Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Enchanted

Posted on by

I didn’t happen upon Wonderstruck Enchanted by accident. It was actually somewhat pushed on me by a well-meaning sales associate who said it would suit me.

Wonderstruck Enchanted. In case you weren't tired of looking at Taylor Swift yet. I am.

Wonderstruck Enchanted. In case you weren’t tired of looking at Taylor Swift yet. I am.

In Bottle: I was underwhelmed when I smelled it prior to application. It had the hallmarks of faux vanilla and too sweet berries.

Applied: Well-meaning sales associate tells me Wonderstruck Enchanged was new, smelled fresh, clean, sweet and that it would suit me quite well. I was a little perturbed by that assessment, but figured I would try it anyway. Upon application, the sweetness and faux vanilla make themselves known right away. It’s not outright plastic-smelling but it isn’t natural. The sweetness is dialed way up in this to the point where my teeth felt like they needed to be drilled and filled in. And by the time I had walked away from the fragrance counter, gone home, went for a jog, showered then sat around for a few hours–I could still smell the sweetness on me. It clings like a powerhouse. Wonderstruck Enchanted isn’t special or unique. To me, it’s like a pile of berry candies coated with a vanilla air freshener. It’s just unappealing and kind of a mess. And unfortunately for it, it’s strength and longevity make it last an absurd amount of time. It wasn’t until I woke up the next morning did I finally rid myself of the cloying sweetness.

Extra: Wonderstruck Enchanted is obviously the flanker for the original Wonderstruck. It was released in 2012, and I really wish they had taken some time to think about it a little bit more because the fragrance manages to be both uninspired and messy.

Design: Similar shape to the original Wonderstruck. It’s red this time instead of just purple and features some slightly different charms around the neck of the bottle. I like the ornate cap, but that’s really about all I can say for it because every other design detail is clearly aimed at a younger audience.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Passionfruit, berries, poppy, freesia, peony, champaca, sugar, musk, woods, vanilla.

Well, there you go. A few months go by and I get this urge to write about a celebuscent and Wonderstruck Enchanted just had to be it. It really wasn’t anything special and I found it mildly annoying that Taylor Swift was every where I looked. But hey, at least it wasn’t Lady Gaga again.

Reviewed in This Post: Wonderstruck Enchanted, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Thierry Mugler A*Men

Posted on by

Lots of thanks to Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass for the sample of this fragrance. A*Men has been one of those scents that I kept hearing about but never got around to trying.

A*Men

A*Men

In Bottle: Sweet and a bit dusty, I get a lot of woods out of this but at the same time, I’m smelling the gourmand too.

Applied: Sweet upon application, lavender with a bit of milk and honey and lots of caramel. The fragrance introduces its woodsier side rather earlier as I get patchouli mixed with cedar that blends in with the caramel and milky notes. The mid-stage is marked with a noticeable addition of spices and woods, I swear I can smell cinnamon as the fragrance gets a bit more coffee like with this dusty coating of woods following it. The dry down is warm with a sandalwood base and a sweet toffee-like backdrop. I’ve seen people absolutely love A*Men and other people who can’t stand it. I was all ready for a gourmand but I was more surprised by the prominence of the woods in this. It makes the fragrance more oriental in style with a creamy, sweet caramel scent accented with a lot of woodsiness.

Extra: A*Men was introduced in 1996 and comes in two bottle styles. One metallic bottle and a rubber bottle.

Design: I’ve never been much of a fan of Thierry Mugler’s bottle designs. I often found them too chunk or too alien-looking and I can’t say I really like the bottle designs for A*Men either. It just doesn’t strike a chord with my sensibilities.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand Oriental Woodsy

Notes: Coriander, lavender, fruits, spices, mint, bergamot, honey, jasmine, milk, caramel, lily of the valley, cedar, patchouli, sandalwood, tonka, amber, musk, benzoin, coffee, vanilla.

I don’t think I’m that big of a fan of A*Men. I wasn’t sure whether or not I liked the gourmand bits of it, or the oriental bits, or the woodsy bits. It just all melded together into one big “blah” for me, though it does have really fantastic longevity.

Reviewed in This Post: A*Men, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

Floris Santal

Posted on by

Santal, like with most men’s fragrance samplers, fell into my lap through some exchanges or trades. Its little glass vial sat pretty much untouched since I received it due to its unspectacular name. But like books, you really shouldn’t judge a fragrance by its cover–sometimes.

Santal

Santal

In Bottle: Soft gentle spice with a sandalwood heart.

Applied: Bergamot with a lemony friend in the opening. The spices roll in quickly, but very elegantly. It’s a gentle spice, like a nice little dusting of cardamom and nutmeg and clove on top of your cup of tea or coffee. It smells light, doesn’t come on too strong and imparts this sense of confidence without being loud and obnoxious about it. This smells like a refined gentleman with a nice sandalwood upon entering the latter midstage. The dry down is marked with a warm, light spice and heavier dose of woods. Santal is not young smelling. It’s not the aqua deluge of modern mens fragrance. It smells more classical and has a nice, subdued sophistication to it.

Extra: Santal was released in 2002 and is still available today in an EDT concentration, bar of soap, aftershave, shower gel, or shaving balm.

Design: Looks nice enough. The Floris label is really the focal point of this design with a nice classical air about it. The bottle itself is unassuming with an easy to hold design and subdued but mildly flashy gold detailing.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Spicy

Notes: Bergamot, pepper, cardamom, grass, lemon, nutmeg, clove, lavender, amber, cedar, sandalwood, olibanum, vetiver, vanilla, musk.

Some scents never cease to surprise me. I ended up liking Santal quite a bit.

Reviewed in This Post: Santal, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Alfred Sung Jewel

Posted on by

With all the heady, classic fragrances I had been trying and wearing lately and with the weather doing all sorts of strange things, I had a hankering for a springtime perfume and Jewel caught my attention.

Jewel

Jewel

In Bottle: Sweet, dewy and slightly fruity jasmine with a bit of orange blossom.

Applied: I primarily get a nice dewy jasmine scent out of this with a fruity pear and a strong neroli note in the front. The jasmine is sweet and clean and fresh as it rolls into a fairly benign mid-stage with hints of creamy coconut in the background. So far, Jewel is nothing to really write home about. It’s very nice, but not unique. It reminds me a bit of springtime, and its use of fruits and jasmine together are not unappealing, nor is it too overdone to be enjoyable. The dry down is not too special either, as the sweet jasmine rolls into a clean floral finish.

Extra: Jewel was released in 2005 and if you didn’t get enough of it in fragrance form, you can choose between its wide range of body care products like the lotion. Jewel isn’t difficult to find either, and is available from discounters online though I haven’t seen it in a department store myself.

Design: Reminds me of Ange ou Demon by Givenchy, but I suppose it’s just the shape that makes me draw the similarities between the two. Has a pleasant shape overall, interesting to look at.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Blackcurrant, pear, neroli, orange blossom, jasmine, frangipani, coconut, plum.

Overall, a pleasant experience if somewhat uninteresting. It is a nice springtime perfume, and hit the spot when I wanted to smell spring-like, but there are more interesting spring offerings out there. Still Jewel is pretty good for what it is, has a pleasant clean, fresh jasmine sweetness to it and doesn’t lay it on very thick.

Reviewed in This Post: Jewel, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Roger & Gallet Oeillet Bleu

Posted on by

Much thanks to Deb at LuvParfum for a sample of Roger & Gallet’s Oeillet Bleu. My obsession with vintage fragrances hits a peak every time I visit her website. I really don’t know what’s stopping me from buying everything in sight.

In Bottle: Unmistakably vintage with a spicy floral opening. I get carnation in a big way, in the sort of way you don’t get these days because big carnation like this could scare off those faint of heart.

Applied: Spicy carnation. Lots of floral and plenty of clove to leaven it. This is green but makes me think of oranges and reds instead. I guess I needed a color that embodied the heat and passion that I get when I smell this. Oeillet Bleu is vibrant even after all these years and has a beautiful leathery vanilla base that complements it painfully well. I wasn’t sure if I would continue to like the leather in this, but it proved me wrong. Oeillet Bleu is something of a soliflore. I don’t get much else outside of carnation and the buttery base, but it’s one of the best carnations I’ve ever experienced. It’s also one of the most convincing and long lasting.

Extra: Released in the late 1930s, Oeillet Bleu or Blue Carnation was a major hit for Roger & Gallet. I’m not sure when they decided to take it off the markets, but it was truly a sad day and I haven’t smelled a carnation quite as pure as this yet.

Design: Oeillet Bleu came in a few forms, the one I kept seeing was a somewhat unassuming ribbed glass flacon with a blue cap and matching blue label with the house name and fragrance name on it. Its designs are all perfectly beautiful in the classic way. It definitely reminds me of an era long gone.

Fragrance Family: Soliflore

Notes: Carnation, clove, vanilla, leather.

It needs to be said that things are truly unfair when some of the finest smelling fragrances are discontinued. Ah well, happy Valentine’s Day!

Reviewed in This Post: Oeillet Bleu, ~1950, Eau de Toilette.

Etro Royal Pavilion

Posted on by

Another sample that was sent to me from Steve at The Scented Hound. I wore Royal Pavilion to work one day, feeling like something ought to mix things up a little.

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

In Bottle: Jasmine, plenty of it mixed with ylang-ylang with a base of sandalwood and a pretty, juicy, mimosa.

Applied: I get the Ylang-ylang before I get the jasmine when applied. It flares up first and stays up, giving the scent this dusty floral vibe. The jasmine brings it down a little closer to familiar territory with a nice mimosa in the background and a rose that settles near the base. I had expected something else from Royal Pavilion. Perhaps more cypress or green. What it is delights me, however. With it’s classically beautiful floral and it’s nice sandalwood touch upon dry down. There’s warnings of civet and castor in this too, and I had a couple of faint whiffs as I sat in the back and wondered if anyone else noticed. Royal Pavilion was like a quiet, peaceful journey with a light bump at the end. It envelops you in lovely, classical floral notes then when you’re at the end and enjoying your sandalwood fade, a couple of small animal notes hits your nose just to make sure you were still paying attention.

Extra: I went into this knowing very little about Royal Pavilion. It was very much a random pick as I was running out the door in the morning. So I was surprised to find this was released in 1989 because I was going to peg it for a few years earlier.

Design: Bottled in much the same way as other Etro fragrances, in a very nicely shaped class flacon with a silver cap. Nice and simple with just enough design elements to impart “luxury” without any gaudiness.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, mimosa, violet, sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, castor, civet.

Lovely scent, very excited that something from the late 80s is still around and kicking. Kudos, Etro!

Reviewed in This Post: Royal Pavilion, ~2012, Eau de Toilette.

M. Micallef Royal Vintage

Posted on by

I was delighted when Royal Vintage showed up on my doorstep one day. I had fallen in love with the offerings from the house of M. Micallef and was looking forward to testing out a masculine fragrance from their line.

Royal Vintage

Royal Vintage

In Bottle: Soft and woodsy, a nice tempered cypress with a touch of rich leather.

Applied: A whiff if bergamot up front that quickly gives way to a very nice, very green cypress scent. The cypress works wonders for this fragrance, it’s evenly applied it doesn’t blast up your nose or make itself too obvious. It just simply smells right with the right level of projection and power. The leather rolls in during the mid-stage as well, lending the fragrance an added level of complexity. Royal Vintage smells masculine, green, fresh and sophisticated. It relies on woodsy and that beautiful supple leather to make its point instead of the majority of mainstream men’s fragrances that rely too much on aqua. The dry down for Royal Vintage sees the leather fade away a bit with the cypress still going strong with a bit of earthiness from the patchouli carrying the fragrance the rest of the way.

Extra: Royal Vintage is a new release for January 2013 and is part of the Exclusif Collection. It should be available at retailers including on LuckyScent, Parfum1, and Parfumerie Nasreen. Royal Vintage is available in 100ml Eau de Parfum for $185USD.

Design: Designed in a similar fashion as M. Micallef’s other offerings such as Emir and Style. The bottle is nice, organic, and simple with enough embellishments to hint at a luxury while imparting a sense of artfulness. Overall, nice bottle design. Looks great on display too.

Fragrance Family: Earthy woodsy

Notes: Pink berries, bergamot, cypress, leather, patchouli, musk.

I really liked Royal Vintage for many reasons. Probably the two major reasons is that it lacks in the two ingredients that tend to ruin men’s fragrances for me: aqua and cedar. The cypress does a much better job as a base wood note and the lack of aqua let me enjoy the rich, full leather note.

Reviewed in This Post: Royal Vintage, 2013, 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.

Illuminum White Gardenia Petals

Posted on by

It was inevitable that I finally got to White Gardenia Petals–or, ever since the royal wedding happened–the “Princess perfume” that Lady Katherine Middleton chose to wear on her wedding day. There’s been a lot of buzz about it and even a little bit of scandal. But when all was said and done, Kay is once again late to the party.

White Gardenia Petals

White Gardenia Petals

In Bottle: A rather pleasant gardenia with a touch of screech in the background.

Applied: I feel as if it’s fair to say that this is the only version of White Gardenia Petals I’ve ever smelled. Which could be a few steps away from the version Katherine Middleton wore on her wedding day. Some perfumistas say that version smells different from the one I’m sampling right now and I haven’t had much luck getting a hold of the old stuff so I only have my new stuff and previous accounts to go by. Without further ado, White Gardenia Petals opens up with a lovely light gardenia with a touch of green. As it wears on, the gardenia gets stronger, a bit of a different progression from what I experienced with last week’s Hothouse Flower. This is heavier handed, better projection, more floral in a sense with a denser concentration of gardenia. Its mildly powdery, but mostly strong. I get occasional whiffs of plastic where the gardenia gets overzealous, but it’s overall fairly nice. I rather like the strong approach White Gardenia Petals chose to take. At its base is a clean white musk which makes me think White Gardenia Petals might work really well as a luxury soap.

Extra: By now, I think we all know why and who wore White Gardenia Petals. I’m no expert on fashion or trends. I’m certainly no expert on the Royals. All I know is, this stuff had a very nice, balanced projection in my opinion so Katherine Middleton must have had quite the gardenia-scented aura. White Gardenia Petals can be purchased on LuckyScent and Illuminum’s Website.

Design: Designed in much the same way as the other Illuminum fragrances. I’m starting to wonder if these things have gotten to me or what because I find their design a little more pleasant now than I did initially. It’s still functional, though not my favorite look by any means.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, cassis, gardenia, ylang-ylang, jasmine, woods.

I actually quite liked White Gardenia Petals for what it is. It was plainly simple, but in a nice way. It’s not my favorite gardenia, but it’s not a bad interpretation and I think I’m a little biased because I just had a gardenia I loved in Hothouse Flower. Otherwise, this was quite nice.

Reviewed in This Post: White Gardenia Petals, 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.

Ineke Hothouse Flower

Posted on by

As I went through the list of FiFi Indie nominees, my eyes caught on Hothouse Flower by Ineke as the information was transmitted into my brain which made my hand shoot into the box of samples in my desk drawer. Hothouse Flower was a fragrance I had intended to save for spring, but with its name coming up on the nominees list, I couldn’t help the curiosity.

Hothouse Flower

Hothouse Flower

In Bottle: Green and floral, lots of gardenia but smells like dew dappled gardenia.

Applied: Hothouse Flower reminds me of days where the rain only lightly mists everything. It’s fresh and green like the smell you get when you pinch a leaf. The gardenia is very present, but it works well with the greenness and the freshness. It’s tame, not crazy or overpowering. I don’t smell much of the tea, but there’s a small mention of incense in the fragrance. The scent ages with a more noticeable cypress but always remains true to that lovely, green gardenia. Very nice, conjures up beautiful images of tall trees, pretty flowers and dew–just the kind of imagery I could fall in love with.

Extra: Ineke Ruhland is an independent perfumer operating out of San Fransisco. Hothouse Flower was released in 2012 and found its way to my desk drawer via a friend’s recommendation.

Design: Nice, simple packaging. Cylindrical vessel with nice elements etched on glass with a tasteful, equally simple cap. Nothing glaring, nothing too obvious, just plain old good work.

Fragrance Family: Soliflore

Notes: Earl grey tea, leaves, cypress, gardenia, galbanum, fig, frankincense, guaiac wood, corn silk, musk.

After experiencing Hothouse Flower, I want to go out of my way to get more of it thanks to the imagery it inspires. Or, better yet, get my hands on more house samples. Best of luck to Ineke Ruhland in the FiFi awards.

Reviewed in This Post: Hothouse Flower, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Olivier Durbano Black Tourmaline

Posted on by

Up until about a year ago, and thanks to a friend with an Etsy shop, I wouldn’t have known what a black tourmaline was. Olivier Durbano apparently has a gemstone inspired line of fragrances of which Black Tourmaline is a member of.

Black Tourmaline

Black Tourmaline

In Bottle: Dark, smoky with a lather of leather and woods. Very dry and reminiscent of fallen autumn leaves and incense.

Applied: A bit of spice that darkens the instant the leather and oud rolls in. There’s a heady incense note that takes over after the initial spray and makes me think of leaves and autumn with its spicy, smoky woodsiness. The leather is well-behaved, it adds a bit of complexity to the fragrance without distracting from the rest of it. I get mostly incense with a bit of spice and plenty of woods. Very lovely, very complex and things get better as the scent continues to dry down as it takes on a warm mossy bit that adds to its spice and incense.

Extra: Tourmaline is this beautiful semi-precious stone that comes in a wide variety of colors. There’s some spiritual and healing properties that some people affix to it, but I prefer to look at it in a strictly scientific sense. Black Tourmaline, the fragrance was released in 2007 and is still available today on Luckyscent.

Design: A tall, square bottle. Not the easiest to hold or use, but not the worst, by far. Its simple design wins some major points from me as does the beautiful (and appropriate) color of the juice. Nice overall presentation.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: Cardamom, coriander, cumin, frankincense, pepper, oud, leather, woods, musk, amber, moss, patchouli.

Strangely enough, I had been harboring some hidden love of rocks and gemstones that Black Tourmaline has resparked. As if the gardening I had taken up in my off hours wasn’t distracting enough.

Reviewed in This Post: Black Tourmaline, 2008, Eau de Parfum.