Le Galion - Snob

Picture: Tagetes, probably T. patula, on Gotland, Sweden
Photo: A friend of author Per Enström, user Plkr (cc)
Wikimedia commons, some rights reserved

Snob is another of the reworked and re-released fragrances from classical french perfumehouse Le Galion. The reworkings are performed by Thomas Fontaine, the originals were created by Paul Vacher.

Snob starts with sparkling, almost metallic, cold flowery, crisp fruity notes with a touch of saffron. As Snob dries further down, medium bright rosy note appears, if I imagine a color, it's creamy white. The rose is backed up with classical white flowers. Soon the note that seems to be the twist of this fragrance shows up; the tangy, sour and almost citric note of tagets, a great contrast to the rest of this well behaved floral mix. The tagets makes me think of Montale Aoud Red Flowers a darker and denser, more distinkt floral-woody-oriental fragrance featuring the not so common flower (in perfume); tagetes.
The flowery, sparkling coolness remains during the whole drydown of Snob. The base is bright as rest of the fragrance, woody-musky without powdery notes.

Picture: Le Galion Snob
Photo: PR Le Galion (c)

Snob is a good fragrance for spring and summer, an elegant, but not snobbish, officescent with a twist in the overall floral harmony. Longevity is good, about a day, sillage is descent. Those who likes a bright, wellmade  floral boquet in a timeless style like for example Jean Patou Joy would probably appreciate to test Snob as also the other florals from Le Galion, all well made in a opulent and timeless style. Which one to prefer is in the end up to the personal floral taste.

Rating: 3

Notes: Mandarin, bergamot, saffron, apple, rose, jasmine, orange blossom, iris, tagetes, sandalwood, cedarwood, musk

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to try.

Le Galion - 222

Picture: The light leather 222
Photo: PR Le Galion (c)

Le Galion 222 is another reissue/reconstruction of an old fragrance from the house of Le Galion. Thomas Fontaine has reworked the old formula of Paul Vacher.

222 starts with a accord  similar to cardamon (not mentioned in the notelist) and leather, first the spicy note appears, than the leather intensifies. In this stege 222 reminds me of the cardamon infused trio Veni, Vidi, Vici by Histoire de Parfum.The leather is a natural smelling, medium strenght leather, like the leather in a pair of gloves, not the rough leather of a black bikers jacket nor the smooth leather inside a fine handbag. The leathery/spicy accord is balanced with a cold, slight nondescript  flowery accord and the fragrance as a whole is cold in texture. The base is sort of clean, contemporary mossy/woody with the leather still apperant. In the basenotes 222 reminds me of a smoother and weaker Helmut Lang Cuiron (vintage version).

222 is a gentle leather, suitable for most daytime occasion, for most season exept the warmest summerdays. Those who like light leathers like Hermès Kelly Caleche, Cuir de Lancome etc, could also appreciate 222.

Rating: 3

Notes: Violet, myrrh, styrax, lavender, geranium, coumarin, oakmoss, cedar, sandalwood, vanilla, leather

Easterfrags 2015

Picture: The Peter the Great Egg, 1903
Photo: Uploaded from Dutch and UK Wikipedia,
no rights reserved for the file

Easter is more of a "fragranceholiday" than Christamas to me. In Christmas there are so many other competing smells as from the Christmastree, Glögg (swedish mulled wine), saffron bread, red cabbage, mustard etc. Easter is expressed in  three distinct fragrancegroups to me: The foody - gourmand fragrances, the crispy - green fragrances,  especially the ones containing bulb flowers or cold iris and the churchy- incense or precious resinfragrances. Below some reaible ones from each category:

The foody
Kiss Me Intense (Parfums de Nicolaï): Pastry and sweet floral high-level gourmand pleasure.
Cuir Garamanate (Parfums MDCI): Some dark, boozy almost liqurie notes hides in this powerful woody blend.
Nevermore (Frapin): Now we're entering the dark, boozy territory, mysterious and dark as Good Friday itself.

The crispy
No 19 Edp (Chanel): Contains more flowery notes than the Edt, beautiful iris, rose, galbanum accord.
Amazone (Hermès): Crispy, cold, green bouquet with bulbflowers with some amplifying fruity notes. An old time favorite, very casual chic.
Antonia (Puredistance): Green leaves and stems in a beautiful sunny, floral composition. Timeless, casual chic, perfect for the Easter lunch.

The churchy
Pink Quartz (Olivier Durbano): A pink mineral rose with myrrh, incenses and precious spices. Cold as the marble of the cathedral, contrasted with the warmth and smell of the incense burned inside.
Relique D'Amour (Oriza L.Legrand): The small medival chapel with a Madonnasculpture who has listened to centuries of prayers.
Passage d'Enfer (L'Artisan Parfumeur): Incense in the air, lillies on the altar and a ray of light shining through the gotic windows of the cathedral.

Wish you a Happy Fragrant Easter!

Parfums de Nicolaï - Kiss Me Intense

Picture: The Kiss (1908-1909)
Painting by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Wikimedia commons

Kiss Me Intense is a reworked version of Kiss Me Tender Edt which was launched 2010. As usual when it comes to the house of de Nicolaï, Mme de Nicolaï herself is the creater of the fragrance.

Kiss Me Intense starts with a beautiful, warm, lush, sunny and somehow fresh note of heliotrope. It's not overly sweet, it's like it's just picked and some of the juicy green from the steam and leaves are also included. The heliotrophe is sweet and warm,  close to the scent of mimosa but thicker and darker in scent and texture. Almond and anice add gourmand sweetness to the fragrance and the mix smells almost like a soft almondcake. The flowery, gourmand accords are saftely anchored in a soft vanilla base. The fragrance is quite linear and the wearer could enjoy most of the notes  simultaneously. Kiss Me is a very cosy and embracing fragrance, like a smooth cashmerejumper. Somehow Kiss Me reminds me of how I imagine the atmosphere in beginning of the last century, the era of Gustav Klimt, where elegant ladies enjoying pasteries in Wiener cafés.

Picture: Kiss Me Intense in 30 and 100 ml
Photo: PR Parfums de NIcolaï (c)

To me Kiss Me Intense is a bit less pastery and more of the flower than the Edt version. It's a very good, sort of natural smelling gourmand fragrance, not too sweet or cloying, it has an uplifting sparkle to it. The gourmand style combined with the sweet flowernote makes Kiss Me perfect to wear for Easter. The longevity is good, at least for a day and sillage medium. Kiss Me is a fragrance for comforting, casual chic occasions and would also suit for casual Friday in the workplace.

Kiss Me is for those who like gourmands like Etro Heliotrope, Editions Frederic Malle Dries van Noten, By Kilian Intoxicated Carner Barecelona Rima XI and El Born

Rating: 5

Notes :Heliotrope, vanilla, star anise, almond, hay.

Mona di Orio - Nuit Noire (old and new version)

Picture: Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
Oil on canvas 1875
by James Abbott MacNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Wikimedia commons

Nuit Noire is, just as Lux, reviewd recently, one of the earliest fragrances created by Mona di Orio and has been withdrown from the market for some years. Now it has re-appered in the Signature collection. According to information from the house of Mona di Orio, no changes in the composition either of Lux nor Nuit Noire is done in the reissued fragrances.

Nuit Noire reveals its true self right from the start: Already the introducing accords are dirty, animalic, obscure floral oriental with a wiff from the stable, a mysterious and dangerous magic potion. I detect, or at least imagine I detect, citrus in the new version, which probably faded a bit in my original bottle where the opening is less sparkling, a subdued, dark orangeblossom/tubereuse, spices which are quiet, with a texture and color as darkbrown silkvelvet. There are also notes of ambery leather, a furry animalic, civet styled note combined with a bit sweet and slight animalic almost fuggy musky note, not the vegetal musk or clean musky note which are more common in contemporary perfumes. Expect from the short wiff of citrus in the very beginning there is not much that differs when comparing the old and new version. I precieve the basenotes of the new one as a tad lighter, this is just a nuance and maybe it depends on how much was applied on each wrist from the beginnig and how much is washed off during the day etc.

Picture: Nuit Noire (new bottle)
Photo: PR Parfums Mona di Orio (c)

Nuit Noire is a fragrance in the same vein as Caron Nuit de Noël and  Jean Desprez Bal à Versailles but softer, more polished and not as old fashioned even if retro styled. I can imagine a mature and elegant woman wearing this a very dark night in late autumn. It's intriguing with all facets that appears during the relatively linear dry down. Nuit Noire has close sillage and good longevity, traces are left after 24h. A fragrance for evening/night in autumn /winter or for daytime cold days, adding some everyday drama. A classic in the typical elegant, well made and timeless style of Mona di Orio.

Rating: 5

Notes: Orange blossom, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, tuberose, sandalwood, cedar, clove. amber, musk, tonka, leather

Scented thoughts - March 2015

Picture: PR Puredistance (c)

Two years ago I regulary posted my general thoughts about fragrances in the "Fragrance(s) of the week". Today I'll start this up again but on a more random basis.

* Kudos to Puredistance, LOWERING their prices, going completely the opposite from the mainsstream movement of niche rising the prices to sometimes outrageous and ridiculous levels. That's what I call customer care. For more information, read here.

* On Twitter I have a SOTD-project going on for about a month. The aim is to find out if there is some pattern in my fragrance wearing. The project is planned to recur a month per each quarter 2015. Until today there is no clue besides when I was a little sick I prefered light Goutals like Les Colognes (Néroli, L'Eau d'Hadrien, Vétiver) and Le Mimosa.

* A general observation linked to what is written about the light Goutals: The longer I'm "in perfume" the more I appreciate the chic, simple, wearable, good quality stuff, frags which are sort of basics in the perfume wardrobe. It doesn't matter if it's niche, mainsteam or in between. Of course it's fun to wear, analyze and review complicated stuff, but for everyday wear I observe an increasing wearing of the basics.

Puredistance - WHITE

Picture: Puredistance WHITE
Photo: PR Puredistance (c)

The idea of the new perfume WHITE  from the house of Puredistance is to create at perfume so Beautiful and positive that it gives the wearer an instant flow of happiness.  IMO Perfumer Antoine Lie and house founder/creative director Jan Ewoud Vos  have indeed succeeded in their mission to fullfill this idea. The process to create WHITE took over one year and probably this is a big part of the sucess, Puredistance never stresses new perfumes into the market, the creators take the time needed. Therefore the Puredistance line is one of the most solid lines in the market, there are no misses (so far) just solid, sophisticated, very high quality perfumes and I'm very fond of them all, can't choose a favorite as each fragrance suits different moods, styling and occassion. See my reviews of Black, Opardu, I, M and Antonia.

WHITE starts bright, transaprent and happy. My instant thought is the image of a daisy, a dried specimen of that little sunny flower was also included with the sample from Puredistance, a very good illustration to this scent. As WHITE dries down, flawless like an exquisite brilliant it becames thicker but never heavy in its texture. An excellent creamy smoothness appears and stays during the rest of the drydown, making WHITE very comforting to wear despite its elegant aura. WHITE is 
seamless blended and it's hard to pick up where on note start dominating and another take a step backwards. The notes are interacting, shaping a flowery veil anchored in a smooth top notch sandalwood, whitout any harsh or sharp edges, it's like the sandalwood is a part of the bouquet. There is a tonality of musk  wafting from the base of WHITE, a white, non-dirty musk which has no traces of  chemical,laundry. Instead it's deepens the accords and gives  bodies to the flowers. The musk also, together with the pleasant sweetness of tonka been and a minimalist patchouli, creates that special tart note which I  appreciate so much in complex floral compositions, in WHITE without the powdery aspect which the tart note also could be combined with. On my skin the tart musky accord especially highlighing the airy rose, pale yellow or pale pink if imagining a color, supported by some dry, slight fizzy, light earthy orris elements but without the orris carrotnote.



Picture: Picture: Puredistance full Collection
spring 2015
Photo: PR Puredistance (c)

WHITE is a sophisticated fragrance, surprisingly easy to wear taken its elegance and the expensive, high quality ingredients in to account. It would the perfect pefume for the bride of the coming swedish royal wedding in June, Sofia read this :-). WHITE is comforting and conveys a  happy mood and sunshine. Even if in style a spring/summer perfume WHITE has enough dept and genuine texture for pleasant  wearing year around. It's as timeless and versatile as for example Chanel No 22. The longevity is very good, 12h+ and a few small spritses from the samples is enough. WHITE is in perfume (extrait) strenght and therefore quite close to the wearer, even if distinct traces are recognizable for people around.

WHITE is so wellcrafted that it makes me considering selling off my less well crafted florals. Even if I like them as such, when compard to a fragrance as WHITE the chemical, harsh and laundry notes of especially some mainstream perfumes becomes quite obvious.

WHITE is for everyone who likes a delicate, flower boquet and will please those who like the  style of fragrances as for example Grossmith Amelia and  Floral Veil or the new Teo Cabanel Lace Garden.

Maybe a bit boring but the fact is that I already know WHITE will be one of my most liked pefumes of 2015. And it definitly has the potential to be THE number one of 2015. Beware Chanel Misia.

Rating: 5

Notes: May rose, tonka absolute, orris root, sandalwood, bergamot, musk, vetiver, patchouli.