Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose

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I had a glimpse at this adorable bottle at the store the other day. Lancôme’s Trésor Midnight Rose looks more modern than original Trésor with a cute little rose ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle. It’s things like that which wake up the little girl in me.

Tresor Midnight Rose

Tresor Midnight Rose

In Bottle: Cedar (plenty of it) in this with a mild sweet floral. A little touch of rose settling in the background.

Applied: It’s probably not a good sign when the first note I smell in the bottle and on my skin is cedar. Midnight Rose’s cedar doesn’t agree with me as it overtakes the scent and makes itself a dominant force to be reckoned with. Pushing the cedar aside, I can get vague glimpses of roses and berries. The underlying scent is a sweet floral and I imagine without the cedar present, Midnight Rose would smell pretty tame and mild. With the cedar, its tameness is being drowned by a near obnoxious “Look at me, I’m a big tree and I smell”, sharp woody note that I get in most cedar perfumes. Something about my nose or my skin or just me in general cannot get along with these cedar notes and Midnight Rose just so happens to use enough of it to bother me. I keep Midnight Rose on in the hopes that cedar will go away and let me into the rest of the fragrance, but it’s always there, taunting me. Thankfully the fragrance has a noticeable enough progression that near the end, I get a bit of creamy vanilla with a soft lingering floral.

Extra: Midnight Rose was released last year, in 2011. Trésor has a large selection of flankers, most notably, Trésor In Love and Trésor Sparkling.

Design: I didn’t even recognize this as a Trésor flanker because of how different the bottle looks from original Trésor. The redesign is definitely appreciated as Trésor’s design was showing its age a bit. Or maybe I just associate it naturally with the 90s because that’s how long I’ve been seeing the bottle sitting on a relative’s vanity table. Trésor Midnight Rose is encased in a tall glass bottle that reminds me a bit of Nina Ricci and Chanel mixed together. It has a cute fabric rose, tied to the neck of the bottle that, for once, accentuates the aesthetics and gives it a sort of sophistication as opposed to just tackiness.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Berries, rose, jasmine, peony, cassis, pink pepper, cedar, vanilla, musk.

I keep seeing people generally liking this and I wish I could say the same. The cedar really was the sole reason why I didn’t have any luck with Midnight Rose. What I smelled underneath was a mild, nice, sweet floral which I probably would have enjoyed.

Reviewed in This Post: Trésor Midnight Rose, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Lancome Hypnose

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Lancôme does rather well with his mostly grown up fragrance line toting woodsy florals and orientals. I’m starting to warm up to them a bit more and Hypnôse does a good job of swaying me more toward the Lancôme side of things.

Hypnose

Hypnose

In Bottle: Citrus and clean mixed with a fruity sweet scent blended rather well into a bouquet of florals to form a pretty well-balanced fragrance.

Applied: Despite its sparse official notes list, there’s more to Hypnôse than meets the nose. I get a pretty obvious citrus note up top before something fruity rolls into the fragrance. Hypnôse is a very sweet fragrance and I actually really like it’s extremely sweet personality as the fragrance edges into the midstage where I swear I smell anise in this even though it’s not on the list of notes the anise serves to sweeten up the fragrance a bit more, giving it a licorice-like quality as it blends in with a creamed rose and jasmine bouquet making the fragrance smell a bit like a grown-up version of a fruity floral fragrance thanks to the anise. The scent then hits the drydown smelling a bit woodsy and earthy with a vetiver and vanilla base.

Extra: Hypnôse, in addition to being a fragrance, is also a mascara produced by Lancôme. And, if you really loved the fragrance, it comes in a handy set with lotion and shower gel for you to enjoy all day.

Design: Hypnôse is bottled in a twisted blue glass cylinder. The design itself isn’t something I’m wild about but it’s functional for what it is, looks all right and is easy enough to hold. In the end the aesthetics aren’t my cup of tea but it’s a well-designed bottle that while I don’t like personally, I can still appreciate it for its simplicity and twisted (hah!) take on the classic rectangular bottle.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Citrus, passion flower, rose, jasmine, anise, vetiver, vanilla.

It should be noted the above notes list is not official and is an amalgamation of the official list and what other notes I think I’m smelling in the fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Hypnôse, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

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.

Lancome Tresor

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I know I haven’t done any reviews of Lancôme’s fragrances because very few of their fragrances interest me. The scents are fine, of course, but they all seem to hit an off note on my skin.

Tresor

Tresor

In Bottle: Very strong but the notes are all blended together to form a rather generic perfume scent that isn’t very pleasing to me. It’s generic-smelling right from the get-go and that disturbs me a bit.

Applied: Goes on with a slightly fruity and sweet sheerness that’s rather pleasant. A powderiness approaches the opening turning the fruity sweetness into something akin to sugar dust. The florals amp up next taking the scent into the mid-stage with a sweet jasmine and rose combination. Now, jasmine and rose are two of the most common floral notes in perfumes and the result is a rather generic floral scent unless something else in the fragrance is helping it hold its own. So far Trésor’s sticking to a pretty generic scent as the jasmine and rose combination dominate the mid-stage with a few wafts of iris and that sweet sugar dusting wiggle in and out of the scent. The dry down is an unremarkable affair too with a sandalwood note layered over vanilla and a very subtle dirty amber note.

Extra: Trésor’s considered to be a classic smelling perfume amongst some circles. To me, she’s not so much a classic as she is a generic. I smell Trésor and I think generic floral mostly due to how strong the jasmine and rose notes were in the mid-stage for me.

Design: Trésor’s design is an interesting jewel-like bottle. It also bears a resemblance to a pyramid in a way and reminds me also of honeycomb. I don’t know why but the design is decent, not garish but not exactly to my tastes. I do think it is well done though.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Pineapple, peach, lilac, bergamot, apricot blossom, lily of the valley, rose, orris, heliotrope, jasmine, apricot, peach, musk, sandalwood, amber, vanilla.

What I think of Trésor I can pretty much apply to the other fragrances from Lancôme. At least for their recent releases anyway. I haven’t had the gumption to dig up a sample of Climat though I have it on good word that it’s a beautiful piece of classical perfumery.

Reviewed in This Post: Trésor, 2008, Eau de Parfum.