Ormonde Jayne - Ta'if

Picture: In the Bey's Garden (1865)
Painting by John Frederick Lewais (1805-76)
Wikimedia commons

An Ormonde Jayne Classic, the beautiful oriental rosefragrance Ta'if was created by perfumer Geza Schoen in 2004.

Starts with a burst which smells like green pepper, not pink, mingling with something reminding of a tangy citric note. Soon an slight juicy, pink, rosy note appers, and then the whole accord becomes light creemy after a short while and Ta'if reminds me of a bit sharper, less juicier Le Galion La Rose. As Ta'if developes, the rose interacts with the other flowers, the bright and chilly freesia is prominent to me. Ta'if is more of a boquet than a solar rose fragrance and surprisingly bright and high up on the fragrance note scale to be an oriental fragance. The saffron is playing a supporting role in the background, not at all as prominent as in the standard dark, often oudy, oriental rose fragrance. At one stage in the middlenotes a hint similar to cedar appears which together with a fizzy, peppery note, reminds me of a light and smooth interpretation of Perles de Lalique and also of a more refined, cremy and smooth version of Marni. The datenote provide a moderating dark, fruity component, anchoring the kind of shrill flowers together with the pleasant amber-musky base.

Summed up Ta'if is a pleasant rose in the cold rose category. It's slight watery, but not at all thin, on the contrary it's heavy but in the same time transparant as the air of high humidity up in the mountains. As less sharp and more juicy/creamy than most cold roses, there is hints of warm trails Ta'if in some parts of the dry down. Since Ta'if creation many roses in the same style have emerged, I also comes to think of Burberry Body and Unum Rosa Nigra, and even if Ta'if is not as unique anymore, it has stood the test of time very well and is still a wellcrafted, intriguing fragrance. The longevity is great, traces are left after 24h, and sillage is good. Proper for daytime wearing escpecially for office or formal occasions. Works for year around, exept the coldest months.

Rating: 5

Notes: Pink pepper, saffron, dates, freesia, rose, orange flower, jasmine, broom, amber

Thanks to Fragrance & Art för the sample to test

Le Galion - La Rose

Picture: Hever Castle rose garden and fountain, Kent, England
Photo: Graham Bould 2007, Wikipedia commons 

La Rose is another successful flowery re-creation (see the reviews of Tubereuse and Iris in January 2015) performed by Thomas Fontaine. The original is as usual when it comes to Le Galion, a Paul Vacher creation for his own house, a house that has been revived during 2014.

La Rose is a very juicy rose, warm and flowery like the smell of the petals in hot weather, one can imagine contempling in an english rosegarden a very warm summerday. There are no steams or green leaves from the roseplant in the mix. It starts sparkling and flowery, followed by smooth notes of cedarwood, nothing sharp or pencilshaving alike. Despite the cedar, La Rose is warm in texture and apperance, the more it dires down, the more it settles in a very pleasant creaminess. La Rose is also supported by other flowers and just as in Le Galion Iris, the lily is prominent to my nose. There are also a light fruity touch in La Rose. When La Rose has reached the musky, slight woody basenotes, a pleasant boozy notes appeares, the smell is as if whisky has been stored in rosewood barrels.

Picture: Le Galion La Rose
Photo: PR Le Galion (c)

Fragrances with similarities to La Rose when it comes to the woody part are Lalique Perles and Marni Marni, despite those are the complete opposites in their apperance, sharp, icy and cold as the winter. When it comes to the lush flower expression of La Rose, it is in the same style as Tubereuse and Iris, as the three fragrances has a similar background but featuring different flowers.

Rating: 4

Notes: Bergamot, violet leaves, rose, ylang-ylang, peach, water notes, lily; cedar, patchouli, vanilla, musk


Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to try.

Eau d'Italie - Un Bateau pour Capri

Picture: Overlooking Capri harbor from
the rotunda in Villa San Michele
Photo: Morn the Gorn (cc) Wikipedia Commons.,
some rights reserved

Un Bateau pour Capri is an Eau d'Italie fragrance inspired from the neighbourhood of Positano, the beautiful Island Capri. The fragrance is composed by Jacques Cavallier. When it comes to Capri I remember, many years ago, I almost missed the boat from Capri, strolling around in Villa San Michele, built around the turn of the century 1900, for the highsociety physican and philantrophe Axel Munthe, (sometimes called "the swedish Rasputin" as the gossip said he almost spellbound the swedish Queen consort Victoria at the time. Anyway, they were friends and had some Capri-projects about taking care of animals together.) When I was aware of that the bus had left for the harbour, I had the great luck to find a cab up there on the mountin and after a fast ride I caught the ferry and could re-join to our group just in the last minute. Now, over to the Capri inspired fragrance: Un Bateau pour Capri.

Un Bateau pour Capri starts with an aldehydic, fruity, fizz with an almost hairspray like tonality. There is also a cold, watery flowercomponent supporting, probably the peony brightened up with the freesia. Soon also a tart note appears, creating a contrasting, sort of deep freshness of the fragrance. The tart accord is following through the whole fragrance and deepens when it mingles with the woody-musky base. This tart fruity/woody aldehydic note is prounonced and what makes UBpC characteristic. The note is almost off-putting but in the same time somehow pleasant and this is what makes UBpC interesting. In the drydown, UBpC is much more floral, a dark, dense, rose-jasmine accord and despite a distinct cedarnote, the fragrance is very feminine in its expression. The rose-cedar accord remins me of my favorite Eau d'Italie fragrance so far, Pasteum Rose, which is morse unisex in style than UBpC. The aldehydic fizz is present even in the base but in dark and slight soapy way. When wearing Un Bateau pour Capri, besides Pasteum Rose, two fragrances especially  comes to my mind: Esprit d'Oscar by Oscar de la Renta for the aldehydes in the first stages of the perfume and Perles de Lalique for the cedar-rose combo, even if the cedarnote is much more prominent in the latter.

Picture: Map of Capri. Uses terrain data from SRTM3
Author: modified by Morn the Gorn (cc)
 Wikipedia Commons, some rights reserved

Despite the aldehydes and the darkness of Un Bateau pour Capri, the fragrance is refreshing worn a warm summerday, maybe in the restful shadows from the threes in the garden of Villa San Michele. If Un Bateau pour Capri had a color it would be dark blue shifting in purple as the Mediterrean sky at
dusk. Un Bateau pour Capri is casual chic in style, appropriate for a holiday on Capri and the Amalficoast. Sillage and longevity are both outstanding for this fragrance, it lasts for more than 24 hours. UBpC is also approved by Mr Parfumista who complemented it in different phases of the dry down, such statement is quite rare taking in account the many fragrances I test.

Rating: 5

Notes: Peony, freesia, peach, rose, jasmine, heliotrophe, musc, wood, cedar

The fragrance of New Years Eve

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

As the winter here in the north is the warmest in decades and New Years Eve is more like a mid-autumn or mid-spring day in temprature the choice was also unusual for this day. Instead of a dark and heavy scent I chose a light and transparent fragrance, a sample that I unfortunately have forgotten for over six month but was reminded of when reading all the Best of 2013 lists: Marni (by Marni).

Marni definitly should be included in my Best of 2013 list (or maybe the 2012 if the releasedate on Fragrantica is correct), even if I discovered the last day. It's transparent but in the same time it has strength and lasts, it is both cold and warm in character, refreshing but also comforting and calming. A great mainstream fragrance, created by one of my favorite noses, Daniela Andrier which also created the first female classic of this century: Prada Infusion d'Iris.

The warmer spicy-incense part of Marni reminds me of the from the perfumecommunity surprisingly dissesd 2013 release Vaara from Penhaligons, a fragrance which I like very much. The colder aspects reminds me of one of the early "Noveau Chypres" Perles de Lalique, a more intense, deep and in the same time icy cold, rose-woody combo with characteristic pencilshavingnotes. The rose/incense/spices also reminds me of what Caron Parfum Sacre could be if it would appear in an Eau Fraiche variation. Very oddly a light and smoother trace of the "päronsplit"-note (swedish icecream, vanilla icecream covered with pear-ice, popular among children, more about htis see earlier post on Riktig Parfym) in Angelique Noir glimpses by. or maybe it's not that strange, A N is also created by Daniela Andrier.

A very wearable fragrance, easy to wear, comforting and a good officescent. Will be perfect for the coming spring and also for the winter if these tempratures stays.

Rating: 5

Notes: Bergamot, spices, rose, cardamon, cinnamon, vetiver, cedarwood, incense, patchouli

Lalique – Perles de Lalique

Foto: Parfumista (c)

Perles skapades för huset Lalique 2006 av parfymören Nathalie Lorson och den vann också tidningen Marie Clarie:s pris som bästa doft i Frankrike 2007.

Namnet Perles tycker inte jag är helt passande för denna höga, kalla och svala moderna chypre med sina ganska skarpa toppnoter. Pärlor förknippar jag med mjukt, runt och pudrigt. Ska jag göra en liknelse när det gäller ädla material tycker jag att den påminner mer om platinans grå och lite återhållsamma, kalla glans.

Perles inleds lite herrparfymaktigt med bland annat svartpeppar och känns nästan som en unisexdoft, ett intryck som faktiskt består för mig under hela doftens utveckling. I mellanregistret framträder på mig bäriga noter (även om inga bär finns med i pyramiden) balanserade med en lagom dos av något som liknar cederträ från basen. För enligt pyramiden finns inget cederträ utan istället irisrot, vetiver, patchoulli och mossa i basen. I Perles är det som påminner om cederträ i en perfekt balans och blir inte för skarpt vilket cedertränoten annars har en tendens att bli på mig Troligen är det pepparen i kombination med irisroten och vetivern som framkallar cederträkänslan. Även patchoullin i basen är balanserad och sticker inte ut bland ingredienserna som så ofta när det gäller patchoullibaserade dofter. Istället minglar den in i de andra noterna. Jag tycker att Perles är en bra representant för den nya chypren, eller så som jag önskar att fler i kategorin skulle vara. Den är trots det bäriga inte särskilt söt vilket kan vara ett ”problem” i genren.

Perles är en perfekt på dagen/kontorsdoft, en sådan där som passar en ljust grå dräkt/kostym med krispigt vit skjorta till. Passar året om men den har en ton som jag tycker matchar dofterna under den tidiga våren väldigt bra. Idag är det vårdagjämning och Perles passar till nyss soluppvärmd kall och våt jord mellan snöfläckarna som vi nu längtar efter.

Betyg: 4

Dagens Doft - Paestum Rose

Den här rosen är alldeles för ljus men vad göra. Mitt bildbibliotek är inte enormt. Foto:Parfumista (c)

Eau d'Italies Paestum Rose börjar där Montales Deep Rose slutar i en purpurfärgad ros som allt mer övergår i nästan svart. I PR är rosen en ingrediens som liksom ingår i mixen. Om man jämför den med Aoud Damascus häromdagen där rosen utgör bortåt 50% av doften som samspelar med övriga ingredienser som delar på restrande 50%.
Den mörka rosendoften är som tydligast i toppnoterna sedan finns den där tillsammans med rökelsträ, myrra, mycket patchoulli (som jag älskar, den ger rosor en dramatisk touch), något lite ormbunkslikt, en lagom dos cederträ (kan bli för skarpt och pepprigt med för mycket) vetiver och harts. Det finns såklart mycket mer i doften men detta är något om stilen. För mig är den främst mörk ros, patchoulli och cederträ. PR är skapad av den superhypade Bertrand Douchaufour och jag tycker att PR vid sidan av Dzongkha tillhör hans bättre skapelser.
PR är en mycket dramatisk och melankolisk doft, den passar året om men inte när det är som varmast. Perfekt denna kalla vår. Väldigt stark för att vara en EDT och kan lätt överappliceras vilket hände mig en gång vilket gjorde att jag inte vill använda doften på månader. Vid närmare eftertanke så påminner PR en hel del om Laliques fina Perles de Lalique , men den senare är tyngre på cederträet.

Betyg: 4+