Basenotes - Reviews by AromaX

Netherlands

Showing 1 to 9 of 9.

Armani Privé Rose Alexandrie by Giorgio Armani

A nice duo of rose and tuberose. You take the tuberose from Cèdre by Serge Lutens, but without the woody cedar. Or animalic tuberose number 3 by Histoire de Parfums and make it free from animalic notes. Than you mix it with a fresh lemony pink rose and voilà - you get the Rose Alexandrie...

Yes, the tuberose makes this parfum more sweet and sultry than you may expext from a rose. If you are a tuberose fan, give it a try. The price is probably the least appealing factor of this perfume.

2nd April, 2011.

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Antihéros by Etat Libre d'Orange

In the begin lavendel is accompanied with a cool breeze, later in the hart it’s aromatic and in the base it is mossy-woody. But all the way long it’s just about lavender from top to base. Rustic and nonchalant. Smells like a lavender soap, but gives rather a clean and groomed impression. It smells simple, but not cheap on my skin. To me it’s a perfect perfume for a lazy Sunday or on vacation somewhere in South France – it gives a relaxed feeling when nothing has to be done and all the time is free for whatever you’d like to do. Rustic, peaceful and nonchalant. On the other hand I also think it would be a good perfume to wear in the office – clean impression, soft and helps to keep your head cool. So, if you like lavender than it's a nice one to try. It's more powerful and crispy than Lavender from Yardley. And it's less sweet than lavender's by Caron. But if you don't like lavender - well - you might smell an old lady as other reviews mention :o).

2nd May, 2010.

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Calèche by Hermès

Calèche recalls associations with spring because of its combination of cool aldehydic chypre with green notes and warm woody bases. I don't get much of a chtpre here. The base is more woody than mossy. Interesting is a salty note in the bases (probably what people call urine) that comes from vetiver with musk and oakmoss in the absence of patchouli and vanille. The combination of aldehydes and iris makes this perfume pretty powdery that may be experienced as "old fashioned". The floral bouquet is classic combination of Jasmine, Rose and Lily-of-the-Valley, supported by iris. In this fragrance the first party is played by aldehydes and woody powdery base. The flowers are on the background. It becomes warm on the skin, but reveals not a sweet, but sulty warmth that may smell a bit strange. No leather on my skin. Smells good on a male skin, especially after aldehyde and powdery notes are settled down and the warm powdery woody base start to play.

24th March, 2010.

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Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Interesting scent - completely in style of Serge Lutens with its pronounced sugary sweet exotic oriental base. To me it opens with incense, burnt sugar and smoke combined with a balsamic coniferous breeze of fir needles. It's deep and introvert. For me it's a perfect autumnal scent to walk in a park or forest - somewhere you can be alone with nature.

Osmoz shows amber, fruits, spices and vetiver in its pyramid. Well - I don't really get amber - rather burnt sugar combined with sweet resins (that is perfectly nice with me). Fruits - they are a bit undefined - sometimes I get a fruity note (like peaches), but it's not really easy to name. Spices - just enough to strengthen and brighten the composition - like a pinch of salt. Vetiver is pretty transperent to me - a salty woodiness.

It's interesting to see the play of warm woody sugary resins and cool notes of incense and fir. Sometimes it can turn into a kind of tooth-paste note. But fortunately not that often. In general it sits pretty close to the skin (although I'd expect a greater silage) - this one is quiet, but really remains to be noticeable and long-lasting.

17th September, 2009.

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Sarrasins by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Sarrasins reveals jasmine born out of clash from deep indolic leather and sweet apricot fruits. If you are accustomed to the most non-indolic jasmines in perfumes, you might find Sarrasins too dirty, animalic and heavy. But in fact, it shows a kind of exaggerated jasmine flower. Indole notes are supported with Castoreum giving a leather note. And the fruitiness turns into a sweet soft apricot accord.

On my skin it doesn't show much of leather or animalic indole - they make a background for the fruity notes. The apricot note dominates and gets sweeter and sweeter with time. It's pretty sweet and oriental. Wearing it is relaxing and makes the time slow down...

13rd March, 2009.

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Knize Ten by Knize

Very nice classic leather. Amazing that it still alive. Based on interesting juxtaposition of dark animalic leather and soft sweet floral note with a strawberry accent - they play hide and seek with each other.
On my skin I don't get much citrus, rather some cool herbs bounded with leather ribbon. In a floral heart my nose definitely smells jasmine (although it's not in a pyramid here) and fresh rose petals. The leathery basenotes are very clear from the beginning - I smell two kind of leather - a rough tar leather of a saddle and a soft dressed leather of a traveling bag. Nicely seasoned with animalic notes, generously powdered with cumin and slightly warmed with a sugar-free amber.

First time I tried it I didn't like it that much. It was a nice leather scent, but too much for me. But I am glad I've got some patience and waited till this fragrance is tamed. It opens really beautiful.

27th February, 2009.

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Guerlain Homme by Guerlain

A good fragrance although I agree with Luca Turin who emphasize its resemblance with Yohji. Guerlain Homme could be a Yohji Summer. Starts with a good Mojito accord. The resemblance with fresh cocktail is amazing. Rum, mint, lime and sugar - perfect refreshing mixture. In the heart it smells more like soft floral fougère to me due to its green bitterness of geranium leaf and tannic green tea note. The dry down is not as woody as I expected, but in line with the fragrance and doesn't get "rancid". In general - good citrus eau de cologne with a twist.

11th September, 2008.

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Sécrétions Magnifiques by Etat Libre d'Orange

I did try it on my skin and it was a disaster as the scent was following me all day long. It took about an hour to be able to smell it without retching. Just at the end of the day and after washing out from my skin it turned to something interesting.

Very, very watery, a little bit fishy with a touch of blood and metal and a lot of iodine. No sperm, no adrenaline association. I am happy for moon_fish who could enjoy the smell of Mermaid full of glamour. Well – I agree with a Mermaid perfume idea, but my Mermaid was at least 300 pounds with a greyish very pale cold sweaty skin and bad melancholic temper.

A went to the zoo with this perfume still on my hand and I found two more associations. There is something similar with the smell that comes from the rain washing the birds’ excrements off the ground. Or the clean men’s room where the urinals are flushed every 5 minutes – a very watery air where the urine smell is not entirely absent, but just diluted thousands time by the water flushes with a touch cleaning products smell. I think it’s the watery factor that annoys me a lot in this perfume making it look like a jellyfish without a skeleton.

Conclusion: watery, dirty, iodine, milky, bloody, metallic nuances are nice when they complete a perfume bringing a twist into it. But when all those nuances a brought together as main perfume ingredients it’s a disaster.

11th July, 2008.

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Knowing by Estée Lauder

Pyramide:

Top Notes: Rose, Tuberose, Mimosa, Plum
Middle Notes: Jasmine, Patchouli, Orange Flower
Base Notes: Oakmoss, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Amber

Some other sources mention also spices like coriander, laurel and clove; melon, orange and aldehydes in the top; cedar as a part of woody component. Well – enough ingredients to compose your own bouquet.

My own olfactory experience is – it's all about the rose. Beautiful fresh petals of a dark red evening rose are sinking in a sultry syrup of floral honey and ripe fruit to the bottom of sweet woody amber. It's stupefying viscous and enshrouding directly from the opening. It's pretty linear and doesn't change much from top to the base, except may be the ambery honey sweetness that gets stronger. Knowing has a good sillage.

A good friend of my is using Knowing and I always like to catch a train of it when she is passing by. Really attractive. I completely agree with Estée Lauder's recommendation to use this perfume for a mature refined woman with a touch of class. This perfume gives me a feeling of a warm fond embrace – the one my mother gave me when I was a child.

1st June, 2008.

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