Juicy Couture Dirty English

Posted on by

All right, so I owe lemon a bit of an apology. It’s not the sole destroyer of scents for me. No, that prize goes to cedar. And when you add lemon into the mix, it’s like a mastermind and his nefarious sidekick getting together for an evil soiree. Oh yeah, Dirty English. Dirty English lacks the sharp lemon that would destroy worlds if it were also present in this stuff but it has plenty of cedar. Oh yes. Plenty of cedar indeed. Dirty English

In Bottle: Smells a little leather, a little woodsy, with a nice citrus kick at the start to wash things up. There’s a nice density to this fragrance that gives it a good smooth scent.

Applied: The leather is a very pleasant thing for about two seconds before Dirty English dissolves into its mid-stage where I end up losing everything but cedar. There is  a lot of cedar in this fragrance, and a lot of perfumes can overdo cedar and end up with something highly unpleasant. Bonus points taken off for including lemon with cedar thus making the concoction a sharp, chemical, and highly unpleasant mix to my nose. But Dirty English only tangos with cedar. And the dancing must be quite good because cedar is the predominant note for hours and hours on end until Dirty English decides its had enough and shifts into a more pleasant, slightly less obnoxious cedar with a bit of bitter, musty mossiness that I can assume is the agarwood at work. The agarwood is done quite well but is tempered by a sweet, warm ambery note and a dash of spice. Overall, Dirty English is a good masculine scent that’s had a lot of good press over the years. I only wish I could smell something other than cedar because there’s really a lot of it in this concoction.

Extra: Well, I finally tracked down and smelled Dirty English. I think that would be that for the readily available Juicy Couture line (not counting the pet fragrances).

Design: Dirty English shares a similar bottle shape with Juicy Couture and Viva la Juicy. It’s missing the big plastic crystal that the feminine perfume bottles tend to sport with a metal cap embellished with a chain instead. I do like the shape and nice weighty feel of the Juicy Couture bottles and the dual-purpose of the embellishments are a nice touch.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: Pepper, mandarin, blue cypress, bergamot, cumin, cardamom, marjoram, leather accord, sandalwood, Atlas cedar, vetiver, agarwood, moss, amber, musk.

I really Dirty English had been a little less loud with the cedar as it sounds like it would have been a really nice fragrance that at least tries its best to shift itself a little further away from the standard men’s scent.

Reviewed in This Post: Dirty English, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Jean Paul Gaultier Classique EDP

Posted on by

You might be wondering why I bothered to put the concentration in the title there. Jean Paul Gaultier’s fragrance, Classique, has two interpretations. An EDT (Eau de Toilette) and an EDP (Eau de Parfum). They are packaged differently and they smell different. This review, obviously, focuses on the EDP. Classique EDP

In Bottle: Heady, floral, sweet oriental with a strong, smooth amber note that gives this a sort of honeyed scent.

Applied: I smell honeyed raisins and spice on first impression. Quite an interesting experience but I can see how people might be turned off by this. It’s a beautifully done fragrance as an oriental and very welcome as the spice deepens the longer you wear it until you reach a point when the honeyed vanilla amber has taken hold of the reins. Classique EDP sits in a heady section of spicy amber during its middle notes with the occasional waft of sweetened floral and spiced up ginger. At times it can smell foody, but the majority of this is spent as a sensually sweet floral. The dry down is equally nice, resting in a pleasant pool of amber woods.

Extra: As mentioned earlier in this review Jean Paul Gaultier couldn’t make things easier for us and has two versions of Classique floating around. Thankfully he made the two versions look different as well as smell different. The EDT was the original release of Classique in 1993 and is usually featured in an undecorated frosted glass bottle. The EDP reviewed in this post is an interpretation of the original and is featured in the bottle pictured in this post. Just to throw a little more wackiness into the mix, Gaultier also has Classique X out now, which thankfully, distinguishes itself a bit more than its concentration.

Design: Bottled in Gaultier’s signature silhouette bottles, the Classique EDP comes with an applique corset on the glass. I like the corset design but I’m not, and was never a fan, of the silhouette shapes. They are interesting looking to be sure but I’m just not feeling the groove. The packaging is also rather nice and interesting. Your bottle may come in an aluminum can, which is handy for keeping out light.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Rum essence, Bulgarian rose, star anise, orange blossom, tangerine, ginger, orchid, iris, ylang-ylang, vanilla daffodil, amber, tonka bean, musk.

Floral orientals aren’t for everyone and Classique EDP is definitely an example of this. Some people might consider this too old while others find it divine at any age. If you’re looking for a dark, deep and sweet oriental fragrance then this is a good choice. Just make sure you smell both the EDT and the EDP so you can determine which one you like more.

Reviewed in This Post: Classique EDP, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Gucci Gucci pour Homme

Posted on by

The Saga of the Inoffensive Men’s fragrance continues with Gucci pour Homme, a mixture of fresh and woodsy for the man who isn’t yet tired of smelling like a mixture of woods and spice. Gucci pour Homme I

In Bottle: I can harsh on Gucci pour Homme for smelling like every other woody spicy fragrance for men out there but it really is a winning combination that, if worn properly, is like a formula for success. Well, fragrance success anyway. Its in bottle presence is a sharply fresh spicy woodsy scent.

Applied: Spicy woods! The pepper in this lends a pleasant kick to the blend of woodsiness that predominates this fragrance. There isn’t a whole lot of originality to be had here. If you liked Dolce and Gabanna’s Light Blue pour Homme, you will find this a fairly good choice too. It differs, of course, with Gucci pour Homme having a cleaner and more detectable aromatic bay leaf note in it and a strong cedar and woody accord. The bay leaf sticks around in the mid-stage where it mingles with the woods and does a fine job making Gucci pour Homme smell decidedly masculine. Of course a woman could wear this too, but the marketing would have a fit as this was clearly made for a man to wear. It smells of clean dry wood and greenness. Like a man who spent the last three hours chopping down trees and making a very nice desk in the forest then took a shower. The dry down is likable enough with your typical woodsy cleaned up vetiver fade with a pretty nice leather note and a splash of warm amber thrown in for good measure.

Extra: Just for a full dose of confusion there are three Gucci pour Homme fragrances that share similar names. Gucci by Gucci pour Homme. The one reviewed in this review, also called Gucci pour Homme, finally there’s Gucci pour Homme II. All of them smell different and look different. Gucci by Gucci pour Homme is bottled differently than the fragrance pictured here. Gucci pour Homme has an amber liquid and is the fragrance in this review. Gucci pour Homme II is bottled similar to this one only the liquid is blue.

Design: I really like Gucci pour Homme’s design element. It’s a cube-like glass bottle that reminds me of how Chanel nail polish is bottled. Simple, clean lines, no frills. Just a nice minimalist design that functions well.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: White pepper, pink bay, ginger, papyrus wood, orris rhizome, vetiver, amber, white olibanum, leather.

Gucci pour Homme  is a very popular fragrance for men. You can probably tell why. Like with all men’s fragrances that lack in the originality sector, it is high in versatility and likability. You can wear this in the office, to the club, on the bus, to the golf game. Wherever it is your heart takes you guys and girls. Just a forewarning that Gucci pour Homme runs on the strong side, so ease up on your trigger finger.

Reviewed in This Post: Gucci pour Homme, 2008, Eau de Toilette .

Diptyque Tam Dao

Posted on by

Indian Sandalwood used to be a very popular addition to fragrances, and other applications everywhere. So popular, in fact, that the sandalwood tree has become an endangered species. Tam Dao is Diptyques homage to the precious sandalwood tree. Tam Dao

In Bottle: Dry spicy sandalwood with a hint of creaminess and a sharp blare of green floating on top.

Applied: Cedar and greenness with a mild hint of sandalwood coming through. The greenness adds a rather jarring experience but it’s a quick fader and it helps with the mid-stage where the spiciness and dry sandalwood shines a bit more. This is a pure, nicely done sandalwood scent. It has a nice and deep aroma to it, a very familiar scent thanks to how much sandalwood is featured in fragrances but I have to admit my disappointment that the scent doesn’t do much else but sit at sandalwood. I can appreciate it for its simplicity though as its focus is to remain simple and pure and present the wearer with a sense of calmness in a dry, spicy, amber-suspended sandalwood fragrance.

Extra: Often you’d think people illegally hunting animals when you hear the word, ‘poaching’. But poaching happens to trees too like the sandalwood.

Design: Bottled in the typical square-ish Diptyque style. That is a square glass bottle with a metal cap. The cap slides off rather nicely, the sprayer works just fine. I’m a big fan of the uniform and simple-looking Diptyque labels which often remind me of a mixture of art deco and woodcuts.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy

Notes: Goa sandalwood, rosewood, cypress, ambergris.

Tam Dao’s longevity was a bit weak for my liking, fading within five hours. It’s  a decent time period but I did expect a bit more from a woods-based fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Tam Dao, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanilia

Posted on by

Still on the look out for another lovely vanilla. Preferably one that can replace Spiritueuse Double Vanille because I refuse to be shackled to a limited edition fragrance–even if it’s awesome. This time, it’s Vanilia by L’Artisan Parfumeur, a pretty green vanilla plant of a thing. Vanilia

In Bottle: Sweet, green vanilla with a floral mixture and a nice white woodsy scent. Nothing at all what I was hoping but still very pleasant.

Applied: Sweet vanilla with a topper that reminds me of sweet powder and fruits. Not too sweet, in fact the sweetness is really subdued and appropriately used and the fruits are a pleasant blend that recedes into the background rather quickly. You won’t get a toothache from this. As Vanilia settles down, it releases a pleasant waft of green floral and spice mixed with a pleasant smoky floral. Very strange mix but it works out really well. Vanilia is a fantastic morpher as it’s one of the nicest smelling vanillas with a rich and complex composition. It is not your run-of-the-mill gourmand vanilla with the fruity, bubbly, candy personality. This is a sophisticated vanilla. The airy greenness mixed with the very pleasant ambery powder vanilla adds a great dimension to this fragrance.

Extra: L’Artisan Parfumeur is a niche house established in 1976s and based in Paris. Vanilia was released in 1978.

Design: Vanilia is bottled in L’Artisan Parfumeur’s now iconic seven sided glass bottle. It has a nice weight to it, looks pleasant–if somewhat sparse to me–but the real show stopper is truly the juice inside.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Fresh

Notes: Fruit, rose, jasmine, amber, patchouli, vanilla, sandalwood.

For some reason, Vanilia is a very difficult to find fragrance for me. No stores carry L’Artisan Parfumeur in my general area and my usual haunts online don’t have this fragrance represented.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanilia, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

Estee Lauder Youth Dew

Posted on by

Youth Dew by Estée Lauder was released in 1953 as a bath fragrance and for years, it was the fragrance that women reached for much like Light Blue by Dolce & Gabanna is reached for today. Youth Dew’s popularity might be waning with the ages, but it remains a relevant piece of fragrance history. Youth Dew

In Bottle: A citrus scent with a kick of something heady and dark underneath. Youth Dew has this shadowy undercurrent that’s very endearing to it for me but it’s also this shadowy undercurrent that a lot of people would say this smells like grandma or some other silliness like that.

Applied: Initial blast of citrus and aldehydes receding into a spicy, mature floral scent that echoes that darkness in the juice. Like with most aldehyde-based scents for me, they never really go away and end up lingering throughout the fragrance. The florals hover around the animalic and dirty. A lot of modern fragrance wearers find this offensive because perfumistas refer to this “animalic and dirty” note as “indolic”. Indole being found in either jasmine or clove and in Youth Dew’s case, probably the clove. Maybe even both! The gloves are off on this one. The spice and florals do little to temper the indole in Youth Dew but if you let it stay on long enough and focus, a strange thing happens–it becomes easier to understand. Youth Dew isn’t “smelly grandma”, it’s a complex, daring fragrance that you aren’t going to get with your Light Blues or your Circus Fantasies. If you really wanted sexy, this is probably the stuff. It smells like what it is and you can accept it or get out as far as Youth Dew is concerned. Anyway, after the mid-stage that indole note hangs around for a bit into the dry down that, to me, smells mostly of patchouli trying desperately to clean up the mid-act.

Extra: Youth Dew is a strong fragrance. It comes on strong and leaves a strong impression and it’s gotten something of a bad rap over the years. People call it, “granny juice”, “hell juice”, “smells like corpse” and a multitude of other things. But Youth Dew is a piece of history, whether these people like it or not. But please, Youth Dew lovers, go easy on the trigger.

Design: Youth Dew is bottled in a ribbed glass affair with a bow tying it in the middle where the bottle gets a little thinner. It’s topped with a golden metal cap that has some detailing near the top. I can see its concept borrows from the figure of a woman and appreciate its subtle homage more than Gaultier’s bottles which are often more literal. In general, a simple design but an effective and memorable one.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Aldehydes, orange, peach, bergamot, cinnamon, cassia, orchid, jasmine, clove, ylang-ylang, rose, tolu balsam, peru balsam, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, vetiver, incense.

I’ll come clean, I don’t like the smell of Youth Dew. But I don’t hate it either. It’s not a fragrance I can really see myself wearing because I can’t get past the indole in this stuff but it is a classic through and through and if nothing else, you gotta give credit to this classic.

Reviewed in This Post: Youth Dew, 2000, Eau de Parfum.

Amouage Lyric for Women

Posted on by

Amouage is a luxury niche fragrance house base based in Muscat. Most famous for their very expensive and very decadent Attars, Amouage is well known as one of the most artistic and luxurious fragrance houses in the world. Lyric for Women, released in 2008 is one of their newer fragrances. Lyric for Women

In Bottle: Big kick of spicy citrus upon first application. It immediately reminded me of a BPAL oil. I cannot put my finger quite on which one but I’m going to tentatively say it reminds me of a more complex Lear. At least, that’s what my mind flew to first.

Applied: Lyric for Women only vaguely resembles BPAL’s Lear for the first ten seconds. It starts to smooth out and become more floral, softer, definitely more feminine as the initial spice gives way to a lovely bouquet of jasmine, rose and angelica flowers. The rose is the star in the mid-stage, vibrant but not overbearing. It’s kept tame by a fantastic and very well-done incense note. It’s a beautifully blended fragrance with a clear and fascinating progression as Lyric for Women dries down into a complex medley of clean incense woods and smooth spicy vanilla.

Extra: Amouage is a world famous, luxury niche fragrance house with roots in the Sultanate of Oman. It’s most famous fragrances are the Attars, rich and decadent scents that can run you upwards of $400 for 12ml. Lyric for Women is not one of these Attars but it is beautiful just the same.

Design: I love the bottle. Deep red glass, has a fantastic feel to it. Has a good amount of weight, is easy to hold, and very pleasant to look at with the Amouage seal on the bottle’s glass and the fragrance’s name running along the circumference of the neck.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, spicy cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, rose, angelica, jasmine, ylang-ylang, geranium, orris, oakmoss, musk, wood, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka bean, frankincense.

Now, while I love how Lyric for Women smells, I’m not so sure about the cost of the fragrance itself. Running at $300 for a 100ml bottle, if I were to drop some serious cash on an Amouage fragrance, it would be going into an Attar instead.

Reviewed in This Post: Lyric for Women, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Yves Saint Laurent Opium

Posted on by

It was bound to happen one day but we were all hoping it wasn’t this soon. Opium has been (quietly) reformulated into a shadow of its former self. So it is with this review that I bid goodbye to an old classic and an icon of oriental fragrance. Opium

In Bottle: Heady, rich, deep and spicy. Opium is not a time waster. She’s a woman of drastic sophistication and daring. Often referred to as sexy and mysterious. This fragrance opens with a big spicy kick followed by a huge wave of thick resinous amber.

Applied: Cinnamon and amber upfront as Opium’s opener flares instead of rolls. This fragrance announces its presence with a capital A. You want a powerhouse? Opium’s your gal. She’s no meek, slinking fruity floral girl in a white dress. She’s decked to the nines in diamonds and blood red pumps. The ambery cinnamon scent sticks around in the background giving Opium a smooth and punchy background while the heart notes of powdered jasmine, rose and dark myrrh flood the middle. Opium’s a strong and long lasting fragrance that you’ll struggle through if you don’t like it. The heart sticks around for a very long while before the dry down of deep, dense woodsy patchouli and myrrh base join that ever present spice and amber with the faded floral hearts. Even then it takes Opium a long time to completely fade with its mixture of base notes.

Extra: It takes a while to love Opium. A fragrance fanatic or an individual born into the era when Opium reigned would find it easy to appreciate this but someone young and inexperienced coming into the scene needs to be gently introduced. I got myself acquainted with Shalimar before I could brave Opium. And I’m glad I had a classic bottle to do it with. The new Opium is a slightly damaged affair. It smells younger, but more vapid. Like its missing some of its daring in exchange for modern ease.

Design: The most well-known bottle of Opium (at the moment anyway) is a thin pretty glass flacon with the signature Opium colors and designs on it. I’ve always though the bottle was beautiful and I was happy to note that Opium’s sprayer nozzle (unlike its flankers) was metal.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Mandarin orange, bergamot, lily of the valley, jasmine, carnation, myrrh, vanilla, patchouli, opoponaux, amber.

Opium was quietly reformulated in and around the time its new bottle (the current look) was released. Quiet reformulations of old fragrances is not a new thing. It happened to many fragrances and will continue to happen due to industry regulation changes, materials availability, and a slew of other consequences that a fragrance lover may never come to terms with. Thanks for a good thirty years, Opium.

Reviewed in This Post: Opium, ~1990, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Insolence

Posted on by

Insolence is one of those modern Guerlains that was a hit or a miss. It seems to have more hits than misses than say–Champs-Elysees–but it has more interesting character to it taking it beyond the safe zone that Guerlain seems to have been skirting since its purchase by LVMH. Insolence

In Bottle: Yeah, definitely unique. The violet in this is a strange, uncertain floral that’s sweet for sure but lacks anything else to it. There’s something spicy in this too like anise or cinnamon along with the weird sugary, raisin scent in the back.

Applied: Sweet and bright with the red raspberry note coming up first and fading first leaving me with a dense, syrupy raisin-like fragrance with that persistent anise note that I wish I didn’t feel crazy for smelling.  Something in this reminds me of the classic Guerlains. I’m thinking it’s that anise or clove or whatever the heck that is which reminds me a bit of one of L’Huere Bleue’s many layers. But at the same time it’s clear Insolence is an updated fragrance meant for a young consumer as it’s trying to pull in a fresher audience. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they really hit the mark as Insolence is not clearly defined as anything and at the end of the day, does smell like a bit of a fruity, floral, spicy and sweet mess to me. I’m sure a lot of women can love this fragrance but it is very polarized in terms of taste. You can either love it or hate it. Once Insolence does calm down, which takes quite a while, the fragrance is less sweet but it does retain some of that syrupy treatment all the way into the dry down where it gets darker, creamier, and more vanillic with a very nice red raspberry note to it. I had thought the raspberry had disappeared but it was just hiding behind the spicy flowers. As for whether I hate or love this? I could go either way but I feel like Insolence is a bit too loud and sweet and a little too clingy.

Extra: Word has it that this smells a bit like Apres L’Ondee, one of the Guerlains I have yet to try. I do get the familiarity of this to L’Huere Bleue so something in here is working that classic machine. I just think this is a bit removed from that era though.

Design: Insolence’s half-circle, flower and flower pot type design was by Serge Mansau a man famous for creating bottles for some of the most well known fashion and fragrance houses since the 60s. I gotta give the man credit for making this a nice looking bottle that’s interesting to look at. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold this thing. It’s an awkward shape, making you have to hold it awkwardly, pinched between your fingers as you hope to avoid dropping it. Nice idea, interesting shape. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Sweet Oriental

Notes: Violet, raspberry, rose, orange blossom, raisins, balsam, iris, tonka bean.

You’re probably wondering what kind of fragrance family cop-out I’m doing with that spicy sweet thing. Well, it’s the only way I can really describe Insolence because, to my nose, it’s like a candy rolled in anise. It tries to be fruity, it tries to be gourmand, but it lands in the middle where it’s neither and the only place it even fits is in two vague categories.

Reviewed in This Post: Insolence, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Lolita Lempicka

Posted on by

Something about apples just draws me in, I guess. One would think an apple bottle would a bit silly but Lolita Lempicka’s designs have always had these fascinating shapes with interesting textures and line work on them. The bottle for Lolita Lempicka drew me in, the fragrance kept me around. Lolita Lempicka

In Bottle: Sweet and spicy, almost woodsy quality in a way. I can smell the licorice in this along with a very fresh, almost fruity note right up top.

Applied: I smell apple opening this fragrance. I swear I do. I don’t care that the notes don’t list it, it’s right up there to my nose. Big inertial apple. Then it disappears within seconds to be replaced with this green sweet spice scent that is anise. As the fragrance ages, Lolita Lempicka turns into a vanilla spice fragrance with that faint sweetness of licorice. Despite all the gourmand notes in this one, the scent as a whole doesn’t strike me as a gourmand immediately. It needs to settle into its heart notes before you really start to see where it’s coming from. The fragrance dries down to a soft sweet vanilla scent.

Extra: Lolita Lempicka is a fashion house by Josiane Maryse Pividal who adopted Lolita Lempicka as her pseudonym.

Design: More truly apple shaped than the Nina by Nina Ricci bottle. Lolita Lempicka’s bottle is a purple apple with leaf and swirl linework in gold and muted colors. The design is whimsical, young, fairytale-like with a nice final touch of the sprayer that resembles the thin and delicate stem of the apple. I would have preferred the sprayer to be made of more sturdy material since it is so thin and delicate but it works just fine for what it is.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Gourmand

Notes: Ivy, anise, violet, amarise, licorice, amarena, vetiver, tonka, vanilla, musk.

I don’t much like licorice, or how it smells. But Lolita Lempicka makes it acceptable for me by mixing it in with other notes. It is one of the better done gourmands out there. Sometimes compared to Angel by Thierry Mugler. I personally don’t see the connection as Lolita Lempicka is drier and less sweet to my nose.

Reviewed in This Post: Lolita Lempicka, 2008, Eau de Parfum.