Versace - Vanitas Edt

Picture: Idleness, John William Godward , 1900,
Wikimedia commons

Some days I just want to wear a fragarnce that just smells incredible good and that not distracts with strange twists that urges for a constant analyze. Such a fragrance is Versace Vanitas Edt, created by Dora Baghriche-Arnaud, a fresher interpretation of the Edp which was launched last year.

Vanitas Edt starts with a blast of sparkling yellow and white flowers grounded on an mellow, tropical, almosfruity accord that is not overly sweet and accentuating the flowers and gives them a depth. In the earlier stages of Vanitas Edt there is a bit of, but not fully developed, watery-flowery accord in the lotus flower style, like in Water Calligraphy by ByKilian and Gala de Dia by Loewe. As the fragrance dries down the watery texture gradually softens but doesn’t disappear completely. Also in the base the flowers is the most distinguished notes even if grounded on woody and teanotes according to the notelist.

Vanitas Edt is a sophisticated floral fragance with notes that feels almost fruity in the background. It’s a grown up floral, far away from the sweet, pink, young-girlish style.There is also no shrillness as in some Versace creations, neither it reflects the sometimes almost vulguar noveau riche style of the Versace couture. The almost fruity light sweetness, I think it’s the freesia that dominates the blend, smells almost natural, like mango and papaya, and there is no chemical vibes that could be prominent in some fragrances in this style.

Vanitas Edt is suitable for those who enjoy Amouage Honour Woman, Ormonde Jayne Tiare, Dior Pure Poison and First by Van Cleef & Arpels even if the latter is a grand, soapy 70s aldehydic, the lustre and elegance in apparance is similar.

Vanitas Edt is elegant but also relaxing and comfortable, perfect for daytime wear year around and it really blooms in humid weather which was the curicumstances when I tested it. I also think it would be a terrific fragrance to wear during lazy summerdays and warm summerevenings. Longevity is very good, at least 12h and the sillage is medium.

Rate: 4

Notes: Freesia, rose, osmanthus, tiareflower, cedarwood, black tea

Puredistance - I

Picture: Puredistance I, elegant, white soft flowers.
Puredistance (c), all rights reserved.

The first feminine fragrance, properly named I, from Puredistance, is like a summery of the spirit of the fragrances of the house. Puredistance, with long time experienced perfumer Annie Buzantian as housenose (for the femine offerings anymay), is creating timeless elegant, chic and versatile fragrances which in the same time also feels contemprary. I is said to has first beeing created by the perfumer as a personal fragrance for herself and that it remains as one of her own favourites.

I opends up with watery, almost ozonic, mostly white blossom notes. Mr Parfumista says he is getting the olfactory image of a softer, smoother and much more elegant L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake. Probably this is airy, and elegant fresh as the sea aura that surrounds the tamed and polite white blossoms that creates this impression.

As the development of I continues the blend gets light, fluffy, creamy and smells almost as a really exclusive sunscreen. The creamy white and also yellow flowers are fleeting soft and seemless within each other in the Annie Buzantian typical smooth and delicate way in handling flowers. In this stage Puredistance I reminds me of an elegant and smooth variation of Flora Bella from Lalique. Flora Bella also has this warm, almost tropical flowery quality with the clear air from the sea as a refreshing element. But I is rounder, gentler and much more elegant than the flamboyant Flora Bella. In the basenotes I gets less creamy even if some remians and the flowers appears somehow more distinctive, supported by a well balanced white musk combined with the fresh eartyness of vetiver and a hint of ambery depth. Overall there is something in the aura, texture and radiance of I that reminds me of a flowery counterpart to the beautiful airy, sealike, woody Bois Naufragé by Parfumerie Générale. I feels like the image of a beach on a tropical island with almost snowwhite sand on a sunny day with a totally clear, blue sky. Or the image of an elegant lady dressed in white.

I is a very feminine fragrance that adds pleasure and luxury to everyday. In the same time it is easy to wear and adds comfort and security to the wearer without beeing aggressive as a one of the “powerperfumes”. I have to admit hat it has taken some time for me to “get” I, 1,5 years to be exact (review in swedish from spring 2011 here). Not pleasing directly is often a sign of a complicated quality fragrance with many facets and the following indivdual interpretations of the scent. Even if, or probably because, I is not grundbreaking in style it’s a contemporary classic (despite the slight aquatic vibes that could be associated with the 1990s) that could easily qualify as a signature fragrance for a wearer that perfers a limited numbers of perfumes in her wardrobe. I is suitable for office, receptions but also an example of the perfect bridal perfume. A very versatile fragrance!

As all Puredistance fragrances, I is a perfume extrait and as such offer a discrete but definitly detectable sillage. A discreete trail is, under the right conditions, appearing after the wearer of I has left the room and when smelling this, one wonders from where this beautiful scent comes. The longevity is very good, about 24 h.

Rating: 5

Notes: Tangerine blossom, cassis, neroli bigarade, watery nuances,  

magnolia, rose, jasmine, parmenthia, mimosa, amber, vetiver, white musk.

Parfums MDCI - Chypre Palatin

Picture: The bias cut look of Madeleine Vionnet
from the 1930s evokes the spirit
and texture of Chypre Palatin



Chypre Palatin is a beautiful fragrance with a strong retro vibe from the french nichehouse Parfums MDCI. Chypre Palatin is created by the, to said the least, very active perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. Chypre Palatin is presented as a masculine fragrance by the perfumehouse but when it comes to my nose, it’s unisex leaning a bit to the feminine side.

Chypre Palatin starts powdery dry, with that almost gunpowdery note that is present in Les Nombres d’Or Ambre by Mona di Orio. A multiple grades stronger interpretation of the gunpowdernote is the classical beginning of Teint de Neige by Lorenzo Villoresi. As the dry down continues, some soft, very wellblended flowery notes (particular from bulbous plants) shows up, supported by smooth tonka and different resins that creates a warm and delightful oriental-chypre (more oriental than chypre) fragrance in the style of Dior Dioressence, but smoother and without the rosy effect of Dioressence. But beneath all the wellbalanced pleasure of Chypre Palatin there is a slight, animalic note (probably the costus) lurking that gives this beautiful fragrance an interesting contrast. Also a sublime, dark, plummy, note is present in the later stages of the dry down.Chypre Palatin to me evokes the image of a fragrance from the 1930s worn by an elegant lady also wearing a bias cut dress by Madeleine Vionnet, but Chypre Palatin is interpreted in a contemporary style ie in a smoother and officefriendly shape. The oakmoss is invisable compared to the fragrances of the former era but probably there in the small IFRA restriced dose that is allowed today.

Chypre Palatin is a fragrance in the ongoing trend of retro inspired, elegant, powdery, fragrances that seems to be en vogue at the moment. Other representatives, even if featuring different notes besides the powdery notes, are Puredistance Opardu (lilac), Huiteme Art Poudre de Riz (tobbacco and tropical flowers) and Parfums de Nicolaï Musc Intense (powdery rose).

Chypre Palatin is a pleasant, versatile, elegant and very wearable fragance that could be worn in daytime for office or formal events year around except during warm summerdays. The sillage is very close and the longevity is almost a day. My only objection to this classy blend is that I which it was a bit more radiant, now it is almost a bit weak on my (dry) skin. As a fragrance of high quality, it’s still there, unfragmented at the end of the day. Maybe this is not  an issue for wearers with moistier skin.

Rating: 5

Notes: Lavender, labdanum, hyacinth, galbanum, sage, clementine, aldehydes, iris, jasmine, gardenia, rose, plum, styrax, benzoin, tolu balsam, vanilla, castoreum, leather, costus, oakmoss, immortelle

PS: Parfums MDCI has an affordable sampleset sold from the website that could be highly recommended. For EUR 90 (within Europe) 5x12 ml of their fragrances will be sent by the mail.

Ramón Monegal – White Musk

Picture: Gardenia jasminoides
Photo by Erin Silversmith (cc) Wikimedia Commons,
some rights reserved

If  Musc Intense by Parfums de Nicolaï that I reviewed earlier this week is a subtle, classical musk which evokes associations to the 18^th centruary and the powder-pastels of Madame de Pompadour, Barcelonean perfumer, Ramon Monegals White Musk is the opposite. It’s a true contemporary, high quality, imaginative, interpretation of a flowery white musk that certainly stands out even from the white musk niche-crowd. Just as with Musc Intense, the musk in White Musk is not the typical “mainstream white musk” if anyone can’t stand that interpretation of this interesting basenote.

White Musk starts with a intense cascade of gardenina blended with vanilla and the musk accompanying in a moist, creamy way, it’s like the gardenia is cracked and mixed together with cream and vanilla. The opening is an almost gourmand accord also somehow resembeling the smell and also the texture of coconut. This coconutty texture remains during the whole dry down of White Musk.In the middlenotes the gardenia note is becoming increasingly clearer, the sweetness from the vanilla is tuned down and a light, perfectly balanced, resiny peppery note is accompanying in the background, adding an interesting contrast to the creamy flower. The gardenia note is that of a perfectly fresh gardenia, a gardenia that just have entered the full blooming stage, it’s not the gardenia just started to wilting as in Serge Lutens Une Voix Noire. There are also some subdued, green, crispy notes that could be sensed, just like some of the leaves also are crushed down in the blend. Later on the gardenia gets more fragile, almost papery in texture, similar to the gardenia in the beautiful Gardenia by Isabey. All these notes are mingeling with a well balanced white musk that anchors and depening this sensual blend together with dry resinnotes, almost light blond woody in character. Later on in the further development of the basenotes, there is a sort of clear, a bit wet accord, that in smell and texture reminds me of the Helmt Lang cult-frag Cuiron.

White Musk, even if loud, requires lot of space and is not wellmannered as my top Monegal Impossible Iris, is definitly one of my favourites after testing almost all from the wellcrafted and beautiful Ramon Monegal line. I remember this was the one that immadiately caught my attention when I was “screening” all of the Mongeals samples by just sniffing them from the outside. As almost all Monegals, White Musk is a fragrance that involves the wearer during the dry down, there are many interesting twists and nuances to be find during the journey. White Musk almost also rivals my favoritemusk so far: Mona di Orio Les Nombres d’Or Musc but fortunately they are in quite different musk-genres: White Musk is a bold tropical musk when LNd’O Musc is a traditional, elegant, slight flowery, subdued musk.

White Musk is wearable the year around, I can image it will blooms perfectly a warm summer evening as it will warm up a grey and cold winterday. Not suitable for scentofobic offices, its more of a comfort, casual- or a great evening fragrance. White Musk is, like most of the RM:s, a concentrated fragrance and as it’s very intense, (a changes of name with Musc Intense would be appropriate :-) ) it has to be applied sparingly to avoid knockning the ambient. Sillage is huge (if not careful in application) and longevity extraordinary, 24h+.

I don’t find any “alikes” at the moment but I can image that those who likes Montale Intense Tiare and Les Nez Manoumalia will like this unusual, stunning creation.

Rating: 5

Notes: Rose, gardenia, olibanum, vetiver, vanilla, white musk

Parfums de Nicolaï – Musc Intense

Picture: Portrait of Madame de Pompdour (1721-1764)
Francois Boucher, 1756

Musc Intense is a sensual flowery, high quality white musk created by the great parfumer Patricia de Nicolaï for her own house, Parfumes de Nicolaï in 2012.

First of all I want to calm those readers down that don’t like the white musk performed in many of the reacent years mainstream offerings. Musc Intense is nothing of that characteristic almost wet slight chemichal note that could be too much in some offerings but that I like in many, if handled with care. Instead Musc Intense is all about a dry, powdery, luxary musk that integrating the flowers and other ingredients in a subtle manner.

Musc Intense starts with a pleasant, very dry almost gun powdery accord. It’s not the distinct wet gunpowder as in Lorenzo Villoresis Teint de Neige neither the less harsh but anyway close opening accord of the beautiful Temps d’Hiver by Antonio Visconti. But Musc Intense has similarities with both this fragrance openings but is lighter and smoother, just like an elegant loose powder on a powder puff. There is a lighter version of the typical gunpowderaccord of the two former ones,  which I think (just speculating I’m no chemist) consists of rose, carnation and maybe the musc or some other ingredient that could show powdery facetts. As Musc Intense reaches its heart, the powdery, subdued, flowery notes slightly reminds me of the beautiful powdery violet of Opardu by Puredistance. Some subdued liquery notes deepening the accord in a finetuned manner.At last, Musc Intense is anchored in a dry, powdery, not especially sweet musk and there is a deep but at the same time light, pink rosenote that emerges on my skin.

Musc Intense is a subtle and elegant fragrance, well blended of high quality ingredients as we are used to when it comes to creations of Patricia de Nicolaï. The only weakness is that it seems like my skin just eats Musc Intense and the scent therefore is faint to me, even if described as sensual and subtle it’s a bit too subtle to me. The longevity is for about a day and the sillage is very close.

To me Musc Intense is a scent as was it created exclusive for Madame de Pompadour.It’s the essence of the rococoera, delicate fabrics, pastels, powder and musk. Musk Intense is a fragrance for those who likes some of the fragrances mentioned above but also my own favorite musk Les Nombres d’Or Musc by Mona di Orio, also a slight flowery musk but more distinct and less powdery. Also Les Nombres d’Or Ambre by Mona di Orio has a similar drieness and some of the gunpowder of the opening.  If you like Les Nereides Musc Samarkand and Annick Goutal Musc Nomade you probably also will like Musc Intense.

Rating: 4

Notes: Liquer, different types of roses and white musks, carnation, violet, jasmine

Robert Piguet - Mademoiselle Piguet

Picture: The Reader, oil on canvas by Jean-Honoré Fragonard ca 1770-1772,
captures the warm and comforting spirit of Mademoiselle Piguet

Mademoiselle Piguet is another fragrance in the great Nouvelle Collection from Robert Piguet created by the "house nose" Aurelien Guichard.

Mademoiselle Piguet could be described as beeing vegetal, combined with orangeflowers with a sweet honeyed texture. The vegetal note is not damp and almost on the verge to rottening (but in a positive way)as in some interpretations for example Guerlain Jardins de Bagatelle Edp and Annick Goutal Passion, the vegetal note is almost fresh and reminds me of a fresh sugar pea. A similar impression is expressed in a Fragrantica review by clover.chen who refers to processed mung beens in desserts, something that I havn't tasted myself but can image when smelling the greenery of Mademoiselle Piguet. The orangeflower I perceive as very natural and fresh, not chemichal at all. The note has a wonderful honeyed nectar texture and smells just sweet delicious, probably the apricot adds this facet. There is something in the orangeflowernote that reminds me of the same note in Fracas, but in Mademoiselle Piguet it is somehow domesticated.

To me the structure of Mademoiselle Piguet is linear, the notes are preseant at the same time even if the vegetal phase is more apparent in the first part of the dry down of the fragrance and later instead is acting as one of the supporting notes in the background. To me the sweet , honeyed,  Mademoiselle Piguet also seems to be the female counterpart to the (to my nose) much more masculine dry, herbal-orangeblossom NoteS which I reviewed earlier this week, they are fragrances of the opposite side of the interpreation of orangeblossom-scale and are interesting to wear as complementary fragrances for different moods and occasions. As NoteS is more complicated, strict and a excellent choice for daytime professional wear, the Mademoiselle is a fragrance both for evening and comforting daytime wear, versatile enough to warming up during cold winterdays and to bloom beautifully in the summerheat. Mademoiselle Piguet, thanks to the interesting and well harmonised vegetal notes, has its own identity even if partly familiar to other fragrances featuring the orangeblossomnote.The longevity of Mademoiselle Piguet is extraordinary for an orangeblossom scent, I can smell the orangeblossom on my skin more then 30h after application.

I think Mademoiselle Piguet would be appreciated by those who like L’Artisan Seville à l’Aube, Maria Candida Gentile Hanbury and Annick Goutal Tubereuse (even if featuring another white blossom note I think Tubereuse and Mademoiselle Piguet have a similar pleasant, honeyed texture).

Rating: 5

Notes: Bergamot, orangeblossom, almond, apricot, tonka been

Robert Piguet - NoteS

Picture: From the manuscript of Bach's lute suite in G Minor
Wikimedia commons

NoteS is one of the perfumes in the interesting Nouvelle Collection (described here) from the honorable perfumehouse Robert Piguet. NoteS is created by the houseperfumer Aurelien Guichard.

Classified as a unisex fragance, NoteS to my nose is leaning much to the masculine side at least in the top- and middlenotes, but it is definitly wearable for a woman, I got positve remarks at the office wearing this. NoteS starts a bit brisk in the classical bergamot and herbal style. The opening of NoteS smells like a classical quality fougere to me with its clean, herbal accord. Also in the heart the classical refreshing geranium is appearing, gently mixed with some discrete and somehow dry orangeflowery notes. It's interesting how the orangeflowernote (as all flowery notes) could be so differently interpreted in different perfums from dry too very sweet. From the middlenotes there is a balsamic texture in NoteS and this balsamic, smooth feeling is amplified the more the fragrance dries down, even if the herbal element still is there. In the basenotes NoteS gets in the chypre direction with mossy notes strengthened with vetiver and softened and rounded out with dry, powdery tonka. In the base NoteS is clearly unisex and not leaning into any direction as in the top- and middlenotes.

NoteS is a wellcrafted elegant fragrance in the classical style but interpreted in a contemporary, smoother, balsamic way.  There are no harsh edges and the notes are just fleeting into each other in a wellcomposed manner, just like the name of this classy creation indicates. There is no chemical aquatic, no shrill pepper or loud woody notes in this contemporary classic.Wearable year around, very suitable in chilly autumn, escpecially the comforting basenotes. Longevity very good, sillage medium +. Simply yet another sucessful creation from the restored perfumehouse of Robert Piguet. NoteS is a fragrance of growing liking to me, it's a somehow "difficult" fragrance that takes it time to be fully appreciated, something that I really apprecite when it comes to perfume.

A fragrance for those who like (even if not smelling the same the fragrances mediates a similar impression): Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme (more herbal), Rochas Macassar (more flowery and mossy) Givenchy Gentleman (mossy greener, more wet), Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon (lavendel instead of white flowers).

Rating: 4+  (a bit too masculine for me)

Notes: Bergamot, clary sage, geranium, orange flower, vetiver, moss, tonka been

Scented thoughts – November 2012

Photo: Mr Parfumista

The late autumn is here, the perfect season for staying inside perfumetesting and writing reviews. As readers of this blog are aware of, sampling, evaluating and writing about perfume is my fulltime sparetime hobby. There is a pleasure to test so many new fragrances either new launches or frags that are not new on the market but are not tested by me before. But sometimes when piles of (to exaggerate a bit) untested intriguing samples demands for attention, I can feel a frustrated of the fact that frags from my regular collection get no skintime. Almost always the crave to test an uncharted fragrances wins over the wish to calm down with a favourite. A positive side of a sampeling is that the more I sample, the more similarities I perceive between fragrances from different houses and within a certain category. The similarities together with the fact that I’m almost always is testing some sample leads to less purchases of full bottles, even if there are still too many, I’m still finding too many fragrances to love from the exercise of sampling.

I the latest months I have felt a growing attraction to some of the fragraces I was into when this blog started six years ago, ie the classics. For exemple I feel an urgent need to test and compare the new reinterpreted Molinard Habanita Edp (if I can get my hands on a sample) to the Habanita Edt I own. I also crave some “old ladies” scents as Lanvin Arpége, Rochas Femme and Madame Rochas and even if my skin doesn’t give them justice, they provide a welcome break from the contemporary scent map.

Writing about the contemporary fragrances there are so many interersting to test (here we are againJ). For the moment I’m excited to test the new Histoires de Parfums L’Olympia Music Hall and Veni, Vidi, Vici from the Edition Rare line and have also re-discovered the beautiful perfumline of Frapin. Late to the party when it comes to MDCI Chypre Palatin a beautiful frag I have smelled on my friend Fragrancefanatic from Riktig Parfym. Which make me think of that Riktig parfym carries a varied selection from the Etat Libre d’Orange-line and I hope that the new releases, The Afternoon of a Faun and Dangerous Complicity soon will be there as I want to put them under my nose asap. 

Parfumistans Blogg turns six years

Picture:Hip, Hip, hurra!
Oil on canvas, Peder Severin Kröyer, 1886
The colony of painters who worked in Skagen, Denmark, have gathered in a garden for a celebration.

Today six years ago this blog was born but under a slight different name Parfumistans Dagbok, The Diary of the Parfumista, it was in Swedish and at that time hosted on the blogservice of one of the Swedish newspapers. After almost a year the diary became Parfumistans Blogg on the website of the leading Swedish fashionemagazine Damernas Värld. But perfume is not that big in Sweden (or maybe beauty editors think it’s not that big because there is definitly a growing interest out there) and after 2,5 years the perfumeblog was cleaned out in favour of conventional beautyblogs and I was continued here on Blogger. What has started as a hobbyproject during marternity leave is today still a hobbyproject occupying most of my spare time when free from the duites of work. Of course I could continue my sampling without reviewing but as I also like to write and had to take notes when sampling anyway, way not do the extra and write for the blog rewarded with an increasing numbers of readers from all over the world. Thank you all! So I will continue to sample and learn (the more I get into perfume, the more I  discover the little I know about this botanical-chemistry-artform) blogging about my passion: Perfume.

Speaking of learning: SOTD celebrating the Parfumistans Blogg anniversary is the pleasant, wellcrafted, classy Puredistance I ,a fragrance that I finally has learned to understand and now truly appreciate.

Ramón Monegal – Dry Wood

Picture: Satureja Subspicata, Royal Botanic Garden Édinburgh
Photo by Peter Weis, (cc) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved

Dry Wood is a dark green, mossy, herbal, woody fragrance from Ramón Monegal. It’s a very potent creation and just two tiny spritzes are almost too much. But very light applied, Dry Wood offers an unusual experience and even if containing the usual cedary, peppery notes of contemporary woody perfumers gendered at the masculine side, Dry Wood highlights the note in a different way, somehow better blended.

Dry Wood starts with a blast of dark greenery over a woody backgound. Some full and rounded citrusnotes glimmering through and gives the introduction a spakle, just like the ray of light is shining through the treetops in a dense fir and pine forest a sunny autumnday. Dry Wood is really very dry and masculine in it’s charcter but anyway somehow wearable by a woman. In the heartnotes Dry Wood becomes rounder and almost soapy in style, like a green, herbal, mossy soap. When the fragrance dried down a little bit further, a slight almost liqueur-like note appears and lasts for quite a whlie. This is the only hint of something on the edge to sweetness in Dry Wood, the rest is non-sweet. In the basenotes, Dry Wood gets sharper again, woodier, with peppery elements but well embedded in the woody, mossy, herbal, dark green facets. The greeness is like that of the undergrowth in a swedish fir and pineforest during the autumn, moss, coniferus, humic, dry- and moisty grass, heather and hebal plants. An interesting ingredient in Dry Wood is satureja(savory), an herbal plant related to thyme and rosemary, which in Sweden is used to speice aquavit with, I havn’t seen that note used in perfume before, but I can smell some thymerelated notes in the blend.

As mentioned above, Dry Wood has the neutronbomb power in sillage and strength, in the same division as Montale Aoud Musk and Carner Barcelona Cuirs even if it smells differently. I have read opinions that reviwers think Dry Wood is onedimensional, but to my nose it is not, if (now I’m repeating myself again) applied very sparingly. Because a “normal” application of  4-5 spritzes almost ruins Dry Wood, the ingredients gets messy. I experienced this when Mr Parfumista tested Dry Wood, by mistake applying too much. Sillage is huge and the longevity for several days if not taken a sauna to sweat it out.

I think admiers of the bold herbal and mossy fragrances of the 80s and of contemporary fragranceas as Amoauge Opus V and Montale Wild Oud could appreciate Dry Wood. Even if not smelling the same, they conveys the same impression.

Rating: 3+ (a good fragrance but too masculine to me)
Rating: 5*)

*)Update February 2017: Dry Wood is a hidden gem which deserves a better rating. One have to see through the masculine a bit colognelike topnotes and wait for the rest, ie when Dry Wood unfolds in its intriguing dry fresh woody aromatic layers.

Notes: Citron, bay leaf, pepper, moss, sandalwood, cedar, cashmeran, amber, woody notes, satureja

Frapin - Speakeasy

Picture:This building at 1223 Connecticut Ave, NW, (the MCCXXII Club)
 was known as the Mayflower Club. It was considered the swankiest Prohibition-era speakeasy in DC
Author:dbking, Wikimedia commons (cc) some rights reserved 

Speakeasy was the nickname of more elegant illegal establishments selling alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition era in the United States. What could be more appropriate name for a fragrance from the old congachouse Frapin which since aboust ten years also has perfume as one of its businesslines. Speakeasy is a creation by perfumer Marc-Antoine Corticchiato who usually works for his own perfumehouse Parfum d'Empires.

Speakeasy starts with a clean and pronounced leather accord. The leather smells new and fresh, the image is of light cognaccolored leather of a good quality used in a fine handbag. The leathersmell is very natural to my nose and mot mixed up with so many other notes as it often is. In the opening stages there something similat to the leather in Montale Aoud Leather but the Frapin leather is smoother, better balanced and  lacks the almost aquatic note in the top notes of Aoud Leather. In its texture and appearance, even if different in the leathery smell, Speakeasy reminds me of a masculine Cuir de Lancome. After a whlie a minty note appears and it or something else, adds a metallic vibe to the fragrance which becomes even  more masculine than in the first accords. Here a bold 1989s maco tobacco-leather comes to my mind and will stay there during the whole dry down as the metallic leather will be there more or less also in the coming stages: Gianfranco Ferre Man. Speakeasy is a tuned down, smoother, rounder and contemporary interpretation on a similar theme with GF Man. As Speakeasy reaches the basenotes, suddenly it gets warm and the metallic note steps a bit aside in favor of a round, mouthwatering, boozy, ruhmlike note (which I think is davana) supported by some light tobbacco. A certain tamed sweetness helps to ground the delicious boozy accord, it's almost as a cognac barrel. In this stage there is similarities to the boozy davana of  L'Oiseau de Nuit by Parfumerie Générale but less sweet and subtler in Speakeasy. Somewhere in the middle of the basenotes suddenly a very clean, almost airy immortellenote shows up, it's not the dense syrupy version that sometimes is too dominating in leather/tobacco fragrances. The shift from the clean, light leather over the very masculine metallic stage to the round, delicious ruhm and cognac barrel notes accompanied by fresh tobacco base is very interesting, something happens during the whole dry down. The final accords evokes the picture of well used leather clubchairs in which gentlemen has lighten their cigars and sipped their cognacs for decades.

Even if a bit more on the masculine side in the middlenots of the unisexspectra, I think Speakeasy is genderless and I think it was pleasant to wear on a quite chilly Octoberday. It's a perfect fragrance for autumn- and winterdays as for chilly spring evenings. Sillage is medium and longevity more than 12h.

Rating: 5

Notes: Ruhm, orange, lime, geranium, mint, labdanum, styrax, tobacco, leather, musk, immortelle, tonkabeen

Lanvin – Eclat d’Arpege

Picture: Ein Korb mit Flieder,
signiert und datiert Carl Massmann 1896, Öl auf Leinwand,
Wikimedia commons

Eclat d’Arpege created by Karine Dubreuill 2002 for Lanvin, has nothing but the name and the decoration of the bottle in common with the dangerous original (but of course reformulated) Arpége from 1927.

Eclat d’Arpege starts with some light green notes with some citrusy elements, but above all; lilac. The lilac which is not artifcial and cheap as sometimes happens with this note, it’s just like the colour of the fresh light purple lilac. There is a slight metallic vibe, but not the aldehydic type as in for example Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, it’s a more of a metallic facet of the flower. The lilac is’nt powdery as in Puredistances beautiful Opardu, the lilac note is quite clear and crips. It has more in common with another beautiful clear and bright lilac fragrance After my Own Heart by Ineke Rüland.

As Eclat d’Arpege dries down, mellower, fruity notes mixed with some warm flowers and a light tealike note appears. This accord somehow rounding off the metallic edge but the blend still stays flowery cool like a chilly day in the early spring. In the base Eclat d’Arpege is almost all about woody musk, but there is also a faint note of resin, probably the amber listed among the ingredients.  

Eclat d’Arpege is the perfect fragrance for spring, it’s overall chilly, flowery, woody, musky structure perfectly captures that season. One of the better balanced and not overly sweet fruity florals that is relatively easily aviable. It has also survived for ten years on the market, which is a sign for a certain quality. Eclat d’Arpege is somehow ageless in character, it’s a fruity-floral also for grown up’s, not obviously directed to the younger crowd. I don’t get the comparisons with Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue as that one is sharper, woodier, less flowery and with a green applenote, according to my nose. Eclat d’Arperge is smoother, more feminine and elegant in style. Eclat d’Arpege is a very wearable fragrance, especially for spring and summer but also for year around for days that demands something uncomplicated, nice smelling and office friendly. Sillage is medium and longevity not as good, less than 12h.

Rating: 3

Notes: Peony, peach blossom, tea, lilac, petit grain, osmanthus, wisteria, cedarwood, musk, amber

Lanvin – Arpége

Picture: Gedenktafel 10707 Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Zähringerstraße 13,

 Wohnung der Tänzerin Anita Berber

Photo: Wikinaut (cc) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved

Sometimes when testing all these well behaved and well adjusted contemorary niche and designerhouse fragrances I as a contrast just want to smell something wild, old fashioned and provocative to the average perfumeconsumer of today (from my preconception). Than the classical aldehydic bomb Arpége from Lanvin is a fragrance that will fit the bill. Before spritzing I have to prepare Mr Parfumista (it’s usually during weekends I wear severe classics like this) that today I will wearing an “old ladies scent”, I hate this expression but it well illustrates a certain category of mostly classic fragrances from which I like many, that he wil not like the smell etc. If not warned he sometimes I have found that he becomes a bit irritated as he don’t like the smell from Arpége and it’s companions on me anyway, because the comment is always “It not suit you and maybe there is something with the chemistry because it’s ok on the scentstrip”. Maybe the old aldehydes and chypres dosen’t suit me the best but anyway I sometimes long for them and want to smell them as they are interesting and difficult creatures to discover.

Arpége (the latest Edp-formulation in the black bottle) starts with a strong aldehydic blast that almost knocks my nose out. The aldehydes are somehow robust, rough and demanding in Arpége, in Chanel No 5 Edt they are more gracile and even more and also champangeny bubbly in Chanel No 5 Eau Premiere and Esprit d’Oscar by Oscar de la Renta. In the middle the aldehydes withdraws but are defintly still there supporting the dark decadent flowers with an uplifting sparkle. Something almost dark and dense leathery also apperars in the backround in this stage and it’s discreetly present even thereafter.

In the basenotes a dark and wet vetivernote that mediates a dark green almost mossy impression dominating. The vetiver reminds me of the dense and dark accord Encre Noire by Lalique and Route de Vetiver by Maître Parfumerur et Gantier, both gendered as masculine fragrances. As I remember it, the vetiver is more prounanced in this Arpége formulation compared to the one before in the transparent bottle where the mossy, woody notes were much more apparent. But the same expression dark, mossy, woody texture and image of the fragrance is preserved. To me Arpége is feminine but it’s also unisex, the opening aldehydic accord leaning at the feminine side but when reaching the basenotes it’s whichever.

Arpége was created 1927 by the perfumer Andre Fraysse in collobaration with Jeanne Lanvins daughter Margurite as a gift from Jeanne to celebrating the thirtieth birthday of her daughter. But tom me Arpége don’t exactly mirrors the elegant enviorment of the mother and daughter Lanvin rather to me it mirrors the decadant setting of the 1920s legendary cabarets and nightclubs in Berlin. Arpége is THE fragrance for the 1920s wild artist Anita Berber , the predesessor to artists as Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Arpége is an interesting fragrance, a darker, warmer, woodier and rougher than Chanel No 5 It has stood the test of time and reformulations very good. Even if a bit oldfashioned it’s in the same time eternal and a great frag to wear when the urge to wear something different that stands out from the clean, floral, fruity, patchouli, peppery, woody, odors of  contemporary perfumes. Arpége is also resonable priced especially compared to new launches and it definitly provides value for money.

Rating: 4 (on me if positive a 3, but considerating the history and peculiarity of the fragrance, the character the ability to create images and the smell on the sample strip, all together a 4)

Notes:  Bergamot, aldehydes, peach, orangeflower, honeysuckle, orris, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, coriander, sensitive plant, tuberose, violet, geranium, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla,musk

Robert Piguet – Bois Noir

Photo: Bois Noir de Robert Piguet
All rights reserved (c)

Bois Noir is one of five fragrances in the Nouvelle Collection by Robert Piguet that was introduced in 2012. Bois Noir is created by the “housenose” Aurelien Guichard.

Bois Noir starts almost loud with potent dry but warm woody-peppery notes and I suppose it’s the peppery aspects of the cedarwood as oud is not included in the notelist but there is of course possible there is a pinch of it in the blend. In the topnotes and most of the middlenotes Bois Noir is close to the powerful Cuirs by Carner Barcelona, but Cuirs is rougher, with more distinctive burned, leathery, woody, peppery, spicy notes. Cuirs has almost a hint of the smell of a hot sausage. Other fragrances that comes to my mind is Nasomatto Black Afgano even if that one is sweeter and with a slight, dark herbal touch. Also Montale Dark Oud with peppery oud that is balanced by warm sandalwood, is in the same style.

As Bois Noir drys down it becomes smoother and more balsamic in character. The patchouli is not evident as a distinctive note, it’s just there balancing all the woodiness with it’s earthy backdrop. Resiny and balsamic notes are stepping forward the more Bois Noir dries down. When settling in the base the woody notes is almost balsamic-creamy with a touch of sweetness from (I suppose) the labdanum supported with some delicate musk. This final stage lasts for much longer than 24 hours and it’s one of the most beautiful woody accords that I have experienced in a long time: It’s very addictive.

Bois Noir is a fragrance that is tricky to handle. As it’s very concentrated one has to be very careful when applying (two-three spritzes), if not it could be overhelming and almost headache-inducing. Even if similarities with other fragrances mentioned it’s an interesting fragrance that wins in the long run. It’s important not to dismiss it as another Cuirs or Black Afgano in it’s earlier stages, the following parts are well worth waiting for.Bois Noir is the best interpretation I smelled so far in this woody-peppery-spicy- style. It’s a fragrance with a very strong precense, a real statement, but without taking over the whole space.

To me Bois Noir is totally unisex even if I think that the “average perfume consumer” will say it’s leaning to the masculine side. Bois Noir is the perfect scent for the autumn, the storng, woody, peppery accords in the top and the almost creamy, spicy woodiness in the base perfectly accompanying a walk during a chilly autumnday with colourful rustling leaves around the feet. It’s also a good officescent at least I got compliments wearing it: “A very good smelling frag, it smells like autumn”.

Rating: 5

Notes: Gaiacwood, cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, balsam, cistus labdanum absolute

Robert Piguet – The house and perfumes

Picture: Nouvelle Collection by Robert Piguet
Photo: Perfumes Robert Piguet (c), all rights reserved

As a long time admier and wearer of Fracas, which is as close to a signature flower scent as I can come, I’m very fond of the house of Robert Piguet with it’s classy fragrances featured in equally sleek, elegant black bottles. To make a long story short, the perfumes was a part of the fashionhouse Robert Piguet with the legendary Bandit and Fracas created by the legandary, one of the first famous female perfumers, Germaine Cellier in the 1940s as also Visa (together with Jean Carles) and Baghari 1950. As the fashion house had to close down in 1951 the perfume brand continued but with changed ownership over the years. In the late 1950s and during the 1960s Calypso, Cravache and Futur were launched. In the late 1990s the perfumes Robert Piguet was acquired by the current owner, Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, and the ardous work to restore the Robert Piguet perfumes to it’s former glory began. Judging from the impressions of my nose the strategy of Robert Piguet CEO Joe Garces is utterly successful: First the skillful reinterpretations/recreations of Baghari,Visa, Cravache, Futur and Calypso, where the fragrances are reinterpreted by the house perfumer Aurelian Guichard with respect to the intentions of the originals. I have tested all of them expect the masculine Cravache and I like them all very much, especially Calypso (loveJ) and Baghari. Last year, Perfumes Robert Piguet introduced its first fragrance which is not based on the classics, Douglas Hannant. This contemporary, gardenia, pear, Fracas light inspiered fragrance, was made in collaboration with American haute couture designer Douglas Hannant to create a signature fragrance for the fashionhouse. This year the house of Piguet has continiued to release new fragrances in the expressive, multifacetted, elegant, classical style of the house. The Nouvelle Collection which I have the pleasure to test and review with start on Friday (continued with coming entries during the autumn/winter) have some fragrances inspired of the perfumes of the Middle East. There is also a collection geared to the Asian market, The Pacific Collection being launched in these days. Also an easier to wear Fracas Petit Fracas will be launched  2012.

The perfumehouse Robert Piguet finally seeems to have reached the safe harbor that these beautiful perfumes, the style and the creative spirit of this classical house really deserves.     

Serge Lutens - Santal Majuscule

Picture: Castel del Monte, Wikimedia commons


Santal Majuscule is created by Christopher Sheldrake (I guess) for Serge Lutens as the third interpretation dedicated to sandalwood from the house of Serge Lutens. First the warm, indian-spicy Santal de Mysore was created in the early 1990s followed by the almost subdued Santal Blanc ten years later.

Santal Majuscule starts with a slight rough, but in the same time almost smooth sandalwoodnote. A gourmand creaminess occours,some subdued roses reminiscent in style of the rose in Pasteum Rose by Eau de Itally. But most the scent of crushed leaves and stems of the roses emphazises, close to the green tangy accord in Rose Splendide by Annick Goutal.

Beyond these individual notes that I seem to distinguish, Santal Majuscule to me is a woodier and slight green version of one of my favourite Lutens the buttery, peach and bread, santal gourmand Jeux de Peau. IMHO I think they are too close to justify buying both of them, even if both are lovely, and Jeux de Peau a bit lovlier :-) . Of the other sandal Lutens Santal Majuscule just as Jeux de Peau are closest to Santal Blanc, even if both Jeux de Peau and Santal Majuscule both are more interesting than Santal Blanc.

Santal Majuscule even if a contemporary sandalwood somehow feels timeless and takes me to journy of time.To me it mediates the picture of medivial monks writing detailed majuscule and miniscule letters. Or a knight returning to his castle, such as above.

Santal Majuscule is the perfect comfortscent for the colder month of the year but I'm convinced it will suits even in summer as the "green crushed leaves and stem" tangy note developes well under warm conditions.Sillage is medium and longevity good, +12h.

Rating: 4

Notes: Sandalwood, rose, cocoa, tonka been

Huitième Art - Poudre de Riz

Picture: Pierre Guillaume celebrates ten years as perfumer

with his own house Parfumerie Generale.

Couldn't resist borrowing this picture from Fragrantica

Photo: Fragrantica (c)

I said it before and had to repeat it again: Pierre Guillaume is too tough for my creditcard. This autumn he  seduces me with two beautiful fragrances, the Djhenné as I reviewed earlier this week and now Poudre de Riz, a totally different beast from his “showcasing one special note surrounded by other high quality ingredients collection”; Huitième Art.

Poudre de Riz is instant love, opposed to Djhenne which was growing on me during the testing. Poudre de Riz is a warm and very comforting slight powdery floral woody musky blend with oriental vibes. Poudre de Riz is dominated by tropical flowers blended with coconut and vanilla, which create a warm and very comfortable feeling. To me there is something in the top and middlenotes that smells like blond, fresh tobaccoleaves (even if tobbaco is not mentioned) mingled with vanilla and a dry coconut and later on with a subdued rose-iris accord accompaning in the background. These flowery notes fleets in and out during the rest of the dry down, it creates a depth and a certain elegence to the fragrance. Poudre de Riz gives me retro vibes, I image a fragrance created about hundred years ago, in the era before WWI. In the basnotes, besides the flowery, slight wet musky impression, powdery notes from tonka and benzoin appears. There is also an almost balsamic warmth present. A fragrance that reminds me of Poudre de Riz is Kèora by Jean Couturier with it’s warm, tropical flower blended in vanilla. Also Maître Parfumeur et Gantier Fleur des Comores has something similar in style even if Fleurs de Comores is sweeter, more flowery and a bit dirty compared to Poudre de Riz. There is also a dry vanillanote that is close to L’Artisan Parfumeur Havana Vanille which also contains the tobacconote. Maybe the note similar to tobacco is a facet of vanilla, I don’t know. In texture and expression there something in Poudre de Riz that reminds me of a clean variation of the slight dirty Etat Libre de Orange Putain des Palaces, maybe the powdery, dense feeling.

Poudre de Riz is first of all the true comfortscent for the colder months. I also think it will fit also for warm summerevenings as the sweetness is subdued and the powdery musk creates an almost cool impression under the right conditions.

Rating: 5

Notes: Tiare, coconut milk, vanilla, rice, maple sap, rice, caramel, iris, sandal- and cedarwood, rose, tonka been, benzoin, tolu balsam

Parfumerie Générale - Djhenné

Picture: Great Mosque of Djenné

Photo: Andy Gilham (cc) Wikimedia Commons,

some rights reserved

This year the house of Parfumerie Générale, founded by perfumer Pierre Guillaume, celebrating ten successful years with a fragrance that fills the vacant number 22 in the numberd collection, Djhenné. Maybe the number was left to unite the “2:s” of the founding year respective the year of Jubilee.

Djhenné is a town in Mali, famous for the big mosque constructed by clay in 1907. To me, Djhenné the perfume also smells as I can image the smell of the dry, hot, earth blended with some sand from Sahara mingled with spieces, cacao from the market, and some herbal green whiffs from the scores of the river nearby. According to an interview on Fragrantica Pierres inspiraton to Djhenné was “a fresh accord surrounded by hot sand. Oasis, a lazy hot atmosphere, and a little bit of freshness in a hot desert”

Djhenné starts with sparkling, almost spritzy light spicy notes that mingles with an uplifting green light flowery herbal note, probably the mint and flowers combined. The pepper from cedarwood comes forward in a quite early stage and after a while Djhenné reminds me of some sparkling woody-peppery fragrances for example the bolder L`Eau Guerriere which is bright and luminous but at the same time heavy in it’s notes and therefore has to be applied very sparingly. But after this short phase Djhenné turns to a softer, warmer spicy stage supported by some delicate and almost dry and powdery, sweet notes supported by an almost rounded, strawlike note which mingles and balances with a light resin-sweetness. The last accord is probably highlighten the original wheatnote and the myrrh, but a sort of stripped down, light myrrhm not the dark, warm myrrh of Myrrhiad from one of Pierres other perfumelines, Huitieme Art. In the Fragrantica interview the interviewer find similarties with another beautiful PG fragrance, Bois Naufrage. Even if not quite obvious to me, both have the same relaxing aura and Bois Naufrage is the wet woody version and Djhenné the warm, dry and spicy version of the theme

Except the short, cedar-pepper phase, Djhenné is a very relaxing fragrance with a comfortable dry, warm, light flowery, spicy and well balanced sweetness. It’s easy, but in the same time interesting, to wear as it repeatedly unfolds new discrete twists, especially in it’s later stages. The longevity, despite it’s perceived lightness, is 12h+. Djhenné is a fragrance that grows on me from the initial impression of a good but not especially distinctive fragrance, I can’t stop sniffing my wrists in the later stages of this beautiful and a bit mysterious fragrance that induces such exotic images to me, just as Pierres intention.

Djhenné is perfect for daytime wear year around, and as said above, a fragance for calming down .

Rating: 5

Notes: Mint, seringa, lavendel, cedarwood, cacao pod, myrrh, wheat