Housekeeping details – in the move to the new blog host on May 1-ish, we lost about 30 hours of blog posting, including Patty’s Winners post with all the great haircolor comments on there (which bums me out), and the tail end of the Dune comments and my responses.  I haven’t given up entirely, but my guess is we aren’t getting that stuff back, and I’m sorry. Patty’s trying to fix her inability to comment.  Finally, my comment notification in my inbox seems a bit spotty.  Okay, on to today’s post…

It’s a testament both to the avalanche of new releases and the amount of samples I get that I have things like Donna Karan Iris sitting around here somewhere, still unsniffed, two (?) months after receiving it.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of my half-assed, poorly-researched, utterly biased candy samples posts (unlike my scrupulously prepared, impartial regular posts.)  So here’s a review of everything on my desk today, with my stream-of-consciousness analysis.

Ego Facto Prends Garde a Toi – which is French for, I pee on your hand and then as if that weren’t nasty enough I morph into a green floral with a wallop of Patty’s patented Tampax-fresh accord, although they’re calling it “mineral.”  Green notes, jasmine, lily of the valley, lily, hyacinth, nettle, woody notes, warm sand accord and kill.me.now.  Oh, look — up there in the sky — it’s Mister Yuck!  Welcome back, my friend!

Lelong Pour Femme – why can’t every woman smell like this?  Why why why? Heck, everyone – every man, woman, dog.  When I opened up the mailer I thought, something wonderful’s in here.  This, my friends, is perfume!   A heady floriental, notes are mandarin, bergamot, magnolia, lilac, fig, jasmine rose, tuberose, ylang ylang, iris, orchids, sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, musk.  So – all your suspicions that I am a lover of heinous old-lady fragrances have been confirmed.  Here’s a link to Musette’s review. UPDATE:  And a link to Posse commenter Donna’s review, I’d forgotten about this!

ANOTHER UPDATE:  I’m not sure I’m being fair to Lelong by calling it “old lady,” it’s a zaftig, femme-retro thang (with a big rack sillage, warm and sexy.)  Here’s a perfect, direct crib from mals’ comment below:   “Wonder what I´m NOT getting out of LPF, that I don´t perceive it as “old lady”? I mean, I get a big retro vibe – it seems very much to me like an orchid satin prom dress, complete with wrist corsage and halter top and dyed-to-match shoes. Immediate spray-on Femininity. I know a number of people find it on the vampy side, too, but I don´t. I perceive it as a smooth, creamy floral, with an innocent sensuality rather than outright sexiness – a generous bosom supported (and guarded from roving hands, maybe) by a really sturdy 50s style bra.”

NOT Lelong Pour Femme? – Anita, honey, I think that’s the same juice.  IMO.  And thanks for sending me two of them, since I like it so much and I’m too cheap to buy a clock-bottle.

Ego Facto Poopoo Pidoo – eh.  Notes are citrus, orange blossom, rice powder, amber, woods, musk, and it’s done by Dominique Ropion.   I thought it would be more like KenzoAmour but it’s waaay powdery and a little sweet, sort of a cross between Kenzo Flower and Lostmarc’h Lann-Ael.  Kind of fun, but not for me.

Piguet Visa (vintage) –  I am on record as saying I like the new version, a fruity number done by Aurelien Guichard, although I know it’s a major disappointment to vintage perfumistas – sort of like if they reissued Bandit and it smelled like Kelly Caleche.  Now that I’ve smelled the vintage, I understand what they’re weeping over.  Honestly, though, can you even make something like this legally anymore?   That base!!!   I wonder how many animals are in there … damn. That’s giving my vintage Femme a run for its money, skank-wise.  So intensely out of fashion I can’t really blame Piguet.   I do remember a quote from them saying they were a perfume company and not a museum, and I still like their new versions.  Baghari is great.  Also this reminds me I need to get ahold of some of Futur, I loved it at Sniffa last fall and then … I never smelled it again.

Come on, where’s my Donna Karan Iris? I thought it was on the desk….  yeesh, Soulgasm?  Robin, you wench, you gave me this, didn’t you?   Didn’t you?!?!  Gah.  Along with those Durgas; why can’t I find those, eh?  Did you smell this Soulgasm thing?  Notes: succulent peach, Anjou pear, South African freesia, ripe black currant, wild, night-blooming jasmine, delicate Eurasian lily, multi-faceted woodberry, clean musk, warm amber, sweet French vanilla.  Room-clearing.  JM&J … I can’t believe I sprayed this on, what a dumbass I am.  Well, it was on my desk … extremely fruital.  It’s like … it’s like the clearance rack at Claire’s threw up on me.  Like liquid Lifesavers, only sweeter.  It’s like blowing Pixy Stix up my nose, and not in a good way.   Mr. Yuck, please, save me!

Chloe Eau de Fleurs Capucine –  They released these in a three-set of eaux a few months ago.  I tried Neroli at Saks and found it too herbal, and the lavender didn’t interest me.  Capucine, though … hmm.  Notes for Capucine are bergamot, lemon, neroli, galbanum, sage, juniper berry, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, ambroxan and musk.  Wow. That’s actually pretty cool, did anyone try this?  It’s intensely green, almost bitter – like an herbal-green rather than a grassy one.   I swear to God it reminds me so much of some man-cologne from my youth – Brut, maybe?  No, something green, Mennen aftershave?   Something my dad would have worn?  No, wait!  Wait, I swear, it’s Claiborne for Men!   (Notes for Claiborne are bergamot, lavender, lemon, cyclamen, juniper, rose, carnation, cedar, patch, musk, leather, moss, amber.)  Is it even possible?  I wonder.  Anyhow, of the set, worth trying.

Roger & Gallet Amande Persane - let’s end on a high note.  While this (sadly) isn’t sitting on my desk, I wish it were.  I tried it in Paris, where it had just come out.  Notes are bergamot, mandarin orange, bitter almond, iris absolute, tonka, atlas cedar.  I am already something of a R&G fangirl; they are stocked at a funny old grocery/pharmacy near me, and I am particularly partial to Gingembre spray and the Extra-Vieille and Cedrat soaps.  Amande Persane was a warm, uncomplicated charmer, with the lightly citrusy topnotes giving way very quickly to the heart of the fragrance, an almondy musk in which the iris displays its softer, more powder/wood side, although I wouldn’t describe the fragrance as powdery.  It’s surprisingly unsweet and a bit woody in the drydown.   It’s more purely nutty than cherry-almond (Rahat, Hypnotic Poison) and it doesn’t go Play-Doh/super-powder either (Jour de Fete, POTL.)  Also, for something that is relatively light and simple, it lasted about fifteen hours on my skin.  I’m looking forward to it showing up in the US.

Samples sources: all, private collection from friends, except I’m sort of wondering about the motivations of the “friend” who sent me Soulgasm…. (insert winking emoticon here)

March

Two scents today.

First, Lee blogged on Serge Lutens´ new ginger scent, Five O´Clock au Gingembre, yesterday. It occurred to me that this would be a fine time to plug Roger & Gallet´s Gingembre.

I love ginger – ginger tea, gingersnaps, ginger beer. Is R&G Gingembre a replacement for Serge, which I haven´t smelled yet? Of course not. But while you wait to get your hands on the Serge, R&G is a great ginger – somewhere between the rooty bite of raw ginger and the effervescence of ginger beer. (Digression: and you haven´t really lived until you´ve drunk a shandy, IMHO. Ignore all the disgusting recipes online; what you want is 6 oz. of a good ginger beer, and 6 oz. of your favorite lager). The web says something about “oriental flowers and musk” in the Roger & Gallet. I get a burst of ginger, some light florals, maybe bergamot, and a nice clean musk at the finish. A great spring spritz.

Okay, today´s focus is on…

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (and sorry for the lousy image, the best I can do, the lotion’s in the yellow bottle). A couple years ago, many of you flipped for the Tom Ford Estee Lauder Collection Azurees – the body oil and the Soleil Eau Fraiche, both of which have been discontinued as part of a limited licensing agreement with Tom Ford, if I have my facts straight. (And none of these bear any resemblance to the original 1969 Azuree, a leathery chypre as legendarily b@ll-busting as Private Collection and Youth Dew. It´s still in production and I´d no doubt have smelled it by now if they didn´t keep the bottles hidden behind the counters and deny its existence.)

TF/EL Azuree Soleil Eau Fraiche’s notes were gardenia, coconut, orange blossom, jasmine, magnolia, myrrh, bergamot, mandarin, amber, sandalwood, vetiver, and caramel. (In the interests of not driving myself crazy, I’m going to refer to that one as Azuree Soleil for the rest of this review.) Azuree Soleil sounds heavy, but it wasn´t – it was a light, beachy fragrance that smelled like what you´d imagine the world´s finest tanning oil might smell like, maybe with some damp hair and warm sand in the background. Lovely as it was, it wasn´t quite me. It was too … something. There was a note in there that put me off, and I wish I had a sample of it to remind me, as well as to better compare it to the new Bronze Goddess, a riff on the theme, so to speak. I look forward to comments from any of you who´ve done a direct comparison.

Having test-driven Bronze Goddess several times, I may have to pony up for a bottle. It comes in an Eau Fraiche, a body oil, and a Luminous Body Lotion. The Bloomies near me didn´t have the body oil (possibly my preferred concentration), but I was wowed by the shimmery body lotion, which generally isn´t my thing. The sheen is golden and subtle as these things go (no big glittery sparkles). I´m fair, and mostly past the glitter stage, if you catch my meaning, but I would love this on my collarbone, neck and arms in the summer. By the way, this is part of their Bronze Goddess makeup collection, which I believe has been around a season or two (correct me if I´m wrong). There´s also this hilariously ginormous mirrored compact, which I can´t decide if I like or hate – it weighs a ton, but looks kinda fab … wait, where were we?

The notes I have from the EL press blurb, stripped of breathy descriptors and other extraneous b.s., are: coconut milk, sandalwood, vanilla, vetiver, myrrh, mandarin, bergamot, lemon, orange, gardenia, jasmine, magnolia, orange blossom, lavender. Don´t let that list scare you; it’s as light as the original, and the notes are quite similar.

If I had to guess (and it is a guess, without Azuree Soleil in front of me) this is very close in smell, and if you liked that, you´ll probably like this. I prefer this one. It doesn´t do much in the way of development; again, it´s the world´s finest suntan oil, with that buttery, beachy note I love in Creed´s Virgin Island Water, although this is a much less tropical scent. The gardenia and jasmine are very muted and not indolic, and the coconut is not so pronounced as to give you that Hawaiian Tropic cheap tanning oil vibe. The whole herbal/citrus side of this is really subtle. Instead, I´m swept up in the emotion, which is, basically – let´s pull on the bathing suit and a kicky sundress, grab the new copy of Allure and a pack the cooler, and head to the beach. It´s not a Serge Lutens kind of genius, but it´s genius nonetheless.

What´s different with this one? Well, maybe nothing (again: please report in from the field!) But I´m reminded of a passage in Diane Ackerman´s A Natural History of the Senses where she interviews uber-nose Sophia Grojsman, and Grojsman talks about searching for a kind of seamlessness when developing a scent, and how if something sticks out incorrectly it´s problematic. Something always stuck out in Azuree Soleil that I didn´t like, a perfume-y note that made it too much for the beach – like all the bugs would be after you. Too much amber? Gardenia? Bronze Goddess, on the other hand, is perfect. Pardon me, I have to go shave my legs and dig up my bronzer – summer is, apparently, on the way.

FRAGRANCE CHALLENGE – SHOUT OUT TO PATTY: Looking at the notes for the original 1969 Estee Lauder Azuree (basil, jasmine, citrus, artemisia, vetiver, rose, patchouli, oakmoss, amber) I decided it sounded like just the ticket – for Patty. Hey, she wore Private Collection back in the day, and I am pretty sure she likes the original Youth Dude. So, I have made an unsniffed purchase, which is on its way to Patty from Estee Lauder (and they better have thrown some extra crap in there, P!) and I want Patty to do an honest, no-holds-barred review when she gets it.

March