Agonist Liquid Crystal

Our friends at Agonist (aka. Those weird glass art bottle people) have a new offer on the table with Liquid Crystal. For those of you turned off by the price tag and bottle design of The Infidels, you might be swayed to like Liquid Crystal a bit more. As for the price tag–well, that’s probably not going anywhere any time soon.

Agonist Liquid Crystal

In Bottle: Sweet citrus, barely there though as the lavender hits up the forefront right away. I smell predominantly sweet lavender. It’s a beautiful lavender though so I’m okay with that.

Applied: The citrus opens this up with a sweet note that’s quite pleasing and does well to help lead in the lavender notes. This is full-bodied, complex, high-quality lavender at its best. It’s like fields of lavender basking on a sunny day. It’s very pretty for a fragrance that’s dedicated to one rather predominant smell. You can tell the lavender is good and blended well with the slightly sweet notes also present in the fragrance. This doesn’t smell like straight up lavender essential oil as there’s some mild hints of clove and oregano that I get from this when the lavender starts to calm down a bit near the end of the show. She’s not one-dimensional, she’s prominently biased  on one note but allows a mixture of other elements to merge and form something that amplifies the beauty of that one note. With that having been said, it is very much  based on lavender and that is what you will smell the most here. So if you hate lavender for some reason, you will probably hate this.

Extra: I’m going to talk about the bottle for Liquid Crystal because the bulk of the money basically goes into the packaging for Agonist’s stuff, it seems. The bottle is handmade, which adds to its value. It’s intricately designed, add more to its value. And it’s a high end niche brand, more value added. So it’s no surprise that you are going to have to pay up a pretty penny for this. I wouldn’t mind if I had a few million dollars laying around and $1,200 was pocket change as the bottle is gorgeous. It comes in two pieces, a stand and the bottle itself, so if you don’t like the melted glass look of the stand, you still have the bottle to display on its own. Though it looks fantastic on that stand too.

Design: Agonist’s bottle designs have been that one polarizing element to their stuff, and while I knew a lot of people who hated how The Infidels looked, Liquid Crystal is an easier to accept design. It’s absolutely intricate, very interesting to look at and makes for an absolutely fabulous conversation starter. “Hey Kay, I noticed you’ve got this weird artsy doohickey on your coffee table.” “Thanks, it’s Liquid Crystal from Agonist.” “Oh, is that what it’s called?” “Yeah, it’s a perfume.” “Really? A perfume? Where’d you get it?” “Oh, I got it online. it’s a bit expensive though.” “Expensive? Like $200 or something?” “Um, $1,200.” At that point I finally admit to myself that I’d never have the spare change handy to justify buying an actual bottle and will settle for refill bottles ($100 for 50ml) and sampler vials.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, lavender, english clove, lavandin absolute, lavandin essential oil, oregano, vetiver, coumarine, praline, everlasting flower.

In case you were wondering, yes there’s three types of lavender in the notes. And mixed together, it’s just lovely.

Reviewed in This Post: Liquid Crystal, 2011, Eau de Parfum.


Liz Claiborne Curve Crush (Men)

I don’t know how Curve Crush managed to squeeze itself into a position so polarizing. We have people on one side loving this stuff while people on the other side are having Curve Crush bonfires and reconsidering the quality of such an idea. I’m with the bonfires on this one. I’m sorry, but I kind of hate this fragrance.

Curve Crush

In Bottle: A strange melange of herbs and sweetness. It’s not sweet like candy sweet but sweet as in “this shouldn’t be sweet but it is” sweet. All this coated with an aqua or marine note which makes me think of Cool Water gone wrong. There’s quite a huge dollop of white musk and moss in this too which just seem to come right out of left field.

Applied: That opening of sweet herbs and the lingering bizarre white musk and moss. This smells like a mess from the get-go, like it wasn’t blended properly and I can see where people are coming from when they say this is very synthetic. I can forgive a synthetic fragrance if it’s done well, but I don’t think Curve Crush for Men realizes there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed. There’s so much scrubbed, clean, sharp and sterile synthetic notes in this stuff that it smells more like a weird cleaning detergent than a fragrance. The mid-stage is a bizarre blend of that musk and moss stuff along with some plastic violet and spicy ginger situation layered over a persistent cloying sweetness. It heads into its dry down with a moss note so synthetic I can taste it in the back of my throat.

Extra: Curve Crush for Men is a member of the Curve line by Liz Claiborne. Despite my displeasure with this particular fragrance, the other members of the Curve line are decent scents.

Design: I’m not sold on the bottle here but I k now packaging’s not the highest priority when it comes to fragrances like this. The bottle is made of a mottled glass, with a tint on it. It’s got a good weight, the hold of it is decent, the design itself is uninspired and reminds me of an Old Spice bottle with a Flowerbomb tag sticking out of it.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Bartlett pear, muguet aldehyde, basil, coriander, bergamot, ginger, violet, lavender, sage, cardamom, vetiver, musk, moss.

I know this is a budget fragrance, but if you ask me, it’s a pretty terrible one. You want a budget fragrance that smells good and is well-composed? Old Spice. As cliche as that is, Old Spice beats this hands down. Heck, I’d pick Old Spice over a lot of higher end fragrances too. The point is, this fragrance is overly synthetic, uninspired and smells like it wasn’t blended properly.

Reviewed in This Post: Curve Crush, 2009, Eau de Toilette.


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.


Villainess Scintillating

Villainess is a small company that sells soaps, perfume oils, and sugar scrubs. I’m partial to their Krakatoa soap myself and had a bit of their Scintillating perfume oil kicking around for review.

In Bottle: All mint, all the time. This isn’t the sweet mint you might be used to in candy and gum, or the sharp mint in mouthwash, this is just mint and if you like mint you’ll probably find your sense of smell right at home with Scintillating.

Applied: It’s hard to really judge Scintillating based on my usual method because it doesn’t really move or evolve. It stays relatively static and that’s the main stage with the three mints up front. I can’t separate the mints as they are fairly similar to one another, but I do get a bit of a spicy bite from the spearmint. The black tea in this adds a bit of bergamot to the fragrance, but it requires some very close attention before it reveals itself. The vanilla casts a bit of smothness on the fragrance as a whole but to smell vanilla in and of itself isn’t going to happen. End story is, vanilla and black tea are both minor players. I have three mints up top, in the middle, and at the bottom. Mints ahoy. The longevity of Scintillating was moderate. It gave me a good five hours on. The sillage started off projecting rather loudly but quickly calmed down and got much more personal in the end-stage.

Extra: If you like mint, love smelling mint and want a very minty experience, Scintillating is a good way to go. Check out its corresponding soap too.

Design: Scintillating, like Villainess’ other perfume oils, are bottled in an ampule flask with a stopper cap. It has this interesting, old-timey, perfumer’s lab feel to it with a thin metal wire holding the name card for the fragrance and a delightfully tiny round plate with a skull design on it. Very cute presentation overall.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Spearmint, cornmint, peppermint, black tea, vanilla.

Scintillating isn’t a complex perfume. It’s very simple and will appeal to those who enjoy simple and straightforward fragrances. It isn’t much to my taste, however, as I tend to move more toward complex these days. But it is a nice display of mint notes.

Reviewed in This Post: Villainess, 2009, Perfume Oil.


Davidoff Cool Water for Men

It’s funny to me how Creed priced its Green Irish Tweed (GIT) out of many people’s markets and drove them to a cheaper, albeit, very good alternative in Cool Water. These days when people think aromatic aquatic,they think Cool Water for the very simple reason that Cool Water was more affordable, more readily available, and it pretty much smells the same to most people’s noses anyway.

Cool Water for Men

In Bottle: I’m one of those people who find Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed very similar so I’ll try to vary this up a little but do keep in mind these two fragrances go through the motions in relatively the same way. Cool Water opens with a green, citrus, aromatic backed by a couple of gentle wood notes lingering in the back. It’s herbs, aquatics, and woods basically.

Applied: Citrus is quick to fade with the green aquatics sticking it out while the woods and aromatics work their magic. Cool Water is a fresh, clean, easy to wear and easy to love fragrance that I have a hard time finding fault in. This was one of the earlier aromatic aquatics that lived in a time where the market was less convoluted. It grows on me, keeps me reminded of Green Iris Tweed. But there’s a bit of a difference between Cool Water and GIT, and that lies in the complexity difference between the two. There’s a certain flatness that Cool Water hits during the mid-stage, as if some component is missing from the fragrance as a whole. I want to say it’s missing a refined floral heart like GIT had while Cool Water focuses more on the aromatics and woods side. Whatever’s missing it, it needs to be looked for in order to notice, but I’m still left wondering just what that is. It seems to be the ‘spark’ that sets GIT aside from Cool Water for me. Cool Water chills out in the end stage with a cedar note. The cedar’s threatening me, of course, but it’s not as loud as some other cedars have been.

Extra: Now, I can sit here and ponder the intricacies of these two fragrances all day but being a child of the late 80s and early 90s, I smelled my fair share of both GIT and Cool Water. They’re still both very popular fragrances but they spawned a trend in men’s fragrances that still persists today. The aquatic fragrances family. A family so full of members that I have a hard time telling them all apart.

Design: I’m going to have sigh and say I’m not a fan of the bottle here. The colored glass angle has to be played right with perfume in that the shape of the bottle has to be able to stand whatever color you splash on it. Use too little color and people won’t notice. Use too much and the glass ends up looking like plastic. Unfortunately that’s the case with this bottle, it reminds me of a shampoo bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Mint, green, lavender, coriander, rosemary, geranium, neroli, jasmine, sandalwood, cedarwood, musk, amber, tobacco.

There’s two main version of Cool Water (and a huge lot of flankers). One for men and one for women. This review was regarding the men’s version.

Reviewed in This Post: Cool Water for Men, 2005, Eau de Toilette.


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Villain

Villain is one of my holy grails. It’s a clean, herbal fragrance that doesn’t overdo the green or herbal. It’s clean and semi-masculine. Like a really well-behaved aftershave or a white starched shirt. Villain

In Bottle: First thing I smell is a sharp clean white musk with a hint of lavender and lilac floating in the background.

Applied: The citrus comes up faster than the white musk on my skin. It sort of blasts itself into the beginning and settles down as it lets the lighter lavender note come up. I know lavender is polarizing. Too much of it and a fragrance stinks, but use just enough and it adds a bit of much-appreciated personality to the scent. Villain has enough lavender to detect, not enough to make eyes water. The lavender is also toned down by a more predominant lilac note that works incredibly well with the clean white musk. Villain’s lavender evolves into a stronger player as the fragrance ages on me, but it never gets to the point where it overpowers the rest of the scent. Put all this together and you get a clean, semi-aromatic fragrance that makes me think masculine, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this if you’re a woman.

Extra: Villain is described by BPAL as a Victorian lavender fougere.

Design: Villain is designed like all other 5ml bottles from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. It’s set in amber glass with a plastic screwtop. The label on the bottle displays the fragrance’s name and fragrance house.

Fragrance Family: Clean Aromatic

Notes: Lime, lavender, citrus, lilac, musk.

Just realized that it’s been a long time since I lumped a fragrance in the aromatic category. Anyway, Villain is one of the better lavenders I’ve smelled, but I tend toward sissy lavenders!

Reviewed in This Post: Villain, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


Guerlain Jicky

So Jicky, what do you want me to say about you? Well, I ask because everyone the world over has already said what they wanted. It just seems I’d only add yet another opinion to the already loaded mix of what makes Jicky tick. Ah well, let’s give it a stab anyway. I started off this blog reviewing Mitsouko of all things! Jicky

In Bottle: Spicy lavender, warmed up and dotted with a slight citrus topper in the opening. Jicky is immediately alarming and comforting at the same time.

Applied: Initial flare up of citrus, a big yellow splash in the opening to get you ready for the lavender that rolls in soon after. The lavender really shines with Jicky for me. It’s normally a comforting scent, this lavender, but the Jicky lavender gets a bit indolic at times thanks to what I can only assume is the civet used in this. It’s very heady and frankly speaking, she doesn’t smell “right” but that doesn’t stop her from smelling awesome. For those of you not in the know, “indolic” is a polite term for “smells like poo”. Breathe past that minute note of “off-ness” and you’ll be rewarded with a spicy leathery quality to it. There’s definitely animalic swayings in this fragrance. It’s not soft and tender lavender for sure and if you were to drop this into a soap people would be wondering what’s wrong with you while at the same time wondering how they could get in on it too. This is dirty stuff but it’s classy stuff, and it amuses me a great deal. She doesn’t try to fruit it up or pass it off as some sort of therapy and just for that alone, Jicky should be given a crown. It’s simply you and lavender, leather, spice, and hilarious indole. And you had better take it. Jicky uses that full lavender with an air of sophistication and a sense of daring all the way into the closer where the lavender fades a warmed dusty tonka greets you at the bottom with that ever present indole. Something about Jicky smells familiar but at the same time incredibly lush and hard to grasp. If Jicky could talk, I imagine she’d say, “What? You don’t like it? Then it’s obvious you don’t get it and I’ll thank you for getting out of my way”. Yeah, that’s Jicky. She doesn’t care if you don’t like her. She knows she’s good.

Extra: I love Jicky. I don’t love how she smells because I am a self-professed, shame-faced lover of clean and easy to wear. But I love what she stands for and appreciate what she is. She’s an era in perfume long gone but stubbornly and regally embodied in her bold presence that just refuses to go quietly. She’s one of the few Guerlains that I will probably never wear simply because she’s too much for me. But I can appreciate her all the same. Especially for being so “in your face” with all the fresh, clean, fruity stuff being pumped out today. I find it delicious to imagine a group of bottles, a hundred or so in number, of celebrity fragrances could be placed on the floor in a room. And there might be a bottle of Jicky sitting in the middle, waiting for some unsuspecting person to come by, pick her up and get slapped in the face with all that she is. Never change, Jicky. Never change.

Design: Those of you familiar with the Nahema design will recognize the image above. Though it should be noted that Jicky most definitely came first. Beautiful bottle, classical look, wonderful feel. Pictured above is the parfum concentration placed into an fantastic, elegant flacon. It’s Guerlain at its best.

Fragrance Family: Classic Aromatic

Notes: Lemon, mandarin, bergamot, lavender, orris, jasmin, rose, patchouli, vetiver, leather, amber, civet, tonka, incense, benzoin.

You don’t really need me to rehash the romantic story of Jicky and her creation again, do you? Nah, I’ll just leave this post to say that if you were here and reading about Jicky, and were interested, there is a large online database of information readily available with a quick Google search about the conceptualization of Jicky, where you can get Jicky, and what–if anything at all–has happened to her in all these years since 1889 when she was first introduced. Or you can click here.

Reviewed in This Post: Jicky, ~1970, Eau de  Parfum.


Annick Goutal Eau de Sud

Eau de Sud is a true, well done, citrus centered fragrance with a beautiful and interesting dry down. It was released in 1995 and is–unjustly–underrated. But if you do happen to be looking for a competent fresh citrus, look past the Light Blues and Versences and get yourself a bit of this stuff.  Eau de Sud

In Bottle: Herbal and grapefruity with fresh green notes. It’s a (refreshing and much needed) far cry from the citrus explosion of other perfumes based in this category.

Applied: Opens with a beautiful bouquet of herbal grapefruit greenness. The grapefruit used in this fragrance is a tart one, similar to Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune. The mid-stage is punctuated with an odd but entirely pleasant saltiness as the grapefruit lingers back behind a pleasant mix of spicy peppermint, basil, thyme and lemon verbena. Eau de Sud’s relatively masculine composition might turn away a few more scent gender conscious ladies but it is a lovely fragrance that I think anyone can use because before it is masculine, it is fresh and classic smelling. You get the classic scent of this on the dry down where the fragrance takes a woodsy and herbal turn before falling off completely.

Extra: Eau de Sud’s more popular older sister, Eau d’Hadrien is a lighter more citrus-based fragrance.

Design: Eau de Sud is bottled in Annick Goutal’s iconic ribbed glass bottle with the lovely gold metal cap and an adorable gold ribbon that carries the fragrance’s name tag. It should be noted, if you happen to be interested in this kind of thing, that all of Annick Goutal’s ribbed glass bottles have removable sprayers. Though I would advise that you keep the sprayer on so long as there’s juice in the bottle as Annick Goutals are known to fade a bit quicker than other fragrances.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, tangerine, grapefruit, key lime, verbena, peppermint, basil, patchouli, oakmoss, jasmine, vetiver.

You can get Annick Goutal fragrances in three different types of bottles. Not all of them are available in all bottle types but there is the square variety, the ribbed variety (shown above), and the butterfly bottle variety.

Reviewed in This Post: Eau de Sud, 2000, Eau de Toilette.


Gucci Gucci pour Homme

The Saga of the Inoffensive Men’s fragrance continues with Gucci pour Homme, a mixture of fresh and woodsy for the man who isn’t yet tired of smelling like a mixture of woods and spice. Gucci pour Homme I

In Bottle: I can harsh on Gucci pour Homme for smelling like every other woody spicy fragrance for men out there but it really is a winning combination that, if worn properly, is like a formula for success. Well, fragrance success anyway. Its in bottle presence is a sharply fresh spicy woodsy scent.

Applied: Spicy woods! The pepper in this lends a pleasant kick to the blend of woodsiness that predominates this fragrance. There isn’t a whole lot of originality to be had here. If you liked Dolce and Gabanna’s Light Blue pour Homme, you will find this a fairly good choice too. It differs, of course, with Gucci pour Homme having a cleaner and more detectable aromatic bay leaf note in it and a strong cedar and woody accord. The bay leaf sticks around in the mid-stage where it mingles with the woods and does a fine job making Gucci pour Homme smell decidedly masculine. Of course a woman could wear this too, but the marketing would have a fit as this was clearly made for a man to wear. It smells of clean dry wood and greenness. Like a man who spent the last three hours chopping down trees and making a very nice desk in the forest then took a shower. The dry down is likable enough with your typical woodsy cleaned up vetiver fade with a pretty nice leather note and a splash of warm amber thrown in for good measure.

Extra: Just for a full dose of confusion there are three Gucci pour Homme fragrances that share similar names. Gucci by Gucci pour Homme. The one reviewed in this review, also called Gucci pour Homme, finally there’s Gucci pour Homme II. All of them smell different and look different. Gucci by Gucci pour Homme is bottled differently than the fragrance pictured here. Gucci pour Homme has an amber liquid and is the fragrance in this review. Gucci pour Homme II is bottled similar to this one only the liquid is blue.

Design: I really like Gucci pour Homme’s design element. It’s a cube-like glass bottle that reminds me of how Chanel nail polish is bottled. Simple, clean lines, no frills. Just a nice minimalist design that functions well.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: White pepper, pink bay, ginger, papyrus wood, orris rhizome, vetiver, amber, white olibanum, leather.

Gucci pour Homme  is a very popular fragrance for men. You can probably tell why. Like with all men’s fragrances that lack in the originality sector, it is high in versatility and likability. You can wear this in the office, to the club, on the bus, to the golf game. Wherever it is your heart takes you guys and girls. Just a forewarning that Gucci pour Homme runs on the strong side, so ease up on your trigger finger.

Reviewed in This Post: Gucci pour Homme, 2008, Eau de Toilette .


Guerlain L’Ame d’un Heros

L’Ame d’un Héros, the Soul of a Hero. A part of Guerlain’s Les Parisiennes line, L’Ame d’un Héros is a bee bottle exclusive of a previously discontinued scent. It is billed as a men’s fragrance but smells versatile enough for both genders to pull off. LAme dun Heros

In Bottle: Fresh and crisp citrus and aromatic scent with a touch of woodsiness in the bottle.

Applied: Opens with lemon and sage and that dry, citrus sophistication of bergamot. L’Ame d’un Héros crashes into the mid-stage with a smooth and excellently blended heart of green aromatics with a juniper dominance. The dry down is a fantastic, subdued dry resinous fragrance. This isn’t like the many different mainstream fragrances that are billed as masculine or sporty. L’Ame d’un Héros is similar in concept but the execution takes it a few steps up. As with most Guerlains, it is a well-blended and complex mixture that just makes it smell better.

Extra: L’ame d’un Heros is a remake of Guerlain’s 1998 men’s fragrance, Coriolan. Coriolan is discontinued and it smells very similar to L’ame d’un Heros except for its strength. If you are looking for a lighter, more refined and subdued scent, L’ame d’un Heros is your fragrance. If you want power, projection and confidence, go get yourself a bottle of Coriolan. It should also be noted that Coriolan is much cheaper and is becoming more and more scarce on the second hand market.

Design: L’Ame d’un Héros like the rest of Les Parisiennes is bottled in a beautiful iconic bee bottle.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Aromatic

Notes: Sage, neroli, bergamot, lemon, wormwood, cypress, juniper, basil, ylang-ylang, amber, patchouli, woods, vetiver.

I personally prefer the scent of L’Ame d’un Héros over Coriolan–but only because L’Ame d’un Héros is a quieter fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: L’ame d’un Heros, 2008, Eau de Parfum.