The banality of Monday

Monday, Monday, Monday. Boy, am I glad you are gone for another six days. The title of this post can be summed up by the news I read today that LVMH has bought a majority stake in Bulgari. Is there anything that they don't own or have their sticky fingers in?

I woke up today with a stiff neck that has left me walking around like a robot, unable to turn my head left or right, or even forward and backward. I know I did some DIY this weekend but definitely nothing so strenuous as to result in this affliction. For now I'll blame it on a poor pillow.

I have a question to ask. Do any of you find that the longer you delay putting on perfume on a particular day the less likely it is you'll put on any at all? I definitely find this is the case for me. Of course there are exceptions, for example if I'm going out after work ( a rare occasion these days with young kids) I will wear perfume if I haven't already worn some in the day. Generally though, if I haven't sprayed something on by the end of lunchtime, I reckon seven times out of ten I won't have worn any perfume by the end of that day. I'm not even sure why. It becomes almost like a state of inertia. Subconsciously I know I want to wear something, but I just put it off. It doesn't feel quite right to me. Am I a weirdo? (No, you don't have to answer that one, thanks)

In the end, I did spray on some perfume today, as I was leaving the office. In desperation I flung my hand in one of my drawers (of my desk) and sprayed the first sample I found, which happened to be A La Nuit by our Uncle Serge. It's a good thing it was the end of the working day, as I don't think I can carry this one off particularly well. Indolic jasmine - might not go down so well, unless people think I am having an affair with one of my colleagues at lunchtime... I actually like A La Nuit though, but it just isn't me. Incidentally my wife hates it on me. She wrinkled her nose as I walked in this evening and said I smelled sweet and cloying, like Gardenia or Frangipani. She says that sort of thing a lot whenever I wear a white floral. She thinks they all smell slightly 'sub tropical', which is her way of saying they smell shit. I think if I'm going to fall for a jasmine perfume it might end up being the skanky Nuit Noire, by Mona di Orio!

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 at all. They perhaps do harken back to an older style of perfumery, intense and uncompromising in a way, but I think the execution of most of them is decidedly modern. Anyway, onto Gold Man. It opens with a heady rush of green florals, which immediately struck me as being very unusual for a masculine fragrance. I know florals are more acceptable in Middle-Eastern perfumery, but even so, this struck me as very feminine in style, with a greenness that reminded me of green, leather chypres such as Bandit or A la Nuit. Just cutting the floralness is a biscuity/amaretti sweetness, almost caramel-like, but it fades quickly. I wasn't entirely sure of the florals, but definitely detected a strong lily of the valley note. As I said already, there is a definite chypre feel to Gold, with a slightly smutty leatheriness just beneath the surface. As the top faded I started to detect a metallic iris note and even a smidgen of incense, which prevented the florals from becoming too feminine. There is quite a lot of sandalwood and patchouli in Gold too, which are apparent in the heart, and I'm sure these notes are rounded off and enhanced by a generous dose of civet. At times I detected an almost rotting note, not unpleasant though, that weaved its way in and out of the composition.

In the dry down Gold never entirely loses its floralness and with the addition of oakmoss, the chypre style is even more confirmed, should it not have been apparent at the start. The incense that I thought I detected earlier never resurfaces, at least not on my skin, which I found a little surprising, considering Amouage's use of its famous silver frankincense. I should also state that Gold, particularly in the early phases, is not for the faint-hearted. It is a bit of a sillage monster and should be applied with caution, unless you want to stink out a room and its occupants. Having said that, the second half of the progression is a lot less blowsy, and it ends up as a fairly recognisable, traditional chypre, at least I think so. I should also state that in my opinion a lady could wear this as easily as a man could. In fact had I not known this was Gold Man, I would have thought it is a chypre for a woman, it is that floral.

I'm not sure if I really like Gold Man. I'm not generally a huge fan of chypres. I wear them, but there are other families and styles that I prefer, and I must say that other Amouage perfumes like Jubilation XXV, Reflection, Lyric and Epic are far more my kind of thing. I have read reviews, particularly by men, on Basenotes, that Gold Man is show-offish, crass and vulgar. I must say I find that surprising, unless you are a man who has major preconceptions of what a masculine or feminine perfume ought to smell like. Admittedly Gold is strong and a bit loud to start with, but I think this is more a result of its intense floral top and early heart notes, rather than for any other reason and in the end it is a decent green/leather chypre, but not really my cup of tea.

   

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, with surprisingly good results. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but two combinations that really hit the sweet spot for me were as follows:

Ambre Sultan and Sa Majeste La Rose - I suspected this would be a good combo, and I wasn't wrong. Amber and Rose, a match made in heaven, in my opinion. There was something about this development that reminded me surprisingly (or perhaps not) of Amouage Lyric Man. I love Ambre Sultan at the best of times and combined with the dewy purity of Serge's export rose, it reached a sultry, heady height. Yum.

Chergui and A la Nuit - I originally paired  A la Nuit with Ambre Sultan and it fell flat. Combined together the amber never emerged, while the jasmine dominated. However, jasmine and tobacco is a great pairing and with Chergui thrown into the mix it was a totally different story. I was reminded a little of Nuit Noir by Mona Di Orio, but not as skanky. Surprisingly this combo was quite dry, whereas on its own I usually find Chergui to be quite sweet. It worked really well on the hot, humid summer day we were experiencing.

What I find really showed in both these cases is that layering works really well when you combine a soliflore (or a relatively simple, linear perfume) with a more complex one. In these cases both Chergui and Ambre Sultan are  complex, rich arrangements, while A la Nuit and Sa Majeste La Rose are all about jasmine and rose respectively, and quite simple (but not inferior). The result is both stunning in each case, but not stunning for some; I asked my wife to sniff my wrist with tobacco and jasmine on and she said I smelled like a woman. Well, I happen to think women smell very nice, thank you very much!

Does anyone else layer? I would certainly recommend giving Serge Lutens a go. I'm sure there are many others in the line that would work too. 


Well folks, that's the end of June. Halfway through 2010 and I wish you all very happy perfume adventures for the next six months.