Layering Serge Lutens

I'm not sure about you, but I have never been a huge layerer of fragrances. I'm not sure why, but perhaps I've always been loathe to combine two fragrances that on their own are gorgeous. If it's good enough on its own, why corrupt it by coupling it with something else, no matter how beautiful that might be too? Recently however, I've been dabbling a bit with combining some of Serge Lutens' perfumes,...

Perfume inspiration?

Denyse from Grain de Musc had an interesting article today on the general malaise in the perfume industry, with complaints from people in and around the industry about too much product, uninspired launches, no originality and so forth. Her article can be found here. She ended the article by posing the following questions:When was the last time you were enchanted by a perfume, and which one(s)?Are...

Black pepper blues

Why the blues you ask? Well, I love black pepper in cooking - hardly a meal I cook or eat is without this now ubiquitous, but formerly precious, spice. Yet for some reason I find it a very difficult note to deal with in perfume. Not so much when it is well-blended with other spices, but when it is the primary focus of a fragrance. Two such perfumes with a heavy use of black pepper spring to mind,...

Perfume frustration

I'm afraid a silly post today folks. I've had one of those days that started ridiculously early and it was downhill from there. I was up at 5 am this morning, as I had to attend a business breakfast with clients, followed by an intense morning of work, a meeting that lasted my whole lunch hour, more meetings and crappy work issues the afternoon, and staff issues that took me into the evening. To top...

Honore des Pres - Vamp a NY

I was one of the recent participants in the project involving readers of Grain de Musc blog whereby 100 readers received a sample of Vamp a NY to try and then the option of reporting back on Denyse's blog or linking to their own blog. I've chosen the latter.Firstly, I should say that I am probably one of the odd ones out in this project, being male. Tuberose is a notoriously difficult note for...

Frank No.2 by Frank Los Angeles

I first came across Frank No. 2 on the Lucky Scent site, where it is evocatively described in such a way that I could imagine sitting in an armchair in front of a roaring fire in winter, with my snifter of cognac and a fine cigar. There isn't much written about Frank No. 2 in the blogosphere, so its hard to find any in-depth reviews, but the notes include bergamot, white lavender, coriander, plum...

Micallef Gaiac

I don't know all that much about the Micallef line. I have sampled Oud Homme, which is a delightful, fairly straightforward oud number, so thought I would try another from the line, Gaiac. The notes are listed as bergamot, clove, jasmin, vetiver, gaiacwood and vanilla. I think what surprised me most was how feminine Gaiac developed on my skin. Gaiacwood is not that often the focus of a fragrance;...

By Kilian - Cruel Intentions

The By Kilian line seems to evoke strong emotions in perfumistas. You seem to have those who adore the perfume and those that deplore the prices (and the extreme luxury positioning of the brand). While I could never see myself buying a full bottle, I must say that I have quite enjoyed two in the line that I've tried, Pure Oud and Back to Black. I also have a sample of Cruel Intentions, the subject...

Abdul Samad al Qurashi - Musk a Ajeeb Oil

I mentioned in a review here that I had bought some samples of Abdul Samad al Qurashi attars and oils from TPC. I really enjoyed the oud-rose attar I tried, but the two musks perplexed me. As a westerner, perhaps I have some preconceived ideas of what musk smells like, and admittedly my exposure to musk (as much as I thought I liked the note in perfume) is in reality quite limited. My benchmark of...

Ormonde Jayne - Isfarkand

I haven't had much exposure to the Ormonde Jayne line. It seems to have some fervent fans, but doesn't appear to receive a lot of blog time. I won a sample of Isfarkand recently through a small competition I entered on Nathan Branch's website. The perfume notes, according to Ormonde Jayne's website, are lime, mandarin, bergamot, pink pepper, vetiver, cedar and moss. Looking at those notes one would...

Serge Lutens - Bas de Soie update

As I mentioned on the weekend, I tried the new Serge Lutens release Bas de Soie, on skin, and my initial impressions can be read here. What I said at the time was that I thought it developed on my skin as a leather scent, rather than the described iris and hyacinth accords. Well, today I decided to spray Bas de Soie on a blotter and I was immediately overwhelmed by a prominent hyacinth note, extremely...

Chanel Antaeus

If anyone has been reading my blog articles, one might have noticed that I have reviewed very few (if any) mainstream perfumes, concentrating mainly on niche releases. That probably says more about my current perfume journey rather than a possible perception of my snobbery. I won't lie to you, a lot of mainstream releases leave me stone cold, but I do sample a fair amount of non-niche perfume and...

Samples confusion

This is a slightly silly post, but does anyone else feel slightly overwhelmed with both their samples/perfume collection and obsession? I'm sure my collection is by no means large, but for me I am really struggling to keep on top of my samples. My drawers are crammed full with atomisers, carded samples, vials, boxed sets, you name it. I don't have a very good system of keeping tabs of what I've got!...

Serge Lutens - Bas de Soie

Bas de Soie is the latest export release by Serge Lutens, which was destined for international release sometime in August. Imagine my surprise then, when walking into my local Fenwick department store this morning I saw a tester of Bas de Soie on the shelf. So of course I tested it immediately. Now, I had briefly read about its launch, but hadn't paid all that much attention to it, so I was approaching...

First encounters with Laura Mercier

 The picture tells it all for me. Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know that Laura Mercia has a perfume line, or two, if you split it into the main line and the gourmand line. I'm not into makeup, but every time you go to a good department store anywhere in the UK, you are bound to see a Laura Mercier concession and that was all I knew. Then I read a review about Minuit Enchante and how...

Abdul Samad al Qurashi

I have recently become quite interested in Middle Eastern perfume, or at least, the concept of it. I say this because up to now, my only exposure to this style/idea has been through sampling the Amouage line and trying some of the Montale ouds. However, I have not tried anything from perfume houses that are, to me at least, slightly more exotic and less accessible. Price is probably one factor, particularly...

Guerlain - L'art et la Matiere and Spiritueuse Double Vanille

I recently ordered and received some Guerlain samples from The Perfumed Court. I was particularly interested in trying some of the  more exclusive fragrances, from the L'art et la Matiere range, for example. I ordered Bois de Armenie, Cuir Beluga and Spirituese Double Vanille (SDV). It was only later that I realised that SDV is not in that particular range, but fairly exclusive it still is, or...

I'm a Tom Ford winner

Now, I'm not sure what you are thinking, but the title of this post does not mean that I've embraced Tom Ford as a Dale-Carnegie type guru. All it means is that I have won a coffret of Tom Ford mainstream samples, pictured here. These are a fairly generous size, 4ml each. The only one not included is Grey Vetiver, so what  I have are Black Orchid, Black Orchid Voile de Fleur, Tom Ford for Men,...

Sonoma Scent Studio part 2

So, part 2 of my sampling of some of the Sonoma Scent Studio fragrances. My final three were Winter Woods, Ambre Noir and Fireside Intense. My general feeling about the line so far is that most of them would wear far better in the cooler months. I could particularly see myself sampling these again in the autumn. Nevertheless, I tried these on fairly warm spring days and these are my initial impressions:Winter...

La Via del Profumo - Balsamo della Mecca

I've come to the Mecca Balsam party quite late, the fragrance having received much attention and praise back in February and March this year. The notes include labdanum, benzoin, frankincense, agarwood, tonka, tobacco, damask rose and Indian tuberose. The creator behind La Via del Profumo, Dominique Dubrana, claims to use only all-natural ingredients in his perfumes. A number of people have marveled...

Chanel Cuir de Russie

I've arrived at my final Les Exclusif sample, Cuir de Russie. I know there are more in the series, but I did not order them. I've wanted to try Cuir de Russie for quite some time, having read quite a lot about it over the years. I had a notion that it would wear a bit like Caron's Tabac Blonde, which I adore, and in the dry down I can detect similarities, if not in notes, certainly in spirit. However,...

Chanel 28 La Pausa and 31 Rue Cambon

Following on from my recent foray into the world that is the Chanel Exclusifs, today I am sampling 28 La Pausa and 31 Rue Cambon. La Pausa opens very dry, with a rooty, carroty accord of iris. I don't smell much else for the first few minutes; I do perhaps detect a slight fizz of aldehydes, but it is muted. I haven't found any firm list of notes, but some have listed iris, violet, white musk, vetiver...