Jean Paul Gaultier Classique EDP

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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.

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre

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The Chanel Chance lineage of fragrances has always been marketed toward younger woman. And seems that with each flanker the age group gets bumped down even more. Chance was a good, easily worn fragrance for women in and around their thirties and younger. Eau Fraîche knocked it down to mid-twenties and younger. Now There’s Eau Tendre. Eau Tendre

In Bottle: Marc Jacobs Daisy. The resemblance has been noted before and I will confirm them. This smells like Daisy. The wet, green grassy, lightly floral top notes of Daisy.

Applied: Daisy’s still there, and I can’t get over this barrier of how much it smells like Daisy. It’s like I’ve sprayed Daisy on myself instead of a Chanel fragrance. I’m waiting this one out though, because Daisy does lose that wet green and grassy scent when it progresses into its mid-stage and I want to see if Eau Tendre does as well. So far, Eau Tendre hangs onto its top notes a little better and longer and I do like Daisy’s top notes but I want this smell in my bottle with the rubber flowers not in Chanel. As Eau Tendre dries down the mid-stage has moved on from its Daisy-like personality and has developed a rose and jasmine with a bite of citrus and a woody note sandwiching the flowers. The mid-stage is probably the least remarkable part of Eau Tendre. It smells rather generic and pedestrian and kind of dull. Normally, I’d just say this smells nice and young but Chanel’s built a reputation on a solid base of very respectable fragrances that Eau Tendre hits a sore spot because it’s like a trip in an otherwise rather smooth road. This doesn’t smell like a Chanel. While I could see the appeal of the original Chance, that was a well composed fragrance that had a lot of class. Eau Tendre smells like most other recent releases with none of the familiar Chanel soul in place. The dry down is not that much better as the cedarwood in this amps up and the florals grow a bit quieter. The one thing I can say for Eau Tendre is that like many Chanel fragrances it has good sillage and decent projection. I just don’t think it’s very creative or very reflective what Chanel fragrances have been for the past century.

Extra: Chanel Chance is a very popular fragrance line that targets younger women and tries to introduce them to the Chanel line of perfumes. It has, so far, two flankers. The first is Eau Fraîche and the second is Eau Tendre.

Design: Eau Tendre is bottled like its Chance sisters. Held in a round glass bottle with a square cap the juice inside is a light, very girly pink. The glass has a nice, light weight to it. The presentation is clean and fits well with other Chanel fragrance bottles. I do think of all the fragrance houses, Chanel’s one of the better ones in terms of packaging.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Grapefruit, hyacinth, jasmine, iris, white musk, amber, cedarwood.

Unremarkable as this is, I don’t doubt that it will sell well because it’s a really good reflection of where fragrance trends are headed now. So if you’re young and you want to own a Chanel perfume but you think many of them are too old or too sophisticated then Chance Eau Tendre deserves a sniff. Don’t let my disappointment color you away from this fragrance. It’s a Chanel and it’s well-done for what it is.

Reviewed in This Post: Chance Eau Tendre, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Burberry The Beat

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I’ve been wearing The Beat almost every day for about four months now and I think it’s time I finally gave her a review. She’s pretty, though more coveted on the shelves than on my skin because she’s a very typical scent in that ‘smells so fresh and clean’ type of way.  What I mean is, I wanted The Beat–badly–when I saw it on the shelves. It smelled excellent whenever I tried it. But now that I own 50ml of the stuff, it’s a forgettable scent in how ordinary it is. The Beat

In Bottle: Pink pepper with a mandarin kick and a cedar underbelly. The Beat uses a light handed approach to cedar so that I can smell it but it isn’t overpowering like other fragrances that tend to blast the cedar out like some sort of Deus ex Machina of the perfume world.

Applied: Pink pepper, sharp citrus and cedar immediately on application with the citrus sticking it out for a respectable amount before fading as it lets the cedar settle in close to the skin. This cedar that sticks to my skin plays a major part in not  overwhelming me with the cedar-y goodness. As The Beat ages, it grows softer, a little more floral with a brush of tea and a gentle smudge of iris layered over bluebell. It makes The Beat smells very fresh, very spring and summer with how bright and cute and vibrant it is. The dry down is a typical affair, with that close to your skin cedar blended in with an earthy cleaned-up vetiver.

Extra: The Beat is perhaps most well-known for having fashion’s “It Girl”, Agyness Deyn, be the face for the fragrance. It’s supposed to evoke an edgy, hip, alternative young audience. They got one out of three right so that’s okay. There’s nothing edgy or alternative about The Beat. It’s very pedestrian. Lovely, well-behaved, but ultimately pedestrian.

Design: The Beat’s bottle design does much better than Burberry Brit (that tartan brick of a thing I can’t seem to stop complaining about). The bottle is a nice clear glass with the Burberry tartan. The juice inside is a very lightly toned pink and the cap is a pretty metal affair with a dangly bit hanging off the side of the bottle with a metal plate that reads “Burberry” on it. Cute, lovely little bottle. Definitely not something I’d be tempted to build a wall  out of like Burberry’s other design.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, pink pepper, Ceylon tea, cardamom, bluebell, iris, white musk, vetiver, cedar.

Funny that the tea came through so lightly in this fragrance because if it had been a little heavier, I would have been a little more in love with The Beat. But as it is, it’s a good “standing in the elevator” fragrance with a well-behaved cedar note.

Reviewed in This Post: The Beat, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Etat Libre d’Orange Secretions Magnifiques

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In a time when fragrances are pushed out the door at alarming rates, where the same themes are repeated over and over again, Etat Libre d’Orange takes a conceptual approach to perfumery and challenges people’s notion of what a perfume is and could be. Sécrétions Magnifiques is, to me, well–I could wax poetic about it all day but when it comes down to it, this stuff smells gross. Fascinating. But mostly gross. Secretions Magnifiques

In Bottle: Airy and light, slightly floral layered over something sticky and sinister. I read up on this stuff before I tracked down a tiny amount of it to try for myself and I know full well that its in bottle impressions are not to be trusted. In a way, it’s funny. Sécrétions Magnifiques almost lures the person in with this innocent smelling lightly flowery top with a slight dark under note.

Applied: Then you put it on, thinking that perhaps you’re the one person that might actually work on. That maybe you’re scent blind to whatever disgusting accord everyone else has been raving about. You poor soul. My first impression of this stuff was a rather innocent fresh and light floral fragrance with a bit of slick coconut. Then the top notes fly away and what you’re left with is a miasma of unfolding perplexity. My first and immediate impression after initial spray went a little something like, “This isn’t so bad.Smells like a very synthetic coconut, floral and citrus mixture. Kind of tropical. What’s that weird thing I’m smelling that’s kind of metallic? Oh. Ew!” Sécrétions Magnifiques continues to mount its assault from there as the blood accord floods right up with a a sharp bleach note. This isn’t the blood scent that’s essentially a sticky metallic twang present in some BPAL fragrances, or the coppery-like scent of real blood. This is old, dried, rotted blood that’s been left baking in the sun and fermenting in a puddle of bleach. Then it was run over a few times by some cars. And finally, someone took a congealed scoop of this rancid mixture and rubbed it under their sweaty unwashed armpit. Just because they could. This is a bizarre mixture of citrus, white florals, sharp bleach, salt, rotten blood, old fish and armpit.  I toughed it out for the dry down to discover that after hours and hours of you and those around you have suffered, the fragrance takes a turn (quite amusingly) for a  soapy dry down with a slight hint of lingering salty armpit–just a touch. Enough to make you nervous about whether or not you’ll get a second wave of that special mid-stage. This is not to mention this stuff is stubborn and lasts a very, very, very long time. Truly Sécrétions Magnifiques commands your loyalty.

Extra: Sécrétions Magnifiques is Etat Libre d’Orange’s prank on the perfumery world. There are people who love how it smells. But the vast majority of individuals who’ve come across this thing can only appreciate what it’s trying to do at best. It takes guts to purposefully create a fragrance that’s such a challenge to perfumery and what “smells good”. While I’ll probably never wear this fragrance, I can appreciate the fact that it’s unique and very brave. Funny enough, for a fragrance that smells awful, Sécrétions Magnifiques sells rather decently. People want to smell and own this stuff simply because of how novel it is. I wonder if anyone’s adopted Sécrétions Magnifiques as their signature scent?

Design: Bottled in an unassuming rectangular bottle with the house name and fragrance name and very assuming fragrance design on it.

Fragrance Family: Dirty.

Notes: Iode accord, adrenaline accord, blood accord, milk accord, iris, coconut, sandalwood, opoponax.

Sécrétions Magnifiques is not a perfume to be worn out to work, to a party, to go on a cruise, to go grocery shopping, and please for the love of all that is good in this world don’t wear it onto an airplane. This is a fragrance for fragrance lovers and the fragrance curious. It’s a piece of unwearable art that dares you to put it on and go out in public. And you can certainly do that if you are brave enough but please, no airplanes.

Reviewed in This Post: Sécrétions Magnifiques, 2008, Sample Vial.

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Guerlain Shalimar

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At long last I’ve come to appreciate Shalimar and truly understand her. I knew for years that there must be a reason for why people love Shalimar so much that I’m just not seeing. I kept reading on about how the dry down is this rich, deep, sensual vanilla but the top notes just turned me away. Then I decided to hell with it, and needed to see what I was missing for myself. And now, I think I’ve finally got it. k5f2jcs0

In Bottle: Smoky, slightly sweet and very spicy. Like taking in a lungful of cigar smoke. The bottle phase of Shalimar is excellent at hiding the vanilla deep in a hole somewhere and it’s just begging for you to come dig it up. To be completely honest, I am not wild about how Shalimar smells in the bottle or off-skin. It was the major thing holding me back for years from actually trying it on. And let me just say, Shalimar is strong. It’s not the kind of fragrance that sneaks into a scene and sits behind everyone else and stays quiet. Shalimar’s best trait is its projection. You don’t wear Shalimar to blend in with people. You wear it because you want your presence to be known. In short, it is powerful.

Applied: Initial burst of citrus, bergamot and lemon at work I’m thinking, but it’s very quick to go away. There’s cloves in this that lend to its spiciness. To me, cloves have this slightly plastic quality to it. But, hey, I’m warming up to them. As the initial lemon and clove notes starts to dry down I get more smoky sweetness from Shalimar as it leads me into the much raved about vanilla phase. The final vanilla phase for me is not what would be expected of vanilla. These days, people think sweet and gourmand when they hear vanilla. The vanilla in Shalimar is an incense laden, smooth, and dense smoked vanilla layered over powder. I know Shalimar is a classic. I’ve always known it was to be respected but up until now, I only respected it from afar. This is one perfume that needs to be allowed to age as its dry down is simply masterful.

Extra: Launched in 1925, Shalimar was the trademark of the daring, sensual woman. Shalimar, in Sanskrit means “Temple of Love”. Shalimar has a somewhat mixed reception these days. As more often than not, people opt for lighter, cleaner fragrances. As a result, Shalimar’s been called a lot of names. “Old lady” is one of the predominant criticisms. And “too strong” is another. It’s true, Shalimar is an old lady. It’s a classic, beautiful, timeless old lady. It’s also true that Shalimar is too strong. It has tremendous projection and is inappropriate for the office, public transit, and dinner parties held in close quarters. Like I said, this scent projects like mad. You need to pick the right places to wear it because it won’t go on lightly.

Design: Shalimar’s most well-known classic design inspired the current modern version. The classic design was based on the shape of a fan. A very romantic, lovely piece of art and design history. The modern design, though modern and hip, has lost quite a bit of that romantic and classic look. I prefer the old design. This new one isn’t bad, of course, but it feels a little mismatched for a classic fragrance so well-loved and well-known. As if the modern version was trying to take it away from the 1920s when it was born. The version I have comes in a clear glass bottle in the modern style. It has a plastic cap with “Guerlain Paris” written on it.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, cloves, smoke, iris, opopanax, vanilla.

All right, I fully admit my embarrassingly slow warm up to Shalimar. I think some people need to work up to this fragrance. Try it out enough times before they finally get it. I hear the same could be said for Jicky. Jicky being one of the Guerlain classics I’m really hesitant to try due to its infamously civet treatment. Ah well, Shalimar today and now that I finally understand her, it’s time to hunt down Vol de Nuit, Habit Rouge and Apres L’Ondee.

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

Prada Infusion D’Iris

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Infusion D’Iris is a fragrance true to its name as the fragrance strength and longevity are pretty much as good as an infusion’s going to get. This is an incredibly light fragrance with a very sad, very short applied life. No wonder a 200ml of Eau de Parfum exists. Having thought it funny that a bottle (not counting fountains) so massive existed at the time, I have since seen the light. I will no longer laugh at your jug’s worth of fleeting beauty, Infusion D’Iris. Infusion D'Iris

In Bottle: Green with a slightly earthy quality to it. Dark citrus laid over breaths of earthy, woodsiness. There is a very beautiful,very clear floral in this that lands the fragrance in floral territory immediately. I love the play between the freshness and the earthiness here. The latter often used in a denser way.

Applied: There’s a very bitter opener in this that powers through and reserve thoughts you may have had of D’Iris possibly being fruity. Nothing at all fruity about this fragrance as it tells you up front that it means business. The floral is also very quick to come up along with the woods and resins that blend together to make this fragrance sing during the early application period. As Infusion D’Iris ages on the skin the bitterness eases off a little, letting the flower and the rest of the fragrance do its work as it smooths out into a light whitish-green interpretation.

Extra: The iris sprouts from a bulb and like most bulb sprouting flowers tend to lack a scent, or have very little scent. There are some iris species that do have fragrant flowers but by and large you’ll find scentless iris petals. So, how come you see some people claim they can smell irises and love iris notes? They probably can because iris absolute does exist. Naturally extracted iris absolute, like many naturally produced ingredients in perfumery, are prohibitively expensive. Iris notes are made from the rhizomes of the plant rather than from the petals like most people would think. It would surprise many to discover that a lot of flower petals lack a fragrance and ye olde iris is one of them. How do they get the fragrance out of iris rhizomes then? They irradiate  them then extract the goodness. Irradiation is done to accelerate the aging of the rhizomes to get irones out of them. Irradiation simply makes things faster. Far faster, as aging iris rhizome the natural way could take years, whereas nuking them takes only a week. For the hypochondriacs out there, you cannot get cancer or radiation poisoning from wearing the extract from nuked iris root. You also will not become a superhero. I know. I’m sorry.

Design: Presented in a tall rectangular glass bottle with the Prada logo embossed on a plate. The cap is a plastic and metal affair with a band of green textured paper running along its barrel. Simple, easy, nothing flashy or complicated. I’m a minimalist by nature so the bottle here suits my tastes. The sprayer is also very decent, even, fine mist, does not distribute too much perfume. Though in this case, it probably should have.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Mandarin, orange blossom, iris, incense, benzoin, vetiver, cedar.

Here’s another surprise feature about perfume and supposed expensive ingredients. While there are genuinely expensive ingredients still used in perfume the vast majority of money that a perfume costs to you, the consumer, doesn’t go into the materials to make the fragrance. According to Luca Turin in The Secret of Scent, approximately 3% of the money goes into the fragrance components and development. The other 97%? Packaging, margins and advertising. And so my rage at Burberry Brit’s brick of a bottle continues.

Reviewed in This Post: Infusion D’Iris, 2010, Eau de Parfum.