Coty Masumi

Someone asks me if I want to test out a classic Coty, I don’t know how I could say no. Masumi was a Coty chypre from the 1960s.

In Bottle: Spicy with a very grown-up fruity vibe with a layer of deep green woods.

Applied: Bergamot up front with a fruitiness that rolls in rather quickly. The fruits in Masumi can’t be described in any terms that one would use for a modern perfume. Certainly not, “girly” or “fun and sweet”. Masumi’s fruits are reminiscent of Mitsouko’s peach note, in that it’s slightly sweet but very, very sophisticated. The fruits are joined by a spicy floral in the midstage with a big showing from the woods and a smooth earthiness that I’m thinking might be the oak moss at work. The fragrance stays a floral woodsy scent with a hint of spice. The fruitiness I got in the opening was rather short lived and the scent isn’t missing anything because of it. Quite lovely, very classic, helps me remind me that Coty did some great things.

Extra: Masumi was released in the 1960s and was later repackaged in the 1970s. It has since been discontinued.

Design: The design for Masumi was very reminiscent of the era in which it was released. The shape is a bit familiar in Guerlain’s Idyll but with a great deal more authenticity. It looks simple, with a teardrop style shape and a tall metal cap. I don’t have a physical body to judge by, but the design works for what it is.

Fragrance Family:  Classic Chypre

Notes: Bergamot, pineapple, melon, rosewood, rose, violet, cardamom, musk, sandalwood, oak moss, cedar, amber, vanilla.

The more classic Cotys I experience, the sadder I am that most of their great fragrances are no longer available.

Reviewed in This Post: Masumi, ~1970, Eau de Toilette.


Holistic Body Therapy Celebration

I had the honor of participating in the Natural Perfumer’s Guild‘s Home for the Holidays event this year and was super excited to be paired up with Andrea Ashanti at Holistic Body Therapy. Today’s fragrance is a little different than the norm, it was formulated as a misting spray and can be used as a room spray or on yourself. I’ll be trying both.

Celebration

Celebration

In Bottle: Celebration gives me the distinct impression of Christmas trees and warm vanilla cocoa with a dash of cinnamon.

Applied: Celebration goes in the air and on my skin almost at the same time. In the air, it fills the room with a beautiful dense fir fragrance followed quickly by the warmth of a vanilla, cinnamon and yummy cocoa scent. The gourmand latter really strikes a happy note with me, reminding me of days spent decorating and then curling up under the Christmas tree and drinking hot cocoa while it snowed during the Holidays. The fragrance is light but leaves a fabulous lingering impression in the room for a few hours that seems to uplift the spirit. On my skin, I get a little more mileage as the fir needle note blends in with this rich cocoa fragrance. I get more vanilla and a little less cinnamon on my skin but I also get more frankincense presence near the end of the fragrance’s wear time as it joins the delicious vanilla cinnamon cocoa and helps to further warm the scent. I found myself unable to stop sniffing my wrist and looking forward to Christmas more and more.

Extra: Celebration has an impressive mix of ingredients from fir needle, cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon to the Mount Shasta spring water and flower essences that give it a beautiful crisp aroma for a scent that really embodies the idea of Celebration.

Design: Celebration is bottled in a green glass sprayer bottle with Holistic Body Therapy’s label affixed to it. It’s cute and functional and works great for its purposes.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand Woodsy

Notes: Fir, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, frankincense.

The closest thing to a Holiday scent I had before Celebration arrived was a cinnamon and clove candle that would fill the house with a huge dose of spice. My Husband admits he doesn’t like it much and neither do I. I leave it in the pantry with the lid closed and it still manages to scent our beans a little. Cinnamon and clove candle beans are about as delicious as you would think. I was ecstatic to discover Celebration and went crazy spraying it around the house one day near Halloween. The fragrance doesn’t overpower, it lingers but its light. When my Husband came home, his first impression was much like mine, memories of good childhood Christmases in a bottle.

You can get yourself a bottle of Celebration for this holiday season at Holistic Body Therapy’s website. At $25 for 2 oz, you’ll get more than enough holiday cheer.

Reviewed in This Post: Celebration, 2012, Misting Spray.

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.

If you want to check out the participants in the Home For the Holidays Project, try Holistic Body Therapy, Anya’s Garden, Happy Herb Soaps, Belly Flowers Perfumes, and JoAnne Basset Perfumes.


Tauer Pentachord Auburn

Tauer Perfumes caught my eye while I was shopping for samples and thought of my husband’s birthday. Now his birthday is a few months off at least, but when it comes to me and fragrance shopping I can’t get started soon enough. What attracted me to Auburn was the promise of a cinnamon and tobacco scent.

Pentachord Auburn

Pentachord Auburn

In Bottle: A hint of sweetness mixed with a bit of cinnamon and smokiness. Reminds me a bit of autumn.

Applied: A hit of sweet cinnamon up front. I get no orange flower from this and the sweetness of the fragrance instantly disqualifies it for my husband. But I let it sit and see where it goes. Auburn rather happily introduces a sandalwood and tobacco mix, more heavy on the tobacco than sandalwood though. There’s a pleasant smokiness to this that dominates the fragrance giving it a very rich incense-like quality. What I don’t care too much for is the sweetness that I’m not sure I quite like mixed with tobacco. Auburn is definitely warm and sweet and gives me an idea of what a cinnamon smoke would smell like. But I can’t say I’m a big fan of the mixture. It’s definitely interesting, but I don’t know about wearable when it comes to my taste.

Extra: The Pentachord series is about the molecules in the fragrances where every fragrance features just five notes.

Design: I’ve always liked Tauer’s bottles. Pleasantly geometric, functional with just enough style and none of the fluff. Good spraying, good feel in the hands, looks great on display and if you have more than one, they look fabulous together.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Oriental

Notes: Orange flower, cinnamon, sandalwood, amber, tobacco.

I do find the concept of the Pentachords interesting and while I don’t think Auburn really suits me, I’d definitely like to keep exploring the rest of the series.

Reviewed in This Post: Auburn, 2012, Eau de Parfum.


Ed Hardy Love and Luck for Women

Hearts and Daggers was something of a flop on me, but I also had a little bit of Love and Luck for Women by Ed Hardy. And while I haven’t grown to like the packaging in any capacity, I will admit that Love and Luck for Women was a bit of a surprise.

Love and Luck for Women

Love and Luck for Women

In Bottle: Citrus and fruity, quite nice in a fruit bowl sort of way. If you want fruity and fresh then this is the stuff for you.

Applied: Initial flare of citrus followed by a peppery kick thanks to the pink pepper present in thsi fragrance. The scent has a nice clean edge on opening that does rather well when it starts to move into it’s fruit bowl stage. I smell the currants and the nectarine with a mild creamy plum in the middle. The scent is rather pleasant. Not too strong and while it’s generic, it does the fruity genre of fragrances rather well. Love and Luck is a decently blended fragrance and while it won’t win any awards any time soon, it’s one of the better fruity scents I’ve smelled as of late. The dry down gets a bit woodsy but not too much that you would mistake this for anything else but a fruity perfume. Overall, nicely done and extremely wearable with decent longevity.

Extra: I’ll admit, I had initially been interested in reviewing this fragrance once I saw the proposed design for the new Ed Hardy fragrance, Skulls and Roses. Mostly I was inspired because the proposed design was so bad. You can view it for yourself at Fragrantica. Keep in mind that the image is currently a composite of a 3D model and a 2D rose so if the image looks a bit odd, that’s why. Hopefully someone at Christian Audigier realizes that the design looks kind of funny and tones it down a little.

Design: Love and Luck features the tattoo inspired artwork indicative of most Ed Hardy products. I’m not a fan of the design and I find the plastic cap that covers the glass bottle thing kind of annoying to use.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Bergamot, blood orange, pink pepper, blackcurrant, nectarine, plum, jasmine, sandalwood, cedar, musk, patchouli.

Love and Luck for Women has a male counterpart that I haven’t tried yet. I rather like this version and think it’s a competent fruity fragrance. Granted there are a lot of competent fruity fragrances out there. So if you’re shopping for a fruity perfume give Love and Luck a sniff, but don’t worry if you don’t fall in love with it. There are many more fish in the sea.

Reviewed in This Post: Love and Luck for Women, 2010, Eau de Parfum.


Yves Saint Laurent Kouros

Every time someone asks for a strong, long-lasting fragrance marketed toward men someone else is bound to suggest Kouros.

Kouros

Kouros

In Bottle: Holy cow, it’s strong. Yeah, I’d say it lives up to its reputation. Bergamot, I think is what I’m smelling with a lot of aldehydes and some drowning florals.

Applied: All right, I understand why a lot of people hate this fragrance. They were kidding when they said it was strong. If you were thinking of getting this because you wanted a strong (with italics and everything) fragrance then Kouros will make you happy. Well, it’ll make you happen if you happen to enjoy powerful animalic fougeres. Kouros starts off with a big hit of bergamot that’s bolstered with a ton of aldehydes and a spicy herbal treatment that adds to the masculinity of the fragrance. You’re going to see a lot of hyperbolic language in this post because this stuff is strong. Period. It’s a bit screechy at first, and if you’re not used to strong fragrances, you will get a headache or your nose will be overwhelmed. Let Kouros rest on your skin for a while and it’ll develop into a deeper more animal fragrance that introduces another round of spices and a bit of incense. This is complex defined with its classical personality paired with an 80s Powerhouse underbelly. The dry down never seems to come with this stuff as it’s just so strong and so dominant that I can only say by the time I had to shower it off, it still smelled finely of smoke, musks, spice, florals and confidence.

Extra: Kouros was released in 1981. Named after a Greecian statue that typically depicts a youth in a standing pose.

Design: Not the most interesting bottle to look at, but I do notice the relative simplicity of men’s fragrance packaging compared to women’s fragrances. Kouros is a fine design though. It’s simple but functional, would not look out of place on a man’s wardrobe or wherever he chooses to use his cologne. It’s nice to hold, easy to use, and has an excellent sprayer.

Fragrance Family: Fougere

Notes: Aldehydes, artemisia, coriander, clary sage, bergamot, carnation, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, jasmine, vetiver, geranium, honey, leather, tonka bean, amber, musk, civet, oakmoss, vanilla.

Despite being so strong Kouros hits a nice and reasonable ground with me so that I don’t find it repulsive and strong. It’s a good fragrance, it’s very strong, and it’s considered close to the classics. If you can handle it’s strength then you’ll be very happy with it.

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


Knize Ten

Picked up this classic out of the pile today. I had heard of Knize Ten on various fragrance boards and saw it had a lot of love and praise so I was very excited to see how I’d react to it.

Knize Ten

Knize Ten

In Bottle: Strong leather up top with a mixture of notes that reminds me of motor oil or rubber. I know my fiance, whose love of things that smell like car garages would love this.

Applied: Once again a very heavy leather note up top with a few notes that remind me of rubber or motor oil. Just something really heavy and mechanical. This makes me think ‘masculine’ right away as it has a very strong initial personality. If you keep wearing Knize Ten it mellows out a bit, turning into a soft, plush leather fragrance with a hint of floral to back it up. It’s rich, sophisticated and very complex as all classics tend to be. I love it, but I would probably love it more on a man than myself because I can’t see myself rocking this with the same kind of style due to my penchant for lighter fragrances. Anyway, Knize Ten develops into this fabulous comforting leather. The kind of warm, plus leather you can wrap yourself in. The ‘motor oil’ fades so if you were concerned about that aspect, it did fade for me. Also keep in mind that it is hard to pin point exactly what Knize Ten is aside from a really, really good leather. It’s constantly evolving but remains a very nice comforting, luxurious fragrance. The dry down is marked with a warm amber quality and a hint of balancing patchouli.

Extra: Knize Ten is a classic fragrance from the 1920s and it smells like it too. It’s complex and unlike most modern men’s scents in that it has a fabulous balance of notes. It was composed by François Coty and Vincent Roubert.

Design: Fairly simple design choice for this fragrance but it’s a quality-looking fragrance bottle made of quality materials. Feels nice in the hand, has a good weight to it, isn’t awkward to hold or spray and looks simple and tasteful. Overall, a nicely done design.

Fragrance Family: Classic

Notes: Lemon, bergamot, orange, petitgrain, rosemary, geranium, rose, cedar, orris, carnation, cinnamon, orange blossom, sandalwood, leather, musk, moss, patchouli, ambergris, castoreum, vanilla.

Knize Ten is beautiful. I just can’t see myself wearing it, but I can definitely see a man with this fragrance. It’s warm, comforting, and sophisticated at the same time. Not to mention it’s a classic which almost always wins extra points. I’m just not sure how old my sample is.

Reviewed in This Post: Knize Ten, ~2000, Eau de Toilette.


Kenzo Power

Kenzo Power was described as a spicy woodsy scent–a rather banal genre for men’s fragrances which wouldn’t turn very many heads. That is, if only Power kept to that spicy woodsy description. Instead, Power is less so a spicy wood fragrance and more like a spicy floral.

Power

Power

In Bottle: Powereded florals and spice, I get cardamom but I definitely get some florals in this with some woods as well.

Applied: Starts off with a citrus opening that fades in with the spices almost immediately. Power starts off strong with an opening befitting of a classic men’s fragrance. The scent heads into its midstage with an increasingly floral presence as it settles in with a powdered flowers, a bit of creaminess and residual spiciness from the opening. The dry down is a fairly generic woods fragrance with a hint of amber and lingering spices.

Extra: Power isn’t your average men’s fragrance–at least not the average that I’ve been smelling. It’s got the male progression in the strong citrus blast up top and the woody dry down but the mid-stage has a nice femininity to it that doesn’t overpower the masculine aspects of the scent. Sure, there’s florals in this but it is still a men’s fragrance at heart. It’s soft and sophisticated and definitely different from your average aquatic or spicy wood. Kenzo Power was composed by Olivier Polge (Burberry The Beat and Balenciaga Paris).

Design: Rather interesting design, reminiscent of Montale’s fragrance bottles except done much better. Shiny metal with a fantastic heft to it. Feels good to hold, has a masculinity to the aesthetic but is not over the top and still manages to look modern and a little different. At the very least, the metal helps balance out the flower logo that should hint that this ‘Power’ has a little bit of floral in it.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, coriander, cardamom, florals, amber, woods.

Kudos to Kenzo for making Power smell the way it does. It’s a new and interesting contender in the rather repetitive abstract that is the men’s fragrance industry. Check this one out if you want a more creative men’s fragrance and you aren’t too afraid of flowers in your cologne.

Reviewed in This Post: Power, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male

Le Male’s something of a classic for men’s fragrance, I guess. Well, maybe classic is putting it a bit too high on the totem pole. What Le Male is, however, is a very successful, very nice oriental fragrance that many men who prefer something outside of Acqua di Gio tend to enjoy.

Le Male

Le Male

In Bottle: Initial whiff of lavender and spices in Le Male. It’s at once familiar and unique.

Applied: Spicy lavender up top. Le Male’s reminiscent of a fougere fragrance with a major spicy kick. The cardamom, to my nose is particularly strong along with the cinnamon note. It reminds me a bit of this awesome chai tea that I really like that features cinnamon and caraway rather heavily. The lavender helps pull the fragrance together from the get go, as its little whiffs of mint and bergamot that were in the initial spray make way for a warm, dry midstage that sees an introduction of a slight floral sandalwood scent. The dry down is very dry with lavender hints hanging on and its spicy cinnamon making a very good run as the sweet, dry, woods scent of the base takes the rest of the show.

Extra: Le Male is strong and has excellent projection, so watch how much of this you spray on yourself. Especially you guys who wear this almost every day. Your nose may have adapted to the scent from prolonged use and you might be overdoing it a bit. I’ve stood close to a man who overdid the Le Male and it turns this brilliant spicy fougere into a powerful mess. Easy on the trigger and you’ll smell awesome though.

Design: Iconic design from Jean Paul Gaultier of the “torso bottles”. Le Male is packaged in a blue torso bottle resemble a man’s chest and hips. The fragrance itself comes in a tin can. Great for keeping out light and helping the fragrance keep a little cooler, but I can’t say I like having a tin can sitting on a fragrance shelf. Still, the torso bottle is a classic piece of design to some people, but for me, it kind of freaks me out to be honest. Still,as soon as you see these torso designs, you probably instantly think, “Oh, it’s Jean Paul Gaultier doing his thing again”. So if nothing else, it is memorable.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Oriental Fougere

Notes: Artemisia, lavender, mint, bergamot, cardamom, caraway, orange blossom, cinnamon, sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, vanilla, cedar.

On myself, Le Male smells too iconically male. Though it’s a great scent that I really like. It smells like it belongs on a man though and that is probably because of the prevalence of the gender that often wears it. Still, it’s like I always say, if you like this enough then who cares what gender it was made for? Just wear it and rock it.

Reviewed in This Post: Le Male, 2001, Eau de Toilette.


Creed Royal Oud

Oud has always been popular amongst perfumistas. It took me a while to get used to it myself. But how could I delay it? People love oud. Companies have entire lines of fragrances dedicated to oud.  So how does Royal Oud stack up to the competition? Eh.

Royal Oud

Royal Oud

In Bottle: It’s oud all right. Dense and warm oud with a flowery bit of woodsiness and a major spice going on.

Applied: Okay, so here’s the problem with Royal Oud on me. It opens with a big spicy kick. Like the spices are a bit strong and overpowering at first and that makes it hard for my nose to adjust and get to the rest of the fragrance. As the spices settle down a bit, I get a warm, dense, slightly dirty oud and woodsy fragrance. The woods are a little distracting because I swear I smell a cedar note that’s threatening to take over and pull me away from the smooth richness of the oud fragrance. Royal Oud is a strange but rather boring creature. It’s strange in that it uses oud throughout its progression but the other notes in the fragrance seem to always be stronger and trying to overpower the oud. It’s boring because it smells like a spicy woodsy men’s fragrance with a little hint of dirtiness.

Extra: Oud has this dirty, dense, very resinous quality to my nose. But to describe oud is nearly impossible because there are so many ouds and so many different ways that oud can smell. It can be dirty, dense, deep, warm, sweet, and sticky. It also all depends on what type of oud you’re smelling and whether it’s a synthetic or a natural oud. It’s a talented ingredient that takes a good perfume to the next level if used right.

Design: The bottle itself is shaped and designed in a similar fashion to other Creed fragrances. Nice, heavy glass. Simple exterior with no unnecessary flourishes. The colors work well, the focus is on the fragrance and not the crazy gimmick bottle (here’s looking at you, Agonist. Even though I love Agonist bottles). It’s just a classic-looking Creed bottle that combines form and function very well.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Agarwood, woods, spices.

I don’t know how I should feel about Royal Oud except to say that Amouage did it better. Get yourself an attar if you want something that focuses a bit more on oud. Get yourself Royal Oud if you’re not sure you like the stuff yet but you want a confident fragrance that features oud but won’t overwhelm you with it.

Reviewed in This Post: Royal Oud, 2011, Eau de Parfum.


Tauer L’Air du Desert Marocain

L’Air du Desert Marocain has been described as a dry, beautiful oriental that’s reminiscent of a desert breeze. Come on, with a description like that, I had to give her a try.

L'Air du Desert Marocain

L'Air du Desert Marocain

In Bottle: Dry incense with a bit of earthiness and a beautiful hint of woodsiness that comes through this beautifully blended spicy accord.

Applied: Spiciness is up right away with a bit of an incense kick. This isn’t off-putting, too strong and a little bit weird incense. L’Air du Desert Marocain employs a beautiful, clear incense fragrance that’s smoky and classic. It smells like incense should. Delicate but strong at the same time. There’s a bit of floral sweetness that’s balanced out by a smoky bitterness. Sounds like a strange combination but the two, when combined, makes something very pretty. The florals in this help perfume the backdrop to the incense, as well as the woodsy notes and the spices. Everything is so well blended that it’s hard for me to pick out a specific player and I like it that way. The only thing I know is that the incense fragrance in this is awesome.

Extra: Tauer is a niche luxury fragrance house headed by Andy Tauer who not only has his name on these beautiful fragrances, he also composes them. It’s always awesome to see a perfumer heading their own fragrance line.

Design: Bottled in a pentagon-shaped blue glass bottle, L’Air du Desert Marocain looks very luxurious and feels equally luxurious. It has a bit of a lapis lazuli look to it as well. Tauer, however, uses relatively the same bottle design principles for all of their fragrances. Regardless, the bottles are functional and look great.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Coriander, petitgrain, lemon, bergamot, jasmine, cistus, bourbon, geranium, cedarwood, vetiver, vanilla, patchouli, ambergris.

Well, L’Air du Desert Marocain lived up to the hype. I really enjoyed this one. As for it making me picture a desert wind–well, I’m not sure about that. It’s definitely dry, it definitely smells good, and it’s definitely got this beautiful classical vibe to it. When you have a perfume that smells so awesome already, I’m not that worried about it living up to its name.

Reviewed in This Post: L’Air du Desert Marocain, 2010, Eau de Toilette.