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Fan di Fendi pour Homme

Hi there Looking Glass Crew, Fendi was one of my favourite brands way back in the heady days of my fashion course and short stint in the industry. They were doing extraordinary things with fur and leather. It was also the days of the beginning of the anti fur brigade. It took me a long time to realise exactly what they were against and join their legion. I did have a vintage black rabbit coat (not Fendi) in the 1990s that was given to me as I left for the UK, a hand me down from my friend Chelsea’s Mum. It got worn till it fell apart in my hands as I was putting it on. That was a very sad night, and I FROZE without it. So while I was browsing FragranceNet a while back and I saw a 7ml spritz Fan di Fendi pour Homme I pounced. Fendi no longer makes perfumes, the SA in our Sydney flagship store told me! So it might be my last chance to smell it.

I was also really happy with the tie in to Undina’s recent Travel Size Scent Semantics post.

Fan di Fendi pour Homme 2012

Fan di Fendi pour Homme

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Leather, Woody Notes, Cardamom, Pink Pepper, Citruses, Basil

Traditional male fragrance. Opens green herbal and woody with a pleasant lick of sweetness. Fan di Fendi pour Homme smells like something from the 1980s. It’s brawny masculinity is comfortable and a little sexy.

This is pretty much what the train suits used to smell of when I was at school. It was a lovely, cozy scent to greet me each morning. Over the top of the regular train smells and the few women in the carriage this woodsy, pine-is herbaceousness sailed over all.

Hardly any movement in the scent. It’s fairly linear after the first five minutes.

Fan di Fendi pour Homme

This is a happy, very masculine leaning fragrance but I really think women would smell better wearing it today. On a guy it would be nice, on a woman it would be surprising.

It’s quite large on open but not obnoxious. Longevity is extremely good. I can still smell wispy woodsy remnants over 24 hours later. The bottle looks like it would have been bloody gorgeous! I do love an inbuilt spritzer within the lid or body.

Do I wish I had a bottle? No. This mini will do me. It would be fun to wear it for a whole holiday and make that scent my memory of somewhere.

Do you like a traditional masculine?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: Do You Take Breaks From Perfumeland?

We all have our routines when it comes to social media interactions and information intake. Since I see many of you here and on some other platforms regularly, I assume you have several online places you visit repeatedly, either following the subscription prompt or just doing your rounds.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #113:

Do You Take Breaks From Perfumeland?

Let’s not count heavy reasons, such as serious health issues or life-changing events. But in day-to-day life, do you from time to time stop reading blogs, checking Instagram, visiting FB groups – or however else you manifest your hobby? Why and how long do usually these breaks last?

My Answer

If not to count situations I suggested we shouldn’t count or rare occasions when I actually do not have access to the Internet, since I’ve started this blog, I’ve never been completely away from Perfumeland for any prolonged period. I do not feel the need to pause, be away or “change the subject,” so to speak.

But sometimes life just takes over, and I physically don’t have time or energy left to do everything I want, including publishing my posts or reading blogs from my reading list. But even in those days I usually manage to read a post or go through several screens of pictures on IG. It’s just a part of my day without which it won’t feel complete.

 

How about you?

Do You Take Breaks From Perfumeland?

 

(I hope not all of my readers would suddenly decide to take a break – it would made for an awkward Saturday Question post)

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Scent Semantics #7: BRILLIANCE

A couple of days behind the schedule (again), presenting the seventh episode of the collaboration of six bloggers: Portia (A Bottled Rose), Elena (The Plum Girl), Sheila (Alembicated Genie), Daisy (eau là là !), Old Herbaceous (Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities) and Undina (Undina’s Looking Glass). If some of the participating blogs are also running late, please keep checking (or even better – subscribe!): we all are trying not to skip the month.Scent Semantics Project Banner

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This month’s word is: BRILLIANCE

How difficult do you think it would be to persuade an average “civilian” consumer to buy a 50 ml bottle of perfume for $375 or even $195? With Chanel Chance at $90/50 ml and Dior J’adore at $112/50 ml (with 100 ml bottles for both being still under $200), I wouldn’t be too optimistic in my forecasts. And it seems even less probable for the younger generation who just recently graduated from BodyShop or Fresh perfumes.

And yet, they are buying those more expensive Heretic, By Killian and Tom Ford perfumes. Why? Because of the brilliance of the Sephora‘s Merchandising Department (or whatever it’s called there): they were the first who realized that first Millennials and now Generation Z customers, who prefer YouTube to blogs and Instagram and TikTok to YouTube, would rather spend $30-$75 on a 10 ml travel spray from a luxury brand than do research and commit to a larger bottle of perfume that would get a much better “per ml” ratio.

It is not a rant about a younger generation. I actually applaud Sephora for their input into proliferating interest in “used-to-be” niche perfumes in the masses. I know that these days all smart brands and retailers try to follow the suit, and finally, we started seeing more and more of what I for years called “perfumista-size” bottles. But no other single retailer has the same number of “travel” options as Sephora does. They didn’t focus on the sets of either the same perfume or a pre-selected combo (a complete waste of money – unless someone plans to split the set) or gift sets with both a full bottle and its mini travel companion (slightly more interesting if the mini size is added free to the full bottle price, and that full bottle can’t be bought somewhere else at a discounted price). Instead, they went directly to stocking up 200+ single travel bottles of 7.5-10 ml within a price range between $22 and $75. 

Even though I wasn’t their target audience, I benefited from that brilliant marketing plot: even knowing that the brand was leaving the US, I wouldn’t have bought a full bottle of this perfume. But with a cute 10 ml bottle for around $30 – how could I have resisted?

Atelier Cologne Iris Rebelle

Iris Rebelle by Atelier Cologne, created in 2018, with the notes Calabrian bergamot, orange blossom, black pepper, iris, lavender, May rose, white musk, guaiac wood and patchouli, is a nice addition to my collection. It is perfect if I’m in the mood for a short-lived scent (pleasant, mind you!) that I can either discreetly reapply in approximately an hour from that pen-like bottle that fits any purse or replace it with another scent without risking them clashing.

I’m not sure if Iris Rebelle is still available anywhere (other than from discounters), but if you need more information, see the review from Lucas (Chemist in the Bottle) that pushed me to try this perfume. But whatever you do, do not check Sephora’s  “Mini size” section for Fragrances: you might be blinded by the brilliance of the offered selection.

 

Image: my own

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Saturday Question: Have You Ever Regretted Giving Away Perfume?

Continuing the last week’s topic of having enough perfumes. Several people have mentioned that they were giving away, donating or selling perfumes they didn’t love any longer. It got me wondering…

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #112:

Have You Ever Regretted Giving Away Perfume?

I know, I know, you all are generous people who enjoy other people’s joy from getting your gifts, so let’s stipulate that. But have you ever given away, sold, swapped or thrown any perfumes that later you regretted? If yes, what was that, did you do anything to rectify it, and has it influenced your later decisions to part with perfumes from your collection?

My Answer

I do not easily part with anything I own. It goes not only for perfumes but almost everything. I got used to things and prefer to keep them until they fall apart, stop working or spoil. So, while I do not mind sharing portions of my perfumes, letting go of a bottle is almost impossible for me.

I remember once “lending” a mini bottle of Organza by Givenchy to a co-worker who liked it. She loved it, and I didn’t like perfume enough to wear, so we agreed that she would use it up and return a bottle to me since I really liked the bottle and wanted to keep it.

Well… She left the company long before I remembered about that bottle. And I regretted giving it away because I thought that the bottle was so great. Many years later, I bought another mini bottle. Just to have it in my collection. But now I started thinking about paring down my wardrobe and maybe even downsizing my perfume collection. Nothing crazy, but maybe I will be able to give up something that I do not use any longer… Maybe.

Rusty and Givenchy Organza

Have You Ever Regretted Giving Away Perfume?

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Musette made me Jean Nate

Hey Crew, Do you ever read a blog post and suddenly your are pressing PayPal on your favourite online perfume store or discounter? Right, well not long ago over at Perfume Posse Musette waxed lyrical about Jean Nate. It’s always been her go to summer spritz after bathing but it had never been talked about so fulfillingly. Suddenly I had to know. So I bought a cheap 8oz after bath splash mist bottle off FragranceNet, seriously it cost about the price of a McDonalds burger. More recently Tom had a swoon over it too.

Jean Nate (now by Revlon) 1935

Musette made me Jean Nate

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon Bergamot Lavender
Heart: Geranium Spicy Notes Rose Jasmine Lily-of-the-Valley
Base: Musk Sandalwood Tonka Bean Virginia Cedar

So, after all this lead up, what does Jean Nate smell like?

A softly refreshing cologne. The spices and lavender give citrus a frosting of elegance. It’s nothing amazing or extraordinary but it is a pleasant, very short lived scent. I’m lucky to be able to smell it an hour later.

I’m not sure what note or accord it is but I get a definite smell of base humanity as an undercurrent. As if after showering you need to get those lived in, slightly feral aspects back onto your body ASAP.

As the northern hemisphere warms up it might be a good additive if your perfume wardrobe is without a bright, sparkling cologne. Much less zingy than 4711. Jean Nate is more sophisticated and deeper.

Have you tried Jean Nate or do you have memories of a wearer?
Portia xx

 

 

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Saturday Question: Do You Want More Perfumes?

I’m not sure if this question sounds strange in a perfume blog but I’ll risk my perfumista card.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #111:

Do You Want More Perfumes?

I know that not all but many of my readers have been at this for years if not decades. We all accumulated more perfumes than we’ll be able to use up in our lifetime. And still we keep searching for the next Holy Grail perfume. Or do we?

Do you want more perfumes? Are you still buying or planning to buy any full bottles? Do you hope to find new perfume love without which you won’t feel your collection is complete? Or do you feel like you’ve smelled it all, and “there is no new thing under the sun”?

My Answer

I still love perfumes. But in the last couple of months I was so overwhelmed with life that even choosing perfume to wear on a daily basis became a chore. I want to wear my perfumes, but I just don’t have any energy left to choose the one that fits my day, my mood and weather. Too many choices. And it’s not even the case of “nothing to wear” but rather an internal indecisiveness: I’m sure that I have a perfect choice in my collection – I just don’t have time to figure out what it is. So, I end up either not choosing anything or making a choice that seems subpar. With all that, I feel that I don’t need any more choices.

But at the same time, I can’t stop getting new samples to test more and more perfumes. My success rate from testing perfumes is still very low, but I’m not sure if I get upset or feel glad that I don’t love the next one I sample. Because if I were to love it, I’d want to get it… and it would have become one more option to consider in the morning. So, why do I buy samples? I think it feels safer to test perfumes than wear them: since I know that I won’t like most of those that I try, I won’t be as disappointed as I would because of the “wrong choice” I made in my collection. And also because secretly I hope to find the next “it” – perfume that I would just need to have.

How about you?

Do You Want More Perfumes?

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Saturday Question: What Would Be Your Signature… Note?

I know, I know, it’s a tough question. Whenever we’re asked to choose any limited number of something, we feel anxiety as if someone would hold us to that choice. But bear with me, there is a twist.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #110:

What Would Be Your Signature… Note?

Imagine that you have won an unusual price: for the next 5 years, one perfumer of your choice will be creating one bespoke perfume for you per year (so, totally 5 perfumes). You have a complete freedom to choose what ingredients those perfumes will have or allow her/him a freedom of coming up with compositions… as long as today you can lock in a single ingredient, your most favorite note, that will be present in all five perfumes. Perfumes won’t be soliflores, but the note you choose will be taking center stage in each of them.

A bonus question: who will be your perfumer?

My Answer

You would think that since I came up with the question, it would be easy for me to answer. It is not. I’ve been thinking about it since a comment exchange with Brigitte in the recent Scent Semantics post. And no, I haven’t won anything, it is a theoretical question…

I think I would choose as my Signature Note linden blossom. Why? I love this scent in nature; it has an emotional connection for me. And while I’m not sure that it is my most favorite scent in perfumery, I have at least a dozen of great renditions of several other notes that I love (I will not cheat and name them here, even though I’ve been tempted to do that). But even a couple of linden-centric perfumes that I love and wear do not come close to how linden blossom smells in the evening after a hot day. And I would hope that maybe in five tries we might get closer to that aroma I love so much.

And the perfumer I’d choose… I need to sleep on it. I’ll update this post with the name tomorrow.

Linden Blossom

How about you?.

What Would Be Your Signature… Note?

Jin and Portia Indian Pacific Rail Adventure
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Jin and Portia Indian Pacific Rail Adventure

Hi there Looking Glassers, Sorry I’ve was MIA for a couple of weeks. I really thought I’d got myself on top of everything before leaving on our grand across Australia train journey but I didn’t have a post locked in for here. Thought I’d done it but had not. No excuse. Sorry all.

Here’s a few pics and some commentary on our trip. After being locked down, postponing this trip three or four times because the borders to Western Australia remained closed et al. We FINALLY got on the Indian Pacific. It was worth the wait.

Indian Pacific Rail Adventure 2022

First pic is me catching the train to meet everyone at Central Station. Jin had his car at work and it’s so much easier to leave mine at home. Also, I even love riding the suburban trains.

Here we are at Central station. Martin came with us on the trip and his partner Jane stayed home to look after the dogs.

We always like to have a sneaky champagne as the adventure begins.

These pics are all taken from the train as it’s moving. They do no justice to the majesty and fabulous colours of central Australia.

We stopped at Cook, population 4! The boys did photography and I wandered around. It was once a thriving town but now mainly desolate.

The Bar Car and Dining Car were VERY social on this trip. We loved hanging out and getting boozy with everyone.

Once in Perth we met up with my childhood friend Eve and her daughter Lola. We did Rottnest Island together. I don’t know why I took hardly any photos. It was a lovely day. We took the Hop On Hop Off Bus around the island, met Quokkas and saw loads of fauna including dolphins, seals and birdlife. We also wandered around the last km or so on the way back to the jetty. Definitely worth a visit.

Back in Perth we took in the AGWA. They are having a month dedicated to First Nations artists called Blacklight. The guide was less than good, bummer. Upstairs we loved the permanent sculpture garden.
Also art but not at the galleries, the Prickly Pear mosaic mural caught my eye.


Jin, Martin and I drove a couple of hours to see the natural rock formations of the Pinnacles. Left over from a time when the area was sea bed, I think they are the calcified, petrified leavings of coral reefs. We had SPECTACULAR skies to add drama to every photo./ I was driving and the boys jumped out taking incredibly artistic shots. Mine were all taken on my iPhone from the car. None of them have been doctored in any way, that is exactly as the camera saw them.

 

It was a wonderful adventure and if you ever get the chance, jump at it.

Where will you be holidaying next?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: Do You Reapply The Same Perfume During The Day?

Not all perfumes are amouages. Well, even not all Amouage perfumes are what they used to be in terms of longevity. So, there is a good chance that perfume you put on in the morning is just a whisper, if that, in the afternoon. And then you face a choice – to reapply it or to go for something else.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #109:

Do You Reapply The Same Perfume During The Day?

If you cannot smell your perfume any longer, do you reapply it? Or do you use that as an opportunity to wear another perfume?

My Answer

When I was going to the office, I would almost always have a decant with me to reapply perfume if it subsided during the day. And then, in the evening, if I stayed at home, I would use that time to test samples.

These days, working from home, I often go scentless for the first part of the day – just because I don’t have time to properly dress up and apply perfume for the morning meetings (without video!). So, whatever I apply later, usually lasts me until the end of the work day without reapplying. After which I would test whatever I want to test. So, even though because of COVID-19 I’m free to use perfumes hajusuuri-style (I still don’t, it’s usually not more than 4 sprays), since I do not reapply the same perfume during the day, the net result is that I use even less of my perfumes.

How about you?

Do You Reapply The Same Perfume During The Day?