BPAL: Sea of Glass

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Having been knocked out of the game by a cold for a while, I was sad not to be able to do very many reviews of Black Phoenix’s fragrances. I always go back to BPAL for a simple smell adventure. The fragrances might not be complex in make and mode, but they are lovely things to test and train a nose. Useless said nose is congested. So I was happy to get over this blasted virus and get back to smelling. Nothing quite like the sinus clearing Sea of Glass to harken me back to health. Sea of Glass

In Bottle: Sea of Glass is just what its name implies. It is an aquatic, sharp and strong and slightly stinging as it rockets up the nose like taking in a breath just as your head goes underwater. It settles in the nostrils and declares itself aquatic queen of the land but the queen’s got some tricks up her sleeve too.

Applied: Blast of aquatics that will remain a steady theme throughout the fragrance’s lifespan. As Sea of Glass ages on the skin some more notes come up out of the foam and I get a faint whiff of light white florals dancing on the water with a gentle blend of sweet mandarin citrus and a kick of green. Sea of Glass reminds me of the color emerald and what that should smell like. Crisp, clear, and sharply clean. It has an aquatic edge to it with a subtle floral interpretation in the mid-stage. The dry down sees the fading of the aquatics and a bit more white floral representation with a sweetness that helps to smooth out the fragrance a little bit.

Extra: I’ve had people liken Sea of Glass to a number of other aquatics based fragrances before. It’s been compared to Acqua di Gio on more than one occasion of which I have to disagree. Acqua di Gio has more of a sweetness to it as well as a more predominant woodsy quality. Sea of Glass is a clearer aquatic with a floral heart.

Design: Bottled in the same way as other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab general catalog scents. It is presented in an amber colored glass bottle with a screw on cap that holds approximately 5ml of perfume oil.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Aqua, mandarin, white florals, green notes.

No notes listed with this one so I took my best guess at it. Sea of Glass is a nicely interesting aquatic based scent such as Bleu de Chanel. If you love that kind of stuff, give this one a try.

Reviewed in This Post: Sea of Glass, 2009, 5ml Bottle.

Lacoste Essential

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After a month of unsuccessfully trying to find a magazine with fragrance inserts I was handed a booklet filled with gold. Lacoste fragrance samplers make me deliriously happy. Those free sample vials stores used to give out like candy? They are practically an extinct species now. These days we get cards with pads of perfume soaked cotton mushed between two layers of sealing. But I’ll take what I can get. Essential

In Bottle: Fresh. We’re talking men’s shower gel scented fresh. Not surprising as Essential is marketed toward men and this smells predominantly like the very inoffensive (and very successful) shower gels, soaps and shampoos that are billed as sporty and sold to men who don’t want to smell like a bucket of pink candy. I can dig it.

Applied: Essential starts off with a quick blast of aqua soaked herbal citrus. Clean and brisk, like splashing a huge handful of cold water in your face in the morning. After it wakes you up, it reminds you of what has to be done that day. Smooth bergamot blends in with the spicy, faintly floral sweetness of the heart while maintaining that wonderful initial fresh blast. The dry down is a green, faintly sandalwood, wet affair with freshness splashed all over it. Essential is not new or interesting or exciting. It’s a good standby, a great office fragrance, and as such it has high versatility.

Extra: Some of the funniest things I’ll read are perfume advertisements. The people who make the marketing campaigns for fragrances surely have to know how the product works? The little sample card that Essential came on claims that the fragrance has, “patented Time-Release Technology”. I didn’t know you could patent evaporation.

Design: Essential’s bottling reminds me a lot of Guerlain’s Vetiver. Probably because they’re both rectangular, simply designed, and the juice for both of them are green. No complains from me here, though I do find that gripping the bottle is difficult for someone with small hands like me.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Tangerine, bergamot, tomato leaf, cassis, black pepper, rose, patchouli, sandalwood.

I prefer Vetiver as a men’s fragrance over Essential. Essential just smells normal, kind of generic. It’s good for office wear and if you’re looking for something easy to wear, this is it. But I could get the same effect from Platinum Egoiste too with a touch more class. Or I could just bank my money on Guerlain’s Vetiver.

Reviewed in This Post: Lacoste Essential, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler vial reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.

Bleu de Chanel

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Bleu de Chanel is the latest mainstream release of men’s fragrances by the house. If you’ve been following Chanel’s fragrance releases, you might notice they’ve taken a few steps back from their classic style of fragrances and have gotten a bit more mainstream and mass market. Bleu de Chanel is just another indication of that. Bleu de Chanel

In Bottle: Smells like Cool Water by Davidoff. Also smells like Bath and Body Works’ Dancing Waters scent. Heck, while we’re still here let’s throw in a dash of Lacoste Essential. Yeah, I just compared a Chanel to Cool Water, Essential, and Bath and Body Works.

Applied: The truth is, Bleu de Chanel does one thing very, very well. It combines every aquatics based sporty men’s fragrance together to form this  amalgamation of sport men’s fragrances. If you own a bottle of Bleu de Chanel, you could conceivably replace every other bottle of aquatic sporty men’s fragrance you own. It’s just that generic. Bleu de Chanel opens with a sweet, sharp, clean aquatic note that reminds me immediately of aforementioned Dancing Waters, Cool Water and Essential combined together. Let it dry down a bit and it will evolve into a mixture of Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue pour Homme and Acqua di Gio. In truth, it’s got a fresh, spicy, woodsy mid-stage with an aromatic backing. Fairly on par for the course. The last act  is a woodsy base with citrus dashed in there for good measure. Also not particularly fascinating but highly wearable.

Extra: Hard to believe that Bleu de Chanel came from the same house that made No. 5, No. 22, No. 19, Coco, Coromandel, Sycamore. But times change and while a lot of perfumistas are going to be disappointed with Bleu de Chanel, this fragrance is a sign of the times. I hope that Chanel sells Bleu de Chanel very well. I hope it draws in a new following of perfume lovers but keeps the classics around and releases some some fragrances reminiscent of Chanel’s long heritage of sophistication.

Design: Bleu de Chanel is bottled in a gorgeous dark tinted glass rectangular bottle with a metallic cap that’s reminiscent of their Les Exclusifs line of fragrances. My favorite part of this fragrance is honestly the cap. I’m a sucker for magnets, what can I say? The quality of the packaging is excellent, as should be expected with Chanel, and the design is simple but very nice.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, grapefruit, aqua, peppermint, pink pepper, nutmeg, ginger, jasmine, cedar, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum, frankincense.

I know a lot of perfume lovers are hating on Bleu de Chanel right now. I don’t blame them. I’m just as disappointed with this release as they are. But beneath the disappointment Bleu de Chanel is a pleasant, well-blended, easy to wear fragrance. It really does combine a good proportion of the aquatic sport men’s fragrance genre together to make a coherent and ultimately well-composed scent. I do highly recommend people who are looking for a really good aquatic sport fragrance to give Bleu de Chanel a sniff. It’s a good scent. It just doesn’t smell like a Chanel should.

Reviewed in This Post: Bleu de Chanel, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Chanel Platinum Egoiste

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Platinum Égoïste is the well known Chanel men’s fragrance that many people claim exudes confidence. I can’t say it exudes confidence so much as it’s a pleasant, professional, quality fragrance. It’s loud but not shrieking, it’s pleasant but not boring, and it’ll last ’til the end of time. Platinum Égoïste is a clean, soap-like, aromatic that’s so versatile you’d be hard pressed to find a time when you can’t wear it.  Platinum Egoiste

In Bottle: Aromatics up my nose. Help. My very first reaction to this was that it smells very familiar. It took a few moments before I realized it. Holy hell, it smells like my fiance’s soap or shampoo.

Applied: Aromatics that mix together to make that masculine soap and shampoo scent. This is like Prada’s d’Homme but done much louder and a bit better. It’s clean, fresh, very familiar to the Acqua di Gio crowd but much more expensive and sophisticated while at the same time being pleasant and approachable. As Égoïste ages, it turns into a sharp lemon and aromatic which eventually fades back into a nicer, less abrasive floral heart with a pleasant touch of aqua. The dry down is a light, crisp cedar and musk. To get anywhere near the dry down you have to wait hours. Like with most Chanel fragrances, the scent stays on you for a long time. Which makes this a great office fragrance that you don’t have to worry about touching up. So long as you go light on it because while this stuff smells pleasant, sophisticated and approachable it is also extremely strong.

Extra: Platinum Égoïste sometimes gets accused of being boring or overpriced for what it is due to its similarity to Acqua di Gio fresh and other fairly typical aqua fragrances. I don’t smell Acqua di Gio in this, it has a very subtle sophistication to it that a pure AdG clone tends to lack. As for overpriced? I’d have to point to Creed’s Virgin Island Water or Green Irish Tweed if we’re banking on that argument. There’s an overarching feel  to Platinum Égoïste that sets it in the same mood as Acqua di Gio, but to me, there’s a bit of spin in this stuff that also sets it aside. It smells better, more expensive, and better made. In the end, if it smells the same to you as another fragrance then don’t buy it. As for me, I love it.

Design: Comes in a nicely made rectangular glass bottle with a metal cap. Has that nice weighty feel that most Chanel bottles have. Simple, elegant, not at all gaudy or over the top. Just minimalist and lovely.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic Fresh

Notes: Lavender, rosemary, petitgrain, clary sage, geranium, galbanum, vetiver, cedarwood, labdanum, treemoss.

Reviewed in This Post: Platinum Egoiste , 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Creed Green Valley

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Creed’s Green Valley is the feminine answer to Creed’s enigmatic Green Irish Tweed. The softer, gentler, more girly fragrance is supposed to be a similar treatment. I don’t see the similarities, unfortunately. Green Valley

In Bottle: Sweet aqueous scent with a fruity note further adding sweetness to the water. This has the sweet water treatment that I smell in similar feminine aqua scents. Including Bath and Body Work’s Dancing Waters. Obviously Green Valley is several steps above Dancing Waters in complexity and beauty.

Applied: More sweet water, slightly green note in the opening. Sweetness come up with the violet leaf as a very pleasant blackcurrant note. Unfortunately, as Green Valley starts to dry down, it falls apart. I seem to be having a spat with lemon notes as the lemon in this fragrance throws everything off as it comes in, tips its hat and proceeds to become the biggest thing in the fragrance, overtaking everything and throwing its weight around to the point where all I smell is unbearably sharp lemon. Once in a while, I can get a safe whiff of what Green Valley was, smooth, sweet, watery and blackcurrant. But the lemon will come in immediately after and exert its massive influence. It’s a shame too as this gigantic lemon will stick around until the dry-down phase where it fades to nothing just before the pleasant woodsy base disappears too.

Extra: I certainly don’t get the Green Irish Tweed tie-in. And it isn’t just me and my feud with the lemon note either. Green Irish Tweed is in a different class than this. If you want to smell like Green Irish Tweed, why not just get Green Irish Tweed? Or the knock-off version, Cool Water.

Design: Bottled in much the same way as other Creed fragrances. This bottle is in a clear glass with a clear cap. Nothing spectacular about it with regards to the design elements though Creeds are fairly well packaged in some lovely and quality material.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: : Mandarine, bergamot, ginger, lemon, black currant, ambergris, musk.

I’m thinking I should stay away from anything with lemon in it. But just this one particular lemon used in some fragrances that ends up ruining the whole deal. I seem to be fine with the lemon in Pure and Nina. This stupid gigantic lemon, however, has so far ruined Green Valley, Versense, Light Blue, and Covet.

Reviewed in This Post: Green Valley, 2009, Sample Vial.

Guerlain AA: Flora Nymphea

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In and around the time Guerlain decided the status quo was not filling their coffers, they decided to output the Aqua Allegoria (abbreviated AA above) line of fragrances. These were simple, non-complex compositions of scents meant to draw in tentative consumers new to the Guerlain line and be evocative of nature. The philosophy behind Aqua Allegoria was to pump these things out and if a fragrance didn’t sell well, it would disappear. Flora Nymphea

In Bottle: Flora Nymphea is a light floral expression of a fragrance that reminds me quite a bit of my laundry detergent (Tide). It’s the light, inoffensive blend of generic florals that shouts clean and fresh! A pleasant deviation from Guerlains past.

Applied: Flora Nymphea is the embodiment of light, inoffensive floral. If you wanted a floral fragrance but you hate it when florals are heady then shack yourself up with some of this. It starts off with a bright citrus then mellows out into a sweet golden, floral scent with a slight green edge. The dry down is a soft, airy woodsy musk with a sheer layer of flowers.

Extra: Flora Nymphea is the newest member of the surviving Aqua Allegorias. Over the years, Guerlain’s made quite a few of these and only five are in rotation in 2010. The rest you will have to buy secondhand or from old stock because they have been cycled out of production. The surviving members are Pamplelune, Herba Fresca, Flora Nymphea, Mandarine Basilic, and Tiare Mimosa.

Design: I love the Aqua Allegoria line because they are bottled in Guerlain’s signature bee style. While it’s not exactly a close replica of vintage Guerlain bee bottles, the Aqua Allegorias do a very nice throw back to their roots. Glass with a metal honeycomb mesh over the top. The top of the metal cap has a bee embossed onto it. Lining these things up in a row is delightful because they are quite beautifully designed.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Syringa flower, orange blossom, beneficial honey.

Of all the Aqua Allegorias, Pamplelune holds a special place. I could do with or without Flora Nymphea as it is a pretty generic, inoffensive floral fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Flora Nymphea, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Armani Acqua di Gio pour Homme

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Acqua di Gio pour Homme, like Dolce & Gabanna’s Light Blue, was one of those extremely popular fragrances that everybody seemed to wear a few years back. And to my understanding, it is still popular though not to the extent that it once was. And people can easily understand why this one and Light Blue are popular. They’re highly easy to wear and are appropriate for most places the average person would tend to go. Acqua di Gio

In Bottle: While one would have to wonder what exactly a marine note is and how you’re supposed to be able to smell water. Aqua notes, to me, have this sharp blue quality to them. And Acqua di Gio pour Homme does, indeed, have that sharp blue quality from out of the bottle. It also contains something sweet and pleasantly nice to tame that sharpness a bit as pure aqua, to my nose, is very sharp.

Applied: Blue aqua notes, sharp and fresh with a sweetness to add a less abrasive dimension to smelling pure water. Smelling aqua is akin to going swimming and accidentally getting some pool water in your nose. That stinging, horrible pain is akin to a too strong, too pure aqua note to me. But Acqua di Gio pour Homme (am I using the word “aqua” enough?_ does a nice job mixing in other notes so it’s not pool water up your nose strong. There is a clear cedarness to this as well as sweetness coming from a rose and persimmon angle. The scent also does a fantastic job incorporating rosemary into the opening and in the mid-stage. The dry down is a nicely sweet, clear patchouli and clean musk.

Extra: Acqua di Gio is sometimes referred to as the trailblazer fragrance that ushered in a fad of fruity fresh fragrances that where Acqua di Gio pour Homme is a part of.

Design: In a rather plain shaped bottle with a slight curve in the body. The bottle is a pleasant and easy enough thing to hold though grasping the thing in my girly hands is a bit difficult due to its width. It has a metallic cap that slides very nicely into place. Something about the font face or the design of Acqua di Gio pour Homme really slots it very nicely into the Giorgio Armani line of fragrances as the designs do tend to look similar.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Jasmine, rosemary, citrus, persimmon, marine notes, cedar, patchouli, white musk, rock rose.

I like Acqua di Gio. I like how normal and completely unexciting it smells. These typical rather normal and inoffensive fragrances are popular for a reason. It’s because they always tend to smell pleasant and easygoing. It also has the benefit of being fairly unisex.

Reviewed in This Post: Acqua di Gio pour Homme, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Creed Love in White

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Love in White is one of those fragrances with a wide split between people who love it and people who hate it. It’s Creed’s answer to the ultimate fresh fragrance. This stuff is so fresh and crisp it makes my eyes water. Billed as a women’s fragrance, Love in White comes in a cute, feminine white bottle that’s supposed to represent a woman, the sand, and the sea. I can dig it. Love in White

In Bottle: Sweetness, aqua, and something sharp. Like sugar water with broken bits of glass and twisted pieces of metal. Love in White is strong too. So strong that my first whiff of it went straight up my nose and exploded in the back of my head. The sharpness that I assume might be the zest is so strong in this that it went beyond fine fragrance and reminded me of household cleaner.

Applied: Not much dying down of that sharp note on application but I do get the rest of the fragrance now that it’s on my skin. It’s like somebody turned up the volume on the jasmine note here because it’s very high-pitched, almost shrill as it tries to out sing the sandalwood. Meanwhile, iris with its rather distinct brightness is adding to the fresh feel. There’s got to be some aqua note in this because I swear I can smell water. I suppose that’s where the ocean imagery comes from but so much of this fragrance is clean and fresh that it’s hard to move beyond those two concepts to something gentler. The dry down helps a bit, the sharpness fades and the florals have sore throats and are now just whispering. I can appreciate the quiet calm of the dry down here as the soft creaminess of that vanilla shows up to help tame the sandalwood a little.

Extra: Love in White kind of reminds me of household cleaners. Not in a bad way. I mean, household cleaners contain fragrances meant to offend the least amount of people. Love in White is that inoffensive. The thing I can fault it for is how close it has to stick to my skin so I have to get up really close and personal. And when I’m that close, the fragrance is incredibly strong.

Design: The white bottle for Love in White is supposed to represent the feminine, the ocean and the crisp ocean air. I’m not sure I’m really feeling the look of the bottle or the conceptualization of it but it is pleasant enough to look at.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Orange zest, rice husk, iris, jasmine, daffodil, magnolia, rose, vanilla, ambergris, Mysore sandalwood.

When it’s all said and done Love in White is a very fresh sort of shrill scent with a loud projection that also manages to stick relatively close to the skin. I have to get up close to really smell it but once I’m that close I also tend to get its entire assault up my nose.

Reviewed in This Post: Love in White, 2010, Sample vial.