Cuir de Lancome

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When Jen from This Blog Really Stinks dropped by my Lancôme Trésor review and recommended Cuir de Lancôme, I decided it was time I stopped being afraid of the Lancôme machine and find myself some of this mythical juice. The quest for Cuir de Lancôme was not as easy as I thought it’d be, but it was worth it in the end.

Cuir de Lancome

Cuir de Lancome

In Bottle: A slight hint of citrus with a strong saffron presence and this buttery leathery scent that’s very attractive.

Applied: Once again, slight hint of citrus up town and the saffron rolls in giving the fragrance this extra bit of luxury as Cuir de Lancôme takes on this creamy, buttery leather scent. You know the joy of getting a new, leather handbag or jacket? That awesome warm, comforting smell? That’s what Cuir de Lancôme reminds me off–except better. There’s a floral wave that comes on in the mid-stage and helps smooth out the leather further. I get mostly jasmine tempered with ylang-ylang from the florals. The flowers give the fragrance a more feminine and delicate quality and they blend beautifully with the saffron. It’s like I’m smelling a vintage perfume that’s been modernized for appeal. It’s one of the nicest modern leathers I’ve smelled in a while! As Cuir de Lancôme dries down the leather evolves and blends with a soft sandalwood and vanilla and this green note that I hadn’t noticed before. This fragrance is fantastic, it’s like a light floral perfume dressed in a soft leather jacket. It’s longevity is actually quite good while it’s projection tends to stick closely to the skin.

Extra: Tracking down some Cuir de Lancôme was ridiculously difficult. I had done some research on it before hand, knew it was a part of a collection called–rather aptly–La Collection. My first mistake was assuming that because it seemed to be a part of an exclusive collection that a Lancôme counter would be more than happy to push off a spray on me in the hopes I’d shell out the premium cash for a full bottle. I mean, that’s how Chanel and Guerlain and pretty much every other fragrance house with an exclusive collection seems to work. Apparently not even Lancôme counters know what La Collection is never mind what I mean when I stand there and mangle the French pronunciation for what I want.  Long story short, I bought a decant online and everybody was happy.

Design: The bottle design for Cuir de Lancôme and other La Collection bottles are just beautiful! They have a clean shape for the flacon and cap with a band around the bottle’s neck that’s a little reminiscent of vintage perfume aesthetics. The labels even remind me of vintage perfumes. I just love the design.

Fragrance Family: Modern Chypre

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, saffron, jasmine, ylang-ylang, hawthorn, patchouli, iris, birch, styrax.

So here’s what I don’t understand with Lancôme, they have this beautiful perfume sitting in a collection. Only they’ve made it near impossible for you to buy the perfume from them directly and you actually have to go to a discounter in order to procure a bottle at at average of $40-60 a go. What happened with Lancôme’s La Collection? Why isn’t it being proudly displayed and sold at counters? It’s just a perplexing mystery to me. But I suppose paying $40-60 for what should be a highly sought after exclusive fragrance is nothing to complain about.

Thanks again go to Jen for convincing me to try this out. If anyone has any suggestions for fragrances I should smell feel free to leave a comment! I’m always looking for new smellies.

Reviewed in This Post: Cuir de Lancôme, ~2007, Eau de Parfum.

Playboy Play It Sexy

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What classy digs I’ve found myself in today with one of the (surprisingly) many Playboy fragrances. It’s Play It Sexy, a fragrance for women that I guess women can use to seduce men. I’m not sure this will work the way it claims it’ll work but let’s give it a sniff and go from there.

Play It Sexy

Play It Sexy

In Bottle: Sweet citrus that doesn’t hit the right notes and ends up smelling a little synthetic right off the bat. I kind of get some of the licorice note up front too which doesn’t help the synthetic smell of this at all.

Applied: Citrus on opening with a sweetness to it that’s a little bothersome. That synthetic feel of the fragrance isn’t any better on the skin. The fragrance is rather quick to evolve as well as the citrus moshes itself into the florals where I get jasmine and what’s clearly a rose note. The sweetness mingling with the rose is a tad disturbing and is reminding me a bit of how Danielle by Danielle Steel smelled and I did not like that one bit. The licorice note–hilariously enough–is also present throughout this entire fragrance taking this to the next level of unappealing because it’s mingling with everything and in a really poor way. It’s kind of like you’re not really enjoying a discordant juice blend that you decided to make yourself one day and tried to add some random element to it in the hopes of improving upon your wayward culinary attempts. Only said random element only made things worse. The fragrance dries down into a pretty generic vanilla sandalwood which I actually liked seeing as the rest of the fragrance didn’t hit it off with me. I will give Play It Sexy one thing, it doesn’t reach cloying sweetness and it isn’t crazy strong. So while I didn’t like the fragrance, I didn’t feel like I had to run to the bathroom and scrub it off.

Extra: So I don’t think Playboy will be joining the hallowed halls of mainstream designer perfumes any time soon. But if you’re looking for some cheap thrills in perfumery, these Playboy scents are very affordable. They’ll run you a few bucks over an Axe bodyspray but they do smell better.

Design: I really can’t speak for the bottle design for this stuff. It’s like an amalgamation of things I don’t like. Weird animal motif, random gem, pink, bowtie. It’s cute, I suppose. The only thing it’s missing is Comic Sans font and a fairy. The aesthetic just isn’t sitting well with me.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Grapefruit, mandarin, pink pepper, jasmine, florals, licorice, vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, tonka.

So these fragrances come in a three pack, which is a pretty good deal, but supposedly they are supposed to represent the stages of a woman’s seduction game. The other two fragrances I’ve got are called “Play It Spicy” and “Play It Lovely”.

Reviewed in This Post: Play It Sexy, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Natural and Synthetic Perfumery

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Like always, I need to preempt a post like this by stating that all-natural perfumery does still exist in some capacity and those types of perfumes can be beautiful if done just right. This post is not about defending synthetic fragrances or decrying natural perfumery or vice versa. I only wish to rant a bit about the misconception many people have about what their perfume is and what goes into making it.

Perhaps you’ve looked up ‘how to make perfume’ and come across some romantic articles about how mixing together essential oils with some key diluting ingredients will allow you to make your very own, awesome smelling fragrance. Then when you go out and actually try to do it, you might discover a world of confusion, contradictions and ignorance that no one told you about beforehand. Some examples of things you might encounter:

  • Fragrance oils being sold as essential oils (Check this post for an explanation of the difference).
  • Low-quality oils mislabeled as cosmetic grade.
  • Essential oils that don’t exist (ie. all fruit based “essential oils” are basically synthetic-based fragrance oils).
  • Scientific names and complicated processes that don’t really help you when all you want is to make something that smells nice.
  • A fragrance industry that’s so tight-lipped about its formulas and ingredients that they often confuse rather than help.
  • A seriously massive roadblock of misinformation and scaremongering surrounding synthetic fragrances.
  • Terminology that doesn’t lend itself to be easily understood by a hobby perfume maker.

And the above issues comprise just a tip of the iceberg. So what’s a budding perfumer to do? Due to my lack of experience actually creating my own fragrances I will only say that you need to do your research very well before you buy some oils and start mixing them. Just because something is labelled as ‘all-natural’ or ‘organic’ does not mean that it’s true, that it’s good for you, or that it’s safe for you to do whatever you want with it.

How natural is perfume anyway?

If you’re looking at buying a perfume at the department store and are wondering how many essential oils go into making that bottle of Designer Brand Smell Good, you may or may not be surprised to know that most of the ingredients are synthetic. In some cases, every ingredient in a given perfume could be synthetic. Does this knowledge change how your perfume smells? Probably not.

Why don’t perfume companies use natural ingredients anymore?

Perfume companies do still use natural ingredients. Many of them still have access to natural essential oils and will include some proportion of those in their fragrances–just not all their fragrances. What consumers should understand is the move to synthetics had many good reasons backing it and that essential oils are not always ideal or better.

Take for instance, the huge amount of manpower and land that goes into creating one essential oil. Entire fields of roses are harvested to distill down to a few bottles of essential oil. And what about the slower resources? Like trees. In particular, one very fragrant sandalwood species is now endangered in part due to the perfume industry that loves it so much. And what about the animal based ingredients like musks? While natural musk is still being harvested or farmed, why should huge amounts of animals be farmed for its musk when we can easily make the same stuff in a lab?

That is not to mention the increased difficulty in dealing with essential oils in perfume. Every batch could smell just a little bit different, making product consistency a nightmare to deal with for larger perfume houses that output tons of perfumes to sit on store shelves. Synthetics are more stable and therefore make it easier to keep a perfume’s smell consistent.

Are synthetics always cheaper?

Not necessarily. While the general consensus seems to believe that synthetic ingredients are always cheaper than naturals, the truth is that there are expensive naturals and equally expensive synthetics.

Are synthetic fragrances a new invention?

On the contrary, synthetics have been around a lot longer than most people realize. Synthetics have been around since the 1800s. They are far from new technology.

Aren’t essential oils inherently better than synthetics?

A common myth is the notion that an all natural ingredient must instantly be better than its synthetic counterpart. Essential oils are not always better. They can be better depending on how skillfully they’re used. A professional natural perfumer can make a beautiful complex and rich fragrance using only essential oils. But another equally talented perfumer can make beautiful, complex fragrances using synthetics too. Arguing over which ingredient is better is like comparing two equally talented artists, one who prefers oil paints and the other preferring acrylics. You can’t make a blanket statement over whose product is better just because they use different mediums.

So given this new information, what are you supposed to make of some of these companies trying to sell you something like 100% pure and organic apple essential oil? Chances are, these people know their apple is not an essential oil and there is some level of confusion at play here. Your best defense is knowledge. You can protect yourself by educating yourself in what can and cannot be extracted into an essential oil. You may be a little disappointed when you see what can and cannot be natural. But at that point you may as well as open yourself up to synthetics. They are not so bad after all!

 

Victoria’s Secret Pear Glace

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Pear Glacé is like a strange little nugget from my younger years. It was the thing that convinced me I didn’t much like pear scents way back when this fragrance was still being sold by Victoria’s Secret. Even thenl, I thought this was too sweet. So why not uncap and dust off the old body mist and see if my mind has changed?

Pear Glace

Pear Glace

In Bottle: Sweet pear with a slight herbal quality to it.

Applied: Extremely sweet pear opening that’s reminiscent of cough syrup for children. There’s a hint of violet in this, further sweetening the scent as well as imparting a slight powderiness as well. The pear gets extremely sweet as the fragrance wears on to the point that it reaches cloying levels. This just takes me back to the time when I first tried this and decided it wasn’t for me. Evidently, it still isn’t for me though I am amazed the fragrance seems to have held up well over the years considering it’s a synthetic fruit-based fragrance, and a body mist that’s contained in an unsealed plastic bottle. Granted, I could be remembering the fragrance wrong as well but it seems to me like this was exactly what it did before. Anyway, the pear scent sticks with the fragrance as it ages but the longer I wear this, the more that cassis and violet thing gets stronger and stronger, imparting more sweet herbal scent. At this point I’m thinking the cassis used in this is the leaf as opposed to the berry since I’m getting that herbal quality as opposed to a currant-like scent. Whatever it’s doing and whatever is making this smell herbal, I am not much of a fan. The fragrance ends up with a less sweet finish but with a still present herbal fragrance.

Extra: Granted, perfumes (and body mists) can do some strange things when they go off but I think this was actually how Pear Glacé smelled years ago. I wonder if I’m just imagining that herbal note or if something in this stuff actually went off. The one thing I do remember of this scent was the cloying pear and how much it reminded me of cough syrup. In either case, Pear Glacé has since been discontinued by Victoria’s Secret but is still available for purchase online from fragrance discounters, eBay, and third-party sellers on Amazon.

Design: The bottle for this doesn’t differ much from other Victoria’s Secret body mists–I’m sure the perfume is bottled in a similar fashion as well. The bottle I actually have is considerably older. It’s a plastic bottle with a plastic sprayer nozzle. It works for what it is, there’s nothing really fancy about it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Pear, cassis, violet.

So I’m apparently still not a fan of Pear Glacé though this fragrance tends to polarize people and I seem to be the only person who thinks it smells a little herbal. Tell me I’m not crazy, or am I?

Reviewed in This Post: Pear Glacé, ~2000, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial

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Having missed out on numerous past Shalimar flankers, I resolved to go smell this one. At the very least, I could finally add a Shalimar flanker to my list. I wasn’t really sure what Parfum Initial is supposed to do to beloved Shalimar but it wasn’t what I expected.

Shalimar Parfum Initial

Shalimar Parfum Initial

In Bottle: Fresh and sweet citrus with a deep vanilla note lingering about in the back.

Applied: Fresh and clean citrus on opening with the rose and other florals rolling in soon after. There’s a dry woodsiness that joins the fragrance shortly after that as the scent warms up with a vanillic quality that doesn’t reach gourmand–and I’m glad. This is already different enough from original Shalimar that I’m a little disturbed when the mid-stage continues as we get a deep, warm vanilla, touched with a hint of florals. The fragrance ages into this warm, tonka quality that’s dense and deep but never reaches the point of gourmand because there’s that clean, fresh note keeping it from going full-on foody. There’s a lot missing in this fragrance that I would need if I were to call it anything related to Shalimar. Shalimar to me was that leathery vanilla scent. There’s vanilla in Parfum Initial but the missing leather makes this scent feel like it’s missing something. Maybe that’s just me though. What Shalimar Parfum Initial does is take an old classic, put a very modern spin on it and make it more accessible to a wider audience. I don’t know if I like this flanker, but it is nicely done regardless.

Extra: Shalimar Parfum Initial was released in 2011 and was composed by Thierry Wasser.

Design: I haven’t yet held the bottle for Shalimar Parfum Initial but if it’s anything close to the new Shalimar bottles then I can pretty much be guaranteed that it’ll be awesome. I love the redesign of the Shalimar bottles, it brings the fragrance back to the classic design that most people know Shalimar to.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, orange, rose, jasmine, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean, white musk.

The more I think about this fragrance, the less sold on it I am. I’ll always think Shalimar got it right almost a century ago. While is a nice, newer, more approachable interpretation I also think it lost a little bit of essential history along the way.

Reviewed in This Post: Shalimar Parfum Initial, 2011, Eau de Parfum.