Fragrance Reviews by lilybelle

You can buy them separately now, as Orange or Red. A Basenoter sent me a sample of each, and my preference is the Orange, which I think is delicious (I haven't given Red a fair trial yet, but it doesn't grab me the way Orange does). I found these notes for Orange online: rhubarb leaves, peppermint, bergamot, purple orchids, roses, lily of the valley, vetiver from Ghana, sandalwood, rosewood, heliotrope, musk, and vanilla. This conjures up Christmas for me - it's orangey-citrus, spicy, and marshmallowy sweet. There's just a hint of peppermint in there. I don't get a heavy hit of woods, nor is it very flowery/floral. On my skin, it pretty much goes straight to heliotrope/vanilla/musk and stays that way. I LOVE this fragrance. It's yummy.

This is tart and citrussy in the top notes, but the fruit I get here is blackberry. Maybe that's just what I *want* to smell, though. There were wild blackberries growing near our home this past summer and this fragrance made me think of them. Other people get grape kool-aid. There's a faint vanilla/musk/amber drydown. It's very pleasant, but I think weather makes a difference in the wearing. I found the fragrance ripe and juicy and satisfying during very hot and humid summer days, when the fruit in it seemed macerated in caramelized sugar, but it's not as sweet on this chilly November day. I like this one and Bath & Body Works' Midnight Pomegranate when I'm in the mood for sugary fruits.

I have Midnight Pomegranate in body lotion and body splash, and I enjoy it when I want something fruity and fun. It's a tart red fruity smell, sugar dusted over that, with a bit more depth in the base than you'd expect, though I can't detect all the notes listed. It is a [i]wee[/i] bit candle shop'ish, but not too bad. As Keds suggests, it smells great layered with Jo Malone's Pomegranate Noir, which gives it more edge and interest. I'm wearing this combination today for Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm trying a sample of Fleur Oriental today and really enjoying it. I don't find it particularly spicy, though carnation is supposed to be there - amber, vanilla & heliotrope dominate on my skin. The heliotrope makes it almondy-sweet. It's nice, smooth, comforting, exactly what I need on a chilly fall day.

I don't think this one is very popular because I never see any comments on it. I guess that doesn't mean people aren't wearing it. I don't know the sales figures on it. My experience was the opposite of Cbean97's - I didn't like the top notes so much (they seemed a bit sharp & man-cologney), but the drydown was quite nice. It's actually pretty and sophisticated. I like it.

I found an ancient bottle of this and decided to wear a teensy bit tonight. The top notes have faded, which is probably why I'm not getting the lemon or orange. And I don't really smell violets either...at least not what I associate as violets. This smells like orris root to me. A fuzzy and earthy/soilish/rooty sweetness. Yes, I get the green soapiness too. It's really hitting the right spot tonight. I keep going back for tiny spritzes. This might be addictive. I think it's better without its top notes. It reminds me a little bit of Terre d'Iris by Miller Harris (I love that one too).

The top note is patchouli, and it gradually softens and sweetens into the orangey/rosy/vanillic (which is not listed above so maybe that’s amber) drydown. I like that it has this backward development. The patchouli is there throughout, but soft and friendly. A man could wear it too. I’m sniffing it now on my cotton turtleneck from earlier in the day and loving it. It’s a scent I want to inhale deeply and find deeply satistfying, like a barn scent mixed with sweet perfume and fresh country night air. I agree with the liniment remark, it does have a bit of that about it. There's a simplicity about it, yet I also think it's quite elegant. Like this one a lot.

I'm probably being unfair reviewing this after only one wearing, but the appeal of this one completely escapes me. Maybe my taste isn't sophisticated enough yet for Dans tes Bras. Mushroom, Trebor says. I get a musty quality from this in the drydown that is a bit mushroomy I suppose, though I was thinking storage unit. Also, the synthetic top notes make me think of household cleaning products. I get pleasant faint whiffs of salt, though, as well as clove. To me, it smells like being embraced by someone who's been house cleaning and clearing out old things from the attic. I love some of Maurice Roucel's creations, so I was really looking forward to trying this one, but I don't get it. Oh well. We can't all love everything. I'm giving it a "neutral" because I've only tried it once.

This is beautiful. I don't know Diorama, but this reminds me of one of my all time favorites: Diorella - but spicy, juicier, and deeper, woodsier. I suppose it's just very identifiably Roudnitska, which is ok by me. It's elegant, chic, yet very easy to wear. Definitely has that classic French vibe to it, which means it makes me want to do something about my hair, put on some makeup, and go out somewhere nice for lunch. This puts a smile in my heart. Both thumbs way up.

Pretty, clean, classy, ladylike rose fragrance. I get a slight woodsy vibe from it too. And I also get the baby oil Aiona mentioned, but perhaps that's the sweetness of the vanilla and amber, which is not overly done thank goodness. It quite sheer, and for an edp doesn't last very long on my skin. I have other rose fragrances that I like as well, but this is nice. I like it very much.

When I was doing my jasmine exploration a couple of months or so ago, Montale's Jasmin Full turned out to be the one I reached for most often, it was the most wearable. It seemed the purest, yet no skanky indoles were apparent, and it was very potent and long lasting. But now...in retrospect, I have to say that my favorite of the bunch I tried is Lutens' Sarrasins - because it's more interesting in its development. So I agree with Trebor, this one is a bit boring. Nevertheless, it is very beautiful and of exceptional quality, as far as I can judge. I would wear it occasionally but I can't imagine ever going through an entire bottle in my lifetime.

This one is perfect for when I want a sweetie. As Lizzie_J notes, it's pretty much a straight up true vanilla, not a sickeningly sweet or synthetic smelling vanilla (I suppose that would go without saying in this line), and I get a nutty praline quality as well. Yum. Notes: vanilla, cinnamon, clove, woods. I detect no clove at all, mercifully. I think this is really nicely done. I'm loving the Montale's as I try them. Too bad for my bank account!

I quite like Aqua Allegoria Figue-Iris. I'm not an affidionado (yet) on either iris or fig, so maybe that's why I didn't have any pre-expectations when I tried it. I was very pleasantly surprised by how wearable this scent was for me all summer - it was cooling, refreshing and pretty in the summer heat. I'm wearing it today on a rainy fall day and it's just right again. Soft drydown, sweet, iris/powdery and feminine. I do smell a bit of figgy sweetness up front, but it doesn't last long, and is taken over by the iris that lasts a long time on me. I think I smell vetiver in there too. Anyway, I think it's one of the nicest AA's I've tried in the past couple of years. Maybe not a blockbuster, but very pleasant and easy to like.

I get a very sweet custardy vanilla in this - I find it very desserty - and then immediately afteward this rank, unwashed armpit note blooms. I don't know what it is (possibly gaiac wood?), but I get it in other fragrances too, and it doesn't work for me at all. It's fairly linear from there as it slowly fades in intensity. It would be very pleasant but for the sweatiness. I usually do well with Annick Goutals, but this one I can pass by.

I bought a small bottle of this in Florida last June when it was swelteringly hot. I found it delightfully cooling and refreshing but, as Tovah noted, extremely short lived. It's especially nice after a shower before bed in the evening. It's cooling, soothing and one of the nicest simple rose fragrances I've found. A bit tart, a bit sweet, and fairly natural smelling. I love the story behind the name (told on the side of the box): The four daughters of the Count of Fourcalquier - Marguerite, Eléonore, Sancie, and Beatrix - each had a favorite rose - the Grasse rose, the Bulgarian rose, the Moroccan rose, and the Turkish rose, and each of them became a queen. The fragrance is supposed to be a blend of those four roses. Romantic! :-)

I love Désir de Nature. Quarry forwarded me her bottle and I couldn't be more thrilled. I agree, it's a scent you might associate with a young girl, or innocence, a time past. It smells clean, green, floral and wholesome, with a bit of tartness to it. In my imagination I can hear a screen door slam in a farmhouse as a smiling young girl wearing her favorite dress heads off somewhere, maybe to a fair, trailing this scent behind her, and the front room curtains are fluttering in the breeze. I find it very refreshing and of another time and place (obviously). I enjoy it most in the morning after a shower. It puts me in a good mood. It's not long lasting, but you can always re-spritz. Usually by lunchtime I'm ready to move on to a more complex fragrance anyway. But for mornings...it's like a sunny day and not a care in the world.

I'm trying out a sample of Boisé Vanillé by Montale and finding it the perfect comfort scent this morning. I almost reached for Estee Lauder Sensuous in the sample box, but something told me to try this one instead, and thank goodness. It's beautiful - woodsy, spicy, incensy, sweetly vanillic yet not crudely synthetic or desserty. It's the natural, resiny sweetness that emanates from the real tonka bean and vanilla pod. The woods are smooth and velvety, not harsh, as I find many woodsy fragrances, I suppose it's all in the quality of ingredients. I don't know what they are, but I know when I smell them. I'm very impressed with anything by Montale and looking forward to trying more in this line. This one is a little bit masculine for me, but it smells so good that I'd wear it anyway.

I'm glad to have (re)discovered Obsession. I had to track it down. I would smell it from time to time and always wondered what it was. I thought Tabu, Chantilly - but I knew it was neither of those. So my pleasure in this is heightened by the fun of the mystery, which has now been solved. To me, Obession is all deliciousness: sweet, vanillic (though non-gourmand), ambery, citric, all of the right elements coming together into a very pleasant, sensual fragrance, and quite sexual, though with a wearer-friendly absence of skank or irony or knowingness, more of the happy, frank sexuality of its time. I get a slightly medicinal odor of band-aid, which I get sometimes in Shalimar as well, and have noticed in certain other fragrances. I'm wondering whether this is a facet of amber. The medicinal impression doesn't last long anyway. How great to fall in love with a fragrance that is so easily obtainable, affordable, adaptable to any occasion, and all-season wearable. A fellow Basenoter sent me her mini, but I think I would wear this often enough to justify a larger bottle taking up space in my closet. The ad for the most recent version, Secret Obsession, with Eva Mendes would suit this fragrance equally well if not better.

This is what the blog Now Smell This had to say about it...
"The fragrances were developed by perfumers Richard Herpin and Frank Voelkl.

Flower for mothers is meant to "to liberate your flirty, feminine side", and the floral scent features notes of Casablanca lily, freesia, cashmere woods, vanilla, skin musk, velvet woods and sandalwood."

I smell the lily right up front, but into the drydown on skin it smells like a fairly true gardenia to me (though on a paper napkin it continues to smell like lily). This is a very pretty fragrance if you like sweet, white florals. I'm glad I purchased this. The bottle and packaging are adorable.

I'm wearing the last of my sample and I'm sad about that - a good indication that I should purchase a bottle. Not very sillagey, true - it does wear close to the skin, but it's long lasting on me. I enjoy wearing this scent close to the skin all day like a little sheer blanket of comfort. It's sweetish, spicy & woodsy without being overly sweet or sugary. The pepper doesn't bloom out of control on me, and the sandalwood stays soft and doesn't overwhelm. It has a bit of style and elegance to it, though it's casual and easy to wear. It's what I call a "white shirt" fragrance. I always need a perfect white shirt (at least one) that goes everywhere and with everything, is comfortable, yet always looks good and makes me feel smart. Omnia is a perfect white shirt.

I don't smell the jasmine. It smells more like expensive hotel soap: pleasant, light, and very short lived. After five minutes or so I smelled nothing at all. I was disappointed. I expected to smell real jasmine, at least fleetingly. Voile de Jasmin - right? Perhaps I'm anosmic to this? I'm glad I didn't buy a bottle - I would have felt more than a little "had".

I love it too, and I agree with rach2jlc that it is unisex. Someone on one of the blogs said that in drydown it's reminiscent of Eau Sauvage - and it is. Very nice!

I agree with Distortech, it is the heliotrope that is wonderful in this. When I first sampled Angelique-Lilas I was less than impressed, but it's grown on me this summer while I've been playing with my sample. I don't know whether I've ever smelled Angelica before, maybe I do smell it in this but I would need it pointed out to me. I was afraid from the orange on top that it was going to turn into Mandarin-Basilic, but it doesn't (I think the orange could be toned down just a notch, though). The heliotrope and lilac take it into Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds land. It does have that fresh laundry/dryer sheet quality (maybe that's the lily of the valley), but I don't mind because overall the fragrance is kind of soft and marshmallowy, and sweet like a storybook. It's very pleasant.

Nice, pretty jasmine fragrance. I find it very feminine. And I get honeysuckle too! I thought it might be melon, but it's honeysuckle, which has a very sweet almost fruity scent. This isn't going to be the "one" jasmine scent for me. But I like it very much.

I can't add very much more to what Calchic has already said so well about how this smells. I think Antilope is an artfully composed fragrance, and perfectly named; it's a sleeper of a little conjurer. I get a dry, grassy, sweet vetiver from it, the blonde color of dried vetiver suggesting the natural habitat of African Antilope (though I think Vetiver is actually southeast Asian?). I agree, it summons up romantic visions of Isak Dineson's Africa, or camping out on Safari in tents, lions lolling in the grassy plains. It goes to show how influential a suggestive name is to the overall character of a fragrance (maybe that's why Envy and Insolence, et al. never grabbed my interest). Antilope is a sweet-dry scent, not bone dry like Amazone; and it's very feminine, imo, though it could be worn by a man too. It warmed and sweetened on my skin, drying down to a delicate soft whisper of sillage. My husband complimented me on it when I was using up my sample. I'll probably just stick with the edc, although I would be interested in testing the new edp to compare. It's very affordably priced online. I hope it hasn't been downgraded in quality.

I had to sniff the bottle because I love it; it looks like a glass paperweight with the Pucci print beneath the domed top. At first sniff I pulled my head back - "Whoa! Smells like celery, smells like a Bloody Mary". Then I took a second sniff..."Wait a minute...smells like gardenias. Must try on skin." The SA at Nordstrom made up a sample for me (I love that place), and this morning I am testing it on my wrists. I love it. I'm very pleasantly surprised because I'd read a few negative comments about Vivara, and as it turns out it is an utterly lovely green/floral retro chypre. It reminds me of my mother as a beautiful young woman in the 60's, when she actually wore Pucci prints. I didn't think you could buy a fragrance like this anymore unless you found a vintage bottle of something. It has a bitter green start, then gorgeous white florals in the middle take over, supported by the woody basenotes - yet it's not "woodsy". As Ubuandibeme noted, the fragrance unfolds through that classic progression of notes (it reminds me of Y or Givenchy III), and yet it has a fresh modernity. There is often something weighty and staid in vintage chypres that is lacking here and I don't miss that. This is airier. There is that little bit of powderiness too as iMaverick notes. It is elegant. It's not austere, but not warm & cuddly either. I detect no patchouli, thank God. I love this. If it lasts longer than a nano-second on my skin, I will definitely purchase a bottle.

Love it!

I hope you’ll forgive my reminiscing here…I remember discovering the Perfumers Workshop counter in Bloomingdales in 1975 and having such fun there. You could buy different oils and dilutants to make your own cologne, or just wear the oils straight. They came in various sizes in brown bottles. I bought freesia, gardenia, oak moss, oppoponax, and tea rose, which was their main best-selling fragrance and the only one, as far as I know, that came in a spray edt. The entire main floor of Bloomingdales smelled of Tea Rose. I didn’t know anything about perfumery, I just had fun choosing the scents that appealed to me. I had Tea Rose in oil form first, and then later bought the edt spray. The oil was sooo potent! It was lethal. People either loved it or hated it. I suppose it depends on one’s tolerance for rose, which divorced of girly-girl or Victorian associations is actually a very strange and exotic odor.

To me, Tea Rose (and it doesn’t seem to have changed over the years) is a lush, crimson, sweet, syrupy, full blown, and even almost moldy & overripe rose. It smells like it’s growing in a graveyard by a tomb, petals at the point of falling to the ground to rot. Some people get impressions of sweetness, lightness and spring, but for me Tea Rose is purely Gothic/Romantic – a little dark. But maybe that’s must my sense of romanticism. It’s quite long lasting, and a steal at $9.99 for 4 oz. at discount stores. I wouldn’t wear it to the office, but I’d wear it on a date on a summer night. I wouldn’t wear it to a christening, but I’d wear it to a jazz club. It layers very well, as has been mentioned, with almost anything. I’m so glad that it’s still available.

Sensual Elixir is my favorite form of No. 5. I think it should have been named No. 5 Boudoir (oops, Boudoir is taken!). A soft, sexy scent, so easy to wear, yet so feminine and luxe. I can't wear No. 5 in edt because it just doesn't work on me, though I think the edp is very nice. I haven't yet had the privilege to try the parfum. But the Sensual Elixir as a modern variation takes all the best things about No. 5 that makes me keep going back and presents them for our re-delectation. The vanilla is present but subdued. It doesn't last long on my skin, but while it's there it has a pronounced effect on my mood - utterly romantic.

I like Armani Diamonds. The sweet and woodsy drydown won me over. It's sexy and lingering, and I like the fresh top notes. Most of the Armani scents seem to work well for me. Like other Armanis I've tried, this one is feminine, modern, appealing, sexy but not cliched. Nicely done, imo. If you enjoy Armani scents in general you'll probably like this one too.