Maria Candida Gentile - The Flight of the Bumblebee 1 (2) - Leucò, Kitrea and Syconium

Picture: The fresh Bumblebee Collection
Photo: PR Maria Candida Gentile (c)

Italian perfumer Maria Candida Gentile "Flight of the Bumblebee" trio, inspired from the beautiful music piece of Nikolaj Andreyevich Rimskij-Korsakov, uses honey as the common theme of the three fragrances. The fragrances are light and natural, ar also inspired from the beauty and simplicity of mother nature. All three parfumes are Edp:s and has a very good longevity but in the same time feels light and transparent in texture.

Leucò: Dominated by light spices, woody and white flowery elemtents over a musky base. It's fleeting without sharp edges. The honey is not dominating, it's a supporting note adding some warmth to the composition. In other words, there is nothing of the challening honey of Serge Lutens Miel de Bois. The more Leucò dries down, the more present is the tubereuse and the light peppery,woody slight musky basenotes, which even if smooth, take some of the natural impression away but this is not at all disturbing. Probably thanks to a skillful handling of the woody musky elements (the latter not mentioned in the notelist), the longevity is tremendous for such a light and transparent fragrance, on a scarf it could be recognized, unfragmented a week after testing. As Leucò is strong but has a light texture, one have to be careful and apply sparingly.

Rating: 4

Notes: Honey, cistus, lily, tubereuse, benzoin, pepper, frankincense

Picture: Porträt des Komponisten Nikolaj Andrejewitsch
Rimskij-Korsakow (1844-1908)
Painting by Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (1865-1911)
Wikimedia 

Kitrea: Kitrea is the most unusual in the trio. Starts light fruity-citrusy with mixed with salty seanotes which are very refreshing. There is a pleasant hint of woody sweetness in the salt, probably the effect of the grey amber which I suppose is the same as (syntetic) ambregris. Kitrea with its seaside, salty vibes reminds me of another MCG gem, the woody-aquatic  Finisterre but Kitera is a sweeter fragrance whit is natural feeling sweetness of honey and fresh fruits. The fresh fruits is nothing like the standard ultra sweet muddled accords of  many fruity-floral fragrances, the fruitiness of Kitrea is transparent, natural and cold-clear. Another salty fragrance which Kitrea reminds me of is Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina.  Just as Leucò,  Kitrea albeit citrusy, is strong in concentration but has a light texture. Therefore  one have to be careful when applying as a little goes for a day.

Rating: 5

Notes: Honey, lemon, bergamot, fresh fruit, grey amber


Thanks to Fragrance & Art of the samples to test

Mona di Orio - Lux (old and new version)

Picture: Still-life with Lemons, Oranges and Rose,
Painting 1633 by Francisco de Zurbáran (1598-1664)
Wikimedia commons

Mona di Orio is one of my most favorite perfumers as I love, like and wear (or Mr Parfumista) all her fragrances except Check, check mate wich I have not smell, I think it was a special edition for a fashion designer Jan Taminiau. Lux is one of the first fragrances released from Mona, and it was withdrawn from the market for some years, now re-apperaring in the Signature Collection. In the review I'll compare the juice from my old original Lux bottle with the current from a  sample which I kindly received from Parfums Mona di Orio



Picture: Lux (old version)
Photo: PR Mona di Orio (c)

The old Lux starts lemony, round and fullbodied whith some almost candided sweetness. It has a slight candided sweetness and in its texture its like dark yellow/grey silk velvet, soft and subdued. It's not the bright shining lemon, it's more of a pickled lemon or unsweet on the verge to bitter marmalade. The new Lux starts less lemony, with slight sparkling, light peppery and Woody green notes which brigthen up the lemon a bit compared to the old version. Maybe the difference comes from my perfume has matured over the years but I don't think so as I remember that special lemony, subdued, vevlvet feeling from before. Maybe regulations has changed the concentation of the ingredients, in the topnotes my old brew feels thicker and the newer more transparent. As Lux dries down, the initial special lemony accord remains and the two Lux versions get closer to each other, the slight difference is that I smell more prominent contrasting, almost animalic notes in the old one. They are also present in the new one but I percieve the vetiver stronger in the new version. The vetiver is also more present in the current version when it comes to the balsamic, musky base of Lux. There is more contrasts in the basenotes of the new one thanks to the more prominent vetiver, the old one is more musky with traces of something almost dirty and the impression is slight retro. The basenoteaccord in the new one has better tenacity and longevity than the old version, it's like they are improved a bit. To summerize: I like the topnotes best in the old version, the basenotes best in the new and the middle section is equal liking.

Picture: Lux (new version)
Photo: PR Mona di Orio (c)

Both versions are intriguing and beautiful, the differences I discribe is of minor impact, taken as a whole it doesn't matter which version to own. Lux is a typical Mona di Orio fragrance, it's elegant, mysterious, understated and lingering like a second skin for a day. It's a fragrance that never becomes boring, it intrigues the wearer during the whole dry down. A timless fragrance which in style somehow resembles a nighttime version of Dior Diorella.

Rating:5

Notes: Petitgrain, litchi, lemon, sandalwood, vetiver, cedar, labdanum, benzoin, amber, musk, vanilla

Kerosense - Unknown Pleasures

Picture: Strand (beach) at Skagen (ca 1900)
Painting by  Peder Severin Kröyer, Wikimedia commons

Unknown Pleasures is one of the latest fragrance from the indieperfumer John Pegg, creating frags for his own brand Kerosene. Before John started to create pefumes, he worked in the Detroit automobileindustry which have inspired to the unique, by John himself, handlacquered bottles.

Unknown Pleasures starts with an accord very close to a waffle cone filled with lemon sorbet paired with vanilla icecream. Just in the beginning a citrus, slight woody classical cologne note appears creating an almost necessary contrast to the sweetness, probably this is the Earl Grey tea note mentioned in the notelist. After a while the teanote steps back and is not recognizable as a separate note but it's present as a part of the blend. When drying down to the base, the lemonsorbet-vanilla ice creme-waffle cone impression persist and the fragrance is becoming just slightly powdery. In the whole drydown but particulary in the basenotes, I can smell a sort of almost refreshing, green coconutty note which seems to be present to a greater or lesser extent in most Kerosene fragrances, probably a part of the "Kerosenade" base. This particular green coconutty accord is also present in another favourite of mine: Etat Libre d'Orange Tom of Finland which Unknown Pleasures reminds me a bit of in the basenotes.

Picture: Unknown Pleasures
Photo: PR Kerosene (c) all rights reserved

Unknown Pleasures is not the elegant, complicated and serious fragrance. Instead it is friendly, funny, sunny, warm and happy just like the pleasant feeling of eating icecream a warm and sunny summerday during the holiday. The fragrance is a great gourmand, truly delicious and it's the perfect replacement for a dessert and could therefore act as a substitute for a diet product :-). Unknown Pleaures, just as its name indicates, brings pure joy and comfort. The sillage is medium and longevity for more than a day. IMHO Unknown Pleasures is the second best fragrance of the Kerosene-line so far, and the best for me. The number one Kerosene over all is still (not for wearing myself but its suits great for Mr Parfumista) the multifaceted, boozy, dark and rough Copper Skies.

I think those who like vanillic gourmands in general and fragrances in the style of Estee Lauder Bronze Godess/Azureé Soleil would also like Unknown Pleasures.

Rating: 5

Notes: Earl Grey tea, lemon, honey, bergamot, tonka, caramel, vanilla, waffle cone

Thanks to  Fragrancefanatic at Riktig Parfym for the sample to test.

DoubleYou - Norvége

Picture: Lodalen, a valley in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway

Photo: Aqwis (cc), some rights reserved, Wikimedia commons.

Norvége is the other of the two first fragrances from the Norwegian perfumehouse DoubleYou which I briefly descriped in the previous post. founded by Catherine Rösseland 2010. Norvège is inspired of Norway and Catherines origin on her mothers side. Norvége is intended to be worn separate or layered with Zanzibar (previous post). Just as Zanzibar, Norvége is created in colaboration with perfumer Barnabe Fillion. The fragrances are said to contain only natural ingredients, but I think that the most accurate description is that they contain a large proportion naturals.

Norvége opens up with notes reminding me of a citrusy, not to sweet, icy lemonade sipped in a sunny summerday. The lemony note remains during the whole drydown of Norvége and are accompanied by herbs, light flowers and some vanilla. Norvége has much less of the, for natural perfumes, typical dense, slight sour note, even if there are whiffs from it now and then. Even if Norvége doesn't give me the impression of the beautiful scenerys in our neighboring country, it's a nice and at the same time unusual fragrance for daytime that fits best for casual wearing. The longevity is very good to be a natural perfume, Norvége is still on my skin twelve hours from application. Norvége is a unusual perfume but it partly reminds me of Maître Perfumeur et Gantiers Eau de Camélia Chinois but the latter is less sweet and airier in it's impression than Norvége.

To sum up I think that the DoubleYou fragrances is interesting to try especially for fans of natural perfumes.
The two perfumes I tested is quite as good as most of them with Norvége in the better half of the league.

Rating: 3

Notes: Grass, coriander, magnolia, vanilla, thyme, lavendel, opoponax, lemon, dry wood, amber, sandalwood

Maître Parfumeur et Gantier - Eau de Camélia Chinois

Picture: Lemon - fleur et fruit. Photo: Elena Chochkova (cc)

Wikimedia commons, some rights reserved

...or just Camélia Chinois, it has been re-named in recent years, is a Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier creation from 1997. As Jean Laporte transferred the ownership of MPG to Jean-Paul Millet Lage that year I'm not sure who is the creator but I suppose Jean Laporte as Jean-Paul Millet Lage was trained several years by Laporte as a part of the deal. Given the weirdness and peculiarity of this perfume, is suppose the nose is Laporte.

Camélia Chinois is definitly NOT a crowdpleaser. When I first put it on i thought, "Oh now do I have to suffer through a whole day with this". The opening is a sharp burst of lemony cleaner combined with a note that is similar to something that according to Mr Parfumista is similar to lily of the vally. This observation was independently confirmed by the kids who told me "You smell like grandmother", a faithful wearer of Diorissimo and Jessica McClintock. But according to the notelist there is no lily of the vally, but who knows. There are also some green and fresh herbal notes playing around.

When lived through the topnotes with conflicting emotions suddenly the CC transforms to a creamy, slight soapy, well balanced, light flowery, still lemony but now in a soft texture, green, soft herbal (preferably basil) blend. The mixture is somehow airy, bright and light even if it is very potent (on my skin at least). I read in a comment at Fragrantica that Camélia Chinois is a french name of a teaplant and probably it's the teanote that cause that airy note and maybe also the detergent note that lurking in the background. But on the other hand, the teanote is not as distinguishable and harsh as in the Bulgari perfumes, it's of another kind and so well blended with the oter notes. The lemony notes in Camélia Chinois have some similarities with the natural perfume Norvége from DoubleYou, a fragrance I will review in a month or two.

In spite of it's strangeness, Camélia Chinois is perfect for casual wearing during a day at work. It's a sunny and happy fragrance that lightens up a gloomy day. The sillage is moderate and the longivity is great.

To summon up I have found another MPG favorite but this time in another style than the musky, dirty, jasmine ones that I usually appreciate from the house. MPG is, according to my opinion, an underrated perfumhouse that usually offers surprises, good or bad. But their fragrances almost never leaves me unaffected.

Rating: 4

Notes: Grapefruit, bergamot, tea, basil, resins, sandalwood, musk