Author: Undina

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Great Expectations

There are so many classic perfumes I haven’t tried yet and niche lines’ recent creations I plan to try (as soon as I lift my self-imposed moratorium on buying samples*) that usually I keep an eye only on counted upcoming new releases from brands I like. But there was a whole new line the launch of which I waited for the last six-seven months. I do not want to name names so let’s call this company Undina’s Great Expectations (UGE).

Burning HeartsHaving signed up for the website updates (a couple of times – just in case), I kept checking both UGE’s website and a FB page from time to time – again, just in case. Nothing changed for months.

When I got an e-mail from UGE about the launch of the line and an online store I immediately went to the site hoping to find samples. Not only there were no Request a Free Sample as some new brands do in the beginning but I didn’t find even an option to buy samples. I was a little disappointed but wasn’t ready to give up.

I sent a letter to the contact e-mail in which I explained how much I waited for that launch and asked if I could buy samples of new perfumes since UGE wasn’t available in the U.S. I did mention my blog but I didn’t try to play that angle.

Four days later I got a reply (I used green to mark places I changed):

Dear Undina

Many thanks for your email we are delighted that you would like to try the new UGE fragrances.

Unfortunately we do not have samples of the fragrances, however as you are such a fan I could pop some spritzed scent strips in the post to you which will hopefully give you an idea of the X different fragrances. If you would like me to do this please do give me your address and I will send these out tomorrow.

We hope to be able to ship orders to the US as from MMDD so please do check the website then, or pop me an email to confirm.

Kindest regards

Name
Marketing Manager

I was prepared to many different outcomes. I expected they might ask for a nominal price, offer me free samples, ignore my request altogether or respond politely that they had no samples to offer at this time. I didn’t expect that offer. For a while I was stunned. I still don’t know what it was. A tongue-in-cheek “go away”? But why? I wasn’t a freeloader with a bogus story, I sincerely offered to pay (mostly because after reading some of Andy’s and Laurie’s thoughts on samples I realized how hard it might be for small companies without a huge marketing budget). Or was it a genuine attempt to help? But really, can a person in any way related to the perfume marketing be that naïve? How did she envision that? X envelopes with X scent strips? One envelope with all X together?

I chose to believe it was an offer in good faith. I wrote her back, thanked for the response and declined the offer citing doubts that those blotters would survive a transatlantic trip.

But I still can’t believe it. Sprayed blotters in the mail? Really? And I had such great expectations…

Birnt HeardsImages: my own

* I decided to stop buying samples until I have just a month-testing-worth number of untested samples (free samples from stores or swaps do not count).

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New Year Resolutions: October

I loved our October this year: it was a summer we didn’t have! I did experience some cognitive dissonance reading everybody’s Top N Fall Fragrances lists but I consider it a small cost for the most beautiful weather we had.

I still manage to wear my favorite perfumes more often than targeted “twice a week” but some of those wears were done in parallel with something new being tested (and compared).

In October I tested much less new perfumes. It means that the amount of untested samples in my collection keeps growing. In the attempt to stay in control of those multiplying samples I imposed a rule: no testing is done unless a sample is entered into the database. What can I say? I had 12 of those as of this morning… and now there are 17. I swear they procreate!

There are several reasons why I test less new perfumes. First, during this month I wore several favorite perfumes that required the commitment: they just kept going and going on my skin. Luckily for me I love them. But they do not leave any room for a meaningful testing of new scents.

Quick October stats:

Perfumes by the type of bottle* Different perfumes worn/tested: 64 (0) from 30 brands on 85 (+7) occasions;

* Favorite perfumes worn: 14 on 19 occasions (-9);

* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 25 (-5);

* Perfume house I wore/tested most often: Tom Ford for the WTD, Chanel and Amouage – just because I like them;

* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear, not those that I tested for the first time): top – (not counting bergamot) mandarin, and rose; middle – (since rose and jasmine keep that position unchallenged I include the next notes in the list) iris and ylang ylang; base – musk, sandalwood and vanilla;

* Total number of unique notes in all perfumes I wore/tested this month:  225 (-4);

* Perfumes longevity of which prevented other perfumes testing: Ormonde Jayne Ta’if , Thierry Mugler Angel, Le Labo Rose 31 and Teo Cabanel Alahine.

Did you wear recently any perfumes that claimed your undivided attention for the whole day?

Image: my own

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WTD, Episode 4.3: Noir de Noir, Oud Wood and Arabian Wood by Tom Ford

Dark roseNoir de Noir by Tom Ford – created in 2007 as a part of the original Private Blend collection, notes include saffron, rose, black truffle, floral notes, patchouli, vanilla, agarwood and moss. I cannot make up my mind about Noir de Noir: once when I tested it I liked the opening rose darkened by agarwood and on two other occasions I got overwhelmed by this rose-agarwood combination. I thought that I didn’t like agarwood itself but after testing Oud Wood I realized that it’s not just pure agarwood that I don’t like but it’s a combination with some sweeter flower note. I tried really hard to find a “black truffle” note in Noir de Noir. For a change I know exactly how it smells because I use black truffle salt in cooking. I kept sniffing my wrist during the day and couldn’t say I smelled it. It was only when I got home and smelled my salt for the comparison that I finally noticed something that reminded me of black truffle in the perfume. Noir de Noir is nicer on my skin in the drydown phase. Longevity is shorter than some other Tom Ford’s scents (4 hours and after that just some residual smell on the skin). All in all I should say that with Noir de Noir my wallet is safe with this one. But if you have a chance please give it a try.

For real review read The Non-Blond.

Oud Wood by Tom Ford – created in 2007 as a part of the original Private Blend collection, notes include pepper, cardamom, rosewood, agarwood, sandalwood, vetiver, tonka bean, vanilla and amber. It’s much dryer than Noir de Noir but I’m not sure it’s more masculine (I understand that gender in perfumes is a relative category so I’m talking just based on the official designation). I like Oud Wood’s drydown phase and wouldn’t mind wearing it if I could skip right to it. But since I can’t I’ll use my sample and stop there.

For real review of Oud Wood read Now Smell This.

Arabian Wood by Tom Ford – added to the Private Blend collection in 2009, notes include galbanum, bergamot, lavender, freesia, orange blossom, Bulgarian rose, honey, ylang-ylang, jasmine, may rose,  rose absolute, gardenia, tonka bean, patchouli, sandalwood, moss and cedar. Arabian Wood starts creamy, develops with sweeter undertone but it feels transparent rather than resinous. Through many hours in stays still very smooth and attractive on my skin. Arabian Wood reminds me of polished wooden balls (the feeling of touching those). You must be familiar with the feeling: you try a perfume for the first time and start contemplating how to get more of it even before your sample is gone. That was the case with Arabian Wood for me: I found myself bidding on a test bottle of this perfume before the last traces of it disappeared from my skin. I didn’t win it and decided it was a sign that I should go my regular route: finish the sample first, then think if I need a decant or a FB. I still have half of the sample left and I still like Arabian Wood and want it in my collection.

For the real review read EauMG.

I like this brand and I will keep testing more perfumes from the line but this post concludes my weeklong test drive of Tom Ford’s perfumes.

Do you own any perfume from the Private Blend collection?

See all episodes:
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 4: Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.1: Neroli Portofino and Jasmine Rouge by Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.2: In the Search for the Perfect Violet

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WTD, Episode 4.2: In the Search for the Perfect Violet

If I look back and think about it, I always had two distinct associations for violets. They co-existed in my mind as if they belonged to the completely different subjects, not affecting each other.  A violet is a completely boring, slightly wilted small flower in the pot on a window sill. A violet is a tender flower somehow related to romantic love, Paris (street flower girls), Toulouse (violettes de Toulouse) and all such things that seem romantic when you’re young. But somehow neither of these two associations ever included a smell. I never thought of violets as of flowers that have a scent. Most likely, because the only variety I’ve ever been close to didn’t have any. So in this quest for the perfect violet perfume I’m not searching for the most realistic rendition of a violet since I still have no idea how that flower smells. I’m looking for the best implementation of the idea of a violet. Based on a commonality in all the violet perfumes I tested I reconstructed this note for myself.

Violets in a pot

As I did it before for lilac and linden I combine this episode of the Weeklong Test Drive (it features two Tom Ford’s violet-centered perfumes) with my periodic Single Note Exploration for the violet note in perfumes.

Blanc Violette by Histoires de Parfums – notes include violet, bergamot, iris, ylang-ylang, star anise, sandalwood, vanilla, musk and rice powder. It smells very clean and slightly powdery. There is some musk that feels too much from time to time but I do not smell it every time. Blanc Violette is an uncomplicated nice scent with medium sillage and tenacity (it stays on my skin for 3-4 hours). I can see a small bottle of this perfume in my collection after I’m done with the sample. I have to applaud Histoires de Parfumes for releasing small bottles (14 ml) for a reasonable price. For a real review of Blanc Violette read Eiderdown Press

Verte Violette by L’Artisan Parfumeur  – created in 2000 by Anne Flipo, notes include violet leaves, raspberry leaves, rose, heliotrope, cedar, iris, white musk. It’s fresh, very light, bright and happy fragrance with a nice violet note that starts a little dirty but then clears up and stays as a nice skin scent. Verte Violette is the easiest and lightest scent out of all I tried. Like many other L’Artisan’s perfumes it’s fleeting: I can barely smell it after an hour. I like Verte Violette but I think it’s too expensive to bathe in it. So, unless a bottle falls from the sky… For a real review read Now Smell This.

Violet Blonde by Tom Ford  – created in 2011, notes include violet leaf, Italian mandarin, pink pepper,  Tuscan iris absolute, Tuscan orris butter, Sambac jasmine, sampaquita, musk, suede, cedar, vetiver and benzoin. There is no personal story between me and Violet Blonde, everything happened very fast: I knew about the upcoming release, I went to the store, tried Violet Blond, liked it and jumped on a split as soon as I saw one. I enjoy wearing it. Violet Blond has a very good longevity – more than 8 hours on my skin. Had the juice (or at least a bottle) been purple, it would have been an immediate full bottle purchase. Now I plan to go through my small decant and if I still like it I’ll buy a bottle of Violet Blond for my collection. All the great reviews for Violet Blond that I read, I read after I made up my mind about this perfume (and I feel a little proud of myself because of that) but since they all are so recent I’ll skip even my “not-a-review” impressions part and just provide links to the reviews on friendly blogs: Olfactoria’s Travels, The Candy Perfume Boy, Bonkers About Perfumes.

Wood Violet by Sonoma Scent Studio – created in 2008 by Laurie Erickson, notes include violet, plum, cedar, cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, violet leaf and musk. I tried Wood Violet for the first time in winter (our Northern California winter, but still). I liked what I identified for myself as a “violet” component of the perfume in the opening and then in the dry down phases but in the middle something smelled too… dirty (?) and unpleasant. I put the sample aside for a while. One sunny warm day I decided to give Wood Violet another try; and this time the earthy smell felt right in place: it was a scent of spring. For a very short time in the beginning I smell some sweetness but then it goes away and the scent stays on my skin green and woodsy for the next 3-4 hours. Wood Violet is quiet and powerful at the same time. I do not need a full bottle of this perfume but a nice purse spray one day will find its way into my collection.

Violet Angel by Thierry Mugler – created in 2005 by Francoise Caron, notes include violet leaves, crystallized sugar, violet, woody note, patchouli and vanilla. Violet Angel smells as if original Angel ate a whole garden of violets. Wait… If I remember it correctly, it did eat the whole garden of different flowers – roses, peonies, violets and lilies. But let’s look just at this act of gluttony. Violet Angel is slightly less sweet than the original perfume, it has some woodsy note and, if you concentrate very hard or have another violet perfume for the reference on, let’s say, another wrist, you can smell some violets, sugared violets. But Angel’s signature caramel (in case of Angel Violet it’s called crystallized sugar – which is the same thing)-patchouli-vanilla is too prominent and too recognizable. I haven’t tried other flowers yet but, in my mind, violets are the least suited to be an Angel modifier. It isn’t different or special enough for either Angel fans or Angel haters. I’ll stick to my beloved Angel EdP.

Black Violet by Tom Ford – created in 2007 as a part of the original Private Blend collection, notes include bergamot, citruses, fruity notes, violet, oakmoss and woodsy notes. It opens a citrus scent blended into sweet fruity notes, then almost immediately citrus goes away leaving slightly dryer but still sweet enough floral scent with a nice wood note. For me Black Violet is not a transparent scent, it has substance. I think “dark” part suits it well (though I remember reading the opposite opinion from other reviewers). I like Black Violet it the most 2-3 hours into wearing. It lasts for 12+ hours on the skin. In the final phase (and only there) it smells similar to Violet Blonde.  I want to add Black Violet to my collection but, the same as Ines from All I am – a redhead, who recently reviewed Black Violet, I’m not ready to pay the price of a 50 ml bottle (and I do not need a bigger bottle – which would make price per ml much more tolerable). So if anybody comes across a friendly split of this perfume, please let me know.

Do you have a favorite violet perfume? If you’ve reviewed it on your blog, please share a link.

See all episodes:
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 4: Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.1: Neroli Portofino and Jasmine Rouge by Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.3: Noir de Noir, Oud Wood and Arabian Wood by Tom Ford

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WTD, Episode 4.1: Neroli Portofino and Jasmin Rouge by Tom Ford

Lemon treeNeroli Portofino by Tom Ford – created in 2007, one of the original scents of Private Blend collection, it was re-launched in 2011 as a part of the Neroli Portofino bath & body collection. When I tried Neroli Portofino for the first time it developed unpleasantly on my skin. I put it aside and didn’t want to test it again. In my recent tests of a new sample for this episode (the things we do in the name of science!) I’ve never had the same unpleasant results again. I’m curious if Tom Ford has reformulated Neroli Portofino for the 2011 re-release.

In the opening I get an extreme burst of a juicy citrus. I know that it’s coming and still feel surprised every time. I enjoy that opening very much. When Neroli Portofino starts calming down the juiciness goes away. I do not smell any sweetness and I don’t register any floral notes (though I remember reading that other reviewers did). All I’m left with is a dry citrus scent – still strong but less prominent and less interesting.

I wore Neroli Portofino side by side with Neroli by Annick Goutal first and then with Grand Néroli by Atelier Cologne. Neroli Portofino is much dryer than both above mentioned perfumes. Neroli Portofino is more poised and tidy compared to Grand Néroli and feels dirtier than Neroli (I think I recognize this signature Tom Ford’s “dirtiness” in at least several perfumes in this line but I’m not sure I can explain properly now what exactly I smell). Neroli Portofino, though being unisex, in my opinion is the most masculine out of three perfumes I compared and it stays on my skin for 6-8 hours which is much longer than either of the other two scents.

I wouldn’t mind wearing Neroli Portofino in summer from time to time if I had it in my collection but I do not like it enough to justify a full bottle purchase at Private Blend’s price. Or maybe I’m just not the biggest fan of this genre.

For real reviews read EauMG and Bois de Jasmine

JasmineJasmin Rouge by Tom Ford – one of the two latest 2011 new releases in the Private Blend collection. I regret to admit it to myself but I do not like jasmine. It’s great in small doses, as a part of the usual floral bouquet, but as a leading note in a perfume it wears me off the same way tuberose does. I can appreciate its beauty, I just cannot wear it. Ironically, I like both the smell and the taste of jasmine tea but I cannot drink it.

In older days I used to just dismiss perfumes I didn’t like on the first sniff. Now I spend some time even with those perfumes I do not think will work out for me. And with both tuberose- and jasmine-heavy perfumes (good ones) it’s always the same story: I apply it, I sniff it, I think: “Not bad, it’s a very nice scent;” I keep smelling it and confirming my initial thoughts and then I would ask myself if I want to own it and wear, beyond just testing. And the answer is always a determined NO.

Jasmin Rouge played out exactly by that scenario: I got tired of it before it subsided into the less intense floral mix. It won’t be joining my collection even if a bottle falls from the sky.

For real reviews for Jasmin Rouge read Olfactoria’s Travel and Bois de Jasmine

As always, feel free to give a link to your blog’s post(s) related to the topic.

Images: my own

See all episodes:
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 4: Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.2: In the Search for the Perfect Violet
WTD, Episode 4.3: Noir de Noir, Oud Wood and Arabian Wood by Tom Ford

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Weeklong Test Drives, Season 4: Tom Ford

I started weeklong test drives (WTD) half a year ago when I realized that I had a tendency to collect perfumes by brand trying to accumulate the complete line if I liked some perfumes from it. Luckily for my budget those are mostly samples but still, with the number of new releases even in the niche market I should try to resist an urge to have a full set before I can meaningfully test that line and I need to accept that some perfumes which I still do not have in the collection will be tested eventually (or never). That’s how I decided to do “seasons” for different brands breaking out “not-a-review”s for different perfumes into “episodes”.

Tom Ford Private BlendI planned to do Tom Ford week from the very beginning but I didn’t want to wear in summer most of those perfumes that I had from the brand (during my WTDs I actually wear perfumes for 5-6 days in a row). In the recent month Tom Ford was “in the air”: releases of three new perfumes and a new cosmetics line definitely helped. So I decided not to wait longer and chime in with my new season.

I managed not to know anything about Tom Ford perfumes up until a year ago. I might have mixed it with some other brand I didn’t like or being disappointed in most current mainstream perfumes I’ve just overlooked one more brand but I completely missed Black Orchid even though it was out there for years. And since I liked it the first time I tried it a year ago I know that I just hadn’t smelled it before then.

The only store close to where I live that carries Tom Ford Private Blend line is Neiman Marcus and since I wasn’t frequenting it (to say the least) for my clothes shopping trips, during those several visits I ventured to the cosmetics department there I ignored Tom Ford section altogether.

Everything has changed when I became a proverbial card-holding member of the Perfumistas Society: even though the rest of the store is still completely out of my comfortable price range I don’t feel unease when I walk in there to try some new perfume I know they’ve got or even to ask for a sample.

On one of the first “changed me” visits to the store I suddenly spotted a stand with Tom Ford’s Private Blend perfumes. I sniffed a couple of bottles but since by that time I’d already tried many other perfumes I decided to postpone the real testing until the next time. As I was leaving the department a strange thing happened: an SA caught up with me and handed me a bag with four samples of perfumes from Tom Ford Private Blend collection. Just like that.

Have you ever got any perfume samples without asking, not as GWP or a part of a store-wide promotion but just because?

 

Since I’m not doing real reviews I plan to combine my impressions into two or three episodes in the upcoming days. Stay tuned!

See all episodes:
WTD, Episode 4.1: Neroli Portofino and Jasmine Rouge by Tom Ford
WTD, Episode 4.2: In the Search for the Perfect Violet
WTD, Episode 4.3: Noir de Noir, Oud Wood and Arabian Wood by Tom Ford

See previous seasons:
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 1: Annick Goutal
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 2: Yves Rocher
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 3: Jo Malone

Image: talkingperfume.com

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Angel of Jealousy

Silence is screaming
I’ll bat an eye and cast my spell
The Devils are dreaming
Dreaming of a blue angel

Squirrel Nut Zippers – Blue Angel#

Many years ago a friend of mine introduced him to me. You know how we usually try to find familiar features for something new or unfamiliar? “It tastes like chicken” or “She reminds me of my class-mate’s younger sister.” He was unusual. He was different. I was intrigued but I couldn’t place him into any familiar context. And it bothered me. Or maybe I was just too much of a good girl back then and wasn’t adventurous enough for him. Anyway, it didn’t work out between us.

Ben Affleck as angel in DogmaI met him again five years later. I wasn’t surprised to see him here, a half-world away from where I got to know him. A lot has changed since we met first and this time something just clicked. I fell in love. I made him a part of my life. I wanted him to accompany me everywhere – nights out, birthdays, parties. I wanted all my friends to meet him. I was so happy… until one of my girlfriends confessed that she felt she was falling for him. I know I didn’t have any real reasons for it, I know it was irrational but I panicked: what if she gets him? We belonged to the same crowd; we would be coming to the same events.

Have you ever been in the situation when you find yourself wearing the same piece of clothing (a blouse, a dress or a tie – though I’m not sure if it has the same meaning for men as it does for women) as somebody else in the group? I have. In my high school years at a dance party I met a girl wearing almost an identical top (just the color of a pattern was different). It was a big party and probably nobody else had noticed that fact but my evening was ruined: most of my efforts went to monitoring her relocations and trying to keep my distance from her. And that was just a top. Can you imagine how I would have felt if I had to be in the same room with my friend wearing the same perfume?!!  My Angel?!!

Dive in to keep reading…

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The Eye of the Green

Where does a perfumista who lives in Northern California go to find an artisan brand from Southern California? Of course to Hawaii! (yes, this is the promised addendum to my vacation post)

Since I can’t stand sun for too long usually in the morning we would have a short sortie to the beach, swim or snorkel, then quickly retreat to the living quarters for a shower, then drive somewhere for a hike, sightseeing or shopping (trying not to stay under the sun more than necessary or covering ourselves thoroughly) and then return to the beach a couple of hours before a sunset for more swimming.

One such afternoon we drove to the neighboring resort (Four Seasons), just to check it out. It was smaller than I expected and much less interesting than I wanted. We walked the grounds, figured out there was nothing to see and were almost leaving when I spotted a shop.

Gomitolo wax candle by MissoniI love visiting small shops in tourist destinations. I always have a childish hope there would be some miracles and wonders. There never are any. Which isn’t bad since it allows me not to spend money and not to clutter my dwelling. But I like those minutes of anticipation and hope; so every time I venture into the next new shop as if there weren’t several hundred previous failures.

An expensive resort, which Four Seasons is, requires an expensive and better than average shop, which Seaside Luxe boutique is. I was browsing their offerings enjoying just the right temperature inside (more than once I had to cut my visit to a store short because of AC set to a freezer temperature) when my vSO shared with me his observation that it looked like Missoni boutique (I was sniffing some ambiance fragrances and didn’t make to the rest of the store yet) and offered to guess a price for a very neat Missoni candle made in the form of ball of yarn. Thinking of Amouage candles and having added four-seasons-hawaiian-luxury surcharge I braved $200. Yeah… Now you try to guess. To get an answer look at the price of this Gomitolo wax candle and subtract $80 since the one in the store was smaller.

As I reached a sales counter I noticed something I was secretly hoping to find in the store but wasn’t really counting on – a couple of bottles with perfumes. A couple of completely unfamiliar bottles of perfume. Yessss!!! Well, technically there were four bottles – two with fragrance essence (oil-based perfumes) and two with the misting oil – but they contained just two different scents. I smelled both first and then tried them on the skin. Names were displayed prominently – KOA and UME – but I couldn’t read the brand on the label.

Ume and Koa by L'Oeil Du VertAnd then a small miracle happened. I met Mauri – a very friendly and enthusiastic sales person who seemed genuinely fond of these perfumes. She told me that they were hand-made for their boutique by a perfumer Haley Alexander van Oosten (brand L’Oeil du Vert – “the eye of the green”) from Los Angeles. Then she brought paper inserts for both perfumes. I asked if she had an extra set of those pamphlets for me to take with and explained that I might write about the perfume in my blog so I would need some information. I didn’t even ask for samples because I figured out that with L’Oeil du Vert being a small artisan brand and Seaside Luxe not specializing in perfumes they wouldn’t have any samples and I left my vials (which I had with me on the trip – just in case!) in the hotel. Not only Mauri gave me those inserts but she also offered me to take one of the testers (with probably 30% of a misting oil left in it) since she had an extra tester of that one. And she expressed regret she couldn’t give me the second tester since it was the last one.

The tester I got was for the perfume UME. “Ume means plum blossom in Japanese – the first flower to blossom in spring, it offers renewal and vitality.” (Haley Alexander van Oosten)

From the insert:

Ume is created in reverence with custom distilled oils of Japanese delicacies – organic jasmine Green Tea extract, purifying Yuzu citron, fresh Seaweed, Hinoki cypress for strength, Siso leaves, Lime blossom, sacred Agarwood, and other botanical rarities from Asia.

On my skin the Ume smells very dry, herbal and almost bitter but not medicinal. I do not smell any floral notes in it. It’s definitely a unisex perfume. As with most all-natural perfumes Ume takes some time to warm up to it but the more I use it the more I like it. The tenacity of the misting oil is regular for natural oil perfumes – 1.5-2 hours. For me it makes Ume a perfect sleep scent: it lasts long enough to smell it while I’m falling asleep. I don’t know if the fragrance essence version has a better longevity and I didn’t ask how much it cost but a 30 ml (I think, I can’t find the size on a tester bottle) misting oil costs $144, which, in my opinion, is too expensive for what it is – unless you fall in love with the scent and do not mind re-applying it often. I like Ume but do not love it. Though I think it might be addictive. We’ll see how I feel once I’m done with the oil remaining in that tester.

I wish I had at least a small vial for the second perfume KOA. First – because it’s sweeter and has more floral components that I can smell (and I do prefer floral perfumes) and second because it was inspired by the native Hawaiian tree (“Live like the Koa Tree – brave, bold and fearless”) and made of all local materials (from the insert): 

sustainably harvested koa wood, naturally dyed kappa barkcloth, … Ili’ahi sandalwood, awapuhi ‘ai ginger root, hala flowers, plumeria blossoms, and vanilla orchid.

I think that out of these two I liked Koa better. How cool would it be to bring back from Hawaii something you can’t find anywhere else?! But it seems the SA was right – L’Oeil du Vert did make Koa for that store and even though I liked it, after testing it just once it didn’t feel like an immediate “must buy” and now I can’t find it anywhere to try again.

What I like about both Ume and Koa is the attention to details – a nice wooden cover for bottles, fabric bags and beautiful inserts with information about perfumes. On the other hand, at the price level L’Oeil du Vert tries to fit in (see a small article I found in the LA Times) I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Have you ever heard about L’Oeil du Vert? Have you tried Ume, Koa or any other of their perfumes?

Images: Missoni candle – net-a-porter.com; perfumes – my own.

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New Year Resolutions: September

Finally I caught up on summer. Not only because I went on an eight days Hawaii vacation but also because Northern California’s gods of Nature finally smiled upon us and allowed for a couple of weeks of warm and sunny weather in September.

Have you seen a Kindle vs. iPad commercial where it emphasizes how easy it is to read Kindle even in a direct sunlight when it’s hard to do on iPad due to reflexions? I can confirm the iPad part: you should have seen me trying to read your blogs at the beach! In my beach chair I would curl almost into a fetal position around my iPad trying to cover it by my hat and my arms to see something on the screen. Still most of the time I managed to stay updated (commenting though was slightly harder with a spotty 3G reception).

Since I decided not to do any testing during my vacation both testing and wearing favorite perfumes numbers are unusual: I wore my favorite perfumes much more often than I set as a goal in my NY resolutions but on the downside I didn’t get to test as many perfumes as I’d like.

After reading at another perfume blog about the half of the perfumes in the collection not getting ratings because of not being tested [enough] I got curious about my collection. I have roughly 100 (a hundred!) samples I haven’t tested even once. And I didn’t even dare to count those I tried once or twice and plan on testing again! Of course, some of those that I haven’t tried are samples of mainstream fragrances I wasn’t particularly looking for and might never try (unless one of you sings love to it in your blog) but still.

Quick September stats:

Perfumes worn in September by country* Different perfumes worn/tested: 64 (-19) on 78 occasions by 34 brands from 7 countries;

* Favorite perfumes worn: 19 on 28 occasions (+9);

* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 30 (-21);

* Perfume I wore the most often – Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder;

* Perfume house I wore/tested most often: Annick Goutal;

* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear, not those that I tested for the first time): top – (not counting bergamot) mandarin, orange blossom and pear; middle – (since rose and jasmine keep that position unchallenged I include the next notes in the list) iris and ylang ylang; base – musk, amber and patchouli;

* Total number of different notes in all perfumes I wore/tested this month:  229 (-39).

Out of all perfumes I’ve tested for the first time during September on 10 occasions I didn’t like what I smelled, on 16 I had a positive reaction and on 7 the reaction was neutral.

Do you care for the country of origin of the perfume you try/wear?

Image: my own

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Scents of My Hawaii Vacation

What did my Hawaii vacation smelled of? It smelled of freshly mowed grass on a golf course next to our condo; of papayas, mangos and dragon fruits we were eating for breakfast; of a night ocean breeze and sun-heated seaweed as we walked along beaches; of orchids (including the one that smelled like chocolate!), plumerias and other tropical flowers, of greenery wet with rain and of dusty lava fields – as we hiked in the volcano park; of 100% Kona coffee and white Hawaiian honey we tried at different coffee farms. But since it is not a travel blog I should probably write about more important stuff – perfumes.

Hapuna beach parkFor this week-long trip I decided to be “minimalistic”: one full bottle, one mini, one travel spray and two sample vials. I’ve voted against any new perfume testing not to skew the first impression by the unusual heat, humidity and … by being on a vacation.

You know how when you’re flying any airline they start the boarding with the first/business class passengers, then members of their super-duper-exclusive clubs, then… During this trip United has overdone itself: I couldn’t imagine there were so many special privileged categories. It felt like there were more passengers labeled one way or the other than “regular” ones.

My vSO and I have many small rituals and traditions when we travel together. One of the newest rituals is sharing Voyage d’Hermes scent for the flight. We use it from a mini bottle (dabbed, not sprayed) so it’s very light and not offensive to those around us but if we lean close we can get a whiff of it from each other. So my flight was scented by Voyage d’Hermes and, on a several occasions, by my neighbor‘s very strongly perfumed but luckily short-lived B&B Works’ Orange Ginger lotion (I didn’t ask, I recognized the scent).

Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder

Bronze Goddess with dragon< fruit>s

Bronze Goddess is such a beautiful perfume! Never too much, never too annoying but always summer-y, bright and perky. Just right for a perfect day in tropics. Being “pigmentally” challenged (©Olfactoria’s Travels – please read her very enticing and nicely illustrated review of Bronze Goddess), the closest I could ever get to being a bronze goddess is to smell like one. I did.

Speaking of [not] tanning. I know that summer is over for most of my blogo-friends, but I still want to mention three products with sunscreen by which I swear (links aren’t affiliate, just for the illustration purposes): Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock Spray for body – very easy to apply, not greasy, with a subtle scent (for a sunblock), doesn’t leave white residue; Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream SPF 55 PA+++ for face (for swimming or hiking) – absorbs well, doesn’t leave shine or residue, doesn’t clog pores (I have a sensitive skin); and Shiseido Urban Environment UV Protection Cream SPF 35 PA+++ for face (for less engaging activities) – the similar characteristics as for the face cream above but with less SPF and not being water-resistant, it’s really lightweight.

As I promised to my new perfume friend Tiare by Ormonde Jayne, I took her with me on my tropical vacation. In the evenings when an ocean breeze would put out a day heat, all dressed-up for dinner I would adorn myself with Tiare. I truly enjoyed her company. I think it is a perfect perfume for a tropical night out. It feels so right in place on the open terrace under the moonless starry sky, surrounded by palm trees and the sound of the invisible ocean just a hundred steps in front of you. And a slick travel spray will fit even into the smallest purse. Read real reviews for Ormonde Jayne’s Tiare at Olfactoria’s Travels and Bonkers about Perfume.

Two samples that I brought with me to Hawaii were Frangipani by Ormonde Jayne and Black Orchid by Tom Ford. I wore Frangipani one night and I was surprised that I liked it much less than I remembered. It was still nice but something was wrong. When I came home and checked my notes, I found out that I liked Frangipani a lot in winter (ok, that was a Californian winter), on cool but sunny days. So for whatever reasons a tropical flower-based perfume doesn’t work for me in tropics – go figure. On the other hand, Black Orchid about behavior of which in a hot weather I had my reservations was just wonderful. I do not know if I should partially attribute that success to the place I was visiting at the moment, so – just in case you ever decide to reproduce the experiment to a tee – I give you all the details.

Mauka Coffee FarmMauka Coffee FarmMauka Coffee Farm

If you ever travel to Big Island I full-heartedly recommend visiting Mauka Meadows Coffee Farm. I’m a coffee fan but not a connoisseur so I cannot tell if their coffee is really good though I liked it enough to buy some coffee to bring home. But it’s not the coffee that made the place special for me. It’s their garden. Their own website doesn’t do them justice! They have beautiful well-kept grounds – a coffee farm surrounded by a very organic fusion of a tropical-themed Japanese garden and a fruit orchard. This area of the island is very wet, so it’s not too hot and it rains there often in the afternoons. The first nice touch was a selection of umbrellas to borrow in a shed  on the parking lot. As you walk through the gardens, down to the main pavilion, you can not only enjoy the view but also you can sample fruits from the trees along your path. We ate very ripe and flavorful small red guavas right off the tree. Also, for the first time in my life, I tried fresh macadamia nuts (there was a special cracker placed next to nut trees). I’m glad I do not have an easy access to those nuts: it would have been an awful temptation.

Mauka Coffee FarmWhen you reach the foot of the hill you are greeted with a sample of their coffee. You can sit (either under the roof of the open pavilion or, if weather permits, outside at one of the lawn tables) and enjoy the tranquility of the view – a water pool flowing to the horizon and meditation music. There is no pressure to buy anything but if you want they offer three types of coffee in a variety of sizes and local honey. A minivan is ready to take you back up to the parking lot (unless you choose – as we did – to walk back through the garden). The first time we came there just by chance when we couldn’t find the coffee farm recommended on Yelp. But it was so peaceful and so beautiful that in a couple of days I just had to go there again. That was when I wore Black Orchid and it completed the wonderful experience.

Hawaii - Paradise on EarthIf anybody still had any doubts, here’s the proof that Hawaii is a Paradise on Earth: more than once we observed the commensalism, peaceful coexistence of local cats, birds, and mongooses (click on the image to see two mongooses eating/drinking from cats’ bowls).

The trip, as great as it was, wouldn’t be complete without some interesting new perfumed experience, right? So for those who are still reading, I want to announce that in the upcoming week I plan to publish an addendum to my vacation story to share with you my unexpected perfumed encounter. Stay tuned!

As always, feel free to post a link to your blog’s post(s) related to the topic.

Images: my own