Sarah Horowitz Perfect Nectar

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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.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Lady Una

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Lady Una from Neil Gaiman’s Stardust has a pretty little fragrance by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Lady Una

In Bottle: Sweet and fruity with an underlying tartness from the berries.

Applied: Sweet berries up front with a bit of astringency from the green tea note and the berries that help with a little bit of tartness–not a whole lot of tartness here though as Lady Una is mostly honeyed berry. The fragrance continues on a rather linear path through its midstage and as it delves into its dry down the fragrance takes on a soft vanilla and clean musk.

Extra: Lady Una is a fragrance in the Neil Gaiman’s Stardust line from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab that focuses on concepts and characters from the novel.

Design: Lady Una is bottled much the same way as other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scents. You get a small amber bottle with a plastic cap and stopper and a label featuring artwork by Sarah Coleman.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Honey, green tea, blackberry, vanilla, musk, spices.

Very nice soft fruity fragrance. If you’re a little too old for the vanilla and fruit explosion of most mainstream fragrances then give Lady Una a try for a softer, more subtle sweetness.

Reviewed in This Post: Lady Una, 2010, 5ml Bottle.

Voyage d’Hermes

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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.

BPAL Embalming Fluid

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Embalming Fluid, despite its name, is actually quite pleasant. It’s a nice, green summer scent that’s got a good bit of refreshing bite to it that makes it perfect for warm weather. The heart of the fragrance is one of my favorite notes; green tea. Embalming Fluid

In Bottle: Green tea and lemon. Embalming Fluid isn’t high on the complexity meter but it’s a lovely mixture of two notes that go very well together when I smell this in the bottle.

Applied: Green tea amps up immediately and remains with me as the lemon comes rushing in afterward. There’s a slight sweetness to this too that helps soothe the very sharp lemon and tea scents. It mellows them out a little as the fragrance approaches mid-stage where, honestly, it does very little changing. I could be happy wearing this though and so would anyone else if they were a green tea note fan. The dry down gets a bit more interesting as the muskiness comes up for the final curtain but Embalming Fluid is a pretty easy and simple fragrance to love.

Extra: Embalming Fluid is one of those misunderstood fragrances with a name that could turn people away. Give it a chance though if you’re looking for a light, green, fresh summery scent.

Design: Bottled the same way other general catalogs scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab are.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: White musk, green tea, aloe, lemon.

The green tea note in Embalming Fluid is quite good. It’s very reminiscent of Creative Universe’s Te, except much simpler and lasts quite a bit longer.

Reviewed in This Post: Embalming Fluid, 2009, 5ml Bottle.