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.

Illuminum Tahitian Yuzu

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Tahitian Yuzu promised me something clean and fresh with a bit of the tropics. I certainly wasn’t let down.

Tahitian Yuzu

Tahitian Yuzu

In Bottle: Clear, clean and crisp. The yuzu is present, as are the florals and the sweet pineapple at the start.

Applied: Tahitian Yuzu is a pretty simple composition. It comes in with a sweet, tropical feel. The pineapple lends a lot to the tropics in this scent and makes me wish it was still summer and I had spent more time at the beach. The blackcurrant helps carry the pineapple into the floral midstage where Tahitian Yuzu takes on a slight hit of citrus and delves into the jasmine. It is primarily jasmine to my nose, with very small dashes of violets that mingle rather safely with the white musk at the bottom of the fragrance. Tahitian Yuzu doesn’t develop too much further from its midstage, its base is marked with a soft floral layered over clean musk. Smells simple, very wearable, if you were looking to smell fresh out of a shower and wanted something less soapy and more fruity than Cashmere Musk then Tahitian Yuzu would be a great candidate.

Extra: I frequently wondered when I was first really getting into perfumes just what on earth a yuzu was and why it was any different than a grapefruit. It took years to finally differentiate the two in my mind. To me, the yuzu is a bit stronger, a little more tart, and with a hint of smoothness that reminds me of a ripe orange. It’s difficult to describe how yuzu smells more complex to me than grapefruit because it took me years just to get to the point where I can even tell the difference–and even now, I’m pretty sloppy about it.

Design: All of Illuminum’s branding looks similar. Bottled in frosted glass, rectangular or square in appearance. Looks good lined up in a row, but not really my cup of tea in terms of design.

Fragrance Family: Clean Floral

Notes: Pineapple, blackcurrant, yuzu, jasmine, violet, white musk.

I like Tahitian Yuzu. I like that it’s clean and crisp and easy to wear and that little bite of the tropics at the start was a nice hook. But then, I didn’t think I would have much trouble with Illuminum’s offerings. Many of their scents were simple, clean and echoed a lot of Boadi’s work on the Boadicea the Victorious line. If you want to snag a bottle of Tahitian Yuzu, it is available in 50ml or 100ml and you can get one at Luckyscent or Illuminum’s website.

Reviewed in This Post: Tahitian Yuzu, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler spray 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.

Chypre de Coty Vintage

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Welcome back to the world of old school Coty, before they made celebuscents, they were making Chypre. I had finally shelled to buy the reissued version of Coty’s Chypre from my friend, but like a true fragrance addict, I couldn’t stop there. The older the Chypre, the better it was and while I loved the reissue I had, I wanted something older and more vintage. After a bit of searching, I got into contact with Deb at luvparfum. And she hooked me up with an earlier version in a beautiful flacon. I was ecstatic.

Chypre de Coty

Chypre de Coty

In Bottle: The fragrance inside the bottle is doing well. Most vintage fragrances, built right and proper, tend to do well anyway and it’s got a nice smoothness to it with a hint of familiar Chypre.

Applied: Now, I have a sample of Coty’s Chypre from Surrender to Chance and this doesn’t smell quite like it. It’s lighter, softer, more yielding but definitely reminiscent of Chypre. I get a bitterness upon application, a nice gentle spice, and a strong green floral showing. The fragrance seems to gather depth as it progresses, taking on an earthy quality with a slightly stronger floral note and a hint of powder. In the end, Chypre rolls out and leaves me feeling a little sad because I know there isn’t enough of it left in this world to enjoy it all. Its dry down is marked with a deep earthy orris and patchouli. There’s nothing quite like this anymore. Nothing that even comes close to the complexity of perfumes like these and it’s very sad. If Coty needs to do anything, it’s bring back their vintage fragrances. Similar to the last Chypre I tested and reviewed, this one also smells like history.

Extra: My quest for Coty Chypre started the day I first smelled the reissue. Then I had to get an older version. Then I had to buy the reissue because I had been sleeping on the decision for years. Now I’ve sprung for the vintage. The only problem is, I have no idea what concentration I have or what year I have. If anyone can help me identify the concentration and/or year of the bottle in the photo, I will be forever grateful.

Design: I love how Coty’s Chypres were bottled, but there are a lot of iterations and I’m not very good at determining what’s what. This particular bottle is cylindrical with a round stopper. Feels good to hold, and scares me constantly because I don’t want to break it.

Fragrance Family: Classic Chypre

Notes: Bergamot, jasmine, rose, patchouli, labdanum, oakmoss.

Normally I would guess at the year of the fragrance I have, or give a range for when I believe the fragrance was made, but in this case, I really have no idea and I really, desperately want to get as close and accurate as I can with this particular bottle. So any help would be greatly appreciated! Here’s a photo of the stopper.

Reviewed in This Post: Chypre de Coty, ~1920, EDP.

AdP Colonia Assoluta In Villa

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In Villa

In Villa

Up today is another decant from Steve at The Scented Hound (thank you). I really have no method to my madness, so I decided upon Colonia Assoluta In Villa because it was the closest one.

In Bottle: Green citrus, I get a lot of lime and bergamot, with a big dose of woodsy notes.

Applied: Lime and bergamot on opening, reminds me of greenness and it only gets more green when the cypress quickly rolls in. When I looked up the notes for this Acqua di Parma wants to tell me they used cedar. Now, I’m not a great nose when it comes to well-behaved cedar because it’s always going funky on my skin. If this is cedar, then it’s behaving really well. The citrus is quick to dissolve, leaving cedar holding the bag until a clean waft of florals rolls in during the midstage with the very barest touch of spice. The scent gets decidedly less floral near the end where the green cedar continues to carry it forward with a touch of warmth from a very faint amber note. The fragrance reminds me a lot of an adorable little cottage I saw once. It was–funny enough–in the middle of a city, but the owner had enough land that despite metropolitan life going on around him, he managed to have a beautifully done wooded area surrounding his property. It looked like a page out of a storybook and In Villa reminds me of that.

Extra: Colonia Assoluta In Villa was released in 2009 by Acqua di Parma.

Design: I actually really like the bottle for In Villa, it’s elegant and simple. Modern with a little bit of classic flair so that it doesn’t look outdated. I think what sells this bottle for me (in terms of aesthetics) is that it has a balloon pump, which gives it a classic charm. Though as Steve noted, the balloon pump adds an element of beauty to the bottle, but it’s not great when you go to use it. From my experience with balloon pumps, I can eagerly agree.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy

Notes: Lemon, lime, bergamot, cardamom, chili pepper, jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, cedar, white musk, amber.

I was really happy with how well the cedar in this worked on me, but aside from the surprising mild cedar, there’s not a whole lot going on with In Villa. It’s pretty enough, but it’s not my kind of thing. But if it is your kind of thing, you can buy a whopping 200ml of this stuff. That’s a lot of In Villa!

Reviewed in This Post: Colonia Assoluta In Villa, 2012, Eau de Cologne.

Miss Dior

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Miss Dior, unlike her younger sister (Miss Dior Cherie), is a smart, sophisticated woman who enjoys the finer things in life but doesn’t let it get to her head. She’s humble and complex with a classical charm that Miss Dior Cherie can never beat.

Miss Dior

Miss Dior

In Bottle: Green with a prominent aldehyde quality to it and a dusting of florals.

Applied: Sharp green aldehydes that are a bit of a sting on the old nostrils. Miss Dior goes on strong and powerful, hits you with a wave of classical perfume and reminds you of what a real chypre ought to smell like. Nothing like the lilting chypres of today that have been toned down and have lost their oak moss. Miss Dior is the full force of chypres upon application. As the fragrance ages, she smooths out a bit taking on a powdery quality to me with a warm sensuality that works in the complexity of the fragrance. It’s hard to describe complex fragrances for me because breaking them down into components and saying, “I smell this and now I smell this” would ruin the experience. Instead let me just say that Miss Dior smells like a vintage with an aldehyde and floral mid-stage prominent in neroli and jasmine and is every bit the chypre that she’s supposed to be. The fragrance dries down into a lovely rich flowers, forest and buttery leather scent that makes me want to stick my nose to my wrists and deeply inhale.

Extra: Miss Dior was released in the late 1940s and was composed by Jean Carles and Paul Vacher. Like most (if not all) classics that have survived till today, Miss Dior has been reformulated. The version I’m reviewing in this post is reportedly from sometime in the 1970s. I have not tried the more readily available, “Miss Dior Originale” yet, but I do have a sample of that so I will be trying it eventually.

Design: Miss Dior seems to do everything better than Miss Dior Cherie. The bottle has a classic look, but one that will never go out of style. While it’s a familiar shape to Miss Dior Cherie, Miss Dior’s more grown-up style and beautiful textured glass sets it a class above its younger counterpart. Miss Dior doesn’t need a bow on its neck to exude femininity, basically.

Fragrance Family: Chypre

Notes: Aldehydes, gardenia, galbanum, clary sage, bergamot, carnation, iris, jasmine, neroli, lily of the valley, rose, narcissus, labdanum, leather, sandalwood, amber, patchouli, oak moss, vetiver.

It probably sounds like I’m ragging on Miss Dior Cherie a lot in this post, and I am. It’s not that Miss Dior Cherie doesn’t accomplish good things as a modern gourmand that appeals to younger women, it’s just that Miss Dior–who sometimes gets confused with her younger counterpart–gets a lot of bad press from people who accidentally picked her up thinking she’ll smell anything like the candy-like Miss Dior Cherie. Then come the proclamations that Miss Dior “smells like old lady”, and that’s just unfortunate.

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

Lady Gaga Fame

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I’m going to make a deal with you guys and myself. I’m going to review this thing, then I will absolutely not mention Lady Gaga or Fame again for the duration of this year. I think we’d all like to move on, and I was almost going to pass on even trying this because of how bored I got with the marketing. So, I promise, this one last post and then no more.

Fame

Fame

In Bottle: If I had any expectations that this would smell anything different than a generic fragrance then I would like to once again concede my disappointment. Fame smells of slightly synthetic honeyed florals and the barest glance of vanillic incense.

Applied: I aimed a spray of this on my arm was fascinated to see the black turn clear. And that was probably the most promising thing about Fame. I will say upfront that if you expected this to be bold, unique, or interesting then you might be in for a let down. Fame starts off with a synthetic blast of fruity florals. I can’t really tell if the synthetic waft I got came from the purported belladonna note or the honey note they used. Maybe it even came from whatever agent they used to turn black liquid into clear liquid. Whatever it is, it smells faintly of chemical and plastic on application. Rest easy though, that stage of it lasts for a few seconds and Fame settles down into a honeyed apricot floral fragrance. It is very apricots and jasmine based with a thick coat of sweet honey. After the very generic mid-stage, Fame dives into a slightly more interesting saffron and incense with florals dry down. The dry down gives off a smoky saffron (smells a bit like vanilla to me) twist to the generic florals, but it’s really late to the ballgame and to be honest, the incense is lightly used which makes the dry down even less noteworthy.

Extra: Fame has been causing a huge buzz in the celebuscent circles for months and I’m particularly happy that it’s finally released and we can hopefully move on from here. Fame was developed by Coty with some sort of collaborative effort from Haus Laboratories. The fragrance was apparently marketed as having new technology including the black liquid and some nonsense about it being “push-pull” where the notes weren’t going to work in a typical pyramid fashion. I don’t know where they got that one because 1) perfumers have already been making that happen for years, and 2) I experienced a mostly linear progression.

Design: What Fame does well is mix Lady Gaga’s style with the design of the bottle. It very much reminds me of her while at the same time forces me to draw some similarities to Thierry Mugler’s designs. It’s Alien-esque, but I think it works well for Gaga’s image. The bottle isn’t ugly, but at the same time it’s not my kind of style as I’ve confessed before that I find most Mugler bottles to be a bit of an eyesore. Still, it felt nice to nice to hold and was easy to use. I’m not going to be buying it for looks or smell any time soon though.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Apricot, orchid, belladonna, jasmine, honey, saffron, incense.

Now, if you’re a huge fan of Gaga, I don’t think my review is going to curb you away from buying this. If you aren’t a fan of Gaga and just want to know if this is anything at like Mother Monster, then I’ll save you a trip to the department store and say, “No”. Fame is very pleasant, not gross or weird, but really generic and easily beaten by more competent honey fragrances such as Tokyo Milk’s Honey and the Moon or for a less gourmand and more floral scent, Aftelier’s Honey Blossom. If you want Gaga branding, go with Fame. If you want an actual interesting and beautiful honey floral fragrance? Seriously, check out Aftelier’s Honey Blossom.

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

Le Labo Jasmin 17

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Hooray! The new samples have landed. I was incredibly excited to have a bank of smellies (as I have taken to effectionately calling them) to smell and write about again. One of the first I noticed was Le Labo’s Jasmin 17.

Jasmin 17

Jasmin 17

In Bottle: Instantly makes me think of a light spring breeze that’s touched with a little bit of floral. Definitely white floral in scent with a very delicate sheer personality to it.

Applied: Light and airy. Jasmin 17 goes on so sheer but has such a great lightweight feel to it at the same time. It’s like the concept of a fresh Spring day. I get an initial waft of orange blossom, nice and sweet and easy to enjoy then a tumbling into a more floral bouquet featuring other delicate little flowers. The “Springy”, airiness of this reminds me of green tea served cold. I get a lot of neroli projecting from the bouquet of white florals, but I had to do a lot of digging to even start smelling the jasmine. It’s so faint that I question whether I’m actually smelling any jasmine in this or if it’s just my mind wanting me to smell jasmine at all. The whole fragrance is held together by a quality, delicate vanilla scent that lends a bit of sweetness to the whole affair. Overall, Jasmin 17 is a really fresh, easy to love experience for anyone who enjoys clean, fresh and floral scents. It’s right up my alley, anyway!

Extra: Maurice Roucel was the perfume for Jasmin 17. You may remember his work for Bond No.9’s Riverside Drive, Musc Ravageur and DKNY’s Be Delicious.

Design: Jasmin 17 was bottled in a pretty similar fashion to most of Le Labo’s other fragrances. The whole line is charming in a “vintage chemist” sort of way to me. One bottle on its own looks a little out of place among much more decorated specimens, but lining a shelf with Le Labo fragrances would look quite nice.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Neroli, bigarade, jasmine, orange flower, amber, musk, sandalwood, vanilla.

I picked Jasmin 17 mostly for the fact that I wasn’t satisfied with letting Thierry Mugler’s Alien take the limelight. There had to be something more “niche-y” that interpreted jasmine with a bit more flare. I remember the buzz surrounding Le Labo’s Rose 31 a while back and never got around to ordering a sample of that one until now. And to go one better, I threw in some Jasmin 17. Unfortunately, if you were looking for a strong jasmine presence, I don’t think you’ll find it in Jasmin 17. If you wanted a light, easy to wear, airy scent that reminds you of cool spring breezes, then you’ve got your fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Jasmin 17, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

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.

Caron Narcisse Blanc

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The Narcisse Blanc I have is a–of course–sampler from a parfum extrait bottle. I was wondering about the availability of this juice, given my very limited experience with straight up parfum extraits but was happy to note that Luckyscent carries it on their websitefor a rather reasonable price too.

Narcisse Blanc

Narcisse Blanc

In Bottle: Sweet orange floral with a strong dark jasmine presence and a bit of earthy iris, powder and woods.

Applied: Bright opening from Narcisse Blanc. I get an orange blossom scent that invades right away with a very strong regiment of flowers. The jasmine is quick to roll in with this soft touch of powder and earthiness. It reminds me of darker flowers than a bright jasmine. Like there’s a strong neroli presence that pulls the whole thing together.  The neroli makes it smell like what I imagine the dirt would be like when you stick your face right into the flowers and take a big whiff. Narcisse Blanc reminds me of daylight, warmth, dirt and the sun. It’s rather strong, possessing a sweet floral personality with a sophisticated bent and a touch of earthy powder like dust being kicked up by a dry wind. The fragrance as a whole is extremely complex and a unique joy to smell. I have to wonder how much of its complexity can be attributed to its parfum concentration, but this is a scent that’s been around long enough to stand the test of time. So while I feel like the parfum extrait might be helping it, Narcisse Blanc is probably just a good unique and complex classic. The scent dries down steadily into an earthier, smokier version of itself with the presence of sandalwood and a dusky musk note.

Extra: Narcisse Blanc is a sister perfume to Caron’s Narcisse Noir. Both are very old fragrances who have been around since the early 1900s. Both are still available today at Luckyscent.

Design: Caron’s bottles are always beautifully made and work wonderfully in terms of manual handling. I get a good grip, I can apply easily, and to top it all off the bottle looks gorgeous as a display piece–or it would if I had a bottle and already used up what was inside. No concerns when it comes to design and Caron.

Fragrance Family: Earthy Floral

Notes: Orange blossom, neroli, jasmine, rose, musk, vetiver, sandalwood.

It’s nice to get in a classic now and then. I found myself really missing the way these perfumes smell compared to contemporary fragrances.

Reviewed in This Post: Narcisse Blanc, 2011, Parfum.