Fragrance of the week (4) 2013

Photo: Parfumista (c)

Is Musc Tonkin from Parfume d'Empire. Earlier this week there was something as unusual as a Perfumenerd AW here in Stockholm. Many beautiful fragrances where displayed (and sprayed) such as some from Roja Dove, Mona di Orio, Amouage, Parfum d'Empire, exclusive Guerlains and Chanels, but also most interesting of all, extraordinary beauties from a vintage collection. The vintage collector, who so generously exposed those treasures to our noses, also owned the brand new Musc Tonkin, animalic,dirty and vintage in style. Among all the wonderful fragrances, Musc Tonkin was the one that made the lasting impression to me. Of course the vintage  Guerlains, Givenchys, Chanels and others, with their dept, richness, high-quality ingredients and individual characters were outstanding and gorgeous. But as a specific fragrance, Musc Tonkin is the one!

Robert Piguet - Petit Fracas

 The sparkling and flirtatious spirit of
Petit Fracas (Robert Piguet)
Picture: All Posters.com

Petit Fracas from one of my absolute favouritehouses, Robert Piguet, it seems as the RP fragrances gets very well with my skinchemistry, is created by the housenose Auerlien Guichard 2012. The Petit Fracas is meant to be the entry to the Grand Fracas, the Queen of tubereuses and it is said to be aimed to the younger generation. According to me, it suits all ages of those who likes a well crafted frutiy-floral.

Petit Fracas starts with sparkling fruity notes, dominated by the pear and contrasted by a cacao note. The cacao blended with especially the pear creates an impression of butterscotch. The pearnote is recognizable in another recent Robert Piguet fragrance, the sparkling tubereuse/white floral Douglas Hannant.  The gourmand impression of Petit Fracas is present already from the start and the cacao note is running through the whole fragance. It gently interacts with the notes of each stage, creating different gourmand impressions. As the name of the fragrance indicates, tubereuse is of course the star of Petit Fracas, even if the cacaonote comes close as the most important, contrasting note.

As Petit Fracas reach the heartnotes, the white flowers takes the command with the tubereuse as the leader of the team. The tubereuse is more sparkling and clean than the dark, dense and almost animalic version of it in Fracas The cacaonote in this stage, appears as more dry and less sweet as its performance in the topnotes. Petit Fracas in this stage, to my nose is more close to Douglas Hannant, (but DH lacks the gourmand notes as a clear floral fragance) than to Fracas. At least compared to my 10+ years old version of Fracas, I don't know if the current forumlation is weaker. The flowery gourmand accord developes beautifully when interacting with the warm sandalwood and the smooth, rounded musk of the base. The effect is almost creamy and there is very comfortable to wear Petit Fracas as it performs in its sweet, mouthwatering, delicious greatness for about 24 hours. Something in the texture of Petit Fracas later stages, reminds me of another great Piguet, Mademoiselle Piguet even if that one is centered around orangeblossom and also features some almost decaying vegetable notes, perfectly contrasted to the clean orange. Sillage is contemporary medium, not as bombastic as Fracas. To summerize: Petit Fracas is a real pleasure to wear and a good example that there are indeed good fruity-florals on the market. Something that parfumistas often tend to forget when discussing this taunted category of fragrance :-)

Madonnas Truth or Dare with its mashmallow note comes to my mind when it comes to the cacao - tubereuse combination in Petit Fracas. Both are gourmand tubereuses where Petit Fracas is the well-behaved and subtle, and Truth or Dare the bold and perky one. I also think that those how like the sweet beauty Tubereuse Couture by Parfumerie Generale will like Petit Fracas very much.

Rating: 5

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, pear, tubereuse, jasmine, gardenia, musk, sandalwood, cacao

Puredistance - M

Picture: The spirit of Puredistance M, 

Puredistance (c) all rights reserved

M is the masculine (or most masculine) fragrance in the excellent Puredistance line. It's a masculine oriental in the classical style, featuring soft leather notes. Even if classified as masculine, the elegant and smooth construction of the fragrance makes it suitable also for a brave woman, the same situation as with Aramis JHL. M is created by Roja Dove.

M starts with topnotes dominated by a natural leathernote, a leathernote like the scent of an elegant briefcase. After the leathery start, M transforms into a close wellbalanced spicyness with clear notes of carnation and clove. The leather takes a step behind but is still recognizable in the background. In this stage a very light and smooth note that reminds me of a soft, refined curry appears among the other spicy notes. On my skin anyway, this note is not clearly apparent on Mr Parfumista. In the basenotes, M get balsamic-resiny and more leathery again, a deeper and muskier leather than in the topnotes. To conclude it all: On my skin M is a harmonious mix of leather,carnation and spices.

Overall M gives me the association of resting in a wellworn armchair, nestled in a cashmereblanket, sipping an excellent cognac, in front of the fireplace at some old country estate.
M is most of all a masculine fragrance, but is so gentle and refined that it could also be worn comfortably by a women. In that sense M is unisex. M is a wellcrafted, comfortable fragrance made of quality ingredients and it suits both for formal worksituations and for festivite occasions. With its warmth M perfectly suits the colder months of the year, but I suspect it could also be fine for chillier summerevenings.

M is similar to Hermès great Bel Ami but to my and Mr Parfumistas noses, M is more leathery, darker, boozier and closer than the current version of  Bel Ami, but the style, and apperance is the same. M is even more close to the old Bel Ami-version in the "coctail-shaker-bottle" which is thicker, spicier and somehow boozier in texture. There are also similarities between M and the real leather classic Knize Ten and the contemporary but classic in style Cuir Mauresque by Serge Lutens. My nose also find some traces (the spicy cinnamon-warmth) of JHL (original formula).

M wears closer to the skin than Bel Ami but then M also is in perfumestrength whereas Bel Ami is in Edt concentration and therefore has a more extensive radiation. Longevity is about the same for both fragrances, they lasts for about 24h.

Rating: 5

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, jasmine, rose, carnation, vanilla, vetiver, patchouli, wood, labdanum, moss, cinnamon, clove, leather, musk

Fragrance(s) of the week (3) 2013

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

This week I had new experiences with two fragrances which until now have been a bit hard for me:

* Old Mitsi - Mitsouko. It seems as after almost ten years of experimenting I finally found the right dosage and right climat conditions etc as Mitsi now seems to fit quite well. Or at least I imagine so, as every true parfumista of course want this classic to fit. As I lunched with Fragrantfanatic that day, I got a professional opinion; the peaches over the moss was the main impression and that Mitsi smelled good.

* Today  (snowy as usual, - 20 C  :-) I percieved Douglas Hannant by Robert Piguet in a quite different way than when worn in the spring and summer. In the warmer months the pearnote takes the centerstage and DH becames fruity-floral in apperance with a touch of detergent. Today it performs as a bright, clearly tubereusedominated, white floral with just a light supporting pearnote and no laundry vibes. Delicious!

By Kilian - Forbidden Games

Picture: Boy with a Basket of Fruit
Oil of canvas by Michelangelo Merisi Cravaggio ca 1593
Wikimedia commons

Forbidden Games is the third installment in The Garden of Good and Evil line from By Kilian. Forbidden games is created by Calice Becker and is said to express the following: "When going beyond the boundaries has never been so exciting and dangerously attractive".

Forbidden Games starts a bit chemical, in a good way, fruity-floral, with emphasis on fruity, sort of like a compot of fruits as peach and apricots. Forbidden games is slight gourmand compared to the other two in the Garden of Good and Evil trio In the City of Sin and Good Girl Gone Bad. There is also like a light trail of cacaopowder glimpsing throughout the composition. As the rest of the trio very light and somehow thin and fleeting in charachter when taking into account the quite distinct ingredients mentioned in the notelist. A nice and good officescent that smells nice and can't harm anybody. Even if light the longevity is good almost for a day and the projection is close.

Just as hinted of in the In the City of Sin and Good Girl Gone Bad posts I suspect that  these sort of indistinct, fleeting charachters as I perceive from the Garden of Good and Evil  fragrances, is a good example of the coming, even more regulated perfumeworld that could be effective from 1 July 2013. Probably By Kilian is just pre-compliant.

Rating: 3

Notes: Apple, peach, plum, cinnamon, rose, geranium, jasmine, vanilla, honey, opoponax

By Kilian - Good Girl Gone Bad

Picture: Lü Ji, Birds in Osmanthus and Chrysanthemum,
13th century, Palace Museum, Beijing

Testing the next installment of the In the garden of Good and Evil subline of By Kilian, Good Girl Gone Bad. This almost natural smelling fruity-floral frag is created by Alberto Morillas. The spirit of the fragrance is described as "A woman who is game for anything in the world of love, of desire, of naughtiness"

Starts with fruity-flowery notes, osmanthus  contrubutes with the fruity-floral notes but there is also something similar to a mellow, yellow melon in the opening. Soon a tame tubereuse, some white flowers off-setted by a crisp but smooth narcissusnote appears. A very light creamy touch also appears in the middlenotes. There also some very light traces of cardamom (I think). Cardamom seems to be a it-note by now, Histoires de Parfums cardamomtrio Veni, Vidi, Vici is another example of this trend. The fruity-floral blend continues in the same style, supported by a conventional ambery-woody base.

To me there is nothing "Gone Bad" or naughty with this nice & fresh, totally officefriendly fragrance that could be worn in any season. There is more body to it than the initial perfume of the subline, In the City of Sin, but despite this, I percieve Good Girl Gone Bad as thin and uninteresting (I wonder if this depends on compliance with the new EU-regulations/IFRA selfregulations), but smelling nice. To me also GGGB just as ItCoS doesn't lend any remaining impression. On the other hand, Mr Parfumista think GGGB smells very good, "clean and wellblended not as the strange old-ladys scents you're insist to wear".To summon it all up: A nice smelling, easy to wear perfume that couldn't offend anybody. Taking the pricerange of By Kilian into account (if not buying the refills), I rather go for something mainstream, for example the Versace Vanitas Edt or Vanitas Edp if I wan't something in this uplifting, easy to wear style. The two latter also have a fuller body and are not fleeting.

Rating: 3+

Notes: Jasmine, osmanthus, may rose, tuberose, narcissus, amber, cedar

By Kilian - In the City of Sin

Picture: Still Life With Compotier, 

Painting by Paul Cezanne (ca 1879-1882)

Collection Mr. and Mrs. Rene Lecomte, Paris

Wikimedia commons

Sorry, but I get no sinful associations at all from this fleeting Calice Becker creation In the City of Sin. In the City of Sin is one of three initial offerings from the new ByKilian sub-line In the Garden of Good and Evil from handsome Hennessy heir, Kilian Hennessy. In the City of Sin is said to be "The temptation which leads to carnal desire".

In the City of Sin starts with a sparkling clean bergamot-cardamom dominated accord. Then some natural smelling fruity nots follows, there are no harsh chemical notes, instead the fruity notes are round, soft, fresh and perfectly ripe. The fruits reminds me of a tamer version of the fruity notes of Bombay Bling from Neela Vermeire creations.  The fruity notes are supported by a bright, pink rose and tha blend is grounded in a rather cold woody cedar-patchouli base.

As hinted above, instead of sinful, In the City of Sin is a quite innocent, very officefriendly scent that could be worn daytime year around but preferably during spring, summer and the early autumn. Nice and friendly but to be honest, nothing special when taking into account that In the City of Sin is created by the flower-champion Calice Becker. I have to admit that I like the two of many perfumistas critizised offerings of the Asian Tales line (Water Calligraphy and Bamboo Harmony) much better than this mediocre composition.

The question what is happening with the ByKilian brand is justified when smelling this fleeting (probably already fully IFRA-compliant) fragrance. Earlier there was body and strength in the By Kilians. The Arabian Nights collection is great as also many of the fragrances of the initial L'oeuvre Noire line.

Rating: 3

Notes: Bergamot, pink pepper, cardamom, apricot, plum, turkish rose, incense, atlas cedar, patchouli