Basenotes - Reviews by Sugandaraja

Canada

Showing 1 to 30 of 177.

Rose Absolue by Annick Goutal

A weak, one-note, overly sudsy rosewater fragrance. I simply do not understand the love for this - not only is it bad, it's terribly overpriced for what it delivers.

27th October, 2010.

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Memoir Woman smells like several of the louder, cruder jasmines got together, smoked a lot of cigarettes, drank a lot of wine, and passed out on the bar-room floor. The top notes are a Glasgow kiss of the most grape-y jasmine possible with a neon-lit tuberose giving her added heft. If you imagine Dior's Poison and Serge Lutens' Cedre splashed on simultaneously you're half-way there, but soon enough a curious burnt tobacco smell comes along, not unlike the accord in ELDO's Jasmine Et Cigarette mixed with stewed fruit in the style of Bhiel's AL02 . As it dries down it becomes quite smoky, woody and resinous, but the florals persist to the last whiff.

I'm really not one to turn down a sledgehammer jasmine, but I feel Amouage can do better, and has done better in fragrances like Jubilation 25 and Ubar. It's really strange how a fragrance can use so many of my favorite notes and reference so many of my favorite fragrances, yet disappoint me, but Memoir Woman does. Perhaps it's because I'm too well aware of my other options in this genre.

17th October, 2010.

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The Smell of Weather Turning by Gorilla Perfume

Rosewood and mint and something... smoky, leathery, and maybe just a little bit indolic? I really can't stand this accord. It reminds me of ELDO's Charogne meet's Tauer's Lonestar Memories; like someone with bad breath chewed spearmint gum and spit it out onto a dirty bar floor covered in sawdust. It's not dirty per se, it's just that the notes themselves lend themselves to some very negative assocations. This truly makes me wretch; I feel queasy trying to inhale and describe it, in a way not too far off the way the infamous Secretions Magnifique effects me. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so strong and piercingly sweet in addition to smelling so %#@! weird.

8th October, 2010.

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No. 22 by Chanel

The top notes are extremely aldehydic here; fizzy, sharp, and astringent. If you know aldehydes, you know the drill, and this is about as much an aldehyde bomb as you'll find this side of White Linen. In fact, in more than one way it resembles a hybrid between White Linen and No. 5 in its trajectory from bubbly top notes through floral heart to sudsy base.

The florals here are less pronounced than in Chanel No. 5, and slightly more titled towards rose, but all in all quite similar. In the base they become soapy, and the dry powderiness here really rather resembles Caron's Or Et Noir parfum in its modern incarnation.

No 5, Eau Premier, and No. 22 are their own little family among the Chanels, but to my nose, No. 22 has aged the least well of the three. I've smelled too many drastic reformulations among the Chanel line to imagine I'm smelling anything like Ernest Beaux's creation of nine decades ago, but judging on the current formulation alone, this is a somewhat strident and disjointed fragrance, lacking the balance and interest of the better releases by Chanel.

4th October, 2010.

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No. 18 by Chanel

Somehow I was expecting... more, a lot more, from a Chanel Exclusif. I mostly smell an aldehydic, tart, and daintily sweet rose note that's almost uncannily like Gres Cabaret stripped down and brushed lightly with ambrette.

If you love it, go for it, but you could do yourself a favor by sampling the aforementioned Gres fragrance first.

3rd October, 2010.

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Les Nombres d'Or - Cuir by Mona di Orio

It's the lovechild of Yatagan and a vat of birch tar, I swear. It's dirty. It's smoky. It's meaty. And oh yes, it's very strong. Prepare to smell like a BBQ convention, as this leather sticks its burnt-bacon tongue right up your nose and doesn't let go.

2nd October, 2010.

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Tilda Swinton Like This by Etat Libre d'Orange

What's this - ELDO does Serge Lutens? Well, it sure smells like one, specifically Five O'Clock Au Gingembre meets Fille En Aiguilles, minus the pine.

Never mind that, though; this is a great fragrance in its own right.

I don't smell any of fleshy-farty odor of a newly carved pumpkin ( which I'm grateful for ), but instead a top note that smells for all the world of ginger and brown sugar. It's neither the bright freshly sliced note nor is it the powdery kind. Of all the ginger-flavored things I can reference, it's closest to smell of the syrup one occasionally finds candied ginger preserved in, if you mixed that half-and-half with molasses.

If all this sounds oppressively sugary, it's not, as the sweetness is restrained by an appealing booziness in the top notes and towards the base, a fade to immortelle and mild-mannered vetiver. Also, for a rich oriental, it's rather streamlined in feel, like the rough edges have been sanded off.

Quite possibly the best thing ELDO's released so far.

2nd October, 2010.

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The Infidels by Agonist

I'll give it to The Infidels - it's not something I've smelled before. I find the accord a fairly linear thing, a big, urinous powder-puff the like of which owes something to Kouros in its animalic qualities, but here its something greener; namely, it's blackcurrant bud, nestled on a soft, powdery base. If, like me, you have a high tolerance for "weird" in your fragrance, you just may find this skanky-sour/pretty-powdery combination entertaining. I do, I'm left wishing there was more to it after the first hour or so.

Is it worth the price? Not for me. Besides, the "glass art" it comes on looks like a red delicious that's happy to see me - not something I want as the prize piece in my fragrance collection.

2nd October, 2010.

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Carillon Pour Un Ange by Tauer

The top notes are incredibly intense on my skin - just a little dab and one is awash in a cloud of bright green florals. Muguet is implied, but its much less sweet than real muguet or most muguet soliflores; almost astringent, yet not harsh. The green note reminds me of poplars in spring, when their new leaves are still scented. In the heart, a lovely honeyed moss accord emerges, supported quietly by rose and something a little animalic. The animal note is not loud; this is neither skanky nor leathery, and in fact is much more clean than many classic green chypres. Deep into the base, a warm musk, labdanum, and amber support the accord without taking over. ( For those who felt somewhat cheated with Une Rose Chypree's remarkably non-chypric oriental drydown, fear not - this is green start to finish! )

Close relatives amid the niche crowd are DelRae's Amoureuse ( more floral and less green ) and Santa Maria Novella's Magnolia ( much lighter and less complex ). Of course, one can't make an intense green muguet without bringing to mind the classic Diorissimo, but Carillon is bigger, darker, and edgier than the Dior, or for that matter, any other muguet soliflore I can put a name to.

Mr. Tauer hasn't simply done an excellent lily-of-the-valley fragrance, he's breathed new life into a genre that's become trite and predictable. Congratulations on all counts!

29th September, 2010.

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Lust by Gorilla Perfume

Ylang-ylang and a whopping indole note, a bit of jasmine, and not too much else. Very linear and rather synthetic, a little too sweet, and not particularly dirty unless you find indole dirty ( to me indole overdoses like these smell more akin to magic markers than dirty animalic notes like civet, but it's not unpleasant ).

I'd suggest trying Serge Lutens A La Nuit and Estee Lauder's Amber Ylang-Ylang before settling on this, but it's not bad... it's just not good, either.

29th September, 2010.

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Orange Blossom by Gorilla Perfume

This is very similar to Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino ( which in turn, is a kissing cousin of Comme des Garcons Anbar ), with a stronger neroli and petigrain vibe at the opening. It's almost a little crude smelling at first, its intensity some across as a little abrasive. In the drydown it becomes more floral, bolstered by some clean, ambery musk.

Thumbs up just slightly, because it delivers what it says on the bottle: orange blossom. It delivers it for a considerable time and at a considerable strength. That being said, there's nothing here that stands out as special; that extra touch or detail that adds interest is just missing here. For that reason, it's a like from me, but no love.

29th September, 2010.

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Jarling by JAR

I love the top notes - five spice powder! It's a lovely anisic accord built, I suspect, around some star anise. It's not intense and licorice stick-like, but powdery, spicy, and lightly sweet. Soon it becomes partnered with a marzipan almond note and a dollop of heliotrope, and as the spice fades out interest continues in the form of a warm civet note.

Sadly, what could have been a fascinating evolution is ephemeral on me, giving up the ghost after a couple hours.

Neutral only in light of the enormous price and low tenacity. If this had greater longevity and more oomph it would get a lot more love from me - it's both pretty and novel.

29th September, 2010.

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Womanity by Thierry Mugler

Fig, caviar, manatees? Well THIS fragrance managed to stir up a little trouble prior to release!

Sadly, it's not half so adventurous as all that. Womanity is pleasant enough, but overall an unremarkable fragrance of the fruity genre. I smell no fig, but rather a dense, tangy fruit note somewhere between apricot and pineapple. It's slightly synthetic but not in a harsh way, and has good lasting power.

Unlike the enormous Angel and the searing Alien, Womanity isn't a loud fragrance; in fact it's quite wearable on any occasion. It's a solid designer fruity fragrance. That, and no more.

Nothing to see here folks...

15th September, 2010.

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Nuit de Tubereuse by L'Artisan Parfumeur

The top notes come on with almost an assault of dry peppery astringency, before they fade to reveal a fruity-floral pinkness of tuberose very closely akin to that in Nasomatto's Narcotic Venus and Michael Kors for women. However, this is a very brief respite before a curiously dry, fizzy, almost acrid woodiness lurches forward, gaining in intensity minute-by-minute at the expense of anything floral. The flowers drowned in a woody tsunami, in fact, and at times I smelled an almost disconcerting barbecue-like quality before the drydown lead to something leaner, paler, and if possible, even more arid. It's complex and multi-faceted, but very unpleasant; odd, but not good odd.

Like fragrances like Bois d'Ombrie, Sienna L'Hiver, and Dzonhka? Wish someone would marry that type of accord to a tropical floral? Then this fragrance is what you've been waiting for. If, however, you're like me, and find Bertrand Duchaufour's signature to be something akin to harsh woody vinegar, then your chances of loving Nuit are fairly remote.

Points for originality and longevity, but this is not what I want on my skin.

7th September, 2010.

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Love & Tears, Surrender by By Kilian

Love & Tears is most distinctive in its top notes; a vibrant, intense, watery botanical accord distantly related to vintage Cristalle and Odalisque. I'm reminded of the fresh-floral burst one smells on applying orange flower water, but I smell no orange flower here - Love & Tears is jasmine at every stage; an extremely pure floral accord.

As it develops, the somewhat virginal approach to jasmine eschews animalism in favor of something sweet, transparent, and mildly fruity. Others have noticed something shampoo-like, and for someone like me, who's grown up with fruity-floral everything when it comes to haircare, the association, while not negative per se, is inescapable. Thankfully, just the faintest touch of indole and a slight dewy chill give this a bit of much-needed sophistication.

Like its predecessor, Beyond Love, Love & Tears isn't a shocking or daring or even particularly unique soliflore, but it's won me over through its sheer beauty and quality. Feral jasmine this isn't, but if you want a clean, limpid, watercolor jasmine that lasts and lasts, you'd be hard-pressed to find something better than Love & Tears.

7th September, 2010.

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Vanille Extreme by Comptoir Sud Pacifique

Mostly a very loud, very synthetic smelling vanilla note. It becomes a little more creamy in the drydown, but that may just be it fading slightly, as all in all it smells like artificial vanilla extract amped up to the nth degree. No nuances here.

It's certainly very "extreme", but is it any good? No, not even a little, especially given that there are plenty of high quality vanillas on the market.

22nd June, 2010.

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Jardenia by JAR

After dozens of different fragrances, I've found "it"; "the one"; the gardenia fragrance that is my holy grail gardenia. Alas, it's extravagantly expensive and difficult to obtain, and I'll probably never own a bottle. But, I can dream.

Jardenia opens with a complex accord that's indolic and somewhat reservedly floral, a slight brie-like cheese note adding authenticity to the gardenia accord without becoming overbearing ( I found Tom Ford's Velvet Gardenia intolerable, but Jardenia understands subtlety ). As it develops, it becomes an intoxicatingly beautiful honeyed gardenia, with a faint hint of dark spiciness in the background, and hints of lilac developing into orange blossom deep in the base. From top to base, it is always gardenia, and it is always beautiful and natural smelling, but it has a very nuanced development.

It lasts decently, but it's actually on the softer side of things overall, and after the first hour becomes a skin scent. If it wasn't glorious in every other way I'd count this against it, but while this is rich, it's also quite light, wearing a lot like a number of all-natural fragrances I've tried.

18th June, 2010.

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Pois de Senteur de Chez Moi by Caron

For those seeking an authentic sweet pea fragrance, you can safely give this a miss. Like many old-fashioned florals, this is more of a perfumey, abstract floral than something that smells like an actual flower of some kind. The florals are more vibrant initially, just the faintest hint of pineapple edge on rose jasmine, more so rose, and very, very powdery; the latter quality increasing with each hour. It's a very heavy fragrance, almost waxy in some ways. I this sense, the only fragrance I can directly compare it to is Amouage's Gold for women.

It's deep and nuanced, to be sure, but I can't help but feel it's one of less distinctive Caron parfums, and the potential dark intrigue innate to most of the urn parfums is safely tucked away under a dowdy blanket of floral talc.

2nd June, 2010.

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Fourreau Noir by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

The lavender comes on soft and fades rather quickly to me. There is something very fougère about the fade of the top notes from lavender to powder, but Fourreau is more of a gourmand to my nose - perhaps the most the most tasteful evocation of a doughnut dusted in powder sugar around, but with a hint of something dark and cool that prevents it getting too sweet.

I'm just slightly giving this a thumbs up, because overall it's an enjoyable wear, just a little dull after the first half hour or so, and not that much better than many mainstream orientals and gourmands.

30th May, 2010.

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Nuit de Cellophane by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Nuit de Cellophane smells rather nice - fruity, tea-like osmanthus, done a little more softly and transparently than most osmanthus soliflores I've smelled. Not groundbreaking, but I can see spritzing this on in the heat and enjoying it. I'd give it a neutral rating, all in all, if it weren't for the very disappointing longevity and sillage after the first hour or so.

I'd recommend anyone who likes this style of fragrance but wants something a little more sophisticated to check out Nicolai's Odalique ( ideally vintage, but even the modern stuff is superior to this ). If you want a nicer osmanthus in a related vein, I recommend Parfum d'Empire's Osmanthus Interdite or Ormonde Jayne's Osmanthus, both sunny, fruity fragrances a lot like this but with superior longevity and sillage.

28th May, 2010.

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Sarrasins by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

First thing's first - that color! Yes, it is a truly alarming shade of purple. The pictures don't prepare one.

That put aside, Sarrasins is one of the most charming renditions of jasmine available, and not at all bizarre or even pushing the envelope, as the shade of the juice might suggest. Those who like those latter qualities in a Serge Lutens release will be disappointed ( especially given the positively searing A La Nuit ), but there's room in my wardrobe for all shades of jasmine, and Sarrasins is one I'm glad I own.

The top notes of the fragrance are cool and lightly indolic; subtly crisp rather than chilly. Some compare them to Tubereuse Criminelle, but I don't smell even a hint of wintergreen. As Sarrasins develops, a mild dried apricot note emerges, and into the base, a touch of civet lends a hint of filth to an otherwise rather clean rendition of jasmine. Mostly, however, Sarrasins is jasmine, jasmine, jasmine; pure, heady, and airy from first spray to its last lingering trace the next day.

28th May, 2010.

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Tubéreuse by Caron

There's something eldritch about Caron's tuberose. If the cool serenity of Carnal Flower feels unapproachable at times, Tubereuse is downright uninviting. The lavish charm associated with the flower has been dessicated to a somber reserve. Mr. Fraysse has created a saturnine soliflore, to be sure...

The top notes are distinctly odd - a sugared, floral creaminess melded to an astringent green, violet leaf and a slight sharpness lending it a witch hazel tonic accord I've come across only once before, in Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's Viridian. I also smell a mushroom note I recognize from Frederic Malle's Dans Tes Bras, but more natural and successfully integrated here. If all this sounds horrid and dissonant, it isn't quite so pronounced as you might imagine, as its sharp edges softened by a floral haze.

In the drydown, a little more of the flower itself comes through, but again, quite modified, here by an almost leathery moss. At no time does Tubereuse ever smell like a living flower, and rather than a stroll through a tropical garden, I'm put in mind of a Chinese medicine shop, filled to the ceiling with giant, dried fungi and buckets of herbs.

In terms of sillage, Tubereuse is a little reclusive once the drydown arrives, but it lasts quite well, as a good parfum should.

27th May, 2010.

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Parure by Guerlain

Please delete this review - I had my samples mixed up! Sorry Parure.

19th May, 2010. (Last Edited: 7th October, 2010.)

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Prowl by Neil Morris Fragrances

I may be the only one to smell this, but Prowl reaches my nose as an osmanthus soliflore. Bright, sunny florals, hints of tea, and a big fruity apricot combine to give this impression strongly, but here there's of a certain thickness and richness I've yet to encounter before - osmanthus fragrances have a tendency to hit my nose as thin and high-pitched, but not Prowl. Fruity-florals aren't my thing, but this hits the spot in an almost unique way; the only comparable fruity fragrance I know is the obscure AL02, a similar but much darker and more oriental composition.

The drydown abruptly changes style a few hours in, leaving all this behind and becoming a very soft, pillow-like vanilla.

There is nothing aggressive, threatening, or animalic about Prowl. It's a great name, and a charming fragrance, but this is more "Ciao for now!" than a roar.

13rd May, 2010.

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Dark Season by Neil Morris Fragrances

Dark Season is a lightly spiced spruce that quickly sinks into an ambery-oriental accord based around patchouli, labdanum, and a subtle vanilla. Spruce is tamed here, and the sharp, sinus-clearing qualities of essential oil are minimized in favor of an edgeless conifer note. The base is handled deftly, never becoming the thick, oriental swamp it could be with those notes.

Dark Season sounds ominous in name, but it's warm, inviting fragrance, welcoming you in from the winter cold rather than sending you out into it.

I'm surprised at the reviews that find this odd and conceptual. To my nose, it's one of the most approachable in the line, quite removed from olfactory oddities like Dark Earth, and a close cousin of many older mainstream masculines. If Polo could be mellowed out to a state of unrecongizability and given a bit of gourmand window-dressing, it would smell something like Dark Season.

8th May, 2010.

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Jil Sander No. 4 by Jil Sander

For the first few minutes Jil Sander No. 4 is something rather harsh and soapy on my skin, not quite the searing floral detergent of Caron's Narcisse Noir, but none the less something sharp and rather unpleasant.

In the heart, it is at its best. I smell orange flower, jasmine, and tuberose, rich and slightly fruity as in Serge Lutens Fleurs d'Oranger, but darker, muddier, and still retaining a slightly soapy edge.

The base is darkly floral with heavy and oriental texture distantly recalling Guerlain's Samsara.

There is depth and complexity here, but there's something ugly about this fragrance to my nose, and I can't seem to warm to it.

7th May, 2010.

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Rubj by Vero Profumo

Parfum Extrait:

Rubj takes a different path from most orange flower fragrances. Rather than sweetly fruity , it approaches top notes with a bitter and dry accord of petigrain-dominated citrus, an intriguing burst that is quickly swamped by a tsunami of clean, musky florals. The contrast of the two is enjoyable for the brief while it lasts, however.

Once the heart arrives, Rubj delivers the main event, and it's one I don't find particularly appealing. I smell a white floral trio of orange-flower, jasmine, and tuberose, natural-smelling, yet somehow blanched and scrubbed into a puritanical cleanness bordering on severe. What redeems this accord here is a certain warmth, normally found in the flowers themselves, provided by the musk note that is the driving force of this fragrance.

Deep into the base the flowers take their leave, and one can smell this musk unadorned. It's by far the most interesting element of Rubj to me, and unlike any other musk I know. It's warm but not dirty; clean but not soapy; creamy yet transparent, and daubed with ambrette.

I seem to be one of the few people out there not in raptures about Rubj, but it's well worth trying if its in your price range and if a cleanly sophisticated floral sounds up your alley. However, if you'd like to smell something that's at least 90% similar to my nose, I strongly recommend Nivea Happy Time Orange Flower & Bamboo Milk body wash. No joke.

Eau de Parfum:

I find the eau de parfum a welcome change when compared to the parfum. In general it's less odd and more balanced, smoother and less linear. Gone are the flash-in-the-pan bitter top notes and the ambrette from the base, but in their place is a complex, appealing fruitiness that's honeyed, tangy, and faintly bitter in the vein of mango or passionfruit.

What's right about the EdP helped me articulate what was amiss with the Parfum: there's a certain tendency in a number of orange flower fragrances ( Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino and Aqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta come to mind ) to sustain the orange blossom accord with loud, clean musks with epic longevity, a quality that charms at first ( "Hey, an orange blossom that lasts!" ) but grows tiresome on repeat wearings. The added fruitiness and reduced volume in the base turns Rubj into the fragrance I wanted it to be the first time around.

If you want a smoothly pleasing yet not brain-dead fruity-floral, it would be hard to go wrong with Rubj eau de parfum, and certainly, its price per ml makes it much more viable for regular wear than the parfum.

6th May, 2010. (Last Edited: 14th June, 2011.)

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Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia by Estée Lauder

In a world of fragrances that fail to live up to their promising names, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia delivers just that - an extraordinarily pleasing and faithful rendition of the two flowers, in a warm, rich, and fundamentally linear style. Gardenia is a little more to the front and center of the picture, and this is one of the truest around. The cheesy, mushroomy quality that makes gardenia gardenia is neither missing ( as in so many gardenia fragrances ) nor overdone ( here's looking at you, Velvet Gardenia ). The tuberose is creamy rather than edgy, and it lends its strength to the accord, giving it a certain heft gardenia doesn't have on its own without fully asserting its distinct personality.

Be careful in how heavily you apply this. It is deceptively light and airy, yet just one spray generates huge sillage and lasts over twenty-four hours on me. A full-figured beauty, to be sure!

6th May, 2010.

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Fleurs d'Oranger by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

On my skin, this is a linear orange flower fragrance, only two other notes - jasmine and tuberose - playing accompaniment. All the facets of orange flower are here in their glory, the expansive floral note underpinned with honeyed, wine-like citrus hints and the subtle, dried-sweat warmth of human skin. And yes, plenty of indoles here, though not on the sledgehammer level of A La Nuit. If there is cumin, it's astonishingly well-integrated into the accord - I'm rather sensitive to the note, yet here, it's beneath my radar.

Fleurs d'Oranger isn't a sophisticated fragrance at heart. It's a buxom bouquet of heady flowers, fresh from the garden and left unarranged in a vase. Its charm is in its naturalism rather than in abstraction, and within the Lutens' line, its relatives are soliflores like Sa Majeste La Rose and Un Lys rather than the shocking Tubereuse Criminelle or the dense Rose de Nuit.

6th May, 2010.

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Odalisque by Parfums de Nicolaï

I've now tried Odalisque in two formulations, modern, and vintage, and what a difference they make.

Modern Odalisque is a pleasant, slightly watery interpretation of jasmine that dries down to a light, subtle musk. Superior within its own genre, I find it rather uninspiring compared to the more luscious jasmine bouquets. This Odalisque is a faint hint of florals carried by a cool breeze, and I imagine pleasant-enough wearing when the weather gets too hot for more voluptuous florals.

Vintage Odalique, by contrast, was a far headier bouquet - jasmine, yes, but with lilac and orange flower nuances that bring out a certain warmth against the cool, ocean-breeze quality both formulations share. In fact, this formulation brings to mind the only aquatic floral to ever win my heart, Giacobetti's En Passant. There is both more heft, and yet also, more balance, as well as a drydown that fades much more gradually.

Both formulations are essentially jasmine, aquatics, and a cool musky drydown, but the older juice is superior to the soft, much-abridged edition on the market today.

Thumbs up for what Odalique was. Thumbs down to whoever starved it into its current waif-like state. You're not bad, Odalisque, but someone stole your mojo.

4th May, 2010.

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