Thierry Mugler Mugler Cologne

Mugler Cologne is one of the easiest to wear fragrances for a very good reason. It smells clean, smells like good soap, and when it comes down to it, Mugler Cologne just smells good.

Mugler Cologne

In Bottle: Clean soap. Like you just stepped into the shower and grabbed a bar of soap. It’s comforting, it’s classy, and it’s definitely easy to wear.

Applied: I love my clean fragrances. I love smelling like soap and smelling fresh so Mugler Cologne is right up my alley. It’s strange that a fragrance that would otherwise be slotted in the ‘boring’ category can pull itself out of that arena and into a more sophisticated area. Mugler Cologne isn’t just ‘smells like soap’ to me. It’s a rich, complex soap scent that does very well on my skin. It’s like holding onto that freshly showered feeling for a little while longer. There’s not a whole lot I can say to separate the notes of this into a traditional fragrance pyramid. Mugler Cologne simply smells good and I’ll happily slather it on for that clean feeling. The longevity of this stuff is a bit lackluster but I expected that from a fragrance like this. I love this stuff though and even if the longevity leaves something to be desired I’ll still love this because it just smells good.

Extra: Thierry Mugler apparently based this fragrance on a soap that he purchased once. I’m not sure what soap he bought but he definitely captured the essence of what soap smells like.

Design: I’m just not a fan of most of Thierry Mugler bottle designs. Cologne’s bottle reminds me of a Dawn dish soap bottle. It comes with a sprayer that you can install yourself and for all intents and purposes, the bottle is easy to hold and the sprayer works fine.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Bergamot, petit grain, neroli, orange flower, white musk.

This stuff the middle road between Prada’s Infusion de Homme and Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs’ Wensleydale. It’s soapy but not too weak and not too strong. I just wish the longevity was better.

Reviewed in This Post: Mugler Cologne, 2009, Eau de Toilette.


Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

All right, it was bound to happen. A review for Coco Mademoiselle, possibly the most popular fragrance amongst perfume consumers today. True, she doesn’t have the history of Chanel No. 5 but she’s undeniably pretty with a very appealing personality. So let’s cut to the chase already.

Coco Mademoiselle

In Bottle: Strong, very sweet lychee on top with a layer of very sheer florals you really have to focus in order to detect.

Applied: I know what the notes list says but there’s lychee in this and it’s the tippy-top of the notes pyramid. Coco Mademoiselle opens with a blast and a loud announcement that you’ve just arrived and you feel fabulous. It’s sweet, very loud, and predominantly lychee with a faded florals sort of scent lingering in the back. As the lychee settles a bit you get a hint of sweet orange flower and equally sweet mimosa. The fragrance starts to age into the mid-stage and that’s where you get something a bit more exciting. There’s a sheer white florals scent that keeps Coco Mademoiselle from being completely ridiculous as it blends so beautifully with the sweet notes in this fragrance. The rose note in this is particularly beautiful, it masks itself well with the florals and the lingering fruitiness of the opening, but it’s very, very modern rose. I might be a bit crazy here too but there’s something to Coco Mademoiselle that smells a bit like powder to me. Chanel giving me powder in a fragrance this modern? Kudos, Chanel! The dry down is lovely as well, when Coco Mademoiselle flings off the last of her silly lychee and embraces a warm, very clean, vanilla scent. Coco Mademoiselle, like most Chanels, projects and lasts a long time so go light on that sprayer.

Extra: Coco Mademoiselle was composed by Jacques Polge in 2001. It has consistently performed well in terms of sales since its release. Due to the popularity of Coco Mademoiselle, it is often one of the most counterfeited perfumes out there. In fact, I did a quick look on eBay and there’s at least three counterfeits on the first page of results at the time of my writing this. Definitely beware if you plan on buying this online.

Design: The eau de parfum version of Coco Mademoiselle sports the beautiful Chanel No. 5 style with the squarish glass bottle and cap. The cap for Coco Mademoiselle is a frosted glass. The shape is beautiful, the design is fitting and I simply love it. I still abhor most of the eau de toilette versions of Chanel’s fragrances though.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Orange, mandarin, orange blossom, bergamot, mimosa, jasmine, turkish rose, ylang-ylang, tonka bean, patchouli, opoponax, vanilla, vetiver, white musk.

All right so what do I think of Coco Mademoiselle? Well, its’ a very popular fragrance. I think it consistently shows up in top perfume sales so I doubt it’s going away any time soon. I actually own a bottle of the stuff but I rarely use it. It is very strong, has very good longevity but it is everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. There’s no exclusivity to Coco Mademoiselle. The fragrance is highly recognizable and it’s a household perfume at this point. Couple these two facts with the realization that a lot of people love it and you get a perfume that pretty much haunts you no matter where you go.

As for me? I’ll be happy spray this on when I feel like it, but Coco Mademoiselle isn’t an every day thing and certainly not a perfume I’d wear if I wanted to avoid smelling like everyone else.

Reviewed in This Post: Coco Mademoiselle, 2009, Eau de Parfum.


Calgon Turquoise Seas

Number three of four in my original four pack of Calgon body sprays is Turquoise Seas. A fragrance I stated smells similar to Avril Lavinge Forbidden Rose. And I stand by that statement.

In Bottle: Clean aquatic white floral with a very heavy, sharp aqua note up front. There’s a slight sweetness to this stuff in the bottle too.

Applied: Sharp aquatics and white florals up front with a slight sweetness to take away from the sharpness of the fragrance. The floral aquatic opening is very reminiscent of Forbidden Rose as the fragrance digs into the mid-stage with the aquatics calming down a bit and letting the floral heart float up. I smell lilies and jasmine mostly in the mid-stage. This is is not a very complicated fragrance and it won’t get any more complicated when it starts to dry down with a cleaned up iris note mingling rather well with the aquatic lily jasmine. Turquoise Seas seems to add notes as it goes along rather than let notes drop off, which is a nice approach given how pleasant this ends up smelling by the end.

Extra: Turquoise Seas is a discontinued fragrance, which is a real shame because it’s a very wearable aquatic floral. If you do love it, there are still bottles of it kicking around on eBay.

Design: Once again, typically bottled in tall plastic cylinder with plastic sprayer nozzle. Nothing to phone home about, it’s simply practical. You’ll have to excuse the lack of a photo for this post, the bottle doesn’t look any different from its Calgon body mist brothers and sisters. The label depicts the image of an ocean, the body mist color is a light turquoise-blue. My own bottle is an empty, beat up mess so a photo of it won’t be indicative of what  it should look like.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Marine accord, lily, jasmine, iris, white musk.

Once again, I am guessing with the notes. Some people express some surprise when they find out that Calgon is a part of the Coty brand. Some aren’t too surprised until they find out that Coty is an old perfume house with quite a rich history and prestigious legacy. This is the house that made Chypre so I’m not surprised its body mists are not too bad. But maybe that’s the nostalgia talking.

Reviewed in This Post: Turquoise Seas, 1999, Body Mist.


Calgon Moon Petal Musk 1999

I remember a long time ago when I got my first set of body mists. They came in four. They were body mists, and they were Calgon. They started my long sordid decline into the perfume obsession I find myself in today. Now, Calgon’s never really gotten any better with these fragrances but I can’t help but feel that little sting of nostalgia whenever I smell one of these.

Moon Petal Musk

In Bottle: Sharp floral twang with a bit of fresh greenness up top. The greenness is very fleeting because it’s easily overpowered by the floral bite.

Applied: Strong flowers floating in ozone notes. Moon Petal Musk might as well be standing ontop of a mountain and shouting, “OZONE!” for the whole world to hear because that ozone note is what lends to the sharpness and powerful fresh smell in this. And fresh, in this case, is defined as overly clean and very sharp. The ozone does fade, however, leaving you with a rather pleasant bouquet of white florals. The most prominent notes being lillies and roses. Mix lily and rose together in equal parts and you will get this vague feel of white, powdery flowers. As Moon Petal Musk dries down, the florals devolve into a very vague floral fragrance where you can’t really tell what flower it is you’re smelling, but you’re sure it’s at least a flower. The florals are mingled with a sharp white musk to usher out the fragrance completely.

Extra: It should be noted that Calgon re-imagined and reformulated Moon Petal Musk since my bottle’s time. The new Moon Petal Musk smells nothing like this and one glance at its new notes list should tell you that. So, if we were going to be ridiculous, I’d venture to say my bottle of watery perfume is a vintage–but we’re not feeling ridiculous right now. I will say that compared to the new Moon Petal Musk, the original is far more competent.

Design: All body sprays tend to be bottled in the same way. Tall cylindrical plastic container with plastic sprayer nozzle. It’s not fancy, it’s not exciting and it’s not meant to be any of those things. This is simply functional, with a little bit of plain and ugly thrown in.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Ozone, orchid, rose, freesia, muguet, white musk.

I took a stab at the notes list with what rarity of information I could find online regarding the original Moon Petal Musk’s notes. I refused to believe the one place I found a notes list that “airy green expression” was a serious thing I was supposed to smell. It’s like when you’re playing Pictionary and some smarty pants decides to make you illustrate the concept of humility. My thanks to LittleGnome on Makeupalley for the notes list I referenced. I believe her list might be the official word on this fragrance, so take mine with a grain of salt.

Reviewed in This Post: Moon Petal Musk, 1999, Body Mist.


Prada Infusion de Vetiver

Infusion de Vetiver is the latest in Prada’s infusion line of fragrances where two of my favorites (Infusion d’Iris and Infusion d’Homme) come from. The line itself is focused on simple formulas based upon one or two concepts, such as tuberose in Infusion de Tubereuse .

Infusion de Vetiver

In Bottle: Very light sweet vetiver with a bit of bitterness from the citrus top note.

Applied: The initial citrus opening is expected in most modern perfume, it’s quick to dissipate leaving you with the vetiver to contend with. This is like vetiver light, sweet, hay-like, a little bit grassy and there’s a hint of pepper lingering around in the background and layered over it all is this herb-like scent I can’t convince myself to stop smelling because it’s not helping the bland situation at all. As Infusion de Vetiver ages into its end stage. Yes, you read that right, it’s in end stage mode already. The fragrance goes into this sheer, barely there sweet vetiver sort of thing that doesn’t do the scent much justice before it drops off completely. The entire episode was in and out in about an hour. In terms of overall smell, the opening was all right, the mid-stage was pretty on par with the opening, and the end stage was a barely there ghost of what a fragrance like this could be. I just don’t see the point of this, it’s light, it’s easy to wear, yes, but it’s nothing interesting.

Extra: So here we are with Infusion de Vetiver. While I enjoyed two of Prada’s Infusions line, they at least had something of a personality and were more interesting than this. Iris had that nice powdery, bitterness to it. D’Homme reminded me of my childhood. Vetiver just smells like sweet wet herbal hay.

Design: Infusion de Vetiver is a limited edition with its designs that are more in line with Infusion de Tubereuse. There’s interesting shapes on the box and bottle cap, done in light green, dark grey, and black this time instead of purple. The bottle shape is the same as the other Infusions so if you were trying to collect them all, you will have a nice uniform set.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Citrus, tarragon, ginger, vetiver, white musk, pepper.

Once again, another fragrance I don’t see the point of. This time from a fragrance house that hasn’t been doing too badly with its offerings. Only, I don’t think it was a good idea for Prada to tackle vetiver. Especially not when so many other houses have done tons of vetiver scents in far better ways.

Reviewed in This Post: Infusion de Vetiver, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Voyage d’Hermes

Voyage d’Hermès has come to be known in the fragrance world as, “did you see that bottle?” Or at least, that’s what I call it. It’s the perfume with the fantastic bottle. The juice inside is pretty good too.

Voyage d'Hermes

In Bottle: Bright green citrus. Lime most of all, with a distinct sourness to it. This smells like lime rinds, okay? And I love it.

Applied: That initial citrus, green and dry with a hint of sourness edges into a steadily rising spicy mid-stage where ginger greets you and takes you to meet its friend cardamom. The two of them hold you there, complementing each other with the fading lime rind as the fragrance’s rind opening gives way to a sheer floral headed by those spices you met earlier. The fragrance then dissolves into a white musk dashed with a bit of woodsiness that grows stronger and stronger as the spices start to fade away starting with ginger then cardamom. The final stage is marked with a pretty white musk and fading traces of woodsy notes. It should be noted that Voyage d’Hermès is not a heavy scent. It is extremely sheer so if you’re looking for power and projection, this is not your stuff.

Extra: Voyage d’Hermès was composed by the much esteemed Jean-Claude Ellena whose rapsheet also includes Kelly Caleche and Terre d’Hermès.

Design: I’ve got to spend a little time talking about this bottle. I love it. The design, the quirky swivel. The fact that it’s minimalist but elegant and modern. The inner glass bottle contains the juice itself, but it also has an outer metal casing that swivels. What sets this outer metal casing apart from other perfumes of glass and metal is the fact that the casing acts both as a cap and a stand. It’s a little functionality for your fragrance that beats the gold plated stuff that simply serves to be flashy. Did I mention an added bonus feature of this bottle? It’s refillable. Immediate points given for that, Hermes. It looks good. It functions well. You can refill it. It’s just fantastic.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Spicy

Notes: Lime, juniper, green tea, pepper, ginger, cardamom, cedar, sandalwood, amber, white musk.

Hermes has always done some beautiful work with their fragrances and I particularly must give props to Jean-Claude Ellena. The man has made some fabulous perfumes in his time and Voyage d’Hermès is one of them. Neither too abstract or too derivative, Voyage d’Hermès is in that beautiful little middle ground where balance is key.

Reviewed in This Post: Voyage d’Hermès, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Star Trek Tiberius

James Tiberius Kirk, the most decorated Starfleet captain–now in a scent. When I saw this perfume on Amazon last year I said to myself, “No way!” But yes way, it exists, and I have a sampler of it. And you know what? It ain’t half bad!

Star Trek Tiberius

In Bottle: You know how for women’s celebrity scents you usually get these candied fruity floral perfumes? And for men’s celebrity scents you usually get some sort of variation of Cool Water? Well, Tiberius is a surprisingly competent fragrance that smells like a dash of black pepper, over sheer cedar (not crazy cedar), with a spritz of citrus.

Applied: That citrus spray is the first thing to go–not unusual, that’s what’s supposed to happen in perfumes. Then Tiberius (I can’t believe I just said that) gets serious and digs into the black pepper and rocks up on the cedar. The cedar used in this is surprisingly not the insane kind, it’s tempered, and wearable to me, almost subtle as it settles on this clean note instead of relying much on the cedar to carry it. The black pepper is ever-present, lending the entire fragrance a very spicy personality. Back to the cedar a bit, as I am always happy to find cedar done well. Tiberius’ cedar compliments the black pepper quite nicely as the two of them head closer to the dry down stage we get a slight flare of sheer sandalwood and a pleasant warmed slightly sweet, but very clean vanilla scent aided by that clean note that’s probably the white musk at work.

Extra: I know a lot of Trekkies might like this as a gift for Valentine’s Day. And if you were wondering if it’s just a novelty item or if it actually has merit as a fragrance then rest assured. Tiberius can hold its own. It’s not groundbreaking. It’ll probably never become a fragrance classic. It’s a little one-dimensional. Despite all this, it is not at all bad. In fact, I’d rank this fairly high in the celebrity and spin-off fragrance corner.

Design: So the bottle’s ugly. I mean, it really is. You see that thing up there. It’s a glass bottle with what looks like a plastic cap. The shape and details lend nothing to class up the appearance of the bottle and ultimately I’m left thinking Tiberius is packaged in some sort of industrial cleaner container. But then, you don’t buy Tiberius for the bottle, or the scent. Though the scent is decent, I am giving a thumbs down to the bottle.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: Citron, black pepper, cedar, vanilla, white musk, sandalwood.

Once again, you can color me surprised. I didn’t expect to like this fragrance at all. I was wholly prepared for another Danielle Steel experience but Tiberius kind of surprised me in a good way.

Reviewed in This Post: Tiberius, ~2009, Eau de Cologne.


BPAL Kitsune-Tsuki

Kitsune-Tsuki has multiple personalities on me. On some days, she’s a pretty, plummy, fruity jasmine fragrance. On other days, she’s a dried prune scent with a deep resiny quality to her. But what she lacks in consistency she makes up for in entertainment. Kitsune Tsuki

In Bottle: Clean and musky playing with the usually rich, pulpy plum note. Very prominently fruity up top, sweet with a dash of sharp white musk.

Applied: Plum flares up, it’s the first thing I smell. It’s sweet and rich and decadent as it evolves into a pretty sheer jasmine plum fruity floral with a clear note of clean, sharp, white musk. What Kitsune-Tsuki smells like in the bottle is pretty much how she smells on me upon initial application. As she ages, the plum fragrance deepens, edging out some of the florals while the white musk at the base of this fragrance hovers around, cleaning up the scent. The longer Kitsune-Tsuki is left to age on me, the more it starts to dry and smell raisin-like. Some days this raisin scent is sweet and clean with a candy-like dusting of sweetness. Other days it becomes a prune, dry and mealy and a bit disturbing. Whatever its progression, and whatever is wrong with my skin chemistry some days, Kitsune-Tsuki is a pleasant, light plum fragrance.

Extra: Kitsune-Tsuki, according to Black Phoenix Alchemy’s website is named after the female Japanese spirits, possessed by fox spirits who commit mischief.

Design: Bottled in the same way as every other Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs fragrance. It’s bottled in a 5ml amber glass bottle with a black screw on cap. The label displays the name of the fragrance and the perfume house.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine, white musk.

Some days I can’t tell if I love Kitsune-Tsuki’s unpredictable progression, and most days I wonder if I’m brave enough to test which way it’ll go. So while I don’t wear her as often as I’d like, she makes for a fine conversation piece nonetheless. You can purchase Kitsune-Tsuki from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs website. She is found under the category, “Diabolus“.

Reviewed in This Post: Kitsune-Tsuki, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche

Chance Eau Fraiche rounds off the line of Chanel’s Chance flankers (at the time of this writing). It’s the first flanker to the original, meant to be a lighter, younger, interpretation of Chance. Though Chance was young to begin with. Chance Eau Fraiche

In Bottle: Light, crisp and green. Very clean and citrus heavy topper with a sweet fruit-like note lingering around as well.

Applied: Sweet, after the sharp citrus kick that immediately invades the nose upon application. The citron is going bananas in this fragrance as Chance Eau Fraiche mellows a teensy bit in the mid-stage but still clings to its sharp, clean, blaring personality that it displayed on initial application. I don’t know how to calm her down but she is very energetic! The middle has that sweet fruity note again and a familiar hyacinth echo that was present in the original Chance. It’s pretty much a cleaner, lighter, more citrusy Chance and there isn’t a whole lot else to it. The mid-stage is rather disappointing this miasma of sharp, sweet and clean that doesn’t quite go well together but tries anyway. The drydown is a mildly woodsy white musk. Like faintly wood-scented soap and sweet lemon drops.

Extra: Eau Fraiche is good for the young audience too though it is definitely a flanker and isn’t likely to excel much beyond that. It’s got clear echos of the original Chance except even cleaner, even more sheer and slapped in the face with a dollop of fresh.

Design: Much like Chance and Chance Eau Tendre, Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche is bottled in a circle with a square cap. Same effective deal with the same minimal but attractive Chanel elegance. Eau Fraiche’s juice is colored light green.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Citron, water hyacinth, jasmine, white musk, vetiver, amber, patchouli, teak wood.

Ranking the Chance series, I’m going to have to put original Chance in number one, Eau Fraiche in second and Eau Tendre in third. Mostly Eau Tendre suffers because of how familiar it is to Marc Jacobs Daisy on the opener.

Reviewed in This Post: Chance Eau Fraiche, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Chanel Chance

Having done a review of Chanel’s Chance Eau Tendre earlier and being largely unimpressed with it, I had given it a few months before pursuing Chanel Chance again. I smelled it a year ago and barely remember a thing about this fragrance other than the fact that it smells a bit posh but otherwise inconsequential. Chance

In Bottle: Cleaned up spice that I want to say smells like pink pepper. The spice is laid over a sweet bed of sheer florals.

Applied: Spicy from the pink pepper then a bit floral as Chance is a sweet, young, modern floral oriental without any of the musk or animalic qualities that make floral orientals a classic hit. There’s nothing dirty to it though it is a bit warm as it wades into its midstage with a conundrum of sweet fragrances, one of the most prominent I can pick out is the hyacinth that floats about in the perfume like a ever present flowery ghost. When Chance dies down it is a sheer sweet floral affair still with a mingling of cleaned up white musk. White musk having a sharp, soapy smell that practically leaps out of its chair and shouts, “I’m clean!” There is nothing dirty, or scary about Chance. It is a well-behaved member of the mainstream, modern Chanel fragrance family.

Extra: Seems that Chance has hit a good mark with the modern perfume wearing woman as aside from Coco Mademoiselle, this is one of the fragrances I smell most often on other women. It’s benign enough to be worn extensively and the Chanel label certainly helps its desirability. Though I have to say, Coco or No. 5 Eau Premiere are preferred by me.

Design: Chance is bottled in a cute circle container with a square for a cap. I do rather like the way that Chance and its line of flankers is packaged as I always loved how Chanel always maintained wonderfully minimalist bottle designs. I believe (though correct me if I’m wrong) Chanel Chance has two slightly different designs for their EDT and EDP concentrations. The EDT concentration has a clear cap, whereas the EDP concentration has a solid metallic cap (pictured in this post).

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: White musk, hyacinth, citron, pink pepper, jasmine, vetiver, orris absolute, amber, patchouli.

Chance is so hugely popular now that it even has a splash version of the fragrance that’s sold in the hole in the wall I go to for my perfumes. Due to its increasing popularity, it is also one of the most counterfeited perfumes.

Reviewed in This Post: Chance, 2009, Eau de Parfum.