Category Archives: World of Perfume

Snowed in!

World of Perfume December 9, 2012 Comments: 17

I shouldn’t be so happy about it but I can’t help it. 🙂 I love snow.

And we had a record-breaking snow yesterday. 40cm of snow fell in less than 15 hours which has never happened before in Zagreb (last record is from 1955 when 38cm fell in 24 hours).

The whole city pretty much stopped yesterday and luckily it happened on a weekend as I can’t imagine what would it have looked like if it were a normal work-day.

This made me feel Christmas is near and I put everyone in the mood yesterday by making warm egg-punch (made with rum, oranges and wine) and today by making meringues with almonds and cinnamon. They might not look great but they taste quite good. 🙂

So, as I’m getting in the mood for Christmas, I’m compiling a list of my Christmas fragrant and non-fragrant picks I hope to post soon.

Here are some photos of snow.

The terrace today:

snijeg2

The terrace yesterday:
snijeg4

Zagreb yesterday (pic taken from http://www.rtl.hr):

snijeg5

The Poison Rose – Paestum Rose by Eau d’Italie

Short perfume review, World of Perfume November 26, 2012 Comments: 13

I don’t remember the last time my perfume caused so many reactions, from “Please don’t wear it ever again as it’s making me sick” (coming from my boyfriend), to “It feels like entering a poison ivy cloud, it clears the sinuses” (by a colleague). The last one was actually meant in a positive way. 🙂

I read my old review of a sample of this perfume and here is where the whole dabbing vs. spraying a perfume make all the difference.

Spraying Paestum Rose gives you a day-long sillage you can smell. I’ve been smelling it for the whole day and enjoying myself – I really like this perfume even though it seems I will have to stop wearing it.

Notes: Davana, cinnamon, pink and rose pepper, coriander, blackcurrant buds, osmanthus,
peony, Turkish rose, tea, elemi, incense, myrrh, opoponax, cedarwood, papyrus,
patchouli, wenge, vetiver, musk, benzoin

Truth be told, there is an edge to this perfume. I think that is the reason why I love it so much, it seems to be the perfect blend of a well-formed and redolent rose in full bloom, but in this case the thorns have a smell and they warn you not to get too close. Taking apart this perfume by the notes you can smell, will not bring you close to picturing the smell in your mind – it is they type of perfume that gives you an aura. A poisonous one it seems, but I mean that in the best possible way.
I love feeling poisonous if it means I smell of Paestum Rose.

But I understand why other people might not be so happy about it…

I’m lost

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume November 20, 2012 Comments: 15

I believe it’s the case of as I know more the less I feel I know.
I am getting a bit lost among my perfumes (and perfumes in general).
Each morning I stand in front of my stash and I have no idea what to put on. I don’t seem to be able to see the trees in the proverbial forest (I’m getting it backwards). 😉
I can’t seem to figure out what exactly is it I want to wear. I like the choices I make, after all, there is a reason I own those decants and bottles but something is not clicking.
I am prone to blaming it on stress ( stress is such a great thing, you can blame it for everything) but I think it’s more likely the case of me not getting as familiar as I should with both my collection and the perfumes outside my ‘comfort’ zone. I realized yesterday I’m a bit stuck in the groups I like when I went to a little sniffing session in Flores here.
I decided to try CDG Daphne again and realized I now liked it. I tried it twice before and completely dismissed it.
I think that the fact so many perfumes go through my hands makes me lose focus of the things I love and enjoy and that is how I lost myself among the perfumes.

I am now hoping that by trying to smell my samples and getting to know better all I have, I will regain my focus and enjoy wearing the perfumes I have much more than now.

I do not plan on adding anything to my collection until I get a handle on what I have. Swapmania withstanding as I’m getting some lovelies through that. 🙂

Ok now that I’ve rambled through this post, I should say it was prompted by smelling Amouage Opus III.

I like it even though it’s not my kind of perfume but I can’t figure out whether I would wear it or not. Even though it reminds me of the dentist’s office for some reason.
Does this happen to anyone else? Something similar maybe?

Sample of the day: Ambrarem by Histoires de Parfums

Sample of the day, World of Perfume November 14, 2012 Comments: 7

I’ve been smelling this sample for over a week now and each time I smell it, I have something else to say about it. I find it extremely strange and I don’t think I could wear it but I am strangely attracted first to its brooding peculiar smell and then to its ambiental nature. It would be the perfume for a strange, dark sexy, ambivalently good hero of the Northern sea-dwelling people. 🙂 I have no idea where that came from but that’s how it made me feel this time around.

Top Note: Pink Peppercorn, Elemi
Heart Note: Iris Absolute, Oud, Saffron
Base Note: Castoreum Absolute, Bourbon Vanilla, Sandalwood, Amber

In the beginning, I thought of it as an herbal amber, leathery, slightly green (as in shrubbery green) and lightly smoky. Now I smell the light pepperiness, leatheriness and smokiness rising from my arm and feel the connection to the rest of the Histoires de Parfums collection (there is something in there that makes you connect the dots to the rest of the collection).

But after I got the impression of my dark hero, later on, I smell the place he lives. It smells like dark, weedy sea at the beginning of a stormy night and the oud definitely adds to that idea. Really ambiental. And the image makes me go weak at the knees.

I sincerely appreciate the strangeness that is this perfume.

The notes work in synergy to bring to life this transporting perfume – those that I can smell not being the whole of what I smell (peppercorn, elemi, oud, hints of sandalwood and ambery saltiness in the drydown).

 

My sample was made by the lovely people at Jovoy while in Paris.

P.S. Aragorn was the closest to my sexy imagined dark lord I could find.

Sample of the day: Bond no. 9 So New York

Sample of the day, World of Perfume November 7, 2012 Comments: 10

Ok, who puts these notes as the main notes of a perfume?! Mirabelle, espresso accord and cocoa powder? (Btw, I had to google Mirabelle, I didn’t know that was a plum)

I mean, I find it a bit stupid as I was smelling it without checking the notes and at some point I was wondering if what I was smelling was flowers – rose and peony and a little more googling turned out Aus Liebe zum Duft and their more real list: bergamot, warm milk?!, patchouli, lily of the valley, peony, musk and precious woods.

Although honestly, the notes didn’t help much.

My initial thought was that it smelled a bit like Chinatown (the sweet fruity warm opening) and Lexington Avenue (the nutty sweet coffee and I thought I detected some smoke) but in a more subdued fashion. Could be the fact that I dabbed this and not sprayed it like I do with the other two but it still struck me as a lighter combination of these two.

Which brings me to the question – does New York smell of sweet fruit, coffee and cigarette smoke? As those seem to be a recurring theme in Bond’s NY perfumes.

I already described practically the whole opening, but if I were to ignore my associations, I’d say it smells like plums dipped in chocolate with some booziness added to that chocolate. Yummy!

 After some time the florals take over. I still can’t believe I pegged peony without looking at the notes. 🙂 Although lily of the valley completely escaped me before and after knowing the notes. The whole perfume is  kind of a strange mix of the notes I described, which work together rather well until the drydown and the musk. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of synthetic musk I think of as the clean musk that overtakes my nose and won’t let me smell anything and that is what happened here.

I know many people enjoy that type of smell but for me it ruined this perfume. I was bound to love a light type of mix of two of my favourite Bonds.

 

Pic taken from Bond No. 9 site.

Sample of the day: MPG Ambre Précieux

Sample of the day, World of Perfume November 6, 2012 Comments: 7

Like I mentioned yesterday, I want to try and review, even if it sometimes ends up being two sentences, all the samples in my collection. Now that I said that, I don’t think that will ever be possible due to their immensity, but you never know. How many I manage to get through will be great.

So, notes from Luckyscent say: myrtle, lavender, amber, vanilla, nutmeg, ambergris, peru balsam, tolu.

Luckyscent also sets this on their scale as beginning masculine which upset me to no end when I saw it. 🙂 But I admit now they were correct. Which does not mean I don’t plan on wearing it.

The thing is, if you went by the notes, you might think this was going to be a sweet amber (with all the vanilla type notes). But it’s not. Which is kind of strange as I find it very intoxicating and can imagine that a man smelling like Ambre Precieux would turn female heads just by the fact that he’s wearing that perfume.

It starts of with an alcoholic amber opening, and when I say alcoholic, I don’t mean in it in the booze type of smell but more of the vintage variety where you can sometimes smell the fact that perfumes are mainly alcohol (the very good kind). 🙂

In the opening there is a lightly sweet note of the typical amber kind lightly combined in my opinion with something incensey (although that note isn’t listed). I thought I might be mistaking lavender and the spiciness in the beginning for incense (once I saw lavender note, it became clear I was smelling it) but later on I kept thinking I caught whiffs of it as the perfume loses that little sweetness it had and heads into dry amber with hints of salty skin territory.

Even though I love ambers and always smell any kind of perfume even hinting at amber, this one smelled original to me. Possibly because of all my ambers I never came across one that I would admit to being more masculine than feminine (I somehow always think ambers are feminine – they smell seductive to me).

It makes perfect sense though to create one seductive amber for guys to wear then. And Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier did just that.

 

Finding beauty, Puredistance Opardu

World of Perfume November 1, 2012 Comments: 11

It always takes me a while before I can try and organize my thought on any of the Puredistance perfumes. I believe one of the reasons lie in the fact that their perfumes really reflect the elegance the company tries to instill in them and that is something it is hard to smell these days generally and the other is I lack words to describe them precisely because of reason number one. I haven’t smelled that many elegant perfumes that my perfume vocabulary can describe them adequately.

I will try though. 🙂

The first thing that comes to my mind when I smell it, is that it has the usual Ms. Buzantian touch – it is at the same time elegant, and mellow. Which is strange when I consider the fact that I also feel its beginning being slightly brash (in a good way to get you noticed) due to what I consider a clean nettle feeling which is at the same time sharpish, I would say thanks to carnation.

What I love about Puredistance perfumes is that they make me forget they are mostly about flowers, I am not one to usually fall for flowers, but when A. Buzantian does her thing, I don’t realize it is flowers I smell – I smell the elegance of a well-mannered lady that knows her presence will be noted when she walks into a room but she’ll ignore it as she knows that whoever comes close will be seduced by her perfume even before she does it (and she is the kind of lady who will).

I see the notes say there are powdery notes in this perfume, so I’m guessing they are responsible for the clean and mellow feeling I get from the beginning to the end of this perfume, although lessening after a while.

I would never go so far and say I smell the notes listed as the flowers I smell in this perfume lean to white but their beauty is hidden behind green foliage that tries to hide them but fails miserably. You cannot hide the beauty of these flowers as their smell leads you straight through the foliage to their place of hiding.

Notes revealed so far: carnation, tuberose absolute, purple lilac, jasmine absolute and gardenia with a background evoking the gentleness of romance through soft powdery notes.

 

What Puredistance site says on the perfume:

“OPARDU has an instant hypnotizing effect that revives memories of love, romance and seduction. Be prepared for a perfume that will bring you back to the velvety nightlife of Paris in earlier days.”

Now that I’ve been thouroughly seduced by Ms. Buzantian’s flowers, I cannot help but wonder what she would come up with when creating an oriental perfume. She would probably make me fall to my knees. 😉

 

Pic taken from http://www.puredistance.com/

My sample was sent by Puredistance for review.

Autumn sale!

World of Perfume October 20, 2012 Comments: 2

I decided it’s about time I cleared my perfume collection by letting go of some of the perfumes I keep for sentimental purposes and never wear and also the time to decrease the contents of some of my bottles as by the rate I’m going, I will never use them up and the most probable thing that would happen to those perfumes is they will become unwearable.

So here is the list:

Nikki de Saint-Phalle, edt, 50/59ml – 25$

4711 Tosca, 190/200ml, splash bottle – 60$

Guerlain Mitsouko, 70/75ml, edp, – 50$

Carolina Herrera by Carolina Herrera, 40/50ml – 20$

Thierry Mugler Angel Liqueur de Parfum, 34/35 ml, – 50$

Christian Dior Dolce Vita Deodorant Parfume, 60/100ml – 25$

Clarins Eau Dynamisante 90/100ml, without box,  45$

Dior Diorella  35/50ml, edt, without box – 30$
Bulgari Omnia, 50/65ml, – 40$

MAC, MV1, 17/20ml – 40$

Estee Lauder, Bronze Goddess, edt, 15ml – 10$

Parfum d’Empire, Wazamba, 10/50ml – 10$

Set of 4  decants of 4,5 ml :Santa Maria Novella Melograno, Maria Candida Gentile Exultat Sideris, Cinabre, – 30$

Malak, Rose, edt, 4ml decant, 5$

L’Artisan Parfumeur, Navegar, 10ml decant – 20$

Serge Lutens, Rousse, 10ml decant – 30$

Nez a Neez, Bal Musque, 10ml decant – 20$

Balmain, La Mome, 10 ml decant – 10$

L’Artisan Parfumeur, Cote d’Amour, 10ml decant – 10$

L’Artisan Parfumeur, Piment Brulant, 10ml decant – 20$

The shipping will depend on the size of the package, between 3-15$ for bigger bottles.

Santal Majuscule (and a minuscule draw)

World of Perfume September 3, 2012 Comments: 23

There is a reason why I don’t review Serge Lutens perfumes often even though I wear many and like many of them (wouldn’t mind owning practically the whole line).
I just never seem to be able to find the words to describe exactly what I smell – that happens with other perfumes as well, but nowhere am I so strongly aware of it as with SL perfumes.

So, I’ll try and do my best ut in the end, as is always the case with Uncle Serge perfumes, the reviews won’t really prepare you for what you smell in the end. 🙂 (I find that a great thing myself)

Notes: sandalwood, cocoa, Arabian attar rose, honey, spices

I’ve sampled and worn Santal Majuscule many times over the weeks I have it and still, each time I smell it, I find another facet of it to be revealed. I went through so many ideas of what this perfume smells like and each time I smell it again, half of the stuff I thought it smelled like aren’t there but there are new things I smell.

Until I saw the notes, cocoa and rose never entered my mind  but once I saw them, I knew they were in there, I even remembered exactly at what point the cocoa comes to play.

Before I start describing what it smells like to  me, I should say that the most obvious thing I get from it is that it is a combination of perfumes that already exist in the line. I don’t mean to say by that that I think it’s not good or smelling differently, it’s just that there are familiar accords jumping out at you at different times.

Sometimes it’s the idea of sweet, sticky, spiced (and even boozy) fruit of what I’d like to think as Arabian market variety the first thing you smell, soon to be followed by the teasing wafts of how Jeux de Peau starts, following with opening of Santal Blanc until sometimes you come across barest hints of Ambre Sultan hidden in the murky depths of this perfume.
Because there ARE depths to it, you can smell them from the start. But try as you might, sniffing at close proximity won’t get you anywhere near those depths.

So, what I smell in the beginning is described in the previous paragraph, warm, spicy, boozy fruit with the general feeling of seriousness and darkness (there’s not frivolity to this fruit as the feeling is dry and not sparkling and happy) with cocoa underscoring the darkness and warmth and sandalwood making you swoon.
Now I know it’s there, I can smell the rose appear and the fruitiness slowly disappear. At this point is where I feel a smile blossoming on my face. It is also where I feel the resemblance to Santal Blanc is most prominent.

Being true to my smelling practices, after enjoying this phase for quite a while, all I can say about the drydown, is, it continues to dry in the vein it smells.

Honestly, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m really not a drydown person.  My attention dissipates by that time.

So, for the minuscule draw I have two samples from my bottle, tell me why you think you might like/love this or why not? Both will work. 🙂

Vero Kern: Mito (or, please bribe me)

World of Perfume July 10, 2012 Comments: 19

I don’t think there is anyone in our perfume community who after some time doesn’t start believing in synchronicity.
It seems each season, I have the same type of a problem. I want something new (to enjoy along some of my all time favorites) but I don’t feel like trying many things I haven’t tested yet looking for the perfect seasonal scent.
And then sometimes, they simply fall into your lap. 🙂 Or, well, arrive in the mail.

After being offered the opportunity to try the latest Vero Kern perfume Mito, of course I jumped at it.

I might have guessed it would take a while to get us to know each other if I were to go by previous Vero Kern perfumes (Kiki, Rubj, Onda).

Notes: magnolia, citruses, champaca, jasmine, galbanum, hyacinth, cypress, moss

While checking for notes, I saw that this was classified as a floral and even though you cannot miss the florals, it still smells more like a (floral) grapefruity chypre to me. No wonder when you see galbanum, cypress and moss listed as notes.

For me it starts off green with a bitterish undertaste, helped along with citruses and cypress I guess, but I can’t help but think of the citrus in this as grapefruit. That is my idea of the citrus in Mito. And well, you cannot miss the galbanum in the opening. If you are wondering how exactly does galbanum smell like, try Mito.
But what you can miss and if you’re not careful and you blink (or don’t inhale at the right moment), you’ll miss the sweetness of mint playing hide and seek in there. You might seek after but it will be well hidden. 🙂
The whole perfume is a game of hide and seek for me actually.
Try it once, and you would swear there is the greeness bolstered by citrus and kept fresh and serious until the end.
Try it again, and there is the sweet mint playing hide and seek, and the hyacinth is making you wonder if that is its trail you’re picking up when smelling some sweet powdery dryness in there.

And if you are trying to find the flowers, you will really need to play hard. Their hiding place is well chosen. You can hear them in the background but look as hard as you want for them, and they will elude you.

For some reason, I am trying to fit vetiver into this perfume. 🙂 I don’t know why my mind goes, Is there vetiver in there? as it’s not listed in the notes (but then again, neither is the mint).
I realize my description might not be very helpful. 🙂

After the beginning, the best I can do is say, the galbanum dissipates as do the citruses and the floralcy becomes more apparent  but in my case not as you might point, aha! I see you jasmine! (I do glimpse you though) but more in the line of true perfumery – the florals enveloped in the greenery.
They do have leaves and stems after all and are usually located in a garden…

P.S. As a little side note, Mito actually means “a bribe” in Croatian. 🙂 I wouldn’t mind being bribed by this. 😉