Eau de Guerlain

Posted on by

While known for its deep and rich fragrances back in the day, Guerlain also carries a series of light scents featuring sheer and airy notes mean to go on light and wear like pleasant rain. Eau de Guerlain is one of these such scents. Eau de Guerlain

In Bottle: Beautiful bright lemon, bergamot and herbal scent. So light you would swear this is a modern Guerlain and not one from the 1970s. 1974, to be exact.

Applied: Beautiful lemon opener. Eau de Guerlain does not suffer from the chemical lemon that I experienced in Covet or Versense. This is a nice, background lemon that comes in, does its thing and leaves without fanfare or a fight. Only, it imbues its freshness in the rest of the scent and hangs about as the basil throws in a dash of greenness and herbal. The mid-stage of Eau de Guerlain is a lovely jasmine and rose deal headed by the fresh green basil. Dry down starts with a lovely spicy sandalwood and musk. Eau de Guerlain is a bit of a stretch considering this house was Jicky central. It’s a bit removed from what I’m used to when it comes to pre-1990s Guerlains but it is lovely, fresh, very wearable. One of the nicest, complex, fresh fragrances ever.

Extra: If you’re looking for a spicy fresh scent and have some money to drop, Eau de Guerlain is a very worthwhile fragrance. It’s deceptively simple at first but has a very beautiful mid and dry down stage that you just can’t find with today’s spicy, woodsy sports scents.

Design: The tester I used was presented in a Guerlain bee bottle. I just don’t get tired of looking at these and want to own one very badly. The Aqua Allegorias do a throwback to this style of bottle and I absolutely love the distinctive look of them. The glass has raised details in it making it fun to both look at and hold.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: : Lemon, verbena, bergamot, neroli, carnation, sandalwood, tonka bean.

The more I sniff this on the tester strip, the more interesting it seems to get. Certainly more interesting than Light Blue Pour Homme. There’s just something that makes Eau de Guerlain unique that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Reviewed in This Post: Eau de Guerlain, 2008, Eau de Toilette.

Demeter Earl Grey Tea

Posted on by

I spent a lot of time trying to find just the perfect tea fragrance. Something that smells exactly like a cup of earl grey tea without any other fluff surrounding it. I tried Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs with notes that were supposed to smell like earl grey tea but found there were other notes getting int he way. I tried niche and mainstream and finally I decided to settle down and see if Demeter Fragrance Library could get me any closer to that earl grey scent. Earl Grey Tea

In Bottle: Bergamot with a squeeze of lemon, I think. There is a heavy, gritty, dusty note settled on a black tea like note underneath the citrus opener. It’s almost like smelling a cup of weak tea with a sprinkling of dust on top.

Applied: Bergamot comes roaring out on the entryway, dragging this very bright yellow lemon behind it. The dynamic citrus duo is followed by a really strong hit of black tea. This is the earl grey scent I’ve been looking for. No punches pulled, no extra fluff, just plain old earl grey with a squeeze of lemon. It smells as advertised and I’m just delighted! Then, just as quickly as I was delighted, Earl Grey Tea disappears on me. It packs its bags and heads out the door, leaving almost nothing but its slightly astringent black tea scent. And after a few more minutes, even that’s gone. I understand this cologne is truly meant as a very temporary burst of happiness and amazement but the longest I’ve ever gotten Earl Grey Tea to stay on my skin was around thirty minutes. I’ve tried lotion, I’ve tried using more, I’ve sprayed it on my clothes but this stuff just wasn’t meant to last. It’s fabulous while it’s there though, as close to earl grey tea as any perfume has gotten so far.

Extra: Demeter Fragrance Library, instead of focusing on complex evolutions of top, middle and base notes,  focuses more on creating scents to invoke memories. They have a huge selection of literal interpretation fragrances. If you think you might like Earl Grey Tea, why not try out their Orange Cream Pop fragrance? Dirt is a very popular one, and their Espresso scent might send you to the nearest Starbucks after sniffing.

Design: Really simple bottle. Glass cylinder with a metal cap. The sprayer distributes a larger than normal amount of fragrance but trust me, it’s necessary here. The labels and packaging are fairly simple but there’s not much complaint on my end here. Demeter doesn’t charge anywhere near as much as other fragrance houses might so I’m more than happy with the packaging we do get.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, black tea.

Gourmand, not gourmand? It smells good enough to drink to me. In either case, one could spend a lot of time smelling the offerings from Demeter but don’t forget that one of the founding noses of Demeter has branched off to form his own line too. Christopher Brosius creates fragrances under CB I Hate Perfume.

Reviewed in This Post: Earl Grey Tea, 2009, Pick-Me-Up Cologne Spray.

Nina Ricci Nina 2006

Posted on by

Nina by Nina Ricci was my first perfume. At the time, I was still growing out of my body mist and lotion phase and was still wearing fruity fragrances. That was four years ago, before I gave florals, musks, woods, ambers, and all manner of things a try. Nina is a young fragrance, filled with apples and sweetness and sugary sparkle. I remember when it was new, when I had wandered into the perfume section by accident and thought the bottle was just adorable. Nina

In Bottle: Vibrant lemon and lime with a note of apple and sugar. Nina prior to application smells like a lemonade stand. A lemonade stand with a very popular, very aromatic product though. Smell a couple more times and I start to notice this sticky, sweet vanilla toffee too.

Applied: Lemonade followed by the apple note. The apple in Nina is a big, red juicy one that’s been covered in a vanilla toffee mixture. There’s a lot of sweet notes in this fragrance but thankfully that lemonade and lime scent at the beginning doesn’t fade immediately. It sticks around and adds a tartness to Nina so that the sweetness of the fragrance doesn’t turn cloying. There’s a bit of taming going on too from the very light florals as Nina settles down into a fresh scent reminiscent of a cool, refreshing drink. The dry down takes a while to approach because Nina has excellent longevity. Hours after application and the citrus notes fade first, with the apple and sugar holding on strong until those too start to give. It’s on the very last leg of the fragrance’s stages where some of the wood notes show up for a very brief time before completely disappearing.

Extra: Nina Ricci was founded by Maria Ricci and her son in 1932. They started out as a fashion house in Paris. The Nina Ricci brand’s best known fragrance is L’Air du Temps.

Design: Contained in an adorable apple shaped bottle, Nina has a metal cap that protects the sprayer that is also used as the apple’s stem. The leaves have the house’s name engraved into them and the entire bottle is one seamless, beautiful piece of fun decorative art. Even if you don’t like the fragrance for some reason, the bottle makes for very cute decor. As noted in an earlier review, the makers of the Twilight perfume used Nina’s bottle for their fragrance, sparking a lawsuit.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Lemon, lime, apple, toffee, peony, moonflower, vanilla, cedar, applewood.

I don’t wear Nina much anymore. Sure, once in a while I’ll dig it out and give it a sniff, maybe a spritz, but I’ve since moved on. Moved on but not forgotten. I wouldn’t get rid of Nina. It was my first real perfume, a stepping stone into the rest of my obsession. To get rid of my first bottle of perfume just wouldn’t make sense to me.

Reviewed in This Post: Nina, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

Versace Versense

Posted on by

If scents could scream, Versense just might be the one who goes so high that only dogs can hear it. This fragrance is clean and fresh, fresh, more fresh, and sharp like the tip of a needle. Not altogether exciting or mysterious, Versense does the one thing really well; and that’s being fresh (in case you haven’t quite gotten that yet). This is an unrelenting freshness that pummeled me over the head with a giant lime and then squeezed the juice into my eye. So overall, not a bad experience.Versense

In Bottle: There’s something a little smooth and sweet in this fragrance that’s holding back what I can only describe as an overwhelming army of angry limes and lemons. It holds the blend together and lends it a very pretty and calming note making Versense smell a lot smoother than she really is. But first impressions in the bottle or on paper are sly. They’ll often smell significantly different on the skin as it mixes and morphs with skin chemistry. And as I waft Versense up to my nose from a slip of paper I’m cursing that deceptive little fruit note. I like it. I wish it would stick around because it’s whipping those unruly citrus notes into a comprehensive shape.

Applied: That instant burst of fleeting fruit, a very smooth and juicy scent that smooths things over before the citrus lands for the take. The smoothness of Versense is fleeting, fading within seconds as the lime shoots straight up into the air and up my nose. There’s an overwhelming green and huge burst of freshness on the initial assault like I had just taken a big too-close-for-comfort whiff of lime scented cleaner. But give Versense the time and in a couple of hours it mellows out into something less fresh and more complex. That’s when the citrus decides its had its fill and lets the woodsier notes come out. Things are still sharp but they no longer scream sharp (or fresh) as the woods help cut a little out of the clean and add some fullness and body to the fragrance.

Extra: Apparently Versense was supposed to take the wearer on a glamorous and sophisticated trip. Unfortunately, I didn’t get glamor or sophistication from Versense. It is very clean though.

Design: Held in a rectangular glass bottle with the seal of Versace on it, Versense boasts a light innocently green color to its juice. The cap is not standard fare clear plastic as I’m happy to note and the entire package as a whole looks very nice. Versense is similar in design to its big sister, Versace’s Versace.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Citrus

Notes: Lime, lemon, mandarin, bergamot, pear, jasmine, sandalwood, cedar, musk.

If you’re looking to smell ultra fresh and love citrus, Versense cannot possibly fit the bill any better. This fragrance is so fresh I think it scoured my brain, sweeping over my grey matter with an avenging citrus coated brush. Powerful is a good word I’m willing to hand to Versense. The real reward is waiting for the drydown as Versense eases off on the power a little and takes in a bit of mellow woodsy calmness. But, boy, brace yourself for the initial impact first.

Reviewed in This Post: Versense, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Bergamot, Mandarin, Prickly Pear, Sea Daffodil, Cardamom, Jasmine, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Olive Tree, Musk.