All Invited! ♥ ♥ ♥ Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday, August 1, 2009 ★★★ Fresh Frags

OhBoyOhBoy!! :bounce: My favert! (As I say for every SnS)

I can do ALL of my seaside scents....Brezza di Mare...Salt Air...REM (thanks Carlita!) nd I think somebody sent me one of the CBIHPs....maybe Mr. Hulot??

Okie dokie. I'm in!

I'll have a go sounds like FUN I'm going to look to see what I can wear tomorrow!

Hm. I wonder....My L'Eau par Kenzo qualifies, but I wonder if my fruitilicious vintage Juba oil qualifies....It's been a long time since I've given that one a spin....

Yup, I love SnS weekends just so I can hear you say that! Love ya, Taolady!

What qualifies as fresh? you mean either like oceany type fresh or like soapy fresh? I think I have one for each of those!

Excellent, thank you Quarry! I shall dig out my couple of fragrances I could wear, as I have a couple of ideas.

Ooooh! A bit of a challenge for me as this is a category I usually steer clear of. Which makes it all the more fun.
My L'Eau de Kenzo would be perfect though - I bought it because the topnotes smell exactly like fresh-cut grass to me. Ooh, or there's my YR Neonatura Souffle, which is beachy fresh. Hmm...
I think I"m more in the mood for the Neonatura Souffle.

I've chosen Crazy Libellule and the Poppies Presque Nu today. It was sent to me as a gift, but it's become my favorite scent for the gym and anything athletic. It's a light floral with a strong white musk base. Very clean white musks. I don't usually go for the clean laundry smell at all, but this one is perfect for early morning runs and hard workouts. Stays close enough to the skin that I smell it, but the people around me probably won't freak out like the folk at that call center!

The freshest scent I own is EAU DE ROCHAS. I love this on a hot summer's day.
The citrussy opening is just so uplifting and classy - verbena, grapefuit and mandarin.
It transports me to the South of France in an instant and really does hint at the tangy smell of
rock pools.
This is my favourite stage of the three, the middle hinting at patchouli with wild rose
and narcissus.and the drydown featuring sandalwood, cinnamon and amber.
I also use the body lotion and find that this makes the rather fleeting eau de toilette
last that little bit longer. This is my summer scent of choice and has more of a bite to it
than "O" de Lancome or Escale a Portofino, which I also use in the warmer months.

I'm in EL PC JWM- because it is EXTREMELY dewy.
Amouage Refelect ions Women would be a good choice, too- very watery- or Un Jardin Sur la Nil...

Most 'eaus' would fit the bill

CdG Synthetic : SKAI today. It's fresh to me!

As always, this is a difficult category for me.

I have only two aquatics (Set Sail St. Barts and Subtil Pour Homme) and didn't want to wear either of them.

My favorite category is Dry Woods, so I went with a fresh leather scent:



.

I am going with Beth Terry Creative Universe Mare.

Notes include sea salt, avocado, and ginger lily.

My choice for today is the beautiful Sogni del Mare by Antonia's Flowers. The fragrance is based on "living by and dreaming of the sea". "A watery, fruity, floral with notes of Italian bergamot, cassis buds, wild rhubarb, orange and lotus." Quotes are from http://www.antoniasflowers.com/sogni.asp

Lovely fragrance, reasonably priced, long lasting.

My SotD is Profumum's Acqua di Sale!

Notes are: aroma of salt on the skin, myrtle, cedarwood, marine algae (per LuckyScent)
I love this in the heat of summer, it makes me feel cooler just to smell it. It took me a bit to get past the first impression of this scent, a medicinal blast that is truly not pleasant. But oh, in a few minutes... this hovers on my skin and brings a smile to my face with each sniff. The dry down is a marvelous medley of maritime magnificence.

And now I have reached my daily alliteration quota!

For me the options are limited, fews marines in my collection. But loving a bargain as I do I recently purchased Lilly Pulitzer's Beachy:

Beachy opens with notes of sliced watermelon, sunny citrus, and marine air accord. The heart enchants with jasmine blossom, tiare flower, and lush frangipani. The sun sets on the fragrance with a blend of seas crystals, golden amber and sweet vanilla. (From her website)

Surprisingly pretty the citrus and marine air keep it salty and cool while the florals make it much more me!

This might be my favorite category.

Well, if it includes aquatic/watery florals and fragrances that smell like the ocean, this category is at the top of my list, too!

Today I am wearing il Profumo Aria di Mare. A while back, I tested several "marine" fragrances and this emerged as my favorite of the group. Not only do I like the name, "Song of the Sea", but the fragrance seems more natural than many of its ilk. The listed notes (Luckyscent) are ocean notes, bamboo stalk, java tea leaves, floral herbaceous notes, sweet water mint, yellow wild broom, acacia flowers, sand white lily, yellow rose, tiare, and musk. In my opinion, this fragrance is a prettily balanced blend of soft ocean, floral, and herbaceous notes; one of those fragrances that feels "just right" on my skin!

Wasn't sure which way to go for this, either fresh and clean smelling or oceany smelling......so this time went with oceany smelling and have been wearing Nicole Fahri Bleu Azur my only oceany one.

not my fave category

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.

I had to go and get some.

For me it's not so much about the ozones or marines, but the citrus and light florals. Though, I was very taken with Heeley's Sal Marin.

I'm wearing DL & co.Thornapple it is a fresh green apple scent with moderate projection. This one would be great if you have a craving for that fresh springtime smell of green hedge apples and goose berries. It's tart and sweet at the same time. http://www.luckyscent.com/shop/secti...orn_apple.html




applewood, vetiver, oakmoss, patchouli

Started out this morning with Coty's Aspen for Women The only notes I've been able to find anywhere for this are "marine and aquatic" That is pretty much what I got with perhaps a light floral in there as well.

After much running around switching to Holy Water from La Via del Profumo
sandalwood, incense, rose, and orange blossom
This is a wonderful scent when I am getting a bit too frazzled.

I am wearing Olivier Durbano's Turquoise. I would have never picked this up even as a sample, but Luckyscent sent one with my latest purchase of their teas. (I love Luckyscent)

It is exactly as Dimitri describes it in his blog. I would not make it justice, so go an read Dimitri's review.

I don't really have anything strictly in this category. So yesterday I bought a mini of Davidoff Cool Water Woman at the drugstore. And I tried it. Egads! Guess I took August SnS a bit too literally. But I had never tried Cool Water and wanted to see what it was like anyway. It was very pungent and smelled like Coast Soap, or Irish Spring soap. I thought it smelled quite masculine. I could barely tolerate it - and I can tolerate almost any fragrance. Eventually, it dried down and became less astringent but by then it was just boring. It still has its fans, though, who say that it smells better on some than on others. I like the bottle because I love blue bottles.

Today, I'm wearing Lanvin's Rumeur...which I find dry and cool because of its aldehydes. I get almost no moisture in this scent. It's classfied as a floral woody fragrance, and it's working well for me in the hot & humid weather. I find it airy and fresh. If I hadn't worn this it would have been Estee Lauder's Pure White Linen, with its crispness and its "cool fresh air accord" that is listed in the EL descriptive notes.

Hermes Eau de Merveilles

Notes: elemi, bitter orange, Italian lemon, Indonesian pepper, pink pepper, ambergris accord, oak, cedar, vetiver, balsam of Peru and tears of Siam (from NowSmellThis.com)

I have read that Eau de Merveilles is supposed to have been inspired by ambergris, and with that in mind, thought it would probably be a little "beachy", as in salt and sun on skin. In the opening, I smell orange, cedar, patchouli, tea, and a strange antiseptic note that reminds me very much of Lysol spray, in the original "good for your health, germ killing" scent. To be more precise, the antiseptic note smells like a cross between sage and iodine, but in the context of the rest of the fragrance, is softened and bolstered by other notes that allow it to give a leathery impression. It is a real stretch to imagine EdM as anything close to what ambergris really is, and in fact, it smells nothing like the real thing. However, on a warm day like today, once the weird woody, medicinal, leathery strangeness subsides, the lingering base does smell a bit like ambergris--salty, a tiny bit sweet and with a bitter edge that is a tad like bile. Too bad there is also a sort of shampoo smell in the drydown. On the whole, EdM was far more gourmand than I expected--the cedar, patchouli and sage/iodine accord is quite masculine, with an effect very similar to Angel and its ilk. I give EdM some points for the unusual opening accord, but find that ultimate gourmand weirdness is better satisfied by Tom Ford's Black Orchid. Having said that, I am enjoying EdM today, and find it to be an acceptable warm weather scent, appropriate for both men and women.

Hmmmmm.

I'm having trouble finding a fragrance.

I was thinking Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint (as if I don't already talk about that one enough), but one of the things that makes that one so interesting to me is this odd little buttery foodlike note that, IMO, makes it not utterly in the "fresh" category.

Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale? It's bright and sparkly and gingery. But gingery is more of a bright fiery sparkle than a cold wet one, right? Like 4th of July sparklers, instead of like a fountain.

Le Labo Jasmin 17 is bright and liquid, but it's got an intensity of flavor, like sour lemonade that you're enjoying, but then you're pleased when some of the ice melts and you realize that the lemon was getting just a little too intense. So that seems somehow counter-fresh.

Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale. Water and tea and minerals. A scent that smells the way that perfectly clean light-filled water splashing on gritty rocks looks. Hmmm. OK, I'd go with L'Eeau Rare Matale, but I don't have any right now! I packed it for a trip and left it elsewhere; long story.

OK: Fresh Hesperides. Ice cold grapefruit, un-soured just enough that you don't have that please-melt-the-ice-faster thing. A scent that you could gulp down by the glass if it were a drink, or dive into if it were a pool. It's the one that I keep in the fridge for really, really hot days, so I guess it's the one.

Crayfish

Edited to add: Well, hmph. After several hours in Fresh Hesperides, I've discovered: I don't seem to like it any more. A couple of months ago I got a really 'synthetic' feel from my other bottle, but I figured that was the badly stored bottle. Now I'm getting it from this, better stored bottle.

I've worn it happily a couple of times in between those two instances, but this time I disliked it to the point of scrubbing it off. It's starting to look like I may end up giving away two bottles of the stuff.

Hmph.

I didn't have time yesterday to post here, we had a family get-together that took up my whole day.

I don't really have a lot of fresh or aquatic scents in my collection. OK, probably none actually. A good friend sent me a decant of Beth Terry Creative Universe Mare, so I ended up being scent-twins with petruccijc today by wearing that.

It smells like sea salt and clean breezes to me. I like it except for its longevity. It was gone much too soon. Many of you were wearing interesting sounding scents yesterday ... I will have to check some of them out. My collection could use a nice sea-themed scent.

Totally busy this past weekend but did go with fresh on Saturday, wearing O de Lancome.

I ended up in a "fresh" scent today-- Occhi Verdi Fleur de Batik from a sample. This came to me from an overseas swap. I did a google search that yielded 27 hits, none in English (unless you count Ebay in Singapore). It appears to be a drugstore scent in mainland Europe.

To me, it smells like shampoo. Not soap or dryer sheet, but definitely a slightly sweet, floral shampoo. Maybe Jhirmack, but I haven't smelled Jhirmack in decades. I can't even begin to describe notes, but I'm pretty sure there's rose and lily of the valley, maybe freesia or jasmine, plus some juicy fruit like mandarin. You'd think I'd be better at this by now! I'd say this is a young girl's perfume. Something for someone in her tweens or thereabouts. It's bright and pretty and considering how cheap it is overseas I'm a little surprised I've never heard of this line before. Anyway, it was a nice, FRESH surprise test wearing for this hot, summer day.

On the actual day of the SnS I wore Mugler Cologne, the ultimate Fresh Scent, imo. I find it both energizing and cooling with the lemon/lime citrus and the "still damp from the shower" soapiness. A very Refreshing Scent is perhaps what I mean to say.

FINALLY!!! *tearing open my newly arrived package and spritzing with abandon* This is much greener-citrusy-fresh than the lotus-aquatic-fresh I remembered... odd I was so far off, but it is exceptionally lovely.

Memories of rowing out across the lake to the thick patch of waterlilies... they clumped together so thick that your oar could get caught in the leathery stems. Dewy white blooms never smelled quite so floral as the "waterlily" synthetic in perfumes, but they had lighter, less flashy scent... I catch traces of it here, which must be the lotus flowers. Nevertheless, the boldest note is the green mango, and I'd compare it to Kumquat's hedge apple. That sharp citrus green blends just beautifully with the prominent grapefruit. I'm a bit disappointed that the incense and sycamore wood didn't linger past the topnotes. They were too faint to be noticed at any point, along with the aromatic rushes... there isn't any drydown to speak of.

Fleetingly lovely... less than 45 minutes on my skin, but on clothes I've gotten several hours so far. Seems odd to spritz post-dressing, but I'll cheat however I can to keep this on longer. Had I paid full price, I may have been miffed that it didn't change, didn't last, and didn't have the complexity its intriguing note list promised. But for the deal I got, its a perfectly stunning, straightforward, pick-me-up.

And the bottle's just gaaawwwgeous!!