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Captured in Amber of My Memory

Two young girls (about 11 years old) from different parts of the country met during a summer seaside vacation and became friends. One of the girls, let’s call her Emma, wore a pendant made from amber that had a tiny fly inclusion in it. She told her friend (let’s call her Ann), who admired the pendant, about the gem – from where it comes and how it is discovered. And each morning of the trip the two of them would be searching the beach hoping to find amber – without much luck. As Emma was leaving a day earlier, she suggested to Ann, who had lost hope to find anything, to do the last search alone. Even though her parents were hurrying her to leave, Ann went back to the beach and, against all odds, found a beautiful piece of amber. She was so excited that she just clutched it in her hand and ran back to her parents. The first time she actually looked at it was on her trip back home. First she was amazed by how beautiful it was – even more beautiful than the one in Emma’s pendant. Then she was surprised that her amber also had an inclusion in it. And then she discovered a tiny hole in the gem and realized that it was from a pendant’s bail…

Amber Pendant

This is an abstract of the story I read many-many years ago. Since I remembered neither the author nor the name of the story, I tried all the searches I could think of and didn’t find it online. So I did my best reconstructing it from memory. I wanted to share it with you because it was the first association I got when I heard the perfume name Captured in Amber. Not just the story itself but that warm feeling from the generous and completely altruistic gesture of friendship: Emma, whom Ann would probably never see again since they were too little and lived too far away from each other, not only gifted her friend with her own amber but made it in a manner that ensured that Ann couldn’t refuse it.

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I find it fascinating that Shelley Waddington, the founder of En Voyage Perfumes and the creator of Captured in Amber, included in the composition both ambers known in perfumery: the accord created from labdanum, benzoin, vanilla, etc. and ambergris, which used to be known as amber before this name was adopted to mean “Baltic amber (fossil resin).” You could say that this perfume is a study in amber.

Despite what it says in the list of notes or what I read in others’ reviews, I do not smell chocolate in Captured in Amber. For me it’s rather a honey-like smell. But it is good honey, not the one that gets urinous# as it develops. When I applied Captured in Amber for the first time I was astonished by how precisely it fitted into how I imagined perfume with that name should smell. It is sweet and viscous and rich and warm and I cannot stop smelling my wrist – even when I’m wearing it with the regular application, not just testing. I keep doing that because the scent is such that I just want to soak it up in the less diffused form, directly from my skin. I feel caught, captivated, captured in that amber and I won’t even try to escape…

Amber Ring

It would be perfect to conclude this post with a picture of Rusty sniffing a bottle of Captured in Amber but I still can’t decide which concentration I should buy – eau de parfum or parfum extrait. As soon as I make up my mind I promise to make it up to you.

 

Images: pendant – from Via Valeron online store; ring – my own.

 

# MS Word spell check insistently tried to replace “urinous” with “ruinous”; not just suggesting but actively substituting. It’s not completely wrong: urinous honey note in perfume is ruinous to my enjoyment of the said perfume indeed but still I prefer a software application not to put words into my mouth, so to speak.

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Entertaining Statistics: 2014 Year Round-up

Year 2014 wasn’t the best year in my life, most of all because some of the negative events can’t be considered even educational. But still it wasn’t all bad and I’m grateful for the good things and look forward to more of those this year.

We’ve got some rain in the last two months of 2014. That hasn’t solved our drought problem but made it a bit less severe and gave us hope.

We got a chance to spend time with one of the friends from our youth whom we haven’t seen for many years. He hasn’t changed much and we already plan our future visits.

I had a relatively close encounter with charming Hugh Laurie.

I enjoyed many mini-trips to the surrounding wine regions; one of them with thoughtful and endlessly generous with her support Suzanne (Eiderdown Press) and her husband.

I received an extremely touching gift from Daisy (coolcookstyle) and hajusuuri (a spontaneous perfume lover who became a contributor on my blog).

I took an obscene number of perfumes to the Hawaii vacation (I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did).

I had good time perfume shopping with Natalie (Another Perfume Blog).

And, finally, despite all the work-related stress and busy schedule I had a wonderful holiday season, which culminated in the one of the most delightful New Year celebrations at our friends’ house in Austin.

NY 2014 Purrmaid

Now let’s see how my 2014 looks in perfume terms (numbers in parentheses are from 2013, for comparison where applicable).

Perfume Testing

In 2014 I tested1 even less perfumes than in years before. It isn’t a complaint, I think I’m testing enough: I pay attention not just to new releases or even perfumes new to me but also I’m revisiting some of the previously tested perfumes. I tested 299 (321) perfumes from 108 (107) brands on 391 (461) occasions. This year there were also fewer perfumes that I’ve tried for the first time – 147 (185) and only 55 (fifty-five!) of them were created in 2014. It’s less than, according to Parfumo, has been released by now from the beginning of this year. Probably I could add 15-20 mainstream perfumes that I smelled at a store on a paper strip and never went for a sample or skin test. But still it’ll barely scratch the surface of the last year’s new releases. 2,646! Can you believe it?! It’s a huge number of new releases and I tested 2% of them. Out of those 55, I liked – more or less – just 11 (20% of tested) but I would consider wearing only 6 (~10%) of them and, most likely, not from a full bottle purchase.

I have a feeling I’ll test even less in 2015: with endless new releases who can follow them?

Perfume Samples

Perfume Wearing

Since I usually end up not liking most of the perfumes I test and, at the same time, the number of perfumes I like and own is enough to wear a new one every day for several months, same as the year before, I mostly wore2 perfumes from my collection (bottles and decants) while using samples just for testing or the final decision stage before [not] buying the perfume I thought I liked. In 2014 I had a better rotation of perfumes than the year before – I wore 156 (142) perfumes from 61 (54) brands – but I used perfumes less often – just on 341 (355) occasions.

Stats 2014: Most Worn Brands

Eight out of twelve brands I wore the most this year are the same as for two previous years, which isn’t a big surprise: those are my favorite brands and I have those perfumes in my collection. More interesting are those brands that moved up. Two out of four got that high with a single perfume from each of the brands: Rajasthan by Etro (I told its story in the How many perfumistas does it take to … post) and Chic Shaik No 30 by Shaik (its story is still waiting to be written). The third brand, Lancome, made it also mostly thanks to one perfume – my first and everlasting perfume love Climat (I bought a back-up bottle and started wearing it more often) but there was one more perfume – Mille et Une Roses – that contributed to the statistics. The last new player on my yearly Wheel of Fortune chart is By Kilian. I finally found several perfumes in this line that I like to wear: Amber Oud, Prelude to Love and Love & Tears (and there are several more promising candidates).

Perfume Statistics

It’s getting harder to come up with new silly aspects of our hobby to present in numerical form for this monthly series. I realize that many of my current readers haven’t read all the previous posts and those who have, most likely, won’t remember each of them, but I still couldn’t bring myself to repeat exactly the same topic. Because of that there were fewer posts based just on my personal perfume-related habits (Perfumes Tested in 2014 by Year Released, How many perfumistas I met in RL, TwitterCounter’s Predictions vs. Reality) and more of those, input for which I asked from you (Ten Niche Brands You Need To Know, What is the main reason for your spontaneous perfume purchase?, 10 Most Popular Brands (based on Olfactoria’s Travels Monday Question), To Wear or Not to Wear a perfume you used to love but don’t any longer if there is no other choice?, Perfume Shopping Mecca, Favorite Amber Perfumes).

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Come back in a month to see if I could think of anything new to count. Hopefully, not sheep.

 

Images: my own

 

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.

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Orange Cats in My Life – Part V: The Ones That Got Away

Last year in December I told what I thought was the last part of the Orange Cats in My Life series. I haven’t opened a new chapter since then – it’s still just Rusty who is everything I’ve ever wanted from a cat (though I wish he’d stop eating plastic because it gets really tedious trying to keep plastic-free all spaces accessible to him). But recently I realized that there were more sides of my obsession with cats that I haven’t covered in either those posts about real cats (Found and Lost and Those that have just broken the flower vase…) or imaginary ones (A Grin without a Cat and Love from the First ‘Awww…’). Hence this interquel (it seems to be a real word; I found it while trying to figure out if there was a special term for a story that was a sequel and a prequel at the same time).

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For many years, while we couldn’t get a real cat, I was drawn to a cat theme in… everything. It doesn’t mean that anything with any cat depiction would do as some non-cat people seem to think (we all like perfumes but there are perfumes and there are perfumes – right?) but I had accumulated a number of cute Christmas ornaments, toys and jewelry featuring that object of my affection, which definitely exceeds any “civilian” person’s interest in felines.

Visual art isn’t something that is present in my day-to-day life. Two-three exhibitions per year at the local museums, three-four hours or until I get extremely bored (whichever comes first) at various museums during vacation trips and an occasional article in New Yorker magazine – that’s the extent of my interest in it. My house is decorated with a couple of enlarged photo prints, two paintings given to me by my father, who knows much more about art, and several ink drawings created by my friend many years ago. From time to time we would visit an art fair or, while on a vacation, walk into one of those galleries that seem to be so popular in all the touristy locations. But most of the objects offered there I cannot classify either as art or even suitable décor pieces – so mostly those visits had an alternate motive of warming up or cooling off (dependent on the weather at the location).

The gallery on the Big Island, in addition to a nice cool environment had also an extra attraction: a large selection of fine and costume jewelry. And while I was killing unswimmable scorching hours searching for a gem (figuratively speaking) among the offerings my vSO was browsing paintings. I do not remember if it was the only work of that author in the gallery, I don’t even know what exactly it was – an oil painting (most likely) or lithography, but it immediately captured our attention.

Nazran Govinder The Shining Sinners

Nazran Govinder, The Shining Sinners. We spent some time dancing around this piece. We almost bought it. But none of us had ever heard of the author; we’d never bought any art before, so we had no point of reference to figure out if the price was even close to be right (around $800, I think). We didn’t have a smartphone or even Internet at the condo back then to do a research. So we arrogantly decided we would do it once we were back at home. Worst come worse, I could always call the gallery and buy it over the phone…

After we came back, I read more about the artist, realized that I previously saw some of his sculptures at other galleries, decided that I wanted to get that painting (and maybe one more), got distracted… By the time I started actively looking for The Shining Sinners the author had suddenly died at age of 44. You can probably imagine what it did to his work. I couldn’t believe that I, all by myself, without reading somebody else’s reviews or articles, discovered an artist, whose paintings I liked, and I missed the chance to buy the piece that I really liked.

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Once a friend of mine sent me a link to the perfect pair of boots. She said she thought those were made for me.

Camper Cat Boots

What happened next is hard to explain. They were on sale for $100. By Nordstrom. With free delivery & return. They had my size. But I didn’t know the brand (do you see the pattern?) and I thought that maybe I should look for them in a store… By the time I figured out none of the stores around carried Camper (the brand), the boots were gone. I knew everything about them by that time but it didn’t help. I searched all online stores – no luck. I set up the recurring search on eBay – nothing but a misrepresented pair in a bad shape that I bought and returned. I even wrote to Camper Customer Support recently to ask if they ever plan to re-introduce the model – they don’t. The only positive outcome from that experience is that now I and two of my friends who were following my fiasco remember it every time we are about to postpone a purchase that might not happen later. There’s a rule called “Julia’s boots”: buy first, have doubts later.

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Wouldn’t it be appropriate to round-up the topic telling the story of a missed perfume opportunity? I can’t: not only there are no cat-themed perfumes that I let slip away (like those on the picture below that I borrowed from The Scented Hound’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide) but I don’t have a single regret about any perfume. It’s not that there are no perfumed I wished I could get now that aren’t available – there are plenty of those. But none of them fits the bill of “could have but haven’t.” What about you? Were there any perfumes in your life that got away?

Rare Perfumes

And since it’s almost a New Year Eve here, Happy New Year to all my friends and readers! Be happy, be healthy and let the missed opportunities in your life be only of the caliber of those in this post.

Happy New Year from me and from the most important orange cat in my life.

Happy New Year 2015

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Brand Loyalty

When asked: “What does winter mean to you?” (for example, recently on Puredistance’s FB page in the post for their Winter Photography Contest), people publish picturesque photos and mention travels, holidays and winter perfumes. I also published a scenic picture but my answer was: Winter is a beauty I prefer to experience for a couple of days per year on short trips from the warm (and hopefully rainy) Northern California.

Winter in Tahoo

The last two winters that I spent in my native country were awful. The combination of the bad weather and an energy crisis made living extremely hard. Central heating system managed to maintain radiators warm enough not to freeze and burst – but not much beyond that. It was constantly cold. Everywhere.

We would wake up in the cold apartment in the morning, dress up in the kitchen with a couple of gas stove burners on. 15-minutes’ walk in cold and wind to the bus stop, 15 minutes in a freezing bus, 30 minutes in a slightly warmer subway, then another 10-minutes’ walk to the office. We would sit each next to an oil heater, but the heat from all the computers, radiators and our bodies wasn’t a match to the concrete office building with large one pane windows. In the evening another hour something back. Those last 15 minutes against the wind were especially torturous: you could complain, swear or cry but you had to walk, there was nothing you could have done on that last stretch. And all that was to get to the cold apartment (lucky if it wasn’t our turn for the rotating power outage). The only place I felt warm was under the blankets.

By the second winter we bought an expensive but very useful space heater. It had two-in-one combination – a smaller fan heater and a bigger and more powerful oil radiator. That winter I’d got a nasty bronchitis and, I know it sounds melodramatic, but I felt that this heater saved me: I would close the door and heat the room in which I stayed in bed – and I’d got better. And then it was Spring and by Fall we moved to California, where I never have to experience that cold again. But I brought here with me my gratitude to DeLonghi – the company that made the heater.

For the last many years in winter I heat my bedroom with an oil radiator heater and a smaller space heater makes my morning showers more comfortable. The coffee grinder I bought more than ten years ago still is a part of my weekend Turkish coffee ritual. All these appliances are made by DeLonghi. And every time we’re looking for something for our house, we always check if our favorite brand makes that. Like the coffee maker we bought earlier this year.

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While there is no perfume brand that I could claim saved my life, there is a brand to which I feel a strange loyalty. Amouage. As I’ve mentioned before in the post “My” brand and “not my” brand, seven of Amouage perfumes were in my very first order of samples and five of those became my favorites. Currently Amouage is the only brand, for testing perfumes from which I still pay.

My Perfume Portrait lists 10 Amouage perfumes. Only Jo Malone beats that number (but it was my entry niche brand and it’s much more accessible and affordable); all other big brands – Chanel, Dior, Guerlain and Serge Lutens – have a smaller presence in there.

Ubar is one of my all-time favorites. It’s a perfume I’d put in any of my Top N lists and take to a desert island. Memoir is the second Amouage bottle in my collection. The other eight are samples and decants but I see at least a couple of bottles in my future: Lyric, Gold and Dia are very close contenders for the next full bottle spot and it will be decided based on a coin toss which decant I use up first.

Amouage Memoir

Whenever I read about new Amouage release, horde of invisible lemmings immediately haul my wallet to me. There were some recent releases that didn’t work for me (most of the Library Collection, Honour, Interlude and Journey just weren’t my perfumes). But every time I hope the new one will be even more amazing than everything else I’ve previously tried. Because Amouage is “my” brand and I feel loyal towards it (and it’s not that easy to resist when those lemmings start clanging tiny tin cups against the bars).

Garfield 11-28-1997

What brands do you feel loyal to – perfume makers or any other?

 

Images: all but the last one my own

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Entertaining Statistics: November 2014

November was slightly cooler and somewhat rainy but it was still uncharacteristically warm. But with rain I’m fine with “warm.”

I intended to use in this post statistics based on the answers to the question I posed in hajusuuri’s wonderful guest post Beyond Mardi Gras – Perfume Shopping in New Orleans. Unfortunately for me, not too many people were interested in the subject of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping – even though I asked about the perfume shopping. The number of answers weren’t enough even for the entertaining statistics so I decided not to use those. Thank you, everybody who did answer the question. You were entered into the draw for 2 ml of hajusuuri’s custom blend perfume and a block of Pumpkin Spice soap. And the winner is Nemo. Please contact me or hajusuuri with your shipping address.

December Draw results

I could have stopped there but I decided to take a look at the comments I got on my last post – Perfume Diary: NovAmber. I asked you to name your top three favorite amber perfumes.

I’m not surprised: our tastes are different. My readers named 26 perfumes. Coincidentally, it’s exactly the number of perfumes I wore in November though the perfumes were different.

The most popular amber perfume in our small but very representative subset was Hermès L’Ambre des Merveilles. Three people named it as one of their top three choices. I definitely need to revisit this perfume.

The next six perfumes were named twice each: Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche, By Kilian Amber Oud, Dior Mitzah, Mona di Orio Ambre, Ormonde Jayne Tolu and Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan. I like them all (less Mona di Orio’s one that I need to test) and I think these seven make a perfect list of amber perfumes to try for anybody who just starts their exploration of amber.

Nineteen perfumes were mentioned just once and I was surprised to find eight that I’ve never tried (marked in bold):

Brand Perfume
Carner Barcelona Rima XI
Dior Ambre Nuit
E. Coudray Ambre et Vanille
En Voyage Perfumes Captured in Amber
Guerlain Cuir Beluga
Hermes Eau des Merveille
L’Artisan Parfumeur l’Eau d’Ambre
L’Artisan Parfumeur l’Eau d’Ambre Extreme
Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Ambre Doré
Montale Aoud Ambre
Nobile 1942 Ambra Nobile
Parfumerie Generale L’Ombre Fauve
Prada
Amber Pour Homme Intense
Profumum Ambra Aurea
Ramon Monegal Ambra di Luna
Regina Harris Amber Vanilla
Serge Lutens Chergui
Tom Ford Amber Absolute
Yves Rocher Voile d’Ambre

Hopefully, with all the rains I’ll get enough chances to test more amber perfumes this season.

Rusty and Umbrella

 

Images: my own

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Perfume Diary: NovAmber

In the end of the last cold season I complained that all my favorite amber perfumes were not getting enough love from me because it was too warm and that I took my ambers mostly in the solid (as in a necklace) or vaporized (as in ambient scenting) forms.

Rusty and NY Gifts

This Fall was not better than the last winter was in terms of temperatures but my cravings for amber perfumes came back with a vengeance: we were still getting high 70s but I wanted to wear some heavy ambers. So I decided to dedicate a whole month of November to wearing all the ambers in my collection. Usually I wear only perfumes that I own (bottles and decants) but for this experiment I allowed myself to do actual wearing (vs. testing) of some of the previously tested samples. I skipped just a couple of days when I either participated in Now Smell This’ community projects or had a special occasion to which I wanted to wear something different.

November 1: with all the Halloween excitement and work-related problems I completely forgot I planned to start this project.

November 2: I remembered about the project and decided to do two perfumes the same day. Eau de Mandarine Ambrée by Hermès I chose because I didn’t expect it to last for too long. Right… It took me some efforts to scrub away that cheerful citrus with just a dash of amber. I did it not because I disliked Mandarine Ambrée but because I wanted to wear something “dressier” for the birthday party I was going to. I loved how Ubar by Amouage smelled on me that evening: it was smooth but deep and rich.

November 3: Calamity J by Juliette Has A Gun was good but I wished the projection stayed stronger for a little longer. I re-applied perfume twice during the day in the office but it would subside some time before my next touch-up.

November 4: I still can’t believe there was time when I disliked Bvlgari Black! As I sprayed it on, I thought how soft and pleasant the perfume smelled. Most of my current readers have previously read (and commented on) my story From Zero to Forty (ml) in less than 15… years: Bvlgari Black so this link is for those few who are new to the blog or missed it: I enjoyed writing it and would love to share it with more people.

Bvlgari Black

November 5: Citruses and vetiver make Ambra Nobile by Nobile 1942 interesting but I’m not sure I want to wear it on its own, not as a part of an experiment. For Steve (The Scented Hound), who shared the sample with me, it was a lucky blind buy so if you’re curious about this perfume read his much more enthusiastic review.

November 6: I remembered Ormonde Jayne Tolu to be more of an amber perfume then it proved to be this time. Maybe it felt less amber-y because in the previous days I wore more pronounced amber scents. It took me some time to fall for Tolu, there are at least four or five perfumes in the line that I liked more from the first try. But over time Tolu grew on me and I enjoy wearing it now.

November 8: Ambre Nuit by Dior is a beautiful blend of rose and amber. They make each other smoother so that none of the two plays a main role in the composition but instead they graciously allow each other to step forward for a while before switching places. I think Ambre Nuit will become a full bottle in my collection one day. Even if you’ve tried this perfume or read Birgit’s (Olfactoria’s Travels) review before, click on the link and smile (I love how B. chooses pictures for her posts!)

November 9: Eau de Tommi Sooni II is one of those perfumes that keeps evoking “Wow, it’s so beautiful!” response from me multiple time during the day as I wear it. It’s not a strongly-pronounced amber scent but rather a seamless oriental blend with amber undertones. I’m still in love with this perfume. Daphne Odora plant, on the other hand, didn’t survive (if you do not know what I refer to, read my Chasing Daphne post). Recently I got another plant. And a gardener.

Eau de Tommi Sooni II

November 10: Blue Amber by Montale is dry amber, very unisex. I like it but it’s not love. It’s an unmistakably amber perfume but on a lighter, less resinous side.

November 11: Tom Ford Amber Absolute is deep, viscous amber. It has presence throughout all the stages of its development on my skin. I should have bought a bottle while it was still available.

November 12: By Kilian Amber Oud is one of a few perfumes from the brand that work for me. Agarwood (real or synthetic – whatever is used in the perfume) and amber interweave nicely creating strong but not overbearing fusion. It develops very pleasantly on my skin and I enjoyed catching wafts of it throughout the day. I can see a bottle of Amber Oud in my collection one day.

November 13: Recently featured in Niche Perfumery System: Minor Brands post Royal Apothic Dogwood Blossom was pleasantly spicy and warm. It’s not too complex but it doesn’t bore me as I wear it.

Dogwood Blossom

November 14: Yves Rocher Voile d’Ambre starts with prominent citrus, then settles into pleasant slightly sweet amber. Voile d’Ambre managed to surprise me for the second time: even though I published about this perfume pleasantly surprising me before, I had no recollection of it. It’s very polite amber. I should wear it more.

Voile d'Ambre & Vanilla Noire by Yves Rocher

As the weather was cooling off I moved to some heavier ambers in my collection.

November 15: Dior Mitzah. This is proper amber! It’s deep but not harsh. It’s strong but not overwhelming. I love wearing it and I’m glad that with this perfume I didn’t wait too long and bought a bottle because – guess what – it got discontinued! There were some going back and forth – discontinuation was confirmed, then denied, then re-confirmed… It’s still listed on Dior’s website as “momentarily unavailable” – whatever it means. If you haven’t had a chance to test Mitzah yet, read a passionate and detailed Kafka’s review to see what you missed.

Dior Mitzah

November 16: Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan. Do I even dare to start describing this iconic perfume? I know that it’s not universally loved (but which perfume is?) but as hardcore amber perfumes go it’s perfect.

November 17: L’Artisan Parfumeur L’eau d’Ambre Extreme is one of a few perfumes from the line that I like but it is less interesting than many other ambers I wore and less tenacious at the same time.

November 18: Annick Goutal Ambre Fétiche starts on my skin very rubbery. I don’t think I would have liked it had I tried it when it was released first: it’s an acquired taste. But now I really like Ambre Fétiche perfume and especially in the drydown phase when it becomes warm and smooth skin scent.

November 19: I cannot say I dislike Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Ambre Precieux but it leaves almost no impression on me. I don’t know if spraying this perfume would make a difference but with all the other ambers I have I will not probably seek to confirm that assumption. But if you haven’t tried this perfume yet you should read what Steve (The Scented Hound), from whom I got a sample, says about it.

November 20: When I tried Tom Ford Sahara Noir for the first time my immediate reaction was: why did they have to “kill” Amber Absolute if they release Sahara Noir?!! Now, after wearing it for the day, I know why: $150/50 ml Sahara Noir with half of the staying power of $215/50 ml Amber Absolute is a much more lucrative business. I like the perfume but I protest the switcheroo so I probably won’t buy it.

November 21: Suleko Djelem was a little too spicy/sharp in the beginning but then it developed very nicely and unexpectedly I liked it. Still there is something too disturbing in the opening so I don’t think we’ll get along.

November 22: After reading Kafka’s raving review I decided to give Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Ambre Precieux another try. I still do not feel as ardent about it as she does but I agree that it’s an interesting amber perfume. I’ll try to get a decant of it eventually and see if it grows on me as I wear it.

November 23: Every time I apply Jo Malone Dark Amber & Ginger Lily for the first 5 minutes I think that the perfume is off (I know it’s not the case, I just tried it from a fresh tester at the store) but then enjoy the drydown. It’s not a pronounced amber perfume (despite the name) but it has a special significance for me so I plan to go through the decant (and maybe write a longer post about it).

November 24: I wanted to love Amouage Library Collection Opus VI. Not only because it is my favorite brand but because I read one of the most amazing reviews for Opus VI (it doesn’t matter if you’ve tried this perfume or not: if you haven’t read this review you should). The remains of this perfume smell great on my hair and I love this part. I like it through the other stages on my skin but I’m not sure if I’ll go for a decant once my sample is gone. I might: it smells great on my hair…

November 25: If Armani Privé Ambre Soie would have smelled from the beginning the way it smells 4 hours into the development, I would be happy to wear it. But it doesn’t. I find the opening almost unpleasant so I’m not sure I should live through it to enjoy the perfume.

November 26: I got a small decant of Balmain Ambre Gris three years ago (thank you, Tara). I tried it then, wasn’t too impressed and put it aside. Today I suddenly decided I wanted to wear it – even though I still had more candidates for this month’s challenge than days left. It opens a little too sharp and edgy. I was ready to dismiss it finally, but it started developing – and I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist.

November 27: Ubar got another wear this month since it’s one of my “special occasion” perfumes and Thanksgiving dinner is just one of those special occasions. I love-love-love this perfume!

Amouage Ubar

November 29: I remember loving Parfum d’Empire Ambre Russe as I was testing it a couple of years ago. I almost bought a bottle and was sad I hadn’t while they still had those 50 ml old bottles. But in the last year something has changed and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to. It’s really annoying when you’re trying to recapture the feeling you once experienced but it keeps slipping away. Before completely giving up on Ambre Russe though I think I should get another decant: just in case my most recent sample wasn’t good.

November 30: Armani Privé Ambre Orient is a great perfume to conclude a month-long exploration into amber perfumes. It’s rich but not cloying, opulent but not overbearing. I’d love to have a bottle of it in my collection but I’ll go through my decant first and only after that will think if I really can tell a difference between Ambre Orient and, let’s say, Dior’s Mitzah. I think I can when tested in parallel but I’m not that sure I could do it in isolation.

Sleeping Rusty

So, after a month and 26 (twenty-six) different perfumes, am I “ambered out”? Nope. I enjoyed wearing many of my favorites, found a couple new ones and I’m looking forward to at least a couple more amber-appropriate months.

What are your top three amber perfumes as of today?

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Images: my own

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Beyond Mardi Gras – Perfume Shopping in New Orleans

For those who prefer quiet to over-the-top Mardi Gras celebrations, fall is the perfect time to visit New Orleans: the worst of the heat is over, restaurant reservations are fairly easy to get and the streets are passable, perhaps with the exception of Bourbon Street at night.

Mardi Gras Countdown

I recently spent 5 days in New Orleans. My home away from home was Hotel Mazarin, a lovely French Quarter boutique hotel on Bienville Street, half a block away from Bourbon Street. I highly recommend it for its central location, well-appointed and spacious rooms and common spaces, friendly staff and extensive breakfast spread.

As with most of my vacations since falling into the perfume rabbit hole, I keep my eyes and nose open for perfumes. Two perfumeries stand out as quintessential perfumeries and worth a visit (or two, or three…):

Hove Parfumeur  (434 Chatres St.)

In a Now Smell This Lazy Weekend Poll, I asked for New Orleans perfumery recommendations and someone mentioned Hove Parfumeur. The boutique is surprisingly boudoir-like despite the dark wood furnishings and stone floors. Hove carries its own line of fragrances; these are available in different formats and concentrations (perfume, cologne, solid) and can be added to lotion, shower gel and body oil. Some of the perfumes have a matching soap, candle and room spray. There are over 50 different fragrances split between the Standard Line and Luxury Line. This bifurcation did not make a difference to me other than the Luxury Line is a little bit more expensive than the Standard Line.

Hove Parfumeur

So how does one smell through 50 fragrances in one visit? On top of the counter, pre-dipped tester strips marked with the perfume names are laid out on top of a sheet of glass. As you cycle through the perfumes, push forward the strips you are interested in. The staff will then pull out the perfume bottles from the cabinets on the back wall and give you an opportunity to get up close and personal with the perfumes. Most of the perfumes had a classic feel and I had a difficult time narrowing them down but narrow down I did. I ended up with a shower gel fragranced with Corduroy, a travel atomizer of Mantrap, ½ dram each of Heliotrope, Spring Fiesta and Fascinator, plus a bunch of soaps (yes, I have a soap obsession).

Bourbon French Parfums (805 Royal St.)

Bourbon French Parfums was a serendipitous find. At the library, I came across Dollbaby (by Laura McNeal), a fictional coming-of-age book set in 1960s New Orleans. Normally, I would dive right into Chapter One but this time, I decided to read the Foreword. Lo and behold, the author mentioned that the perfumery in the book is based on a real perfumery that had since moved to Royal Street. You can just imagine my excitement when I found out that Bourbon French Parfums has a custom-blend perfume service!

Bourbon French Parfums is located on Royal Street, a 13-block stretch of fine jewelry stores, antique shops and boutiques, art galleries and restaurants. Upon walking into the nondescript storefront, there’s an eclectic mix of colorful perfume bottles and atomizers, counter tops and shelves full of perfume and perfumed body products. Similar to Hove, Bourbon French carries house perfumes (Parfums de Maison), soliflors and blends with names like Voodoo Love, Kus Kus and Quadroon.

Bourbon French Parfums

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to consult with custom-blend specialist Jasmine. The custom-blend perfume corner has several trays of dropper bottles, consisting of what looks like about 100 different essences. After asking me questions about my scent preferences, she smeared 3 essences on my forearm: spicy, sweet and powdery. We went through 4 mods over 40 minutes until I got my scent. Although the minimum size of a custom blend is 1 oz., I was able to get two ½ oz. bottles since the 4th mod is different due to the addition of fig to mod 3 to brighten it. My custom-blend included: white tea, lily-of-the-valley (those who know me are probably gasping right now), tuberose, vanilla, musk, black cherry, sandalwood, amber tobacco, patchouli and citrus.

I asked Jasmine for tips for others who may visit and utilize the custom-blend service. She strongly suggests making an appointment and don’t wear perfumed lotion the day of the appointment. The store closes daily at 5PM so make sure you allow time for your visit even if you are not going to get a custom-blend.

Custom Blend Perfume

Other stores I visited that sold perfumes:

Forever New Orleans (301 Royal St.) – Would you believe this store does not have a web-shop? In addition to New Orleans themed merchandise, the store also carries the Royal Apothic line of perfumes, hand creams and candles. I bought a travel spray of Royal Apothic Plains of Thistle in a beautiful green bottle and package. Do read Undina’s post on “minor brands” to see which Royal Apothic perfume she recently bought.

Dollz & Dames (216 Decatur St.) – This is a women’s wear and accessories boutique. It carries two lines of perfume: Juliette Has a Gun and Alice & Peter. Not many stores carry these brands so this is an opportunity to spritz and test instead of buying samples.

Dollz & Dames

Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo (739 Bourbon St.) – While searching for Day of the Dead rubber duckies (don’t ask), I walked into this shop and the counter-top had perfumes for sale – Magnolia, Sandalwood, Musk, Vanilla, Patchouli and Jasmine. The shop was really crowded and I was very uncomfortable inside and left without buying anything.

Day of the Dead Duck

My New Orleans Food Experience

As someone who cannot stand hot & spicy foods, I was concerned about not being able to enjoy the New Orleans Cajun and Creole foodie scene. And boy, was I wrong! Cajun is country-style food, a combination of French and Southern cuisines, with the most common dishes being jambalaya and crawfish etouffee, both served over rice. Creole food is a refined combination of European and African cuisines with rich sauces, herbs and more extensive use of seafood. While I ultimately stayed away from Cajun food, I had my share of Creole food, including lots of gumbo. There is no shortage of restaurants in the French Quarter. I particularly enjoyed dinner at Red Fish Grill (115 Bourbon St.) and Olivier’s (204 Decatur St.).

On the sweeter side, a visit to New Orleans is not complete without a visit to Café du Monde (800 Decatur St.) and enjoying a plate of powdered-sugar coated beignets while sipping aromatic chicory café au lait.

Tip: Don’t wait to be seated. Look for an open table, sit down, and the server assigned to your section will stop by to get your order. Also, if you are planning to visit Café du Monde’s store, it is across the street from the Café and it closes at 5.

Pastry

I hope you enjoyed reading about my perfume shopping, with a side helping of eating in New Orleans. I went to many more places worth visiting – the Louisiana State Museum at The Cabildo and at The Presbytere, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the World War II Museum, among others. I also had a chance to tour the Lower 9th Ward, the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Almost 10 years later, the area is still a ghost town with empty lots, perhaps every 10th house raised or rebuilt, but there are still no businesses (grocery stores, banks, gasoline stations) in the vicinity.

Tennessee Williams once wrote:

America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.

Everywhere else is Cleveland.

He may be right.

It’s an infamous Black Friday in a couple of days. For Undina’s monthly statistics post please tell: 1) in which country do you live? and 2) have you ever done any Black Friday or Cyber Monday perfume shopping (with Internet there are no borders for a good deal, are there)? You will be entered into the draw for 2 ml of hajusuuri’s custom blend perfume and a block of Pumpkin Spice soap. The draw is open until 11:59 PM PST on (Cyber) Monday, December 1st. The randomly selected winner will be announced in the next statistics post.

Images: all by hajusuuri

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Niche Perfumery System: Minor Brands

As it often happens with attempts to classify anything, while some elements easily fit the chosen methodology, there are always those that stick out of any category one tries to assign them to. A perfect example of it is “niche perfume brand.” People have different opinion on whether By Kilian can be considered niche brand or it is a high-end mainstream. Is Tauer Perfumes niche or indie brand? Where does Caron stand?

Still intuitively each of us has a general definition of niche perfumery for ourselves and for the purpose of this discussion it should be enough: we won’t be voting any plutos off the niche island.

Major Perfume Brands

If niche perfumery were the solar system, such brands as Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle (at least until now), Amouage, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Ormonde Jayne and many others would clearly be considered major planets: all perfumistas know these brands’ perfumes; new releases are widely discussed and reviewed; those bottles are coveted and having them in one’s collection seems to be prestigious. All of that is never openly declared and there are always exceptions to that “rule” but it’s a feeling I got from participating in many online communities – on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. At the same time there are many brands that seem to be not as prestigious. Many of them are recognized, people like and wear some of the perfumes but those are treated with less admiration. Minor planets.

Among my personal minor planets there are such brands as, for example, Lush, Tokyo Milk and Royal Apothic. I’m not sure why I feel dismissive towards these brands I just know that I do not follow their releases, do not try to get those perfumes for testing and might even pass them by while at a store. A case of perfumista snobbery maybe?

Last May, while participating in Los Gatos Wine Walk (they organize it twice a year there and it’s a great way to spend a day: good food to snack on, wine from interesting small wineries to taste, small shops and boutiques to visit), I stopped at Antropologie. It was probably all that great wine and food but when I saw a beautiful dark blue bottle I couldn’t resist trying that perfume straight on skin… Half an hour later I was back to the store buying a travel bottle of Dogwood Blossom by Royal Apothic.

Royal Apothic Dogwood Blossom

Brand’s website describes Dogwood Blossom as “Night blooming dogwood flower is immersed in rich notes of ginger, coco, honey, and tonka bean. Top notes: tobacco flower, warm amber; middle notes: cocoa, ginger, honey; base notes: teakwood.” I’ve never smelled dogwood tree blossom so I have no idea if the perfume represents it in any way. What I smell is warm gingered amber, sweet and spicy. Dogwood Blossom attracts attention, it’s not just “nice” or “pleasant” but it has character. Is it my favorite amber? Probably not. But I enjoy wearing it and think it would have been my loss if I hadn’t decided to end that nice Wine Walk event with a perfume purchase.

Do “minor brands” exist in your universe? Have any of the perfumes from those brands landed in your collection or do they still orbiting it?

Images: my own.

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Entertaining Statistics: On Tweeting

“But if someone tweets and nobody reads it, did it even happen?”
From the article on Gothamist

For various reasons I skipped my regular Entertaining Statistics post this month but there is a topic I planned to discuss for a while with some elements of statistics. Let’s see how entertaining it is.

Undina's Hand & Jellyfish When I created my Twitter account almost four years ago I couldn’t understand why people would use that service at all: even with just a handful of accounts I followed it seemed just a cacophony of words, ideas and strange labels. #Jabberwocky

I tried to participate in some chats and movements (#perfumetalk, #FF, klout) but it always felt a little strange, as if while standing in the middle of a general admission floor I was trying to talk to people scattered all over the place: some of them were busy talking to others or themselves, some just couldn’t hear me over the music and some had already left quietly.

Today, four years later, I still do not see too much sense in tweeting but I still do it from time to time. I get some random news from there but mostly I use it as an announcement medium – for my new blog posts, other blogs’ giveaways and the like. The main reason I do it is the idea that I want those who actually read my posts to get a notification about them any way they prefer – by e-mail, through Facebook, Twitter, RSS, Bloglovin or Google+.

I don’t remember why but last year I decided to use one of the free services that do statistics for your account – TwitterConter. It’s a simple application: all it does is a report once a week on how many followers you currently have, how many have you gained since the last report and a prediction of the next week’s followers count.

After looking through reports for the last 63 weeks I should say that I’m officially amazed:

  1. The prediction proved to be correct only 4 (four) times; let’s throw in five more with the discrepancy +/- 1. That gives us 9 correct predictions out of 63 – or 14%.
  2. Only on 4 occasions the prediction was more aspirational then the reality (6.3%) and I gained less than they thought I would. In 53 cases (84%!!!) the prediction was too pessimistic as to my ability to attract new followers.

At the same time these reports constantly try to entice me to read their great recommendations as to how to improve my pitiful progress in obtaining more followers. Even if it had been my goal, I wouldn’t have trusted the source taking into the account the success rate of their forecasts (and I don’t like their defeatist attitude!).

October 2014 Stats

Do you have a Twitter account? Do you use it? How?

Images: my own