This is Lord Howe Island, which popped up when I searched “new south wales coastline.” I mean…. Australia’s ridiculously gorgeous, how can this even be real? I wish it were closer!
I feel required to write this periodically on the blog: if I review something you like, and I don’t like it, who cares? Everything I write is my opinion – my attempt at describing what a scent smells like on me, and how I feel about it. I’ve learned to cheerfully ignore Luca Turin’s acerbic reviews of scents I love; he’s just wrong. (Of course if we like the same thing, I nod my head and salute his genius.)
Digging back into the selection of samples Patty sent me… they were chosen because she thought I’d like them, or I thought they sounded good, or both. But I can be wrong.
Goldfield & Banks Australia Pacific Rock Moss – this is getting some blog love, and I thought it sounded nice enough, a good summer scent in my hot, humid part of the world. Also, Australia! Inspired by the coastline of New South Wales, it’s sea spray and summer breezes and azure seas (which I guess is why the liquid is blue?) Notes are: moss, Italian lemon, sage, geranium, cedar. Yeah, I really should have read the descriptions more closely, where I might have noticed words like fresh and aquatic, because any love I might have felt for its aromatic-citrus charms is overwhelmed by that (vaguely industrial?) aquatic thing going on. I spent an hour or two trying desperately to think what the smell reminded me of and then realized: Windex. If Windex came in a scent called Ocean Breeze, this would be it, and they wouldn’t even have to adjust the color. Hey, I like the smell of Windex, but you won’t catch me spritzing it on myself when I’m done wiping down the sink.
L’Artisan Amour Nocturne – cedar, hot milk, caramel, gunpowder, orchid, done by Bertrand Duchafour in 2013, and I can’t believe I hadn’t gotten around to smelling it. Okay this isn’t the perfect weather for a test drive, but what a great scent! It is, to my nose, every bit as weird as it sounds. Lots of cedar up front (if you don’t like cedar you’ll loathe this), along with a milky-hot-cereal note that’s a bit of Bois Farine (speaking of weird) and some black pepper, which I’m assuming is the gunpowder? So less sweet than it might otherwise be. Love, love, love it; making a mental note to tuck it away for a re-try this fall when the weather cools off.
OMG March!
We went for a family holiday to Lord Howe Island when I was about 10, my sister 8. We were given bikes, a map of the island and told to get lost till dinner time. This was repeated every day for 7 days. There is SO MUCH fun to be had with that kind of freedom. We explored, met the locals, saw vistas and swam in bath warm seas surrounded by friendly fish. Only one minor drama when we biked down the super steep hill and both crashed, blood everywhere but no real damage. They sent us to the beach to wash off and then made us get back on the bikes and ride back to the Pine Trees Resort.
Mum & Dad lay by the pool, read books, had romantic lunches and met all the other adults.
Lord Howe Island is seared in my memory as the BEST family holiday we ever had.
Thanks for the happy reminder.
Portia xxx
March, I laughed out loud for real at your comparison to Windex! So funny. I’m not a fan of aquatics either. That note is just too fake and chemically smelling. The LAP one by Duchaufour sounds like a good one to test. I like many of the things he’s done including some of the Eau d’Italie ones and the Neela Vermeire Creations. Having just read through the new Guide and penciled it up as I went, my list of “To Try” now extends to 94 scents, so let’s make this number 95!! 🙂
Do I agree with the reviews in The Guide all the time? No. However, I greatly enjoy and am highly amused by the writing style of Turin and Sanchez. I love one of their old reviews which compared a perfume to a twelve foot canary 🙂 Still makes me laugh.
I keep meaning to order the new Turin review book that has so many up in arms. Curious if he and I are on the same page this time, but only mildly so, more so for the entertainment value. I used to feel as if I was missing something or maybe just a too inexperienced novice when I read a review of his that was so contrary to my own impression, but now I realize it doesn’t really matter. I support those artists who appeal to me and don’t concern myself with criticisms of others.
Blue perfumes – so pretty to look at. My favorites are Lolita Lempicka L and Fleur de Corail which both have hanging thingys! I also have a mini of moschino Fresh Couture (Windex bottle) just to look at. Not big on aquatics though. I thought Amour Nocturne sounded interesting except I can’t abide large amounts of cedar, so it’s safe from me.
I am a sucker for blue-tinted perfumes. Satellite Paparadascha – nope, IPANEMA. Sorry. I remember my heart going pittypat at the sight of, not only the blue liquid, but the GORGEOUS LITTLE HANGYDOODLE thingies. Oh, my giddy aunt! Love me a hangydoodlethingy!
I think the scent had a coconut vibe, of which I am not fond – but it’s perfect for the name and the color.
xoxoxo