By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad

Hello, By Kilian. Long time no see. Still packaging things to make me covet you, I see. Good Girl Gone Bad is a recent release from By Kilian and features a gorgeous white and gold case.

Good Girl Gone Bad

Good Girl Gone Bad

In Bottle: Fruity, light and floral. I smell a bit of soapiness too.

Applied: A fruity opening with a osmanthus and jasmine showing. It smells like and soapy with a hint of jasmine. The jasmine becomes more prominent as the fragrance wears on and a touch of tuberose can be detected in the midstage. Jasmine takes on a green aspect mixing with a rose note. Good Girl Gone Bad isn’t going bad so far, and as I continue to wait her out, I get impressions of cedar and patchouli with a speck here or there of darkness. The fragrance never really gets very dark or daring. It remains a rather tame rose jasmine and cedar composition all the way until its fade.

Extra: I haven’t been following By Kilian in a while, and when I saw this fragrance had come out, I was drawn in by the name. I had this idea that it would start off light and airy and turn into a sinister beast. But it never really reaches beast form, and the florals in the midstage carry its good girl vibe all the way to the end. Good Girl Gone Bad was released in 2012 and can be had for $245 at Luckyscent.

Design: By Kilian usually does very well with its packaging. Good Girl Gone Bad comes in a beautiful bottle decorated to exquisite detail with a white and gold box featuring a golden snake coiling on top. Everything about it screams luxury.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Osmanthus, jasmine, rose, tuberose, narcissus, violet, plum, cedar, amber, patchouli, vetiver, musk.

Okay, so the bad girl never got to the party. Maybe she was too busy rocking out somewhere else? Wherever she went, she just wasn’t in this fragrance. What is here is a rather nice floral scent with decent longevity and a beautiful casing.

Reviewed in This Post: Good Girl Gone Bad, 2012, Eau de Parfum.


Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers

Sunflowers has perhaps develop something of a bad rap. Maybe it’s just me. But every time I saw Sunflowers, it was sitting in a bargain bin of fragrances at the thrift store. I always wondered about it, but was never swayed to try it because it sat in the same bin as the likes of other “has-been” celebrity fragrances. Serves me right for being judgmental.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers

In Bottle: A surprisingly pleasant clean floral scent with a nice underlying woodsy amber scent.

Applied: Floral, I get the jasmine and the rose rather quickly with a slight clean bite from the citrus notes. Then I get the cedar and the other woods. The cedar in this is a bit strong and can get kind of loud if I overdo the fragrance but it’s a pleasant reminder that where you find a fragrance shouldn’t let you color your experience with it. Shame on me. Anyway, Sunflowers has a very nice progression to it, there’s nothing overly childish about it and at the same time it’s not trying to be anything artistic. It’s just nice and unassuming, if somewhat strong for my tastes. The cedar gets a bit too loud for me as the fragrance wears on, but I do enjoy the mix of florals and ambery woodsiness that mark the end progression of this scent.

Extra: Sunflowers was released in 1993. It is an extremely accessible fragrance, so if you wanted to give it a try, it should be available almost anywhere.

Design: A rather plain bottle, but then Sunflowers isn’t really about being loud or garish. I don’t particularly like the feel of the bottle or the appearance. It’s a marked step down from other more high-end fragrances, but it isn’t without it’s charm. The little sunflower icon is cute and the bottle is otherwise functional.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Orange blossom, mandarin, lemon, bergamot, melon, cyclamen, osmanthus, orris, jasmine, rose, rosewood, sandalwood, amber, musk, moss, cedar.

Sunflowers was a pleasant surprise. Very nicely done scent with a strong woodsy floral showing. Get it for the fragrance if you like it, but don’t worry too much about the bottle.

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


Narciso Rodriguez For Her

For Her’s note list might look a little intimidating. I mean, it’s got this thing called Egyptian Musk and some fragrance buyers see the very mention of the word ‘musk’ and are turned off by the prospect of smelling ‘dirty’. But that’s just not what For Her is about.

For Her

In Bottle: Fresh and clean. Also very light. Like catching the scent of soap in a light breeze.

Applied: Clean and citrus like citrus scented soap on the opening with the citrus and soapiness giving way to a warm, very sheer musky scent in the middle. For Her is a light-wearing clean musk so far as the fragrance takes some steps to develop the florals that are supposed to be in the composition. Most of what I smell is the unique quality of the Egyptian Musk and if you’re afraid of it being ‘dirty smelling’ because of the presence of musk then keep in mind that the opening is very clean and the musk is treated in a muted way in this fragrance. It might be the majority of what you smell in the mid-stage but it by no means broadcasts muskiness. I think a lot of people who would normally shy away from musk should try For Her. The dry down approaches with a warming of the musk and a little drop of vanilla to round things off.

Extra: For Her comes in two versions. An EDT and an EDP. I’ve only smelled the EDP and that’s what this review is for. Word on the perfume street has it that the EDT and EDP are different monsters and that the EDP goes on much lighter and is a skin close fragrance while the EDT is louder and has more longevity. Something interesting to keep in mind as you’re trying to decide which to go for.

Design: For Her’s two concentrations come in the same bottle shape. A tall glass cylinder in black or pink depending on the concentration you want. The EDT is a black bottle, whereas the EDP is a pink bottle. These colors are reversed on the boxes so make sure you read which one you’re getting instead of relying on the colors.

Fragrance Family: Clean

Notes: Bergamot, orange blossom, coriander, musk, osmanthus, amber, vetiver, vanilla.

For Her is a very nicely done skin close scent. It’s clean and works the musk in rather well. I actually like this a whole lot more than I thought I would. The EDP is, definitely, worth a considering sniff.

Reviewed in This Post: Narciso Rodriguez For Her, 2009, Eau de Parfum.


Houbigant Raffinee 1982

Houbigant is one of those old perfume houses that made the early 1900s the romantic, complex perfume era that it was. Their fragrance, Raffinée was released in 1982. It was a strong contender in the time of the oriental perfumes.

In Bottle: Opens up with spicy and sweet carnation. I love it when carnation is done right and that’s when there’s a little bit of sweetness thrown in there to calm the flower down. I’m delighted to see Raffinée work the floral opening like this.

Applied: Spicy sweet carnation on the opening, there’s a floral quality up there that makes Raffinée smell elegant and light. The fragrance heads into the mid-stage dolling itself up with some light florals and a dusting of tuberose while the heavy-hitting incense and smooth vanilla amp up. The spiciness takes on a more fleeting role until the dry down where cinnamon makes a bit of an appearance. There’s a powdery quality to this fragrance that smacks of the clean sharp personality of an aldeyhyde treatment. This powderiness remains throughout its lifespan that echoes that clean and classic sensibility of classic perfumery. As Raffinée continues to age it takes on a warm, amber note and a slight bitterness on its way to dry down. The dry down is a pleasantly green, warm cinnamon and vanilla amber fragrance with a bit of woodsiness to round itself off. Raffinée has excellent longevity on me, and its complexity is absolutely fantastic. The projection on me was decent as well.

Extra: Raffinée’s been a victim of reformulation to make it less objective and easier to wear. I haven’t yet smelled the reformulation but of the opinions of the reformulation so far, I can’t say I’m in a hurry to. Houbigant was established in Paris in 1775 by Jean-François Houbigant. Nowadays Houbigant. You may see Raffinée listed “by Dana” instead of “by Houbigant”. The House of Houbigant has a long, sad story that saw the fall of a once great fragrance house to what it is now. You can read up about it at Perfume Projects.

Design: Unfortunately I was unable to identify an actual vintage bottle to use as a photo and I have yet to actually hold a vintage bottle myself. There’s a ton of different iterations for this fragrance as well which does not help in the least in terms of identifying which style the original formula came in. Adding to this complication is Houbigant’s very sad but very complicated recent history and Raffinée not being as well known as it should be. I would like to take an educated guess but would rather not risk being wrong. The fragrance’s general theme seems to be art deco etched in gold on red which sounds like a tasteful treatment. Of the bottles I looked at, the ones involving the art deco design gave the packaging a bit of old design appeal. Much more interesting that the designs that lacked the art deco elements. If you can help me out with the vintage fragrance’s design, please leave a comment!

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Carnation, orange blossom, plum, clary sage, jasmine, citruses, bergamot, rose, mimosa, tuberose, tonka bean, orchid, osmanthus, orris root, hiacynth and ylang-ylang, spices, cypress, sandalwood, cinnamon, musk, vanilla, vetiver, incense.

If you do seek out a bottle of Raffinée, I highly–with italics and everything–suggest you look for a vintage formula. And by vintage in this case, I mean its 1980s self to get the full effect of Raffinée. Any later and you may wander into watered-down and reformulated territory. Also be aware that true vintage Raffinée is difficult to find and quite rare (I, myself, have a small decant scraped out of the recesses of obscure fragrance). Many who label the fragrance as “by Houbigant” are actually talking about a newer formulation that should instead by labeled “by Dana”. It’s complicated, I know. I would appreciate any help in identifying a true vintage bottle.

Reviewed in This Post: Raffinée, ~1985, Eau de Parfum.


YSL Opium Fleur Imperiale

Still working up to my ultimate appreciation of Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium. I decided that since I wasn’t able to work myself up to Opium yet, I should start with Opium Light, as I call it. Otherwise known as the limited edition Summer Opium Flankers that feature Fleur Imperiale. Opium Fleur Imperiale

In Bottle: Definitely Opium based but the original fragrance has been reduced from its big flashy self to a lighter pleasant base for a layer of clean and sheer woods.

Applied: Neroli and Jasmine make a first impression as the Opium base matures and sticks around for the mid and dry down stages. Over Opium there is a nice, dusty sandalwood that covers the fragrance in a clean twang. The rest is handled by dry osmanthus and cleaned up myrrh. At its heart, this is a more flowery version of the original Opium. Carnation is used sparingly in this giving the fragrance a bit of floral spice. Not a lot though so if you were concerned about it, don’t be. Fleur Imperiale smells exotic. Like a nap under the shade of a tree in a desert  palace. It helps that Fleur Imperiale is a dry, warm, clean scent as its approach on dry down is a parched but beautiful myrrh-backed, golden vanilla amber.

Extra: Great introductory fragrance to Opium, the classic. Even though this is a flanker one wouldn’t venture to purchase a flanker if they didn’t like original Opium. I urge you to try the summer limited editions, however. Particularly Fleur Imperiale and Shanghai. They are toned down and more sheer. Great for anyone hesitant and anyone who wants to come to understand and appreciate Opium for all its earthy, spicy goodness.

Design: I love the design on this bottle. It’s shaped like Opium with pretty red flowers on the glass. My major complaint, however, is the plastic sprayer and plastic cap. Okay, the plastic caps are common and I should stop raging about those now. I can dig that. But a plastic sprayer? Come on. Every time I go to spray this stuff, I’m worried the plastic sprayer is going to somehow break or worse yet, break off. The plastic sprayer just feels and looks cheap. I’d like a hardware upgrade (too late for that) but other than that, Opium Fleur Imperiale is a pleasant thing to behold.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Mandarin orange, neroli, bergamot, carnation, jasmine, apricot blossom, amber, patchouli, vanilla, osmanthus, woods, myrrh.

I was very  impressed though a little disappointed by how similar Fleur Imperiale and Fleur de Shanghai are. There is a minor difference though as Imperiale is decidedly warmer and lacks the gentle sweetness.

Reviewed in This Post: Fleur Imperiale, 2006, Eau de Toilette.