Gucci Gucci pour Homme

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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 .

Diptyque Tam Dao

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Indian Sandalwood used to be a very popular addition to fragrances, and other applications everywhere. So popular, in fact, that the sandalwood tree has become an endangered species. Tam Dao is Diptyques homage to the precious sandalwood tree. Tam Dao

In Bottle: Dry spicy sandalwood with a hint of creaminess and a sharp blare of green floating on top.

Applied: Cedar and greenness with a mild hint of sandalwood coming through. The greenness adds a rather jarring experience but it’s a quick fader and it helps with the mid-stage where the spiciness and dry sandalwood shines a bit more. This is a pure, nicely done sandalwood scent. It has a nice and deep aroma to it, a very familiar scent thanks to how much sandalwood is featured in fragrances but I have to admit my disappointment that the scent doesn’t do much else but sit at sandalwood. I can appreciate it for its simplicity though as its focus is to remain simple and pure and present the wearer with a sense of calmness in a dry, spicy, amber-suspended sandalwood fragrance.

Extra: Often you’d think people illegally hunting animals when you hear the word, ‘poaching’. But poaching happens to trees too like the sandalwood.

Design: Bottled in the typical square-ish Diptyque style. That is a square glass bottle with a metal cap. The cap slides off rather nicely, the sprayer works just fine. I’m a big fan of the uniform and simple-looking Diptyque labels which often remind me of a mixture of art deco and woodcuts.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy

Notes: Goa sandalwood, rosewood, cypress, ambergris.

Tam Dao’s longevity was a bit weak for my liking, fading within five hours. It’s  a decent time period but I did expect a bit more from a woods-based fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Tam Dao, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanilia

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Still on the look out for another lovely vanilla. Preferably one that can replace Spiritueuse Double Vanille because I refuse to be shackled to a limited edition fragrance–even if it’s awesome. This time, it’s Vanilia by L’Artisan Parfumeur, a pretty green vanilla plant of a thing. Vanilia

In Bottle: Sweet, green vanilla with a floral mixture and a nice white woodsy scent. Nothing at all what I was hoping but still very pleasant.

Applied: Sweet vanilla with a topper that reminds me of sweet powder and fruits. Not too sweet, in fact the sweetness is really subdued and appropriately used and the fruits are a pleasant blend that recedes into the background rather quickly. You won’t get a toothache from this. As Vanilia settles down, it releases a pleasant waft of green floral and spice mixed with a pleasant smoky floral. Very strange mix but it works out really well. Vanilia is a fantastic morpher as it’s one of the nicest smelling vanillas with a rich and complex composition. It is not your run-of-the-mill gourmand vanilla with the fruity, bubbly, candy personality. This is a sophisticated vanilla. The airy greenness mixed with the very pleasant ambery powder vanilla adds a great dimension to this fragrance.

Extra: L’Artisan Parfumeur is a niche house established in 1976s and based in Paris. Vanilia was released in 1978.

Design: Vanilia is bottled in L’Artisan Parfumeur’s now iconic seven sided glass bottle. It has a nice weight to it, looks pleasant–if somewhat sparse to me–but the real show stopper is truly the juice inside.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Fresh

Notes: Fruit, rose, jasmine, amber, patchouli, vanilla, sandalwood.

For some reason, Vanilia is a very difficult to find fragrance for me. No stores carry L’Artisan Parfumeur in my general area and my usual haunts online don’t have this fragrance represented.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanilia, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

Lacoste Essential

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After a month of unsuccessfully trying to find a magazine with fragrance inserts I was handed a booklet filled with gold. Lacoste fragrance samplers make me deliriously happy. Those free sample vials stores used to give out like candy? They are practically an extinct species now. These days we get cards with pads of perfume soaked cotton mushed between two layers of sealing. But I’ll take what I can get. Essential

In Bottle: Fresh. We’re talking men’s shower gel scented fresh. Not surprising as Essential is marketed toward men and this smells predominantly like the very inoffensive (and very successful) shower gels, soaps and shampoos that are billed as sporty and sold to men who don’t want to smell like a bucket of pink candy. I can dig it.

Applied: Essential starts off with a quick blast of aqua soaked herbal citrus. Clean and brisk, like splashing a huge handful of cold water in your face in the morning. After it wakes you up, it reminds you of what has to be done that day. Smooth bergamot blends in with the spicy, faintly floral sweetness of the heart while maintaining that wonderful initial fresh blast. The dry down is a green, faintly sandalwood, wet affair with freshness splashed all over it. Essential is not new or interesting or exciting. It’s a good standby, a great office fragrance, and as such it has high versatility.

Extra: Some of the funniest things I’ll read are perfume advertisements. The people who make the marketing campaigns for fragrances surely have to know how the product works? The little sample card that Essential came on claims that the fragrance has, “patented Time-Release Technology”. I didn’t know you could patent evaporation.

Design: Essential’s bottling reminds me a lot of Guerlain’s Vetiver. Probably because they’re both rectangular, simply designed, and the juice for both of them are green. No complains from me here, though I do find that gripping the bottle is difficult for someone with small hands like me.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Tangerine, bergamot, tomato leaf, cassis, black pepper, rose, patchouli, sandalwood.

I prefer Vetiver as a men’s fragrance over Essential. Essential just smells normal, kind of generic. It’s good for office wear and if you’re looking for something easy to wear, this is it. But I could get the same effect from Platinum Egoiste too with a touch more class. Or I could just bank my money on Guerlain’s Vetiver.

Reviewed in This Post: Lacoste Essential, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler vial reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.

A Guide for BPAL Newbies

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As Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) fragrances get more and more popular, some people might be interested in finding out just what all this hubbub is about. They’ll inevitably discover The Lab’s website address and look for themselves. Upon which they are bombarded by the general catalog fragrances of which there are hundreds of and decide that it is, really, quite too much to sort through.

And the site is intimidating with hundreds in the general catalogue and literally thousands if you include former general catalogue fragrances and limited editions that are no longer available. How is someone new to BPAL supposed to get around and figure out what they want to try? Or what’s supposed to smell good?

While this cursory guide is not an in-depth document meant to school you in every fragrance available from BPAL, it will list a few common, popular, general catalog fragrances that you may want to try out when you’re looking to order your first pack of samples.

How do samples work at BPAL?

BPAL’s sample vials are typically around 1ml and are referred to as imp’s ears. You can buy one imp ear for $4.00 or get a pack of six for $22.00. The prices have been adjusted recently as of this posting which is why on your travels around the internet, you may get conflicting price quotes. The best rule of thumb is to trust what The Lab says on its website. If you discover the secondhand market for BPAL sample vials, you can typically get these for much cheaper, though you may not be able to pick and choose which scents you want to get as a sample seller will usually not carry all the fragrances you are looking for. Imps

What should I include in my sample pack order?

Usually people will think that what you want to include in your sample pack are fragrances they’d like. This is a good safe practice. But I also recommend that people go out of their way to try fragrances they wouldn’t normally think they’d like because all scents can smell different on different people and all scents are composed differently too, this goes for mainstream, niche and BPAL alike. With a catalog of readily available perfumes ranging into the hundreds, why restrict yourself?

Now, let’s get into the meat of this post. You have on the website a few hundred general catalogue scents that can be ordered as samples (pay attention to that page on The Lab’s site about imps and what fragrance lines cannot be ordered as samples too). You have a general idea of what scents you like but don’t want to fiddle around wondering what would work on you since browsing the site could take hours and hours. The following is a handy little list of popular general catalog BPALs that I recommend, ordered to fit a few fragrance types to help you pick and choose:


Citrus: Cheshire Cat (Mad Tea Party), Whitechapel (Wanderlust), Night Gaunt (Picnic in Arkham).
Clean: Dirty (Sin & Salvation), Lilium Inter Spinas (Ars Amatoria), The Lady of Shalott (Ars Amatoria).
 Fresh: Embalming Fluid (Ars Moriendi), Kumiho (Diabolus), Phantom Queen (Diabolus).
Floral: Glasgow (Wanderlust), The Unicorn (Mad Tea Party), Amsterdam (Wanderlust).
Fruity: Aglaea (Excolo), Baobhan Sith (Diabolus), Yemaya (Excolo).
Gourmand: Dorian (Sin & Salvation),  Eat Me (Mad Tea Party), Gluttony (Sin & Salvation).
Herbal: Villain (Diabolus), Lear (Illyria).
Musky: Bien Loin d’Ici (Ars Amatoria), Snake Oil (Ars Amatoria), Penitence (Sin & Salvation).
Smoky: Anne Bonny (Bewitching Brews), Djinn (Diabolus).
Spicy: Queen of Sheba (Ars Amatoria), Scherezade (Bewitching Brews), Plunder (Bewitching Brews).
Sweet: Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo (Bewitching Brews), The Dodo (Mad Tea Party).
Woodsy: Sri Lanka (Wanderlust), The Coiled Serpent (Bewitching Brews), Arkham (Picnic in Arkham).

It should be noted that these are just recommendations based upon my tastes. What you like or dislike may be different so feel free to look at these as suggestions only. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please feel free to comment.

Also keep in mind that BPAL may have to discontinue some of the fragrances listed in this post at a later date due to component issues so some of these recommendations may not be available when you go to order your samples. Always double check the site to ensure the fragrance you want is still available before you send in an order. If a fragrance you wanted a sample of is not available or was discontinued, BPAL will substitute it with an available fragrance.

Guerlain Insolence

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Insolence is one of those modern Guerlains that was a hit or a miss. It seems to have more hits than misses than say–Champs-Elysees–but it has more interesting character to it taking it beyond the safe zone that Guerlain seems to have been skirting since its purchase by LVMH. Insolence

In Bottle: Yeah, definitely unique. The violet in this is a strange, uncertain floral that’s sweet for sure but lacks anything else to it. There’s something spicy in this too like anise or cinnamon along with the weird sugary, raisin scent in the back.

Applied: Sweet and bright with the red raspberry note coming up first and fading first leaving me with a dense, syrupy raisin-like fragrance with that persistent anise note that I wish I didn’t feel crazy for smelling.  Something in this reminds me of the classic Guerlains. I’m thinking it’s that anise or clove or whatever the heck that is which reminds me a bit of one of L’Huere Bleue’s many layers. But at the same time it’s clear Insolence is an updated fragrance meant for a young consumer as it’s trying to pull in a fresher audience. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they really hit the mark as Insolence is not clearly defined as anything and at the end of the day, does smell like a bit of a fruity, floral, spicy and sweet mess to me. I’m sure a lot of women can love this fragrance but it is very polarized in terms of taste. You can either love it or hate it. Once Insolence does calm down, which takes quite a while, the fragrance is less sweet but it does retain some of that syrupy treatment all the way into the dry down where it gets darker, creamier, and more vanillic with a very nice red raspberry note to it. I had thought the raspberry had disappeared but it was just hiding behind the spicy flowers. As for whether I hate or love this? I could go either way but I feel like Insolence is a bit too loud and sweet and a little too clingy.

Extra: Word has it that this smells a bit like Apres L’Ondee, one of the Guerlains I have yet to try. I do get the familiarity of this to L’Huere Bleue so something in here is working that classic machine. I just think this is a bit removed from that era though.

Design: Insolence’s half-circle, flower and flower pot type design was by Serge Mansau a man famous for creating bottles for some of the most well known fashion and fragrance houses since the 60s. I gotta give the man credit for making this a nice looking bottle that’s interesting to look at. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold this thing. It’s an awkward shape, making you have to hold it awkwardly, pinched between your fingers as you hope to avoid dropping it. Nice idea, interesting shape. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Sweet Oriental

Notes: Violet, raspberry, rose, orange blossom, raisins, balsam, iris, tonka bean.

You’re probably wondering what kind of fragrance family cop-out I’m doing with that spicy sweet thing. Well, it’s the only way I can really describe Insolence because, to my nose, it’s like a candy rolled in anise. It tries to be fruity, it tries to be gourmand, but it lands in the middle where it’s neither and the only place it even fits is in two vague categories.

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

Lolita Lempicka

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Something about apples just draws me in, I guess. One would think an apple bottle would a bit silly but Lolita Lempicka’s designs have always had these fascinating shapes with interesting textures and line work on them. The bottle for Lolita Lempicka drew me in, the fragrance kept me around. Lolita Lempicka

In Bottle: Sweet and spicy, almost woodsy quality in a way. I can smell the licorice in this along with a very fresh, almost fruity note right up top.

Applied: I smell apple opening this fragrance. I swear I do. I don’t care that the notes don’t list it, it’s right up there to my nose. Big inertial apple. Then it disappears within seconds to be replaced with this green sweet spice scent that is anise. As the fragrance ages, Lolita Lempicka turns into a vanilla spice fragrance with that faint sweetness of licorice. Despite all the gourmand notes in this one, the scent as a whole doesn’t strike me as a gourmand immediately. It needs to settle into its heart notes before you really start to see where it’s coming from. The fragrance dries down to a soft sweet vanilla scent.

Extra: Lolita Lempicka is a fashion house by Josiane Maryse Pividal who adopted Lolita Lempicka as her pseudonym.

Design: More truly apple shaped than the Nina by Nina Ricci bottle. Lolita Lempicka’s bottle is a purple apple with leaf and swirl linework in gold and muted colors. The design is whimsical, young, fairytale-like with a nice final touch of the sprayer that resembles the thin and delicate stem of the apple. I would have preferred the sprayer to be made of more sturdy material since it is so thin and delicate but it works just fine for what it is.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Gourmand

Notes: Ivy, anise, violet, amarise, licorice, amarena, vetiver, tonka, vanilla, musk.

I don’t much like licorice, or how it smells. But Lolita Lempicka makes it acceptable for me by mixing it in with other notes. It is one of the better done gourmands out there. Sometimes compared to Angel by Thierry Mugler. I personally don’t see the connection as Lolita Lempicka is drier and less sweet to my nose.

Reviewed in This Post: Lolita Lempicka, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Just Cavalli Her

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Am I crazy or am I starting to turn to the dark side? Dark side being spice, woods and musks because I’ve had an unfortunate string of rather uninspired fruity floral fragrances. Perhaps my nose has finally moved on from trying to decipher how a raspberry smells as opposed to a blackberry. Just Cavalli Her seems like your typical fruity fragrance until it starts to dry, then you’re in for it. Just Cavalli Her

In Bottle: Fresh, crispy fruits settled in a clean citrus topper. The sweet jasmine in this is present in a big way as it tries to push and shove its way into center stage.

Applied: Very odd, kind of unpleasant syrupy sweet floral notes on application. Like bruised flowers and some fruits drizzled with vanilla and rolled in sugar. Blackcurrant has this strange medicinal sweetness to it that I can’t say is helping the opener much in Just Cavalli Her. But wait out the opening and you’ll be rewarded with the emergence of this beautiful, very agreeable and mildly spicy cinnamon that horns in on the crazy syrup floral fruits and their little convention. The cinnamon gives Just Cavalli Her a nicer edge and a bit more complexity and helps take it back from the brink of syrupy sweet. This is a fragrance that teeters on the edge of cloying for me as I feel that cinnamon note might drop off but it is a good contender and stays until the final dry down of light woods and mild vanilla with the residual syrup.

Extra: Just Cavalli Her is discontinued? There seem to be conflicting reports of this or perhaps Just Cavalli Her was recently discontinued. Maybe I’m thinking of a different Just Cavalli fragrance because I still see this stuff being sold.

Design: Just Cavalli Her is bottled in a big rectangle. I’ve never held the item myself so all I can comment on is the textured glass is a nice touch that adds a bit of dimension to the whole design. Without it, the bottle really would be too plain.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Bergamot, apple, bamboo leaves, blackcurrant, cinnamon, waterlily, lily-of-the-valley, jasmine, apricot blossom, coffee bean, amber, vanilla,  white cedarwood, musk, tobacco.

I found this one just too sweet with not enough creaminess to cut the syrup in this and actually found it reminded me of a perfume I smelled in my childhood. I believe it was someone in the family who wore it because I remember smelling it often.

Reviewed in This Post: Just Cavalli Her, 2008, Sampler Vial.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler vial reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme

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Light Blue Pour Homme falls into that weird category of “sports” fragrances that are described as fresh, clean and perfect for the active man. It’s no surprise then that Light Blue Pour Homme is as inoffensive as they can get. It also sort of smells like deodorant and at the same time smells like about ten other sports fragrances for men out there. Light Blue Pour Homme

In Bottle: Spicy, woodsy, citrus. Pretty standard as far as inoffensive aquas go. With an opener that contains lime, bergamot, rosemary and a hit of woods, I don’t see this turning any heads to someone or away from someone. Most people would probably just think you’re wearing a standard men’s deodorant.

Applied: Same deal here, hit of bergamot, lime, rosemary and some woodsy notes. It stays like that for a few minutes with the citrus ebbing out a bit as the rosemary gets stronger. The dry down is a bit woodsier but still with that sharp, fresh and clean bite to it. Light Blue Pour Homme is an all-purpose sporty fragrance with a lack of distinction. It doesn’t smell bad at all. It just smells–eh–ordinary. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. If you’re just looking for something that’s going to smell good, that you can wear during the summer months, that won’t offend anyone, Light Blue Pour Homme is the safest bet.

Extra: Dolce & Gabbana started in 1985 as an Italian luxury fashion house. One of their most popular fragrances, that this one was based off of, is Light Blue.  Another that you may be familiar with from Dolce & Gabbana is The One.

Design: The bottle for Light Blue Pour Homme is a step above the bottle for original Light Blue. Pour Homme has a more interesting shape, though the look of it reminds me more of a bottle for a face cleanser than a luxury fragrance. But still, the design is decent. The sprayer works fine, distributing a fine and even mist. The cap is easy to take off and put on. It has that really nice slide to it.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Fresh

Notes: Apple, bluebell, cedar, jasmine, rose, bamboo, amber, musk.

With the fact that I said this smells more like a deodorant than an interesting men’s fragrance, I will point out that Light Blue Pour Homme comes in deodorant stick form. Hey, talk about convenient.

Reviewed in This Post: Light Blue Pour Homme, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler spray reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.