Les Cocottes de Paris - La Belle Otero

Picture: Agustina Otero Iglesias (1868-1965)
"La Belle Otero"
Photo: PR Les Cocottes de Paris (c)

Les Cocottes de Paris is a brand started by Anaïs Biguine who also started the Jardins d'Ecrivains brand, inspired by litterature and gardens, some years ago. In the new brand, the inspiration comes from some famous nineteenth century courtesans who were active in the french capital. La Belle Otero is the first of three fragrances to be tested, inspired of a spanish artist, Agustina Otero Iglesias, who is said to have "devoted her life to dancing, men, precious stones, gambling, parties and all above freedom". The fragrance is said to be an invitation to misbehave and I can agree with that when testing La Belle Otero.

La Belle Otero starts sharp, fruity, boozy, chemical, almost as something that could be a sweet fruity floral celebrity fragrance but less sugary. Than the fragrance becomes more flowery, the violet accentuated by a crispy narcissus takes the center. There is almost a lipsticknote present but without the characteristic powdery-creamy smell that is the lipstick standard. The fruity note is still present in the basenotes, balanced by sandalwood and with musk which reinforces the blend. There is something vaugly dirty and decadant glimpsing through the floral-fruity facade, like dirty underwear hiding under a brand new amazing haute couture gown.

Picture: La Belle Otero
Photo: PR Les Cocottes de Paris (c)

Strong syntetical violet and narcissus over a light sandalwood infused by fizzy. musky, fruity elements is the synthesis of La Belle Otero. It's a demanding fragrance with rough edeges but in the same time a somehow pleasant fragrance to wear. It's a dangeroues fruity floral, something dark and beastly are lurking in the background. I think the syntetic smell is a bit too much in La Belle Otero but leaving that a aside, this is a intriguing and in the same time happy and taken as a whole, nice to wear fragrance.

Those who likes fragrances as Rober Piguet Jeunesse, Eau d'Italie Graine de Joie, Parfums MDCI Cio Cio San and By Kilian Playing with the Devil (which is much darker) could probably appreciate La Belle Otero.

Rating: 3

Notes: Neroli, pepper, absinthe, ginger, fig, violet, musk, lavender, narcissus, buchu, lavender, iris, frankincense, sandalwood 

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test

Jul et Mad - Les White - Nin-Shar, Néa & Garuda

Les White is a separate collection of three oriental inspiered Extraits de parfum from Jul et Mad. Nin-Shar is created by Sidonie Lancesseur, Néa and Garuda by Luca Maffei. 

Picture: Nin-Shar
Photo: PR Jul et Mad (c)

Nin-Shar starts fruity-rosy with boozy elements. Soon woody, balsamic, incense notes joins where a wellbalanced oud and most of all, a distinct note of nagarmotha is present. As the boozy note steps back, the rose becomes sweeter and jammy. The nagarmotha accord softens in the basenote but taken as a whole, this together with the fruity, later jammy rose is the lasting impression of Nin-Shar. To me Nin-Shar is very close to a sweeter, fruitier version of the beautiful L'eau de Mumtaz i Mahal by Maison Nicolas de Barry which I personally slightly prefer. Nin-Shar is reported to be the bestseller in the trio.

Picture: Néa
Photo: PR Jul et Mad (c)

Néa Oriental-fruity-gourmand, the fruit in the heavy oriental style with  boozy dates, ripe peach, mango but also berries. Green notes balances the fruit as also a beautiful rose. The basenotes with resins, balsamic notes and musk creates a dept to the perfume. Even if intense with many powerful ingredients I percieve Néa as a perfume in the higher ocataves in the notescale. Néa is not at all cloying or heavy to wear, it is sparkling in some passages of its development, sometimes some green fizz break through with a note that smells something that I can imagine fresh harvested cardamom smells like. There is nothing chemical or sickenly sweet to Néa. it's a delicious pleasure to wear, comforting and relaxing. For those who likes the style of Eau d'Italie Graine de Joie and By Kilian Playing with the Devil.

Picture: Garuda
Photo: PR Jul et Mad (c)

Garuda Light fruity/nutty accentuated of a light smokey oud-wood with some behaved barnyard elements glimpsing through. The oudy - woody note is high and bright in the octaves compared with for example Perris Monte Carlo Bois d'Oud and Acqua di Parma Colonia Oud. This accord gets more woody in general and less oudy as Garuda developes. There are also a herbal. minty element that sparkels and adds almost a freshenss to the fragrance. I suspect there is also sandalwood involved, probably the warm, nutty elements comes from there. In the basenotes there is also a tangy, floral alomst mossy quality which has a resemblance to a green classical chypre accord but with a soapy twist. Garuda with its compexity and different faces is my favorite from the line.

Les White are perfect fragrances for the colder months, they envelope the wearer in warmth and smells delightful. Their style is ornamental, warm, golden and all will fit perfectly for the coming Christmas and New Years Holidays. All three fragrances are of very good quality, with close to medium sillage and good longevity. To my nose predominantly feminine in style.

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the samples to test

Parfums MDCI - Cio Cio San

Picture: Poster for Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini,
Author: Alberto Hohenstein (1854-1928), Wikimedia commons

Cio Cio San is the latest addition to the high quality Parfums MDCI line. Just as the intriguing Nuit de Andalouse from 2013, Cio Cio San is created by one of the brightest shining stars on the perfume heaven in the latest years: Cecile Zarokian. Cecile seems to have good hand (and nose) with oriental styled parfumes, she has created some of my favorites in the genre; Masque Tango, Laboratorio Olfattivo Kashnoir and Amouage Epic Woman.

Cio Cio San is also oriental styled but a floral oriental with intriguing, supporting fruity notes which are lightened up with skillfull handled teanotes which are note sharp or chemical at all. Cio Cio San starts sparkling with pink, lush floral notes, accentuated with fruits, with litchi as the leading star. I can't say that I can distinguish the cherry blossoms but I suppose they are involved in the sparkling, pink flowery opening.
From the very beginning Cio Cio San reminds me of a sort of reversed and less sweet Graine de Joie from Eau d'Italie. Where the fruits are the protagonists, supported by flowers in Graine de Joie, the flowers takes the central position in Cio Cio San even if distinctly supported by the fruits. Soon also deeper nuances appears in Cio Cio San which shows a wider spectrum of accords than in Graine de Joie. After a whlie a dark, rubbery note, similar to the rubber note of rose oil appears and as rose isn't mentioned I guess it comes from the peony. There is also a light glimpse of a fresh almost petrollike note in this stage. Soon also a dark woody note appears, it's similar to a light touch of oud (also not mentioned among the notes) and there is also something almost boozy lurking in the woody musky depths of Cio Cio San. Even in the deeper and darker dimensions of the fragrance, the loveliness of the flowers and fruits are clearly present. The teanote is perfectly intergrated and creates an airy and almost light impression also in the basenotes. There is also a pleasant sort of  tingling (maybe the ginger) tartness present during most of the dry down. The notes of Cio Cio San doesn't smell chemical which could be a problem in some fruity-florals and tea fragrances, respectively.

Picture: The "bust bottle" of Cio Cio San, there
is also a version with a plain cap.
Photo: PR Parfums MDCI (c) 

Just as Cio Cio San herself aka Madame Butterfly, the fragrance Cio Cio San is a fragrance with at least two faces: The happy one just as in the very beginning of the opera, then the melancolic and sad expression just as the way to, and the end of, this tragic drama. Another beautiful flower fragrance which honors Madame Butterfly is Amouage Honour Woman (swe) which is a creamy, well blended, but less original white floral which plays in a less dramatic scale and in higher octaves than Cio Cio San.

Cio Cio San is a intriguing fragrance where different ascpects/facetts are highlighted in different wearings depending for example from how much of the scent is applicated. I'm looking forward to test Cio Cio San also in cold weather as I suspect it will wears nice then too. For summer it's great. Cio Cio San is appropriate for many occasions, both for work and casual, but not for sports, it's too complex for that.
Sillage is somewhere between close to medium, longevity for at least a day with traces on skin the morning after.

Those who like good quality fruity florals as Neela Vermeire Creations Bombay Bling, By Kilian Playing With The Devil and Robert Piguet Jeunesse I suspect will also appreciate Cio Cio San.

Rating: 5

Notes: Yuzu, lemon, ginger, grapefruit, cherry blossom, peony, litchi, tea, guaiac wood, cedar, mus

Eau d'Italie - Graine de Joie

Picture: HRH Prince Carl Philip and his fiancee Sofia Hellqvist
on their engagementday June 27th, 2014.
Photo: Expressen Sven Lindvall (c)

Graine de Joie from italian nichehouse Eau d'Italie is a red berry boost raised to ten. Graine de Joie is created by Daphne Bugey. The fragrance is said to be inspired by the idea of love and according to the marketing blurb "we have decided to celebrate love, and to create a fragrance that conjures up the irresistible light-headedness of when you fall in love." Graine de Joie would have been the olfactory background for the great royal news of last Friday: The handsome HRH Prince Carl Philips engagement with his charity working, from a small village, middle class background, girlfriend Sofia Hellqvist. Another Cinderella story following the one of HRH Prince Daniel. The color and expression of Graine de Joie is exactly the red color of Sofias elegant dress.

Graine de Joie starts very uplifting with ripe redberries and pomegranate, red, lush and mouthwatering delicious. The berry-pomegranate combo goes through the whole fragrance supported by a fizzy freesia who is contrasting and lighten up the fragrance. There are also a contrasting, tart note, maybe some redcurrant leaves is added to the mix or the note just picturing the tartness present in the berries themselves. Not unexpected, the berry-bowl is grounded in a well balanced musky, light woody base.

Picture: The sunny spirit of Graine de Joie
Photo: PR Eau d'Italie (c)

Beside the royal engagement, Graine de Joie gives me the image of a bowl with ripe red berries and fruits avaible when relaxing in a sunny mediterrian garden in the peak of the summer.Graine de Joie is a perfect fragrance for the season, something that departs from the usual fresh aquatics or citrus scents. The fragrance is much richer than the usual sommerfragrances and despite its full blown berry sweetness, it doesn't becames sickly sweet or smells chemical. It's an uncomplicated happy and easy to wear fragrance, appropriate both for work or casual wearing. Graine de Joie is a good composition in the floral-fruity genre. I find it more ordinary in style than the intriguing and demanding earlier Eau d'Italie compositions such as the burnt, spicy, woody Bois d'Ombrie, the green, rough, woody Sienne l'Hiver, the dramatic rose Pasteum Rose and the special cologne styled first fragrance Eau d'Italie which I personally prefer.

When it comes to similar fragrances, first of all Robert Piguet Jeunesse comes to my mind, though that one has more dept and contrasting non-berry/fruity notes. Also the fragrances in By Kilians subline In the Garden of Good and Evil are in the same style, reviews of In the City of Sin, Good Girl Gone Bad, Forbidden Games and Playing with The Devil.

Rating: 4

Notes: Red berries, red currant, pomegranate, freesia, flowers, praline, musk,cedar

By Kilian - Imperial Tea

Picture: Flower close up of Jasminum officinale
Photo: B.traeger (cc) some rights reserved, Wikimedia Commons

Imperial Tea is the other of the two latest releases in the By Kilian Asian Tales Collection, a collection with transparent, elegant and relaxing fragrances of high quality ingredients. Even if delicate in style, the Asian Tales fragrances have good lastingpower and sillage to be modern, light compositions. The Asian Tales line IMO is especially good for spring and summer. Imperial Tea is created by Claice Becker with the intention to recreate the olfactive impression of  a freshly brewed cup of exquisite jasmine tea.

Imperial Tea starts with a beautiful, very natural smelling jasmine, which is sparkling, light and uplifiting. After a while a contrasting almost green a bit tart, chalky note appears which remainds me of the smell in the oyster colored Jugendstyled bathroom of my grandmother. This note, is also present for a while in By Kilian Playing with The Devil and just a tad denser also in Vanille Tonka from Parfums de Nicolaï. When Imperial Tea dries down, it is obvious that  the jasmine is not as clean as the initial impression. In the middlenotes the animalic undertone of jasmine appears, contrasting the cleaner notes just as the chalky note persist. The teanote of Imperial Tea is subtle and just accompaning the jasmine. It is a light, gentle, white teanote, like silver tip tea and there is absolutely non of the for many teafragrances typical harsh, wet wipe note. The teanote of Imperial Tea is the best subtle teanote that I have smelled in perfume so far. In the basenotes, Imperial Tea becames darker in its tonality but the wellbalanced jasmine, tea, green chalky, slight animalic combo still persists.

Picture Bai Hao Yin Zhen tea leaves (white tea)
Photo: lateasquirrel (cc) some rights reserved, Wikipedia Commons

Imperial Tea is perfect for sipping white tea in a blooming jasmine bower a warm early summer day. It's a casual chic fragrance, perfect for daytime wear and is also very suitable for office. Compared to the other By Kilian which feature jasmine, Love and Tears, Imperial Tea is more minimalistic and less flowery in style. Both fragrances are classied as unisex and to my nose Love and Tears leaning more to the feminine side than Imperial Tea which is positioned in the middle but also slight more feminine. Longevity is for a day, if freely applied, the sillage is close, a true wristsniffer. This is a must have for summer :-)

Rating: 5

Notes: Jasmine, tea

Best of 2013

Picture: Summer evening in Stockholm Archipelago 2013
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

2013 was another year with a flood of releases, many good and well constructed but too close to other perfumes too really catch my attention. The fragrances of the best of list are such that immidiately caught my attention and a "wow" feeling appeared.

For Her: Le Parfum Couture Denis Durand pour M.Micallef Already during my first wearing of this dark rosy, retro, skanky perfume I knew this would be the perfume of the year to me and it made it to the end.

For Him: Royal Vintage from M.Micallef fresh mangled, exquisite, linen tablecloths worthy a the Royal table. Notes of a just lit cigarette with hints of a minimalistic dry jasmine complements.

For Both: Oumma by Stéphane Lucas Humbert 777 a runner up tested the weekend before Christmas. A fragrance in a class of its own, balsamic resins, rose and a smooth expression of saffron and precious woods.

Close runner up's/ Honorable mentions: Oriza L.Legrand Chypre Mousse, Neela Vermiere Cretations Mohur Extrait, Andy Tauer PHI Rose the Kandahar, Robert Piguet Rose Perfection, Puredistance Black, By Kilian Playing with the Devil, Oliver Durbano Lapis Philosophorum and Aedes de Venustas Iris Nazarena.

2013 apperantly was a good year for Martine Micallef and her house nose Jean-Claude Astier, releasing special and wearable fragrances that stands out to me and make my jaded nose a bit excitetd. The sampling of Oumma was pure luck, random choosing from a sachet of Aus Liebe zum Duft samples. About all the fragranes which almost made it (I'm also almost sure I've forgot to mention some interesting releases): They are all very good and I or Mr Parfumista are delighted to wear them.

Which fragrance is your best of 2013?

By Kilian - Musk Oud

Picture: Autumn dark, pink rose
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

Musk Oud is the last episode in By Kilians Arbian Night Collection preceded by Pure Oud 2009, Rose Oud 2010, Incense Oud 2011 and Ambre Oud 2012. Musk Oud is created by Alberto Morillas.

Musk Oud starts with bright, sort of clean light fruity and spicy notes, the impression is a natural freshness. From the beginning a pink, slight musky rose, deepened by a gentle oudnote, is also present. The rose-spice-musk and oud combo is gentle and brings an air of sophisticated comfort. The more Musk Oud dries down, the more the fragrance simplifies when it comes to perceived notes. The oud-rose combo climbes forward and when entering the second half of the dry down, Musk Oud resembles any conventional basic oud-rose combo with one exception: A very light, barely discernible boozy, slight sour, note appears which is somehow a  little annoying to me. When reaching the basenotes, the fragrance is very oud-y.

The overall impression is that of a good, easy to wear, standard rose-oud. The sillage is great and so is the longevity, 24h. Musk Oud is wearable any time of the year. Of the By Kilan offerings of 2013 Flower of Immortality and Playing with the Devil, Musk Oud is the one that impresses me the least. On the other hand, Playing with the Devil is one of the best releases of all 2013 IMO. Absolutely nothing wrong with Musk Oud, but I have smelled the same for almost a decade and has become a bit jaded.

Rating: 3

Notes: Lemon, cardamom, coriander; cypress, rose, geranium, artemisia, rum, incense, agarwood, musk, patchouli.

By Kilian - Playing With The Devil

Picture: Quite contrary to the Devil: Kilian Hennessy himself,
as handsome as this fragrance is beautiful :-)
Photo: PR By Kilian (c) 

Playing With The Devil is the fourth installation in the By Kilian sub-line In The Garden of Good and Evil. As almost all By Kilians, PWTD is created by Calice Becker, a true champion when it comes to handle flowers in a delicate way. The first three fragrances of this sub-line, even if good, was a bit too similar and I find it difficult to distinguish them from each other. Playing With The Devil on the other hand, stands out from the crowd and is just stunning.

Playing With The Devil starts with the most natural smelling orange, in this case, Blood Orange I have smelled so far. The beautiful orangenote is underscored by darker fruity notes as a perfectly matched balckcurrant note and  round, delicious notes of peach and litchi. The peach is the same peachnote as in Flower of Immortality  from this spring, but slightly darker and fuller. The notes are nor sharp or synthetic smelling at all..

As PWTD dries down, flowery notes mingles with the fruit and in this stage PWTD becomes slight sopay on my skin and oddly, a chalky note that I also recognize in Vanille Tonka by Parfums de Nicolaï appears for a while but in a smoother interpretation. The flowers are accompanied by very smooth rendered versions of hot spices; pimento and pepper. This is very skillful performed, there is no traces of the typical peppernote that is common in current perfumery. In the basenotes, the fruity impression is still present, but darker and with an almost tobacco leaves/liqueur twist. This is probably the effect of fruit blended with resins, sweet tonka and delicate woody/patchouli notes. The base is lasting for hours and the fragrance is still unfragmented after more than 12h and distinct traces are still there after 24h.

Playing With The Devil is both elegant and comforting. It's very well blended, using high quality ingredients. It has nothing to to with the usual fruity floral offerings. It's just gorgeous!

Those who like wellcrafted fruity interpretations as Missoni by Missoni, Jeunesse by Robert Piguet, Bonbay Bling by Neela Vermeire Creations and Manguier Metisse by Huitieme Art will certainly appreciate PWTD:

Rating: 5

Notes: Blood Orange, black currant, peaches, litchi, pimento, rose, jasmine, pepper, cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, tonka been, benzoin, vanilla