Fragrance Reviews by newgabe

As this is still available in discount pharmacies and the like it is worth adding my 2c. Lime cordial. Possibly could be worn to a pre school fairy party with an appropriate pixie hat.

First it smelled like dirty water, but eventually I could smell a poor cousin of lavender ( is that supposed to the the violet?). If I smelled this on a man's shirt I think I would wonder whether he washed often enough.

Well for heaven's sake. All those years of spending a fortune on essential oils of rose, having bottles worth bulk $$ go off, being ripped off in souks... and all I had to do was spend the price of a couple of cups of coffee on something which may be chemical but which does the trick entirely!
Rose being about the only floral I really like, my current game is layering this with my usual range of nonfloral and dark perfumes to see what happens. So far have played with Bandit, Bulgari Black and Quorum as well as some Arab perfumes which of course it boosts beautifully. A great find after so long!

I keep Bandit in its box and treat it like a slightly dangerous secret friend ... everytime I take it out, it's with a little thrill that am going on an adventure. On me it is immediately powerful, pungent and sexy (like real sex, not the sugarpinkgirly pretendy teasy stuff.) I definitely smell leather, maybe even horse! It is the perfect antidote to the current crop of celebrity fruit salad perfumes and reminds me that female beauty was not always so lightweight. I chopped firewood wearing it one day and felt like a warrior queen as it heated up with real sweat. I have the EDT and am interested to get the EDP now as well

Oh dear. Thick sweet and tummychurn cloying. After surviving the first half hour, it reminds me of a perfume oil that you'd find in an Indian hippy clothing store. It would be called something like 'purple velvet' and no one would be expected to take it seriously. And this costs how much!!! I have a small bottle given as a sample and I am just so glad I didn't pay real $$ for it.

Bought this unsniffed as I love the leathery powdery mysterious classic Cabochard.
Not just disappointed, but shocked! Was trying on some clothes just after spraying it and found the build up of the intense sticky (green carnation ?) note so overpowering in the change room I had to leave. The middle notes are OK, more 'pretty' but keep being overpowered by the lingering top blast which sticks to clothing. I should have paid more attention to the bottle... the mis-shapen overpowering fungal looking top is so very differnet to the sophisticated frosted bow of Cabochard I should have realised there would be nothing in common. I've tried it half a dozen times since to see if I could come around to it, but I;ve put it back in the box and hopefully will trade it sometime.

Starts off unhappily reminiscent of Prada (nauseous melon)..fades to a pale Angel-ish whisper with a little more dominance to the spice. OK but I wouldn't buy it. If I needed this I would layer a walk-though air spritz of real Angel with something more challenging to balance, like Boucheron Homme or a vetiver. But then I like perfumes that talk to you rather than lie down for a rest...

A little harsh in the opening notes, but dries down to a light lemony/cardamom/incense style of vanilla. Not leathery or powdery like a Cabochard style chypre. A happy everyday wear to work sort of scent, which would make a good change from my usual strong weird direction (Bulgari Black, Bandit) without veering into candypopfloweryfakemelon

Madame Rochas moves straight to the powdery dry down of Cabochard (Parfum Gres) but without some of its leathery/leafy complexity. I would find this a simple and honest scent for every day wear, which competely avoids the horrors of chemical melons, plastic flower bombs and other contemporary attempts at 'perfume'

Does indeed begin like a lightweight Angel, then moves through a chemical melon phase like Prada by Prada. Turns my stomach. It did seem to be heading into something a bit more creamy/spicy when I scrubbed it about 25 minutes into its not doubt profitable but deriviative journey.

My new best friend! After the inital, misleading leafy blast, it quickly settles to a delicious, evocative, natural feeling, dry, almost musty aura that leaves my clothes smelling so familar and comfortable, I don't even want to wash them. This is the reliable friend- perfum I've been searching for. Layers well with vetivers too, like Guerlain's, Boucheron Homme or Chanel Sycomore. In fact I am thinking of buying one of those huge (expensive) bottles of Sycomore just to repear that trick over the long term. I bought two bottles of Cabochard .. they are so cheap, why not!

I ought to like this as I love real amber. But this has been a great disappointment. The chemical melony introductory top note turns my stomach. The reference to Angel is understandable.. though somehow despite the odds I have some use for Angel. With Prada though that nauseous chemical note continues far too long to be bearable (sometimes introductory tops do have to be endured to get to the delicious... as in Cabochard); then the base notes are too sweet and vague to be interesting. For me, a scrubber. Anyone want to swap?

I first smelled this when a SA in a duty free shop responded to my * I can't stand Western (as opposed to Arab) perfumes, they all smell like fake jasmine * by offering me a spray of Black. I got the rubber and smoke with great pleasure; fancy that, a commercial perfume I like!!! Remembering that has led me to exploring commercial perfumes now ( though I have a good nose for notes, having studied aromatherapy in a previous decade)... and buying five different ones in the last week! I am exploring odd/masculine smells to match my first love (Terre d' Hermes on the way... and and am now that woman some reviewers say they admire who wears Black as standard.. to work...to the shops... I keep smelling my arm and spritzing different places to keep the rubber/smoke/powdery combo rolling on all day. Adventures in Black, love it!

Well, how extraordinarily different we all are! I bought a 4ml bottle of this at great expense on eBay expecting to love it on the basis of reviews. My favorite scent is Bulgari Black, so I am not nervous of odd or 'dark' smells. But Cuir de Russie works not on me. First it smelled like the horse, rather than the leather. Then turned to soap, then disappeared. Which was a relief. So now I will be selling a tiny bottle of it somewhere, with only a few drops gone.

I am not entirely surprised to have a divergent opinion to others around smells /tastes though... I seem to be the only person on the globe who doesn;t like red wine!

The first hit of this is dark, heavy, assertive and I love it.. it reminds me of the essential oils I have always preferred to perfumes. I get almost none of the 'floral' notes that people mention... but straight to sandalwood within 30 mins after application. I have started wearing it on my hands at bedtime... a lovely way to go to sleep... I used to put vetiver oil on my baby's pillows as a sedative many years ago.