Sarah Horowitz Perfect Nectar

Something rather delightful was waiting in the mail for me just the other week. I hadn’t been active much on this blog since work started ramping up again, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a package from Olfactif containing three samples of fragrances I hadn’t yet tried. Hey, smellies in my mailbox? I’m game.

Perfect Nectar

Perfect Nectar

 

In Bottle: I went with the one sample that seemed to be the most lighthearted. With a series of notes sliding around in the fruity floral arena, I felt Perfect Nectar was a good one to start off with. A light citrus opening that dives right into its white floral roots.

Applied:  I get very little else but white flowers in this interpretation. It’s quite sweet and rather heady. The white florals taking the prominent podium for the majority of the show. With no base notes to go off of, the florals are pretty much all I get. Now, I like white florals just fine. There’s a definite sense of Perfect Nectar trying to hit a sophisticated note, but it does come off exceptionally strong and a little bit lacking in the depth department. Lovely as it is, there’s not a whole lot in terms of other notes. I get sweet florals for pretty much the entirety of its lifespan and it’s got a very long lasting lifespan.

Extra: Perfect Nectar was released in 2000.

Design: Lovely simple bottle. I’m a big fan of delicate little flourishes on bottles too. No frills, and none needed. Lovely bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, blood orange, papaya, mango, ylang-ylang, green tea, white forals.

Olfactif is a fragrance delivery service where the samples you get once a month introduces you a potential fragrance love. Did I mention that they specialize in niche so you won’t be faced with getting samples of painfully obvious fragrances? I love the concept. As for Perfect Nectar, I don’t think it’s the one for me as it is somewhat one-dimensional, a little too strong in the floral note and not nearly enough of anything else to keep me interested. If you are looking for a clean fragrance with excellent staying power and throw, this might be a good contender for you.

Reviewed in This Post: Perfect Nectar, 2013, Eau de Parfum.


M. Micallef Parfum Couture Denis Durand

One day, I say to myself, I’ll have enough saved up that I don’t have to reinvest in my business so I can drop it on a full bottle of M.Micallef’s Ylang in Gold. The more I try of that, the more I fall in love with it. But the story for M. Micallef’s fragrances are often favorable. Most of the offerings from their line are great, and the vanillas are just to die for. I’m excited every time I get to try a new scent and this time it’s Parfum Couture.

Parfum Couture

Parfum Couture

In Bottle: A strong tangerine showing with a kick of cinnamon and plenty of sandalwood.

Applied: My favorite moment is the opening, crisp tangerine, tart with a spicy cinnamon kick. The fragrance is quick to roll into the mid-stage with a very tempered rose and orange blossom that layers itself beautifully over the aoud. I know a lot of people might be worried about the “animalis” note in this, but I honestly didn’t get very much, a little hit of castoreum and a pinch of musk and that was it. The entire progression from opening was very smooth with a prominent woodsy showing in the midstage as well as the end stage. It sweeps into a bit of patchouli with a warm clean amber at the base. Very nice, fairly well constructed, I was worried about the woods when they showed up early, but they behaved very nicely with the rest of the fragrance.

Extra: Like all Micallef bottles, Parfum Couture beautifully hand-decorated and is available on Luckyscent!

Design: I’m really digging the design for this bottle. A cool, modern shape wrapped in beautiful and delicate lace with a golden hang tag. Really nice, simple but at the same time dressy and fashionable.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Cinnamon, tangerine, aoud, rose, animalis, amber, sandalwood, patchouli.

Lovely scent, nice and smooth and well-behaved in a beautiful bottle. I’m still in love with Ylang in Gold, but this is still very nice.

Reviewed in This Post: Parfum Couture Denis Durand, 2013, Eau de Parfum.


M. Micallef Ylang in Gold

The perfume house of M. Micallef got in touch with me again and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their new, Ylang in Gold fragrance. Given the awesome Vanilla scents I tested from their last location, I really couldn’t say no.

In Bottle:Sweet, a little fruity up top with a nice clean and fresh vanilla background.

Ylang in Gold

Ylang in Gold

Applied: Sweet fruitiness, refreshing upon application. I get vanilla almost instantly with a clean waft of mint. As the fragrance wears on, the vanilla calms down a bit and the sweetness gets tempered by a pleasant mix of ylang-ylang and soft lily. The scent is very light, almost creamy with a lovely smooth aroma that I guess is coming from the combination of clean musk and coconut. The longer I wear it, the more vanilla comes back to further smooth out the scent. In the end, I get soft vanilla musk with a hint of woods and the barest reminder of ylang-ylang.

Extra: Ylang in Gold is the third member of M. Micallef’s Jewel Collection that features Jewel for Her and Jewel for Him. Ylang in Gold comes in two forms, one with a gold dust mixed with the juice and another without the gold dust. My sample didn’t have the gold dust. I’m not a big fan of shimmer on my skin so I actually preferred to go without it.

Design: Like with most bottles by M. Micallef, Ylang in Gold was hand decorated with little Swarovski crystals. I really like the presentation of it. The shape of the bottle is fairly standard, but the designs help give it a bit of uniqueness and luxury flare. It’s very fitting for its collection, looks quite nice, and is presented rather nicely.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Tangerine, geranium, sage, rosemary, artemisia, ylang-ylang, rose, lily of the valley, magnolia, mint, sandalwood, coconut, vanilla, musk, oakmoss.

I can best describe Ylang in Gold as a very soft vanilla with a nice sprinkling of Ylang-Ylang. It’s pleasant, very wearable and a bit sophisticated. If you’re interested in a bottle, you can nab one at LuckyScent as well as at their Scent Bar physical store, Parfum1, Parfumerie Nasreen, and Osswald NYC.

Reviewed in This Post: Ylang in Gold, 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.

Thanks to Micallef for giving me the opportunity to try this fragrance and Jeffrey Dame at Hypoluxe for forwarding on the sample.


Histoires de Parfums 1826

The Histoires de Parfums line has always interested me. I loved the concept behind it and had been meaning to get a sample of one of the fragrances for years. My main hold up was not knowing where to start and what year to order first. I settled on 1826 thanks to a recommendation from a friend.

1826

1826

In Bottle: Strong bergamot and woody presence with a hint of smooth vanilla and spice.

Applied: Starts up with a strong bergamot and tangerine showing that is quick to make way for the floral aspect. I get a lot of lowers, and a bit of spice that creeps up to the midstage making for a complex and pleasant blend that gets slapped with a soft vanilla incense halfway through its progression. 1826 settles into a floral vanilla with a hint of woods. It’s giving off a clean floral vibe. Heck, this thing changes on me like crazy, one minute being a spicy floral and another being a vanilla floral that throws in a clean note out of no where. There’s a dark edge to it with the patchouli too, that settles in the background in the early midstage where it lends 1826 a bit of depth. The dry down is markedly woodsy with a final showing of florals and that elusive, but brilliant vanilla.

Extra: 1826 is dedicated to the last French empress, Eugénie de Montijo, whose birthday is reportedly May 5th, 1826. She lived a very long life given the time period and passed away at the age of 94 in Spain. The Empress, formerly known as María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, is somewhat understandably more well known as the fashionable wife of Napoleon III, and the last empress of the French court.

Design: Histoires de Parfums keeps a somewhat uniformed look for their bottles. I am a huge fan of uniform looks for series because I can imagine if I were ever wealthy enough to buy an entire series of perfumes, that I could line them up and be a little giddy about how awesome that would look. Histoires de Parfums is one of those bottle designs that would look fabulous lined up in a row and still looks pretty good even if you own just one of the bottles. The box tells you what notes are in the fragrance along with a little blurb about the name of the scent. The bottle itself has a label on the side that gives you the notes you should expect to smell. Simple, functional, and would look awesome lined up in a row.

Fragrance Family:  Floral Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, tangerine, white florals, violet, cinnamon, ginger, patchouli, amber, incense, woods, white musk, vanilla.

I have to admit that I expected a little less punch during the initial spray phase, but the rest of the fragrance smells divine. It’s got a great complexity to it, and it’s quite the shape shifter to boot. It smells great, has a young streak, tends toward a sweet youthful vanilla, though it’s probably not the kind of thing you’d want to recommend for a teenage girl or someone with a teenage girl’s sensibilities. 1826 is definitely a woman’s fragrance and needs a sophisticated nose to appreciate it.

Reviewed in This Post: 1826, 2012, Eau de Parfum.


B&BW Coconut Lime Breeze

After buying some candles at Bath and Body Works, I found that I had a choice of a free item. So I wandered about the store and picked up the Coconut Lime Breeze fragrance and gave it a sniff. Its similarity to Coconut Lime Verbena is probably not a coincidence, but the two aren’t exactly alike.

Coconut Lime Breeze

Coconut Lime Breeze

In Bottle: Sharp citrus scent with an equally heavy layer of coconut.

Applied: Pretty much the same impression I got in the bottle. There’s a stronger citrus element in Coconut Lime Breeze than compared to Coconut Lime Verbena. The fragrance opens with a rather strong blast of lime followed by a bergamot and citrus zest scent. It digs more into its coconut notes in the mid-stage where I get the occasional waft of florals and vanilla. The stars of this scent, though are quite obviously the coconut and the lime, with a little more emphasis on the lime. That is how the scent starts and that is how the scent ends–with the classic blending of coconut and lime. Now, I love coconut anyway, and clean coconut tends to behave a bit better to my nose because the clean or sharp element helps mask the often synthetic smell. There is a harshness to this fragrance though. It’s not a game-breaking harshness like the overuse of cedar in some perfumes. The harshness here has to do with the lime being a bit aggressive and astringent. There’s not much in the way of progression as you will start with a sharp lime and coconut scent and end with a softer lime and coconut scent. It’s a good combination, there’s a reason why musicians have lyrics to the combination of coconut and lime and it’s because they work well together.

Extra: Coconut Lime Breeze–much like many of Bath and Body Works’ many other successful fragrances was released to replace the discontinued Coconut Lime Verbena. Again, there are some differences between the two. Coconut Lime Verbena focused a bit more on the coconut note and was overall a softer fragrance. Coconut Lime Breeze has a sharper, stronger citrus note and is a bit more noticeable at first. At least, that’s how it is to me.

Design: I was delighted to see Bath and Body Works had changed their body spray packaging from the somewhat boring curvy bottle to be more similar to Victoria’s Secret’s Beauty Rush bottles. We now get a straight cylinder with a metallic cap and a unique design wrapped around the packaging. The bottles feel heavier, feel smoother and generally looks much more professional. Nicely done, Bath and Body Works.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, lemon, neroli, lime, bergamot, melon, muget, pineapple, jasmine, lime blossom, coconut, sandalwood, vanilla.

I like the stronger citrus in this than Coconut Lime Verbena. In terms of similarity, the two are alike enough to satisfy people looking for a citrus and coconut combination. But if you were looking for the exact same fragrance, you may have to look up stray bottles of Coconut Lime Verbena, as there is a noticeable difference between these two. And if you were looking for a more subdued interpretation of coconut and lime and have money burning a hole in your wallet then Creed’s Virgin Island Water is still one of the best coconut-based fragrances I’ve smelled so far.

Reviewed in This Post: Coconut Lime Breeze, 2012, Body Mist.


Doir Tendre Poison

The more of the Poison line I discover, the more I puzzle over the fact that the original Poison, released in 1985, has eleven flankers. No matter what fragrance you’re talking about, that’s still a lot of flankers.

Tendre Poison

Tendre Poison

In Bottle: Fresh, sweet and woodsy with a hint of spice and a bit of ambery quality.

Applied: Tendre Poison comes out right away with a big hit of fresh citrus that rolls with a sweet opening that takes you on a trip down to floral and woodsy in no time. There’s a bit of amber quality to this, perhaps a result of the honey warming up the scent as it combats the blast of cool citrus that came out from the opening. The fragrance hits a floral chord in the middle stage with a nice tuberose making a rather grand entrance to my nose. The tuberose gives the rest of the florals–and the scent as a whole–a very nice creamy quality that compliments the woodsiness that settles this fragrance down and takes it into its base notes. Tendre Poison ends with a smooth woody and spicy fragrance.

Extra: Tendre Poison is a rather old showing when it comes to the Poison line of flankers. It came out in 1994 and seems to be a bit difficult to find in the general market these days. At least, I haven’t seen any of it kicking around store shelves. You may have to hit up eBay for this one, but be careful, there’s a sizable counterfeit presence for the Poison line of fragrances.

Design: The shape is generally similar to the original Poison bottle. It’s still a very nice bottle and I still think it’s a lovely use of the apple shape that imparts a certain level of playfulness while maintaining an aura of luxury at the same time. I’m not too wild about how bright green this iteration is, but the general aesthetic is all right.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, tangerine, mandarin, galbanum, rosewood, honey, freesia, orange blossom, rose, tuberose, musk, heliotrope, vanilla, sandalwood.

I rather liked this one. It’s unique in that I haven’t quite smelled something that’s progressed in this way before. It also smells modern, despite its release in the early 90s. But then, it’s earlier release date might help it steer clear of the more recent releases that tend to smell a little generic to me.

Reviewed in This Post: Tendre Poison, 1995, Eau de Toilette.


BPAL Schrodinger’s Cat

Schrödinger’s Cat by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab whose name is inspired by the paradoxical thought experiment is a interesting scent reminiscent of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges. Schrodinger's Cat

In Bottle: Crisp and clean citrus with a mix of creamy chocolate and a hint of earthiness.

Applied: Crisp citrus, a touch of sweetness with a bit of tartness up top. I get the grapefruit most with its sweet pink treatment as the fragrance digs into this creamy minty chocolate scent. It reminds me of those chocolate oranges that you smash on something before eating. As the fragrance continues to age the citrus fades leaving the minty chocolate note to speak for itself as the earthy hints fade in and out of the scent.

Extra: The Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment was by Erwin Schrödinger and has to do with quantum mechanics and the paradox that could occur whereupon a cat could be both dead and alive. If you want to read up on it, I suggest the Wikipedia entry.

Design: Same design as the other BPAL fragrances. Bottled in a simple amber glass bottle with a plastic cap. The interesting part about Schrödinger’s Cat is the label which differs from most other general catalog scents.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Tangerine, lime, grapefruit, sugar, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, chocolate, peppermint.

This is a pretty neat little scent with its midstage that’s so reminiscent of a tasty chocolate treat. The fragrance itself has a good balance of citrus and creamy chocolate. I just wish the chocolate orange scent lasted longer.

Reviewed in This Post: Schrödinger’s Cat, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


Vera Wang Preppy Princess

Am I alone in asking myself, “What? Another one?” when I saw Preppy Princess on the shelves? How many princesses does the Vera Wang line have now? I think we get the theme, especially seeing as most of the Princess fragrances tended to smell really similar so that if you owned the original Princess, there really wasn’t much point in owning most of the others. But hey, Preppy Princess is another smelly adventure.

Preppy Princess

Preppy Princess

In Bottle: Sweet red berry-like scent. There seems to be a lot of berry openings in my reviews lately, what is up with that? In either case, the fact that Preppy Princess opened with a sweet berry scent doesn’t set it apart from the other berry scents I’ve reviewed lately.

Applied: Berries with a splash of citrus up top. Everything is sweet and girly and rather dull at the moment. Not exactly a good first impressions of Preppy Princess but it isn’t an unpleasant experience. I just feel like I’ve done this a hundred times already. So as the fragrances ages further and heads toward its midstage, I get a little bit of a floral kick only there’s jasmine in this and some equally non-descript florals. So all I get in the end is a generic flowery smell that doesn’t help Preppy either. The dry down smells like a mild coconut note mixed with sandalwood and amber  or something.

Extra: So we’ve got five princesses now, I think. I can only hope things stop here. I can’t imagine what other princesses there could be that would inspire someone to compose another generic fragrance and slap it into a heart-shaped bottle.

Design: Preppy Princess, aside from the stripey lines on the glass and blue cap, is pretty much the same design as the other Princess fragrances from Vera Wang. It’s, once again, aimed at a younger audience than me and I can’t see the aesthetic appeal of the bottle. But at least you can use the cap as a very pointy ring.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, apple, berries, jasmine, honeysuckle, woods, coconut.

Hooray, I survived another Princess fragrance. It’s as generic as it can get. The opening smelled generic. The midstage smelled generic, and even the coconut in the base couldn’t help this one out. If you already own one of the other Princess fragrances–and unless you just love collecting the bottles–then I’d say skip this one. There’s far better fragrances out there.

Reviewed in This Post: Preppy Princess, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Betsey Johnson Perfume

Betsey Johnson’s fragrance is a polarizing affair with fans and dissenters alike. I just happen to be on the dissenter side. Even though I see what Betsey Johnson is trying to do with the kitschy design and equally kitschy fragrance, I just  can’t say that I like it.

Betsey Johnson

Betsey Johnson

In Bottle: Incredibly sweet and floral with a bit of musk. A rather discordant fragrance with a fruity hint and a strange medley of scents that don’t play nice with my nose.

Applied: Opens with a very sweet blackcurrant and citrus fragrance that quickly introduces the florals and a very sweet and very obvious freesia note. The apple wiggles in with the midstage and turns up the fruity side of this fragrance a few notches. It’s sweet and flowery and smells a bit synthetic and cheap and very cloying as the fragrance just continues to amp up on the sweetness the longer it sits on my skin. When the base notes arrive there’s a bit of sugary woodsiness that mingles with the equally sugary floral.

Extra: Betsey Johnson’s style has always been bright and colorful and pop artsy. I can’t say I’m a big fan of it, but the fragrance and the design itself do reflect these aesthetics. This particular perfume was created by noses Mathilde Bijaoui and Bernard Blanc.

Design: The bottle for Betsey Johnson is just about everything I don’t like in a design. It’s big and girly and flashy and bright and pretty much the epitome of kitsch. I don’t like the aesthetics and think they are a little ridiculous but rest assured, the bottle was designed to look like this. I just don’t like the look at all.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Grapefruit, blackcurrant, tangerine, pear, freesia, lily of the valley, apple, sandalwood, amber, musk, cedar, praline.

So all in all, this fragrance just isn’t for me but that shouldn’t stop someone else from looking this one up. It’s got a nice fruity floral with a very sweet tooth. If you love fruity floral and sweet scents, try this stuff out.

Reviewed in This Post: Betsey Johnson, 2008, Eau de Parfum.


V&R Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose 2011

I decided to give Flowerbomb, or rather its flanker line, a chance hoping that after the very un-floral like contraption that was the original Flowerbomb, they would add some actual flowers to the perfume so it smelled a bit less like a very expensive Pink Sugar.

Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose

In Bottle: Still smells foody though the caramel note in this one is significantly more tame than in the original Flowerbomb. I’m noticing a smooth almond note mingled with that same scent that I got from Flowerbomb. That sweet, nothing-else-but-candy scent that I wasn’t too sold on in the original.

Applied: A flare up of bergamot with sweet tangerine leading the way. It’s typical of perfumes and this citrus opener didn’t happen with the original Flowerbomb that veered right into sweet territory. After the citrus digs itself out, the original Flowerbomb scent comes through with a milder caramel note riding on the waves of an almond scent that adds a bit more foodiness to the fragrance. The florals are still largely absent behind the huge wall of obnoxiously sweet candy-like accords that add nothing to this flanker’s originality. It is, essentially, Flowerbomb with some bergamot and almond. I’m not impressed. The dry down is a similar affair as Flowerbomb. La Vie en Rose is hanging on to some sweet candy scent dotted with a scrubbed clean patchouli until it has faded completely.

Extra: So this version of Flowerbomb’s La Vie en Rose flanker was released in 2011 and toted as being the same floral fragrance everybody’s already loved. I really wish the fine folks who keep producing this stuff would stop kidding themselves and admit that there’s very few flowers in Flowerbomb. I haven’t tried any of the other Flowerbomb flankers yet so hey, maybe they managed a floral one somewhere in there.

Design: Designed much in the same way as the original Flowerbomb. Same shape. Same basic premise. La Vie en Rose has a notable deeper pink though with smaller geometric squares on the flacon’s surface. I like the design. I think it’s cute and clever. I just wish this stuff actually smelled like flowers or at least admit that it doesn’t smell like flowers at all.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, pink pepper, tangerine, freesia, lily of the valley, almond, raspberry, red berries, cashmere wood, patchouli, amber.

Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose  irritates me a little bit. It’s like the convenience store I go to sometimes that gouges me for instant noodles. So Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose is the instant noodles. I know it’s not gourmet, I know it’s got very little nutritional value but the convenience store will still gouge me for it anyway.

Reviewed in This Post: Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

PS. For all my geeky perfume lovers out there, happy Captain Picard Day!