Eau d'Italie - Un Bateau pour Capri

Picture: Overlooking Capri harbor from
the rotunda in Villa San Michele
Photo: Morn the Gorn (cc) Wikipedia Commons.,
some rights reserved

Un Bateau pour Capri is an Eau d'Italie fragrance inspired from the neighbourhood of Positano, the beautiful Island Capri. The fragrance is composed by Jacques Cavallier. When it comes to Capri I remember, many years ago, I almost missed the boat from Capri, strolling around in Villa San Michele, built around the turn of the century 1900, for the highsociety physican and philantrophe Axel Munthe, (sometimes called "the swedish Rasputin" as the gossip said he almost spellbound the swedish Queen consort Victoria at the time. Anyway, they were friends and had some Capri-projects about taking care of animals together.) When I was aware of that the bus had left for the harbour, I had the great luck to find a cab up there on the mountin and after a fast ride I caught the ferry and could re-join to our group just in the last minute. Now, over to the Capri inspired fragrance: Un Bateau pour Capri.

Un Bateau pour Capri starts with an aldehydic, fruity, fizz with an almost hairspray like tonality. There is also a cold, watery flowercomponent supporting, probably the peony brightened up with the freesia. Soon also a tart note appears, creating a contrasting, sort of deep freshness of the fragrance. The tart accord is following through the whole fragrance and deepens when it mingles with the woody-musky base. This tart fruity/woody aldehydic note is prounonced and what makes UBpC characteristic. The note is almost off-putting but in the same time somehow pleasant and this is what makes UBpC interesting. In the drydown, UBpC is much more floral, a dark, dense, rose-jasmine accord and despite a distinct cedarnote, the fragrance is very feminine in its expression. The rose-cedar accord remins me of my favorite Eau d'Italie fragrance so far, Pasteum Rose, which is morse unisex in style than UBpC. The aldehydic fizz is present even in the base but in dark and slight soapy way. When wearing Un Bateau pour Capri, besides Pasteum Rose, two fragrances especially  comes to my mind: Esprit d'Oscar by Oscar de la Renta for the aldehydes in the first stages of the perfume and Perles de Lalique for the cedar-rose combo, even if the cedarnote is much more prominent in the latter.

Picture: Map of Capri. Uses terrain data from SRTM3
Author: modified by Morn the Gorn (cc)
 Wikipedia Commons, some rights reserved

Despite the aldehydes and the darkness of Un Bateau pour Capri, the fragrance is refreshing worn a warm summerday, maybe in the restful shadows from the threes in the garden of Villa San Michele. If Un Bateau pour Capri had a color it would be dark blue shifting in purple as the Mediterrean sky at
dusk. Un Bateau pour Capri is casual chic in style, appropriate for a holiday on Capri and the Amalficoast. Sillage and longevity are both outstanding for this fragrance, it lasts for more than 24 hours. UBpC is also approved by Mr Parfumista who complemented it in different phases of the dry down, such statement is quite rare taking in account the many fragrances I test.

Rating: 5

Notes: Peony, freesia, peach, rose, jasmine, heliotrophe, musc, wood, cedar

Peonies

Picture Peonia Suffruticosa
Photo: Aberlin (cc) Wikipedia commons,
some rights reserved

Now it's the time when the wonderful., lush peonies starting to bloom and as a Perfumista I start longing for wearing the note. Peony is not a common soliflore in the world of fragrance and when it appears as the leading part it's almost always (just as most soliflores) backed up with another floral note, most common is rose. Below some peonies I've tested and like very much:

Picture: Vert Pivoine
Photo: PR Histoires de Parfums (c)

Vert Pivoine (Histoires de Parfums): Starts fizzy, dry, green and almost light peppery. Dries down to a lush, fullblown, almost in the first phase of withering, musky peony, supported by a rose and a contrasting  tart wellbalanced, berrynote. There is also an earthy note in the late drydown. Smells very good and feminine.

Picture: Peoneve
Photo: PR Penhaligon's (c)

Peoneve (Penhaligons): Another great smelling, feminine, lush peony, also supported by rose but the blend smells like lily of the valley is the second player. It's the lush peony contrasted with the green tangy, almost poisonous tartness of the LOTV.

Picture: Rose Pivoine
Photo: PR Parfums de Nicolaï (c)

Rose Pivoine (Parfums de Nicolaï): Here the rose and peony are acting on more equal themes, the peony doesn't take over the composition. The chamomille freshens and cooling the mix and the fruits smoothen the edges of the protagonists. A lighter and airier composition than the previous two.

Picture: Quel Amour
Photo: PR Annick Goutal (c)

Quel Amour! (Annick Goutal): Uplifting, sparkling, bubbly, slight green, peony/rose smoothed by peach and berries There is also a something contrasting, tart in the fragrance which creates a fresh and almost chilly feeling. Quel Amour is happiness in a bottle. The same lighter style as Rose Pivoine.

Eau d'Italie - Graine de Joie

Picture: HRH Prince Carl Philip and his fiancee Sofia Hellqvist
on their engagementday June 27th, 2014.
Photo: Expressen Sven Lindvall (c)

Graine de Joie from italian nichehouse Eau d'Italie is a red berry boost raised to ten. Graine de Joie is created by Daphne Bugey. The fragrance is said to be inspired by the idea of love and according to the marketing blurb "we have decided to celebrate love, and to create a fragrance that conjures up the irresistible light-headedness of when you fall in love." Graine de Joie would have been the olfactory background for the great royal news of last Friday: The handsome HRH Prince Carl Philips engagement with his charity working, from a small village, middle class background, girlfriend Sofia Hellqvist. Another Cinderella story following the one of HRH Prince Daniel. The color and expression of Graine de Joie is exactly the red color of Sofias elegant dress.

Graine de Joie starts very uplifting with ripe redberries and pomegranate, red, lush and mouthwatering delicious. The berry-pomegranate combo goes through the whole fragrance supported by a fizzy freesia who is contrasting and lighten up the fragrance. There are also a contrasting, tart note, maybe some redcurrant leaves is added to the mix or the note just picturing the tartness present in the berries themselves. Not unexpected, the berry-bowl is grounded in a well balanced musky, light woody base.

Picture: The sunny spirit of Graine de Joie
Photo: PR Eau d'Italie (c)

Beside the royal engagement, Graine de Joie gives me the image of a bowl with ripe red berries and fruits avaible when relaxing in a sunny mediterrian garden in the peak of the summer.Graine de Joie is a perfect fragrance for the season, something that departs from the usual fresh aquatics or citrus scents. The fragrance is much richer than the usual sommerfragrances and despite its full blown berry sweetness, it doesn't becames sickly sweet or smells chemical. It's an uncomplicated happy and easy to wear fragrance, appropriate both for work or casual wearing. Graine de Joie is a good composition in the floral-fruity genre. I find it more ordinary in style than the intriguing and demanding earlier Eau d'Italie compositions such as the burnt, spicy, woody Bois d'Ombrie, the green, rough, woody Sienne l'Hiver, the dramatic rose Pasteum Rose and the special cologne styled first fragrance Eau d'Italie which I personally prefer.

When it comes to similar fragrances, first of all Robert Piguet Jeunesse comes to my mind, though that one has more dept and contrasting non-berry/fruity notes. Also the fragrances in By Kilians subline In the Garden of Good and Evil are in the same style, reviews of In the City of Sin, Good Girl Gone Bad, Forbidden Games and Playing with The Devil.

Rating: 4

Notes: Red berries, red currant, pomegranate, freesia, flowers, praline, musk,cedar

Parfums de Nicolaï - Musc Monoï

Picture: Musc Monoï
Photo: PR Parfums de Nicolaï (c)

In the current tidewave of new nichehouses with strange or copy-cat fragrances, I'm even more grteful for the old, stable houses in this genre. The 25 years jubilee Parfums de Nicolaï is a true mainstay, creating high quality, elegant and in the same time effortless fragrances which also often are innovative even if the PdN house doesn't make any fuss about it. Such a fragrance is the latest release, Musc Monoï,as usual created by Patricia herself.

Musc Monoï is said to be inspired by summer, beach and the suntan oil Ambre Solarie and as I havn't tried the oil, I can't refer to if Musc Monoï is close to it or not. But when I refer to suntan oils in general, Musc Monoï is not smelling as the regular, coconut, big tiare overdosed ones. Musc Monoï in comparison is restraind and casual chic in the same time it's warm and highlights the sweet ylang-ylang backed up with a deeper jasmine and is brightend of the flowery-lemony qualities of magnolia in a beautiful way. There is also something aldehydic in its style, like a carefree, tropical island Chanel No 5 Eau Premièrè. It could also be a bohemic-chic cousin (draped in a 140x140 Hermès parero) to the classic aldehyde Hermès Calèche personality.Probably it's the warmth, the yellowness and carefree apperance of both fragrances that gives me these assosciations
.

Picture: Hermès "Jungle Love",
cashmere and silk  (140x140)
Photo: PR Hermès (c)

After the flowery beginning, Musc Monoï reach a more musky stage which deepens the apperance of the flowers. I can smell a salty quality as also some stripped down, dry coconut and the same with the, in general almost narcotic, tiareflower. It's like a minimalistic, domesticated accord of the nut/tiare and here I for the first time can smell some light traces of a sunscreen of my childhood, Snik an old austrian classic (mostly worn during the winterholidays in the swedish mountains), sadly I havn't seen in the shops in this millennium. As Musc Monoï dries down further, a slight juicy, but not fruity, quality shows up. Probably this is the dreaded note of calone, handled in the right, cautious way. The musk in Musc Monoï is not dominating as a note, to my nose it's more of a carrier of the floral and light salty notes and the musk is probably the component that lends the good longevity to Musc Monoï, it lasts for almost a day, off beach.

When it comes to the salty notes, such sometimes could be almost intrusive, I'm thinking of Laboratorio Olfattive Salina which I think is a ok smelling fragrance but it has to be handled carefully as it has a grand sillage and longevity for days. Salty notes lightly done like in Musc Monoï or Parfumerie Générales perfect summerfragrance Bois Naufrage doesn't require such considerations when applying and is therefore relaxing and uncomplicated.

Musc Monoï is easy to like but not at all simple. It's definitly a charming campanion for summer and it could easily also be worn in the tiresome summerdays in the office.Musc Monoï is avaible in the (new) Nicolaï standardbottles 30 & 100 ml from the PdN website.

Rating: 4+

Notes: Neroli, lemon, petitgrain,  ylang-ylang, jasmine, coconut, calone, magnolia, ylang-ylang, sandalwood musk

Thanks to Parfums de Nicolï for the sample to test 

Midsummer (and some concerns about Caron)

Picture: Midsummerflower
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

So here we are, already the magic summersolstice with the shortest night of the year i.e not dark at all, just more or less light outside. But when it comes to the temprature one could suspect it's the wintersolstice we are celebrating. Yesterday was the coldest Midsummereve in decades and perfumewise I felt to put on some spicy-woody YSL Opium instead of something traditional midsummer flowery or green grassy. It all came to a compromise, I chose a flower but not at light pretty summerflowery one.

Instead I went for a classical, dramatic, elegant and restrained soliflore, Caron Tubéreuse which has intrigued me lately, inspired from the great review on Suzannes Perfume Journal as well as a post on The Scented Salamander and the fact that I suspect (don't know from any official source) that Tubereuse is discontinued. At least as a fragrance widly avaible in a bottle and not only as an urn/fountain-extrait. Can't find it on the Caron website which is also the case with for example Bellodgia (there is a new release called Più Bellodgia) and I suppose the old, cranation dominated one is replaced with a new interpretation of the fragrance as last years regulations hardly affected the substances which creates the smell of carantion.

Definitly Caron Tubereuse should have more attention. It's not the bombastic, flowery, tuberose as Robert Piguet Fracas, nor the green, crisp, leafy, sunny tuberose as Frederic Malle Carnal Flower. Caron Tubereuse starts with a honeyed nectarnote like in Annick Goutal Tubereuse but not rounded and warm in texture as the latter. Caron Tubereuse on the contrary is cold, slight bitter-green and strangly enough at first dry but later dark-green slight mossy, a bit moisty in texture. It's a dark and restraind fragrance and even if not smelling close, I think Caron Tubereuse expressing a similar mood as Mona di Orio Les Nombres d'Or Tubéreuse which is a lighter in texture tuberose compared to the Caron.

Summer

Picture: The entry of Gustav Vasa,
the future king Gustav I of Sweden
to Stockholm in Midsummer Eve 1523
Painting by Johan Gustav Sandberg (1782-1854)

This year I'm taking a break for summer. June is the the brightest month up here in the North with the cresendo in Midsummer. Even if vacation is far away, one really have to take care of these rare summerevenings when coming home from work. Of course I'll chime in with one or another entry, but it will not be on a regular basis.

I wish you a great summer!

Rania J - Lavande 44

Picture: King Henry VIII,  (1491-1547)
Painting ca 1537 by Hans Holbein (1498-1543)
Wikipedia commons 

Lavande 44 is the lavenderinterpretation of Rania Jouaneh, perfumer with her own house, Rania J.
Lavande 44 starts with a natural smelling sparkling lavender highlighted by slight bitter, aromatic citrusnotes. After a while some spritzy green, almost like geranium appears, probably traces from the vetiver mixed with lavender and others. When moving further there is also an almost gourmand vibe in the fragrance, maybe the powdery, sweet tonka gives that effect. In the basenotes, Lavande 44 is considerably darker in character and texture then most lavender fragrances. The combined notes, creates a very pleasant leathery note and ther is also a pleasant almost sour note that contrasts the sweetness of the tonka been. The lavender is still present in the basenotes but not as herbal as in the beginning of the fragrance. In this stage it's much more intergrated with the other notes and harder to pick out as a separate one. In the basenotes Lavande 44 reminds me of a more straightforward Vero Profumo Kiki Extrait or Kiki Voile d'Extrait, the Kikis to my nose are a bit more complicated with some more layers in the compositions. As a great Kiki devotee I of course also like Lavande 44. Just like most of the other Rania J fragrances, Lavande 44 is in the same time contemporary and timeless, which seems to be a feature of the Rania J. line. Lavande 44 is, just as Rose Isthar, a fragrance that I can imagine whiffing by in the Tudor court, the pleasant smell of lavender but with something dark and dangerous underneath. Would have been perfect as a shared fragrance between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Picture: Lavande 44
Photo: PR Rania J. (c)

Lavande 44 is a lavender also for autumn and winter. It's close to the wearer and perfectly officefriendly. Longevity is good for a lavenderfragrance, over a day.

Even if Lavande 44 is darker and more dramatic, I think that fans of natural smelling lavenderfragrances on the higher end of the fragrance notescale, such as Maria Candida Gentile  Luberon  and Caldey Abbey Perfumes Caldey Island Lavendel (swe) would appreciate Lavande 44.

Rating: 4+

Notes: Bergamot, petit grain, lavender, patchouli, tonka been, oud, labdanum, vetiver, musk

Thanks to Rania J for the samples to try.