Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant and Ambre Fetich

I have to admit from the outset that I have some difficulties with the Goutal line. Some are intensely blowsy, floral and feminine; others are oddly citrus, and then, with Encens Flamboyant and Ambre Fetiche, the range veers into oddly incense. I say oddly, because both of these smell offbeat to me, straddling the line between compelling, and ever so slightly off-putting. Usually I would like this in a perfume, but for some reason this doesn't translate so well for me in either of these.

Ambre Fetiche, despite the name, opens with a smoky, swirling waft of heavy incense, although beneath this fog does lie amber. It is sweet, but the smoke and incense are sufficient to balance it out. The sweetness is tinged with something sour, like citrus, but this is a feel I often detect with incense. The heart continues very much in the same vein, but slightly toned down. The fragrance becomes linear, with very little variation. In the dry down the amber finally comes to the fore, but by this stage is fairly mild, sweet and tame on my skin. I would have preferred something a bit more daring and complex, rather than the incense assault at the start and the fizzle-out at the end. Perhaps this is a bit harsh, but as far as incense and ambers go, this is not really my style.

Like Fetiche, Encens Flamboyant is jam-packed with incense. The opening is very similar, but with more incense. The incense is really heavy and if you are someone who doesn't like a lot of incense, you might be struggling. The heart again is very similar, toned down and becoming linear yet again. In the dry down the incense started to smell a little weird for want of a better word, a bit like an insect repellent. 

Of the two, I perhaps prefer Ambre Fetiche, but both are a bit heavy-handed for my taste. It's not as if I don't like perfumes with character and a bit of force, but these are too much. I find both a little easier to wear in cooler weather. In summer they just bloom and become sillage monsters, at least for me.

Image credit - http://photo.annickgoutal.com/

Time out

I have a couple of days off this week (Today and Friday) and it couldn't have come sooner. At the risk of moaning, it's been one of those working weeks that shouldn't have happened, at least for me! I won't bore you with the detail, suffice to say that it involved an irate client, a neurotic (possibly psychopathic) bookkeeper and me. Hoorah! In those sort of awkward circumstances I almost wish that I was out picking apples or something. Or being a monk  holed away in an abbey obeying a vow of silence. Oh the melodrama!

I also didn't wear any perfume today, which always leaves me feeling ever so slightly out of sorts, but I did get a few samples from one of my local department stores. Annick Goutal's Duel, Ancens Flamboyant (Yes, Josephine!) and Ambre Fetiche as well as Uncle Serge's L'Eau. Yes, that one... I've tried all of these a number of times, but for some reason when I see samples lying around for the taking, like a moth to a flame I grab! Duel never fails to baffle me. It smells so weird, and yet compelling. I never quite know if I like it or not, but funnily enough, I think it is literally the only perfume that has ever got me a viscerally favourable comment from a lady. Bizarre.

I mentioned some holiday ideas a couple of days ago. I'm increasingly gravitating towards Mallorca, particularly the north-west of the island. If I can only find a favourable deal that doesn't involve staying next to lager louts or a fish and chip shop, we'll be off in a flash!