in a great way, perfumes. Okay, I really like this one, but, again, I’m not sure I want it hanging around on my arm unless it starts growing into baby caramels, but it would be interesting mixed with some other perfumes, I would think.

The only Profumum I didn’t get to is the Patchouly, though. Sorry about that, I’m not a patch fan at all and just had no interest in it.

Patty

Describing a particular scent is hard. Trying to conjure up an idea of how something smells invites all sorts of comparisons. Thus it is that immortelle, the fragrance note from the Helichrysum, or everlasting, flower is oft-described as smelling of maple syrup. That´s more accurate than comparing it to, say, a banana, but doesn´t really do the smell justice, because it´s more complex and peculiar than “maple syrup” would suggest. Here are some other common descriptions: a strong straw-like, fruity smell; straw, honey and tea; as well as words like warm, sweet, caramel, coumarin, fruit-honey, tonka. Osmoz.com says “essence of immortelle gives chypre, floral and amber compositions a particular charisma” and characterizes the smell as “red fruit, syrupy, nut, honey-flavored, tobacco.”

Annick Goutal Sables is, I think, the Queen of Immortelle – its powerful, oddball herbaceous sweetness is probably a love-it-or-hate-it. I have held the bottle in my hand a number of times but never quite manage to get the credit card out – unlike some of the other AGs, it is one of those fragrances that will not go away, and after 36 hours on my arm I really wish it would. Sprayed on a wool sweater it has the half-life of nuclear waste. But it is definitely worth a sniff. If Duel lasted one-third that long I´d own it.

Dior Eau Noire is a less challenging rendering of immortelle than Sables – it also smells of lavender, thyme and cedar, an elegant evening scent, and it is surprising because it manages to be dark but not heavy or dense. (An aside: all three of the Dior colognes – Eau Noire, Bois d´Argent, and Cologne Blanche — are worth sampling. I think they were released as “men´s scents” but are borrowed across the aisle pretty heavily by women.)

Finally, L by Lolita Lempicka is a warmer, brighter treatment of immortelle. I´d taken note earlier this year when it came out (including its absurd Little-Mermaid-ish bottle) but never got around to sniffing the sample Patty sent me. I tried it recently, and I was completely charmed. Notes are: bitter orange, cinnamon, immortelle, vanilla, woods, solar notes, musk. L is a sleeper fragrance, and if you overlooked it or dismissed it outright the first time, fall is the perfect time to reconsider. It has enough immortelle to be interesting but not assertive, and wrapped in its cocoon of gentle spices, woods and vanilla-musk it is a gourmand-ish comfort scent. I am on record as being not a huge fan of gourmand scents, but since Maurice Roucel created this one, I suppose I´ll make an exception. Helpful hint: layering it with 10 Corso Como gives it a wonderful herbal/incense base and mutes the vanilla when the immortelle starts to fade.

immortelle flower: osmoz.com

March

Notes, from Bois de Jasmin, of Chinese orange, nutmeg, candied mandarin, orange peel,  smoky tea, labdanum, tonka bean and ambergris.

When first applied, I get a lot of the orange notes, but there is nothing sweet or citrusy about this after it’s been on a bit.  The orange becomes a whisper, hidden behind the darker elements in this perfume.  It’s like being in a dark house that is warm and comforting, with a little cold breeze and one ray of sunshine coming through the window and hitting the floor. 

As much as I did NOT like Chypre Rouge, it just went bad on me, Mandarine-Mandarin is everything I wanted Chypre Rouge to be, though they aren’t the same in composition — just the feel of MM is what I wanted CR to be.  It’s at once bitter and a little sweet, dark and a little light.  Definitely unisex, complex and constantly changing while retaining the tension between the notes.  It’s a great composition, shadows of notes constantly shifting in contrast to each other.

When I went by my husband after spritzing on a cloud of this, he really liked it, and he doesn’t notice many perfumes I wear.  If he did, he would be commenting about every hour as I put on something else. 

I’ll be giving away a sample of this. Just drop a comment here, and I’ll do a drawing next week for the winner.

Winnner of the four Profumum samples is — Oscar.

The two winners of the L’Artisan Tea for Two samples last week (I know, I’m slow) are:  Rhonda and Rachael.

Just click on the Contact Us button on the left and send me your address, and I’ll get the samples out to you this week!

Patty