Blog anniversary 12 years

Picture: Rose hips
Photo: Parfumista (c)

November 1, today it's twelve years since my first blog-entry about perfume. As there is less time for blogging, my entries will appear irregular these days. During my most active years, there was about two to three entires per week, then decreased to one per week and now, now and then. I think that is a better alterntaive than to close the whole venture down. There is still plenty of scented impressions from which I want to share some. So here we go for another year!

Atelier Cologne - Part 2

The Atelier Cologne testing has continued .....

Picture: Trèfle Pur
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Trèfle Pur: Elegant and minimalistic. Smooth lime, moss, not powdery but wet chalky. Contemporary but somehow retro in the same time. Reminds me of a favorite modern cologne Mugler Cologne in a more elegant chypre inspired version. Trèfle Pur has to be applied liberally to last during a whole day, almost a full sample is needed.

Picture: Orange Sanguine
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Orange Sanguine: Juicy, sunny and so happy! Starts like fresh squeezed orange juice, sipped on the terrace, during a breakfest in the height of the summer. The orange-y scent stays during the whole musky slight ambery dry down. There is also green fragments of the orangetree leaves in the mix. In the later phases of the dry down, Orange Sanguine resembles Clémentine California but more sweet juicy where CC is greener and more tangy.

Picture: Grand Néroli
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Grand Néroli: Elegant, citrus - bergamott opening,like  a contemporary interpretation of the 70s classics as for example Eau de Rochas and Chanel Cristalle Edt. After a while GN takes a different path and the nèroliaccord takes the center. The longer the drydown, the softer and creamier GN appears, as with Trèfle Pur, there are similarities with Mugler Cologne in the late stage of the dry down. Also Grand Nèroli has to be applied just as liberally as Trèfle Pur to last.

Picture: Rose Anonyme
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Rose Anonyme: This is one of my favorite roseparfumes, I imagine a cool dark pink rose wrapped in fresh, earthy patchoulileaves and some cool spices, combined with a balanced woody oud. There is also something almost winey about it. Despite this, Rose Anonyme is not thick and heavy, instead it's surprisingly transparent. A woodier variation of Laboratorio Olfattive Rosamunda and a fragrance for those who loves dark roses as for example Marni Marni, Juliette has a Gun Lady Vengeance, Terry de Gunzburg Rouge Nocturne and so on.

Atelier Cologne - Part 1

Atelier Cologne is a house which I for many years have overlooked to discover properly. I love Jasmine Angelique and like Mistral Patchouli and Rose Anonyme very much. Café Tuberosa enticed me to try more of the line. Thanks to the generous Atelier Cologne Sales representative in Åhlens City, I've a bunch of samples to test. Here are my short impressions:

Picture: Tobacco Nuit
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Tobacco Nuit: A stunning transparent Tobacco from one of the Edp sub-lines of Atelier, Collection Orient. On paperstrip it first smells like a anorectic version of Kerosene Copper Skies, on skin it's tobacco, citric notes, sort of a dry smell of soft paper and finally sparkling, fresh cardamon. A proper and clean tobacco for those who are afraid of a disruptive interpretation of the note. 

Picture: Encense Jinhae
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

 

Encens Jinhae: Also belonging to the Collection Orient, E J is dry incense wrapped in berries, pink pepper and roses. E J immediately reminds me of a smoother and more sophicated Vivienne Westwood Anglomania mixed with some Chopard Madness.

Picture: Clémentine California
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Clémentine California: An almost natural smell of Clementine, slight bitter but in the same time juicy sweet. Green notes like the leaves of the tree and  also a cold, breezy impression. Compared to for example Hermès Eau de Mandarine Ambrèe  CC is brighter and sharper in apperance, In MA the mandarine is wrapped in a soft, glowing amber.Strong and longlasting for belonging to the cologne subline, somewhere between Edt and Edp on my skin.


Picture: Café Tuberosa
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Café Tuberosa: I've already posted two mini-reviews of CT and therefore add both: "Starts with thick tuberose, bergamot, blended with dry cacao and maybe a hint of coffee. It's a thick blend, vintage in style reminding me in texture and style of Vero Profumo Rozy. Later there are traces of the colognestyle with hints of citric notes. " (April 2018) "What a comforting beauty! A dark oriental floral with chypre vibes. The coffee and cacao are not sharp or sticky, they blends very balanced with the tuberose in a retrostyled accord. The tuberose dosen't stand out as a flower, it's just a part of the dark blend. " (September 2018).

Further impressions from testing fragrances from Atelier Cologne will appear during the coming months.

5 fragrances for Fall

Picture: From a walk in the hoods
a crisp, sunny, autumn Sundaymorning 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)

The early autumn month of September has (almost) passed, most sunny and crisp. Probably it's therefore I still don't crave for the dark, thick and heavy frags in the oriental genre. Instead there are most lighter fragrances I've wearing during the last month, fragrances which at least some of them are good examples of transition fragrances:

Iris Rebelle (Atelier Cologne): This is my new favorite iris. Light with a very pleasant opening smelling of fresh baby carrots. Then a beautiful, clean iris appears, wrapped in smooth citric notes.

Nomade (Chloé): The best mainstream release this year , at least from the not so many I've smelled. Like a transparent and contemporary version of Jean Couturier Coriandre. Coriander and moss with a ceratin warmth added to it by delicate soft flowers and light spices. Incredible longevity for such a transparent styled creation.

Mon Parfum Cheri, par Camille Edt (Annick Goutal): This is perhaps the messanger of the real autumn in the top 5. That even if the Edt of this elegant, dark, retro patchoulibased beuaty is more transparent than the Edp. A frag that boosts ones confidence. Full review (in swedish) here.

Café Tuberosa (Atelier Cologne): What a comforting beauty! A dark oriental floral with chypre vibes. The coffee and cacao are not sharp or sticky, they blends very balanced with the tuberose in a retrostyled accord. The tuberose dosen't stand out as a flower, it's just a part of the dark blend.

Fathom V (BeauFort): This damp, green, cold, watery, earthy creation reminds me of late winter/early spring but I crave this utterly intriguing composition for fall also. Full review here.

Midsummer 2018

Picture: Midsummerroses 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Midsummereve was yesterday. The summer solstice up here in the north is much celebrated and a national holiday. This year the weather (always a big question in Sweden) was quite good, rainy and cold (+9  C in the morning) and mostly sunny and quite warm in the afternoon followed by a chilly evening. The day was without rain, except in the morning.

This year (again) I didn't feel to wear florals to match the occasion. I couldn't think of any light high pitched flowery fragrance that was right for me. Instead I wanted something heavy, dark and dense so I went for Penhaligon's Halfeti, a dark rosy, dry spicy oud based fragrance inspried from the  black shaded roses which is/was grown in the turkish town named Halfeti.


Picture: The black rose of Halfeti
Photo: PR Penhaligon's

Halfeti is a fragrance that intriguing me. When I blindbought it about two years ago I was a bit disappointed, to much of the screaming, peppery type of oud. But still there was something that fascinated me with Halfeti and I went back testing it multiple times, I didn't want do give it up. Yesterday I finally find out the trick to avoid the overload of pepper/spice and how to hold Halfeti in check: One has to be very careful when  applying it, just using tiny half sprays at four to five points on skin. Full sprays is much too much. Applied in this way the dark, deep and spicy rose appears in a beautiful way, there are also a warm, dry and in the same time creamy sandalwoodaccord. Halfeti is difficult to understand and to tame, but it was certainly worth all the experimentering. The long process to evalute and to finally understand a complex fragrance is definitly some of the features of this fascinating hobby. Midsummer 2018 will be remembered as when I finally understand Halfeti.

Let's have a great summer 2018, combining the holidays with evaluation of the fragrance wardrobe!

Parfums de Nicolaï - Cap Néroli

Picture: Parfums Nicolaï Cap Néroli
Photo: PR Nicolaï

Cap Néroli is the new 2018 EDT from Parfums de Nicolï, a real favoritehouse of mine. Last years release was Rose Royale, a celebration to the pink roses of the palacegarden in the center of Paris. this year is celebrating néroli and what a celebration: This is not the usual soliflore niche stuff, this is lika a full fragrance, a bouquet of notes which makes one think that Cap Néroli doesn't belong to the soliflore genre.

Cap Néroli starts with an uplifting, cheering, burst of juicy, natural smelling full orange, like fresh oranges squeezed  in the sun by noon on the terrace of a villa in chic mediterrain surroundings. The orange liquid squeezed is natural, with fruit fibres, tick and not diluted or sugared. This is the accords of a early summer sunny day bearing all the expectations of the wonderful days which will come. In the nexte stage a chilly green, minty note appears blended with a herbal touch. The orange becomes more elegant, restrained and sincere in this stage, the néroli oil appears. Also a dry, salty note enters, a note similar to sea salt and also the scent which reminding me of old school bath salts, in this stage Cap Néroli has left the soliflore stage and enters the domains of a more complex fragrance. The salty ant bath salty aspects are also apperant in  Deco London Lawrence even if the latter is greener and colder in style, like an early summerday of the coast of Britan instead of the shores of the Mediterrain. Cap Néroli is grounded in oakmoss and musk an probably this is a part of the secret of the elegant retro feeling of the fragrance. The timeless elegant, green freshness could be the sign of the oakmoss and the herbs even if I guess that some of the typical Nicolaï geranium (think l'eau Chic) could be embedded in the base accord. During the whole drydown the slight herbal minty note gives Cap Néroli a certain sparkle and together with the salty note, offset the sweetness of the flowers of the fragrance. Compared to my other favorite Nicolaï neroli, Eau sOleil, Cap Néroli is brighter and higer on the fragrance note scale. Eau sOleil is the warm, glowing and slight spicy fragrance for the golden sunsets of the late summer, the orange of Eau sOleil is darker, with velvet nuances of gold and brown.

The overall impression of Cap Néroli is classic retro elegance, interpreted in a modern way. Cap Néroi is a modern take on the classic chypre accord, it's minimalistic and scaled down but still some of the moisty mossiness is there together  the with retro salty, slight soapy cleanness and retro freshness, elegant freshness as in vintage Eau de Rochas. To me Cap Néroli as a whole is more of a formal summer fragrance, it goes well in the boardroom. Both the radiance and longevity are very good to be an EDT, Cap Néroli lasts for over twelve hours. The fragrance is unisex, just as good on my skin as on Mr Parfumistas even if my skin amplifies more of the orange notes and his the green, salty and herbal notes. This fragrance shouldn't be missed, its perfect for effortless elegance both in formal and casual chic summer gatherings.

Rating: 5

Notes: Petitgrain bigaride, orange, mandarine, rosemary, mint, neroli, ylang-ylang, jasmine, orangeblossom, oakmoss, musk

Olfactory dessert

Picture: Olfactory dessert April 28, 2018
Photo: Parfumista (c)

As mentioned several times before in this blog, in this houshold there are very rarely desserts served after weekend dinners (only when we have guests). Instead Mr Parfumista often insists on sniffing/analyzing fragrances. As he in 9 of 10 times takes the initiatve to this "dessert", the inhabitants of his fragrance wardrobe are overrepresented. Yesterday evening there was two themes:

1) The frequently occurring comparison between two of Mr Parfumistas wardrobe staples Tom Ford Tuscan Leather (TL) and Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather  (CL) similar in style but both definitly needed. The role model Tuscan Leather is darker, denser, thicker, with smokey, tobacco, leathery notes, like a well worn bikers leatherjacket. TL also reminds me of a polished sibling to Mona di Orios wild Les Nombres d'Or Cuir. When it comes to CL the weird thing is that I always smell the raspberry which is a note in the Tuscan Leather pyramide and not mentioned in the CL pyramide and in TL I can hardly smell the raspberry at all. CL is more transparent in style, with an uplifting citiric aura which is not smelling citrus, it's blended in the texture per se, adding some sparkle to the brew. The leather in CL is the fine and noble leather, the inside of an exclusive handbag.
2) The random fragrance theme, which just occuring, was yesterday triggerd by Mr Parfumistas testing of Parfums de Nicolaï new Cap Néroli. He really likes it and said he will rather wear it than "that sample I was thinking of maybe buying a FB of ". I immediately thought he ment  MFK APOM Pour Homme which he has sampled lately but to my initial surprise, not when thinking twice, he brought out PFM Geranium pour Monsieur. Geranium is a note which is present in the typical Nicolaï "houseaccord", it's not mentioned in the notelist of Cap Néroli even if I suspect it's there as a part of the baseaccord. The other fragrance Mr Parfumista related to after a days wearing of Cap Néroli was Deco London Lawrence. Also a fragrance with a distinct dose of geranium, special and retro smelling, salty and dry like old-fashioned bath salts. These associations shows that one should not limit oneself to compare a certain fragrance to those in the same, in this case, neroli category, one should experience fragrances without any limitations in the mindset, which is hard to achieve.

And when it comes to Cap Néroli, a full review will follow probably after the next weekend when my birch pollen allergy hopefully has calmed down so I can smell and evalute this beautiful fragrance properly.