Basenotes - Reviews by Maximiliani

United States

Showing 1 to 13 of 13.

Jeux de Peau by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

This smells like a scone or some sort of anise seed/immortelle/liquorice flavored bread or pastry with apricot jam, butter, and maple syrup. Some people detect chicory coffee and chocolate, almonds, other whiffs of a patisserie, but all I got were the licorice flavored bread with apricot jam and a praline/sticky syrup. Very sticky.

It's very sweet, and while the warm "cream" or butter and apricot phenomenon that really makes it smell good at first is a fleeting experience (which is a shame) the jammy, syrupy smell you get left is pretty good, lasting quite a while until it becomes a bit of a maple/sandlewood skin scent, as if you actually had pancakes that morning and dripped some syrup on your arm and didn't notice. You'll get whiffs of apricot and the licorice elements once in a while but be aware your skin might make this pure syrup. I'm fair and have noticed my skin amps up sweetness.

Edible to the point of wanting to lick your wrists.

I have smelled other perfumes that smell like the drydown on other people, the sandlewood/maple is nice but not mind blowing. However the right elements shove it into the gourmand.

9th December, 2011.

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Ambre Canelle by Creed

Youth Dew is what immediately comes to mind when smelling this. It's like Youth Dew for men. But it predates Youth Dew by four years! Cinnamon and amber for sure, and almost is completely Youth Dewish if not for something that skews it in the masculine or unisex direction.. can't put my finger on it. Less rose, less white flowers? More spices/herbs? Can't say.

I'm quite sure my grandmother wore Youth Dew, which may be why I like this fragrance as it does suggest Youth Dew for me, and I'm sure many people's mother and grandmothers also wore Youth Dew, hence I'm sure people might cringe at trying a cologne that smells like their grandmother, but for me I don't really care, it's spices and is rather different enough from it that it can be safely worn. Really, I think you just need the right skin for it, reading the reviews on here, I think different skin compositions certainly bring out different notes, and the notes I get are really nice.

Kind of like a cashmere sweater really.

29th December, 2010.

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Night Scented Stock by Penhaligon's

Got a sample for my mother to try for Christmas because she likes or tends to share my like of white florals with a musky touch and this is very nice and distinct, I don't think there's much out there now that smells like this. It captures that dusky, milky and almost chalky undertone flowers like stock, phlox and nicotiana have that separate them from other white florals like jasmine and ylang ylang, gardenia and other uber tropicals. Still sweet though, and kind of cold to a certain point, but when you lean in or go in closer to smell, you do pick up this underlying warmth that is rather surprising, which I supposeis very very classy restrained clove and spices and tonka bean and vanilla, which I guess can bring some pudding or eggnog type imagery, but it's not very heady so its not really a gourmand by any means. It is very "pretty" though and for a man to pull off you need have the right skin type that brings out those spices or compliments the soapy/chalky powder scent that tends to waft. Worth trying I think if you like something that's both traditional and nostaligic yet different in the way they play with notes/white flowers.

14th December, 2010.

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Poivre by Caron

True story; I was in the kitchen making a dish of rice pudding from scratch for kicks. The recipe called for ground cloves. I got the spice jar of ground clove off from our designated "spice" cabinet and smelled it. Clovey, naturally, and strong. Something about raw clove is kind of off putting to me, not my favorite. I tapped a little bit in, the last tap was strong and I ended up putting a good dose of clove into the pudding. Not too much of a problem though, stirred it, put it in the oven. Both my mom and brother said when it was baking that it smelled good whatever it was I was making.

To be exact, Poivre on my wrist smells like that rice pudding , or more direct the ground clove pre baking with perhaps an underlying actual floral other than supposed carnation, it mellows out sweeter and does and into, as someone suggests something like a bandage or maybe some sort of cosmetic, something you'd smell in the drugstore or on a girl sometimes. Perhaps this is the Caron base? This is otherwise all about cloves.

11th February, 2009.

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Narcisse Noir by Caron

I get some kind of grape candy from this....some sort of homemade grape concoction left in the sun on the hottest day of the year. Strangely medicinal. Wrong kind of orange blossom here for me, but some people may like the aloofness and history attached to it.

11th February, 2009.

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Youth Dew by Estée Lauder

I think this is what my grandmother wears as I recognize the bottle. I've always liked her perfume though, it's a warm scent for sure, a comfort scent so I can totally see the old lady implications, but I think on the right person it would do just fine. Give it a sniff and go LIGHT on application.

16th January, 2009.

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Mitsouko by Guerlain

This is a weird fragrance.

I tried both the edt and edp out of historical curiosity and when applied too much with the applicator from the vial or spritz it on too much you get bombarded by oakmossy, bookish POWDER. Lots and lots of cloying powder. The edt turns straight to powder. Headache inducing. I've washed it off twice it got too cloying. However despite this it is also intriguing. On the skin it does melt into the old Guerlinade with perhaps some spices and that's rather nice, no one can say that's a bad smell, it smells somewhat like baby powder and dried peaches I guess.

I guess the trick must be extremely light handling, otherwise you turn into your grandmother or great grandmother complete with blue hair, painted on eyebrows aquamarine eye shadow real quick. Not to say that it's feminine per se, it's just got that old lady je ne se quoi......cultural association more than actual scent. Heed this warning specially for those fellow straight men wanting to steal supposed great scents from the ladies and use them as unisex. This is sweet in a different way than many modern male colones, you just got to like a little bit of powder when used in moderation, otherwise it's pretty much incense, dried fruit and Guerlinade. Too much and you're feel self conscious. It is weird. I did not get the famed peach note that everyone was talking about at first. All I got was a bit spicier version of Vol de Nuit minus perhaps iris. Jicky, L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko and Vol de Nuit are all somewhat related somewhere in their composition, perhaps in the base. Mitsouko is perhaps the best one though, with Vol de Nuit being behind.....

However the more I smell the edp version, the more I pick up on the warmth. Actually smelling the small decant vial I got I pick up on perhaps the middle notes, there's a note there that reminds me ever so slightly of dried apricots, so I suppose that is the peach note. It is a lurking fruit that's for sure. I need to actually wear it out and see if people react to it or I can get over the slight sinus headache I get from wearing it. Certainly a mystery, it really does skim the line between love and hate....

So guys if interested in this, I would be really hesitant in application, perhaps only small dabs on wrists and neck, or spray on just on your jacket. Being said I got my eyes on Sous le Vent.

14th January, 2009.

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Infusion d'Homme by Prada

I got two samples of the original "female" version and this just to see since people regard the original Infusion so highly and there are claims of it's unisex properties. They both are beautiful, the original being sweet in a non-obtrusive and gentile manner that brings about images of clean linens. They smell quite similar to me, both like really really expensive soap, which I like. D'Homme is a bit soapier and far more quiet (which is a bit odd considering the original's lightness) The original of course has more punch and floral embellishment, perfumey but not heady, which while beautiful I'm afraid might be a bit too feminine to wear for me. D'Homme to me is a good alternative or training wheels until one might feel comfortable wearing the original.

24th September, 2008.

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Yerbamate by Lorenzo Villoresi

I recently became hooked on a variation of the actual drink yerbamate made by a local tea company Honest Tea. It has fast become one of my favorite drinks. Their Yerbamate has a small bit of limeade in it, which perhaps makes it so appealing, and deliciously sweet (without being bad for you, they're an awesome company) and this cologne is in many ways very, very similar.

Very pretty, I would love to smell this on girls my age (nineteen). The opening is nice and sharp, and being raised with a father who wears Guerlain Vetiver, I find myself very fond of somewhat sharp(ish) green openings. This is sweeter than it is sharp but is certainly green, but in a somewhat dry kind of way, like grass and hay, which most certainly agrees with the notes shown above. Powdery and slightly feminine it is a great gentle scent that is more meadow than chunk of grass and earth. I sense a "whiteness" about it, maybe the powder, but it is very fresh and I can agree with ludwigslady, there is a slight creamy cooked sugar/vanilla lurking somewhere in the background to my nose that kinda does remind me of creme brulee. Maybe the overall effect really is a sweetened yerba-mate drink.

Very nice, any girl or a guy with a nice tan could pull this off.

14th August, 2008.

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Philosykos by Diptyque

I am at heart quite a nature boy and have spent many hours outside. I owe this love of nature to early vacations I took when I was little, the Bahamas when I was three, and then Sanibel when I was four. I remember very little from my trip to the Bahamas, little bits and parts appear and go. What I can remember though were drinking coconut milk from coconuts that my dad would collect for me. With Philosykos, I can certainly see the coconut associations, but I'm not too sure that's entirely correct, the milky sweetness is certainly evocative, and if it really is coconut, it is a very pure and light one. I must agree with surreality about the banana-leaf note though, I would call much of the scent more evocative of the copious amounts of clear, ever-so-slightly-thicker-than-water fluid that drip from the cut leaf stems than coconut I think. I know this from tending my own potted dwarf trees and at the nursery where I work. It's sweet, but not floral and not entirely vegetative and not entirely pleasant, it's unusual. Here the milky sweet of coconut/banana-leaf and supposed figs or green tea and I get somewhat of a dry grass/hay which are all together extremely palatable. Very nice, archetypal summer in a bottle and great for both sexes (naturally). Reminds me of Hemmingway a little bit, with his tropical home. I like it a lot, but I'm unsure if my pale skin and features can pull such a nice sweet scent that begs for a Mediterranean style tan.

On an ending note, I did plant myself a sugar fig a few weeks ago, I will be comparing the scents and experiences I receive from the plant in comparison to this nice tropical (not neccesarily or entirely Mediterranean) composition.

14th August, 2008.

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Chocolate Chip by Demeter Fragrance Library

This is actually quite realistic, I was entirely surprised. You can smell the chocolate and the butter and I guess the brown sugar batter too. Well done. My mother keeps pushing me to find a fragrance that smells like chocolate chip cookies, on the assumption that people would love it like they did in that movie with that angel or something.

My only gripe is that the cocoa is a tad sweet and reminds me of a fake chocolate factory ride at Hershey Park, and thus leans it closer to being a feminine fragrance for me, though, guys should try it and see how the girls react.

29th July, 2008.

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Vol de Nuit by Guerlain

I've been looking for a first cologne for myself, and since I've always loved my dad's Guerlain Vetiver, I browsed all that Guerlain has to offer. Being ever curious and a terrible romantic, I saw that this one was practically unisex so I ordered a small sample vintage edt of this to just smell. I was totally surprised when I first opened the little bottle, the opening is very very "Guerlain" I guess, I don't know any other way to put it. I could just tell that it was a Guerlain. There must be some notes in there that they later reused in Vetiver or something. That sharp opening. Very odd and with that in mind I totally agree with ponderous's review, it DOES smell like a cologne when you open the tube (or I guess normally, first spray) but then flow into something feminine once on the skin. The last part of the fragrance, I guess that typical Guerlain vanilla is very nice, it does smell like "skin" but not in a sweaty way.

Being only eighteen I'm not terribly sure, as a guy, I could pull this off despite it's possible unisex tendencies. I need some outside opinions from the family. I caution other men though, you gotta smell it and try it on your skin. Application I think, needs to be light, otherwise the oakmoss and powder can be overly sweet and be perceived as "old". Despite a possible miss for my own wearing, I can't deny, however that this is a beautiful scent. I would be drawn to a girl my age wearing this, for sure.
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29th July, 2008.

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parfums*PARFUMS Series 1 Leaves: Lily by Comme des Garçons

I bought a sample of this scent in hopes that it would be "green" enough for myself to wear, going by the comments of it being unisex, but when I received my sample it was a bit too floral, but not in a bad way, as it is a most wonderful scent. It's very zen.

There is most certainly a sharpness to the scent that certainly does evoke the smell of some miscellaneous white lily by a pond but not in a essential oil kinda way, there is something there keeping the floral in check, and the resulting balance creates something that is unusually "natural" without it being "natural". The only way to describe it's composition I guess is similar to that of Scandinavian furniture design: clean, straight horizontal lines, little embellishment, and
My sample gets a happy ending however, I gave it to my mom and she's really enjoying the sample.

15th April, 2008.

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