Once again...

Picture: Vase with pink roses (1890)
by Vincent van Gogh
Wikipedia commons

It's so extremely saddened, the horrible, evil terrorattack murdering so many innocent children and teenagers visiting the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester yesterday.  I'm missing words.....

Impressions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic Myth Wood & Myth Bloom

Picture: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and
perfumer Olivier Pescheux sniffing their new releases
Myth Wood and Myth Bloom
Photo: PR Zlatan Ibrahimovic/Anna Malmberg (c)

Yesterday, visiting the local mall, there was a table exposing Zlatan Ibrahimovic's just launched fragrances Myth Wood and Myth Bloom and for once I stopped and sniffed.It's very rare I sniff a celebrity fragrance even if I'm claiming I'm not a perfumesnob. When it comes to Zlatan, he is of course not "just another celebrity" for a swede, he's after all the greatest footbollplayer this country has produced so far. And his partner Helena (who was an entrepeneaur and businesswomen long before she met Zlatan) has a great taste for fashion...

The Myth fragrances, according to the marketingbuzz, are inspired from the nature and myths of Sweden. Zlatan wanted to capture the scents from where he feel most at home, in the swedish nature where he gets peace and quiet. Perfumer Olivier Pescheaux was visitning Sweden around Midsummer 2016 to collect scents from the nature, the forests, meadows and from the archipelago with it's barren woods and vegetation. Then (I guess) headspace technology was used to transform the scents into the perfumers palette. My impressions comes from sniffing scentstripes with Myth Wood and Myth Bloom + two squeezes on skin of the female Myth Bloom.

Myth Wood starts quite common like a contemproary light, bright aromatic woody fragrance with a tangy fresh element, probably the grapefruit. Later some pine and blond woody notes steps forward to my nose also a note of beewax is fully evident even if not mentioned in the notelist. The lavander is not that evident but acting as a contrast to the woodyness. I can't smell the moss as a separate ingredient but the forestinspiered aura of the  fragrance contains a fresh, moisty, mossy element. Myth Wood is much more interesting in what's left on the scentstripe after almost a day than the more ordinary opening. A fragrance that comes to my mind when sniffing Myth Wood is Maria Candida Gentile Gershwin but without the incensenote in the latter. The aura and woody brightness, the calmness of the fragrance, also have something in common with Lankaran Forest from the same house.

Myth Bloom is a bright, pink rose with different companions than the usual example from the genre. The shamrock and especially the appleblossom are clearly detectable, contributing to the wild rose in a partly different direction. There is also an almost peachy note apperant, probably the result of the mix of the flowers. The woods are Scandinavian blond and bright, cedar balances the woody mix just right,   it doesn't becomes sharp or smelling like pencilshavings. There are also elements of hay and hints of the pleasant beewaxnote in Myth Wood. When sniffing Myth Bloom one of my first impressons was that this is amost UNUM Rosa Nigra and as logical result of that I also smell a connection to Burberry Body.

My findings from this brief evalution is that I like both fragrances very much. When it comes to Myth Wood the next step is to test it on my own skin as I think it's unisex from sniffing the scentstripe. When it comes to Myth Bloom I'm tempted to go for a bottle. And at last: Does the fragrances capture the scents of Sweden? Yes in some ways, it captures the spirit (in a chemical way of course) of the nature in summer, Bloom gives me associations to a Midsummer meadow and Wood has elements of the archipelago. Somehow I also come to think of Russia when smelling Wood. Maybe it's the beewaxnote and something that is similar to the olfactory picture of gentle incense in a wooden church in northen Russia, a picture I also experiences when smelling Commes de Garcons Zagorsk even if the fragrances smells different as a whole.

5 fragrances for a cold May

May, the month of spring has been very cold so far with tempratures beyond zero in the morning an and just some + degrees Celsius during the days. The crave for sheer and delicate fragrances which normally appears in spring hasn't arrived yet. As my longing for flowers remains unchanged my choices of fragrances are from the stronger and heavier cathegory this May.

Picture: Tubereuse Indiana
Photo: PR Creed (c)

Tubereuse Indiana (Creed): My boss nailed it when entering the room where I was working: "Oh here is the scent of the fine world". That´s Tubereuse Indiana in a nutshell, smooth, velvety, elegant tubereuse and mostly white flowers over the signature Creed ambergrisbase. Retrostyled, yet timeless elegance.

Picture: Honour Woman
Photo: PR Amouage (c)

Honour Woman (Amouage): Another beautiful white floral, this one is on the chillier side, accompanied with watery flowers. Elegant, versatile and comforting, contemporary yet timeless in style. In my book a runner up among the Amouages, it has grown to be one of my top favourites from this house.

Picture: Rose Ishtar
Photo: PR Rania J. (c)

Rose Ishtar (Rania J.): A cold, very dark and dry rose with a herbal/spicy contrast. Gives almost ancient vibes and it's androgynous, sometimes it leans to the masculine side and then suddenly it's strangely feminine. Maybe more of a autumnfragrance but anyway perfect for the moment.

Picture: Marni
Photo: PR Marni (c)

Marni (Marni): Another cold rose, but this time pink and bright with contrasting woody (cedar) and slight peppery notes, just perfect for accompaning a cold, frosty spring like this years. 

Picture: Graine de Joie
Picture: PR Eau d'Italie (c)

Graine de Joie (Eau d'Italie): A lush, fruity, berry floral which has become better the more I have tested it. Nothing chemical or sickenly sweet, just a warm red juicy nectar, giving hope of a coming summer after all. Delicious!

Carner Barcelona - Costarela

Picture: The Golden Beaches of Santa Susanna,
Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain
Photo: vincentdesjardins (cc) 

Costarela is a citrus woody spicy Edp created for Carner Barcelona by Shyamala Maisondieu.

Costarela is built around a partly unusual accord, tart, light citrus combined with a subdued saffron. I can also smell something similar to fresh cardamon, maybe a nuance of the saffron blend. There is also a dry paper note present and the overall impression is fresh, windy, salty,  yellow sun and sand, dry driftwood on the shores. Later in the dry down, Costarela deepens a bit when the ambery - woody notes are added to the "day at the seaside" accord described above.

Costarela is a discrete and versatile contemporary citrus aromatic fragrance which is suitable to wear both for work and casual, especially in spring and summer. It's a quiet fragrance which is quite close to the skin with a calming effect  The fragrances is unisex, leaning slightly to the masculine side. Longevity  is for almost a day even if Costarela in its later stages is very discrete and gentle, sometimes almost undetectable but when one think it has disappeared, then it's suddenly appears again as a gentle wisper. It's like returning waves of seasideinspired accords. Wearing Costarela creates the image of the beach a sunny and windy day with the monotonous sounds of the waves rolling in, bringing driftwood, algae, seaweed, shells and the smells from the ocean with them.

Picture: Costarela
Photo: PR Carner Barcelona (c)

Other fragrances I come to think of (not smelling the same but with a similar impression) when testing Costarela are fragrances from different interpretations of the salty, woody or citrus theme: Maria Candida Gentile Finisterre and Lankaran Forest, Hermès Epice Marine and Dior Homme Cologne

Rating: 4

Notes: Bergamot, saffron, marine and sand notes, cedar, ambroxan, amber

Peccato Originale - Quick reviews

Picture: Papaver somniferum. (Schlofmoon)Franz Eugen Köhler (1897), Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Wikimedia commons

Peccato Originale (Original Sin) is an Italian nichebrand founded by chemist/pharmacist Silivia Monti inspired from her her work in a pharmacy and the clients she met there. The fragrances har created by Siliva in collaboration with not revealed pefumers, expect one which is mentioned; Lucca Maffei. I have tested samples of four fragances from the line which consists of at least eight fragrances which is defined as unisex.

Antidoto Reattivo is a juicy citrusdominated fragrance with a cold spicy vibe from cardamon. There are also contrasting, green notes with an almost dry, airy, very light flowery, tangy touch and also a boozy slight antiseptic element in the base. Maybe the dry, flowery, tangy impression is from mate which is mentioned among the notes. Something in the over all expression reminds me of a less flowery Une Nuit de Bali Fleur des Fleurs.


Iniezione di Morfina despite its name this one is a classical, powdery, floral aldehydic musky fragrance with the usual flowers rose, iris, jasmine but here with an noticeable addition of lily of the valley. A late follower to fragrances in the style of Lorenzo Villoresi Teint de Neige, Etat Libre d'Orange Putain de Palaces and Frederic Malle Iris Poudre et al. The Morfina is very feminine to my nose

Picture: Tintura Spiritosa
Photo: PR Peccato Originale 

Tintura Spiritosa starts like a random Mancera/Montale fragrance with rose and spice but much less oud. The oudy impression soon disappears and TS becomes sweeter with a tangy blackcurrant (the berry) note combined with  a light boozy touch and tea accents. This over a  musky peppery resin amber base where the pepper is quite detectable.

Cantaride the softest and most polite of the four tested. A light amber with angelica which creates the typical contemporary classic suedenote. Some very light animalic passages as also a very light touch of booze glimpses by and all is grounded in a pleasant musky base. A comforting, calming and pleasant "wrist-sniffer". Cantaride makes me think of fragrances as Guerlain Cuir Beluga and to a soft and tame variation of Annick Goutal Sables.

My impression from the sampling is that the Peccato Originale line is quite ok but nothing as spectacular as some of the names of the fragrances indicates. All the first three tested fragrances have a cold (not Cantaride which is warm), almost boozy strike to them, maybe a recollection from the Pharmacy. The longevity is impressive, around 24h for all four fragrances. Taken as a whole, my impression from sampling three the Peccato Originales is that the house have some own characteristic even of beeing one in the crowd of new fragrancehouses which have flooded the market during the latest years.