Basenotes - Reviews by bluelit8

United States

Showing 1 to 9 of 9.

L'Eau d'Hiver by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

Now this one caught me totally off guard. I bought it and the first week I wore it, I thought I'd made a dreadful mistake. I found it linear and dull and even rubbery. I was ready to renounce Ellena and his minimalism. And then suddenly, something about it clicked.

What fascinates me about L'eau d'hiver is that it manages to be both serene and remote at once. Its genius lies in its affectlessness, its sheer neutrality. The composition itself is remarkable: there's a burst of opening powder and some recognizable almonds, but after the top notes burn off it defies comparative reference points. Though frequently compared to Apres l'Ondee, there is no violet in this perfume and much less vanilla. There are some gestures in the direction of "floral" that never quite read as flowers, and lots and lots of musk that never quite reads as animalic.

L'eau d'hiver reads "cool" rather than "warm" to me. Oddly, it suits me better in cold weather. It is also relatively long lasting, but would be mild enough to be warn in the winter.

26th January, 2012.

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Tea for Two by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Tea for Two just smells good, and for once a purely good-smelling fragrance deserves to be recognized as a true masterpiece. (While I'm a fan of L'Artisan in general, only Tea For Two, Dzing! and Timbuktu deserve the gold star in my book).

Tea for Two opens with an intensely smoky, bitter black tea note, which is said to be the odor of Lapsang Souchong tea but others read as pipe tobacco. This is actually my favorite part of the fragrance, though some commentators here seem to find it offputting. Not to fear, though -- it quickly softens into a long-lasting spice/smoke/honey accord. There is far less ginger in this fragrance than in Lutens' Five O' Clock au Gingembre and also less vanilla and amber, so the overall effect is dry and warm rather than soft and plush.

As orientals go this one has decent longevity and sillage but won't knock people over if you spray three or four times. I like to wear it in the winter, when its comforting smells and the memories it conjures act like protection against the snow and damp.

20th January, 2012.

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Alliage by Estée Lauder

Poor Alliage must be among the world's most underrated scents. This affordable gem of a fragrance does not seem to come in for a lot of love, perhaps because neither green fragrances nor chypres are particularly in vogue right about now. And yet this is one of Estee Lauder's most assured and well-thought-out scents, and still one of the best green fragrances on the market.

Most green fragrances fall into either a dark-green "piney" camp, like Lauder's own Private Collection, or a yellow-green "grassy" camp. Alliage follows the latter trajectory. From its dry, fresh-cut grass opening, the fragrance gradually becomes more golden-floral, although the green aspect is never totally lost. It dries down to a mild, slightly bitter oakmossy finish.

I don't know how Lauder has managed to keep the oakmoss profile of this scent intact as everyone else across the pond reformulates. Maybe as an American company it doesn't have to meet ingredient restrictions.

Less clinical than No. 19 and less floral than Chamade, and somehow weightier than either because of its oakmoss, Alliage was designed as a sport fragrance. But with most sport fragrances now sweet and/or citrusy, Alliage now has a much more grown-up profile -- perfect for the office. And as bBBD notes, at 30 bucks it's a real steal.

One of my top-10 for spring and summer.

2nd November, 2010.

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Five O'Clock Au Gingembre by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Perhaps no other fragrance suffers from the baggage of being part of the Lutens line as much as Five O'Clock Au Gingembre. It's often unfavorably compared to Lutens' warmer, louder, (more over-the-top?) scents, like Ambre Sultan or Arabie. On its own merits, though, this is quite a lovely fragrance with an unusual freshness for an oriental.

The top ginger, as others have mentioned, include a pretty, lemony lift, and the scent then fades into a spiced musk. It's a saltier, drier, more transparent and arguably more coherent than Tea For Two, its counterpart in the L'Artisan Pafumeur stable.

While truth be told I prefer Tea For Two with its smokiness, Five O'Clock is a lovely fragrance, meant to be worn when the crisp fall air calls for a richer scent, but not a whole-hog amber dessert.

30th October, 2010.

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L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain

The astonishing L'Heure Bleue is one of Guerlain's loveliest and most accomplished creations. Though created in 1912--the year the Titanic sank and federal income taxes were established in the U.S.-- this scent, like all of Guerlain's best fragrances, maintains a timeless appeal.

It begins with some anisic notes and rather high-pitched florals and ends in a deep, rich, amber reminiscent of the texture and richness of the scent of marzipan. It represents the fullest expression of the Guerlinade, Guerlain's famously opaque, dusky base.

For me, the melancholic aspects of this fragrance concern its gentle, tender air. We've all felt those powerful moods when we put on Mitsouko and go off to conquer the world. To wear L'Heure Bleue is to bear one's heart, to confront its longings, hopes and disappointments.

11th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 15th November, 2010.)

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Jicky by Guerlain

The genius of this revolutionary fragrance, one of the oldest extant scents still in production, is that it remains so modern, fresh and unexpected.

The Edt and the Parfum de Toilette to me both have more civet than the parfum, and they develop on the skip from the fresh lavender and citrus opening through to the perfect, sweet vanilla base. The parfum differs from the other formulations in that it is more linear; not because it's inferior in quality but because the ingredients are so expertly and purposefully balanced that no one note dominates.

Jicky is the fullest flowering of the fougère genre, one of the most abstract scents ever invented, and probably the closest thing to a "universal" fragrance to be worn in any season, by men and women for any occasion.

11th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 15th November, 2010.)

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Vanilia by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Vanilia is quite a chameleon of a fragrance. The ethylmaltol and ylang-ylang top notes others have remarked on leave the impression of banana-flavored cotton candy, but from there the fragrance takes a rapid turn, shedding the sweet kids' stuff and developing into a golden vanillic amber with some spice undertones.

Midway through the development a note that some read as cigarette smoke and others as metal enters, further complicating the fragrance. Vanilia ends up quite grown-up, almost like vanilla incense.

This is an intriguing take on vanilla and, after the first 10 minutes, of the most resolutely non-gourmand variants out there.

11th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 15th November, 2010.)

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Dune by Christian Dior

Dune is a lovely, fresh oriental fragrance. I can understand why some people find it overwhelming, as this is a fragrance that really must be applied with a light touch (one to two sprays really ought to do it). It is perfectly unisex. It begins with delightful anisic notes before moderating to a darker, duskier phase, but it never becomes either heavy or "ambery" in the traditional sense of the word.

It also demonstrates what in my opinion is the correct approach to the use of "aquatic" materials -- not the focus of the fragrance but a nuance that allows a salty, fresh burst to float up from the skin from time to time. Dune is one of the few orientals that are appropriate for summer evenings. A winner all around.

6th September, 2009.

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L'Eau de L'Artisan by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Contrary to some of the other reviews here, I find that l'eau de l'Artisan progresses through three quite distinct stages, rather an accomplishment for a fragrance that maintains its light eau de toilette quality throughout. The topnotes are a bouquet of bright, fresh, green herbs. Soon after the fragrance settles into a grassy, almost hay-like middle stage that is almost totally devoid of sweetness. In the drydown, the verbena finally comes to dominate and the fragrance finishes off with a touch of sweetened lemon. It is definitely drier and less moist than Eau de Guerlain, probably its closest counterpart, but a wonderful fragrance for lovely spring days.

29th April, 2009. (Last Edited: 30th July, 2009.)

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