Annie Buzantian

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In the Search for the Perfect Lilac, Take 2

 

It has been a long time since I published the first episode in which I shared my impressions of Pur Desir de Lilas by Yves Rocher, Lilac by ElizabethW, French Lilac by Pacifica, Lilacs & Heliotrope by Soivohle, Highland Lilac of Rochester, After My Own Heart by Ineke and En Passant by Frederic Malle. Since then I bought French Lilac by Pacifica – as I planned, still haven’t got Highland Lilac and tried more lilac perfumes.

Rusty And Lilacs

Purple Lilac by DSH Perfumes and White Lilac by DSH Perfumes. They both smell quite realistically: I could clearly picture each of the flowers; purple lilac – slightly wilted, with some green; white – brighter and fresher. I like White Lilac more but both do not seem like a finished perfume.

Lilac by Demeter (2009). It’s perfect for the price I paid (~$5 for 30 ml). I don’t think it’s a perfume for adults but it makes a nice room spray: it smells good but doesn’t stay long enough to become overwhelming.

Purple Lilac (Lilas Mauve) by Yves Rocher (Annick Menardo, 2012). Last year I jumped through some hoops to get it from the U.K. since it wasn’t available yet from the U.S. website. It smells of lilacs if you smell it alone but in comparison to other lilac scents it seems too artificial. I was so disappointed that I haven’t even compared it to the other Yves Rocher’s lilac I own – Pur Desir de Lilas.

After all the testing I realized that even though I still miss lilacs and still enjoy the smell of flowers (and my ideal lilacs bouquet has only lilacs in it) I do not want to wear it as a soliflore. I like the note in perfumes but I want it to be well-mixed with other flowers. I think at least partially it’s because now I know that there is no natural lilac, this note is either created artificially or recreated using other floral notes so a single-dimensional scent seems too simple. If I ever want just it Pacific’s perfume is more than enough (I urge you to try a roll-on if you haven’t tried it yet).

Rusty And Lilacs

I was really looking forward to trying Opardu by Puredistance (Annie Buzantian, 2012): if anybody, this brand could pull off this note in a beautiful composition… I can’t say I disliked Opardu: it was very pleasant and it did start with a burst of beautiful lilacs but it didn’t wow me. After the first disappointment wore off I tested Opardu again, this time with a better response – that’s how it usually happens to me. Now I plan to try it sprayed since I suspect it might wear differently this way.

Rue des Lilas by Phaedon (Pierre Guillaume, 2011) just happened upon me. I heard something about it and spontaneously decided to buy a small decant from a split. I was pleasantly surprised by the perfume: it’s an interesting composition of wood and my two favorite nonexistent (for the perfumery purposes) flowers – lilac and lily-of-the-valley. Unlike Demeter’s or Yves Rocher’s lilac perfumes Rue des Lilas is a lilac perfume for grown-ups. My problem with this perfume is that I dislike the bottle: it reminds me of functional products. So if I decide to get more after I use up my decant I might go for the next decant.

White Lilac & Rhubarb by Jo Malone (Christine Nagel, 2012) was a strong like from the first sniff. Since it was a limited edition I had to decide quickly… I enjoy wearing it in hot weather. It’s more than just a lilac perfume: rhubarb and heliotrope add complexity and sweetness to the bouquet. I know that there is supposed to be rose in it but I can’t smell it at all (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Jo Malone’s Red Roses turns awfully soapy on my skin). With White Lilac & Rhubarb I had one of those moments when you keep turning your head trying to figure out from where that great scent comes only to realize that it’s coming from you. I like this perfume but still can’t imagine that anbody in her right mind would pay the price currently asked for it! And it’s not even a question of how good the perfume is: it was out there for such a short period of time that I don’t know how anybody could have developed such a deep connection to it to spend $300-$500 on a 100 ml bottle. 

Rusty and Jo Malone White Lilac & Rhubarb

Do you have a favorite lilac perfume?

 

Images: my own

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My First Perfume Review: Puredistance Antonia

When it was the Second Night, said Dunyazad to her sister Shahrazad, “O my sister, finish for us that story of the Merchant and the Jinni;” and she answered “With joy and goodly gree, if the King permit me.” Then quoth the King, “Tell thy tale;” and Shahrazad began in these words: It hath reached me, O auspicious King…”
The Thousand and One Nights

Less than a month ago I saw a tweet from Puredistance with an invitation to participate in the Scented Stories competition. I followed the link to their Facebook page and read:

Tell us your own Puredistance story! We invite you to participate in our Scented Stories competition.

Write us about your stories and special moments while wearing Puredistance. Illustrate your feelings, thoughts and sensations blended with your favorite Puredistance scent. If you express better with a image, send us a photo-mood of you wearing Puredistance. […]

The author of the most beautiful story or photo will have the opportunity to choose its favorite Puredistance fragrance! 17.5ml of either Puredistance I, ANTONIA or M.

We will announce the lucky winner on Wednesday, the 2nd of November.

I submitted my story about Puredistance Antonia perfume. And I won. Yesterday I got my prize and decided to share my story.

Puredistance Antonia perfume

I’ve changed only formatting for publishing it here and inserted links but other than that I haven’t changed a word because it is a true story; I didn’t create it specifically for the draw.

A story of my first perfume review

I am a perfume blogger. When I thought about starting my blog I realized I wasn’t ready to do actual reviews: first of all, I didn’t have enough perfume knowledge (and I still don’t) and also because I live in an English-speaking country, most of my perfume-related communications with my Perfumeland’s friends are in English but English isn’t my native language. And I loved perfumes too much to try fitting them into the Procrustean bed of my language limitations. So my solution was to write not actual reviews but stories, memories, associations related to perfumes. The tagline for my blog reads “Perfumed Reflections of Life”.

I was writing my stories – several per month, just whenever I would remember something worth telling. I didn’t plan still to do any reviews. But then an owner of a friendly blog offered several of her samples for the draw  to those readers who would promise to write at least a three sentence review of the sample they would win. I entered the draw and won Puredistance Antonia.

I struggled with my review (it’s one thing to right to your baby-blog visited then, half a year ago, by a smallest group of fellow-bloggers and it’s much scarier to do something you’re not good at for a much wider audience, including the blog owner who happens to be a writer!). But I promised to write it so I did the best I could: luckily I liked the perfume (though sometimes it’s easier to write a snarky comment when you dislike something – but then I wouldn’t be able to submit the story for this draw).

Here’s my short review for Puredistance Antonia perfume:

When I smelled Puredistance Antonia on my wrist for the first time the adjective that flashed in my mind was “bewitching”. The scent was so unusual, so unexpected… It doesn’t remind me of any other scent I wore up till now. Now I got used to it, I anticipate our next encounter so I’m not shocked but still a little amazed. Every time.

It is very potent: several touches of the vial’s applicator give enough sillage and a staying power is just amazing. Not sure I could stand it sprayed: it might be too much. But from a dab vial it is just enough. A couple of times I felt almost tired of it but it never crossed this line. What is interesting about Antonia, on my skin for the first two hours it smells exactly the same, without changing or developing: sharp green scent with a hint of … rubber? Then it mellows down a little, becomes creamier and sweeter – and stays like that for hours. I tried Antonia four times on my wrist and once even wore it (meaning, I applied it as I would any other perfume if I was using it, not just testing). I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist on all five occasions. I enjoy wearing this perfume and I will be wearing it again. A full bottle worth? I don’t know yet. It might be.

All of the stories on my blog are true stories – First Love: Perfume, My First Scrubber, My First Decant, etc. Probably one day this one will become a part of the story My First Perfume Review.

I’m wearing puredistance Antonia today, sprayed, and it feels great. At 25% concentration Antonia’s tenacity on my skin is just amazing so I don’t think I’ll use a nice handmade leather case that came with the perfume to carry it with me in my purse. But it should be great for traveling. And I think I’ll take it with me on my next trip to…

“And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say…”

Rusty & Puredistance AntoniaSince it was very hard for me to write that first review, back in May I intentionally stayed away from reading any reviews for Antonia. But now nothing keeps me from reading them and, just in case you missed them earlier, read this inspiring review by Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels or click through Dee’s post on her Antonia’s winning to her wonderful description of this perfume which is used by Luckyscent on its website. Here’s one more link to the extremely interesting post by Vanessa at Bonkers about Perfumes about her visit to the Puredistance offices.

Images: my own