It was a good week: there were more reviews for my current favorites than those posts that created lemmings to find new favorites – yay! It was a busy week and I’m still catching up on my reading but it’s time for a round-up so I’ll finish later (and if I missed anything I’ll bring it up next week).
Lemmings
I’m definitely saying “Yes!” to Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels): Cuir Noir is better than I anticipated, because it doesn’t overwhelm you with leather, it is not harsh or strong. Cuir Noir is soft and elegant, and it surprises with a relatively prominent oud note, I was not expecting at all, but that I like a lot.
Laughs
If you haven’t read Birgit’s Fresh Baked Biker – Review: Armani Privé Cuir Noir on your own or following my lemmings link above, do it now for a good laugh (I don’t want to quote the best part of the joke not to spoil it).
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Vanessa (Bonkers about Perfume) keeps entertaining us with her travel/sniffing stories: Then we had a bit of a snigger about Kokorico, with its strange, un-PC black head bottle in a Le Creuset casserole tin.
Loves
Suzanne (Eiderdown Press): Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant smells like an ancient pine tree—like resinous evergreen sap—and it also smells like the dry, high-country lands of the West. It is quite simply a bone-dry frankincense scent enhanced by enough sage and herbaceous notes that it speaks of the outdoors, yet does so in a way that manages to stay one’s focus. I do not own (yet) Encens Flamboyant but I liked it a lot when tested (thanks to Victoria of EauMG) and want to add at least a decant to my collection soon.
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Christos (Memory of Scent) writes about two of my favorite Jo Malone colognes – Black Vetiver Café and Wild Fig and Cassis: I love BVC because it is dry, herbal and rustic and it becomes one with the skin. Sometimes it smells like I have spilled coffee on me and forgot to wash it off, which I find very charming and daring. Fortunately it has the right amount of vetiver to keep others from detecting it as such. I made an attempt on a review of Wild Fig and Cassis in my In the Search for the Perfect Fig post.
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After the successful move to the new web address Victoria (Bois de Jasmine) reviews one of my favorite Ormonde Jayne’s perfumes: Ormonde Jayne Frangipani Absolute smells like summer to me—peaches eaten on the beach, white stars of night-blooming jasmine tangled in my hair, a breeze leafing through the pages of a book forgotten on the patio.
Leftovers
If, like me, you were busy and distraught past week and missed Another Perfume Blog’s first year anniversary, I’m sure it’s not too late to stop by and wish Natalie all the best.
Undina's Looking Glass 
Thanks for linking to the Jo Malone Wild Fig & Cassis posts! We tried this briefly at Neiman’s a few months ago and fiance really loved it. He seems to really love fig notes on me. I have a friend who’s sending me some of her extra Philosykos, but I think we might try Wild Fig & Cassis again too, in contemplation of a purchase…
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I hope Wild Fig & Cassis wins! :)
Have you tried Fig Tree by Sonoma Scent Studio? I don’t think it’ll go instead Philosykos or Wild Fig & Cassis but it’ll be a nice addition to any one of these in collection.
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No, haven’t tried any of the SSSes! I really need to…
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Thanks for the link love, Undina. Even though you and I are not scent twins, we do seem to have a lot of overlap in our tastes, and it makes me happy to hear that you like Encens Flamboyant too. It seems to be one that gets very mixed reviews, and for some reason, I wouldn’t have thought it would have appealed to you (not sure why … guess I don’t think of you as an incense kind of gal), which makes me even more surprised and happy to hear that you like it.
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I know the feeling, Suzanne! I value opinion of all of my blogo-friends but there are just several people whose liking of my favorite perfumes makes me really happy. You are one of those “several people”.
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There were several posts this week that made me want to revisit perfumes, and Cuir Noir caught my eye, too. Do you know if it is available anywhere in SF? I may try to track it down.
Thank you for the mention!
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I know: it’s NOT :( As far as I know, Armani Prive line isn’t available in the US any longer. An SA at Saks’ Armani counter told me in December that Armani brings Prive line back to New York in 2012 but I do not know if it’s true.
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Oh, what a bummer! :( Maybe it will eventually make it’s way here again.
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Aha! Just found that it *is* available at my next international destination, next month. Let me know which ones I should try to get samples of for you. :)
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A-ha! :)
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I love your definition of a good week. :-) Sadly, I seldom have a good week like that. But I’m trying to put my lemmings in a list and contemplate them, and then get samples of them, and… you know the drill.
This Black Vetyver Cafe sounds gorgeous, though. Might be a FB blind buy. :-)
I wonder how I missed it? I’ve sniffed most of the Jo Malones. I keep coming across ones I’ve missed – maybe they were limited editions? But I’m not sure this is?
Anyway, I love this feature on your site, if I didn’t say. (Oh, and thanks for the link! That sort of thing makes me so ridiculously happy.)
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NO BLIND BUYS!!! :)
Go read your own reasoning: this one isn’t a unique, not the one you “wouldn’t be able to get all that easily”. It’s good, I like it and plan to buy at some point, but it’s not a limited edition. Jo Malones are usually sold at Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus. Are any of those accessible where you live?
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Late to this party, but I’mma gonna comment anyway. In addition to the great stuff you’ve linked above, my major lemming of the week was Heeley’s L’Amandiere extrait, which the Candy Perfume Boy described as a “more fluffed-out version of Al’O.” Major laughs have come from a new blog I’m following: Australian Perfume Junkies, which provides many opportunities to brush up on my Aussie slang.
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You’re never late on this blog!
I’m not familiar with a single perfume from Heeley yet so I’m immune to those lemmings. And I agree, Portia’s take on many things is funny.
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Oh, thanks *so much* for including me in your Laughs round up again. : – )
And BdJ’s description of Frangipani Absolute sounds glorious…
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Everybody else I read (well, almost everybody) is so damn serious (me including)!
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Love your new category! Always fun to read! I will be following some links now.
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Thank you, Warum!
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