Geo F Trumper Eucris

Geo Trumper is one of those seemingly quaint businesses that can only be found in England. There is quite a history to Trumper, gentlemen perfumers  from Jermyn Street in St James, London. I used to work a couple of blocks away from Jermyn Street, on the dividing line between Piccadilly and Mayfair, and I spent many a lunchtime strolling the arcades between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street. St James...

Jacques Bogart Silver Scent

It's seldom that I completely dismiss a fragrance. I like to think that I give most a fair chance, even those that don't begin promisingly. In fact, probably more so if they don't, because these can often surprise. However, I'm afraid to say that Silver Scent is not one of those. The notes include citrus notes, aromatic notes, orange blossom, spices, geranium, oud wood, teak bark, tonka bean and vetiver....

Annick Goutal Eau de Sud

I find the Annick Goutal line a strange one. A lot of the feminine perfumes are rich, floral, blowsy perfumes; think Songes for example, while the masculines are mainly citrus-based, and slightly offbeat. Then you get the really odd, like Mandragore or Sables. This is not to say that Annick Goutal is a poor line. Far from it in fact, but I would say that generally speaking it doesn't float my boat....

Editions De Parfums Frederic Malle French Lover

French Lover (or Bois D'orage as it is known in the US) was one of the first fragrances I sampled from the Frederic Malle line. In many ways I had only recently become addicted to the whole perfume thing and Frederic Malle was about as niche as could be, for me, and in many ways still is. I admire quite a few perfumes from the line, but I would say that in general, they are not easy perfumes to like;...

Diptyque Tam Dao

Tam Dao is a fragrance that I actually own a full bottle of, a rare occurrence   for me, as I don't make a lot of full-bottle purchases. I am relatively familiar with the Diptyque line, having sampled Philosykos, Ofresia, L'eau de l'eau,  Neroli and Lierre. It's one of those fragrance lines that always strikes me as being effortlessly chic, not trying too hard, yet occupying a fairly niche...

Alexander McQueen Kingdom

Following on from my previous post, I thought I would do a review of Kingdom today. Kingdom is one of those perfumes that has a reputation for being somewhat, shall we say, skanky. Like a lot of second hand knowledge that proliferates on the internet, I think this reputation is somewhat exaggerated. A common theme that emerges, particularly on Basenotes, I find, is that Kingdom smells a bit like a...

Juliette Has a Gun

I noticed that our local Fenwick department store, which already has some decent niche-ish fragrance lines such as Serge Lutens, Van Cleef & Arpels, Creed and Penhaligons is now stocking the Juliette Has a Gun line too. A while back, when I was going through a bit of an oud phase, I had thought of ordering a sample of Midnight Oud, but for some reason never got round to it. Midnight Oud is not...

Parfumerie Generale - Cuir Venenum

The picture on the left is kind of how I imagined Cuir Venenum would smell, or perhaps it is how I hoped it would smell. I'm generally quite a fan of PG, having sampled a lot of their range and they tend to be quite interesting, rather unusual perfumes. Cuir Venenum is unusual, granted, but not in the way I wanted it to be. The notes listed are leather, orange blossom, myrrh, citrus, cedar, coconut(!)...

Montale Greyland and Les Nez Let Me Play the Lion

I've had samples of Greyland and LMPTL for ages. I've always found them to be quite similar fragrances, so thought I would do a side-by-side review of the two today. The notes for Greyland are cedar, teak, sandalwood, pepper, elemi, cardamom, musk, benzoin and rock rose while those for LMPTL are sandalwood, cedar, incense and spices. As you can see, the notes are similar and the key here is the use...

Mandy Aftel and Natural Perfumery - Essence & Alchemy

I'm sure a lot of you will be familiar with Mandy Aftel, the name and perfumer behind Aftelier, for whom she creates entirely natural perfumes. This post is not about Aftelier perfumes, which I have not yet sampled, but rather, about a book that Mandy wrote in about 2001, called Essence & Alchemy, a Book of Perfume. For someone who is so interested in perfume (and I do read a lot generally) I...

Testing frenzy at Liberty, London

I had the pleasure of spending a morning in London yesterday, attending a thrilling course entitled "How to extract profits from owner-managed businesses". London is one of those cities that for me is hateful in the summer. I find it overcrowded, thronging with tourists wandering aimlessly around getting in the way, hot to the point of stifling on the public transport systems and most of all, smelly....

Amouage Gold Man

I may have mentioned it before, but I am a big fan of the Amouage line in general. Most of their perfumes suit my skin well and I like their lush, rich compositions, very often including high-quality ingredients such as frankincense, oud and rose. I have read Amouage being described as slightly conservative and old-fashioned, and I'm not sure why that is, because I don't find the perfumes to be that...