Basenotes - Reviews by kaylenehelen

United States

Showing 1 to 9 of 9.

Saks Fifth Avenue for Her by Bond No. 9

Very elegant with a bold presence. I love the gardenia note that stays fresh in a comfortable bed of vanilla. Gardenia often turns sour on me, but this stays bright and lovely, like the scent of my garden, luring me into the dusk for a glass of champagne.

8th May, 2009.

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Versace Versense by Versace

This one took me completely by surprise.

I was shopping for something in my usual oriental range, and took home samples of this fragrance mainly because it's so hard to get samples these days, I'm grateful for any offered. I frankly had no interest in what, in the bottle and on paper, smelled like just another desperately "transparent" modern fragrance.

I gave it another sniff, and recognized bergamot, so, in deference to Shalimar, I applied it to my skin.

It opens with the sophisticated lemony smell you expect from bergamot, with an earthy zing from the cardamom and a certain gracious roundness that I attribute to the fig. Soon, this warms up with sandalwood and cedar, and the lovely play of jasmine. Jasmine, here freed from its usually overbearing companion, forms the perfect counterpoint to the woody heart of a masterfully blended fragrance.

26th April, 2009.

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Cinnabar by Estée Lauder

On the right woman, this would surely be rich and exciting. On me, it was much too heavy, and actually burned my skin. It made me think of anointing oil, which is not a bad thing, but never settled down into my skin.

26th April, 2009.

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Must de Cartier by Cartier

A huge scrubber for me. It smelled like someone set fire to a car in a field of dandelions.

Amazingly bitter from the first sniff, only settling down to burned rubber and plastic smell. I think that's the rose; I'm a known rose killer.

26th April, 2009.

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White Patchouli by Tom Ford

A beautifully balanced fragrance in the best bottle I've seen. Opens with beautiful, heady white flowers in the grand fashion of forgotten perfumes. Too much rose in the middle for my body chemistry. There's an unfortunate "soapy" quality that lasts too long for me to buy this one. Beautiful warm,but bright drydown I can still smell the next morning.

Probably the most ladylike patchouli you'll find. This girl has elegance.

25th April, 2009.

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Casmir by Chopard

My daughters found this fragrance for me. I love the warm spiciness of it, and get lots of complements from women and men both when wearing.

It's my go-to fragrance for a sophisticated and approachable amber-vanilla veil of scent.

For me, this is a great everyday, and summer scent.

25th April, 2009.

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White Shoulders by Elizabeth Arden

My all time favorite "lady" perfume. Completely appropriate for any occasion. Clean, warm and lovely. I can't stop smelling the crook of my elbow in the lingering amber-vanilla drydown.

I absolutely refuse to care that this has a stupid name, bad advertizing, and a drugstore reputation. I've never found anything as lovely.

1st April, 2009.

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Tabu by Dana

My all-time favorite. A guilty pleasure. My answer to the drugstore reputation of this rich, spicy, witty and confident fragrance? I decant the juice into a stunning amber swirled art-glass bottle for my dresser, add a pinch of white shoulders for brightness in the middle notes and call the blend "Sonorous." I tell myself it was almost too expensive, but worth it to smell so fabulous.

1st April, 2009.

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Coco by Chanel

I adore Coco.

I first tried it years ago, and loved, hated it. I'm older, and perhaps the great lady herself has been tamed a bit by the attentions of a new generation of noses.

The fragrance unfolds in continuing astonishment, warm, bright, spicy, compelling.

Thank goodness Coco doesn't smell like the cigarettes Ms. Chanel was always photographed with.

1st April, 2009.

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