M. Micallef Vanille Marine

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I’m delighted to be wearing a vanilla fragrance on any day. As much as I love Jasmine and honey, the vanillas keep me coming back. Up today is M. Micallef‘s Vanille Marine, a pretty aquatic with a bite of citrus and a smooth vanilla personality. 

In Bottle: Sharp citrus and marine with a tempering of flowering vanilla. It’s quite an interesting mix of sharp and soft that forms to make a fairly nice fragrance.

Applied: I get an initial spear of citrus and sharp marine notes. It makes the scent smell quite strong and reminds me a lot of soap. While the opening might be harsh, Vanille Marine settles down quickly into a softer interpretation lending much of this progression to the florals and that awesome vanilla. I had my reservations about an aquatic vanilla fragrance. I hadn’t tried any before that I thought worked out very well, but Vanille Marine makes the concept very appealing. There’s a clean edge to this from the marine that mixes well with the soft floral vanilla. It makes me think of delicate vanilla flowers floating in the ocean. This is clean, fresh and warm all at the same time as you settle into its mid-stage. Where Vanille Marine gets really good is near the end where the marine notes have time to settle into the skin and work with the vanilla to give off this beautiful smooth vanilla and aqua fragrance.

Extra: M. Micallef’s vanilla collection showcases the many faces that vanilla can take. I’m extremely happy that fragrance houses are using vanilla in different ways than the standard recipe of throwing it into a gourmand or spraying it all over the base notes of some fruit floral and hoping for the best. I never thought an aquatic vanilla could work out this well, and I’m happy to be proven wrong.

Design: Vanille Marine is packaged and presented in much the same way as Vanille Orient. I’m still not a big fan of the aesthetics and think Micallef’s other work is more attractive. Still, the bottles and the design are nice interpretations of fun, natural and organic aesthetic.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Aquatic

Notes: Lemon, blackcurrant, marine, vanilla, white florals, benzoin, musk, woods.

I though Vanille Orient would be my favorite from this batch of vanillas, but I’m thinking Vanille Marine might have it beat. I’ve smelled a lot of good oriental vanillas and while Vanille Orient is up there on the list, Vanille Marine was a pleasant surprise.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanille Marine, 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.

M. Micallef Vanille Orient

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Vanille Orient

Vanille Orient

M. Micallef Perfumes is a husband and wife venture started in 1996 and based in Grasse, France that features some beautiful perfumes and handcrafted bottles. This year, they released a series of four vanilla-based fragrances. Vanille Orient is one of them.

In Bottle: Spicy vanilla with a hint of sandalwood. It’s warm and sweet, but sophisticated.

Applied: Vanilla is definitely the star of this show. Vanille Orient opens with a spiced liqueur-like vanilla. It’s the kind of vanilla that reminds me of Spiritueuse Double Vanille in that it smells deep, authentic and grown-up. This is definitely not what I’ve taken to call, “Barbie-doll vanilla” that smells of sweetened plastic. As Vanille Orient ages, the vanilla introduces a sandalwood note and amps up the warmth with a rich amber base. Sandalwood takes the fragrance away from being a straight up sweet vanilla by introducing a soft woodsy element that blends and works together with the vanilla as opposed to letting it dominate. I compared this to Spiritueuse Double Vanille, but Vanille Orient differs in a few ways. It’s smoother, less smoky and plays up the sweetness a bit more. There have been a lot of times in the past where fragrances choose to go with a sandalwood and vanilla base that bored me. But the richness in Vanille Orient give the sandalwood and vanilla pairing a depth that I would love to smell in instead of the weak, synthetic interpretation I usually get.

Extra: M. Micallef is a niche house based in Grasse where they handcraft the bottles for their fragrances. Autumn 2012 features the Vanille Art Collection that includes Vanille Orient, Vanille Cuir, Vanille Fleur, and Vanille Marine. All of which have been crafted to feature a decadent vanilla from Madagascar. Vanille Orient is available at niche pricing  in 50ml or 100ml at Luckyscent.

Design: I haven’t had a chance to hold a bottle yet, but based on the images I’ve seen the Vanille Art Collection favors a warm organic style with the fragrance being held in a cube-shaped bottle. I’m not as a big a fan of these bottles as I am some of their other work, but I do love the boxes that they’re presented in and the shape is very attractive. The bottles give off a fun flair and the fact that the owner spends a lot of her time hand decorating them is extremely impressive.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Vanilla, sandalwood, amber, musk.

All in all, Vanille Orient is a lovely interpretation of vanilla. It’s one of the better ones I’ve smelled with its spicy and warm vanilla and sandalwood interpretation. If you’re looking for a very competent, sweet vanilla then give this a try.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanille Orient, 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.

Balmain La Mome

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Ambre Gris by Balmain was one of the first perfumes I ever reviewed for this blog. Back then I was still in my “Oh gosh! Fruits and flowers are so good!” phase. I’ve since grown a bit in terms of taste (or at least I like to think I did) and while I still love my flowers, my clean smells, and my fruits I’ve also warmed to Ambre Gris enough to be excited about La Mome rolling out of my sampler box for a try.

La Mome

La Mome

In Bottle: Roses, violets and an undercurrent of amber.

Applied: A flash of sweet raspberry that opens the fragrance under a fruity, sweet pretense. The rose is quick to fall in and I’m glad for that because I think I’ve had my fill of raspberry for a while. The rose has a lovely soft and classic affect mixing beautifully with an amber note that sweetens and warms the fragrance. I get violets the longer I wear this, giving the fragrance a bit of dusty appeal like I’m wearing a fine fragrance and just dusted myself down with some violet powder. This reminds me of fancy windows for some reason. Windows with intricate little patterns in the glass. Windows that lead to an exquisite sitting room. It’s deceptively simple because this is a much more complex scent than the seemingly easygoing violet, rose and amber mixture.

Extra: A little bit of research yielded an explanation for the naming convention of this fragrance. La Mome means “The Kid” which is a dedication to Edit Piaf.

Design: I love the design of this bottle. Balmain does very well with its packaging. The juice, the color of the juice, down to the materials and the style of the bottle, and the weight of the whole thing are meticulous. I love everything about it, up to and including the little tassels.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Pink pepper, raspberry, freesia, rose, violet, myrrh, iris, opoponax, amber, musk.

Sometime I should sit down and take a good sidelong stare at how my tastes in fragrance have changed over the past two years. I went from a pretty uneducated lover of fruity florals to a pretty uneducated lover of everything else too. I never would have thought a little hobby blog could take me this far.

Reviewed in This Post: La Mome, 2008, 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.

Jessica Simpson Vintage Bloom

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I will forever associate Jessica Simpson fragrances to that line of supposedly edible perfume that I have yet to taste for myself. People have reported they taste like varying degrees of fake vanilla flavor though. Anyway, this post isn’t about edible perfume. It’s just about Jessica Simpson’s newest fragrance, Vintage Bloom.

Vintage Bloom

Vintage Bloom

In Bottle: Smells fruity and floral. I know this is being pushed as a pure floral, but it smells like a standard fruity floral to me.

Applied: Yeah, big old fruit. I want to blame it on the combination of citrus and raspberry. There’s also more florals in this than peony. I want to say rose and jasmine with peony to make the trifecta of floral boredom. The end game is also largely typical with a clean sandalwood fade. The fragrance as a whole is dull but very wearable. It’s a nice neutral scent for a younger crowd that wants to smell nice and not controversial or complex in any way. It reminds me of–well, of a lot of other fragrances that smell exactly like this–all of which also fall into the celebuscent category. Chances are, if you own anything with another celebrity’s name on it that leans more towards “smells like flowers” than “smells like fruit” or “smells like candy” then you don’t need to buy a bottle of this. If you own any of Bath and Body Works’ latest floral releases then you don’t need a bottle of this. If you are missing a “smells like flowers” celebrity fragrance and feel like you need a little more Jessica Simpson in your life then you could do worse than Vintage Bloom.

Extra: I always feel like I have to write in a disclaimer for fans of these celebrities that no, Jessica Simpon/Paris Hilton/Britney Spears did not become perfumers overnight and mix their own fragrances in their bathtubs or whatever. Vintage Bloom was actually made by Parlux. The people (with an unfortunate Flash website) who brought you other fragrances such as Rhianna’s Reb’l Fleur, Paris Hilton’s Can Can, and Queen Latifah’s Queen.

Design: The bottle could look better. As it is, it’s one of those over-designed pieces that’s too ornate to be called simple, modern or elegant, and not ornate enough to qualify as extravagant. It kind of skirts that awkward middle where it doesn’t hit modern or “vintage”. It just looks kind of tacky and out of place and I can’t say I’m a big fan.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Lemon, lime, raspberry, peony, sandalwood, musk.

Remember when Jessica Simpson actually sang for a living instead of selling perfume with her name on it? Or embarrassing herself on a reality TV show? Is she even still singing? I’m about as up to date with music as I am with television and movies.

Reviewed in This Post: Vintage Bloom, 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.

Donna Karan Cashmere Mist

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Cashmere Mist

Cashmere Mist

I don’t know why I thought I had already done a review for Cashmere Mist. Perhaps it’s because of how used to it I am. Everywhere I went as a child, I smelled this perfume on somebody. It’s popularity has ingrained itself into my mind and made it something of a given that I should have talked about it already.

In Bottle: Bergamot and very soft floral woods.

Applied: Cashmere Mist opens with a little nip of citrus that serves to drive the fragrance into its dominant stage. The stage is that of a very soft floral tinged wood with a light dusting of powder that envelops the wearer in a warm blanket. A lot of fragrances remind me of my mother because, when I was growing up, her fragrance collection helped shape my perfume preferences today. Cashmere Mist is one of those perfumes that reminds me a lot of her because she had some of it at one point. I do have to admit that I’m not a big fan of this one, despite the good memories associated with it. It’s a bit dull, sadly. Otherwise, it’s warm and soft and nurturing. It’s nice and gentle and smells like memories of the early 90s. It’s also clean, like soap, powder and laundry if you were interested in a clean scent. I just think it’s a bit generic smelling and I’m entirely willing to admit that I might just be bored of smelling it because I’ve gotten so used to it since its release.

Extra: Cashmere Mist has been out and available since 1994. It remains easily accessible and can be purchased at a variety of department stores and online.

Design: Some people love this people and some don’t. I’m one of the people who love it, though I have to admit my bias because I grew up seeing this bottle and smelling Cashmere Mist so I’m a little bit attached to it. It is, however, a somewhat dated design in that it reflects an earlier aesthetic. There are two types of bottles for Cashmere Mist, a frosted glass bottle (pictured in this post) and a clear glass bottle.

Fragrance Family: Clean Woodsy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, lily of the valley, jasmine, suede, cashmere wood, sandalwood, musk, vanilla.

The version I reviewed should be noted as there has been some differences noticed by the fragrance community between the EDT that I’m reviewing and the EDP in the clear glass bottle that’s being widely circulated.

Reviewed in This Post: Cashmere Mist, 1998, Eau de Toilette.

Coach Poppy Flower

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Coach Poppy Flower is a flanker to Poppy. It’s supposed to put a more floral spin on the original fragrance. Not sure what else they want out of the original Poppy because that one was fairly floral to me. Ah well, we’ll see.

Poppy Flower

Poppy Flower

In Bottle: Fresh, juicy flowers with a lot of water lily representation.

Applied: Sadly I’m smelling predominantly water lily from the starting point. I get a bit of citrus and the other sweet fruity things in this, but I suppose this is how you can go about making an already floral fragrance even more floral. The water lily gives me a bit of a headache as it seems particularly potent in this fragrance. The rest of the florals are giving up a good fight to help overwhelm or tame the water lily but I think that initial whiff blasted whatever chance the rest of the notes in this had for me. I really just get a lot of water lily with a little bit of jasmine and rose layered in there for good measure. As the fragrance ages, the peony comes up a bit more and given my previous association with peony, I don’t think that’s a good thing. Poppy Flower smells watery to me, kind of like a flower water mix and it isn’t very good, but it’s not horrendous. I wouldn’t venture to say this is okay, it’s just not too bad.

Extra: Coach Poppy Flower is marketed as fashionable, chic, and flirty. I have to admit, that despite being bombarded by marketing that claims something is flirty, I have yet to truly understand what that means in a marketing perspective and the word has been thrown about so much that it’s lost all meaning to me. What I do know about flirtiness is that I get nothing of the sort from Poppy Flower.

Design: Similar shape and style to that of Poppy, only it’s interpreted as purple and silver this time. I still don’t like the bottle, but the handwritten affect they used on the packaging is still fitting and aesthetically pleasing in its own way.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Citrus, black currant, raspberry, litchi, apricot, ivy, water lily, rose, jasmine, peony, sandalwood, musk, amber.

Coach Poppy Flower is available in EDP format and also comes in a body lotion if that kind of thing floats your boat. Me, I’m not personally a fan of this fragrance and actually prefer Poppy.

Reviewed in This Post: Poppy Flower,  2011, Eau de Parfum.

Paris Hilton Passport Tokyo

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As I’m looking at the couple of drops I have of this thing, I’m currently contemplating the amazing fact I just read on Perfume Posse. Paris Hilton–she of the Reality TV, zany antics, and Hilton Empire stardom–has sold $1.5 Billiondollars of perfume. That makes me just a little bit sad.

Passport Tokyo

Passport Tokyo

In Bottle: Light and citrus with a  bit of cedar and a little touch of sweet flowers. Whoo hoo.

Applied: Forgive my lack of enthusiasm for this one. I’m still reeling (two days after the fact) over the sum of money Hilton’s made on stuff like this. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but in the same vein, it’s not good either. In fact, it’s only not bad because it strikes a dull chord in my nose and tells me it’s all right, but if I want to be wooed and I’m not already swooning then I ought to get out of its way. Passport Tokyo’s mild and sheer citrus layer is joined by a sweet apple-like scent that blends into a really limp sweet floral woodsy fragrance that smells like it’s been diluted a couple of times. On the one hand, I’m glad the cedar isn’t assaulting my nostrils. On the other hand, I’m really disappointed by how toothless this is. Don’t let the repetition of the word ‘sweet’ fool you into thinking this is going to give you amazing amounts of sweetness. The whole affair is really light and mild.

Extra: Passport Tokyo was released in 2010 as a part of the Passport series of fragrances. The other two in this line were Paris and South Beach.

Design: Kind of garish and seems to be marketed at a much younger crowd. The bottle is clearly not aiming for luxury, but rather for fun. However, I just don’t think an EDT should ever look like that as it’s much more of a body spray packaging choice than something for an actual perfume.

Fragrance Family: Citrus Floral

Notes: Lemon, apple, frangipani, orange flower, jasmine, iris, sandalwood, cedar,musk.

Passport Tokyo’s a bit forgettable and I wouldn’t even really recommend it to anyone interested in a light citrus scent. It just smells watered down. And, come on! $1.5 Billion! Sorry, still can’t get over that.

Reviewed in This Post: Passport Tokyo, 2010, Eau de Toilette.