Lucien Lelong Indiscret

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Indescret is one of those rare finds that a lovely friend supplied me with on one of her many sojourns into antiques markets, estate sales, flea markets, and all other manner of excellent places I wish I lived close enough to her to enjoy too. I’ll always be grateful when she finds a fragrance treasure and sends me even the smallest samples though!

Indiscret

Indiscret

In Bottle: Heady and bitter, highly floral and possessing of that classic perfume scent that’s always hard to describe and can only be smelled and experienced to understand.

Applied: Indiscret is very strong upon application. It fills my nose, floods into my sinus cavity and clears things out as it hits my brain screaming of a bitter green and sharp orange. It settles down after about an hour but don’t think Indiscret gets any more mellow, it’s a powerhouse, keeps going and evolving and growing stronger the longer you wear it. The woodsiness comes up a bit more, along with some faded floral notes, the most I get is a very rounded jasmine that adds a very nice touch to smooth out the scent. The whole thing smells classic and I wish I had the eloquence to describe that classic, vintage fragrance smell adequately because it’s a beautiful thing and all budding perfumistas or fragrance fan needs to smell and experience it at least once. Indiscret, or at least the version I have, seems to have taken on a musty lower note as it ages hours later. It has a bit of spiciness with that woodsy scent but at the same time, there’s something a bit funky about the dry down that puts me off a little, but doesn’t turn me away. Judging from the other reviewer reactions, I have a feeling my particular juice may have gone off a little, which is a shame since people seem to describe the final stage of Indiscret as a smooth, creamy woodsy spicy affair.

Extra: Indiscret was released in the mid-1930s to Lucien Lelong, a very fancy brand back in the day. Indiscret was discontinued at some point, but is still somewhat available via eBay and select vintage fragrance sellers.

Design: The bottles I see have lovely, classic sweeping feminine curves and a beautiful looking flacon. If I could get my hands on it, I totally would. There are other designs as well, ranging from simpler rectangular flacons to mini sizes to more modernized bottles with shiny metallic-looking caps.

Fragrance Family: Floral Woodsy

Notes: Mandarin, bergamot, jasmine, tuberose, orange flower, rose, ylang ylang, geranium, iris, galbanum, woods.

Like most fragrances my friend picks up from antique stores, I can’t fully classify the year of the bottle and can only guess. My only recommendation for this one is to look for it, the more vintage and pure the better the experience. It’s a beautiful, full-bodied, very long-lasting vintage beauty!

Reviewed in This Post: Indiscret, ~1940, Eau de Parfum.

Madonna Truth or Dare

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With the way work has been ramping up lately, I haven’t had the chance to get my nose wrapped around much but my usual standbys. So, when I discovered the local mall had a bottle of Madonna’s Truth or Dare sitting out, I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “Well, why not? I’m here already.”

Truth or Dare

Truth or Dare

In Bottle: Wow, tuberose. I get a very strong floral presence that’s predominantly tuberose.

Applied: Yikes. Tuberose. I know this scent gets compared to Fracas–the cheeky Tuberose Queen and I definitely get that impression. Truth or Dare opens up with a powerful hit of sweet tuberose followed with a barely-able-to-contain-itself gardenia note that furthers the floral interpretation. The fragrance is so sweet and floral that it obliterates any other smell to my nose can pick up and starts to smell like plastic a couple of minutes into wear. By the time hour two rolled around, I was trying to scrub it off because I smelled overwhelmingly like plastic. And of course, like with most fragrances that don’t agree with you, this just wouldn’t come off. So I did the only logical thing; I sprayed some more on, in a different location, went home and sat out the fragrance so I could at least take notes on it, review it, and never touch it again. The longevity is fairly good, lasting quite a few hours on me before it tried to exhibit any other kind of personality. Truth or Dare gets a bit less tuberose near the end of its mid-stage and focuses a bit more on this nice creamy, vanilla with some plastic stretched over it. But for as long as I could still smell it, there was that sweet plastic tuberose note dominating the entire scene.

Extra: Truth or Dare was launched earlier in 2012. The fragrance was composed by Stephen Nilsen.

Design: I can’t say I see the beauty of this design. The bottle is a white glass, but looks like it’s made of plastic until you touch it. The cap is a gold plastic, molded with these little studs, it looks a bit inappropriate and doesn’t quite do the fragrance any favors. All right, I admit, the thing is downright ugly. I think those studs or raised bumps on the bottle are taking it from “plain but looks all right” to “fugly” territory. I’m just a fan of the aesthetics this time.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Neroli, gardenia, tuberose, jasmine, benzoin, lily, vanilla, amber, musk.

I was actually hoping this one would work out, having heard how classical it was supposed to be. Having heard how similar to Fracas it was. But unlike Fracas, it overdoes the tuberose and not in a good way. I think I’ll stick to Fracas.

Reviewed in This Post: Truth or Dare, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad

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Hello, By Kilian. Long time no see. Still packaging things to make me covet you, I see. Good Girl Gone Bad is a recent release from By Kilian and features a gorgeous white and gold case.

Good Girl Gone Bad

Good Girl Gone Bad

In Bottle: Fruity, light and floral. I smell a bit of soapiness too.

Applied: A fruity opening with a osmanthus and jasmine showing. It smells like and soapy with a hint of jasmine. The jasmine becomes more prominent as the fragrance wears on and a touch of tuberose can be detected in the midstage. Jasmine takes on a green aspect mixing with a rose note. Good Girl Gone Bad isn’t going bad so far, and as I continue to wait her out, I get impressions of cedar and patchouli with a speck here or there of darkness. The fragrance never really gets very dark or daring. It remains a rather tame rose jasmine and cedar composition all the way until its fade.

Extra: I haven’t been following By Kilian in a while, and when I saw this fragrance had come out, I was drawn in by the name. I had this idea that it would start off light and airy and turn into a sinister beast. But it never really reaches beast form, and the florals in the midstage carry its good girl vibe all the way to the end. Good Girl Gone Bad was released in 2012 and can be had for $245 at Luckyscent.

Design: By Kilian usually does very well with its packaging. Good Girl Gone Bad comes in a beautiful bottle decorated to exquisite detail with a white and gold box featuring a golden snake coiling on top. Everything about it screams luxury.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Osmanthus, jasmine, rose, tuberose, narcissus, violet, plum, cedar, amber, patchouli, vetiver, musk.

Okay, so the bad girl never got to the party. Maybe she was too busy rocking out somewhere else? Wherever she went, she just wasn’t in this fragrance. What is here is a rather nice floral scent with decent longevity and a beautiful casing.

Reviewed in This Post: Good Girl Gone Bad, 2012, Eau de Parfum.

Doir Tendre Poison

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The more of the Poison line I discover, the more I puzzle over the fact that the original Poison, released in 1985, has eleven flankers. No matter what fragrance you’re talking about, that’s still a lot of flankers.

Tendre Poison

Tendre Poison

In Bottle: Fresh, sweet and woodsy with a hint of spice and a bit of ambery quality.

Applied: Tendre Poison comes out right away with a big hit of fresh citrus that rolls with a sweet opening that takes you on a trip down to floral and woodsy in no time. There’s a bit of amber quality to this, perhaps a result of the honey warming up the scent as it combats the blast of cool citrus that came out from the opening. The fragrance hits a floral chord in the middle stage with a nice tuberose making a rather grand entrance to my nose. The tuberose gives the rest of the florals–and the scent as a whole–a very nice creamy quality that compliments the woodsiness that settles this fragrance down and takes it into its base notes. Tendre Poison ends with a smooth woody and spicy fragrance.

Extra: Tendre Poison is a rather old showing when it comes to the Poison line of flankers. It came out in 1994 and seems to be a bit difficult to find in the general market these days. At least, I haven’t seen any of it kicking around store shelves. You may have to hit up eBay for this one, but be careful, there’s a sizable counterfeit presence for the Poison line of fragrances.

Design: The shape is generally similar to the original Poison bottle. It’s still a very nice bottle and I still think it’s a lovely use of the apple shape that imparts a certain level of playfulness while maintaining an aura of luxury at the same time. I’m not too wild about how bright green this iteration is, but the general aesthetic is all right.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, tangerine, mandarin, galbanum, rosewood, honey, freesia, orange blossom, rose, tuberose, musk, heliotrope, vanilla, sandalwood.

I rather liked this one. It’s unique in that I haven’t quite smelled something that’s progressed in this way before. It also smells modern, despite its release in the early 90s. But then, it’s earlier release date might help it steer clear of the more recent releases that tend to smell a little generic to me.

Reviewed in This Post: Tendre Poison, 1995, Eau de Toilette.

Estee Lauder Beautiful

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A pleasant surprise arrived for Christmas 2011–a book of perfume samples. Many of the fragrances were new and I was just thrilled. Estée Lauder’s Beautiful was one of the first I pulled out and giddily peeled back the flap to smell.

Beautiful

Beautiful

In Bottle: Extremely floral and a bit powdery. There’s no floral standing out, it’s just a big homogenous bouquet at the moment.

Applied: Initial hit of citrus then the floral bouquet rolls into town and takes over the whole operation. From then on, it’s all flowers all the time. Now, I love a good floral fragrance. But the key is balance and moderation. It seems like those are the two things missing from this iteration of Estée Lauder’s Beautiful. I heard the original Beautiful is a far different animal. So don’t turn yourself off from the classic based on what I say about this contemporary version. The florals in Beautiful really do smell like a confused mish mash that doesn’t quite know what it wants to do with itself. The scent seems to suffer a bit from over composition where there are too many ingredients vying for space and there just isn’t enough space to go around. The result is a fragrance that people can distinguish as “flowery”, but no one can truly say what kind of flower. I’m not the kind of person who just likes smelling like a bunch of flowers. I wanted more depth to it than this, but Beautiful settles into it’s explosion of florals in the midstage then ends it all with a bit of cedar at the end as my nostrils continue to burn from the florals thrown at me earlier.

Extra: The first iteration of Beautiful was released in 1985. It has since gone through a few cosmetic changes and some formula changes. I do not have any access to classic Beautiful, which is a real shame as I’d love to see how it compares to this.

Design: The bottle is reminiscent of Calvin Klein’s designs. I want to say Obsession for Women comes to mind when I look at this, but Beautiful is a little easier on the eyes. It’s metallic cap really helps pull it together a little more.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, cassia, fruit, blackcurrant, galbanum, mimosa, magnolia, carnation, chamomile, tuberose, orange blossom, freesia, lilac, narcissus, jasmine, neroli, clary sage, violet, iris, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, marigold, geranium, sandalwood, myrrh, vanilla, vetiver, cedar.

As I looked up the notes list for this one, I found every single source listed an enormous amount of stuff. I just ended up picking out what I thought I could get out of this. In the end, I’m sorry, Beautiful, but you really just smell like flower stuff.

Reviewed in This Post: Beautiful, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Britney Spears Cosmic Radiance

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Cosmic Radiance is a flanker from Britney Spears’ Radiance fragrance. It is supposed to be inspired by stars and jewels and other things that made Radiance a fairly benign fragrance.

Cosmic Radiance

Cosmic Radiance

In Bottle: I had to double check that I was holding the right bottle because this smells exactly like Radiance.

Applied: Goes on with a sweet tuberose fragrance with a minor difference from the original Radiance in that I don’t get any tartness in the opening. I get a face full of litchi but otherwise, the tuberose and the sweet treatment of the fragrance is very reminiscent of Radiance. The scent heads into a midstage in the same type of construction too with a tuberose and jasmine treatment and eventually nosedives into the end stage as a clean white musk with a hint of vanilla. My impressions of this stuff don’t differ much between Cosmic Radiance and regular Radiance. It is quite disappointing of a flanker.

Extra: Unless you don’t already own Radiance, I would suggest skipping this iteration. There’s not much different to it unless the tartness in the opening of the original Radiance was particularly bothersome. Otherwise, the two fragrances are remarkably similar and if you own one, there really isn’t a point in having both unless you’re a collector or like the bottle design.

Design: Same basic design as the original Radiance and I’m still put off by it. It’s got those jewel things on the glass making the bottle look disproportionate and lumpy. The black and clear motif just makes the lumpy look more pronounced. The colors are garish to me too and I just can’t get on board with the look of this thing.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Mandarin, pear, litchi, peony, jasmine, gardenia, tuberose, musk, sandalwood, vanilla, amber.

I have to give Cosmic Radiance a thumbs down for not being at all different from the original Radiance. It should be reiterated that Radiance was–while a bit pedestrian–a decent fragrance. I just didn’t think there needed to be two versions of it that smell almost exactly alike.

Reviewed in This Post: Cosmic Radiance, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Soivohle Tobacco and Tulle

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Been a while since I reached for the adorable box of samples from Soivohle. I don’t know why it took me this long to come back to them. I love them all but I suppose the other stuff waffling around in the drawer of samplers needed to be dealt with first. I feel like Soivohle is a bit of a palette cleanser after a bunch of chemical fruits. In my notes, it’s wedged between two celebrity fragrances, surrounded by a bunch of fruity ones so it would seem my theory holds some weight.

In Bottle: Lush, complex tobacco and florals with a warm sense of animalic musk and ambergris.

Applied: The tobacco blooms beautifully upon application and it blends in very well with the creamy tuberose note. This is dense and deep and dark. There’s nothing light and flowery and weak about it. It makes a big statement and I love how it eventually evolves into this subtle warm animalic scent without me even noticing. I really enjoyed the opening moments with the tobacco and tuberose. The tuberose lends a bit of help as the fragrance delves into its murkier, muskier undertones with the ambergris lending to that animal quality. There’s so much complexity in the fragrance as it ages on the skin. This smells classic and daring at the same time. Like how perfume used to be done and how it should still be done. The animalic element is just a bit too much for me so while I appreciate it’s complexity, I really can’t see myself ever being daring enough to wear it.

Extra: It should be noted that on Soivohle, the musk mentioned in the notes list below is actually a cruelty-free variant. In that it’s a “hyrax tincture”. Hyrax tincture, for all us grownups, is a petrified stone-like compound composed of urine and feces excreted by a guinea pig-like creature called the hyrax. It’s generally been “aged” for hundreds of years and is perfectly fascinating stuff.

Design: Bottled rather simply but you don’t buy Soivohle or other independent perfumer fragrances so you can admire the pomp and circumstance surrounding the design of the bottle. All you need to know is that it looks great, feels great, and works the way it should.

Fragrance Family: Smoky Floral

Notes: Tobacco, tuberose, musk, ambergris.

I know how daunting the price point for this might look but once again, keep in mind that all natural ingredients are expensive and the complex experience you gain from fragrances like these make up for the price point. You are also paying for higher quality ingredients than what you’d get in most mainstream perfumes and you would likely need to use very little of this stuff to get the same amount of power from your run of the mill EdP or EdT.

Reviewed in This Post: Tobacco and Tulle, 2009, Absolute.

Hermes Kelly Caleche

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It’s been a while since I last had a whiff of an Hermès fragrance and it’s almost always a delight. Today, it’s Kelly Calèche one of the few fragrances marketed toward young girls and women that has a sense of respectable sophistication to her.

Kelly Caleche

Kelly Caleche

In Bottle: Leather and florals with a clean hint of grapefruit.

Applied: Grapefruit on the opening with lilies and unmistakable narcissus up top. The leather note in this fragrance stays in the background throughout the entire progression and even down into the base. But let’s get back to the opening stages first. Narcissus is the first to go, I barely even noticed it when the lily of the valley disappeared. What’s next is a pretty tuberose that works together with a rose and green and powdery note to give the leather this kind of sophisticated, creamy, scent. On the fade we’ve got powder, cream and leather. The fragrance is remarkably well put together and does a great job bringing leather into a younger fragrance audience with more refined taste.

Extra: I really admire Hermès for stepping into the young women’s market with Kelly Calèche. Whether or not she’ll be a hit amongst the Flowerbomb demographic is yet to be seen. But hey, if it doesn’t hit it off with the 20-somethings then I wouldn’t feel too bad. Kelly Calèche would be beautiful on anyone of any age.

Design: Rather simple bottle but it’s got that look and feel of quality to it that another bottle in this shape and style wouldn’t be able to pull off with inferior materials. I like the simplicity coupled with luxury feel and the sprayer nozzle works like a charm.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Grapefruit, lily of the valley, narcissus, tuberose, rose, iris, leather.

There’s not a bad thing I can say about Kelly Calèche. She’s just a pretty fragrance that I wished I had heard about and smelled sooner.

Reviewed in This Post: Kelly Calèche, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Donna Karan DKNY Be Delicious

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I was really wary of trying DKNY Be Delicious thanks to my less than warm reception to DKNY Delicious Night where I pretty much experienced it as a drowning episode in an ocean of sugar. But I tried Be Delicious anyway since a lot of people seem to love this.

DKNY Be Delicious

DKNY Be Delicious

In Bottle: Synthetic apple. That’s just about all I smell, there’s some sharp little citrus notes in the opening but this stuff is mostly synthetic apple.

Applied: More synthetic apple bubbling around up top with a very sweet and sort of cloying personality. Beneath it are some citrus notes that try their best to make themselves known but the apple in Be Delicious is just way too strong for any of that “balance” and “blended” nonsense. The fragrance doesn’t really age well either, I get some floral hints as the wear goes on but everything is being obscured by the big fat apple that’s sitting in the foreground. It’s like I went to see a play and someone that’s wearing an obnoxious hat is seated right in front of me. That’s the apple in Be Delicious. It’s not a good hat. It’s not stylish. It’s just fake and gaudy and loud. The dry down sees a fade on the apple a bit, where I get some florals mixing it up a bit. I would have liked for the apple to go away a lot sooner but hey, I think we’ve established that Be Delicious isn’t my kind of ride and no last minute florals can help that.

Extra: So there’s apparently an entire line of Be Delicious flankers that I have yet to try but if I don’t even remotely like the original, I wonder how I’ll do with the rest of them. Probably not well if they’re anything like Delicious Night or Be Delicious.

Design: Shaped like an apple. I kind of like how the Be Delicious line is shaped though the construction leaves a lot to be desired. I thought the metallic cap on Be Delicious work in an aesthetic sense far better than the plastic cap on Delicious Night. So the original has that going for it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Green notes, violet leaf, apple, grapefruit, magnolia, tuberose, lily of the valley, rose, violet, sandalwood, amber, musk.

I don’t know where the rest of those notes where. All I smelled was apple and then much later on some rose and lily.

Reviewed in This Post: DKNY Be Delicious, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Creed Angelique Encens

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I’m rather sad that so many fragrances that are both beautiful and complex are discontinued. This includes Creed’s classic, Angelique Encens.

Angelique Encens

In Bottle: Creamy tuberose as a minor note–a bit of a surprise for me since tuberose tends to be big with my nose. There’s a lovely heady layer of incense hovering all over this fragrance.

Applied: Tuberose and soft florals with a touch of vanilla and amber. The oriental portion of this fragrance is very noticeable at first but the scent ages into its mid-stage with a lovely incense note coming up and flooding the fragrance. The incense in this is so pure and beautiful that if you enjoy incense, you should definitely look this one up. It’s heady and full and blends beautifully with the amber and vanilla opening. There’s a bit of tuberose still lingering around with a perfumy jasmine note trying to make an appearance but only manages a minor cameo. Though you don’t get much of the opening as soon as Angelique Encens gets started, you do feel that they’re still there. The dry down is more incense with a complete fade of any florals that may have managed to peek through. Angelique Encens is just a pretty classic.

Extra: All right, I got my sample of Angelique Encens dated to approximately 1970s but I can’t be sure as to how old it is. My contact also has no idea how old it is so we agreed on a very vague date for this stuff. The problem with Angelique Encens is that it’s no longer available. Creed discontinued her at some point and are now releasing her on a limited basis. Incredibly frustrating, but I suppose that’s how the exclusivity game works.

Design: Angellique Encens is bottled in Creed’s signature flacon. I’ve held exactly one of these in my life and the feel was very nice. It was heavy and looked beautiful. The price gets me a little but Creed makes up for the price in packaging and, in the case of Angelique Encens, the juice is fabulous as well.

Fragrance Family: Incense Oriental

Notes: Angelica, tuberose, rose, jasmine, amber, vanilla, incense.

I wish they’d bring this one back from discontinuation. I think she’s deeper, more complex and far better than most of the Creeds out now.

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