Basenotes - Reviews by Turkish Hookah Dancer

United States

Showing 1 to 14 of 14.

Bandit by Robert Piguet

I am so deaply jealous of the other reviewers. I hoped for leather, complexity, incense - and got white pepper instead. Heady, sweet and vaguely floral white pepper. Tons of it. I even sniffed white pepper out of my cupbord and sniffed my wrist again - nearly identical. Oh well.

24th October, 2006.

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Tiptoeing Through Chambers of the Moon by Pilar and Lucy

This is a very heavy tuberose scent with an undercurrent of headshop amber and patchouli. If you love tuberose, you may just adore this. If you're like me, you'll smell skunk. Now skunks are very cute animals, but I just don't want to smell quite like one. Nonetheless, this is a beautifully crafted perfume.

12nd October, 2006.

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The Exact Friction of Stars by Pilar and Lucy

I asked my SO to tell me what he thought of it, and had my initial reaction confirmed when he started singing "Do you like piña coladas . . ."

12nd October, 2006.

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Feuilles de Tabac by Miller Harris

Sadly, I got cheep blond tobacco as in the dumped-out contents of a Marlborough Light, and a half a ton of musk cologne. I felt like I was in a pool hall in the late seventies a few hours after closing time, steeped in old smoke, spilled Bud Light, and the over-application of ten sweaty men's stinging musk.

12nd October, 2006.

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Ambre Passion by Laura Mercier

This amber is intriguing. It has at once, a vanillic and syrupiness like molasses, a somewhat crisp, sour apple tinge, and a deliciously dirty animalic quality that I think is from castoreum and so gives it a very deep, leathery quality. Possibly a bit offputting, but hard to stop wanting to sniff. I can't decide if I love it or not.

11th October, 2006.

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Hermèssence Ambre Narguilé by Hermès

I adore this fragrance, though it is very sweet so I find myself reaching for it only occasionally.

I would not classify this as an amber scent, as amber is detectable, but hardly the key note. Instead, this is a mélange of sweet bakery smells with a very sweet top note blast of yellow raisins and white wine, followed by the predominant note that characterizes Ambre Narguilé: a delicious, yeasty raw dough swirled with black raisins and sweet cinnamon. Perhaps I detect a touch of cardamom which lends a slight baklava feel. The amber in this fragrance anchors it, acting as a warm, skin-scent undertone throughout, and emerges on the drydown to meld with a sweet and dry, woody cinnamon stick and cedar.

Overall, I would say this fragrance has a dry, sweet, sparkling feel to it like a crisp white wine, despite some of the more syrupy and dark notes. It's bewitching, but in a kind way, an enticement that says, "eat me" but without any sexed up connotations. It captivates with an ever-changing progression of notes, not one moment of which is anything less than delectable.

11th October, 2006.

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Piment Brûlant by L'Artisan Parfumeur

I get a somewhat hot, intensely vegetal green bell pepper. And then POOF! it's gone.

11th October, 2006.

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Vanilia by L'Artisan Parfumeur

I can appreciate ubuandibeme's feeling that this fragrance is "unfinished." There are times when I find it thin and undone in a disconcerting way. However, at other times, that is just what I adore about this very unusual vanilla.

I initially wanted to try this because of it's alleged smokiness, but I get none of that at all - instead, what I get is a barely sweet vanilla which evokes water. Tepid, flowing water, gliding over rocks in a shallow brook. Water and the color blue of a glowing twilight sky. There is certainly a feeling of something missing - it evokes air, water, emptiness in a way.

The wateriness, which I think may come from orris root and possibly tonka, at times bothers me and at other times bewitches me. I don't feel it suits me at all as a personal fragrance, but it's a beautiful scent to have a sample of. It perfectly evokes a particular romantic and somber mood I slip into on rare occasions, one which makes me feel like a ghost. Vanilia is a fragrance for waking dreams and wandering in the haunting dusk.

11th October, 2006.

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Ambre by L'Occitane

How completely disappointing that they discontinued the Ambre perfume oil. This EDP is a thin and light, artificial, citrusy, girlish and thoroughly boring amber. Why, oh why did they have to discontinue that gooey, balsamic, vanillic Ambre oil, oh why?????

11th October, 2006.

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Amir by Laura Tonatto

A burst of bitter herbal sweetness in the top notes, then extremely sweet, high pitched oriental notes. Nothing particularly bad about the notes, but it's painfully sweet and unoriginal. I might t be intrigued by this if I found it for less than ten dollars as a fragrance oil at some little hippy shop, but this is priced and packaged as a boutique fragrance and I don't feel it's worth the trouble or the price.

11th October, 2006.

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Samsara by Guerlain

If you are like me and cannot tolerate tuberose, you might want to avoid this fragrance. All I get from this one is the telltale skunked-out gardenia/tuberose from this and none of the deep oriental beauty the others get.

11th October, 2006.

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Habanita by Molinard

This is a truly beautiful composition. Entirely out of the ordinary and surprisingly good quality. It has great longevity, still a whisper on the skin the next morning, and it has an appropriate, close ring of silage.

Top:
The opening is a strong blast of myrrh and smoke on me - a harsh, metallic and sweet smell, reminiscent of the taste of blood . . . Edited: I find that the harshness and smoke I smelled in the jus from my miniature bottles is replaced in my full bottle by a fresh verdant blast of forest greens and leathery notes, with a gentle powderiness and mild smoke that's at once chic and barbaric (in all the right ways).

Heart:
As this fragrance develops, the harshness of the top notes turns into clarity, and the smokiness takes hold in bonfire strength . . . Edited: again, in the full bottle, I find much less smoke, but instead the leather takes hold and vanillic qualities begin to come through . . . Leather begins to poke out over a bed of Turkish roses and other understated, but exquisite florals.

Base:
Vanilla comes out full-force and plays off still-strong smoke and rich leather notes. This vanilla has nothing sweet or gourmand about it - it is merely the grounding, human embrace to reign in the intimidation factor of the sexy, fierce confidence of the strong smoke and leather.

Character:
Habanita makes me feel like a wild woman out of an Angela Carter story – intensely sexual and entirely self-possessed. Much of our culture's associations with feminine strength is simply masculinity transposed to women or associations with nurturing motherliness- this fragrance, instead, is female potency, unapologetic, sinuous, sexy, and most importantly, strong.

This fragrance also happens to be downright mouth watering. It smells extremely pleasing, and so its sexuality and confidence is not intimidating. Because of its clarity and complete absence of girlish, candied, flowery, fruity or fresh notes, this fragrance can read as sophisticated and dressy as well as robust and sexy. It would be equally at home in daily life as an intelligent, cozy and sexy fragrance, or at the symphony or an upscale restaurant.

12nd September, 2006. (Last Edited: 11th June, 2008.)

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Tabaco Latino by Monotheme

I agree with Peter. This fragrance is just hellish. like a hairy Marlboro smoker doused in Curve and industrial strength men's-bathroom air freshener, who's been wearing the same orange floral print pollyester shirt for a week.

6th September, 2006.

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The Dreamer by Versace

On my (female) skin, the juniper and some strong orange/mandarin and high pitched musk notes mix into a cloying mess that reminds me of Goo Gone (a solvent for removing gluey guck made with orange oil and something like acetone. Great product! Doesn't smell too good.). These top notes just do not let go, and nothing else in the composition comes through.

6th September, 2006.

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