Puredistance MV2Q

Picture: Puredistance MV2Q
Photo: Puredistance (c)

Autumn is almost here, and autumn means it is time for a new release from Puredistance. Last autumn Puredistance reached its full number with the beautiful No 12. After that, each new realease in the Collection will casuse the discontinuing or withdrawel to buy after request, of one of the fragrances. No 3 M even if very popular, was the first do go (discontinued) among others due to new restrictions regarding some of the ingredients. To replace the loss of M a new Extrait created around the leather theme is launched in September 2022.

The similarities between the old classic M and the new MV20 are (beside the high quality ingredients, the extrait formula and the pure apperance) that both are very masculine fragrances even if  I think  MV2Q could even pass as unisex despite of it's leaning to the masculine side. Also the fact that both of them are more  (M) or less (MV2Q) leather fragrances, bring them together. Then, the similarities ends, M and MV2Q are IMHO two different fragrances. M is a timeless, high quality leather fragrance in the style of Hermès Bel Ami, a sort of refined Bel Ami in a clean and smooth extrait formula. 

MV2Q to me is a contemporary, modern urban woody oriental fragrances with an accord resembling the leather chypres of the 1980s as a side kick. A bright, full and sunny version of the chyper-ish accord is appearing in the topnotes and also showing up later in a darker, more sensual moonlight version as MV2Q has dried down in to the basenotes. The leather chypre styled accord,  reminds me of a less sweet-flowery version of one of my all time favourites, Montana Parfum de Peau (vintage version). But most of all MV2Q is a modern dry and warm, balsamic spicy woody fragrance with some light traces of something almost boozy, like a deep and rounded cognac.  Among the spicy notes, on my skin, the clean woody pepper note takes the centerstage and could "take over" the composition when MV2Q reaches the middlenotes  if  not applied very light. I've tested MV2Q several times over the summer, in  very warm and also colder tempratures  and my conclusion is that one or one and a half spritz (if hot outside) is maximum for me to apply to avoid the woody pepper note to take over. The positive side is, that very little of MV2Q is enough to create a great silage and a longevity for about 24h. The extrait is very concentrated, it's rich and mellow, full of very fine quality ingredients playing with each other in wellblended accords. When MV2Q reach the basenotes, the accord similar to a modern Parfum de Peau shows up again but this time with a more oriental soft spicy touch which reminds me of  the cozy and comforting Puredistance Sheiduna. Maybe MV2Q is the masculine counterpart to Sheiduna in the Puredistance collection. In the basenotes, there is also a slight dark leather-boozy element which reminds me of MDCI Parfums excellent Cuir Garamante.

Picture: Puredistance MV2Q
Photo: Puredistance (c)

Somehow I imagine, after its sunny opening, MV2Q,  in the middlenotes, as a dry, dark, log of wood lying together with some black, leather in the desert warmed up in the sunlight at midday. When MV2Q reaches the basenotes, the sun sets and the perfume calms down and transforms to a darker, softer and cosier evening fragance. MV2Q is a fragrance that seems to be tailor-made  to accompanying the progress of the day into the night and to emphasize the characteristics of each part to the wearer. As usual with Puredistance, an intriguing, very well made fragrance, which is concentrated and therfore even the smallest 17,5 ml  flacon (pictured above) will last for a very, very long time.

Overall MV2Q will be a perfect match for the coming autumn, although I will mostly go for the more feminine Sheiduna. 

Notes:

Orange blossom, Pink pepper, Lavender,
Cinnamon, Nagarmotha, Jasmine Sambac, Pine Tar,
Indonesian patchouli, Madagascar vanilla, Spanish labdanum, Tonka bean, Texas cedar

Thank you Team Puredistance for the generous sample of  MV2Q 

Carner Barcelona - Sandor 70's

Picture: Sandor 70's
Photo: PR Carner Barcelona (c)

Last year, Carner Barcelona launched a luxury sub-line, named Black Collection. There are three fragrances up to day, very well made and they all smell very pleasant. First out for review is the suede-booze-tabbacco Sandor 70's.

Sandor 70's starts with the soft suede character which is characteristic for the whole dry down of the fragrance. First the suede is paired  with an almost caramelized, round boozy accord with tobacco where also dark, dried fruits like in Serge Lutens Boxeuses are hidden. It's like resting in a comfortable leathery clubchair, reading the newspaper in the lounge of a venerable gentlemans club even if Sandor 70's is inspired of one of the most iconic bars of the 70’s in Barcelona so maybe the chair should be a bit more contemporary in style. There are also an intriguing contrast from emerging from the depts of the fragrance, hints of something animalic, furry reminding me of the horsey aspect of Rania J. Oud Assam but the intepretation is more polished and quiet  in Sandor 70's. In the middlenotes there is also a glimps of the pleasant "dust on a lit bulb" which is more prominent in another leather gem of 2016 Téo Cabanel Kasar as also in the opening of Mona di Orios first fragrance Carnation. The basenotes of Sandor 70's is dominated by an extreamly pleasant accord, smooth, balsamic, fresh leathery/tobacco with a balancing note of patchouli. The vanilla is not present as a single note but I can imagine it softens and fills out the other notes.

Picture: Sandor 70's
Photo: PR Carner Barcelona (c)

Taken as a whole Sandor 70's is a multifacetted fragrance, mostly linear in construction but still an intriguing compostion. It's very comforting, almost relaxing and very wearable, with absolutely no harsh edges. It's perfect for the colder seasons, for daytime or evening. Sandor 70's is unisex in style, maybe a tad more masculine, Mr Parfumista likes this much. The sillage is somewhere between close and medium and longevity about 12h+.

Those who likes fragrances in the style of for example Puredistance Black, Parfums MDCI Cuir Garamante, By Kilian Back to Black and Huitème Art Liqueur Charnelle should definitly try Sandor 70's.

Rating: 5

Notes: Suede, bergamot, jasmine, osmanthus, rose, tobacco, clary sage, cedar, peru balsam, vanilla, leather, patchouli, vetiver, incense, oakmoss

5 Top Late Summer fragrances 2016

Photo: Late Summer 2016
Mr Parfumista (c)

The summer is in its final stage, after a cold and rainy week in the middle of August, the sun and warmth are back, as often when school and work starts again. When it coming to perfumechoices, this late summer is a bit confusing compared to my earlier middle/late summer cravings which were for dark and dense autumn/winter appropriate perfumes. This year it seems as I havn't any cravings for a particular fragrancecategory at all, everything goes. Wearing fresh and bright fragrances is common this late summer compared to earlier years. Below five choices from the latest weeks, both bright and dark ones.

Vent Vert (Pierre Balmain): The windy-green Vent Vert  is the archetype of a spring/early summer fragrance but even as good in August. I like the new and the older 1990:s version equal, this time I've worn the new version which smells less flowery and more tart and musky than the older version. A fragrance which receives compliments.

Les Colognes Néroli (Annick Goutal): A contemporary reworking of the classic Annick Goutal Néroli Edt. The cologne is a somehow oldfashioned but not dated, sopay, musky, bittergreeen, neroli with an outstanding longevity to be classified as Cologne. Probably this is due to the musk which is present in many contemporary fragrances which aspires as Colognestyled, for example the whole line of Atelier Cologne.

Cuir Garamante (Parfums MDCI): Mr Parfumista goes for some dark stuff and Cuir Garamante is perfect in the glowing, damp heat of the late summer. The late summer conditions are perfect for the intriguing dry down of CG:s dark leathery, boozy, dark woody accords. This fragrance shows different aspects in different wearings and there is still new twists to discover. CG is one of the very best in this genre, from what I have smelled so far, IMO the best.

As Sawira (Penhaligon's): As Sawira is deep and mysterious, featuring dark frutiy, floral and spicy notes over a gentle resin, amber and slight oudy base. Not the standard oud-saffron-rose accord even if all three of them are present. As Sawira blooms a gray day with high humidity and some rain.

Rose Ishtar (Rania J.): A dry, spicy, dark, tart and watery rose with glimpses of a mens cologne and some almost herbal aspects. Even if close to the skin, Rose Ishtar is an intense and very present fragrance. A very special rose.

Easterfrags 2015

Picture: The Peter the Great Egg, 1903
Photo: Uploaded from Dutch and UK Wikipedia,
no rights reserved for the file

Easter is more of a "fragranceholiday" than Christamas to me. In Christmas there are so many other competing smells as from the Christmastree, Glögg (swedish mulled wine), saffron bread, red cabbage, mustard etc. Easter is expressed in  three distinct fragrancegroups to me: The foody - gourmand fragrances, the crispy - green fragrances,  especially the ones containing bulb flowers or cold iris and the churchy- incense or precious resinfragrances. Below some reaible ones from each category:

The foody
Kiss Me Intense (Parfums de Nicolaï): Pastry and sweet floral high-level gourmand pleasure.
Cuir Garamanate (Parfums MDCI): Some dark, boozy almost liqurie notes hides in this powerful woody blend.
Nevermore (Frapin): Now we're entering the dark, boozy territory, mysterious and dark as Good Friday itself.

The crispy
No 19 Edp (Chanel): Contains more flowery notes than the Edt, beautiful iris, rose, galbanum accord.
Amazone (Hermès): Crispy, cold, green bouquet with bulbflowers with some amplifying fruity notes. An old time favorite, very casual chic.
Antonia (Puredistance): Green leaves and stems in a beautiful sunny, floral composition. Timeless, casual chic, perfect for the Easter lunch.

The churchy
Pink Quartz (Olivier Durbano): A pink mineral rose with myrrh, incenses and precious spices. Cold as the marble of the cathedral, contrasted with the warmth and smell of the incense burned inside.
Relique D'Amour (Oriza L.Legrand): The small medival chapel with a Madonnasculpture who has listened to centuries of prayers.
Passage d'Enfer (L'Artisan Parfumeur): Incense in the air, lillies on the altar and a ray of light shining through the gotic windows of the cathedral.

Wish you a Happy Fragrant Easter!

Huitème Art - Liqueur Charnelle

Picture: Liqueur Charnelle
Photo: PR Huiteme Art (c)

Liqueur Charnelle is a woody aromatic fragrance with a gourmand touch created by Pierre Guillaume for one of his lines, Huitème Art.

Liqueur Charnelle starts with boozy notes accompanied with the for dark gourmand fragrances, typical dark, accord of dried fruits. There is also an interplay with not too sweet gourmand notes, like hard candy or delicate cakes. An offsetting, fresh, woody note, like just carved juniperwood also appears and creates a special touch in the top.  After a while woody peppernotes in a distinct dose appears and are the leading accord in the fragrance during almost the rest of its drydown. Liqueur Charnelle acts quite linear during the dry down, with the light pastery accord, supported with some booze as the offsetting notes to the woody pepper. In the basenotes, the pepper steps back and the dark, dried fruits preserved in cognac appears forward just as an accord which highlights balsamic and tobacconotes joins the composition. And the beautiful fresh juniperwood from the topnotes appears and is the note which remains in the very late dry down. To me the basenotes are the most pleasant part of Liqueur Charnelle.

Liqueur Charnelle is definitly a fragrance for late autumn and winter, I think it could be overwhelming in warmer weather. It has an impressive sillage and is strong, very light application is necessary. Liqueur Charnelle is partyly similar to a bunch of woody/spicy/aromatic/gourmand fragrances on the market as for exemple when it comes to the spicy, gourmand part: Editions Parfums de Frederic Malle Dries van Noten, Carner Barcelona Rima XI and to some extent  El Born. That despite all the three mentioned are smoother and cozier, more of "sitting in a café sipping latte", than Liqueur Charnelle which is more extroverted with its woody peppery accords, similar to some recent more masculine woody fragrances. Those fragrances often containing oud, mentioned or not, and when testing Liqueur Charnelle when it comes to its woody part, I come to think of recent releases such as the HA of 2013  Monsieur , Parfums MDCI Cuir Garamante , Puredistance Black (here also the boozy aspects), Robert Piguet Bois Noir (the woody pepper) just as in Montale Dark Oud.

Liquer Charnelle has traces from many fragrances but also an own personality, it's a good fragrance, nice to wear if lightly applied. When I tested Liqueur Charnelle the first time, Mr Parfumista liked it better than me, but after I have worn the sample a few times and found the right, light dose to apply I like it as much. Liqueur Charnelle is something as strange as an aggressive comfortfragrance.

Rating: 5

Notes: Cognac, dried fruits, linden blossom, grapes, caramel, vanilla, black pepper, pink pepper, elemi, amber, raspberry, coumarin, tobacco

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test.

Rania J. - T.Habanero

Picture: A close up of an orange Habanero chile pepper
Photo: Ryan Bushby (cc) Wikipedia commons,
some rights reserved

T.Habanero is the latest release from perfumer Rania Jounaeh who has created a collection of perfumes containing a high percentage of naturals. See  my reviews from spring this year.

T.Habanero starts with a blast of barnyard, strong, dark, and intensive. The barnyard accord is similar to tha same accord in Rania J. Oud Assam which is the one of Ranias earlier fragrances that most equals T.Habanero. It also have some traces of Rania J.s Ambre Loup. As T.Habanero dries down to its second half, the dirty notes almost disapperars and a distinct but not too strong tobacconote takes the centerplace. There is also a ligtht spicy impression which is rather cold and not warm in its character, probably it's the cardamom contributing to this. The pepper, is despite the name of the fragrance, not a dominating note, it's well integrated in the fragrance.

T.Habanero isn´t something new or especially orginal despite some challenging accords in the first part of the fragrance. Overall it's a nice and comforting perfume, perfect for the cold autumn and winterdays which are approaching. It's a strong fragrance so one has to apply sparingly to avoid overdoing. So handled it could be worn also in the workplace even if the style and character in my opinion is more casual, perfect for a walk in the woods in crispy autumn leaves.

The style is in the contemporary dark-resin-oudy with representatives as for example Puredistance Black, Parfums MDCI Cuir Garamante and Stephan Humbert Lucas 777  Black Gemstone. When comparing T.Habanero to Oud Assam, I think the latter is a better and more challenging composition.

Rating: 4

Notes: Cardamom, black pepper, sandalwood, olibanum, myrrh, oud, tobacco

Parfums MDCI - Cuir Garamante

Picture: Foggara (water chanell) in the
old Garamantes territory in Libya
Photo: Tagelmoust (cc) Wikipedia,
some rights reserved 

Parfums MDCI is a french niche house, founded by Claude Marchal, which offers high quality fragrances in collaboration with both experienced established perfumers and the coming perfumer generation.Cuir Garamante is one of the two latest launches from the house. The fragrance is created by Richard Ibanez, an experinted senior perfumer, creator of for example the special, before its time, dark, woody Sonia Rykiel Le Parfum.

Cuir Garamante is inspired by the ancient saharian berbers who was constructors of water channels for irrigaton and therefore dominated the traderoute from Tchad to the Mediterranean ca 500 B.C. As inspired from the desert, Cuir Garamante starts very dry, hot and spicy. Pepper, saffron and the likes creates a fizzy almost transparant, warm, desert-windy impression.As CG deepens there is also a pleasant slight sweaty note, like a soft touch of cummin glimpsing through. The oud is of the smoother variation and it's contributing with a dark, luxury, boozy, woody impression in the same way as in Puredistance Black.On my skin the rose in Cuir Gramante is not detectable as it is when testing it on the scentstripe, probably as the rose is light.On the teststripe the oud-rose (medium pink rose) smells very balanced and restrained, this is not the traditional rose-saffran-oud combo of  Montale and the crowd of followers of this, in those days avantgarde house. The Cuir Garamante rose-oud combo is more of (even if the fragrances are different in style) the gentle second oud genaration rose-oud accord, as in Parfums de Nicolaï Rose Oud. In the basenotes the boozy quality is still present, but in a slighter sweeter context than earlier, probably the resins, smooth sandalwood and discrete, dry vanilla (pod) notes, absolutely not the gourmand, dessert vanilla. In the basenotes there is also a fine leather, which interacts seamless with the other notes.

Picture: Cuir Garamante in Parfums MDCI Deluxe Falcon
There is also a plain version bottle
Photo: PR Parfums MDCI (c) 

Cuir Garamante is marketed towards men but I think it's an unisex creation which leans to the masculine side, contrary to Puredistance Black which is a more feminine unisex IMO. But this is just nuances, one have to test on oneself. Cuir Garamante is suitable both for office and dressed up occasions, for all seasons except for the warmest summerdays. The longevity is about a day.

Cuir Garamante is a well crafted fragence, well balanced and made of high quality ingredients. It's not original or avantgarde, an increasing number of niche lines includes a fragrance of this dark-woody- spicy- oud- booze-leather character (even if emphasizing a bit different among the notes) in their catalouge. Beside a spicier version of Puredistance Black, Cuir Garamante also resembles Robert Piguet Casbah (the dry spices) and partly Huitième Art Monsieur (the niche standard woody impression).

Rating:. 5

Notes: Pink pepper, nutmeg, saffron, rose, oud, papyrus, leather, vanilla, labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood