Month: May 2012

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Alien wears Prada Infusion d’Iris

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If I’m supposed to identify with those extremely beautiful women from different perfumes ads, dressed up either impeccably or with a calculated carelessness, I should say that it doesn’t work on me. I do not feel that any perfume might transform me into one of them – or even make me feel like I’m one of them: they are artificial; they are abstract and just an expected visual aid to the release de jour.

When Infusion d’Iris* by Prada was released, I immediately went to a store to try it. I didn’t like it. I think it was my first perfume with a prominent iris note (though I’m not sure I even knew then what it was). I didn’t expect to smell what I smelled – so I didn’t like it.

 

Prada Infusion d'Iris ad

 

I don’t remember how exactly it happened but I remember that one day I was looking at the ad above and thinking that I liked that image so much that I just had to have Infusion d’Iris. I don’t even like that model, I prefer them older and … more human. But the image is hauntingly weird and cool and elegant.

I tried Infusion d’Iris again, liked it that time and bought a bottle without even waiting for it to make its way to discounters online. For me it smells very elegant, cold and refined – exactly the way that alien in gloves looks on the picture. And unless they colonize the Earth tomorrow, I do not want to look like it or project that image. But five years later I still enjoy wearing Infusion d’Iris and probably won’t want to be without in – just in case, you know, extraterrestrial invasion and all that.

 

Alien

 

For a real review (and a very cool suggestion on layering) read Birgit’s (Olfactoria’s Travels) Wallflower? – Review: Prada Infusion d’Iris. Robin (NST) had also reviewed this perfume. If you reviewed Infusion d’Iris on your blog share a link please.

Update: one more review of Prada Infusion d’Iris at Scentandshinythings.

 

* Infusion d’Iris in this story refers to the EDP version.

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Laughs, Lemmings, Loves – Episode 11

 

The weather is still cool which I rather enjoy. We had two very windy days. As the house was making creaking and rattling sounds Rusty kept listening worriedly to what was going outside and even almost stopped shedding; though the last part should be probably attributed to the temperature, since cats are known to shed more when they are nervous.

I still hope to get more responses to the idea of multiple mirrors for the Perfume Shopping around the World page. So far Olfactoria’s Travels, All I am – a redhead, the unseen censer and Bonkers about Perfume decided to host a similar page. If anybody needs help with creating that page on either WordPress or Blogger I can guide you step by step.

I read most of the postings from blogs on My Reading List but somehow none of them created any lemmings; which is probably not a bad thing. My wallet is definitely better off with me laughing at my friends’ posts or reading about those perfumes that I already own and love.

SF Heart

 

Laughs

Ari (Scents of Self) analyzes 2012 Fifi Awards: I would have given this FiFi to Untitled, especially considering that Jasmin Rouge also won the Nouveau Niche Men category! Who do y’all think Tom Ford had to sleep with to pull that off? (Answer: everybody. Tom Ford slept with everybody. And not to win the FiFi. Just because.) There are also many funny comments: “Soon there will be a 7-11 perfume that will win,” “Victoria’s Secret Angel? Really? I couldn’t be more surprised if a Yankee Candle had won.”

 

Loves

Suzanne (Eiderdown Press) tells a beautiful story that weaves into her review of one of my new favorites: You won’t ever mistake Bombay Bling for an overly sweet cocktail, however—its emphasis is not only on mango, this is a scent with all of the complexity of a true perfume—but because it opens with such an uplifting combination of mango and cardamom, it’s hard not to smile when wearing it.

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Ron (Notable Scents) joins in with his commendations for the same perfume: Fruity floral fragrances are all over the place, but Bombay Bling stands out as one of the best ones that I have ever experienced. Not only is there a clear development, it feels incredibly rich and full without being too strong. He also reviews the other two perfumes of the trio and offers a draw for a sample set. Just in case you want even more, read my story Three Pieces of Neela Vermeire’s India Puzzle

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Michael (From Top to Bottom) praises the perfume that is my absolute favorite on my vSO: What makes Terre so good? I can think of a number of reasons, but one simple reason is that it smells like no other perfume on the market. As simple as that. It doesn’t smell generic, it doesn’t smell like it has been done before. For me, that is enough to state that it is one of the few modern mainstream men’s classics out there.

 

Image: my own

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Know-How: Perfume Shopping around the World

 

We, perfumistas, live around the world. We travel around the world. We publish our perfume shopping stories and share our first-hand knowledge and discoveries. A year later, while preparing to a new trip, some of us might even remember where we read that great guide for this tiny town in which we’ll have a stopover on our way to or from somewhere. Or maybe not that tiny but still.

SF Macys entrance

For a while I’ve been compiling links to those posts that I came across. Now I decided to create a page to hold links to those guides – Perfumes Shopping around the World. If you’ve written an article you want to include in this list (or exclude from it – I respect writers’ choice) or if you know about somebody else’s article send me an e-mail.

Also I think it might be useful to have multiple pages referring to these guides. So if you want to host a similar page on your site send me an e-mail and I’ll forward you the HTML file. I plan to update this page with new links three-four times a year and I will be sending updates to those who decide to host the page. You do not have to publish this page on your blog to have your links included and you can host the page even if you do not have any perfume shopping guides of your own (yet?).

I’m open to any suggestions. If you like the idea please spread the word. I have no commercial interest in this project I just think it might be useful for those who will be planning trips tomorrow. 

 

Image: my own.

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Laughs, Lemmings, Loves – Episode 10

 

Last week was busy for me. I’ve got promoted – which is, of course, great but now I feel that I need to concentrate on my work even harder. And I need to figure out if I want to buy a special celebratory bottle of perfume. In general, I always want to buy one perfume or the other but if it’s supposed to be special to commemorate the occasion it has to be special. And I’m not sure if I have that special bottle on my wish list now.

Speaking of a wish list. While answering Birgit’s Monday Question – What Is Your Number One Perfume? I tried to stay within the set criteria and choose just one perfume. Have you noticed how people almost never answer questions the way they were asked or follow the instructions? I’m not immune to that: earlier this week I tried to bake rugelach using my friend’s very clear recipe and I managed to miss an important ingredient (though I still liked the results). Mais revenons à nos moutons. When I chose The One perfume it felt as if I betrayed all my other favorites. The feeling was so intense that it compelled me to finish finally My Perfume Portrait. Immediately I felt better.

And now to the posts that made me laugh, created lemmings or reviewed perfumes that I love.

Lemmings Laughs Loves

Lemmings

Only a small and very weak lemming this week from NST – Blackberry & Bay by Jo Malone. Wild Bluebell and Plum Blossom weren’t that interesting but Garden Bloom collection didn’t disappoint. So I’m hopeful about Blackberry & Bay.

 

Laughs

I don’t know what I would have done without Vanessa (Bonkers about Perfume) since most posts this week were too serious and composed: Orgasm did noticeably brighten up my cheeks whilst managing not to deposit an excess of age-inappropriate glitter, and in a trice Donna had called for the SA to “get me an Orgasm” – as in a pristine product from her drawer, of course.

 

Loves

Thomas (The Candy Perfume Boy) reviews one of my favorite Epic by Amouage: Epic Woman is no exception, it fits the Amouage feminine bill of being rich, floral, oriental, laden with spices and extraordinarily sensuous. Oh yeah, the Amouage Woman is a complex character.

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Michael (From Top to Bottom): It smells smooth and classy, no surprise coming from Hermes, who do understated luxury very well indeed. I think Rocabar is fantastic, and I’m so glad that I’ve finally tried it. Highly recommended wearing.

Leftovers

A couple of creative ideas for the scented strips and inserts from magazines brought to you by The Scented Hound. Please share your useful tips on the subject.

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Entertaining Statistics: April, 2012

 

I’m so late with April’s statistics that I almost forgot what the month was like. I think it was good though.

I’m still keeping up with my New Year Resolutions but I’m one bottle closer to the self-imposed limit. I just couldn’t resist! I liked Jo Malone’s White Lilac & Rhubarb and didn’t want this limited edition bottle to slip away as those limited editions have a habit of doing. I wish I could have all three bottles from this release in 30 ml bottles but for a reason unknown Jo Malone decided to have only 100 ml bottles for this collection. So if anybody wants a small decant of White Lilac & Rhubarb at cost send me an e-mail.

This month I decided to check if my reaction to perfumes I test depends on the application method. There is nothing scientific about the results since it wasn’t my choice to spray or to dab: I used whatever sample I had. But based on this anecdotal evidence the application method doesn’t affect whether I like the perfume or not (see the chart).

Stats April 2012

Quick April stats:

Numbers in parenthesis are comparison to the previous month’s numbers.

* Different perfumes worn1: 26 (-1) from 18 (+2) brands on 30 (+1) occasions;

* Favorite perfumes worn: 21 (0) on 23 (0) occasions;

* Different perfumes tested2: 50 (+2) from 27 (-6) brands on 57 (-1) occasions;

* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 32 (+7);

* Perfume house I wore most often: Dior;

* Perfume house I tested the most: Guerlain (third month in a row: it looks like once started I cannot stop);

* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear) are almost the same as in March: top – (not counting bergamot) lemon and pepper; middle – (not counting rose and jasmine) iris root and ylang ylang; base – vanilla, musk and sandalwood;

* Perfumes I tried for the first time and liked a lot (went to my wish list): Indochine by Parfumerie Generale, La Femme Bleue by Giorgio Armani and Dzing! by L’Artisan Parfumeur.

 

Have you found any new favorites recently? 

 

1 For the testing I apply a perfume to one area on my arms easily available for the repetitive sniffing. But, most likely, I’m the only one who can smell it. I can test two, sometimes even more perfumes at the same time.

2 When I wear a perfume I apply it to at least three-four points and usually I plan to spend at least 4-8 hours with the same scent so I’m prepared to re-apply if the original application wears off.

 

Image: my own (I wish I could draw!)

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Laughs, Lemmings, Loves – Episode 9

I was traveling last week so it’ll be a short post – whatever I collected before my trip started. Also, if anybody was wondering, I want to mention that my monthly stats post is still coming. I know it’s a little later than usually but I cannot do it on the road.

Lemmings, Laughs, Loves

Lemmings

Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) makes sure my lemmings for the latest release from Amouage keep swarming: Beloved is a big perfume, and despite the previous comments about its grandeur and drama, it is not hard to wear, actually I find Beloved particularly easy to wear, with a lovely, but not intrusive sillage and excellent lasting power (Do you know an Amouage that is gone in two hours? I don’t, and this one is no exception.)

Laughs

Vanessa (Bonkers about Perfume): Even the sales assistant apologised for the extreme woodiness of this scent, saying that it might appeal to men. Or extreme wood-loving women, obviously. An 8 out of 10 on the “trapped in a tea chest” / “planky” scale.

Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) about images invoked by L’Heure Convoitée: My doll Sonja: an unfortunate plastic child I practiced plastic surgery on. She never recovered and my dreams of becoming a surgeon where nipped in the bud (at least I married one, talk about projection!).

Loves

Susan (Fragrants) about my favorite Petite Cherie by Annick Goutal: Smelling this perfume makes me want to grab up my daughter and shower her with kisses while she is still small; smelling this perfume makes me want to be the best mother I can be and the best woman I can be. And it makes me acutely aware that the minutes, hours, days, are slipping quickly by. If you’re curious, here’s my take on this perfume.

Sigrun (fragrantfanatic) shares her experience while wearing one of my favorite perfumes from Amouage: Wearing Gold makes me reach for my most elegant skirts and dresses instead of jeans. It makes me take my time putting on make-up in the mornings, going for a full skin routine and red lips instead of the usual transparent gloss. It even affects the way I paint my toe nails. If you didn’t read it before you might find amusing this story about a blind sniffing test.

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In the Search for the Perfect Lily of the Valley

I grew up with May Day being an International Workers Day. Even though it was a holiday, it was an official holiday and people were required to participate in parades officially held in all major cities and translated by all TV stations. In my city, I remember, all traffic would be blocked for those demonstrations in the downtown area from early morning and until 2-3 p.m. My room’s window was facing one of the major streets and I would be woken up by music, megaphone announcements and other human noises. And then, for hours, non-stopping streams of people with flags, banners, balloons and artificial flowers would flow by my window toward the main city square. As a child I liked that holiday: it was a real beginning of the spring, we would get two days off school, kids weren’t a part of those demonstrations (unless their parents took them to their groups formed by places of work) but it was festive, different from regular weekends and there always was something interesting to do during or after the main event (like shooting balloons with a slingshot, for example).

Lily of the valley

I haven’t been not only celebrating but even acknowledging this holiday for many-many years and this year with everything going on under the sign of this day I’d be even less inclined to feel any nostalgia towards May Day if it weren’t for my hobby. Starting last year, when I read about it for the first time, I chose to associate this day with a beautiful French tradition of giving bouquets of lily of the valley.

I’m fascinated by this flower. I’ve always been. It looks fragile and lusty at the same time as if those tiny flowers were carved out of a very white ivory and carefully placed against a backdrop of flat wide leaves. And I love a very distinct lily of the valley aroma unmistakable with any other.

For a while I was collecting samples of perfumes built around this beautiful flower and testing them for this post in my Single Note Exploration series. Then I was struggling with a horde of lemmings born after I read an announcement about this year’s limited edition bottle of Muguet by Guerlein. How cool would it have been to make a picture of that gorgeous bottle for the post about lily of the valley note in perfumery?! It wasn’t easy but I won with the moral support from Victoria (Bois de Jasmine) and Natalie (Another Perfume Blog) despite Tara’s subversive actions! Instead I bought the last in the store pot with lily of the valley and took pictures of my very photogenic cat Rusty playing with it.

Rusty & lily of the valley

That was a hell of a preamble. But don’t worry: since I’m not doing real reviews I’ll try to be laconic. I’ll skip usual “created by” and notes lists since most of these are well-known perfumes.

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All perfumes I tested can be divided into three categories: Lily of the Valley I didn’t Like, Lily of the Valley I couldn’t Smell and Lily of the Valley I Loved.

Lily of the Valley I didn’t Like

Muguet Blanc by Van Cleef & Arpels – I smell an apple in it even though it’s not mention in notes. An artificial apple. It’s wrong. On paper I remember it being more lily-of-the-valley-y but on my skin it smells rather unpleasant in the first 45 minutes even though I think I recognize the scent of the flower. For my nose Muguet Blanc smells of a cheap synthetic lily of the valley air freshener brought in the room full of not just wilting but decaying in water floral bouquets. Then the freshener wins.  In 2 hours it’s a perfectly nice scent on my skin. I’m not sure I’ll ever finish my sample.

Le Muguet by Annick Goutal – in general, it’s nice, slightly more perfume-y than other believable lily of the valley renderings but still very recognizable. Le Muguet has some sweetness but it’s not overly sweet to my nose. Unfortunately, during one of three testing I got some plastic-y note. It might be my skin reaction but understanding that doesn’t make Le Muguet more wearable for me. I will give my sample another try but I do not see this perfume joining my collection in any form after that. You should try Le Muguet since it might behave differently on you (and if it does it smells really nice and natural).

Idylle by Guerlain – for the first couple of times when I tested it (a year ago) I was sure it was a rose scent. And then one day my nose picked out a prominent lily of the valley note. Since then I always think of Idylle as of a lily of the valley perfume. When tried in parallel with the other perfumes that are closer to being a soliflore Idylle feels more complex, more perfume-like and less lily-of-the-valley-centric creation than the rest perfumes I tested. I do not think Idylle is bad, it’s just not special enough for me to go beyond the sample I have (if even that).

Rusty & lily of the valley

Lily of the Valley I couldn’t Smell

When I read about Andy Tauer’s lily of the valley perfume I was very excited. There are just several Andy’s perfumes that work for me but I thought: how bad can it be if a talented perfumer creates a perfume with one of my favorite floral note in the middle of the composition? Well…

Carillon pour un ange by Tauer Perfumes – I smell pollen, a lot of sweetness and, I think, some mimosa. It has a great tenacity and I think it’s a very nice, very masterfully created perfume. But I couldn’t smell lily of the valley in it at all! I was so upset when I tried Carillon pour un ange for the first two times, I felt so cheated that I gave away my sample.

It wasn’t until several months later when, after trying DSH’s Muguet de Mai Perfume and Muguet Cologne, I realized that while I couldn’t smell lily of the valley in there either it seemed to me that both Andy and Dawn smelled (tried to re-create?) the same flower. Muguet de Mai starts very lemon-y plus some earth note. Muguet Cologne starts earthy and then turns into more floral composition… Both without much lily of the valley how I know it. I got another sample of Carillon pour un ange just to confirm my impression. And I can tell that though these three are completely different perfumes I smell more in common between them than between any one of them and lily of the valley. Compared to the real flower (I think I spent hours doing that for all perfumes I tested for this post) I kind of “see” the idea but all three don’t smell as lily of the valley to me. It should be my nose, right? Samples will stay in my scents reference library.

Diorissimo

Lily of the Valley I Loved

For the First of May this year I wore Diorissimo by Dior. I own a bottle of the current EdT and a vintage mini that has problems with top notes but then it’s fine. Diorissimo is so nice and spring-like!  I do not love it but I like it enough to enjoy wearing from time to time. Even though Diorissimo has a prominent lily of the valley accord I do not think of it as of a soliflore. When I wear it I wear a perfume. But only when I smelled Diorissimo together with the real flower I realized how close they were. I always knew that Diorissimo was an iconic lily of the valley perfume; I wore it knowing it smelled of lily of the valley but I’ve never realized how much it smelled like lily of the valley. Wow.

Muguet by Guerlain – is a fresh and very… clear scent – not in the sense “airy” but rather “without impurities” like a diamond or “not distorted” as in “clear sound”. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I fought off the urge to buy a full bottle of this perfume but I’m amazed at how much I liked it and how true it is to the real lily of the valley. I get everything – sweetness of the flowers, greenness of the leaves, general warmth of the scent. The only component that isn’t there is earthiness but I do not miss it, I’m fine with the pure floral part of the plant. I want a full bottle but will have to settle for a small decant of Muguet if I can find it. It’s so beautiful!

Lily of the Valley by Penhaligon’s – I like it a lot. It’s bright, warm and very realistic. I’m not too familiar with this brand, I’ve tested just a few of their perfumes and I haven’t formed any opinion about the house yet. It was the last perfume I tested for this episode and I think I didn’t expect it to be as good as it proved to be. I suspect that I like Muguet slightly better not even because it’s Guerlain but because I loved the bottle and all that “one day only” marketing BS (sorry, Guerlain, I start liking you more and more but this February Muguet 2011 was still available at the boutique). But I’m not sure if in a blind sniffing I would be able to tell them apart. I plan to add a mini bottle of Penhaligon’s Lily of the Valley to my collection.

I read a rumor some time ago that Frederic Malle had a plan to add a lily-of-the-valley-centric perfume into their line-up. If it happens I will definitely try it. Other than that I do not plan on actively seeking any more perfumes with that note being a dominant one.

Rusty & lily of the valley

How about you? Do you like lily of the valley – as a flower or a perfume note? Do you wear it? And, what I’m mostly interested in, if you tried perfumes from my Lily of the Valley I couldn’t Smell category, did you smell lily of the valley in them?

 

Images: my own (I hope there was enough of them to compensate for the long story)