Houbigant Fougere Royale 2010

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Usually when a fragrance company says they’ve taken one of their classics and ‘modernized’ it, big red alarms go off in my head. I’ve never had the pleasure of sampling the original Fougere Royale from 1882 and the oldest vintage I’ve even seen was on an eBay auction of questionable quality. So I went into this 2010 reformulation with as little knowledge of the original perfume as possible–being ignorant of the original fragrance, I’m going to have to say Fougere Royale 2010 is pretty darn good.

Fougere Royale 2010

Fougere Royale 2010

In Bottle: The lavender note is rather strong in this, dominating for the moment over the green herbal quality of the fragrance. There’s a spiciness in the background that blends in beautifully with the rest of the fragrance making Fougere Royale smell  sophisticated.

Applied: Opens with a clear greenness to it layered over a lavender note that’s helping a spicy floral note along that might be the carnation. As the fragrance heads into its midstage the lavender sticks around but also blends in with a strong herbal note that I presume is the clary sage. There’s a lot of complexity in this fragrance but I can pick out a few key notes here and there. Most notable is the lavender, then the sage and a spicy note in the midstage where I get the cinnamon notes. The final dry down is marked with a creamier personality as the tonka and amber notes come up to blend with the herbal and spicy notes. The lavender is still faintly recognizable in the dry down as well.

Extra: Fougere Royale has had a tumultuous past, much like the fragrance house that originally released it. After its release in 1882 it has gone under numerous reformulations. Like with all modern fragrances, any oak moss note is likely to be synthetic or a substitute. The original Fougere Royale was composed by Paul Parquet and was considered one of the first modern fragrances thanks to its use of synthetic coumarin. The 2010 version of Fougere Royale was composed by Rodrigo Floures-Roux (Clinique Happy, John Varvatos Artisan and Artisan Black).

Design: Fougere Royale 2010 is designed to appeal to a more masculine audience with a square-ish bottle featuring cut patterns in the glass. The bottle reminds me a bit of classical fragrances but also remains a little bit of modern appeal. It’s a pretty good design that does the fragrance and its history justice, in my opinion.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, chamomile, lavender, herbs, carnation, geranium, cinnamon, rose, patchouli, oak moss, amber, tonka bean, clary sage.

I do believe Fougere Royale 2010 did the best that it could with a notes list from the 1800s that would have been expensive and near impossible to replicate now. I don’t doubt that 2010’s version and the fragrance from 1882 would smell drastically different but the 2010 version is a great fragrance nonetheless.

Reviewed in This Post: Fougere Royale, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial

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Having missed out on numerous past Shalimar flankers, I resolved to go smell this one. At the very least, I could finally add a Shalimar flanker to my list. I wasn’t really sure what Parfum Initial is supposed to do to beloved Shalimar but it wasn’t what I expected.

Shalimar Parfum Initial

Shalimar Parfum Initial

In Bottle: Fresh and sweet citrus with a deep vanilla note lingering about in the back.

Applied: Fresh and clean citrus on opening with the rose and other florals rolling in soon after. There’s a dry woodsiness that joins the fragrance shortly after that as the scent warms up with a vanillic quality that doesn’t reach gourmand–and I’m glad. This is already different enough from original Shalimar that I’m a little disturbed when the mid-stage continues as we get a deep, warm vanilla, touched with a hint of florals. The fragrance ages into this warm, tonka quality that’s dense and deep but never reaches the point of gourmand because there’s that clean, fresh note keeping it from going full-on foody. There’s a lot missing in this fragrance that I would need if I were to call it anything related to Shalimar. Shalimar to me was that leathery vanilla scent. There’s vanilla in Parfum Initial but the missing leather makes this scent feel like it’s missing something. Maybe that’s just me though. What Shalimar Parfum Initial does is take an old classic, put a very modern spin on it and make it more accessible to a wider audience. I don’t know if I like this flanker, but it is nicely done regardless.

Extra: Shalimar Parfum Initial was released in 2011 and was composed by Thierry Wasser.

Design: I haven’t yet held the bottle for Shalimar Parfum Initial but if it’s anything close to the new Shalimar bottles then I can pretty much be guaranteed that it’ll be awesome. I love the redesign of the Shalimar bottles, it brings the fragrance back to the classic design that most people know Shalimar to.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, orange, rose, jasmine, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean, white musk.

The more I think about this fragrance, the less sold on it I am. I’ll always think Shalimar got it right almost a century ago. While is a nice, newer, more approachable interpretation I also think it lost a little bit of essential history along the way.

Reviewed in This Post: Shalimar Parfum Initial, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Chamade 1969

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How long has it been since I last smelled a classic Guerlain and marveled in that signature Guerlinade? Entirely too long, I think. I took a break from posting up Guerlain reviews because it’s clear I’m a fan girl from the amount of Guerlain vs. other fragrance houses. But we’re taking a bit of a respite today as summer winds its way down for autumn.

Chamade

Chamade

In Bottle: Ah glorious aldehydes mixed with a complex bouquet of florals and deepened with woods and resins and that unmistkable Guerlinade.

Applied: There’s something familiar and almost nostalgic when I smell Guerlinade in a fragrance after many months of hiatus. It’s like a comforting friend waiting for me with a cup of coffee after a rough day. Except in Chamade’s case, it’s a bouquet of aldehylic florals that stretch beyond the spectrum of complexity. You truly don’t smell anything like this these days. Not even the more daring of fragrance houses have quite this much depth to a fragrance. I can get the florals and the woods with the spicy and resins, but I can’t pick out specific notes. It’s just so beautifully blended together that I can only describe the opening as bright, slightly bitter, green and sophisticated. The midstage is a deep, resinous, complex floral aldehyde. The dry down is a warm, resin woodsy scent with this signature vanilla-like note. Just beautiful.

Extra: Classic Chamade, like many great perfumes, disappeared a little while ago. It was reintroduced in 1999 as Chamade Pour Homme as a limited edition then finally added to the line of Les Parisiennes. Looking at the notes list for the two, you can kind of see the new Chamade has been thinned out a bit. I haven’t smelled her yet though so I can’t pass judgement on whether or not the fragrance has actually been thinned out but I am worried for its history and its lush complexity.

Design: Classic Chamade was bottled in a beautiful flacon that reminds me half of a heart and half of a leaf. It’s a little reminiscent of an Escada bottle (or rather, the Escada bottles are reminiscent of this) except done far better with much nicer design elements and superior form. It’s a beautiful piece of glass and I have no complaints.

Fragrance Family: Classic Floral

Notes: Bergamot, Turkish rose, aldehydes, hyacinth, ylang-ylang, jasmine, lilac, cloves , blackcurrant buds, lily of the valley, galbanum, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, balsam, amber, benzoin, iris, tonka bean.

That was a nice respite. I especially found this pleasant after the disappointing adventure with Cher’s Uninhibited. Classic perfumes can be kept for many years and it’s a good thing too, or we wouldn’t be able to enjoy original Chamade.

Reviewed in This Post: Chamade, ~1980, Eau de Parfum.

Lolita Lempicka Si Lolita

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Lolita Lempicka fragrances have a way of drawing me in with their bottle design and Si Lolita is no different. It got me with the bottle design but I can’t say I care too much for the fragrance itself.

Si Lolita

Si Lolita

In Bottle: Spicy florals. Rather interesting for a mainstream release and I rather like the spiciness.

Applied: The pink pepper used in this is rather strong and infuses the fragrance with a spicy quality throughout the rest of the scent. There’s a hint of clove and I want to say cinnamon but not entirely sure. There’s definitely more to the spiciness than just pink pepper though. The fragrance moves into its midstage smelling like spicy sweet floral fragrances with a jolt of creaminess. Rather fascinating but I haven’t decided if I like it yet or not. As the midstage continues, I start to notice something a bit unpleasant bubble up from the depths. It might be the patchouli, I thought at first but patchouli doesn’t do what I was smelling. So I went out and looked this one up and surprisingly enough Sephora, of all places, gives me my answer. There’s wallflower in this, making the fragrance smell like a spicy sweet herb in the midstage. I don’t like it in this context. The dry down is marked with that spicy sweet herb scent but mingled with a warm amber and tonka quality. The warming at the end actually makes the sweet herb smell even worse for me, unfortunately.

Extra: Si Lolita had a beautiful ad campaign with vivid colors and a gorgeous presentation in terms of packaging and commercial. There was a bit of unnecessary sexiness and a hint of overdone but the overall campaign was very nice and pretty. You can see for yourself with this video (entirely in French).

Design: I love the bottle and the packaging. The colors are bright and cute and go well together. The bottle has a nice feel and weight to it. The design is adorable–a four-leafed clover with an adorable scarf attached at the neck.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, pink pepper, mandarin, sweet pea, heliotrope, wallflower, elemi gum, patchouli, tonka bean, amber.

Si Lolita started out beautifully enough, it had a great opening and a great start to its midstage. I really wish that wallflower hadn’t come into the mix and messed things up for me. But keep in mind that I might hate the sweet scent in this but someone else might enjoy it. So try this one out to see if you like it at all. It’s a well done fragrance even if it didn’t work well for me.

Reviewed in This Post: Si Lolita, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Cacharel Amor Amor

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Some days I like Amor Amor. Other days I think it’s a soapy mess. It ultimately comes down to my mood and Amor Amor has good days more than bad days, though it’s so far the only perfume I hate one day and love the other.

Amor Amor

In Bottle: Sweet and floral, a bit sharp, with a very strong soapy undercurrent. There’s a ton of white musk in this to me.

Applied: Sweet and clean with a bit of fruitiness that eventually evolves into a sweet and clean floral mid-stage. There’s something in this that’s sharp–I think it might be the white musk–that rears its head in the mid-stage and sticks around until the very end of the fragrance. Amor Amor is a bit of fun and girly balanced with sharp clean musk. The mid-stage reminds me of a bunch of fruity florals mixed together with an extra heaping of sugar slapped into the mix. The dry down gets a bit less sweet and a bit cleaner as the white musk takes over and sweeps the fragrance into a vanilla woods with a scrubbed amber scent.

Extra: I don’t know what to think of Amor Amor. Some days I think it’s one of the better fruit scents out there. Other days I think it’s just too sweet and too typical.

Design: I don’t like how Amor Amor looks. It feels like it wants to be a gimmick and reminds me too much of the rose under glass in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The bottle itself is easy to hold and use. I just don’t care much for the aesthetics.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Blackcurrant, orange, mandarin, bergamot, cassia, grapefruit, apricot, lily, jasmine, rose, white musk, amber, tonka bean, cedar.

I’m writing up this review from a set of notes so I haven’t smelled Amor Amor in a while. I do wonder if my opinion of it has changed since I wrote the review. I guess I can try to smell it some time soon and see if I’m having a good Amor Amor day or a bad one.

Reviewed in This Post: Amor Amor, 2007, Eau de Parfum.

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

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When I ask people what fragrance can be a stand in for Spiritueuse Double Vanille, people often say try Tobacco Vanille. But when I tried Tobacco Vanille, I found these two fragrances too different.

Tobacco Vanille

In Bottle: Seems Tom Ford fragrances have a tendency to be on the strong side. Tobacco Vanille is a sharp smoky vanilla upon first whiff. The first whiff was all it took for the scent to travel up my nose. I think one of those cardinal rules you learn in middle school science class applies here; waft, don’t whiff.

Applied: On the skin Tobacco Vanille behaves a bit better for me. This is all tobacco and vanilla that sort of smoky, warm, creamy scent that’s sort of echoed in Spirituese Double Vanille. Unlike in SDV, Tobacco Vanille has a less woodsy and less boozy smokiness to it. This smokiness is coming from a pipe tobacco scent. And let’s not confuse tobacco used as a fragrance with the often sour smoky smell of a cigarette. This stuff is smooth and clean and smells a bit more like burning leaves with a very nice smooth character. As the fragrance ages, I get a bit more of the other notes in this, particularly the hints of woodsiness here and there and occassionally a good sniff of spices. There isn’t much else I can say about Tobacco Vanille. It’s a smoky vanilla scent, a couple of notches away from SDV though these two could be pretty close cousins. I still like the touch of booziness in SDV and the more woodsy character in that fragrance though.

Extra: Tobacco Vanille is a member of Tom Ford’s premium line of fragrances called the Private Blends. I had a devil of a time tracking down an actual bottle and didn’t end up liking it enough to drop over $300 on a bottle.

Design: The Private Blends are bottled a bit differently than other Tom Ford scents. I’ve seen various styles and all of them are very pleasing. There’s the style shown above that I see most often but the bottle I sampled out of had a square cap instead of a round one. I believe the style of bottle differs depending on how much juice you’re getting.

Fragrance Family: Smoky Gourmand

Notes: Tobacco leaf, spices, tonka bean, vanilla, cacao, wood sap.

Lovely as this is, it didn’t sway me from the SDV crowd. I’m still a big fan of Spiritueuse Double Vanille. Though Tobacco Vanille can scratch a very small itch if it came down to the wire.

Reviewed in This Post: Tobacco Vanille, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Hello Kitty

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I don’t know why I expected anything else but sugar and sweet from a fragrance put out with Hello Kitty’s name on it. Or expect anything from a perfume that comes out of a cartoon cat’s head. But hey, it’s just fun.

Hello Kitty

In Bottle: Sweet, candy, and quite synthetic smelling. There’s not much to this perfume aside from candy-like with a little touch of apple and other fruits to cut the tedium a little.

Applied: Initial flare of sweet fruit with an apple note that’s very synthetic. This is the apple that I smell in DKNY Be Delicious. Too sweet, a little plastic, not very attractive but it does its job as a fruity opener. The fragrance heads into its mid-stage with an equally sweet showing, amping up the sugar even more while it takes on a bit of a vanilla and fruity flowers mix. There’s no really good florals in this, just vague perfumery flower scent that smells as nondescript as the rest of the fragrance. The dry down is a typical sweet vanilla with a cleaned up white musk finisher.

Extra: Hello Kitty’s had a few perfumes named after her over the years but I believe this one is a part of the Hello Kitty beauty line that’s now available at Sephora. I never quite understood the Hello Kitty craze, though I do own a few pieces of Sanrio merchandise and remember a vague time in my tween years when I thought some of the characters were cute. I can appreciate this for the fun factor at least.

Design: The bottle is essentially Hello Kitty’s head with a balloon pump coming up the top. It’s cute at first glance but when you settle down and think about it, it’s a bit macabre. Here you have Hello Kitty, with a sprayer nozzle coming out of her head, and then you squeeze a balloon pump to get the cartoon happiness out of the bottle. The balloon pump, being what it is, is not as good as a standard push atomizer but it is functional. I would be concerned about how the balloon pump continues to function as the user uses the perfume more and more as it’s a pretty delicate piece of hardware.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Fruity

Notes: Cassis sorbet, mandarin, apple, magnolia blossom, freesia, orange flower, tonka bean, vanilla, musk.

And now I know what Hello Kitty is supposed to smell like. This fragrance lived up to my expectations of it smelling like a candy confection. If you’re looking for complex and interesting, you’d have better luck elsewhere.

Reviewed in This Post: Hello Kitty, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

L de Lolita Lempicka

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I’m always drawn to this fragrance because of the bottle. It’s a whimsical little mermaid motif with adorable little charms attached. I find the whole thing just adorable and hard to resist.

L de Lolita Lempicka

In Bottle: Warm spicy citrus with a sweet vanilla creaminess creeping around in the background. It’s a bit like a decadent vanilla-scented spice.

Applied: Opens with a flare of citrus where the bitter orange mingles a bit with a sweetness that hovers on up and eventually sends the citrus away in favor of a warmed up spicy scent that hangs out with a vanilla that wafts up in the mid-stage. This is a comforting warm fragrance in the middle, a bit of a strange decision given how the bottle looks but it’s a lovely little journey that reminds me of autumn and bundling up. The vanilla in this fragrance isn’t too sweet that it makes this scent a straight up gourmand. When you reach the base, the spice and vanilla settle into with a clean white musk making this smell a bit more like spicy vanilla soap before everything fades completely.

Extra: L de Lolita Lempicka was composed by Maurice Roucel whose other claims to fame have been for houses like Amouage, Bond No. 9, Frederic Malle, and Guerlain. He was the fellow who composed one of my favorite modern Guerlains, L’Instant.

Design: I adore the bottle and it appeals to me even though I normally shy away from stuff like this. The bottle is reminiscent of the ocean, mermaids, and fantasy. It’s a bit awkward to hold though I tend to forgive it because it makes such a fantastic little conversation piece. If this stuff weren’t filled with awesome smellies I’d be leaving it out just as a decorative objective. It is just beautifully designed though a bit impractical when it comes to being used.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bitter orange, vanilla, cinnamon, musk, amber, tonka bean.

L de Lolita Lempicka has a small hedge of gourmand but the musk and the mixture of citrus revolving into the spicy vanilla mid-stage doesn’t scream gourmand to me. It is a gloriously done oriental. Even though I wouldn’t call it ‘yummy’, I’d definitely call it fabulous.

Reviewed in This Post: L de Lolita Lempicka, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Bvlgari Jasmin Noir

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Jasmin and almonds, two of my favorite smells combined into one awesome fragrance? That’s Jasmin Noir from Bvlgari.

Jasmin Noir

In Bottle: I get light florals and a heavily licorice-infused almond and jasmine scent.

Applied: Light jasmine on the opening as the fragrance quickly mixes the jasmine and florals with the warm, licorice-sweet almonds. I love the progression. It starts off no-nonsense and like the no-nonsense fragrance that it is, goes on to its mid-stage almost right away. Now the mid-stage is marked mostly to me as a floral almond licorice mix. Reminds me a bit of Lolita Lempicka but with less gourmand and more floral. A great mix, for sure. It’s sophisticated and different, a little discordant but in a good way. The dry down is marked with more licorice, faint woods, and a hint of something smooth that might be the tonka bean or even a vanilla at work.

Extra: Jasmin Noir was composed by Carlos Benaim and Sophie Labbe.

Design: Jasmin Noir is bottled in a dark glass flacon with the signature dip in front. It has a golden cap with the house name on the top. And the fragrance’s name and house are written on the glass on the low point of the dip. I rather like the design, it’s simple and the look has–to me–been distinct and popular enough that I do see this bottle a lot and it is immediately recognizable.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Gardenia, jasmine, almond, licorice, woods, tonka bean.

I really do like Jasmin Noir. It did the jasmine note very well and the almond note was just a bonus. I don’t like licorice much myself but the licorice is well used in this fragrance to the point that it may have swayed me from the licorice-haters club to the licorice-lovers club.

Reviewed in This Post: Jasmine Noir, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

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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.