Revisiting

Sorry, no post today.  Between sick kids and a migraine, I’m keeping it short, so no hard feelings if you blow this off.

I wanted to mention briefly a couple of things I found at Sephora on my mall binge, one of them a reconsideration.

Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche – here’s a link to my original review.  For the longest time I only saw this at some (not all) of the Bloomingdale’s stores.  It’s now in much wider distribution at Sephora.

For any guy reading this, or you gal perfumistas, I don’t suppose Edition Blanche is of much interest.  But it’s the bottle of fragrance I gave to the Big Cheese, who doesn’t care much for scents, and it’s the one he wears of his own free will.  Edition Blanche is rather like the Cheese’s favorite gray cashmere sweater that he wears all the time.  It is well-made and unobtrusive; it is appropriate for most occasions; it appears to be luxurious without demanding attention.  If you’re looking for a guy-frag as a gift, and you don’t want to go the classic citrus-y cologne route, you might consider this.  The bottle is as handsome as the scent.  Jacques Polge did the scent, notes are lemon, bergamot, cedar, sandalwood, tonka bean, white musk, vetiver, ginger, amber, vanilla, white and pink pepper.

I also re-sprayed KenzoAmour Florale – the one in the white-fading-to-clear KenzoAmour bottle that I love so much it’s ridiculous.  I’m a huge fan of the original KenzoAmour, one of my comfort scents, and I can’t say I found this an improvement, being a more floral interpretation and a step in the direction of Flower.  Retrying it long after my first review, I am giving it further consideration.  I wish it didn’t do the ghost-of-Play-doh thing at the top (and I don’t know why it does, but so does Flower; notes are neroli, grapefruit, blackcurrant, cardamom, frangipani blossom, rosebud, gardenia, white musk, cedar wood).  That part only lasts for a few minutes, though, and I am left with a lighter, sweeter Amour, with a faint bitterness that I find unexpectedly compelling in contrast to the woodsy drydown.  It is not “clean,” and as surprised reviewers note on Sephora, for something that doesn’t wear heavily, it lasts and lasts.

I don’t need to own any more perfume (God knows), and since I already own KenzoAmour and KA Indian Holi, I’ve resisted buying this, in part because I know what I’m lusting for is that bottle.  But I can’t escape the feeling that, having removed part of my mental block of comparing it unfavorably to the beloved original, I’m falling a little in love with it on its own merits.

So that’s … it.  If you have a fragrance reconsideration of your own that you’d like to share, particularly if it’s a flanker of a much-loved scent and so you couldn’t take it seriously at first, I’d like to hear about it.

  • Robin says:

    Really glad to hear the Chanel is getting easier to find, & hope they’ll keep making it. Great stuff.

    Hope you guys are all better soon!!

  • Kim says:

    I try and revisit stuff at different times of the year – my love of L’Heure Bleue came from brazenly trying it in hot humid weather. Whamo!! It was amazing.
    Same with Chanel No 19. I didn’t like it for years then recently tried it again in parfum strength this past fall and again? Whamo!! It’s been even better this winter. Lesson learnt – always revisit, especially in another season. Who knows – maybe someday I might like Poison???

    • March says:

      Me, I lurve Poison. Just reading that word makes me want to run off and put some on.

      I will retry LHB again in warmer weather this summer. Y’all love it that way, but I still haven’t felt the thrill.

  • rosarita says:

    Hope you are all feeling better soon….

    My reconsideration is of Donna Karan Gold edp. I tried it a couple of years ago, kinda liked it, picked up a gift set on evilbay for, like, nothing and promptly forgot about it. I would look at the bottle, which I think is beautiful, and move on. For some reason, I recently spritzed some on my cleavage, which is how I wear perfume to work so that no one is bothered by it but I can stick my nose down my shirt (discreetly, of course)and grab a whiff. Wow, it is waaay better than I remember it being. It’s freezing cold here – hey, January in the midwest – and Gold stands up to the weather, bringing ambery warmth to a luscious lily. One spritz lasts all day, too. It’s like a sip of some hot delicious beverage that you can feel all the way to your toes, y’know? Very nice.

    • Joe says:

      I love that thing. If money were no object, I’d own a big honkin bottle of Lys Mediterranée, but in the meantime, Gold is an amazing lily scent. And yeah, it’s all over the bay for like, the cost of a nice lunch.

      • Musette says:

        You know, Joe, your mention of Lys M got me thinking (again) about That One Note – Lys M is absolutely gorgeous! – but there is 😕 in there that skitters it off to the side of ‘dangit!’. Knowmean? it’s not awful..just…slightly awf.

        Dang shame.

        xoxo >-)

      • March says:

        Gold is a huge bargain, and an excellent scent to boot. We should do a post on internet bargains. 🙂

    • March says:

      DK Gold is an amazing scent, and one of the bargains out there, as you all have pointed out. A shot of that in winter would be just the ticket.

  • Claudia says:

    I’m revisiting several Estee Lauder perfumes that I forgot I had. My husband gave me a boxed group (coffret?) of them at least 15 years ago, in tiny little bottles. So cute. I gave some of them away, but I stuck the rest in a drawer, and this week I decided to try them again. So far I’ve worn Alliage, Azuree, Knowing, and one mystery bottle. I think it might be Private Collection, but the label has fallen off. It’s a rectangular bottle with a rectangular plug, and the juice is green-ish. I still have Pleasures and Spellbound to go.
    So far I love Azuree and Knowing, but not so much for Alliage, and I’m still deciding about Mystery Juice.

    • March says:

      Not sure what your mystery bottle is, but Private Collection would be from the right time frame. Isn’t the original Azuree wonderful? I have a bottle.

      • Claudia says:

        Yes, I love the Azuree. I think it’s amazing that I now admire these perfumes that I didn’t care for 15 years ago. I wonder if I’m getting older, or wiser, or both. Thank goodness I kept them.

        • March says:

          Older? Well, we’re definitely getting older. For me, I think that appreciation is a byproduct of a lot of sniffage. Things that just seemed like TOO MUCH or too old (hides face) become complicated and lovely.

    • BBJ says:

      I tried Alliage recently, and it smelled so profoundly of the 80s–specifically, of a woman wearing a crisp green polo shirt with an alligator on it.

  • Joe says:

    Are you KIDDING me??! I LOVE Edition Blanche. It’s a great citrus and keeps coming back on my radar lately via the blogs; I have a few spray samples left, but I think I really may need a bottle sometime. I’ve been worried about that LE factor, but maybe it’s been a hit and we don’t need to worry about it disappearing.

    My recent reconsideration: L’A Vanilia. I’ve kind of liked it for awhile, but took it for granted until I finally got my hands on that popular, blingy new kid, Havana Vanille… which really doesn’t work so well for me. Something’s just off. It made me appreciate the comfort of the original Vanilia (and has anyone confirmed if that’s going away?).

    Sorry about the migraine. And the kidsick.

    • March says:

      Oh, that’s so nice to know about Edition Blanche! I didn’t even go look (shame on me) but figured the Basenotes dudes would all be saying, eh — nice enough but nothing special. I too assumed it would evaporate and am happy to see it in wider distribution.

      I like Vanilia SO MUCH better than HV. In fact HV helped me get that new appreciation, just as happened to you! I am too lazy to go find my review of HV, but there’s something in there that doesn’t appeal to me either, and it’s not the boozy note. Off is the right word.

      • Musette says:

        I think it’s the raisins. Yeah, that’s it – the raisins. It smells like boozy raisins, which I hate, rather than straight booze, which I love.

        xo >-)

        • Lee says:

          HV left me cold too. In fact, I haven’t liked any of BD’s more recent efforts, even if I can appreciate them in as a sniffonado. They leave me cold.

          I’m no longer the fanboy.

          • Joe says:

            I love the Amaranthigh. Also, I’m not sure it’s not a sign of total insanity on BD’s part, but the Al-B.O. — I mean Al-Oudh — is fabulously crazy somehow. I just don’t know how I can get away with wearing it in public. Good thing my sample vial is very very tiny.

          • Louise says:

            I have a decant of Al-B.O. and spray liberally-but not on work days, it’s a waste when there’s so much free B.O. available among the students 8-|

  • monkeytoe says:

    Migraine and sick kids? Ugh. You have my sympathy.

    AG Duel. At first I loved it, but the more I wear it the more it is like a really great looking pair of shoes that doesn’t quite fit, but you wear them anyway. There is a note in there that pokes at me in the most annoying way every once in a while. Something powdery, sharp, tart that is great in theory but annoys in the long haul. Most of the time it is great, but everyone once in a while the only thing I can think about is that note. (And that never happens when I am at home and could feasibly wash it off.)

    • March says:

      We could do a post on THAT ONE NOTE that sometimes sticks up and annoys, couldn’t we? And of course it’s never when you’re at home to do something about it. (Although in my case I’d likely have a sample or three in my purse I could bury it under.)

      Duel I love the top of but is one of the few scents that disappear very quickly on me — either that or I become anosmic to it. Unlike, say, Sables…. :d

      • Musette says:

        oooh! I remember that ONE NOTE! That’s what ruined that stupid Drama Nuui for me ( I still feel a bit stupid about that but forearmed and all that – I now go through a hefty decant before purchase).

        xo >-)

  • Francesca says:

    Hope your migraine is all gone now 😡 and that the kids are feeling better.

    Only thing I’ve really revisited is Mandragore, which I found kind of blah and disappointing, but when I tried it again on a really cold day, I loved it!

  • Rappleyea says:

    March, I hope you and yours feel LOTS better soon!

    I make it a rule to never reconsider scents. Too many I love as it is so once I send them to the perfume graveyard, I don’t dig them up.

    • March says:

      Never? NEVER?!? Not even the ones that make you feel ill? That whole chunky-milk phenomenon? :”>

      • Rappleyea says:

        Especially those! LOL! And the fruit ones get buried really, really deeply. Pulp comes to mind and Montale did one that I can’t remember the true name of but I called it Mango Mess. *shudders*:-&

        • mals86 says:

          Rapple, was it Mango Manga? Daisy sent me a sample of that, and I have yet to brave it on skin… I like the smell of mangoes, but I think they taste like old gym socks, so I’m leery.

          I do revisit occasionally, especially if a sample has that “there’s potential here” vibe, or if a scent is widely regarded as being the bees’ knees (Mitsouko & Bois de Paradis come to mind, which after multiple-multiple tests I’ve finally given up on). Sometimes repeat tests are rewarded: I thought Ivoire was schizophrenic – all that soap and moss duking it out – until I wore it in summer humidity, and now I love it in the right weather. Shalimar had to grow on me, too, and I needed vtg pdt to understand it.

          • Lee says:

            Overripe or floury mangoes have something seminal about them, I think. A perfect mango though is beyond compare and can lead me into orgasmic reverie. Hmm, I’m back to where I started…:-? 😮

          • March says:

            I have friends who are Aussies who think their mangoes are amazing, can’t remember the name. They said during the season you can just pick them up off the streets, there are so many. Of course maybe they’re pulling my leg.

          • Joe says:

            Seminal??!!! Really? Oh boy.

            I mean, I love mango, and I think that’s why I love Sur le Nil. I’ve gotta get a dab of that Manga thing, but it sounds a little too “one note.”

          • March says:

            Mango Manga sounds terrible. Like Lee, though, a perfect mango is thing of delight. Preferably with sticky rice. While in Bangkok.

          • Lee says:

            Take me with you. Now.

            Sticky rice makes me drool. And mango makes me dribble. Imagine the saliva muck over here. Two of my favourite things ever.

          • March says:

            Sigh. Let’s go. We can ride the skytrain, take a ride on the river, visit the creepy market over there, and I’ll take you to the quiet, elegant restaurant next to the Erewan shrine for some of the best food I have ever tasted. I (literally) teared up at the taste of their mango and sticky rice.

  • Olfacta says:

    Oooh…I get migraines, but sick kids too? Bless you! Hope it’s all over soon.

  • Louise says:

    Feel better, sweets.

    @};-@};-@};-

  • Millicent says:

    Parfums de Rosine Ecume. I really liked it initially, then got tired of its cheery floral-ness. Layering it with Un Bois Vanille helped ground it a bit, but regardless of layering or not-layering I never got the salt note. Then one day I just…did. Can’t figure out what changed, but all of a sudden it was salt and roses. A nice improvement, definitely.

    • March says:

      That salt note is pretty much the lovely point of Ecume, it sounds kind of dreadful, but it works, doesn’t it? Ecume and Homme are my favorites from the line.

  • Laura M says:

    I tried Blanche on at a Sephora some months ago, and thought it pretty nice for a woman. Going to check out your original review…

  • divinemama says:

    I will look for the Blanche next time I am in my Sephora. I have been curious to sniff that one. Thanks.

    Healing blessings to you and the kids, March!

    • March says:

      Thanks! I think that as of this morning, I have sorted out that we are suffering from allergies, likely due to the warm weather.

  • tmp00 says:

    Guerlain Vetiver. I’ve decided that it just doesn’t work on me. It gets a bitter note to it on me that I just don’t care for. It doesn’t help that it was the signature scent of a woman I know so I feel somewhat like I’m wearing her pumps.

    • March says:

      The woman-in-pumps thing would ruin it for me. 🙂 It’s a sissy vetiver anyway (which is why I like it!)

      • Lee says:

        I can only do the sissies. Spray me in Vet Extraordinaire and I smell like I’m made from pondweed.

        • March says:

          A man after my own heart.

          • Musette says:

            Oh, you big babies 8-| quitcherbitchin and vetUP already!

            Jes’ joshin’ – I know the two of you aren’t going to get in bed with Onda or Turtle Vet any quicker than I will get in bed with the Nazgul.

            I revisited YSL ‘elle’ (did I get that right? Pinky-purple samp?)…anyway, I revisited it by accident, dropping the samp on the front door mat and stepping on it. Hey, it makes a GREAT entryway scent – no foolin’ – cuts the dog effluvia down without overreaching.

            xo >-)

          • Gretchen says:

            Sounds like something my household could use.