What’s it like to be a perfume blogger?  Sometimes it’s like this.

Van Cleef & Arpels Cologne Noire.  I wonder sometimes whether a house, having released a line with two or three outstanding scents (Gardenia Petale, Bois d’Iris, and Muguet Blanc, depending) if the rest are guaranteed to be duds, if only by comparison.  Notes of ginger, cardamom, pepper, bergamot, bitter orange, mandarin, woody notes.  I’m having trouble putting my finger on what’s wrong with Noire, but something is.  The whole seems much less than its parts – disjointed and odd, with an aggressive raspiness and a pickled note that reminds me of the difficult Chanel Les Exclusifs – No. 18?  I tried to imagine whether I’d like this any better if it was at Macy’s and the newest offering from Britney.  And the answer, sadly, is no.  Why can’t I find those magnificent Dior colognes anywhere?  Why is life so unfair?  Why, why?

VC&A Orchidee Vanille – notes of mandarin orange, litchi, bitter almond, dark chocolate, Bulgarian rose, violet, vanilla pod, cedar, balsamic tonka bean and white musk.  Luca Turin in The Guide frequently describes scents as having a “candyfloss” note, and he often mentions a particular aromachemical component, which I’m too lazy to look up.  Orchidee Vanille is almost unbearably powdery at the top, after which it smells exactly like those weird, small bags of pre-made cotton candy that my kids buy at the corner market.  Not cotton candy + vanilla — just cotton candy.  It’s an interesting, sweet chemical smell, but not one I want to wear.  If I want to spray on an interesting, sweet chemical smell, I’ll take Gucci Rush, thanks.

Cartier L’Heure Brilliante – notes of lemon, flaxseed, gin notes and aldehydes.  Musette – I’m trying, I’m trying!!!  Honest to God! It’s very pretty, an herbaceous cologne smell on me.  I have no objections.  I just didn’t fall wildly in love as you did.  Don’t shoot me.

Cartier L’Heure Folle – this one was recommended by Carmencanada when I was doing my berry scent review last week.  Notes: redcurrant, pink peppercorn, grenadine, blueberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, violet, leafy notes, ivy, boxwood, shiso, aldehydes.  This is not berry nice on me.  There is an unfortunate canned-grapefruit note (sour/metallic) on my skin I can’t quite get past.  If you’ve ever eaten tinned citrus you know what I’m talking about.

Cartier L’Heure Promise – notes of petitgrain, fresh herbs, iris, sandalwood and musk.  I … oh.  Oh.  Oh my goodness.  Maybe I’ll talk about this on Wednesday.

Okay, your turn – what have you tried recently, maybe something raved about on the boards/blogs, that’s been a FAIL?  Go ahead, pick a fight with a fellow friend on the Posse!

Sources for all: private samples/decants.

March

I’ve been tardy with smelling new, and not so new ‘fumes, having stuck to the tried and tested path of the smells I love.

However, I’ve recently got hold of a batch of samples. Here’s my quick take on them all.

DSH Dirty Rose – I like birch tarry scents, which isn’t quite the same as leathery, though they often are comfortable companions. But, like March, I find rose tricky. This is rose and leather, straight up, braided together as odd bedfellows. The result is more leather than rose, but the rose is a screechy background element – like trying to listen to a favourite tune with odd interference.

Mona di Orio Jabu: a very pretty and bright orange opening. Midway through, this veers towards Carnation, one of her first three perfumes. I think it’s down to the fleshy tones of good quality ylang ylang. But it has little of the smutty smoulder of Carnation, which makes it a less appealing iteration for me.

Aesop Marrakech and Mystra – I’ve been dying to try these for some time. They get positive reviews from Turin in the Guide, and their rarity is an added draw. I’m a sucker for that. Mystra is murky green spice with dirt and death sprinkled on top. In a good way. I think. It has none of the clammy crypt of Messy Minute. Marrakech is cardamom. Then a little more, before broadening its remit to an oriental bouquet garni. It’s the more wearable of the two, but possibly the less interesting. Neither of these two are immediate ‘fall-in-love’ types, but they might well be growers. Though perhaps they don’t have enough tenacity for that…

l’Eau Serge Lutens – the brightness of a nuclear explosion powered by white musks and indeterminate florals (magnolia?). Do you remember being told it was dangerous to stare at the sun, and immediately finding the first opportunity to test that out? This is that experience. Everything else is made a shadow of something by its intensity. My nostrils are seared. Anti-perfume, my arse.

Francis Kurdjian assortment – I don’t like orange blossom and therefore this range really tested my limits – all the facets from squeaky to soapy to screamy to pretty to purty to yawn. Cologne pour le soir was nice, but not a patch on Bois d’Armenie thank you very much.

Dior Ambre Nuit – oh my word. I love Cologne Blanche (and still need a bottle), Bois d’Argent (still a long term favourite with its dusky quiet combo of myrrh and honey and iris and incense) and Eau Noire (though the decant I have is enough for all time, and btw this is a much much better display of Kurdjian’s skill than his eponymous range). This is a fantastic addition to that rather obscure, beautiful trio. Turin said something about floor polish and biscuits – in a complementary way. I’m not sure what he yattering about – it’s that big ole brain of his getting in the way maybe. But I really like it too. In a comment on March’s Wednesday post, I said this: ‘I´m a little smitten with the new(ish) men´s Dior, Ambre Nuit, which is faux fruity to start with, generic mensy in parts and with a Nazgul drydown sans tobacco. I think you´d hate it, but I thought I would too.’ It isn’t really fruity, having more of the plum-in-the mouth roundness of a full-bodied, but quietly spoken perfume of the highest order. It does have a men’s woody-synthetic aspect, but for some reason this made me love it more. As if it’s saying to the whole gang Look at what I can do with your common or garden aromachems, and weep in envy, baby, weep. The rose is quiet and loveable (yes, I’m contradicting myself) and there’s a big shift from the first 30 minutes (by far the best part of the scent) to the drydown (which is very Ambre Narguile to my nose, plus and minus several elements, but you get my drift). I love it. And it’s rare I find something new to love.

What have you tested recently? Love? Like? Meh? Loathe?

Lee

You’re all going to kill me.   For two reasons.

1. I snapped up a 1/4 ounce SIP bottle of Dimanche from Strange Invisible Perfumes.  Notes of orange, Iris, rose, honey, amber & cocoa.  Limited to like 20 bottles, I’m sure all of which are gone, and I have no idea if they’ll refill my bottle even if I beg.  If you don’t care for Strange Invisible Perfumes normally, this one likely won’t register for you as the breaker in the mold – it is definitely SIP’esque -  but if you are a fan, it is really gorgeous.  There’s a sharpish feel that I normally get with SIP perfumes that is present here, but the honey and cocoa are so perfectly blended with the iris, it  fairly soars, and then settles out with honeyed hay rolling around (I know, right?!  Not expecting that).  I wouldn’t call this a gourmand at all, those notes just aren’t used that way and aren’t sweet.  Maybe they’ll make more if you ask for it?  Well, I’m hoping.  It was $310 for a bottle.  Sample came from my own purchased bottle.

2.  Brain-dead week. I’m in the middle of a 33-day nutrition and exercise program that is great, but in the middle of this is a cleanse, which I’m in the middle of as well, and toxins are leaving and kinda ground me up for a day. Much better today than yesterday.  But have also been doing training all this week and sending my brain out in chunks.  Energy laggeth still from long days and not very much creativity, so my apologies!

Thanks, all, for all the lovely comments on Tuesday about enabling.  It was a super-long work day for me that started at 5 a.m. and ended about 11 p.m., and I really wanted to play in comments, but just had no time to do it. xoxox

Patty

Patty’s post yesterday was so much fun.  I had a great time reading what people had fallen for after reading about it on the Posse or elsewhere.  Thanks for the smiles.

So.  Having spent the last week+ killing everyone around me with Serge, and longing for the snow to melt, I rooted around on my shelves for things I’ve bought (and neglected) in the spring-is-just-around-the-corner category — subcategory: berries.

L’Artisan Mure et Musc – basil, grapefruit, bergamot, mandarin orange, jasmine, blackberry, musk.  Having never cared for it, I fell in love with this, inexplicably, on a visit to the L’Artisan boutique on Madison Avenue a couple years ago in the middle of winter.  Then, through my own auction-sniping stupidity, I promptly ended up with two bottles of the stuff, one less than half full, both with the old-style caps, for not much money.  (As I can’t find one now, I suppose it’s good I accidentally bought two.)  When I first put it on I remember why I loved it; the musk with the blackberry isn’t remotely foody or jammy, not especially sweet, and I crave that musky-citrusy opening.  Inevitably though it flattens and fades to something that smells pleasant but sort of like blackberry body wash, if such a thing exists.  It’s pretty enough, and yet pretty enough feels like kind of a waste of good skin to me.  Curious, I threw some Mandragore (surprise!) on top, trying to amp up the sour, and it was excellent.  In fact it was so excellent I contemplated not sharing my new secret.  The blackberry adds a sweet, musky note that Mandragore lacks entirely, while Mandragore’s peppery bitterness keeps the whole Mure thing interesting.

Ines de la Fressange: notes of mandarin, blackcurrant, bergamot, neroli, muguet, rose, peony, orris, patchouli, white musk, benzoin, vetiver.  I have the beautiful, ornate tall bottle with the oak (?) leaves on it from 2004, not the other, plain one that’s much easier to find now online.   This is pretty much the fruity-floral-musky fragrance you’d expect given that list of notes, although as it was done by Alberto Morillas it’s a very nice example of the genre, and unlike many fruity-florals at Macy’s/Sephora (Mayphora?) it doesn’t smell cheap, although for all I know it cost 12 cents to make.  I don’t think it’s genius, and it’s not “me” at all, and it’s maybe even a bit insipid, at least compared to what I usually wear.  And yet.  It’s such a bright, warm smile of a thing I can’t dislike it.

Poking around online I found the notes for the original 1999 version of Ines in the short, plain bottle, done by Calice Becker - aldehydes, peach, bergamot, brazilian rosewood, carnation, iris, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley, rose, sandalwood, tonka bean and benzoin.  Has anyone tried that?  Hm.  That sounds really nice, doesn’t it?  I’m kind of overdue for a blind buy that (knowing me) won’t work out at all well.  What do you think?  Should I pick some up?

Having no more berries that I could see on my shelf, I went rooting around for my sample of Byredo Pulp, with notes of JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH WHO TINKLED ON MY HAND?!?!    I remember comparing it to a giant, boulder-sized fruit when I reviewed it, but I don’t recall it being quite so … boxwoody.  Sorry, the correct notes are … bergamot, cardamom, blackcurrant, red apple, fig, tiare, cedar, praline and peach blossom.  This thing?   Skeee-RUBBER.  Although I didn’t scrub it.  I took the twins to taekwondo and came home and made dinner while it hopped up and down on the back of my hand and hissed at me.  It does get a bit peachy in the drydown, and I can smell the blackcurrant.  I have no idea what in that list of notes might be giving me that boxwood smell, but if I sprayed this all over myself I’d weep and die.

Berry-wise, think we can all agree that strawberry in perfume is disgusting, yes?  (No?   Go on, argue!)  How about blueberry?  Have I overlooked something wonderful?  Hey, I’m a little ashamed to admit I still haven’t smelled Sacrebleu by Parfums de Nicolaà¯, at least not that I can remember (notes of black currant blossom, peach blossom, peony, raspberry, jasmine, incense, vanilla and clove), should I go scare some of that up?   Is it berry-ish, or more generically fruity-floral?  LT calls it a “dusky oriental” in The Guide and writes a four-star paean to it.  So I guess I should definitely put that on my list.  And that’s the great thing about being a perfumista — with all the endless amount of sampling I’ve done, I still have some huge gaps to fill.

Sources: Mure et Musc, Ines de La Fressange, Mandragore, all from my collection; Byredo Pulp, private sample.

March

As much as you all think we enable you, you have to know that you guys are seriously denting my budget with the things you tell me about in comments.  So it’s a mutually budget-busting relationship we have going on.

First, thanks to  my fellow Coloradan (maidenbliss?)  who suggested the Malelueca Renew lotion for hands.  Miraculous, seriously, and cheap.  If you want something that moisturizes your hands in the wintertime that lasts decently, isn’t too greasy or thick, this stuff is amazing.

Then for the person that suggested J.M.W. Turner as an artist I might like – brilliant, really.  I’ve ordered my canvas reproduction of Angel Standing in Storm, and there’s some others I need to get in prints as soon as I pay for this one.  That? Not so cheap.

I hope that makes y’all feel a wee bit better after all the things we send you off to find.

Krigler’s America One perfume?  Skankfest in a really nice way.  From their website : The First fragrance created by Krigler in New York in 1931. The eponymous fragrance, embodying the american spirit full of happiness! A Cedar vibrato with dry notes of black pepper and cumin. The energetic effect of Mandarin with voluptuous accord of Neroli and Vetiver. A mysterious, voluptuous and full of contrasts fragrance.”  Exactly, sweaty, yummy cuminy cedar all peppered over.

Time to share.  What is your favorite thing you have been “encouraged” to look into either on this blog or in comments that is your favorite purchase? Doesn’t need to be this blog, but any perfume blog.

Patty