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What female scents are even deadlier on the male? - Page 3

post #121 of 383
12/16/12 at 12:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kagey View Post

Thanks, Profumo. I was reading that with interest as Alien has been quietly whispering to me from the depths of my subconscience since I smelled it about two years ago. And yesterday I smelled it on someone walking ahead of me on the street, and it smelled great. But every time I get close to it I'm no longer sure I can deal with the cloying. I think it's totally not for me, but then it won't go away!

Definitely sample this one and wear it before buying if possible. I have also smelled this on someone in passing and thought how beautifully different it was, but when confronted with it close up all night it just became too sickeningly sweet.
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post #122 of 383
12/16/12 at 1:41am
I'll never forget strolling around that rose garden in my London Summer and the Israeli tourist sisters that shared the walk with me. Thanks for that, man.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kagey View Post

Thanks, Profumo. I was reading that with interest as Alien has been quietly whispering to me from the depths of my subconscience since I smelled it about two years ago. And yesterday I smelled it on someone walking ahead of me on the street, and it smelled great. But every time I get close to it I'm no longer sure I can deal with the cloying. I think it's totally not for me, but then it won't go away!

Perhaps a sample to whiff now and again on a blotter.
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post #123 of 383
12/16/12 at 3:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Profumo Saggio View Post

Definitely sample this one and wear it before buying if possible. I have also smelled this on someone in passing and thought how beautifully different it was, but when confronted with it close up all night it just became too sickeningly sweet.

Good advice Profumo.

For all that I really enjoyed this perfume, it is unrelenting. Once it hits the rose note, it does not stop sounding it for a very long time.

On the sweetness - yes - I was very scared after smelling this on a blotter as it was almost cloying, but on my skin it became more herbal and spicy.

That said I wouldn't recommend any rose fragrance to anyone who wasn't a fan of the scent, even then I can't bear Lipstick Rose by the same house.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngardens View Post

Assiduosity, I am sure not one that is laughing at you. I applaud what your doing. It would be a great thing at the end of the trials to put together a list of unisex frags, borderline unisex frags, etc.. as a thread of reference to new board members that may like unisex frags the way some of us guys do. Keep up the good work!


Cheers!

Thanks for the vote of confidence and encouragement southerngardens.

I'm thinking that I'll do a round up towards the end of the month - plus a list of maybe the top 50 suggestions.

The total list is now over 300!!
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post #124 of 383
12/16/12 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post

Good advice Profumo.

For all that I really enjoyed this perfume, it is unrelenting. Once it hits the rose note, it does not stop sounding it for a very long time.

On the sweetness - yes - I was very scared after smelling this on a blotter as it was almost cloying, but on my skin it became more herbal and spicy.

That said I wouldn't recommend any rose fragrance to anyone who wasn't a fan of the scent, even then I can't bear Lipstick Rose by the same house.

My advise on sampling does hold true for most fragrances but here I was referring to Mugler's Alien. I purchased this the other night after just getting a brief sniff from the card at the store. Fortunately i used the sample of it that I got at the same time for my actual wearing that night. The bottle is surely going back today. Grape, jasmine, and a sweet, woody amber did not sit well on my skin.
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post #125 of 383
12/16/12 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 
It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

Today, 17th December 2012, I will be wearing:

Yves Saint Laurent Opium

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Chanel Les Exclusifs de Chanel Coromandel

Prada Prada (Amber)

Chanel Chanel N°19

Calvin Klein Obsession

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure


Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Or the newcomer...

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.
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post #126 of 383
12/16/12 at 4:42pm
I vote Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue for the 18th.

Thanks for sticking with this. It's appreciated!
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post #127 of 383
12/16/12 at 5:13pm
I can't believe I managed to forget Ralph Lauren. So I have to recommend Safari (not pour homme, boring thing that it is) and Pure Turquoise. I bought both for the bottles and ended up wearing them happily. Also Kenzo Armor with it's awesome rice note.

Niche -

Annick Goutal's Rose Absolu. This could be hard to find, which is a shame, and the price is getting silly for something that's little more than a cologne, but a simple and eminently natural mixture of May Rose, Turkish Rose, Bulgarian Rose, Damascus Rose, Egyptian Rose, Moroccan Rose and not a godamn thing else makes this one of the best scents out there for a rose lover. These arn't girly headspace notes, but old, ballsy animalic roses in all their composty, masculine glory.

Being a vanilla whore I also have to recommend Annick Goutal's Vanille Exquise, which was said to have been inspired by cleopatra's milk baths, well modern historians often claim Cleopatra was - pop-culture aside - a rather masculine looking young lady. If you can wear hypnotic poison you can wear this. It's about as far from sugar-cookie vanilla as vanilla can get.

I'm also putting in a vote for Caron Pour un Femme. Rose Incense and orange. This is beyond amazing.

I might be back with more suggestions when I've had time to think. I know you've got a lot on your plate though.

Also, I'm going to put my vote in for Obsession. You've been having too much fun with this :P
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post #128 of 383
12/17/12 at 3:51am
Sid: 19
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post #129 of 383
12/17/12 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
Apologies all, I thought this had been posted last night, but something obviously went amiss.

Somewhat delayed, my thoughts on the truly magnificent

Guerlain L'Heure Bleue

If sadness has a smell this may be it.

Not an unending unhappiness, you understand, nor momentary melancholy, this is an emotion, an experience profoundly and long felt that changes a life.

The first pain of loss comes quick, sharp and spicy. Coriander and anise compete in an anti-septic scratch that pierces the skin, just briefly, but leaves a scar.

Then funereal majesty, the floral ceremonial heart of the fragrance. Irises, carnations, heliotrope and rose.

Favourite flowers of the deceased, the family, other mourners and the florist pile up on top of one an other, wreaths placed on a royal catafalque.

As the procession passes by, a pocket square, scented with powder: sweet, resinous, vanilla-ed is handed you to staunch your tears.

But still they flow.

The handkerchief, un-returned, is what you retain now.

Its silken regularity and honeyed smell transformed by grief into both momento and momento mori.

The reminder of a living love and the promise of otherworldly reunion.

***

That Jacques Guerlain should have known in 1912 that the sun was about to set on the bright days of the Edwardian age is inconceivable.

Yet, that his masterwork L'heure bleue, literally 'The Blue Hour' captures the faltering twilight between the bright and hopeful dawn of the twentieth century and the dark, dark night of the carnage of The Great War is unquestionable.

There is an opening of improvised antibacterials, of coriander and anise long known for their medicinal qualities.

What follows is not floral but floricultural. Not a bouquet or even wreath but a field, fields of flowers a presentiment of Flanders' poppies.

And then powder, but it's more like fine fragrant dust. The dust that settles on carefully stored away mourning clothes. Clothes that will see more in the years ahead, in response to unspeakable loss, than is right.

It's that dusty preservative smell, bezoin, clove, vanilla, a solitary scent of certainty that will come through familiarity to breed comfort rather than contempt, that makes L'heure bleue the ultimate smell of solace.

Just like grief, and the consoling memories of the departed's life, this is an emotion that sits as easily yet uncomfortably on men and women, young and old.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crow View Post

I vote Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue for the 18th.

Thanks for sticking with this. It's appreciated!

Thank your for sticking with the thread - and for voting!

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miket View Post

I can't believe I managed to forget Ralph Lauren. So I have to recommend Safari (not pour homme, boring thing that it is) and Pure Turquoise. I bought both for the bottles and ended up wearing them happily. Also Kenzo Armor with it's awesome rice note.

Niche -

Annick Goutal's Rose Absolu. This could be hard to find, which is a shame, and the price is getting silly for something that's little more than a cologne, but a simple and eminently natural mixture of May Rose, Turkish Rose, Bulgarian Rose, Damascus Rose, Egyptian Rose, Moroccan Rose and not a godamn thing else makes this one of the best scents out there for a rose lover. These arn't girly headspace notes, but old, ballsy animalic roses in all their composty, masculine glory.

Being a vanilla whore I also have to recommend Annick Goutal's Vanille Exquise, which was said to have been inspired by cleopatra's milk baths, well modern historians often claim Cleopatra was - pop-culture aside - a rather masculine looking young lady. If you can wear hypnotic poison you can wear this. It's about as far from sugar-cookie vanilla as vanilla can get.

I'm also putting in a vote for Caron Pour un Femme. Rose Incense and orange. This is beyond amazing.

I might be back with more suggestions when I've had time to think. I know you've got a lot on your plate though.

Also, I'm going to put my vote in for Obsession. You've been having too much fun with this :P

Thanks so much for the niche recommendations - I was thinking of putting a call out there to see if anyone had any thoughts on Annick Goutal. I particularly like the sound of a not-too-sweet vanilla.

Caron is quickly becoming amongst my very favourite houses and the sound of incense rose and orange is v. v. tempting.

Finally, err, thanks very much for the vote.

That's one more for Obsession...

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Quote:
Originally Posted by docluv45 View Post

Sid: 19

?

Not sure if I'm missing something?

- - - Updated - - -

It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

After the longest time in the top 10 , a slow burner finally reaches the top...

Today, 18th December 2012, I will be wearing:

Chanel Les Exclusifs de Chanel Coromandel

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Chanel Chanel N°19

Calvin Klein Obsession

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Or the newcomer...

Dior Midnight Poison


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

- - - Updated - - -
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post #130 of 383
12/17/12 at 5:56pm
Dior Midnight Poison.
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post #131 of 383
12/17/12 at 6:50pm
I am glad you had the L'Heure Bleue experience. No offense ,your review was beautifully written and I applaud your point of view, but to me it made LHB out as sad and mournful IMO. I find it a fragrance of introspection,diversion and peace the "Blue Hour" brings to to me as it did to Jacques Guerlain that fateful evening.
I would like to vote for Dior Midnight Poison or Chanel No 19 next please. Thanks for keeping up with this wonderful experiment!
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post #132 of 383
12/18/12 at 6:34am
Thread Starter 
At a new time: post lunch London, the start of the working day in New York and just before breakfast in sunny California. Here's my take on the feintly dishonest but impossible to dislike..

Yves Saint Laurent Opium

This is a low down and dirty Shanghai drugs den - as done by Disney.

The lines are too crisp and considered, the spaces between them filled with notes too technicolor to be true.

The opening, a sharp whack in the face from a Yellow Peril gangster is perhaps the best part. Coriander and clove and more particularly pepper and jasmine come together with such a clout that I almost apprehended aldehyde in the arrangement.

But the vicious villain in the mix soon gives way to a cleaned-up comic strip criminal. Incense is more sweetness than smoke, the balsam base more sanatorium than seedy fin de siecle Bund.

This is the narcotics trade without the nastiness.

How I longed for a dash of danger, some trouble dressed up as tobacco fumes to be blown in my face. Or for the only unsettling note - cedar - to come more to centre stage.

But alas, no, this is a beautiful, decorative, well built but ultimately dated take on a world of which we know so much more today.

This is a fancified but ultimately fraudulent film set fable. A synthetic story of a romanticised regal China with all the rough edges knocked off.

For all that, like its cinematic synonym: Peter Ustinov in a Fu Manchu moustache and comical conical straw hat, it serves its purpose.

That purpose is to appeal and, appealing, after an archaic fashion, it is.

But would I wear it?

Probably not.

This is a movie classic, one so much still in circulation and with such scary silage that this is quite a statement to make. Now, I'm not scared of a perfumed proclamation its just I'm not convinced this scent speaks of what I want to say.
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post #133 of 383
12/18/12 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post

The lines are too crisp and considered, the spaces between them filled with notes too technicolor to be true.

Everything in your review describes my experience with Opium pH as well.
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post #134 of 383
12/18/12 at 10:47am
When my wife's olive skin is sprayed with amber and other resins, it is incredible! Her layered scent of the evening last night was Annick Goutal's Myrrhe Ardente (nearly edible on her!) with a single spray on her wrists of Ambre Fetiche...it was gorgeous.

She has Mediterranean heritage and several Oud essential oils - including two favorites...one that is intoxicatingly rich essential oil of Oud mixed with Rose Water and the other (for warmer weather, but it works year round), blended with Jasmine essential oil.

Unreal, truly. I can smell very good and enjoy fragrance on myself - but on her, it becomes divine.

Cheers.

ericrico
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post #135 of 383
12/18/12 at 11:48am
Chanel No. 19 . . . cheers.
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post #136 of 383
12/18/12 at 12:00pm
Wow, great read, loving the reviews. I recently picked up a bottle of the Habanita EdP and am really enjoying it! For me, Portrait of a Lady, l'heure bleue and the popular Sycomore are probably the top 3 I want to sample next from here.
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post #137 of 383
12/18/12 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericrico View Post

When my wife's olive skin is sprayed with amber and other resins, it is incredible! Her layered scent of the evening last night was Annick Goutal's Myrrhe Ardente (nearly edible on her!) with a single spray on her wrists of Ambre Fetiche...it was gorgeous.

She has Mediterranean heritage and several Oud essential oils - including two favorites...one that is intoxicatingly rich essential oil of Oud mixed with Rose Water and the other (for warmer weather, but it works year round), blended with Jasmine essential oil.

Unreal, truly. I can smell very good and enjoy fragrance on myself - but on her, it becomes divine.

Cheers.

ericrico

Thanks for that heartfelt recommendation ericrico.

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyBars View Post

Everything in your review describes my experience with Opium pH as well.

I've never tried Opium PH and I'm not hugely tempted to. Nothing against this genre - I love Tabu - but I like there to be a hint of menace or at least misdoing about the fragrance.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngardens View Post

I am glad you had the L'Heure Bleue experience. No offense ,your review was beautifully written and I applaud your point of view, but to me it made LHB out as sad and mournful IMO. I find it a fragrance of introspection,diversion and peace the "Blue Hour" brings to to me as it did to Jacques Guerlain that fateful evening.
I would like to vote for Dior Midnight Poison or Chanel No 19 next please. Thanks for keeping up with this wonderful experiment!

I can totally see that. Definitely an introspective and reflective air to the perfume. But that great wall of floral - it just seems so momentously melancholy to me.
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post #138 of 383
12/18/12 at 3:34pm
Have read all of this, but have not voted or commented yet
I look forward to your Coromandel review, and I vote for Balmain de Balmain
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post #139 of 383
12/18/12 at 4:03pm
Thread Starter 
It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

Today, 19th December 2012, I will be wearing:

Calvin Klein Obsession


What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Chanel Chanel N°19

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain
Dior Midnight Poison


Or the newcomer...

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review will follow in about 12 hours...
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post #140 of 383
12/18/12 at 6:21pm
I am going to change my vote to Balmain de Balmain as well.
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post #141 of 383
12/18/12 at 6:30pm
Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue
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post #142 of 383
12/18/12 at 6:38pm
My vote goes to Chanel N°19 .

I plan to sample it myself no matter what you say about it, but I'm enjoying your writing and insight. Great thread.
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post #143 of 383
12/18/12 at 10:17pm
#19
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post #144 of 383
12/19/12 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 
Dear All

Apologies, but in error I neglected to post today's review here earlier. On the stroke of midnight...

Chanel Le Exclusifs de Chanel Coromandel

An old town music store in midwinter, promised presents massed within.

I am eight, perhaps nine, and on an indeterminate Saturday in the interminably long weeks of a child's wait for Christmas, I am taken to the city's specialist supplier of stringed instruments.

After an apparently epic journey, through a day damp but not cold enough for snow, in a car with windows misted by hot breath and my mother's rose perfume; we have arrived and straight away find a parking space right opposite.

Swabbing condensation with my sleeve from the glass pane on the passenger's side I perceive the name: Polge & Co. And the words that ring excitement out of my slight still-young spine: volins, violas, cellos, double bass.

The door rings open with a high melodious chime. I am in rhapsody. Rails and rails of naked unstrung maple and spruce bodies await my passionate gaze..

My momentary open-mouthed awe is disturbed. The owner (sharp featured despite his age, grey hair down to the shoulders and a black polo neck up to his chin) raises a mug emblazoned with an engraving of Beethoven I recognise from text books. 'Welcome' he half sings half shrugs and we catch a draft of the medical citrus and honey of the hot cold remedy he is sipping.

The doors to this other sense now opened a swathe scent descends on me. Everywhere the smell of wood, the spice of bright varnish and most of all the resinous sweetness of treatments for bows: blocks of near transparent rosin lined up in rows grace a glass cabinet between me and the ultimate objects of my desire. These semi-precious pre-stones glow in the soft tungsten light.

A hand upon my shoulder. The shopkeeper is knelt by my side. 'And what are we looking for today Sir?' I hear the smile in his voice and breathing in partake his prickly patchouli perfume.

'He wants a fiddle' my mother laughs, gently mocking my absent grandfather. And the next minutes, maybe ten, maybe twenty, forty an hour even, pass by as if a single moment. A symphony of sincere salesmanship and the faltering first steps of an eager nascent connoisseur.

The deal is done before the negotiations have even begun. I turn around with a flourish the instrument first held aloft then tight to my chest.

My mother is at the counter, sipping coffee with the co-owner who has emerged youthful, handsome and deshevelled in a cloud of incense smoke from the secrets of the backroom beyond.

He calls me over, winking above my head at his long haired lover. He hands me a mug, this one has Mozart on and is filled with milk and honey. He smiles and reveals from behind his back a conjurer's clenched fist. He unravels it to reveal a white chocolate mouse and raises his eyebrows in silent invitation. A look up and my mother nods happy consent.

I taste the vanilla creaminess in the air before the morsel arrives in my mouth. Then another fist appears, unveils a second sweet rodent and deposits it with aplomb and a plop into my drink. I wait for it to sink and melt before I take a swig.

And as I sit and drink, first warm musky felt, then fuchsia tissue and finally brown paper wrap my new musical joy. A freshly minted case must wait for another winter.

Drawing up ready for our departure I inflate my lungs and fill them with the last breaths of owners' and store's aromas'.

The door opens with the same tuneful peel. My brown paper package in hand I ache anxiously for Christmas morning so that I may open my prize and play this scented song again.

***

Chanel's Coromandel is as melodious and soft as sweet music.

A swift and citrus allegro opening of orange and neroli quickly negotiates into a second movement mostly played andante.

Here sweeping string section notes of vanilla, benzoin and incense are prevented from becoming sickly by brief interludes of a pizzicato patchouli, an accord that will eventually form part of a honeyed harmony.

And whilst in dry down this smells more of white hot chocolate than anything else, the quality of the ingredients, a strong backbone of hardwood and the skill of the their blending ensures that this is more refined music emporium than corner shop or candy store.

Unisex? Undoubtedly. Wearable? Absolutely. Sparingly. On high days and holidays to make up for a warmth that the weather lacks.

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:
Originally Posted by gnosis View Post

Wow, great read, loving the reviews. I recently picked up a bottle of the Habanita EdP and am really enjoying it! For me, Portrait of a Lady, l'heure bleue and the popular Sycomore are probably the top 3 I want to sample next from here.

Thank you gnosis.

I'd be really interested in your experience with Habinita EdP. The really friendly guy in the store where I bought it said it was very animalic on him, but I didn't get any of this - do you? I can imagine it would be a very exciting experience if you did.

I loved - as you can see from the reviews - all three. I may go back to Sycomore as it faded quickly on my skin and I had some slight reservations perhaps they related to price vs longevity but Portrait of a Lady (if you like, I mean really like, roses) is beautiful and l'heure bleue, well it's a masterpiece.

Happy hunting.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by cello View Post

Have read all of this, but have not voted or commented yet
I look forward to your Coromandel review, and I vote for Balmain de Balmain

Thanks for joining in cello - you're very welcome to the crew - and thanks for following and voting!

Have a great smelling day.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by docluv45 View Post

#19

A sudden run on No 19 and Balmain de Balmain, which will it be?

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It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

Today, 20th December 2012, I will be wearing:

Chanel Chanel N°19


What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain
Dior Midnight Poison

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Or the newcomer...

Thierry Mugler Alien


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review of

Calvin Klein Obsession

will follow in about 12 hours...
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post #145 of 383
12/20/12 at 3:01pm
Still sticking with Balmain de Balmain. And enjoyed the Coromandel review. Agree, it is Chanel smooth but patchouli enough And potent also.

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Still sticking with Balmain de Balmain. And enjoyed the Coromandel review. Agree, it is Chanel smooth but patchouli enough And potent also.
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post #146 of 383
12/20/12 at 3:16pm
I have to vote for Cinnabar at this point. I am waiting somewhat impatiently for the review of No. 19. This one has intrigued me for some time.
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post #147 of 383
12/20/12 at 3:21pm
As a lover of old guitars i really loved this review! Is there a fragrance that smells of old Fender Stratocasters and black face Twin Reverbs aged in smoky barrooms? Would buy that!
Sticking with my vote for Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue but this Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain sounds interesting as well.
Would be interested to hear your thoughts on Midnight Poison but I already own it so it wouldn't affect whether I buy it or not.
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post #148 of 383
12/20/12 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the votes and the kind words all.

Patience will be rewarded Profumo the No 19 review will be with you around morning coffee your time tomorrow...

What an intriguing question crow about a scent of guitars, amps and bar room smoke - there must be something out there - there after all a hundred and one Paris jazz clubs on the market.

I'll get thinking but any suggestions?
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post #149 of 383
12/20/12 at 4:11pm
Great Coromandel review, as usual! I vote for Balmain de Balmain. Can't wait to hear the Chanel no 19 review. I have a lot of favorites and no 19 is right up there!
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post #150 of 383
12/20/12 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

A three way tie in the voting. So, on the basis of the perfume longest on the top ten...

Today, 21st December 2012, I will be wearing:

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Dior Midnight Poison

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Thierry Mugler Alien

Or the newcomer...

Estée Lauder Aliage


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review of

Chanel Chanel N°19

will follow in around and about 12 hours...
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post #151 of 383
12/20/12 at 5:55pm
(1) Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

(2) Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

(3) Dior Midnight Poison

My picks.
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post #152 of 383
12/20/12 at 6:58pm
I vote Cinnabar, or Alien. I would also like to note that I've been simply panting for your review of Obsession; if anyone can dispel the slightly sordid associations I have with that stretch-velvet covered fist of a perfume, it's you, and your storied reviews.
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post #153 of 383
12/20/12 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post

Dear All

Apologies, but in error I neglected to post today's review here earlier. On the stroke of midnight...

Chanel Le Exclusifs de Chanel Coromandel

An old town music store in midwinter, promised presents massed within.

I am eight, perhaps nine, and on an indeterminate Saturday in the interminably long weeks of a child's wait for Christmas, I am taken to the city's specialist supplier of stringed instruments.

After an apparently epic journey, through a day damp but not cold enough for snow, in a car with windows misted by hot breath and my mother's rose perfume; we have arrived and straight away find a parking space right opposite.

Swabbing condensation with my sleeve from the glass pane on the passenger's side I perceive the name: Polge & Co. And the words that ring excitement out of my slight still-young spine: volins, violas, cellos, double bass.

The door rings open with a high melodious chime. I am in rhapsody. Rails and rails of naked unstrung maple and spruce bodies await my passionate gaze..

My momentary open-mouthed awe is disturbed. The owner (sharp featured despite his age, grey hair down to the shoulders and a black polo neck up to his chin) raises a mug emblazoned with an engraving of Beethoven I recognise from text books. 'Welcome' he half sings half shrugs and we catch a draft of the medical citrus and honey of the hot cold remedy he is sipping.

The doors to this other sense now opened a swathe scent descends on me. Everywhere the smell of wood, the spice of bright varnish and most of all the resinous sweetness of treatments for bows: blocks of near transparent rosin lined up in rows grace a glass cabinet between me and the ultimate objects of my desire. These semi-precious pre-stones glow in the soft tungsten light.

A hand upon my shoulder. The shopkeeper is knelt by my side. 'And what are we looking for today Sir?' I hear the smile in his voice and breathing in partake his prickly patchouli perfume.

'He wants a fiddle' my mother laughs, gently mocking my absent grandfather. And the next minutes, maybe ten, maybe twenty, forty an hour even, pass by as if a single moment. A symphony of sincere salesmanship and the faltering first steps of an eager nascent connoisseur.

The deal is done before the negotiations have even begun. I turn around with a flourish the instrument first held aloft then tight to my chest.

My mother is at the counter, sipping coffee with the co-owner who has emerged youthful, handsome and deshevelled in a cloud of incense smoke from the secrets of the backroom beyond.

He calls me over, winking above my head at his long haired lover. He hands me a mug, this one has Mozart on and is filled with milk and honey. He smiles and reveals from behind his back a conjurer's clenched fist. He unravels it to reveal a white chocolate mouse and raises his eyebrows in silent invitation. A look up and my mother nods happy consent.

I taste the vanilla creaminess in the air before the morsel arrives in my mouth. Then another fist appears, unveils a second sweet rodent and deposits it with aplomb and a plop into my drink. I wait for it to sink and melt before I take a swig.

And as I sit and drink, first warm musky felt, then fuchsia tissue and finally brown paper wrap my new musical joy. A freshly minted case must wait for another winter.

Drawing up ready for our departure I inflate my lungs and fill them with the last breaths of owners' and store's aromas'.

The door opens with the same tuneful peel. My brown paper package in hand I ache anxiously for Christmas morning so that I may open my prize and play this scented song again.

***

Chanel's Coromandel is as melodious and soft as sweet music.

A swift and citrus allegro opening of orange and neroli quickly negotiates into a second movement mostly played andante.

Here sweeping string section notes of vanilla, benzoin and incense are prevented from becoming sickly by brief interludes of a pizzicato patchouli, an accord that will eventually form part of a honeyed harmony.

And whilst in dry down this smells more of white hot chocolate than anything else, the quality of the ingredients, a strong backbone of hardwood and the skill of the their blending ensures that this is more refined music emporium than corner shop or candy store.

Unisex? Undoubtedly. Wearable? Absolutely. Sparingly. On high days and holidays to make up for a warmth that the weather lacks.

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Thank you gnosis.

I'd be really interested in your experience with Habinita EdP. The really friendly guy in the store where I bought it said it was very animalic on him, but I didn't get any of this - do you? I can imagine it would be a very exciting experience if you did.

I loved - as you can see from the reviews - all three. I may go back to Sycomore as it faded quickly on my skin and I had some slight reservations perhaps they related to price vs longevity but Portrait of a Lady (if you like, I mean really like, roses) is beautiful and l'heure bleue, well it's a masterpiece.

Happy hunting.

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Thanks for joining in cello - you're very welcome to the crew - and thanks for following and voting!

Have a great smelling day.

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A sudden run on No 19 and Balmain de Balmain, which will it be?

- - - Updated - - -

It's a little after midnight. London. The lines are closed.

Today, 20th December 2012, I will be wearing:

Chanel Chanel N°19


What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Cartier Must de Cartier

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain
Dior Midnight Poison

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Or the newcomer...

Thierry Mugler Alien


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review of

Calvin Klein Obsession

will follow in about 12 hours...

I was able to 'feel' the fragrance with your outstanding description of Coromandel. Thank you.
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post #154 of 383
12/20/12 at 9:28pm
Amouage's Epic Woman and Jubilation 25 might just be better than their male counterparts. As mentioned Portait of a Lady is especially delicious no matter what sex.
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post #155 of 383
12/21/12 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CompassRose View Post

I vote Cinnabar, or Alien. I would also like to note that I've been simply panting for your review of Obsession; if anyone can dispel the slightly sordid associations I have with that stretch-velvet covered fist of a perfume, it's you, and your storied reviews.

Apologies CompassRose I've been experiencing some hiccups of a technical (not seasonal) nature - this review should have appeared ages ago - but didn't, so here it is... but I don't think it will help...

Calvin Klein Obsession

Normally when reviewing a perfume I call to mind places I've been to or times I lived through, experiences I've had, emotions I've felt.

I have to tell you that, thankfully, I have never been anywhere lived through anything, experienced any sensation or felt any emotion that fully equates to Obsession.

And I never want to.

This rancorous confection explodes into a room like cheap drugstore oriental pot pouri spilling forth from it's cellophane gift wrap. Suddenly everywhere's synthetic spices and dried up false flower petals all competing for their share of the olafactory action.

And there's no getting the stuff back in the bag.

But no, it's worse than that.

The opening is like the awful admixture of cheap air freshner and the sickly sweet smell of the vomit of a child who's been stuffed with too much candy. The smell that the stupid deodorizer was trying to cover up in the first place but has just made ten times worse by it's own hideous presence.

Oh no. I've just remembered. This does remind me of somewhere.

An AirEgypt flight back to London from Luxor at some unearthly hour. No in flight entertainment barring a juddering, 1980s VHS that desecrated the beauties of this magnificent country with its luridly coloured cheap camera shots and harsh jangling soundtrack turned up way too loud. It is playing again and again on a loop, every twenty six minutes the hell begins afresh.

We are just getting over the mandatory on board fumigation courtesy of our none to courteous cabin crew when... whoosh, a plume of projectile vomit errupts form the small child just in front. The boy I had seen eating nougat throughout our four hour delay in the cramped, sweaty departure lounge.

It sprays down the aisle and lands with a wet thud on the threadbare carpet and then sits there, glaring at us, challenging us to take it on.

After an initial flurry the stewardesses decide that their manicured hands are no match for this freshly minted monster. They elect to delicately, most ladylike, lay paper towels over the offending excretion and ignore it.

Well not quite ignore it. After some rattling in the galley and much conversation a massive ancient cannister, the size of a small fire extinguisher emerges and the hostesses pull the trigger.

Pssht. Its vile gas is immersed into the sealed container in which we are now held hostage to these olafactory terrorists.

The first time this happens I am nearly sick. I distract myself by trying to pick out the notes of the gas from those of the juvenile puke.

Spices, anonyomus and cloying, sweetness, something akin to regurgitated nougat, assorted over-ripe fruits.

It's like a cut price, dayglo, distant cousin to Tabu; produced in great vats and forgotten about in dusty corners until occasions like this arise...

Pssht. Here we go again, each time the noxious chemical odour subsides out come our faithful crew to fumigate us up once more.

Approximately every 18 minutes.

For the next five hours.

When we land, everyone stands before we are allowed, basically before we've touched down, cabin fever has set in. A scramble for luggage and then when the door opens a surge, almost as forceful as the semi-digested fluid from the unfortunate youngster's mouth. We have to be released.

In the airport and all the way home I can't get something of that stench off of me, even after showering and a night sleep something horrible in every way a sickly secretion.

So, thank you Obsession.

You have 'helped' me unearth a memory so painful, so vile that I'd buried it so deep enough to never have to remember it again.

Now, Obsession, all I want to do is forget you.

***

Note: this is the EdP that is retailing in the UK at discount stores and at ludicrously cut prices at some drugstore chains.

I can't comment on vintage or other formulations.

And this is a very, very personal opinion. I had to go to three branches of the store as the others had sold out of their star buy. Either obsessives are stocking up or there are going to be some very unhappy faces and noses on Christmas morning.

I could describe the notes in more detail but why waste my energy, everything dissolves into an entirely unwholesome mush just about immediately.

As for silage, way too long, like recurrent nausea.

++++++

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Quote:
Originally Posted by CompassRose View Post

I vote Cinnabar, or Alien. I would also like to note that I've been simply panting for your review of Obsession; if anyone can dispel the slightly sordid associations I have with that stretch-velvet covered fist of a perfume, it's you, and your storied reviews.

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It's just 30 after 1 (hey it is the Holidays). London. The lines are closed.

The final public vote of 2012.

Today, 22nd December 2012, I will be wearing:

Cartier Must de Cartier

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10...

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Dior Midnight Poison

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Thierry Mugler Alien

Estée Lauder Aliage

Or the newcomer...

Estée Lauder Private Collection


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review of

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

will follow in around and about 12 hours... or so...
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post #156 of 383
12/21/12 at 6:44pm
Love your project! And your reviews are mesmerizing, I follow this thread with great interest!
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post #157 of 383
12/21/12 at 8:09pm
I vote for Balmain de Balmain.
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post #158 of 383
12/21/12 at 9:48pm
I have to remain on course and vote for Cinnabar again but Midnight Poison also intrigues me greatly.
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post #159 of 383
12/22/12 at 7:46am
Mugler's Alien & Angel Liqueur editions are wonderfully masculine to my nose
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post #160 of 383
12/23/12 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
First of all, a big apology: due to wild weather and an epic journey across a pretty small country, I've been kind of tied up the last couple of days, so owe you guys a few reviews... so let's start with the long awaited

Chanel Chanel N°19

Cool wet grass. Cool wet grass. Cool wet grass.

The incantation of fire walkers as they brace themselves, their feet poised mid air, hesitant, almost on point, about to plunge forth onto and across the hot coals.

To his mind one walker calls forth a garden in Provence.

It is late June. First light.

The glass beads of dew upon the grass, false tears for the darkest hours' departure, are turned green by the lawn's herbal breeze-brought-tremor in air that bears the faintest hint of rain.

As sun rises from the horizon and mercury follows upwards the thermometer; feline irises, hyacinths, narcissi, stroked by rays respond with purring: pouring forth their scents into the drier warmer day.

In the floral headiness a gardener dons fine leather gloves to cut back wild grasses and dead head roses with her finer hands.

And as the midday approaches the heat brings forth sap from conifers marking the extent of the garden a resinous boundary to this haven of peace.

It is time to seek the shade.

Cool wet grass. Cool wet grass. Cool wet grass.

The firewalker recoils a moment: the heat perceptible upon his heal. He recalls the garden at dawn and rolls across the red embers a carpet of Mediterranean lawn then puts best foot forward.

***

In a world of taking the heat, burnt out stress and fiery tempers, everyone can use an inner garden. Somewhere cool to carry around and retreat to when the pressure's biting.

Chanel No19 Eau de Toilette takes me instantly to this place. The greenness of the opening that some find cold, unsettling even, is for me fresh and refreshing like first light on a day that promises heat and light.

The heart of the perfume delivers on this promise with a warm infusion of summer flowers, manicured leather and woods that gradually come to the fore in a base that never fully eclipses the flower border now in the background.

If there is a masculine assurance about this fragrance, this is due in part to the fact that many so-called aquatics and ozonics occupy a corner of this water garden like a babbling water feature.

For me however, these other fragrances lack the masterful progression that is No19's masterstroke: a transition as imperceptible yet magisterial as the change from dawn to mid-morning to midday that it emulates.

A wonder of nature.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post


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- - - Updated - - -

It's just 30 after 1 (hey it is the Holidays). London. The lines are closed.

The final public vote of 2012.

Today, 22nd December 2012, I will be wearing:

Cartier Must de Cartier

What will I wear on 2nd January 2013? Choose from the following 10...

Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Dior Midnight Poison

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Thierry Mugler Alien

Estée Lauder Aliage

Or the newcomer...

Estée Lauder Private Collection


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just under twenty four hours... starting now.

Today's review of

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

will follow in around and about 12 hours... or so...

This post was also slightly in error - I think a few too many mice pies may have turned my mind to mush!!

All votes are now for the fragrance I'll be wearing on 2nd January 2013.

However, now that I'm installed in my winter home I will be treating you to some festive (I hope) goodies.

Have a great smelling season!

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Thank you SusyQ. I'm always so pleased to hear that people are enjoying the thread. As long as the suggestions keep coming I'll keep trying and reviewing.
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post #161 of 383
12/23/12 at 5:27pm
Thank you for that expertly written review of No 19. It is now planted firmly atop my wish list for the new year. I hope your holidays are safe and happy.
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post #162 of 383
12/23/12 at 6:42pm
I just KNEW you would like no 19! It is wonderful isn't it? Thanks for another graceful review.
I am going to stick to my vote of Balmain de Balmain.
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post #163 of 383
12/24/12 at 3:45pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks both for the kind words as ever. I was really surprised by this scent and it's light sophistication. From many of the reviews I had expected a heavy floral that would be quite challenging to wear, but not at all. It's a pure joy.

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So, on Christmas Eve, or the early hours of Christmas Day, depending where you are in the world, the story of a Noel to be wished and not wished on all of you. A strange sort of Christmas gift.

Caron Nuit de Noel

Christmas is being imported this year.

It will come in a crate by boat and be brought, a little piece of Europe in a box, up from the harbour to our room at Raffles Hotel.

On opening it, we must be careful not to unsettle the contents lest one item has been broken and is spilt upon and spoils the others.

These pre-fabricated festivities have as little to do with Christmas as our lives in this heat and 70% humidity have with a happy marriage.

The box is all flashes and flickers of the world I once knew, before Singapore, before the War even.

Candied fruit, heavy English rosewater - slightly turned, vanilla essence just good enough for custard and a cologne that promises Scandinavian forests and delivers the sweaty, peaty, mossy mass of wet woodland floor in early German spring.

Biscuits shot with caraway, aniseed and oats remind us of the cheeses, hams and cold cuts that we do not have to go with them. They draw an outline around our absence, forming a shape where Christmas and love should be.

These gifts from home serve only to unsettle. Hallowed by sea wave salts and ambers, they are little relics of lost happiness.

The hamper but half emptied, I turn away and fix a gin with something pink, something holy, something local. I raise the glass, a foaming mousse the liquid's head, to mouth and inhale the whole in one measure.

The emptied vessel returned to the cabinet I charge another and walk out to the balcony drink in hand. Ylang ylang and jasmine, sharp and distracting, feel like passing dangers soon supplanted by the reek of the real cancer within: my chest and it's presents from the past.

I should shut it up and lock it away, but the scent and sense of incomplete existence will remain.

I surrender to the smell of passed content, long to clamber inside the crate, wrap myself in padding and packaging and be posted back a steerage stowaway in time for Easter.

I will decide tomorrow, this is the eve of a day of great import.

***

Nuit de Noel is no Christmas as we know it. It is a strange, apprehending and unnerving fragrance that brings forth a variety of notes all slightly off key and not what they should be.

It is an unfloral-floral, a savoury Vanilla, a wintery Chypre a Western oriental. It is in fact a foreigner abroad, the perpetual expatriate.

It gathers around itself all the talismans of celebration and success: a little animalic, some rose, jasmine, oakmoss and leather.

But rather than a self confident Paris dressed woman at the height of Eurpoean chicery the effect is of a lonely glamourously tragic gin-soaked figure carving out an existence in place of living a life, somewhere far off and unhappy.

This is a precise and beautiful perfume, done great disservice by reviewers who perceive only its sweeter and more flowery notes. They are like the local diplomat who intentionally misses the melancholy in the eyes of his colleagues wife, just to save inconvenience.

Like many sad smells it is eminently wearable, during festive season, Spring or Fall and by female or male.

It has found itself a pride of place in my growing empire of fragrance.

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In conversation elsewhere on the question of what a man can or can't wear (I know he can wear anything but for the purposes of argument), it was suggested that it's not particular fragrances and how they are marketed that matters, but that specific notes carry too many associations with one or other gender.

This same person confidently asserted that Jasmine and Tuberose were fundamentally female scents and best left to 'the fairer sex'...

Anyone out there in the Basenotes community have any thoughts for or against this proposition?

I can think of many scents I feel comfortable in with a Jasmine complexion, but what about tuberose?
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post #164 of 383
12/26/12 at 11:53pm
Quote:
I can think of many scents I feel comfortable in with a Jasmine complexion, but what about tuberose?

Why, jasmine is no challenge at all.

Tuberose on the other hand ... you must try Carnal Flower.
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post #165 of 383
12/27/12 at 11:04am
I'm of the opinion that nearly every Etat Libre d'Orange offering rather perfectly straddles the line between masculine and feminine, with the exception of one. Bendelirious is undoubtedly feminine but, for some reason, works wonderfully on me. It's a powdery cherry-champagne that isn't very loud but, really, a scent like this has no business being "in your face." As an aside, my cigarette-hating friends have made the astute observation that Bendelirious smells absolutely fantastic when "mixed" with cigarette smoke. Don't ask me how or why, but I agree with their assessment.

I see people mentioning Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, which is admittedly fine in its own right and something I'd occasionally spritz in middle school, but I'll raise you I Love Love by Moschino would be best described as Light Blue that relies upon orange instead of apple. It's still a light, summery scent by all means, but that orange gives it a bit more complexity and makes the scent a little deeper and less feminine. Also, you're way less likely to encounter a woman wearing the same scent you are if you opt for I Love Love over Light Blue.

People have mentioned Black Orchid and Midnight Poison, which are also fantastic female fragrances that happen to be very wearable by men. Additionally, although it is impossible to find, I would recommend Stila Midnight Bloom in a heartbeat. It's a very simplistic combination of gardenia and amber that ends up being a rather wearable and hearty floral.
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post #166 of 383
12/27/12 at 4:55pm
Thread Starter 
Good call MonkeyBars.

Yes, Carnal Flower is totally suitable for men and women and has a strong, indeed very powerful, tuberose going through it.

If you're wondering why it hasn't made more of an appearance in the thread, that's because Frederic Malle market it (in the UK at least) as a unisex. Which only goes to make your point about tuberose being good to go for guys even more powerfully.



Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyBars View Post

Why, jasmine is no challenge at all.

Tuberose on the other hand ... you must try Carnal Flower.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi iverthps and thanks so much for your contribution.

I've been wondering when someone would mention the Etat Libre d'Orange range. Of course the bulk are marketed as unisex - doesn't that include Bedelirious? I thought it did.

I thought there were others like Bijou Romantique, Don't Get Me Wrong Baby, Encens and Bubblegum that they had 'labelled' as for women only. With the niche houses I find it's very difficult to tell as the marketing is much less obtrusive and the labeling (if it happens at all) much less rigid.

I wonder if you or anyone else could shed some light on this house?

You are definitely the first person to mention I Love Love by Moschino and if enough people agree I will end up with it on my skin at some point.

Thanks again for joining the debate.

Quote:
Originally Posted by iverthps View Post

I'm of the opinion that nearly every Etat Libre d'Orange offering rather perfectly straddles the line between masculine and feminine, with the exception of one. Bendelirious is undoubtedly feminine but, for some reason, works wonderfully on me. It's a powdery cherry-champagne that isn't very loud but, really, a scent like this has no business being "in your face." As an aside, my cigarette-hating friends have made the astute observation that Bendelirious smells absolutely fantastic when "mixed" with cigarette smoke. Don't ask me how or why, but I agree with their assessment.

I see people mentioning Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, which is admittedly fine in its own right and something I'd occasionally spritz in middle school, but I'll raise you I Love Love by Moschino would be best described as Light Blue that relies upon orange instead of apple. It's still a light, summery scent by all means, but that orange gives it a bit more complexity and makes the scent a little deeper and less feminine. Also, you're way less likely to encounter a woman wearing the same scent you are if you opt for I Love Love over Light Blue.

People have mentioned Black Orchid and Midnight Poison, which are also fantastic female fragrances that happen to be very wearable by men. Additionally, although it is impossible to find, I would recommend Stila Midnight Bloom in a heartbeat. It's a very simplistic combination of gardenia and amber that ends up being a rather wearable and hearty floral.
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post #167 of 383
12/27/12 at 7:31pm
iverthps writes:"...my cigarette-hating friends have made the astute observation that Bendelirious smells absolutely fantastic when "mixed" with cigarette smoke. Don't ask me how or why, but I agree with their assessment."

Interesting to see someone else mention this. I sometimes get a flashback to my childhood...my parents take me to a big outdoor party...the air is filled with the smell of alcohol, cigarette smoke and women's perfume...diluted with fresh air and the smell of grilling meat. Very pleasant memories! Sometimes now I encounter a party situation that takes me right back to those (mid-60s) days.
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post #168 of 383
12/27/12 at 7:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post

Hi iverthps and thanks so much for your contribution.

I've been wondering when someone would mention the Etat Libre d'Orange range. Of course the bulk are marketed as unisex - doesn't that include Bedelirious? I thought it did.

I thought there were others like Bijou Romantique, Don't Get Me Wrong Baby, Encens and Bubblegum that they had 'labelled' as for women only. With the niche houses I find it's very difficult to tell as the marketing is much less obtrusive and the labeling (if it happens at all) much less rigid.

I wonder if you or anyone else could shed some light on this house?

You are definitely the first person to mention I Love Love by Moschino and if enough people agree I will end up with it on my skin at some point.

Thanks again for joining the debate.

I've never seen anything in writing from ELdO directly stating that Bendelirous was created for one gender or another, but Bendelirious was sold exclusively at the ELdO website and Henri Bendel stores (a miniature upscale women's department store chain in the United States) and, according to ELdO copy, was "inspired by the quintessential Bendel Girl."

Don't Get Me Wrong was definitely designed with women in mind (after all, a woman is the star of the fragrance's image), but in my mind it's one of the myriad ELdO scents that's not explicitly masculine nor feminine. It's decent, sort of a soft floral that quickly transforms into a somewhat synthetically-hollow nothingness, but nothing to write home about and really not worth your time. Incense and Bubblegum is similarly gender-neutral, but just a truly disappointing scent that lacks both any appreciable incense or bubblegum notes, instead smelling like raspberry-scented drugstore hair product. I wouldn't say that ELdO is hit or miss in that I truly do enjoy all but perhaps two or three of their offerings (I've yet to smell Bijou Romantique and the discontinued Josephine Baker, however), but the brand gets really caught up in developing provocative names that they don't do the greatest job of actually matching title-to-scent, you know?

If you like Light Blue, you'll enjoy I Love Love. If you don't like Light Blue, you won't. People will have their own personal opinions as to which fragrance is superior, but I'd be really surprised if someone liked one and not the other.
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post #169 of 383
12/27/12 at 8:14pm
I would like to add Dior's Dolce Vita, Dior's Diorella, Madam Rochas ,Balmain Ivoire and Ma Griffe by Carven to the list. The last three are vintage prfumes that I think only Madam Rochas has been reformulated and is still on the common market, but Balmin's Ivoire and Ma Griffe by Carven can still be found. I vote for Balmain de Balmian first though.
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post #170 of 383
12/28/12 at 12:58am
Amazingly evocative impressions and reviews, Assiduosity. You have the gift. I believe I'm not alone when I say your impressions of these fragrances will make a sterling addition to our Basenotes fragrance review section. Please consider.
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post #171 of 383
12/28/12 at 2:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngardens View Post

I would like to add Dior's Dolce Vita, Dior's Diorella, Madam Rochas ,Balmain Ivoire and Ma Griffe by Carven to the list. The last three are vintage prfumes that I think only Madam Rochas has been reformulated and is still on the common market, but Balmin's Ivoire and Ma Griffe by Carven can still be found. I vote for Balmain de Balmian first though.

Thank you Southern Gardens - I'm glad someone has finally mentioned these greats again - particularly Diorella, Ivoire and Ma Griffe. I've added all these recommendations to the list and come 2 January when the voting and testing starts again - I'm sure they will be making an appearance very soon.

Unfortunately others have also mentioned that all the last three have been heavily reformulated, but are still widely available here in the UK. In fact, I think Ivoire may have been recently re-launched as it was heavily promoted in the pre-Christmas period.

I definitely have access to vintage Ms Griffe though so that's good to go...

Balmain de Balmain is out in front for testing early New Year - but there are still a couple of days' voting left!!

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- - - Updated - - -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diamondflame View Post

Amazingly evocative impressions and reviews, Assiduosity. You have the gift. I believe I'm not alone when I say your impressions of these fragrances will make a sterling addition to our Basenotes fragrance review section. Please consider.

Thank you so much Diamondflame for the very kind words.

I am tidying up my reflections as I go along and intend to submit them for inclusion in the review section in the near future.

There will be more thoughts and notes over the next few days.

- - - Updated - - -

It's after midnight London. The lines are closed. Voting is over.

So, the first test perfume of 2013. Today I will be wearing:

Dior Midnight Poison

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10:


Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Thierry Mugler Alien

Estée Lauder Aliage

Estée Lauder Private Collection

Or the newcomer...

Chanel Coco

Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just over twenty three hours ... starting now.
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post #172 of 383
1/1/13 at 10:50pm
Assid, if you want to create a new post rather than an "update", click on "Reply" in the grey box at the bottom of your previous post, instead of using the "Reply to Thread" box. l only figured this out recently myself!

l vote for Alien.
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post #173 of 383
1/2/13 at 10:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by teardrop View Post

Assid, if you want to create a new post rather than an "update", click on "Reply" in the grey box at the bottom of your previous post, instead of using the "Reply to Thread" box. l only figured this out recently myself!

l vote for Alien.

Thanks for the vote and for the advice teardrop!!

The 'update' feature has been a bit irritating, as when I'm posting new thoughts or a poll these aren't really updates so that's really very useful.
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post #174 of 383
1/2/13 at 2:41pm
I still vote for Balmain de Balmain.
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post #175 of 383
1/2/13 at 5:05pm
Thread Starter 
It's after midnight London. The lines are closed. Voting is over.

Today, Thursday 3rd Januray 2013, (thanks mainly to one man's dogged persistence) I will be wearing:

Pierre Balmain Balmain de Balmain

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10:


Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Thierry Mugler Alien

Estée Lauder Aliage

Estée Lauder Private Collection

Chanel Coco

Or the newcomer...

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea


Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have just over twenty three hours ... starting now.

The first review of 2013 will appear within a day...
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post #176 of 383
1/2/13 at 6:09pm
Welcome back from your Christmas Holiday Assid and Happy New Year! Hope you got everything you wanted? I got clothes, a new wireless router, a load of fragrances and the love of my family which was the best gift of all.
I vote for Estee Lauder Private Collection. I have read some good things about this one , but have not tried it yet.
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post #177 of 383
1/3/13 at 2:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Assiduosity View Post

Thanks for the vote and for the advice teardrop!!

The 'update' feature has been a bit irritating, as when I'm posting new thoughts or a poll these aren't really updates so that's really very useful.

You are most welcome!

Still going with Alien.
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post #178 of 383
1/3/13 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 
Some unfinished business.

Those of you with keener memories may recall that there were a couple of pre-Christmas chart toppers that never got their moment in the sun.

To start the New Year on the right foot, I'll start correcting that right now...

Cartier Must de Cartier

An elegant but time worn teashop hankering after the exotic orient.

The little maison du the on Rue du Pont de Lodi, nestles in its quiet street a block or two removed from the Seine, just far enough for peace from the bustle of tourists on the Pont Neuf and the upstream stream of bateaux mouches carrying a tide of visitors to the eternal city against the river's current.

Behind the imperial purple door, new owners are fashioning what they fancy is a fragment of the Far East on the fringes of the fifth.

They have added orange blossom oolong tea to the their carte of regular tisanes and its sweet, blunted citrus reaches up a welcome upon your entry.

You settle into newly lowered-chairs. Their dusty, musky, furniture polished faux second empire frames strewn with raw silk cushions in colours too bright for the light supplied by reproduction Tiffany lamps and chintz-shaded 40 watt bulbs.

These sad reminders of a gentler now passed decor twinkle at you from this obtuse angle. You look up at the once-low counter and peering beyond spot, through a slight wince, alongside the old steaming urns and a bedsit stove topped with milk pans: an oil burner.

A porcelain device that gives no heat, and exists solely for scent.

Imagining the small slurp of liquid hanging in its china crater above a solitary night light that seeks only to slowly diminish it into the air, your mind sees a pool of resinous residue. A slick of fragrance added after fragrance until no note is left distinguished from the whole warm confusion.

There is vanilla certainly, and amber, some sandalwood and something, well animal. Or is that the toilette, through the tiny door at the back of the shop in the corner, that has never been plumbed in properly?

A bunch of haphazard flowers stands sloppy guard on a table near that door as if to deter whatever undesirable may lie beyond: a few roses amongst carnations, the very odd orchid.

You come to order and think to try the oolong tea, then discovering that deserts have similarly gone East, resist and instead hold onto the past with an only warm hot chocolate.

It goes down easy, and if the cinnamon has been added too heavily to your peach flan, you forgive that too.

For the maison du the on the Rue du Pont de Lodi, if not what it once was is warm and comforting and almost familiar.

Despite its slight pretensions, this is a polite and pleasant place to seek some peace.

***

The quietest and in some ways most reserved of the balmy orientals of the 70s and 80s, Must de Cartier is unlikely ever to offend, it is an exercise in good manners.

Where others scream and seek to shock or pass themselves off as the real Far Eastern deal, Must seems happy with itself, comfortable with the notion that it is a allusion to the orient and not the actual thing.

After a surprisingly bright opening orange and bergamot flourish, a quality of the reformulation, the perfume settles down into familiar territory of amber, sandalwood and vanilla, with a distinctly resinous quality to the heart.

Though there is musk, those fearing powder should be calm as it is kept at bay with some fine handbag leather.

Likewise, floral notes are distinctly muted in a drydown that sees Must become a next to the skin scent.

Some will undoubtedly find the fragrance too sweet and muddled - and it is outside my normal range of comfort - but the drydown is so subtle that any over sugaring and note mixing mellow gently into a pleasant ambient perfume.

Must de Cartier is every inch a comfortable, if quirky, teashop scent. Useful to have riffled away in a mental directory of peaceful havens but not worth making a detour across town for.

NB

Must de Cartier Pour Homme is an altogether more edgy and interesting affair, and certainly an admirable addition to the wardrobes of men and women alike.
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post #179 of 383
1/3/13 at 1:04pm
Agree with Diamondflame, would love to see your impressions in the regular review forum!

Voting for Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue
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post #180 of 383
1/3/13 at 1:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngardens View Post

Welcome back from your Christmas Holiday Assid and Happy New Year! Hope you got everything you wanted? I got clothes, a new wireless router, a load of fragrances and the love of my family which was the best gift of all.
I vote for Estee Lauder Private Collection. I have read some good things about this one , but have not tried it yet.

Hello again southerngardens.

So pleased to hear you had a splendid Christmas. I had a scent-heavy sack from Santa this year too - though ended up playing nurse to my family as they were all struck down with a vile virus - which took the fun out of things a little.

Another vote for another Estee scent - don't know if anyone's noticed but this house is coming to dominate the top 10!

- - - Updated - - -

- - - Updated - - -

It's just after ten thirty London. The lines are closed (early shut down today). Voting is over.

Tomorrow, Friday 4th January 2013, by the narrowest of margins, I will be wearing:

Thierry Mugler Alien

What will I wear tomorrow? Choose from the following 10:


Dolce&Gabbana D&G Light Blue

Prada Prada (Amber)

Estée Lauder Azuree Pure

Estée Lauder Cinnabar

Lalique Lalique Le Parfum

Estée Lauder Aliage

Estée Lauder Private Collection

Chanel Coco

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea

Or the newcomer...

Estée Lauder Youth-Dew

Remember all previous votes count towards a fragrance's running total and every participant gets a new vote every day!

You have well over twenty four hours ... starting now.

The second review of 2013 will appear well before then.
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