I heard about the Halle Berry and Ellen on the Ellen Show drinking her new perfume. I don’t think we need to do that here, unless y’all do that in the normal course.
Halle Berry perfume
First, let’s take a look at the notes. It’s a woody oriental scent. Top notes are Sicilian bergamot, fig leaves, and pear blossom layered over heart notes of freesia petals, hibiscus flower, and ultra mimosa. Bottom notes of sandalwood, driftwood, cashmere musk, olibanum sbsolute, and amber.
This goes on slightly perky with some nice floral bergamotty top peaks, interlaced with fig, but it doesn’t stay there. It quickly heads right into a slightly sweet, figgy, very soft musky scent. It’s warm, the freesia keeps it on the sweet side throughout its play, but not teeth achingly sweet, and it’s pretty addictive. It reminds me of several designer scents, but crosses between them enough that I can’t quit pin it down, so it will just be its own scent instead. It veers into the muskiness of Narciso, but it’s not as heady, more G rated. The bottom notes really get all the play here. I don’t get a lot of incense out of it, but that’s not a bad thing. I think it works perfectly as it is. I can’t find the pricing on it, but I’m fairly certain it’s very reasonable, sub $50 for 50 mls. If anyone does know the price, let me know. Longevity is pretty decent.
This is one of the few celebrity scents I like. Thought I have to admit Jessica Simpson Fancy, while too sweet to wearl for me, was pretty good for what it was and the target market it was going for. Halle does the same thing, but I’d happily wear this one – it’s easy to wear and I feel darn feminine in it. It would work, spritzed lightly, for day or heavier for night. Figuring how heavily discounted it will be when it hits discounters, you can figure this one is basically free.
So I’m browsing my Best Summit Hikes in Colorado book, planning out which summits we need to go up over the summer. There’s like 50 of these, and a lot of them are the little known summits that are not overpopulated with backpackers, and it’s going to probably take me 2-4 years to get through them, even I don’t do winter backpacking, which I’m thinking no right now, but experienced hikers say its really an amazing time of year to go, you just have to be hardened. Does this all sound a little crazy? We bought all of our backpacking gear during the big April snowstorm last week, and I’m still in sticker shock at how much it cost to outfit two people, and we still have one more to go, but he can wait until college lets out. Those of you that take your dogs hiking, pros and cons? I’m not taking Vinnie, the bulldog – he just doesn’t get really excited about exercising more than wrestling the cat. Buddy the lab, though, would just think this is heaven.
Winners of the YSL Nuit d’Homme samples are: Natalie and and Eric. Click on the Contact Us button on the left, shoot me your address and remind me what I’m sending you.
You can find Halle Berry’s “Halle” at Kohls for $42 when not on sale. Its a very nice scent and I will be purchasing it soon.
I just tried this at the drugstore & was a little disappointed. I was hoping for something sexier & different but for me it was just more of the same. It’s not bad & certainly didn’t make me want to run for a sink but it didn’t “crank my tractor” as we say here in Alabama. 🙂
It reminded me a lot of the Hilary Duff perfume With Love.
Also try Charlie. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Now that’s a fragrance that keeps plugging along.
Oh, and speaking of discount stores. I was surprised to see Calvin’s Secret Obsession already on the shelves of TJ Maxx & Marshalls.
I thought it was pretty good. 🙁
Your hikes do sound wonderful! DH and I just started this new home workout system in the hopes of doing some overnight hikes. The ultimate goal is the three-day Macchu Picchu journey. Perhaps by the time we are in shape for such a hike, we will have saved enough to afford it? 🙂
(insert stubborn, arms-crossed emoticon here) Halle sounds really lovely, especially the freesia, but I will never know, because I will not wear celebrity scents. It doesn’t matter. It all just smacks of Hollywood hubris, the attatching of one’s name to the bottle (much more naming the actual fragrance after onesself) and I just don’t care to buy into it. K, self-righteous, pessimistic rant over now.
Well, I suppose a lil spritz on a blotter never hurt anyone. 😉
Hiking with dogs is great, but I suggest that you make them carry their own supplies (water, snacks, collapsible bowls and poo), keep them on a leash. You may want to try some sort of hands-free leash setup as well, depending on how difficult the trail is. I would definitely make sure that they’re on flea and tick supression medication, and, nost importantly, make sure that the terrain is suitable for dogs. Long hikes over rocky areas can rip a dog’s paws up. Likewise, precipitous drops, loose rocks, poisonous snakes, and mountain lions are just as dangerous for dogs as they are for people.
Wasn’t planning on trying this, but definitely will give it a sniff now. Suffer a bit from freesiaphobia, but I love that bottle design, so my fingers are crossed it will work for me.
Can’t wait to hear which hikes you choose to go on!
I’m not one for much Figgy Goodness but perhaps this one merits a sample spritz – will try it when next I’m at Kohl’s (odd – 4 years ago I didn’t even know Kohl’s existed!)
Patty, the pending hike(s) sound wonderful! Enjoy. We have a trail here – all flat, alas, but pretty. I take the boys down there on a regular basis though now it’s pretty much a slog-fest; have to wait until it dries and firms back up. It’s a reclaimed railroad line so you can walk it from town to town. I’ve never done that (the most I’ve done is 2 miles but that’s because I’m lazy w/ limited time – that needs to change). Perhaps I will take a leaf from your book and begin anew, working up to walking to the next town (6 miles). I used to do 10 miles in the City, easy.
xox your lazy >-)
The hiking trips sound terrific. Steepandcheap.com has inexpensive gear as does backcountryoutlet.com.
I read an interview with Halle Berry years ago and she said her signature scent was a mix of L’Artisan Mimosa pour Moi and Premier Figuer. Maybe that’s what she is going for w/Halle?
You live in a beautiful part of the world indeed. I have fond memories of a ranch-style youth hostel near Estes Park where I stayed in my 20s, loved it. You could hike Pikes Peak or just wonder off along one of the trails. It was many years ago but there was hardly anyone around.
Anyway, following a comment made by March in her post yesterday, I wanted to say that I love it when the Posse occasionally go off topic. Don’t change a thing, it is interesting and inspiring.
This Halle is worth a sniff, wonder when it will come to Europe, don’t think I have seen it around yet.
I feel a tremendous amount of guilt that I haven’t spent more time exploring Colorado in the 20+ years I’ve been here, so I’m making up for lost time.
I go off topic all the time IRL as well as here. Not likely that will ever change. 🙂
Are you going to London Sniffa? I’m probably going to that, and if Halle isn’t there by then, remind me, and I’ll bring you a sample.
Thanks for the offer, would be great to meet up. I think the Sniffa travel dates are Sat 4th to Sat 11th July and I am going to be in town only on the week-end of 4th-5th. A drink on Sunday to get over the jet leg perhaps?
Hiking is great fun! It always makes me a bit sad not to wear any scent when I go out though. Be forwarned (if you haven’t been already) but perfume can attract bugs and other, larger critters, like bears.
While the dog might like hiking, will you like carrying a bag of poo for hours? As it is, you’re supposed to carry yours out with you, so adding the dog’s might not be an issue. YMMV
Thanks for the review! I’ll grab Halle if I spot it at Marshalls someday!
I know, no scent. 🙁 But one book I was reading said the good news is you can eat peanut M&Ms without guilt. So it evens out.
Oh, crap. LIterally. I forgot completely about having to take his crap out along with ours. Okay, now I need to rethink this. Maybe just the short hikes where it won’t be bags of dog poo, but just one bag.
My tolerance for celebrity scents is generally pretty low, but Halle sounds wearable. I’ll give it a try and if I like it, I’ll wait until it’s discounted down to next to nothing. Unless, of course it’s truly wonderful, in which case, the price is fine right now. And it is getting some positive reviews on the boards.
I admire your dedication to hiking/backpacking. I’m pushing myself to get back in half decent physical condition after a year of being pretty darn lazy. Even a full day hike seems rather intimidating right now!
Halle is definitely wearable. I won’t promise it will hit the top of your list, but it’s really nice. I had to flip it around to everyone in the house to see what they thought, and it got thumbs up all the way around.
Hey, just gotta go, though it is wise not to set out unadvisedly. I have some friends I’d like to take with us sometimes, but I just don’t think they could hang.
I reckon Buddy’ll love a hiking trip. We’re probably off on a hiking holiday to the Azores this year. So darn excited.
I’m glad Halle’s scent is better than the average fare. She ain’t bad.
Okay, I am officially in deep, deep envy now. Azores?!?!?! Seriously beautiful. Why are there still so many places in the world I want to see on a really long list?
I have to admit, this is one of the first celeb-frags to have caught my attention in a very long time. I think it’s the fig thing. Will definitely give it a whirl when I spot it at the mall next time I have a Jamba juice craving. Have you tried their yogurt with granola? It’s my new favorite thing.
It is a worthy celeb fragrance. Done definitely as well as SJPs Lovely.
Oh, that sounds good!!! Luckily I don’t have a Jamba Juice near me, so I make my own when I really want one, but I think I could whip up something that sounds like that!
The granola Jamba uses is really light and has pumpkin seeds in it, I’d like to find out who their supplier is b/c that’s the best part.
It sounds like this Halle thing is pretty good. I’m not itching crazily to try it, but I’ll definitely be trying it at some point — though not sure how much of a need I have to feel “darn feminine.”
Your hiking plans sound great. Makes me feel lazy for making a big ordeal out of and putting off day hikes of the itty bitty peaks we have out here. I think I need to heed that “just do it” command.
By the way, it’s apparently selling at Kohl’s and Sears for $35/50ml and $28/30ml.
It is worth sniffing. I really like it when something inexpensive pops up that’s pretty darn good. but I think you can wait until it hits discounters. It’s not doing anything new at all, but it does the old thing well.
Yeah, just do it!!! Especially if you already have the gear. We have to have a lot here because you can get snow/rain/hail/lightning/bullfrogs in the mountains year-round, so there’s never a really safe time to hike in just a shirt and shorts with one water bottle, though plenty of people do it.
All the experienced backpackers tell stories of coming down from hikes at 3 in the afternoon, metting people with their fanny pack, water bottle in sneakers and shorts getting ready to go on the same hike they started at 5 in the morning.
I REALLY love this perfume!!!!!!!!!!! The smell is just wonderful. A bit of musk and floral… I think it has a scent that all can enjoy. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!