Miller et Bertaux. Do You?
by

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

Hey ULG Crew, Miller et Bertaux are a couple of art dudes who ventured into fragrance 2006 with a strange set of three scents. #1 (For You) Parfum Trouvé, #2 Spiritus / Land and #3 Green, Green, Green and… Green. Originally intended as a mix and match trio, same base with different top & heart to be worn separately or together. I’m not sure how prevalent layering was at the time because up to that point all my information about perfume was coming from magazines and SAs. The scentbloggosphere and the online life of perfumistas didn’t come till a couple of years after here.

Anyway, at some point I came across the brand and was instantly smitten. My first purchase was around 2012 A Quiet Morning (2008) and it still makes my heart beat faster. Now I think there are 10 or more of their fragrances in my collection but three get more wear than any others. They stay out on my wardrobe perfume grab tray perennially and often get the spritz. Having worn two of them this week I thought maybe we could chat about them.

Hopefully some of you know the brand and can tell me your faves, likes, hates in the comments. Chatting with you all makes me happy.

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

A Quiet Morning (2008)

Dry and scratchy spiced saffron and woods. It’s supposed to have rice in it too but I can’t smell it at all. This is about as zen as a fragrance can get while still being a rocking great beauty.

Indian Study/ Santal +++ (2017)

A dry sandalwood, bone dry. Yet it still manages to feel creamy. Yeah, I don’t know how they do it either. It also has some of the harshness on open that I attribute to the Australian Sandalwood.

Pimiento +++ (2020)

You’re dreaming. In that dream you are cutting chillies and bell peppers. The juice is all over your fingers. When you lift your hand to your face in your dream, this is the fantasy your mind smells.

 

So, do you have any, or have you smelled some, of the Miller et Bertaux line?

Portia xx

by

Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Masculine Perfume?

Just to avoid going through the argument that any perfume is for anyone, and there are no rules about who can wear what, I’ll do this disclaimer: I’m talking about the style of perfume that traditionally is considered masculine where you live.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #123:

What Is Your Favorite Masculine Perfume?

Do you like wearing it or smelling it on someone else?

Bonus: even though usually I’m trying to limit your answers with the requested one, three, five or ten (based on the topic), and usually you “go overboard” with your choices, today I give you a carte blanche to name any number of “runner ups” in addition to the top one.

My Answer

I thought of this question while reading several people’s comments to the last week’s question about the best-known perfumes for the brands that I suggested. I was surprised by the fact that I wasn’t even thinking about masculine perfumes while coming up with my answers. And after they brought it up, I agreed that this perfume was, in my opinion, even better-known than the one I thought of. But the main reason why it surprised me that much was that it was actually one of if not just the most favorite masculine perfumes for me.

Hermes Terre d’Hermes. I love this perfume on my vSO. Had I known years ago that brands reformulate their perfumes without changing names or packaging, I would have bought several bottles of the original one. But even the latest one that I tried was still quite nice. I don’t wear it myself: I always thought about it as his perfume.

Other masculine perfumes that I like a lot but do not wear are Tom Ford Moss Breches and Gucci Rush Men – both sadly discontinued.

The picture of Rusty has nothing to do with masculine perfumes, but I decided that it was a while since I posted any of his photos on my blog (and not all of my readers follow me on Instagram… where I do not post that often either).

Rusty July 2022

How about you?

 

What Is Your Favorite Masculine Perfume?

by

Saturday Question: What Is the Best-Known Perfume for Each of These Brands?

I know it’s almost Sunday Question, but let’s do it anyway. There are several brands with which the answer to this question would probably come out immediately. Chanel? Of course, No 5. Guerlain? Definitely Shalimar! Creed? Well, you know, right? But let’s try to extend the game to five more popular brands.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #122:

What Is the Best-Known Perfume for Each of These Brands?

Name one the best-known/first coming to mind perfume for each of the following brands: Hermes, Amouage, Ormonde Jayne, Dior and Histoires de Parfums. It’s not a question of which perfume from these brands you like the most, but rather which perfume you think is the most known (among perfumistas or in general – however you prefer to read this question).

A twist on the SQ: name one more brand for which you’d like to ask the same question – and see what others come up with.

My Answer

You should think about your answer before reading either my or anyone else’s choices. I didn’t think of the answers until now (I just improvised on the set of brands for this question) – so, I’ll be in the same position you are now. So, let me try…

Hermes Kelly Caleche. Don’t know why – not only it’s not my favorite perfume, I don’t even like it. But this is what came to mind.

Amouage Gold (woman). Love this one, though it’s not my most favorite Amouage.

Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman. I have at least 5 other perfumes from this brand that I like more than this one, but still it seems like the best-known perfume created by the brand.

Dior Miss Dior. I’m sure that if it hadn’t been for the controversy of Dior’s taking the name of my favorite classic perfume and lending it to the modern imposter, I would have named another perfume (I won’t – not to interfere with your choices). But because I can’t forgive Dior this betrayal, this is the first name on my mind whenever I hear “Dior.”

Histoires de Parfums 1740. I tried this perfume, and I do not like it. But I find it hilarious that now so many people know the year when Marquis de Sade was born. Do you know the year of birth for Winston Churchill? How about Shakespeare or Mother Theresa? I didn’t. I wasn’t even sure about the decade for each of them. But Marquis de Sade…

 

Now it’s your turn.

 

What Is the Best-Known Perfume for Each of These Brands?

CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel
by

CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel

Hiya ULG crew, Time got away from me this week. I had even gone and purchased the newest Eaux, Paris – Paris, so we could chat about it. Yesterday got hijacked by Jin though and a whole bunch of stuff didn’t get done. This is not a complaint. Jin did overnight overtime both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. That’s two EXTRA 12 hour shifts for the week. Basically he worked 7 days straight. He got an ADO on Monday, yesterday. So though we had seen glimpses of each other over the weekend it wasn’t real time. Given yesterday we took it and did stuff together. We went to the Dr, had some bloodwork done, checked a problem and fixed it temporarily at the new investment apartment, did some shopping, cut up a slew of veggies and cooked pork and then sat companionably together producing and eating Vietnamese Rolls while watching TV. Then when he hit the hay I wrote my TRIVIA Q&A for the week and after finishing was completely bushed.

Though all this happened yesterday. It meant today I had to do the apartment cleaning and other stuff usually done on a Monday. Fortunately it’s raining so hard laundry is out of the question. Hopefully there will be some sunshine later in the week for that.

Here we are. I’m not going to lie. There’s a window of about 20 minutes before i have to start putting my make up on for work tonight. Instead of writing about Paris – Paris today I offer you this picture.

Are you wearing Les Eaux De Chanel if you are in the Northern Hemisphere? Did you even try them?

My take is that the bottles are gorgeous, the fragrances beautiful (if fleeting) and the whole concept is kept extremely affordable for a luxury/aspirational brand. It’s still not cheap but coming from CHANEL I was pleasantly surprised at the price point.

Have Les Eaux De Chanel made their way into your heart or collection?
Portia xx

by

Saturday Question: Have You Adopted Any Makeup or Skincare Advice From Your Mother?

My loyal readers have probably got used by now to my not that straightforward chain of associations when it comes to Saturday Question topics. But today’s one is especially “twice removed.” I’ll explain in My Answer. Though, each of you should feel free to respond directly to the question without going into the intricacies of my train of thought.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #121:

Have You Adopted Any Makeup or Skincare Advice From Your Mother?

When we’re young, we often pick up something from our older relatives, siblings or friends. Years later, we either stick to those advices, just forget them or realize that those were not really the gospel they seemed back then.

Do you remember any of those? Do you still follow any? Or, the opposite, have you got disillusioned in some of them?

My Answer

I promised, it wasn’t that straightforward.

Yesterday I watched one of the most hilarious videos from Lisa Eldridge. I’m sure that most of you knows who she is, but unless you follow her closely or visit your YouTube subscriptions regularly, you could have missed this – and you shouldn’t! It is an extremely funny GRWM-type of video, but instead of chatting with the viewers herself, Lisa was following audio instructions from a legendary Hollywood makeup artist from 50s-60s of the previous century. I hope you’ll watch and enjoy it as much as I did.

Since I’m neither an MUA nor mekup history buff, I was, let’s put it this way, slightly less impressed by the guy himself then commenters on the video page and thought that he was a pompous dick (pardon my French), despite Lisa’s attempt at the preemptive PC spiel. And still, thanks to Lisa’s talent, the video is worth watching. A week ago I would have said that, not the least to appreciate how far we came from the time when old and [self-]important men were telling us what we should or should not do with our lipsticks and eye shadows. Today the freedom to match my lipstick to my nail polish somehow suddenly feels less significant. But I digress.

As I watched that video, I was surprised by how many of the beauty advices got through the continents and, what is even more impressive, the “iron curtain” and were passed onto me by my mother.

I won’t list all of them not to spoil your viewing, but I’ll mention one that I tend to follow decades later: Do not apply mascara to your lower eyelashes.

The reasoning for this advise was that it would make my eyes look smaller. I do not know if that is even true. But even if it is, those who know me or saw my mom’s pictures would probably agree that this should be the last of the beauty-related worries for either of us. And I think that later in her life my mother had changed her opinion and was applying mascara to her lower lashes. And yet… Not that I wear mascara too often in general. But when I do, by my estimate, my lower eyelashes stay bare 9 out of 10 times.

 

How about you?

 

Have You Adopted Any Makeup or Skincare Advice From Your Mother?

by

Saturday Question: What Was The Last New L’Artisan Perfume You’ve Tried?

I’m sure that there isn’t a single participant of these Saturday posts who is not familiar with L’Artisan Parfumeur. Moreover, I have no doubts that most of us have at least one (or ten?) perfumes from this brand in our collection. But when was the last time you tried anything new from them?

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #120:

What Was The Last New L’Artisan Perfume You’ve Tried?

And a bonus question: is there any perfume from the brand that you would like to try?

 

My Answer

Yesterday, while scrolling through Instagram posts, I came across a sponsored ad for L’Artisan’s Sale: “Make the most of unmissable offers and treat yourself to a new summer scent”

I do not need a new summer scent, but I got curious and tapped on the link. While 20-25% off isn’t a bad discount, by now I have most of L’Artisan Perfumes that I tried and liked, so none of the perfumes that I’m familiar with tempted me. But going through the Sale selection, I realized that I didn’t know half or more of the offered perfumes. And that brought up this question.

The last perfume from L’Artisan Parfumeur that I’ve tried was Noir Exquis launched in … 2015 (!). What I find strange: I liked it. Not to buy a bottle (at least not until I finish my small decant), but I liked it. And yet, in the last 6+ years I haven’t tried a single new perfume from the brand. I think I lost my interest since Puig had acquired the brand.

Am I interested in their new perfumes? I won’t refuse testing everything I missed somewhere at a store. But I don’t think I will be paying for their samples any time soon. The only perfume that stood out for me when I read about it was something with “banana” in the name. So, that would be the first one I reach for in that hypothetical store.

How about you?

 

What Was The Last New L’Artisan Perfume You’ve Tried?

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums
by

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

Hey ULGers, BDK Parfums are a brand I look out for. They have quite a few lovely perfumes. They’re mostly safe, elegant remixes of things you’ve smelt before but with a little twist. Perfect if you like to be scented but for it to be something quiet and restrained. Their Creme de Cuir is one of my favourite under the radar leathers, there is something totally luxurious about wearing a fragrance that is just for you, and those you allow very close.

Bouquet de Hongrie by BDK Parfums

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Yop: Pear, Strawberry, Cassis
Heart: Turkish Rose, Jasmine Sambac, Lorenox
Base: Musk, Amber, Cedar

From the note list I had expectations. Which you’d think after smelling perfume for decades I’d have grown out of. In my head it was going to smell quite like a sister to SJP Stash Unspoken or Burberry Britt for her. It doesn’t.

What it does smell like to me is peony petals and cherry blossom. Real peony and the perfumers shorthand for cherry blossom. It’s ridiculously pretty and delightful. Imagine one of the L’Occitane shower gels done with refined ingredients and you’re pretty much there. Actually, having worn Bouquet de Hongrie for a week in Bali, and read your comments on Sakura two weeks ago, I now know exactly what it smells like. It smells like a posh version of those Victoria’s Secret body mists you can buy for a couple of $$.

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

If you’re after something sophisticated then you’ll be bitterly disappointed.

Thing is, I like it. It’s so femme leaning and feels like I should be wearing a short, ruffled, lacy frock in a strong pastel colour somewhere between peach and strawberry. The incongruity of me, a 53 year old hefty chunk of silver daddy, wearing it makes me smile like I’m being deliberately subversive. Musette wrote a short while ago about this very thing on Perfume Posse and I’ve been embracing it. Sorry I can’t find the piece because her musings ramble about, throwing up oodles of bits and pieces.

Projection and longevity are moderate to low, it softens considerably after about 30 minutes to a quiet jammy peony/cherry wash. It could be your fabric softener if you spent some big $$$$ on it.

What I REALLY like is that BDK makes these strong, beautiful 10ml Travel Sprays. There are 2 three packs and some singles available here in OZ but I bet there’s oodles more choice elsewhere. You can see my Bouquet de Hongrie is already over 2/3 spritzed.

Does Bouquet de Hongrie sound like a scent you’d wear?
Portia xx

by

Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Linden Perfume?

I realize that all of my loyal readers have their lives and do not hold their breath waiting for the next post from this blog. But still I feel like apologizing for being absent. The irony is that I have at least a dozen posts planned (in terms that I know what I want to write about) or even started, but between my job and family issues with my vSO’s mother, I have no energy left to think those posts through, write and published them. But I will be posting whenever I can. Meanwhile, let’s keep the Saturday Question tradition running.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #119:

What Is Your Favorite Linden Perfume?

Regardless of whether you know how the real blossom smells, do you have a favorite linden perfume?

My Answer

Linden is one of my most favorite blossoms in real life, so I’m on a constant search for a perfect linden blossom perfume. I still haven’t found any perfume that would come close to the heady aroma of a blooming large linden tree in the warmth of the late summer night. But if I were to take a single floret (?), as I did recently when I visited my friend’s garden, and compare it to my favorite linden perfume – Jo Malone French Lime Blossom, which I did, they smell very close. And I love it!

Jo Malone French Lime Blossom

What Is Your Favorite Linden Perfume?

by

Saturday Question: What Was Your Most Picturesque Vacation Destination?

I’ve been back from my recent trip for a while, but it’s summer, and vacations are all around me (in the form of out-of-office replies), so I decided to prolong it by talking about it.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #118:

What Was Your Most Picturesque Vacation Destination?

A vacation is a vacation is a vacation. But some of the places we visit stay with us longer than others. Which one were yours?

If you have any pictures online you’re willing to share, please publish a link/links.

My Answer

Hawaii are probably still my most favorite vacation destination, and variety of nature scenes these islands offer is very hard to beat. I also love city vacations, and Vienna shares my heart with London (and Barcelona might claim its place there the next time I get to spend time in that beautiful city while not suffering from different health issues, like it happened when I went there for the first time).

But the recent trip to Sedona left a very strong impression: the views were breathtaking. When you see those formations and colors, it is hard to believe that those were created by nature (vs. some ancient gods or aliens turning medieval castles and fortresses into stone), and you’re not looking at the result of some artistic filters applied to a photo. An unfortunately those photos do not fully convey the grandeur of what you can see with your eyes.

Sedona

This was the view from the window of the house we were staying in. And views from numerous vista points were even more spectacular.

SedonaSedona

Amouage attars that I brought with me wore wonderfully in the dry heat of Sedona: they were as beautiful as those mountains. But as much as I liked all six of them and plan to use up my discovery set, I don’t think I loved any one of them enough to want to buy a bottle… Maybe if I were on a vacation in Oman…

Amouage Attars

Your turn.

What Was Your Most Picturesque Vacation Destination?

Sakura by DIOR
by

Sakura by DIOR

Hi there crew. we are having a moment of remarkably spring-like weather. When I say remarkable I mean EVERYONE is saying it feels like spring. In almost every conversation. As banal and boring as that sounds, it does. We have had such a weird, wet, cool summer that finding ourselves in autumn and having these glorious sunshiny days, not too hot, is blissful.

On top of that my courtesy aunt, Aunty Tracey, is in town for a week and we are out day & night on adventures. We’ve been shopping, visiting, visiting the graves of our dead, lunching and generally hanging out in the daytimes. Every trivia she has come and Jin has accompanied. It’s been wonderful. Writing this on Thursday and I’m BUSHED! We only have a few more days but both Jin & I are definitely going to need a rest.

Sakura by DIOR

Sakura by DIOR

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green Notes
Heart: Japanese Cherry Blossom, Rose, Jasmine, Hedione
Base: Mimosa, Violet, White Musk

Sakura is astringently sweet and green on open, like cherry, alcohol, and citrus pith. Soon it gets a soft fluffy feeling like to cool, softness of rubbing cherry blossom petals against your cheek. It smells like that feeling. As if it was in the cool late winter morning sunshine.

The heart is mimosa, cherry(isa) and something I can not put a name to. Like what I think the fur of a bee might smell like. Animal, honey, floral and something else.

As we head to dry down clean musks lead the charge to fade.

Sakura is lovely and I really like to wear it. It doesn’t smell like an expensive perfume though. It smells like a cheapy. Maybe I’m missing something here. If you’re a big fan could you explain please?

Low key, pretty, smells nice, lasts OK. Perfect for the young, people who want a fragrance but need it to be under the radar. Also good for those that like functional fragrance but don’t like perfume perfume. A perfectly poised sweet nothing that whispers spring.

Are you doing soft fruity florals like Sakura this Spring?
Porttia xx