The new releases are multiplying on my desk like perfume tribbles, so let’s whack off a few, shall we? Wait, before we do that… I forgot about a drawing for a sample of Guerlain Iris Ganache, Bois d’Armenie, Pluie and Spiriteuse Double Vanille, and the winner is…. Helen T! Congrats, and hit the Contact us over to the left and send me your address!
Hors la Monde’s Shiloh — This is the one that Angelina Jolie pitched a huge fit over because her kid’s name was on the label, which is !Excellent! news for the Hors La Monde folks. Created by Michael Roudnitska, it has notes of lemon, bergamot, herbs, rose damascena, Virginia cedar, precious woods, patchouli, sandalwood, incense, oakmoss, musk, vanilla. The open seems almost winish, but it’s just the lemon/bergamot pitched against some of the other notes that makes it squeal on me just a little. Not in a bad way, just different, and not a combination I prefer. This dries down to a woody rose, soft, but just a little bit of interest with the patch and lemon/bergamot that still makes it a little bit of a boozy rose… maybe a little like Une Rose, but not quite as dark.
March and Louise and Judith and others have been squeeing about this Parfumerie Generale Cuir d’Iris thing for a while now, and Nancy sent me a little bit of it to sniff. It is a parfum extract from PG with notes of cardamom, Iris Old Black, leather, woods, vetiver, Rizophora tannin, amber, and incense. This is serious fierceness. It is leather, old and rough, gloves that have been worn in, worked in by a super-hot cowboy on the ranch that looks like a youngish Clint Eastwood, out in the blazing sun with just he and his horse in the moonlight, and he happens upon me while I’m bathing in the creek surrounded by iris beds… ahem. Okay, this stuff rocks. If you’re a leather fan, you need to sniff it. Didn’t March say the leather disappeared on her? I have a whole new respect for the eating quality of her skin because I can’t imagine this leather going anywhere.
I don’t have all three of the new L‘Atelier Boheme things, not sure why a sample of the third didn’t get stuck in, but I’ll catch up with it later. Immortelle has notes of Brazilian tangerine, Italian bergamot, light florals, pomegranate, amber, immortelle, per Luckyscent, where you can buy this as well as the Shiloh thing. On the open, there’s some note that’s just a little weird, not sure what it is, it may just be the tangerine mixed with immortelle and amber that feels a little tweaked, but after the first five minutes, this is pure like for me. After the first hour, I fall in love. I have to compare it a little with Annick Goutal Sables, because that’s the immortelle fragrance probably most of you know. Think of Sables as being that big, loud, lovable, handsome, perpetually drunk brother that tells jokes that are more than a little raunchy, he laughs too loud, and he’s usually great fun for an hour or so, but then he starts wearing out his welcome because he;s eating all your food, has taken over the remote, and he just makes your head hurt. Well, that’s Sables for me, and I’ve grown to like it for the first day it’s on my skin, but after that, it really has to go home. Immortelle is the nicer younger brother to Sables. There are different notes that surround it, and Immortelle is just, well, nicer and more polite. The longer it dries down, the more earthy it gets as the amber shows up to claim some nose space. If you’re not an immortelle fan, you’re not going to change your mind, I would guess, with this one, but if you love immortelle and Sables is your most favorite perfume, you may find this one a little too, um… well, it sticks around as long as Sables, but it’s not as fierce and over the top, and it doesn’t send me to the kitchen craving pancakes. If you like Immortelle, but find Sables to be just too, too much, Immortelle is probably one you need to check out.
My guess on the peculiar PG Cuir d’Iris notes; at some point in the chain a copywriter hiccupped and Iris, Old Black Leather became Iris Old Black, Leather. Reminds me of a long time ago mystified by a French recipe that appeared to call for a spoon of coffee oil until I figured out they meant a coffee spoon of oil.
I hate to say it about a PG scent, but Cuir d’Iris was utterly unlikeable on me/for me. I got no leather. What I got was dirty and powdery musk. Like a slightly more proper (and powdery!!) MKK.
Sigh. Y’know, Cuir d’Iris sounds like it should be similar to Cuir Ottoman, but I bet it isn’t.
Frazzled Lee, who drove 40 miles in 3 hours (road closures due to exploding gas canisters, or something). Now relaxing with the wonderful world of weird aka Fougere Bengale!
Patty, you are lucky you got immortalle from immortalle, I just got a fruity osmanthus and nothing else.
Now if someone can please explain what Cuir D’iris actually is…”an invitation only” scent? WTF is that?? I’ve never seen an actual bottle of it anywhere, so I assume it was a limited edition, but its not even on ebay. I don’t want to fall in love and then have it be unattainable!
You can order, it it’s under the Private Creation section. 1.7 oz is No. 327. 328 is the 3.3 ounce bottle. Hope that helps you get it ordered if you love it!
Thank you Patty for deciphering that horrible e-store! My only question is how you know that that product is CdI, cuz all I see are pictures of other bottles. God forbid I order it and I get the wrong bottle and have to deal with french customer service!
Well, I haven’t ordered any, but the source of this ordered it, and that’s what she used. They have them all numbered, and as long as you pick the correct one, you’re good. Lionel at PG speaks perfect English and responds promptly to e-mails, so you should be okay!
Hi Billy,
As Patty said, they will tell you by email. But if you click on the bottle, you will notice a code which contains the initials of the perfume and the size. I can usually figure them out this way (presuming I know the name of the perfume to begin with), but I still check my guesses by email.:)
Thank you both! I’m actually planning some pretty exciting purchases right now, so as long as I know they are still producing the CdI I’ll wait. I’ve been waiting four about 4 weeks now to recieve my luckyscent samples, and I will then reasses:-)
One caveat–it is somewhat powdery on me, and you don’t seem to like powder; you might want to sample first.
Michel Roudnitska can do nothing wrong so far as I’m concerned but I did wonder a little at lemon AND bergamot together. Will give it a couple more outings since Robin at NST reported love at the third go. Hm, that leathery iris PG thing sounds PERFECT! I had given up PGs because I found them too sweet but this entices me back. Sounds a bit like Andy T’s Orris and Lonestar (though I wondered if the “Old Black Iris” was a nag running in the 4.10 at Chepstow). Must try the PdEs. No point ordering samples at present though in the UK as there’s a flippin post strike (as reported by Lee)for the foreseeable. I’m trying not to come over all Thatcher just because I’m missing my samples when other people are being seriously inconvenienced. Wah!
I don’t think it’s bad at all, it’s just really not me exactly either, but I think it will have some fans.
You should definitely sniff the cuir d’Iris, zero PG sweet base. I wouldn’t have known it was a pg if I hadn’t been told.
Listen, samples in the mail are important. I mean, heck, I send them out, but receiving them is still just my treat for the day, love it!
P — I didn’t even KNOW about that Immortelle thing until you told me and I had just placed a sample order with Lucky (because, you know, the 150 unsniffed samps I have lying around here just weren’t enough).l-) (Where’s the “addict” emoticon?);)) Anyway, I am so looking forward to trying it. Sables with less of a lifetime presence would be lovely.
And as I said up there to Judith, it was the IRIS that Louise’s skin ate. I still haven’t tried mine. I want what Judith gets.
I left your comment one floor up. 🙂
I thought Shiloh was “meh.” So glad you got the PG CdI. I think March said the IRIS disappeared on LOUISE (as L haerself said). I love this, myself, and I do get some iris, a lot of leather, and some skank). It has a vintagey feel on me (more fierce old-time movie star in trousers than Clint Eastwood) tjat makes it really beautiful IMO. I, too, am so glad to see a not-sweet PG; the Nightbird was, unfortunately, much too sweet on me.
J — you’re right — Louise just ate that iris in Cuir d’Iris right on up, but my skin is so different I hadn’t relied on that.
Patty’s post has just reminded me :”> I have a samp upstairs so I guess I should get busy and put some on! I am hoping for your results, it sounds delicious. Actually.:d
Oooh, look, the word “just” is in there too! All I’m missing is “really”…
You are such an addict, fiend.
That’s right, Louise got no iris. I got very little, but that didn’t really make me unhappy?
Do you think it’s just the parfum strength in this that makes the more typical PG base not be there? If so, I think they need to do more of it!!! I get along with the PG base fine, but even with that, I do like this change.
Well, I don’t really know (of course), but it seems as if it’s just less sweet to me (i.e. in the compostition, not the concentration). Another that doesn’t seem sweet is Querelle (and this is true both in the regular EdP and the HC; in fact, these two smell similar to me, which would suggest it’s not the concentration). The Nightbird one, on the other hand, seemed much sweeter than usual to me.:(
Querelle definitely ain’t sweet!
Oy! Night Bird went to plain hot chocolate on me. Nothing else. But it lasted \:d/
Oooh! Actress in pants in old movie–must try!
PG Cuir d’Iris. *Want*.
Shiloh did nothing for me, which I’m sorry about, since I adore MR. I think I might have liked it had he just left out the lemon/bergamot. I know it doesn’t seem like a bad combination, but I simply can’t stand bergamot and roses together. Evil. Well, on my skin at least.
I’m w/ Louise – I *swear* there is an immortelle note in Fougere Bengale. I’m looking forward to trying that new Immortelle. Am not a huge fan of Sables.
Yeah, the lemon/bergamot really wasn’t working for me either, it left it boozy without being boozy. Weird. Lord, I must get off my but tand spend some time with those new PdE’s! The Bengale sorta freaked meout, but the Osmanthus, while not really ground-breaking, is relaly pretty.
I went in not expecting to like Shiloh, and it lived well down to my expectations. Plenty of just OK. And, of course, very brief
tenacity on my skin.
Now, the PG Iris was more interesting-and nicely non-sweet for PG (I am beginning to veer awayy from last years love for the line due to sugary scent issues). The Iris and leather started out very balanced and delish, but the cuir ate the iris, leaving a good, very tough leather. Just fine, but just leather. Iris is a difficult note on me, but this one sadly ran off.
However, I think I may have found my perfectly balanced leathery Iris in the new PdE Equistrius-the surprise hit of my Perfumed Court sample trio. It went on a bit strong (my friend said it was a little “sharp, but with creaminess”), with a perfect balance of the iris and supporting notes-leather, a little sweetness, a smmidge of powder. It morphed very little, and hung around awhile. Yeah. OT, sorry, but I liked it much better than the PG.
I’ve been curious about the Immortelle, but it sound a bit meh. I love the note, wear Sables on a cold day, and enjoy the note in other scents. I have a feeling that the Atelier would go pouf on me. I did enjoy the PdE Fougere Bengal, and swear it’s got a blast of immortelle in it, though I am told it’s an illusion!
You sort of answered down there, but the curiosity is killing me — how LONG does Sables last on you? Several hours? A day? Until you shower next?
On me, Sables lasts until I want to rip my own arm off, and God forbid I should get any on my jacket or whatever.
My bottle of Sables is very old, and a little off-it still lasts about 6 hours on me, but I am pretty tired of the scent in general-too sweet for me now.
Sables on me last for at least 24-36 hours, even through washing, and the outfit has to go to the cleaners to get it out. Glad I like it, although I admit, I do have to plan ahead. God forbid the weather should change and it turns hot! But on a drizzly cold day it’s just heaven..
I’m guessing the Immortelle would NOT work on you. It has pretty good tenacity on me, but I don’t think it would hold up as well on you. 🙂
The cuir d’iris was all leather on me. After it dried down a while, I did get a smidge of iris, but not so much that I could notice it much. Mostly leather, leather, leather!
Those new PdE’s are pretty great. The osmanthus is just really pretty, and the Fougere Bengal is a freak, but one i kind of like. I need to play with Equistrius.
I need to know – how freaky is it on you? My bottle was mysteriously in my hallway – I just got in. There’s no post today or for the next 6 days. How’d it get there?
Anyways I’m smelling delighfully of raisins, curry, licorice, gingerbread, spice and half the world. Sheesh – I’m loving this big ole mess.
Oh, and immortelle. But non-sweet immortelle, if that’s possible with all those other notes afloating around!
Fairies. Fragrance fairies brought it.:-$ Because they love you.
I wonder what Iris Old Black is? A single-malt scotch that someone has stuck a flower in as a joke on the owner? You don’t think they could possibly mean good old Florentine iris, which is fragrant and indeed very dark? 😉
LOL! Interestingly, there is an iris called “Old Black Magic”–but I like your (1st) interpretation better!
Yeah, that “note” perplexed me a little, too. Weird!
The Shiloh was okay, just didn’t grab me.
Still waiting to try the new PG’s and the Immertelle.
As much as I love it, I feel you on Sables. It’s lovely, but it just does not leave!
yeah, the Shiloh was okay, but I wasn’t grabbed by it either, but it does seem to have some good lasting power!