söndag 30 september 2018

5 fragrances for Fall

Picture: From a walk in the hoods
a crisp, sunny, autumn Sundaymorning 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)

The early autumn month of September has (almost) passed, most sunny and crisp. Probably it's therefore I still don't crave for the dark, thick and heavy frags in the oriental genre. Instead there are most lighter fragrances I've wearing during the last month, fragrances which at least some of them are good examples of transition fragrances:

Iris Rebelle (Atelier Cologne): This is my new favorite iris. Light with a very pleasant opening smelling of fresh baby carrots. Then a beautiful, clean iris appears, wrapped in smooth citric notes.

Nomade (Chloé): The best mainstream release this year , at least from the not so many I've smelled. Like a transparent and contemporary version of Jean Couturier Coriandre. Coriander and moss with a ceratin warmth added to it by delicate soft flowers and light spices. Incredible longevity for such a transparent styled creation.

Mon Parfum Cheri, par Camille Edt (Annick Goutal): This is perhaps the messanger of the real autumn in the top 5. That even if the Edt of this elegant, dark, retro patchoulibased beuaty is more transparent than the Edp. A frag that boosts ones confidence. Full review (in swedish) here.

Café Tuberosa (Atelier Cologne): What a comforting beauty! A dark oriental floral with chypre vibes. The coffee and cacao are not sharp or sticky, they blends very balanced with the tuberose in a retrostyled accord. The tuberose dosen't stand out as a flower, it's just a part of the dark blend.

Fathom V (BeauFort): This damp, green, cold, watery, earthy creation reminds me of late winter/early spring but I crave this utterly intriguing composition for fall also. Full review here.

lördag 23 juni 2018

Midsummer 2018

Picture: Midsummerroses 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Midsummereve was yesterday. The summer solstice up here in the north is much celebrated and a national holiday. This year the weather (always a big question in Sweden) was quite good, rainy and cold (+9  C in the morning) and mostly sunny and quite warm in the afternoon followed by a chilly evening. The day was without rain, except in the morning.

This year (again) I didn't feel to wear florals to match the occasion. I couldn't think of any light high pitched flowery fragrance that was right for me. Instead I wanted something heavy, dark and dense so I went for Penhaligon's Halfeti, a dark rosy, dry spicy oud based fragrance inspried from the  black shaded roses which is/was grown in the turkish town named Halfeti.

Picture: The black rose of Halfeti
Photo: PR Penhaligon's
Halfeti is a fragrance that intriguing me. When I blindbought it about two years ago I was a bit disappointed, to much of the screaming, peppery type of oud. But still there was something that fascinated me with Halfeti and I went back testing it multiple times, I didn't want do give it up. Yesterday I finally find out the trick to avoid the overload of pepper/spice and how to hold Halfeti in check: One has to be very careful when  applying it, just using tiny half sprays at four to five points on skin. Full sprays is much too much. Applied in this way the dark, deep and spicy rose appears in a beautiful way, there are also a warm, dry and in the same time creamy sandalwoodaccord. Halfeti is difficult to understand and to tame, but it was certainly worth all the experimentering. The long process to evalute and to finally understand a complex fragrance is definitly some of the features of this fascinating hobby. Midsummer 2018 will be remembered as when I finally understand Halfeti.

Let's have a great summer 2018, combining the holidays with evaluation of the fragrance wardrobe!

måndag 7 maj 2018

Parfums de Nicolaï - Cap Néroli

Picture: Parfums Nicolaï Cap Néroli
Photo: PR Nicolaï

Cap Néroli is the new 2018 EDT from Parfums de Nicolï, a real favoritehouse of mine. Last years release was Rose Royale, a celebration to the pink roses of the palacegarden in the center of Paris. this year is celebrating néroli and what a celebration: This is not the usual soliflore niche stuff, this is lika a full fragrance, a bouquet of notes which makes one think that Cap Néroli doesn't belong to the soliflore genre.

Cap Néroli starts with an uplifting, cheering, burst of juicy, natural smelling full orange, like fresh oranges squeezed  in the sun by noon on the terrace of a villa in chic mediterrain surroundings. The orange liquid squeezed is natural, with fruit fibres, tick and not diluted or sugared. This is the accords of a early summer sunny day bearing all the expectations of the wonderful days which will come. In the nexte stage a chilly green, minty note appears blended with a herbal touch. The orange becomes more elegant, restrained and sincere in this stage, the néroli oil appears. Also a dry, salty note enters, a note similar to sea salt and also the scent which reminding me of old school bath salts, in this stage Cap Néroli has left the soliflore stage and enters the domains of a more complex fragrance. The salty ant bath salty aspects are also apperant in  Deco London Lawrence even if the latter is greener and colder in style, like an early summerday of the coast of Britan instead of the shores of the Mediterrain. Cap Néroli is grounded in oakmoss and musk an probably this is a part of the secret of the elegant retro feeling of the fragrance. The timeless elegant, green freshness could be the sign of the oakmoss and the herbs even if I guess that some of the typical Nicolaï geranium (think l'eau Chic) could be embedded in the base accord. During the whole drydown the slight herbal minty note gives Cap Néroli a certain sparkle and together with the salty note, offset the sweetness of the flowers of the fragrance. Compared to my other favorite Nicolaï neroli, Eau sOleil, Cap Néroli is brighter and higer on the fragrance note scale. Eau sOleil is the warm, glowing and slight spicy fragrance for the golden sunsets of the late summer, the orange of Eau sOleil is darker, with velvet nuances of gold and brown.

The overall impression of Cap Néroli is classic retro elegance, interpreted in a modern way. Cap Néroi is a modern take on the classic chypre accord, it's minimalistic and scaled down but still some of the moisty mossiness is there together  the with retro salty, slight soapy cleanness and retro freshness, elegant freshness as in vintage Eau de Rochas. To me Cap Néroli as a whole is more of a formal summer fragrance, it goes well in the boardroom. Both the radiance and longevity are very good to be an EDT, Cap Néroli lasts for over twelve hours. The fragrance is unisex, just as good on my skin as on Mr Parfumistas even if my skin amplifies more of the orange notes and his the green, salty and herbal notes. This fragrance shouldn't be missed, its perfect for effortless elegance both in formal and casual chic summer gatherings.

Rating: 5

Notes: Petitgrain bigaride, orange, mandarine, rosemary, mint, neroli, ylang-ylang, jasmine, orangeblossom, oakmoss, musk

söndag 29 april 2018

Olfactory dessert

Picture: Olfactory dessert April 28, 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)
As mentioned several times before in this blog, in this houshold there are very rarely desserts served after weekend dinners (only when we have guests). Instead Mr Parfumista often insists on sniffing/analyzing fragrances. As he in 9 of 10 times takes the initiatve to this "dessert", the inhabitants of his fragrance wardrobe are overrepresented. Yesterday evening there was two themes:

1) The frequently occurring comparison between two of Mr Parfumistas wardrobe staples Tom Ford Tuscan Leather (TL) and Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather  (CL) similar in style but both definitly needed. The role model Tuscan Leather is darker, denser, thicker, with smokey, tobacco, leathery notes, like a well worn bikers leatherjacket. TL also reminds me of a polished sibling to Mona di Orios wild Les Nombres d'Or Cuir. When it comes to CL the weird thing is that I always smell the raspberry which is a note in the Tuscan Leather pyramide and not mentioned in the CL pyramide and in TL I can hardly smell the raspberry at all. CL is more transparent in style, with an uplifting citiric aura which is not smelling citrus, it's blended in the texture per se, adding some sparkle to the brew. The leather in CL is the fine and noble leather, the inside of an exclusive handbag.
2) The random fragrance theme, which just occuring, was yesterday triggerd by Mr Parfumistas testing of Parfums de Nicolaï new Cap Néroli. He really likes it and said he will rather wear it than "that sample I was thinking of maybe buying a FB of ". I immediately thought he ment  MFK APOM Pour Homme which he has sampled lately but to my initial surprise, not when thinking twice, he brought out PFM Geranium pour Monsieur. Geranium is a note which is present in the typical Nicolaï "houseaccord", it's not mentioned in the notelist of Cap Néroli even if I suspect it's there as a part of the baseaccord. The other fragrance Mr Parfumista related to after a days wearing of Cap Néroli was Deco London Lawrence. Also a fragrance with a distinct dose of geranium, special and retro smelling, salty and dry like old-fashioned bath salts. These associations shows that one should not limit oneself to compare a certain fragrance to those in the same, in this case, neroli category, one should experience fragrances without any limitations in the mindset, which is hard to achieve.

And when it comes to Cap Néroli, a full review will follow probably after the next weekend when my birch pollen allergy hopefully has calmed down so I can smell and evalute this beautiful fragrance properly.

lördag 21 april 2018

Avicii

Tim Bergling aka Avicii
Photo Wikipedia (cc)
some rights reserved



So terribly sad  - RIP Avicii
 
 
 
 
 

måndag 9 april 2018

Short impressions of some new fragrances

Picture: Stockholm Sergels Square,
between  NK and Åhléns,
the two major departmentstores
Photo: Borrowed from the  KTH website
I have speed sniffed some relatively new arrivals this weekend. Below some short impressions:

Hermessence Agar Ebene (Hermès): A beautiful, high quality leather, first impressions of another Hermessence; Cuir d'Ange where Agar Ebene is fuller and more mature in its texture. Somehow I come to think of a nice and anxious leather, more "simple" in construction , not as complex and charcteristic as for example Chanel Cuir de Russie with its dry gunpowdery and light flowery notes. Unisex.

Hermessence Cedre Sambac (Hermès): A full and fruity, jasmine contrasted by the fresh, slight peppery cleanness of cedarwood. An intersting combination where the jasminenote reminds me about of the jasminedominated, white floral accord of Cacharel Scarlett but less sweet. Cedre Sambac is unisex, leaning to the feminine side.

Eau de Citron Noir (Hermès): Lemon with accompaning dry, smokey teanotes and slight peppery woody notes. Refreshing, without beeing clean in style, longlasting and with a good sillage taken ion consideration it's classified as an Eau de Cologne. Unisex leaning slightly to the masculine side.

Café Tuberosa (Atelier Cologne): Starts with thick tuberose, bergamot, blended with dry cacao and maybe a hint of coffee. It's a thick blend, vintage in style reminding me in texture and style of Vero Profumo Rozy. Later there are traces of the colognestyle with hints of citric notes.

Coco Mademoiselle Intense (Chanel): As a lover of Coco (Coco Noir) in all its incarnations, the Intense Mad inerpretation is just was I expected: A darker, denser, lower on the fragrance note scale then the regular Coco Mad. The patchouli is also more pronounced and the flowers subdued compared to the original. Even if similar to each other I need both variations....

måndag 5 mars 2018

Still winter....

Picture: Winter is still here...
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)
Last week was snowy and with  tempratures between -10 and - 15 C. In the same time the light is back and there were some sunny days which, even if cold,  indicate that spring really is around the corner. These opposites causes an ambivalence in perfumewearing, I'm craving both warm and heavy fragrances as also lighter and brighter ones. This was reflected in the fragrances worn last week:

Epidor (Lubin): Both Monday and Tuesday was cold, sunny days and Epidors  sunny, hayish and light fruity apperance was both contrasting but also somehow matching as it has something like a cold string in it. This together with a distinct tonka been make me think of the original Dolce&Gabbana pour Homme when wearing Epidor.

Opium Edt (Yves Saint Laurent): The current, more woody version. But still cinnamon is evident as also the overall, varm, velvety and oriental spicy character. Opium warmed the whole cold, windy and snowy Wednesday up.

Prada La Femme Intense (Prada): An elegant, restrained, white and tropical flowers over a well-behaved patchouli is suitable in any climate or season. Added some casual elegance to my Thursday.

Najaf  (Xerjoff): Craved for something dark and woody for Friday and a sample of Najaf caught my interest. Animalic, very woody, with the tangy, bitter but in the same time sort of fresh smell of oud.

Aromatic Elixir (Clinique): This bombastic, dry, rosy and woody chypre requires cold weather. A powerful and demanding fragrance, a classic which has stood the test of time. Unfortunately I was a bit too triggerhappy this time so I was on the verge to having headache on  Saturday. 

Jardin Blanc (Maître Parfumeur et Gantier): A beautiful white flower boquet where tubereuse is the major player flourished my Sunday. Well balanced, dense but not heavy, with chords of green and some animalic glimpses from the dept of the fragrance.