Magazine Street (2006)
by Strange Invisible Perfumes

Magazine Street opens with what I can only call a menthol or camphor note. It's a bit medicinal, but offers a unique and pleasant start to this wonderful fragrance. Light florals are introduced, possibly the magnolia accord, but I don't identify the flower itself, just a humid feel of floral over a greenish patch note. The green is a mix of the menthol, and probably the vetiver emerging. This mix provides the green to the patch's earthy vibe.

This is a smooth, well blended fragrance. A hint of musk, and a dash of vanilla keep the smooth ride (horse drawn buggy if we imagine the namesake street) going through the end.

To me, this is a vetiver fragrance, but one softened by it's other components and rounded to a creaminess that I enjoy very much. It's rich and heady, but very grounded and earthy.

Easily a thumbs up. Well done!

18th June, 2011.

I sampled this quickly at new perfume boutique while travelling in Seattle. It was pouring rain outside, but the perfume is warm. It's mystifying....I don't instantly know what it is I'm smelling (I guess that's the "Strange" part).It smells of the earth. The patchouli and vetiver have married one another and are living on an old Southern plantation? The vanilla is barely there. On a man...I think this would make my knees weak.

24th May, 2010.

I've been working my way through the SIP line and having gone through 60-70% the one perfume that stands out from this excellent line is Magazine Street (followed closely by Fire & Cream). I found myself going back to my decant over and over, buying another decant, going through that one, buying a parfum sample, using THAT up, and finally buying myself an EdP bottle. Basically what I'm saying is that I have a very high standard that a modern niche perfume must reach to be bottle worthy, and Magazine Street exceeds this standard.

Magazine Street represents the very rare fragrance that comes off as complexly layered while in fact being deceptively simple. Vetiver intersects with patchouli such that neither note is evident on its own as the inherent qualities of these notes simultaneously balance and complement each other. The sharpness of vetiver balances with the density of patchouli as the earthy qualities of each peep through. A hint of vanilla lurks in the background that keeps the vetiver/patchouli from being too earthy and adds olfactory texture but never adds what one could call sweetness to the composition. Without being related to vintage chypres in any structural way, Magazine Street mimics the layered density of that genre, down to the olfactory vibration that vintage chypres provide. The fragrance is largely linear but this is not a bad thing in the slightness. I will enjoy the opening accord for as many hours as it stays on my skin.

Sillage is appropriate for this type of fragrance and longevity is very good. Comparing the EdP to the parfum, the parfum is slightly more dense but I'm not sure it's so superior to the EdP to justify the massive per/ml price increase. In an increasingly crowded field of modern niche offerings, perfumes like Magazine Street stand out waaaaay above the rest of the field. Thumbs UP!

20th May, 2010.

Freshly mashed Eucalytus Oil extract provides the coolness to the opening and gives a very divine touch to the herbal opening notes. the heart forms a wonderful bouquet of floral notes along on a bed of earthy patchouli and iodzised vetiver...vanilla sweetens the equation a bit...this stays very intriguing thruout the journey and does smell very unique in it's approach. This has been an eye opener for me in terms of it sheer quality, Uniqueness, master blending and also, a right volume set on sillage, projection and o nthe way it diffuses and warms up on skin. overall a masterpiece which doesnt get the accolades it deserves.

quick references on how it smells like(just references): opening notes of Tauer LdDM & some parts of Gucci Ph.

15th October, 2008.

Magazine Street is the kind of fragrance that makes me remember why I fell so in love with perfumes in the first place. It's an olfactory incarnation of how life really smells, if you're lucky. I haven't yet been able to visit New Orleans after Katrina's devastation. New Orleans was one of the most fascinating, and definitely the most haunting, preternatural city I've ever visited. I could almost see the ghosts of Lestat, and Ignacious Reilly, and Blanche Dubois in the gardens, and the cemeteries, and wandering the balconied streets. Magazine Street, in its current paradigm, is an enchanting shopping area filled with antiques, artisan jewelry, excellent cafes, and comforting spas. Magazine Street was not completely destroyed by Katrina, so in the aftermath of the hurricane, "the show went on", allowing the city to have at least a little bit of economic recovery, and a lot of inspiration. Its shops have become a model for sustenance and positive community relations through their vital examples of "staying local" with all provisional and recreational purchases. Through vigorous work and immutable hope, Magazine Street is helping to soothe New Orleans. Magazine Street, the mesmerizing perfume, is a striking tribute to the spirit of the eponymous neighborhood. On a poetic level, it's the scent of air on a hot, sweet Southern evening, right after a vigorous rainstorm. You smell the flowers, dampness, greens, mustiness, and even the ghosts, filled with pain and joy. I get a hint of the French Quarter the - beignets at Cafe Du Monde, from a deep vanilla note. On a literal level, Magazine Street perfume is a magnolia-vanilla version of Frederic Malle Carnal Flower. It begins with a camphor quality that I find irresistible, and its layers reveal magnolia, vanilla, vetiver, and musk, as lush, and assertive redolence. I think this fragrance is what mainstream marketing would call "unisex", because it smells more like a traditional "men's" cologne rather than a "feminine" perfume. This is an evening scent for me, mostly because I prefer dark vanillas when its dark outside, but it can be worn comfortably day and night. It's sensuous, beautiful, and singular, and all true fragrance lovers will probably at least appreciate it, if they don't fall head over heels in love with it, which is more likely.

9th August, 2008.

My first scent to try from this house. I have to proclaim that I love the logo with it's clever play on typography.

Onto the scent. Wow, very nice! A creamy patchouli. Yes, a patchouli that doesn't end up smelling like a hemp-house! The vanilla tones that down nicely and the vetiver is very discernible yet blends well with the patchouli. A floral mixed with some herabl supplements on top of a sweet vanilla along with musk. Very, very unique and well, strange for lack of a better word. Thumbs up and I hope to acquire a bottle in the future.

29th June, 2008.