M. Micallef Ylang in Gold

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The perfume house of M. Micallef got in touch with me again and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their new, Ylang in Gold fragrance. Given the awesome Vanilla scents I tested from their last location, I really couldn’t say no.

In Bottle:Sweet, a little fruity up top with a nice clean and fresh vanilla background.

Ylang in Gold

Ylang in Gold

Applied: Sweet fruitiness, refreshing upon application. I get vanilla almost instantly with a clean waft of mint. As the fragrance wears on, the vanilla calms down a bit and the sweetness gets tempered by a pleasant mix of ylang-ylang and soft lily. The scent is very light, almost creamy with a lovely smooth aroma that I guess is coming from the combination of clean musk and coconut. The longer I wear it, the more vanilla comes back to further smooth out the scent. In the end, I get soft vanilla musk with a hint of woods and the barest reminder of ylang-ylang.

Extra: Ylang in Gold is the third member of M. Micallef’s Jewel Collection that features Jewel for Her and Jewel for Him. Ylang in Gold comes in two forms, one with a gold dust mixed with the juice and another without the gold dust. My sample didn’t have the gold dust. I’m not a big fan of shimmer on my skin so I actually preferred to go without it.

Design: Like with most bottles by M. Micallef, Ylang in Gold was hand decorated with little Swarovski crystals. I really like the presentation of it. The shape of the bottle is fairly standard, but the designs help give it a bit of uniqueness and luxury flare. It’s very fitting for its collection, looks quite nice, and is presented rather nicely.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Tangerine, geranium, sage, rosemary, artemisia, ylang-ylang, rose, lily of the valley, magnolia, mint, sandalwood, coconut, vanilla, musk, oakmoss.

I can best describe Ylang in Gold as a very soft vanilla with a nice sprinkling of Ylang-Ylang. It’s pleasant, very wearable and a bit sophisticated. If you’re interested in a bottle, you can nab one at LuckyScent as well as at their Scent Bar physical store, Parfum1, Parfumerie Nasreen, and Osswald NYC.

Reviewed in This Post: Ylang in Gold, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Disclaimer: The fragrance reviewed in this post was provided to me for free for the purposes of review. In no other way am I receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experiences and opinions of the product.

Thanks to Micallef for giving me the opportunity to try this fragrance and Jeffrey Dame at Hypoluxe for forwarding on the sample.

Overheard at the Perfume Counter

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I think it’s a given that perfume addicts visit perfume counters a lot. I used to stop by the perfume counter on a weekly basis, and while I was exploring new scents and scents I hadn’t tried yet, I overhear a few things. These things get filed away in the back of my mind, but end up accumulating when they’re heard often enough. Here’s a few common comments:

“What are the coffee beans for?”
I’m not sure who decided to start leaving coffee beans around for people to smell when they were trying on perfumes to “clear” their noses. It works for some, not for others. I have never partaken in the coffee bean sniffing. I personally prefer removing myself from the smell center and take in a few deep breathes of fresh air. Nothing clears the smells out of my nose better than fresh air.

“You should buy the EDP. It’s a higher concentration of oils so it’ll smell better.”
Many EDT and EDPs of the supposedly same fragrance do not smell the same, and I’m not talking about the “strength” of the fragrance either. The differences can be minor or staggering. Try both and decide which works better for you instead of just assuming the EDP is better.

Coffee Beans on Foil

Coffee Beans on Foil by Dino Quinzani

“Don’t put it on your skin because the smell will change. Use the tester strip so you know what it really smells like.”
Odd how many times I heard this one. If you’re looking to buy a perfume to wear, wouldn’t you want to know how the fragrance does on your skin? Perfume sprayed onto paper strips does not fully reflect how that fragrance will behave on you (another reason why I hate paper samples). So if you really want to know if a fragrance is going to work for you, you should try it on yourself and the use the paper strip only to make sure that the smell isn’t disagreeable before you spray yourself with it.

“Perfume is for girls. Cologne is for boys.”
Fragrances do not have a gender and no one is bound to wear a certain “genre” of fragrances because of their gender, age, personality, appearance, etc.

“This perfume starts out okay, then it gets gross. What’s wrong with me?”
Give the fragrance a while to develop on your skin before you buy a bottle. Fragrances change throughout the day, a perfume you might love on initial application might not be so great a few hours in. It happens all the time. There’s nothing wrong with you.

“If your breath smells, try spraying perfume into your mouth.”
Okay, this one isn’t common. I only heard it once, and I can’t even begin to tell you how bad an idea this is. Don’t spray perfume into your mouth, up your nose, into your eyes–in fact, keep perfume out of all your orifices. Not only are you spraying something that you shouldn’t be consuming into your mouth, it also tastes terrible.

“You should shake the bottle before you spray to mix the oils up.”
Please don’t shake your perfume. And please, don’t shake the bottles at the stores. You are not doing them any good. Perfume does not need you to mix it up before you use it.

What things have you commonly heard at the perfume counter? The stranger, the better!

Photo Credit: Dino Quinzani

Illuminum Wild Tobacco

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I was in the mood for something a little heavier today and picked Wild Tobacco out of the samplers of Illuminum. So far the line has offered bright, clean fragrances and I was hoping Wild Tobacco would shift things in a different direction.

Wild Tobacco

Wild Tobacco

In Bottle: Smoky dense, tobacco with a touch of warm clove.

Applied: Looking at the notes, I had expected something sweeter. What Wild Tobacco is is a strong tobacco and clove scent that rises out of the initial application with a big shout to declare that it’s here. I get strong, almost single-minded smokiness from the tobacco with a bit of spicy tempering from the clove. The strength is admirable but the complexity is leaving me somewhat wanting. As the scent ages, the tobacco settles down a bit and I get more clove out of the scent followed by a mild, sweet tonka and a very light cedar note. The scent dries down a sweetened clove and mild tobacco.

Extra: Wild Tobacco was released in 2011, and was meant to evoke the scent of a gentleman’s club. Having never been to a gentleman’s club, I’ll just let it speak for itself. It’s strong and dry, very heavy on the clove and tobacco. Wild Tobacco can be had from LuckyScent or Illuminum’s website.

Design: Still not much of a fan of the packaging or branding. But I still think it would nice if you had more than two of these and displayed them all in a row.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: Clove, clary sage, cedar, tobacco, castor, tonka, labdanum.

I’m not entirely sure about this one. It goes on with a strong tobacco presence but over time, it actually turns into a primarily clove scent. I almost felt like I had put on a tobacco scent and left with a Christmas time clove. If you’re drawn to smoky clove, then you might want to give this one a try.

Reviewed in This Post: Wild Tobacco, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Disclaimer: The fragrance reviewed in this post was provided to me for free for the purposes of review. In no other way am I receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experiences and opinions of the product.

Czech & Speake Dark Rose

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Dark Rose

Dark Rose

I love a good rose and abhor a bad one. It’s harder and harder to find a good rose scent because modern, mainstream perfumery loves cleaned up, sparkling, girly rose that barely has a personality because it’s supported by equally dull notes in the rest of the composition. Or the rose is so light and non-existent that it might as well not be mentioned at all. So I’m still feeling a little stung by Forbidden Rose maybe that’s why I gave Dark Rose a try.

In Bottle: Dark and floral, I smell the rose backed up with a smooth sandalwood with a bit of oud.

Applied: Smooth saffron rose with a dark edge that I’m assuming is coming from the oud. No sparkling, clean, girly rose here. It smells sophisticated but not overpowering. It’s light enough to get its point across and has a nice feeling of depth to it. I suppose the lightness might owe some of the credit to it being a cologne. The rose encompasses the scent while staying coated in a sappy oud fragrance as the latter grows stronger the longer you wear it until it hits this warm amber and sandalwood note that helps bump up the woodsy smell and accent the oud’s tendancies to smell a bit animalistic. The dry down is marked with a fading oud and warm amber.

Extra: Dark Rose comes in a wide assortment of other scented products such as a bath oil and some incense sticks. What really piqued my interest was the solid perfume encased in this awesome looking egg. If you feel you need your perfume to be encased in a cool egg, better place your orders soon because it’s limited edition.

Design: Bottled fairly simply, Dark Rose comes in a spray bottle that pretty much resembles what it is–a cologne spray with an easy to hold container. I would have preferred more refinement. But, don’t judge it by its packaging, Dark Rose has a great deal of complexity for what it is.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Saffron, rose, sandalwood, patchouli, amber, oud, musk.

Very nice rose. I’ve read around town that Dark Rose’s composition is fairly tired thanks to the influx of oud fragrances into the market. I haven’t had that much oud in my time, so Dark Rose remains fresh and exciting for me.

Reviewed in This Post: Dark Rose, 2012, Eau de Cologne.

Products L’Occitane Should Turn Into Perfumes

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I love L’Occitane. I started this whole perfume craziness because I ran out of excuses for owning so many bath-related products and L’Occitane’s products were always some of my favorites. They also sell perfumes, but I’m not too big of a fan of many of those. So it struck me as odd that L’Occitane wouldn’t turn some of these products into full on fragrances.

L’Occitane Aromachologie Repairing Shampoo & Conditioner
A gorgeous blend of florals and herbs that scents my hair for the better part of a day. I love washing my hair every time I get to use this. Unfortunately, I don’t have much of it left and need to order more–and it’s a bit pricey for shampoo. So if L’Occitane ever got around to bottling this scent in a perfume, I’ll probably stock up like mad.

Bonne Mere Milk Soap

I wish my house smelled like this soap all the time.

L’Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate
I know, it essentially just smells like almond extract, but the lotion portion of the mix helps add this fluffy quality to the fragrance. Or maybe it’s just all in my head. Whatever it is, bottle up that fluffy almond smell, L’Occitane!

L’Occitane Bonne Mere Soap Milk
I went a little crazy one year and have about 20 or so of these bars of soaps lying around. At one point, I managed to scent the entire house like Bonne Mere Soap because I’d carefully distribute a bar here and there. I’ve been using them up though, but I still love the smell and wouldn’t mind it in spray form at all.

And just to mix things up a little, I know a lot of people who share the same love of Moroccanoil’s Shampoo and Conditioner’s smell.

Moroccanoil Shampoo & Conditioner
This reminds me of clean amber, florals, and a touch of woods with a little bit of nuttiness. A lot of people describe the scent to be just vanilla, but vanilla alone doesn’t sum up the creamy woodsy, nutty, amber fragrance I get whenever I use this shampoo. If there was a perfume that smelled like this, I’d probably wear it quite often! There’s been a couple of recommendations to try Etro’s Shaal Nur for a Moroccanoil equivalent. I know what’s going in my next decant order.

 

Faberge Flambeau

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Deb from Luvparfum kindly included a couple of decants when I purchased vintage Coty Chypre. One of those decants was Fabergé Flambeau. And as with most things that take me by surprise, my first impression was, “Fabergé made perfume?” The next impression was, “Wow!”

In Bottle: That “Wow” was to denote how very good this was. Green aldehydes and florals were my first impression.

Applied: I could smell the florals in this upon application. Flambeau opens with a green aldehyde, flowing into a beautiful jasmine mid-note that’s joined by a full-bodied and tempered rose. There are florals in here that I can’t pick out, but I don’t mind very much because it all blends together beautifully. Flambeau ages into a gorgeous lush mid-stage that exudes white flowers with slight hints of animalic musk. Nothing too wild on the animal side. It’s only a touch to give the fragrance even more complexity. As it dries down, I get less of the rose and more vetiver with a little hint of amber and bit of woodsiness that’s been soften with time.

Extra: Fabergé’s Flambeau was a little known fragrance initially released in 1955. It has since been discontinued and is quite a rarity. It’s really a shame since it’s such a beautiful scent from a long gone era of perfume. Fabergé had other vintage classics as well, including Woodhue, Tigress, Aphrodisia.

Design: I haven’t held or seen an actual bottle of Flambeau, but going by the photos, the parfum vial is a beautiful elegant glass piece encased in a golden shell with lovely markings on it. Very reminiscent of luxury from the 50s.

Fragrance Family: Classic Floral

Notes: Aldehydes, jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris, ambergris, vetiver, sandalwood, musk.

I’m only guessing with those notes. Anyway, if you want to score yourself a bottle of Flambeau, Deb from LuvParfum might have one in stock along with some of Fabergé’s other classics. This includes a gorgeous Woodhue perfume whistle. If not, you might get lucky on eBay.

Reviewed in This Post: Flambeau, ~1960, ???.

Don’t Worry, They Have a Scent For That

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“Don’t worry, they have a scent for that” has become something like a catchphrase for me. There’s a bit of a game my friends play where they go away and think of the strangest things that someone might want to smell like and come to me telling me they want to smell like it. Then I spent some time researching and getting frustrated. I know it’s just a joke and they don’t really mean for me to find and test these things, but it’s the principle of the thing. A lot of the time I have no answer because their requests are akin to, “I want to smell like that awkward feeling you get when you don’t know whether you should help someone or not then by the time you decide that person already solved their problem”.

It Exists

It Exists.

Sometimes, I get easy requests. This is a post about three of those requests.

“I want to smell like bacon.”
I want to know if people say they want to smell like bacon because they read Perfumes: The Guide by Turin and Sanchez. Or if they picked it up elsewhere. Whatever the reason, I get asked what smells like bacon a lot. I get asked so often, that I’ve begun to wonder if my choice for bacon perfume is really the best choice. Fargginay Bacōn, smells just like bacon. Probably a really obvious choice for perfumistas, but for everyone else, finding out that a bacon perfume does exist surprises, pleases and bewilders them.

“I want to smell like a balloon animal at the carnival.”
My friend had thought he was being rather smart with this one. Afterall, who in their right mind would want to smell like rubber and sugar? Too bad I had already experienced this one and he can go out and get himself a bottle of Gucci Rush and bathe in the stuff for that sweet rubbery smell.

“I want to smell like the garage.”
I get a lot of smart comments from men who say perfume isn’t for them unless it smells like motor oil, gasoline, or the garage. Thankfully they don’t have to look very hard. Classic Fahrenheit by Dior smells of gasoline and reminds me quite a bit of being in the garage. Though word has it that the reformulated version is weaksauce.

So there, three things I get told people want to smell like. And three rebuttals. I don’t have a suggestion for everything though, and I’m still stumped every time someone tells me they want to smell like “old socks stuffed in a box and left in the attic”.

By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad

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Hello, By Kilian. Long time no see. Still packaging things to make me covet you, I see. Good Girl Gone Bad is a recent release from By Kilian and features a gorgeous white and gold case.

Good Girl Gone Bad

Good Girl Gone Bad

In Bottle: Fruity, light and floral. I smell a bit of soapiness too.

Applied: A fruity opening with a osmanthus and jasmine showing. It smells like and soapy with a hint of jasmine. The jasmine becomes more prominent as the fragrance wears on and a touch of tuberose can be detected in the midstage. Jasmine takes on a green aspect mixing with a rose note. Good Girl Gone Bad isn’t going bad so far, and as I continue to wait her out, I get impressions of cedar and patchouli with a speck here or there of darkness. The fragrance never really gets very dark or daring. It remains a rather tame rose jasmine and cedar composition all the way until its fade.

Extra: I haven’t been following By Kilian in a while, and when I saw this fragrance had come out, I was drawn in by the name. I had this idea that it would start off light and airy and turn into a sinister beast. But it never really reaches beast form, and the florals in the midstage carry its good girl vibe all the way to the end. Good Girl Gone Bad was released in 2012 and can be had for $245 at Luckyscent.

Design: By Kilian usually does very well with its packaging. Good Girl Gone Bad comes in a beautiful bottle decorated to exquisite detail with a white and gold box featuring a golden snake coiling on top. Everything about it screams luxury.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Osmanthus, jasmine, rose, tuberose, narcissus, violet, plum, cedar, amber, patchouli, vetiver, musk.

Okay, so the bad girl never got to the party. Maybe she was too busy rocking out somewhere else? Wherever she went, she just wasn’t in this fragrance. What is here is a rather nice floral scent with decent longevity and a beautiful casing.

Reviewed in This Post: Good Girl Gone Bad, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Illuminum Rose Oud

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It’s been a while since I tried a fragrance with oud in it. And just about as long since I tried a rose centered scent. So I picked Rose Oud pretty much out of the blue and was pleasantly surprised.

Rose Oud

Rose Oud

In Bottle: Smells very familiar to me. It’s clean, fresh and simple and plucks at some memory that starts forming the longer I wear it.

Applied: Rose Oud is decidedly less rosey and oudy than I thought it would be. The rose is there. I’m not sure I can say the same for the oud, but the rest of the fragrance carries it forward. The instant I put it on, I’m reminded of something, but it settles on the tip of my brain and doesn’t let me progress much further until I let the fragrance settle down a bit more. As Rose Oud continues its progression, the rose makes its way to the forefront, dominating the scent and leading a pack of fresh florals, most notably the lily of the valley that gives the fragrance it’s soft feel. I’m waiting for the oud and find myself waiting a while as it never really makes itself known. Rose Oud smells more of roses from afar and more of roses and florals up close. For those worried about the castoreum, don’t be. I never got much in the way of it as the fragrance remained largely clean, fresh and floral. I quite like Rose Oud. It might actually be my top pick of the Illuminums so far and it’s mainly because of the memories it teases up for me.

Extra: Castoreum is, ready for this? The secretions from the scent glands of beavers. And of course, as with all these animal sourced notes, the scent glands are located on the animal’s rear. But, don’t worry, castoreum is derived from these secretions after they’ve been put through all sorts of processes. By the time it gets to be an ingredient, you end up with a leather-like fragrance. If you enjoyed Shalimar, you’re smelling more castoreum than I did in Rose Oud.

Design: Rose Oud is bottled and packaged much the same way as the other Illuminum fragrances. Held in a squat and square frosted glass bottle with a brushed metal cap.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Basil, coriander, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, geranium, oud, castoreum, patchouli.

While I was disappointed when the oud didn’t show up when I was searching for it, I finally realized why Rose Oud smelled familiar to me. It takes me back to 1990. I’m a child and my aunt is hugging me one last time before my parents put me in the taxi. I won’t see her again until 1992 and it made me sad. Two years isn’t that long for an adult, but it was ages for a child. The smell of roses and soap were wafting around at the time, partially from someone’s perfume and partially from the laundry soap that permeated through our luggage. I remember more precisely how dark it was because we were up at the break of dawn. Not much of a happy memory, but still a precious one.

Reviewed in This Post: Rose Oud, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Disclaimer: The fragrance reviewed in this post was provided to me for free for the purposes of review. In no other way am I receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experiences and opinions of the product.

Calypso St Barth Bellini

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I love a good fruity floral sometimes. A well composed one that has all the hallmarks of a fruity floral fragrance without being way too popular or way too complex.

Bellini

Bellini

In Bottle: Fresh, clean and fruity. It’s sweet, but doesn’t overdo it on the sugar.

Applied: Bellini opens with a lush tropical scent that embodies the idea of a bellini cocktail. It’s lush, it’s juicy and very fruity. It reminds me of summer in the middle of November and has this hint of faux coconut and pineapple that does that, “Summer! The beach! Tropical paradise!” Chant to me. There’s a lighter layer of florals that rolls in after the first stage and settles into this gentle, refreshing midstage that makes me feel like I just stepped out of the shower to a waiting cocktail in the midst of a tropical island. The dry down is a clean sandalwood and white musk with a hint of cool amber.

Extra: I feel a little like I missed the summertime and these days I’m playing catch-up with Bellini here. Maybe some day I’ll actually vacation on a tropical island and I’d be tempted to wear this. Bellini is quite the embodiment of a tropical vacation.

Design: The cap is a bit uninspired, but the fragrance is what it is. The packaging for the bottle itself is quite minimalist, with a bell-shaped bottle, featuring the house name and fragrance name on it. The cap is your standard tall, gold metal. The box, on the other hand, has a rather cute bow adorning it. Something about me and bows, I suppose. Overall, not bad, not very exciting but it does the trick.

Fragrance Family:  Fruity Floral

Notes: Citrus, peach, coconut, pineapple, , frangipani, freesia, jasmine, orange flower, amber, musk, sandalwood.

Bellini is neither interesting or exciting. It is very safe, and it’s one of the better composed fruity floral fragrances out there. I quite like it. And if you like it too, but can’t see yourself wearing it, it comes in a candle form.

Reviewed in This Post: Bellini, 2012, Eau de Toilette.