As we often tell y’all, some days you’re just not sure what perfumes to write about, and there’s just no cohesive few that go together for a review or thoughts… and, hey! today’s one of those days.
With notes of buckwheat, cereals, milk, apple and vanilla, Lostmarc’h Lann-ael seems like some sentimentalized version of Fruit Loops. And you know what? It is. Love the smell of Fruit Loops. That twisted mix of grains and sweet is intoxicating on the open, with the sugar in the cereal floating to the bottom and the grain and milk taking over for the rest of the meal. My nose just stays burrowed in my arm when I wear this one. Breakfast never smelled so good. Available from their website and also First in Fragrance.
Mandarin, orange, bergamot, jasmine, rose, patchouli, vetiver, and amber make up Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle. Now, normally it is Coco and no. 5 that gets raves from the mainline chanel line, but I gotta say, when Coco is too dark and much, and 5 is just too much of a flibbertygibbet with all those aldehydes, Coco Mademoiselle is my guilty pleasure. A lighter richness than Coco – is is in no way a light perfume – it also has a sweetness from the mandarin and orange, and the feel of it is Coco skipping through the fruit groves, absorbing that happiness and losing its somber seriousness, until it falls exhausted on a bed of earth and jasmine, with juice dripping down it’s little arms. My favorite is the parfum, but the edp is completely lovely as well.
I know there are a lot of Neil Morris fans that comment here, and I’m also one of them. I love his Parfum d’Ida because, even though I haven’t met Chaya yet, it just feels like her. But I’m not covering that one today, instead I’m all over Gotham, with notes of Black Pepper, Yuzu, Rose, Narcissis, Amber, Pearl Musk, Myrtlewood, Tonka absolute, Labdanum, Russian Leather, Redwood, and Ambergris. This is dark, leathery, incense, definitely a scent for grown-ups. I love that peppered over leather and the earthy finish, it’s all narrowed eyes and steely Clint Eastwood stare from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This is one of the vault perfumes. You can get them from the Neil Morris website, though I believe you’ll need to call or e-mail to buy the vault fragrances. I know many of you were talking about these in comments last week. I know the vault scents aren’t all listed on their website, so if those of you that have tried some of these would liked to chime in with your favorites and why, that would be great.
I met him last time he was at takashimaya, he was SOOOOO NICE. Can i buy the samples of the vault frags by emailing them at the website? Find out when he is in NYC Next, someone tell him to bring them all! Why haven’t I known about this before? I feel so left out 🙁
No need to feel left out, Liz! Just give him a call to discuss the vault fragrances. From the discussion above, you probably have an idea of which ones you’d like to sample. Even if you don’t, he knows how to direct you to ones that you’ll like or love just by discussing what you like/dislike in fragrance, which fragrances you have loved in the past, etc.
I have heard that over and over, that he is just a doll. Yes, you can e-mail them or call them, either one and get samples!
How about layering Coco Mlle. over Coco? I think I mentioned this one to you years ago, P. Now, I am not a layering kind of gal, but the combo is an amazing olfactory experience, I promise! 😉
Do you think I would love the NM line? I keep waffling back and forth. I love Neil’s photos on his website. What a sweet looking man! I am just not sure if, being the francophile that I am (and you know what I am talking about), given all of the other fragrances on TPC that I want to sample, if this would be a waste of time for me. Please advise. Merci!
Hugs and love!
Oh, I agree with that combo, an dI remember when you gave it to me. It is perfection.
I think you would like some things in the NM line. I haven’t tried enough of them to give you a good feel, but I think the ones that are in the classical vein would work, like parfum d’Ida and Gotham. Hopefully some of his things will come to Luckyscent! You should bug them. 🙂
Or Violet, whatever.
i kind of like “spectral violent” myself. like a kung-fu ghost. :d
either way, i know what you mean – i am dying for a review on that, it sounds incredible. after reading this post, i went to the NM site, e-mailed and asked about sample prices – will report back unless someone else knows and replies first.
and congrats on dangerous liaisons! i sneaked in to see the movie when i was a teenager (yes, i was a geek; anyone else that age with a chance to see an r-rated movie would NOT have chosen that!) and cried at the end. such a gorgeous, tragic love story! please report back after you see it – i’m curious to see how laura linney would be in the glenn close part.
8-x
Must. Have. Spectral Violent. Review. now.
I’ve also got to hear about North Woods and Deep Jungle—I’m a sucker for evocation. Are these all parfum strength? I’m on a no-sample right now because I’m going to see three shows in NY soon (Dangerous Liaisons with Laura Linney!!), but I may have to shoot Neil an e-mail. How much are they, if I may be so crude?
Hope you enjoy the show! I have tickets, as well. Im not sure if Im going yet, but I have a season subscription to Roundabout.
Spectral Violet is phenomenal, Billy. You’ll love it.
Hi Mark (and erin)
BF actually bought me (and him) a season’s subscription too. I’m in charge of the transportation though, which is getting insanely expensive from Boston to NYC. 39 Steps, Sunday in the Park with George, and Liaisons Dangereuses. I am quite excited.
Glenn Close as the Marquise is a fundamental part of my adolescence, so I hope Linney can live up. How is she going to deliver “WAR”? And corsets! And lead-based face powder!
Can you give me some details on SV? What are the other notes? I’m hoping for something dark and icy.
I’ll get one up in the next week or so, I promise, hopefully with some others!
Just rushed in front work. What a couple of crazy weeks I’m going thru. And I’ve got to squeeze in a post for tomorrow… Sheesh…#:-s
Anyways, love Coco M. Lann Ael struck me as very delicately feminine, strangely, for such a bucolic tinged gourmand. Sweet, pretty, ladylike. Gotham had dried out in my vial but Neil might add a little to my sample order (the lad can live in hope…)
Off to run around the house in demented frenzy now…
Lann-ael feels more feminine to me. I think it’s the milk, apple and slightly sugary feel. It’s like the smell of mom – def feminine.t
Now, relax, silly, you are working much, much too hard!
Okay, here are my impressions of the NM’s I’ve tried so far:
1. Burnt Amber: Starts out with a blast of amber and smoke. Then I smelled burning leaves and the sweetness you get in those. It’s not a sweet fragrance though. The amber is not soft and fuzzy, but rather hard at the beginning and ending up polished. It recreated a perfect fall day for me.
2. Dark Earth: The first notes took me instantly back to my grandparents farm…the smell of freshly tilled, rich earth. That was the first day I tried it. The second day, it smelled a little too vegetal for me.
3. Parfum D’Ida: The first time I tried it, I was too blown away by the animalic notes. (And mind you, I can drown myself in Bal de V) The second time, I had been sitting here very disappointed in En Passant. I needed something that could stand up! Well, PdI delivered. I smelled the blackberry and clove in the beginning and starting falling in love. The base absolutely was not too animalic the second time. Gorgeous. The notes are: (top) blackberry, clove, elemi, aldehydes; (mid) gardenia, geranium, narcissus, purple hyacinth, ylang; (base) oakmoss, vetiver, jatamansi, myrhh, civet, orris, black agarwood, russian leather
4. October: an apple crisp cooling in the window…perfectly spiced and sweetened (i.e., enough but not too much). You can smell the leaves on the ground nearby and an evergreen too. There aren’t really pastry notes in it like, say, Iris Ganache, which is what makes me think it’s a crisp rather than a pie. Really liked this one.
5. Midnight Tryst: an animalic foral that reminded me of Narcotic Venus except much more better. The tryst is definitely there. Earlier, I said it was like having had fantastic sex the night before and still being able to smell your lover the next morning. I could still smell in the next morning. Love it; have a FB. Notes in another post on this page.
6. Midnight Sea: Exactly at the name says, with a loved one waiting in the shadows for your rendezvous. This is the ocean, BTW, not some fairytale stream that they display in the dept stores. Notes: waterlilly, vanilla, path, dark musk, ocean musk and ozone.
7. Cafe: It starts with strong coffee/espresso. You can smell the pastry in there. None of his fragrances are very sweet, however, so don’t fear if you don’t like that. However, this one does mellow out sweetish. I wasn’t sure if it was hazelnut coffee at that point or if the pastry had hazelnuts it. This one seemed to disappear more into my skin than the others.
8. Dark Season: (Thunk) That was me hitting the floor from having passed out in pleasure. This is the second FB of his in my collection. BBliss got the notes on this one: French cinnamon, labdanum, oak moss, myrrh, fir needle, dark vanilla, Indonesian patchouli.
9. Rose of Khali: I actually experience a wine-scented rose at first sniff. Then it became the perfect deep red rose.
10. Summer of Love. A wondeful musk…there was more to it, but now I can’t remember. And I didn’t take notes. I just remember I loved it.
11. Ghandahar (sp?): Beautiful! This was being transported to an Indian spice market and included green spices as well. Nope, none of that it in apparently, but I was THERE, I tell you! Notes: jasmine, bourbon geranium, fig, lotus blossom, mimosa, narcissus, castoreum (WOOT!), patch
12. Fetish: This was good, but it didn’t knock me off my feet like the others did. Maybe it was the name setting up false expectations for me or something. I dunno. For a completely different experience, ask Louise.
I have his regular scents (the ones you see at his site) waiting to be sampled. I’ve ordered Spectral Violet, Hologram, Hippie, Assam, Taj, Midnight Star and Moon, Desert Wind, Trance, Qadesh and Autumn Fire. MUST order North Woods down the road.
Well, whew (wiping brow). That’s it for me. At least this post.
:d
Thanks, Debbie! I’ve got a few of those on the way to try, so I can’t wait. It was hard to limit it to just a few!!!
I’ve only tried perhaps a half dozen of the vault scents, but I was very impressed with Intimate Lily and Dark Season, both of which I reviewed at my blog. Gotham is a big, gorgeous, sexy perfume–a bit much for me unless I’m really going all out, but an incredible composition. It’s a fabulous throwback.
I’d love to hear more about Intimate Lilly. What is that like?
Wait…you have a blog? Where is it?
You can get to the front page of the blog by clicking on my screen name. The review of Intimate Lily is here;
http://bittergracenotes.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-i-found-during-annual-january.html
Ignore my last comment about the vault scents not being available. Obviously, I didn’t know what I was talking about.:)
Beautiful reviews! I’ve bookmarked your blog.
Yeah, Gotham isn’t one that I would find myself wearing, it just doesn’t really fit me that much, but I do admire it greatly.
Happy to join the list of NM fans and even happier and prouder to call NM a dear friend of mine.
That said, the praise is b/c he deserves it, not b/c we’re friends.
I have a bottle of Gotham, love it. wear it often. Its divinity in a bottle. Breathtaking, really.
The vault list is staggering, indeed. Ive tried A LOT of them, but I still see some things I need to order. Like Deep Jungle, how could I have missed this one?
I *know*!! How could I have missed that one also? Her description of it sounds fantastic!
I talked to David on the phone, and he is a doll. I imagine Neil, from what everyone says, is just a love.
Very talented. The Spectral Violet is so dark and haunting, starting off like the old Violette Precieuse, but then making a turn to even darker territory. Just beautifully done
NMs between the names and the notes here, I feel like I just want to *swim* in these – can’t wait to receive…and hear more from the group, too!
Coco Mlle is not my thing (but Coco is!) – goes wrong on me with that patchouli or something – but I do like to smell it – which is good, because it is everywhere down here. Seems to be an office favorite, and is always lingering in elevators…You’re right, it is a happy scent!
Sorry – meant to add that generally foodie frags don’t intrigue, but your description of the Fruit Loops Lostmarc’h, did…sounds comforting. Have you tried any of there other ones? Are these on the lighter side?
I haven’t tried any other Lostmarc’h’s, I hope someone else who has will chime in. I’ve not heard as much about them, so they just haven’t crossed my path yet.
How I love Lann-Ael! I put that on last night because I needed some comfort. It provided it in troves. At the very beginning, I smelled a lot of buckwheat. After that, the creamy (milky) vanilla and toastish notes flitting in and out. It made me think I should try making oats with vanilla, full fat milk and sugar. AND THEN the apple! A perfect counterpoint to the sweetness. So, anyway, I guess I am going to *have* to get a large decant of this. :d
I’m one of the NM fans, but that will have to be a separate post.
I think the Lann-ael either works for people or doesn’t, and that mix of notes is perfection. It’s not some major statement at all, it just makes me feel all warm and happy in the best kind of way.
Most definately agree with you on Coco Madamoiselle in comparison to Coco (oh how I wish I could wear this one, but at last the carnation and clove do agree with me).
a shame, but I know CM doesn’t work for a lot of people. I’m always so happy it works for me!
How come I’ve never heard about Neil Morris before, especially since I read (according to DH) gazillions of perfume related blogs daily?[-( The geek in me needs any perfume named Gotham, even if it should smell like Batmans sweaty chest plate. I’m off to browse that website pronto
Especially if it smells like batman’s sweaty chest plate!
I only heard about them from Chaya, and she kindly sent on some samples that it took forever for me to play with!
Thanks to Patty and Elle for clearing up my confusion over the Neil Morris scents. I went on his web site after the Parfum d’Ida reviews and couldn’t find it and then last week people were raving about perfumes I couldn’t find and now I know why. Having front loaded my perfume budget this year I have to be a bit careful for a while but samples are ok, right? :d Lovely review of teenage Coco too. Shame Keira now fronts the ads miaow!
They are both incredibly helpful on making suggestions for ones to try. I do recommend dipping your toes in, it’s well worth the visit
parfum d´ida & gotham are also my favourites 🙂
i´ve already quite a few neil morris samples at home & recently placed my second HUGE samples order :”>
so far i haven´t tested all of of them, but i can highly recommend midnight tryst which resembles caron french can can a bit – it´s powdery & old fashioned & very lovely.
rose of kali is a great rose scent, a bit dark & a bit chocolate-y.
skincense is a sweet incense unlike any other incense i´ve ever smelled – very comforting & cozy.
burnt amber is of course great & yummy, plummy meaty amber *yeah* :d
moreover i´m awaiting samples of the gardenia & rose for men (there´s also jasmine & lilac for men as neil told me).
so many to try #:-s
I didn’t sense powdery and old-fashioned in this one. What I got was loads of castoreum….beautifully, perfectly done animalic with gorgeous floral notes too. Oh, how I love this one. I, er, actually bought a FB.
The notes on Midnight Tryst are:
top: clove bud, magnolia flower
heart: rose, narcissus, gardenia
base: dark musk, benzoin, cinnamon, patch, amber, civet, castoreum, dark vanilla
oh, i didn´t mean oldfashioned in a negative way, but on me it has definitely the “caron vibe”.
it seems i´m kind of immune against animalic notes, i didn´t get any in this one either, but it´s lovely for what it is!
I really need to get the Caron sampler pack(s?). I keep hearing about the base of these and for you to say that MT has the same vibe, I’m betting they’re great. Thanks for letting me know.
i ADORE the old Carons, and like you mentioned, the dark, animalic base is just incredible. in fact, i’m wearing En Avion right now, and was struggling to find a way to describe the base as i write in my notes. to me, it’s all dark, mysterious forest; thick mulchy undergrowth; poisonous witches’ brew; algae at the edge of a dark pond – and maybe a dead animal or two.
and as march said earlier, i don’t even have to qualify that with “i mean that in a GOOD way,” cause i know you know! :d
still, you might want to try a single one first, like Nuit de Noel or En Avion,to see if the base works for you – from what i’ve read, the base turns awful on some people’s skin. but if it works for you, it REALLY works!
8-x
Yes, I *do* know!
Start out with one? Okay; thanks for LMK. It’s hard to imagine something being that difficult, but then again, there have been surprises in this hobby. Like when my nose slammed shut for two days after smelling Bandit, but that’s another story.
oh no, Bandit did that to you? i’ve got a sample coming in the mail! i got a leather sampler from TPC, including Bandit, even after i read you saying it turned sharp. i just couldn’t resist.
it reminds me of an old saturday night live skit – somebody got knocked to the floor from the smell from a sour milk carton in the fridge, then somebody else walks in and says, “what’s so bad?” and the first person says, “smell this, it’s awful!” so, of course, the new person takes a big, deep sniff and gets knocked to the floor…
i should be smelling the Bandit “milk” in about a week – i’ll let you know how it goes!
8-x
Yes, it sure did. I think it was a combination of that with a cold or something, but it started with the Bandit and ended much, much later. I hope it doesn’t turn out as a recreation of the SNL skit! LMK how it goes for you. :d
I’ve got a couple of those coming to test, I can’t wait!!!
Sooo interested in these. Can’t wait to hear what others think so I can narrow down my vault order (or maybe not!). Great timing Patty, I think you were reading our collective minds! :)>-
Well, I knew from Lee’s comments last week that there was a lot of interest in them. The few I’ve tried so far, I’ve liked very, very much or loved. I’m anxious to try more!
My first comment (basically nothing more than raving about his gorgeously blended scents) appears to have been lost – probably couldn’t resist taking a detour in cyber space to go visit NM’s magical vault and, once there, was reluctant to leave. I can relate. However, just wanted to repost the list of vault scents in case anyone missed them when they were posted last week:
Intimate Gardenia
Intimate Lily
Intimate Wisteria
Intimate Vanilla
Intimate Amber
Intimate Tuberose
Flick
Glass
Spectral Violet
Hula
Hologram
Rainflower
Le Parfum, C’est Ma Vie
Le Parfum D’Ida
Le Parfum D’Odette
Summer of Love
Hippie
Assam
Taj
Rose of Kali
Gandhara
Spirit Of Air
Spirit Of Water
Spirit Of Fire
Spirit Of Earth
Midnight Tryst
Midnight Sea
Midnight Flower
Midnight Star
Midnight Moon
Earthtones #1 – Dark Earth
Earthtones #2 – Desert Wind
Earthtones #3 – North Woods
Earthtones #8 – Tropical Lagoon
Earthtones #10 – Deep Jungle
Dark Season
Gotham
October
Posh
Cafe
Fetish
Burnt Amber
After The Rain
Trance
Qadesh
Autumn Fire
Elle, I went in the smut filter and de-spammed you so it can learn from its mistakes … FWIW your long list of items bears striking resemblance to a lot of the porn spam, with the chief difference being the sorts of nouns and verbs used …
okay, so now I realize there is basically an entire line I really need to learn more about, and maybe we should all meet at Neil’s place?
Boston first week of April. 🙂 Or NYC the week after that, I think they’ll be there at Tak, so we should convince them to bring their scents, and we’ll take them to dinner/drinks, yes?
Oh, you gals are killing me!
Elle, PS — actually, restudying your list, here are the words I think got you in trouble:
Tryst
Deep
Intimate — five times!
fetish
flick
cannot *believe* you are trying to sneak that smut past our trusty filter. [-( 😉 ;))
Also note that he creates personalized scents…and does them at a lower rate for “parties”…just say when…just saying…
of course, this just makes me all the more intrigued about these perfumes … if they can’t get past the smut filter, they must be seriously HOT!
8-x
Thanks for the list! I’ve got a few more on the way to try. I adore Spectral Violet and was going to write about it instead, but decided to save it until spring.
Not surprisingly, the Lostmarc’h Lann-ael is lost on me…literally. I imagine it smells lovely.
And a quick note on NM fragrances-I adore Gotham, am temporarily resisting buying a FB, find it the lovliest rose chypre on me..don’t get much incense. Another winner-Midnight Tryst…somedays gourmand, somedays skank, a little floral, a very refined MR…adore it. I have about 13 samples coming to me from Neil. What a love he is….and such talent!
Not surprised about the lostmarc’h. I had a lot more to say about it, but had it on the other computer, then put in the wrong date for posting — so no post early this morning until I got an e-mail – and lost the edits. Grrrrrr…..
The vault scents! The list of those which I feel are essential to my continued existence on this planet is sadly far, far longer than those I don’t absolutely need. Gotham is high on the list of those I do – stunning rose chypre on my skin. And I don’t think I’ll be able to survive for long w/out Cafe. Am living off the sample (very generously sized) right now and it has become my favorite coffee/pastry/all around outdoor cafe scent of all time. Le Parfum d’Odette is another scent I think I’ll be needing for the spring – a stunning white floral with enough soft grounding notes to get me past my normal reticence about that group of scents. And Earthtones #3 – North Woods is an incredible spicy, slightly sweet forest floor scent. All of his scents have a beautifully blended, well rounded quality to them. I think that’s a significant part of what has turned me into such a huge fan. I know someone posted the list of the vault scents last week, but I’ll repost them here in case anyone missed them:
Intimate Gardenia
Intimate Lily
Intimate Wisteria
Intimate Vanilla
Intimate Amber
Intimate Tuberose
Flick
Glass
Spectral Violet
Hula
Hologram
Rainflower
Le Parfum, C’est Ma Vie
Le Parfum D’Ida
Le Parfum D’Odette
Summer of Love
Hippie
Assam
Taj
Rose of Kali
Gandhara
Spirit Of Air
Spirit Of Water
Spirit Of Fire
Spirit Of Earth
Midnight Tryst
Midnight Sea
Midnight Flower
Midnight Star
Midnight Moon
Earthtones #1 – Dark Earth
Earthtones #2 – Desert Wind
Earthtones #3 – North Woods
Earthtones #8 – Tropical Lagoon
Earthtones #10 – Deep Jungle
Dark Season
Gotham
October
Posh
Caf�
Fetish
Burnt Amber
After The Rain
Trance
Qadesh
Autumn Fire
I agree, Elle, that they are beautiful and well-rounded. Add to that different and the fact that the basenotes (of all the ones I’ve tried) are incredibly warm and sexy. Mmmmm!!!
parfum d´odette is really stunnng – usually i can´t pull off big florals but this is different somehow. has a bit of skank to it which makes it even more appealing!