Parfums MDCI - Cuir Garamante

Picture: Foggara (water chanell) in the
old Garamantes territory in Libya
Photo: Tagelmoust (cc) Wikipedia,
some rights reserved 

Parfums MDCI is a french niche house, founded by Claude Marchal, which offers high quality fragrances in collaboration with both experienced established perfumers and the coming perfumer generation.Cuir Garamante is one of the two latest launches from the house. The fragrance is created by Richard Ibanez, an experinted senior perfumer, creator of for example the special, before its time, dark, woody Sonia Rykiel Le Parfum.

Cuir Garamante is inspired by the ancient saharian berbers who was constructors of water channels for irrigaton and therefore dominated the traderoute from Tchad to the Mediterranean ca 500 B.C. As inspired from the desert, Cuir Garamante starts very dry, hot and spicy. Pepper, saffron and the likes creates a fizzy almost transparant, warm, desert-windy impression.As CG deepens there is also a pleasant slight sweaty note, like a soft touch of cummin glimpsing through. The oud is of the smoother variation and it's contributing with a dark, luxury, boozy, woody impression in the same way as in Puredistance Black.On my skin the rose in Cuir Gramante is not detectable as it is when testing it on the scentstripe, probably as the rose is light.On the teststripe the oud-rose (medium pink rose) smells very balanced and restrained, this is not the traditional rose-saffran-oud combo of  Montale and the crowd of followers of this, in those days avantgarde house. The Cuir Garamante rose-oud combo is more of (even if the fragrances are different in style) the gentle second oud genaration rose-oud accord, as in Parfums de Nicolaï Rose Oud. In the basenotes the boozy quality is still present, but in a slighter sweeter context than earlier, probably the resins, smooth sandalwood and discrete, dry vanilla (pod) notes, absolutely not the gourmand, dessert vanilla. In the basenotes there is also a fine leather, which interacts seamless with the other notes.

Picture: Cuir Garamante in Parfums MDCI Deluxe Falcon
There is also a plain version bottle
Photo: PR Parfums MDCI (c) 

Cuir Garamante is marketed towards men but I think it's an unisex creation which leans to the masculine side, contrary to Puredistance Black which is a more feminine unisex IMO. But this is just nuances, one have to test on oneself. Cuir Garamante is suitable both for office and dressed up occasions, for all seasons except for the warmest summerdays. The longevity is about a day.

Cuir Garamante is a well crafted fragence, well balanced and made of high quality ingredients. It's not original or avantgarde, an increasing number of niche lines includes a fragrance of this dark-woody- spicy- oud- booze-leather character (even if emphasizing a bit different among the notes) in their catalouge. Beside a spicier version of Puredistance Black, Cuir Garamante also resembles Robert Piguet Casbah (the dry spices) and partly Huitième Art Monsieur (the niche standard woody impression).

Rating:. 5

Notes: Pink pepper, nutmeg, saffron, rose, oud, papyrus, leather, vanilla, labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood

Boucheron - Place Vendôme

Picture: Place Vendôme
Photo: PR Boucheron (c)

Place Vendôme is created to capture the spirit of the venerable jewellery house Boucheron, situated at the epicentrum of luxury. Place Vendôme is created as a collaboration between perfumers Olivier Cresp and Nathalie Lorson.

Place Vendôme starts sparkling, citric with traces of fruit and light, white flowers. The initial accord reminds me of a rounded and fruity version of Dior Escale à Pondichéry, without the teanote. As PV dries down the blended flowery impression intensifies and is somehow wrapped in gentle, not too sweet, notes. The flowery notes are light as a veil in texture and impression. The sweetness discrete, the honeynote involved is not of the animalic kind as in Serge Lutens Miel de Bois, this is a stripped down version, with just some elements of the honey extracted. The base is light and woody, with a sweet resin quality and the honeyed florals are still pleasant, deeper in expression as in the middlenotes. On my skin, the base is blooming 12h+ after application, I woke up in the middle of the night wondering "What is smelling so good"? The basenotes is the best part of PV for me.

The impression and expression of Place Vendôme is sort of a mainstream Grossmith Floral Veil. Nondescript light, ariy flowers are fleeting in and out in the accords, just as a fleeting light silk veil. Place Vendôme is also a bit "mainstream" rugged in texture compared to Floral Veil but on the other hand, the fragrances are in different priceranges. Another fragrance that comes to my mind when wearing Place Vendôme is Versace Vanitas, even if Vanitas is cold, a bit watery and crispy in texture, where PV is on the verge to creamy.

Picture: The stylish bottle of Place Vendôme
Photo: PR Boucheron (c)

Place Vendôme is a modern interpreation of the classical Boucheron floral-oriental theme. It's fleeting (as many contemporary fragrances after all the IFRA regulations have been effective) and lighter compared to classic Boucherons but elements of the elegant, a bit sweet, classic Boucheron base could be found also in PV. PV is feminine, elegant and suitable both for office and dressed up occasions. It is utterly well behaved, almost annoying in its perfection and it is hard to catch and analyze. Even if PV has no distinct characteristics it's pleasant and easy to wear. The longevity is very good, traces are left after almost 24h. Altogether a fragrance which fits most women, smells nice, is comforting and doesn't offend anybody.

Rating: 4

Notes: Pink pepper, rose, orangeblossom, mandarine, jasmine, honey, peony, praline, benzoin, cedarwood

Fragrances for cold winter

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

After a green, rainy and green winter (with tempratures about +5-10 C) which spanned over the year end and nine days into January, the regular snowy and cold winter is now here and seems to be permanented. Even if the white snow is beautiful, everyday life gets much more tedious (all the clothes one have to wear, scraping the car windows, slippery outside, shoveling snow etc). But one thing is very positive, at last I really carve the hard core orientals. Here are some favorites at the moment.

Labdanum 18 (Le Labo): Thanks to Sigrun (Riktig Parfym) I got a sample of this and it was instant liking. Dense, warm, like dark brown, viscous, chocolate, even if not smelling of that. To me it smells of resins, a bit powdery, animalic and balsamic. Reminds me of Shalimar but not as complex and darker. Which leads to:

Shalimar (Guerlain): Cold weather is the right condition for this multifacetted beauty. I get less of the lighter notes as bergamot/citric and more of the dark, balmy, resin and animalic ones. "Shallan" is a true follower which could always be trusted.

Ambre Doré (Maître Parfumeur et Gantier): This is a dark, velvety, slight dirty amber with oud deepening the creation and givning it an interesting twist. The oud is very discrete, one doesn't think of it as oud. The dirtyness is also discrete, not as much as in another amber favorite L'Ombre Fauve from Parfumerie Générale.

Rêve d'Ossian (Oriza L.Legrand): Ossians dream has emerged to be my favorite Oriza in very hard competition as they are all so good. Amber, incense, pines, resins and some spieces are creating a comforting, warm and snuggly texture which warming up the coldest of days.

Opium (Yves Saint Laurent): As I'm saving on the little which is left of my vintage version, I'm mostly wearing the current version which I think is a very good woody-spicy oriental on its own merits. Can't understand all the complaints about it.

What is your comfort cold, winter scents?

Olivier Durbano - Citrine

Picture: Citrin geschliffen 58 Carat
Photo: Wela49 (cc) Wikimedia Commons,
some rights reserved

Citrine is just like Lapis Philosophorum earlier this week a part of the Olivier Durbano line dedicated to semiprecious stones. Citrine to the yellow to brown rare gemstone (most "citrines" are in fact heat treated smoky quartzes or amethysts).

Citrine starts with warm and lemony, accompanied with slight pepper/incense notes. After a while a flowery accord sweetens Citrine and the yellow mimosa shines through as does a balancing note of rosewood. The mimosa is not as distinct as the mimosa in Annick Goutal Le Mimosa and the rosewood is nota as notable as the rosewood in Comme des Garcons Palisander. Resins and slight honeyd waxy notes are lending an unusual sweetness without any vanillic notes and the fragrance is very comforting. In the basenotes the warm and glowing, resin sweetness of myrrh and ambery notes completes Citrine in deeper facets. Traces of the peppery/ginger/elemi accord from the beginning of the fragrance is present in the background as also the soft note of mimosa.

Citirine is a pleasant and thanks to the mimosa unusual resin/incense fragrance. It's soft and discrete, a deliberated fragrance that doesn't intrude to the personal space of others ie a good fragrance for the workplace. With it's sunny apperance it's suitable for summer but also for autumn and winter to remember the warm days. Longevity is for a day.

I think those who like one of my all time incense favorites Comme des Garcons Zagorsk would also appreciate Citrine. Even if Zagorsk is stronger and more distinct with its pine and incense, both fragrancses has a flowery quality but whereas the Zagorsk flower is icy and cold, the yellow mimosa of Citrine is sunny and warm.

Rating: 4

Notes: Citron, orange, elemi, ginger, pink pepper,carrot seed, mimosa, rosewood, linguum vitae (sort of gaiac wood), musk, myrrh, grey amber, beeswax

Olivier Durbano - Lapis Philosophorum

Picture: From the world of alchemistry
Photo: PR Olivier Durbano (c)

Lapis Philosophorum is the 2013 release from Olivier Durbano who is an architect and a jewelry designer, His perfumes are inspired by his collection of semi-precious stones, Bijoux de Pierres Poèmes (Perfumes of Stones Poems).A common trait in his perfumeline is the involvement of different types of incense. Lapis Philosophorum is inspired from how the ancient alchemists was searching for the Philosopher’s stone that would change base metals into pure gold. 

Lapis Philosophorum starts with soft balsamic notes with over a gentle, winey backgrouond, the winey accord is reminiscent of the winey expression in Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle Une Rose. After a while a soft note of incense appears, balancing the tangy winey notes in a sort of meditative harmony. The winey soft incense accord stays through the whole dry down of LP and lasts also in  the contrasting base of the fragrance. The base is very original, a clear menthol note which adds an almost sea-salty impression, is blended with warm, balsamic notes of opoponax and myrrh with oakmoss contributing with its mysterious, dark, velvety green dept. There is something with LP in this phase that reminds me of a darker, warmer and  incense infused sibling to the salty, aquatic, herbal  Finisterre by Maria Candida Gentile.In the later stage of the basenotes, LP turns dark blue in its expression as an inky note appears on an almost metallic background. 

Picture: Lapis Philosophorum
Photo: PR Olivier Durbano (c)

Lapis Philosophorum evokes the image of medieval alchemist working in the secret, hidden somewhere in the a dark moisty cave with lichens on the rough and cold walls. The overall impression of Lapis Philosophorum is, despite the odd combination of notes, a well balanced, soft, calming and relaxing fragrance of high quality and with (even to my jaded nose) intriguing twists in each phase of the dry down. This is a fragrance that catches my attention from the first dab to the final notes 12h+ later, something I really appreciate from a perfume.

Rating: 5

Notes: Calamus, juniper, rum, truffle, grapefruit, wine sediment, frankincense, mesquite, ambergris, menthol

opoponax, myrrh, musk, oak moss

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test.

Guilty (perfume) pleasures

Picture: My guilty perfumepleasure -
Jimmy Choo Flash
Photo: PR Jimmy Choo (c)

Sigrun at perfmeblog  "Riktig Parfym" is describing a sort of a guilty perfumepleasure in yesterdays post.
My guilty perfume pleasure is definitely Jimmy Choo Flash. In theory, or at least in the view of perfumesnobbery (which I'm not, I hope, but Mr Parfumista sometimes accuses me to be) I shouldn't like this almost insipid tubereuse/jasmine/orangeblossom with a flashy twist of strawberry (just as Sigruns Miss Dior Cherie - strange, the same berry AND Christine Nagel as creator :-) and catchy, bling-bling box. But somehow I'm attracted to this fragrance, which I find relaxing and comforting, quite contrary to the marketing of the fragrance which mediates images of a glamorous but hectic life in the limelight. But for me strangely, it makes me calming down a stressful day. A hidden gem among "mainstream".

Picture: The official image of Flash
Photo: PR Jimmy Choo (c)

Fragrant dessert

Picture: Scent stripes
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Sometimes when we had dinner we ends up with a fragrant dessert instead of a conventional dessert loaded with calories. Sometimes there is a theme and sometimes there is just random sampling. We are testing on scentstripes in order to experience the fragrances unaffected. Here is an example from a recent fragrant dessert:

First some theme-oriented scentstrips: The intention was to compare immortelle notes which then devolved to compare immortelle and boozy notes.

Sables (Annick Goutal) The starting point was of ocurse the role model of immortelle, Sables. This rough and salty immortelle is the image of dunes, wooden boats and docks, the soggy and slaty air at seaside.

Cuir Beluga (Guerlain) Refined luxurry immortelle combined with the softest, light suedenote ever. Pure delight!

1740 Marquis de Sade (Histoires de Parfums) The immortelle is here and working together with leathery/balsamic notes makes a true dark, cognac, boozy impression appearing.

Speakeasy (Frapin) Of course 1740 MdS had to be compared with the lighter boozy immortelle Speakeasy. On scentstripe the minty note is very prominent compared to what I percieve when wearing it, worn it's more of leathery-dark rum.

After this immortelle study, we went on for a "similar in style and expression but contemporary vs old school" study when I once again complained about the discontinuing of the great contemporary chypre

Mon Parfum Cheri, par Camille (Annick Goutal) testing the less radiant and somehow denser Edp. MPCpC IMO is the best AG so far, dark, deep patchy- plummy, a contemporary Femme Fatal and as such clean compared to its (as I belive) role model:

Femme (Rochas) testing an old Edp of the 1989 version, dark, plummy and spicy, predominantly cummin which lends it just the right slight animalic skanky aura. This is perfume at its best, outdoing most of the current niche offerings.

Talking about current niche offerings, we went further to a great and at the moment hyped one:

Iris Nazarena (Aedes de Venustas) Mr Parfumista has complained this smelling "old man and Brut" on me but I suspecting he's just plotting to take over my sample of it. On the scentstripe the smooth, rooty-iris-carrot note is very pleasant and later on, maybe there is a hint of a refined Fabergé Brut. When Mr Parfumista wears Iris Nazarena the day after it smells like on the scentstripe. Maybe I let him have the sample after all...Unfortunately it seeems to be the same as with Mona di Orio Violette Fumée, I really appreciate the fragrance and want to wear it but Mr Parfumista wears it much better :-(

Finally to the antithesis of niche: My mother had handed over an interesting sample to me:

Oud (Alyssa Ashley) interesting because I'm interested to find out how a "budget-oud" is smelling and the answer is: Faint and fleeting, syntetical, dark woody fragrance with a slight almondy note. This note also appears in expensive nicheofferings but with more dept and accompained with more notes and nuances. In the Alyssa Ashley Oud interpretation it's somehow a flat soli-note. Not a bad perfume but nothing engaging either.