Visar inlägg med etikett Histoire de Parfums. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett Histoire de Parfums. Visa alla inlägg

måndag 5 februari 2018

Tauerville Stories Collection - Hyacinth and a Mechanic

Picture: Hyacinth and a mechanic
Photo: PR Tauerville (c)
The Tauerville line is perfumer Andy Tauer's vision for a offering inspiring perfumes handcrafted in smaller production batches. Most of the fragrances are interpretations of a special note as for example rose, incense, fruit, patchouli. Some fragrances within the Tauervilles are very rare, the Stories Collection are sold exclusive when Andy himself appears for an event in some of the perfumestores who carries the brand. Hyacinth and a Mechanic is such a fragrance. To celebrate the 15 years anniversery of LA nicheboutique Luckyscent, the three fragrances from the Stories Collection were avaible online for a month last autumn. And I couldn't resist ordering the Hyacinth despite expensive shippingrates and of course customs duty. Anyway it was worth it, this is a very rare, intriguing and beautiful fragrance.n

Hyacinth and a Mechanic (HAM) starts with the most natural smelling hyacinth note that I've smelled so far from a perfum. When applicating the fragrance, a crisp, slight fresh green spicy, sparkling hyacinth appears, is just like entering a christmasdecorated house with hyacinths in the windows, out from the cold and snowy winterlandscape. Soon a oily, petrol and light metallic accord appears, followed by a  rough leathernote, togehter contrasting the crisp hyacinth and green note. It's just like that the one who makes the entrance is coming directly from repairing the car in the garage, still wearing the overalls under a heavy leatherjacket with a curly sheepskin collar. The oily, metallic, leathery intensifies and an animalic vibe appears in the fragrance, the hyacinth is still recognizable as the unexpected contrast to such notes. Later in the drydown, the hyacinth steps forward again and during the whole dry down, the hyacinth alternate with the dirty accord of beeing the most prominent player. In the last aaccords of the basenotes, the hyacinth and the dirty accord finally seems to have blended in sort of an integrated accord.

HAM is fragrance of its own and there are no similar fragrance that I come to think of even if I imagine similar aspects in other fragrances. For example the chilliness of the hyacinth I also recognize in the cold hyacinth-iris accord of Serge Lutens beautiful Bas de Soie and to some extent also Tom Ford Vert de Fleur, the oily/metallic/petrol accord reminds me of some parts of Histoires de Parfums Petroleum but not at all as intense as the latter.

HAM is a complicated beauty, the contrasts are intriguing. In the same time it's a casual, easy to wear fragrance sort of relaxing and with an interesting development which makes one sniff the wrists regulary during the day. The sillage is medium in the first stage, then close to skin. Longevity is for a day. HAM is totally unisex to my nose.

Rating: 5

Notes: Hyacinth, animal notes, leather, woody notes

måndag 28 augusti 2017

Etat Libre D'Orange - Vierges et Toreros

Picture: La muerte del maestro, oil painting, 1884
by José Villegas Cordero (1844-1921)

Vierges et Toreros is a spicy-woody fragrance, created for the avantgarde perfumehouse Etat Libre D'Orange by the two Antoines, Lie and Maisondieu in 2007.

As often with ELDO perfumes there is something strange and fascinating with the blend, ELDO creates fragrances that makes us reflect and recalling images. VeT starts with a weird spicy, slight plastic note, plastic in a soft, pleasent way.  Then a anorectic light smoky leather, with the plastic spices still there, sets in followed by a very subdued tubereuse. Also some patch are present but as the creation is well blended, there is hard to discern the notes from each other. The plastic-spicy impression reminds me somehow of Masque Luci et Ombre another unusual tubereuse fragrance. Even if not the similar scent, I think Mona di Orios Les Nombres d'Or Tubéreuse, which is more sophisticated, warmer and more feminine, is a similar concept with a subdued tuby togther with subtle spices. Also Histoires de Parfums Tubereuse 3 Animale has the tuned down tuby in common despite the immortelle dominated Animale is much stronger, louder and demanding than the quiet VeT.

Over all this is a quite comfortable, light spicy blend with some edges. Compared to the quite violent associated name, VeT is a quit and peaceful perfume. Suitable to wear year around, expect the warmest days in the summer, fitting both for work and casual.

Rating: 3

Notes: Bergamot, nutmeg, pepper, cardamom, ylang ylang, tuberose, leather, animal notes, costus, patchouli, vetiver

Thanks to Fragrantfanatic for the sample to try.

måndag 7 augusti 2017

Histoires de Parfums - 1969 Parfum de Revolte

Picture: "Riverbank of Peach Blossoms (portion)", ink and colors on paper,
1642 - 1707, located at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia commons

From a perfume named 1969 Parfum de Revolte one routinely expect a blend with a dominant patchouli, maybe something as Reminiscence Patchouli or the airier Etro-version Patchouly. The 1969 Parfum de Revolte, created by the houses founder the perfumer Gerald Ghislain is anyting but this: Parfume de Revolte is a fruity, slight floral dessert-like gourmand creation, and there is indeed some patchouli very well blended among the ingredients.

1969 Parfum de Revolte starts with a wonderful peachy, rosy accord supported by a note that I percieve as freesia, which is not mentioned among the notes. The peachy note is somehow not especially sweet, it's not jammy instead it's more like the fresh ripe fruit. The peach note is present during the whole dry down but reduces in extent in the middle- and basenotes.There is also an  indefinite almost dense flower-iness which complements the peach very well. In the middle/base a patchouli which highlights the dark chocolate aspect of the note shines through. But the patchoulinote is cleverly interwowen in the blend as it never takes over the fragrance, just supports with it's darkness. In this stage some soft spices and a dark coffenote also appears, perfectly matching the patch. Everything is backed up by a soft musk. In the late middlennotes/early basenotes there is an accord as I percive as true aldehydic, there is something in common, not exactly in smell but in appearance, with Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.

1969 Parfum de Revolte is another beautiful and artful composition from the quality house of HdP. This is not the ordinary, screechy, chemical, fruity-floral, this is a delightful, credible fruitiness. It's an unsual blend and I for once have hard to find other scents that I think it resembles. The opening peach have some similarities with Parfums MDCI Peche Cardinal despite PC also has a plumnote in it's top and I percieve 1969 as a cleaner peach but not as airy as the springlike By Kilian Flower of Immortality.

1969 Parfum de Revolte is a good fragrance for evening but I also think it's proper to wear at daytime during the cold and grey months in fall and winter. The fragrance has a great longevity and remains almost unfragmented until the next morning.

Rating: 5

Notes: Peach, rose, white flowers, caramon, clove, patchouli, coffe, chocolate, musk

måndag 31 juli 2017

Histoires de Parfums - 1740 Marquis de Sade

Picture: Portrait of Donatien Alphonse de Sade, "Marquis de Sade" (1740-1814).
The drawing dates to 1760, when the Sade was nearly 20 years old. Drawing by
Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, Wikimedia commons

This review was hidden in the archives, written in ca 2012.
1740 Marquis de Sade from the for me rediscovered house of Histoires de Parfums, tested fragrances from the house cirka two years ago but it's this year I really have started to appreciate it's sometime serious and "difficult" creations. 1740 Marquis de Sade definitly belongs to the difficult category. Originally  created year 2000 by Sylvie Joudet and as I understand updated by Gérald Ghislain in 2008 it is classified as masculine but as containing some sweetness there is also women that appreciate 1740 and I will classify it as unisex but leaning to the masculine side.

1740 Marquis de Sade is a very wellblended and multifacetted fragrance on the woody-oriental-herbal-leathery theme. It's starts with boozy, slight sweet notes from the davana (artemisia) which is said to, as an ingredient, developes different on different skintypes and therefore transforms a scent to be (to some extent) personal to the wearer. There are also hints of immortelle (even if not mentioned among the ingredients) in this part of 1740. When the boozy top fades away a dray, dark chocolate note, probably a finetuned patcholuli, accented withe a minty tune, appears. There is also a pleseant spicyness from corianer and caradmom even if some dirty notes are shining through now and then. Later on, immortelle, typical housnote in several HdP creation shows up again togheter with a discrete leathernote, the woody pepper of cedar and resins, which creates a resinous and longlasting base.

1740 Marquis de Sade is very pontent and a low dose is needed to avoid smelling of an old grumpy man as Mr Parfumista accused me to do when I spritzed too much. To me four spritz is the maximum to let this well blended juice flourish. Whitin each stage of it's slow and gradually drydown, many things are happening and there is as eache of the top, middle respecitve basenotes represents an own perfume within the whole fragrance ie there is three different fragrances of the same theme whitin the 1740 Marquis de Sade. The developement is very interesting and precipitates out different by different wearings. It's not a flattering scent and as it takes some wearings to understand and appreciate 1740, it is important to don't dismissing it by the first wearing. Associations to Marquis de Sade? Not so many as 1740 reminds me of a distingued, well-behaved gentleman living in a manorhouse in the english countryside, a 19th century gentry. Maybe the chocolate note associate to de Sade as I read somewhere that he was a chocoholic. The leathernote is to gentle and polite to be associated by the games of de Sade.

Other fragrances that is partly similar to 1740 Marquis de Sade is L'Oiseau de Nuit by Parfumerie Générale especially when it comes to the sweet and boozy davananote. Also, but to a lesser extent , some of the skankiness from L'Ombre Fauve from the same house is present in 1740 Marquis de Sade.

When rating 1740 Marquis de Sade I weighs together that the wellcrafted blend (5) doesn't precipitate in the best way on me, it's a tad to masculine (3) which makes a:

Rating: 4

Notes: Artemisia  (davana), bergamot, patchouli, coriander, cardamom, cedar, labdanum, leather, elemi resin