Fragrances for late winter

The late winter, with spring around the corner, is the perfect season for a true parfumista: One day I'm carving a light and bright springfragrance and the other day a deep and dark oriental and the third day something in between. Below some nice frags from this week:


Picture: Prada (Amber)
Photo: PR Prada (c)

Prada (Prada): My bottle is from 2005 it's before Prada added "Amber" to the name. The perfect dark and embracing contemorary oriental with a rounded patchouli paired with amber and some vanilla.

Picture: Geranium Bourbon
Photo: PR Miller Harris (c)

Geranium Bourbon (Miller Harris): Green, dry, sunny, airy, with an austere and clean geranium flower note. A natural scent, like a garden a cool and windy summerday. Vintage in style but timeless anyway. Somehow GB resembles the intriguing Rose Noir in a bright version.

Picture: Aurore Nomade
Photo: PR The Different Company (c)

Aurore Nomade (The Different Company): A very special high quality, boozy, flowery, gourmand oriental with banana and rum accords. Warm and opulent, almost tasty. Comforting.

Picture: Galop d'Hermès
Photo: PR Hermès (c)

Galop d'Hermès (Hermès): The ulitmate rose-leather with the special addition of quince. Reminds me of a strictly and colder variation of Penhaligon's warm and spicy quince rose Vaara. Very classy and elegant.

Picture: Iris des Champs
Photo: PR Houbigant (c)

Iris des Champs (Houbigant): A light purple and grey fragrance. Starts with a delicious rooty iris then develops to a cloud of cold flowers with iris and lily of the valley as protagonists. Daytime springlike elegance.

Burberry - My Burberry

Picture: My Burberry
Photo: PR Burberry (c)

The latest Burberry release My Burberry, a creation by Francis Kurkdjian, is refering to the Burberry icon, the trenchcoat. The ribbon on the falcon is also in the same fabric as the trench.

My Burberry starts urban, flowery, like the smell of flowers struggeling in the asphalt jungle a rainy and chilly day ie the perfect condition to wear the Burberry, or when it comes to me, even better a John Partridge waxed coat. The metallic rose and freesia is skillfully contrasted with notes that reminds me of wet asphalt and fumes. The severe freshness of geranium is also glimpsing by. The blend is grounded in a clean patchouli in the high-tech contemporary  category and there is a pleasant, musky tartness dominating the base. I suppose musk is also in the basenote as the longevity is very good, up to 24 hours. The sillage is medium and is surrounding the wearer with a comforting but in the sametime interesting aura. Perfect for autumn but could be worn any season in any place.

My Burberry is not the typical Kurkdijan dense flower blend. This is sort of a powerful translucence, contemporary, artifical (in a good way) and high tech. Since all the IFRA restrictions many fragrances became transparant, fleeting and with inferior lastingpower. Now it seems as the transparent cathegory has received more strength and power. I guess (I'm no expert) it has do to with the technological development of fragrancecomponents due to restrictions.

Picture:  Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss
fronting My Burberry
Photo: PR Burberry (c)

There are notes/accords in My Burberry which reminds me about some other pleasant fragrances, both british by the way. The first one is another Burberry favorite Burberry Body (swe), with variations Body Edt and Body Tender Edt the metallic rose and the texture, from Penhaglions Vaara which is a spicy floral oriental blend, the special refreshing fruity-spicy quince-note. Compared to Burberry Body, My Burberry is easier to wear (but not less intresting), Body is sort of a more difficult character. I've to confess that I fell hard for My Burberry, the fragrance is very versatile and comforting, in tune with its time. My Burberry is ageless in style which is  consciously or unconsciously reflected  in the campaign featuring top models of two generations: Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss. One of the best releases of 2014 taken both mainstream and niche segments in consideration. This will be a contemporary classic.

Rating: 5

Notes: Sweet Pea, bergamot, mandarin, geranium, freesia, quince, rose, patchouli

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

Fragrances of the week (36) 2013 - Fragrant thoughts

Picture: Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodphur,
the Maharaja resides in a part of it
Photo: Ss2107 (cc) Wikimedia Commons

Penhaglion's Vaara has received mixed reviews and some reviewers seems to be quite reserved when having an opinion about it, emphasize that it's a well made fragrance but on the other hand to mainstream-ordinary and not enough indian in style. Despite the doubts of others: I really like Vaara, it's a sort of airy and balmy oriental-floral, with a light rose-saffron combination which is pleasant and very wearable. I also don't find Vaara especially ordinary as the note of quince gives the fragrane an own character. Coriander also gives a sort of fresh, oriental vibe. I can imagine a scent like this wafting through a Maharajas palace and as the perfume is a tribute to the granddaugther of the Maharaja of  Marwar Jodphur, named Vaara, I find the creation credible. On the other hand, I havn't visited a Palace of a Maharaja so of course I don't know, just speculating.

Talking of Orientals: When I visited one of the major departmentstores the other day, some stylish spanishspeaking touristing ladies in their (I guess) sixties, passes by me. And what a wonderful scent trail they wafted: Deep and full spicy orientals, far away from the pale, fresh, meeky fragrances the swedish women wears, if not wearing shrill and overly sweet fruitchoulis of course. These ladies wore distinct, classy perfumes and I have to confess that I turned around and went after them for a short while just to inhale. This experience made me crave for wearing YSL Opium.

Last but definitly not least: One of the most intriguing releases this autumn is IMO Puredistance Black. For this fragrance no notes or fragrancefamily is disclosed, Puredistance just want us to enjoy and relax without so much analysis. As I love the Puredistance fragrances I really looking forward to test this and try to do at least some analysis, an interesting challenge.