Antonio Banderas - Antonio

I received a bottle of Antonio Banderas Antonio as a gift a few years ago. During that time, I have worn it a little, but to be honest, I can't say that I find it very good. It isn't terrible, and to be fair, doesn't smell like a hundred other humdrum masculine perfumes out there, but it translates as quite synthetic on my skin, in the sense of smelling of chemicals. 

Every time I wear it, I do a search on the internet to try find reviews of Antonio. In the four years of trying, I still haven't found anything written about it, other than brief, generic blurb on discount perfume websites and on Banderas' own website. The perfume is under license to Puig, no surprise considering Banderas is Spanish. 

Fragrantica categorises the perfume as a woody floral musk, listing notes of musk, pepper, fir balsam, cashmere wood and citrus and apparently won the 2007 Fifi award for Fragrance of the Year Men's Popular appeal! 

On my skin it does smell very citrusy and green. Later on, I detect some very synthetic, fuzzy musk and a sweet note that originally made me think of this as a tobacco fragrance. 

If anyone has tried Antonio, please let me know. I'd love to know what people think of it. If you haven't tried it, I'm more than happy to give you a generous sample of it.

Serge Lutens Arabie

Could this be one of the good Uncle's most polarising fragrances (let's not even talk about Miel de Bois)? Arabie was the first Lutens perfume I ever tried, way back in the 'misty times' of 2007. It set the tone for what I initially thought applied to all the Lutens perfumes - that oft-talked about syrupy, stewed fruit accord. Arabie has it in spades, but over time, as I've got to know and love the Lutens line, I realise that in actual fact not that many Lutens really have that accord. At least, I don't think so.

To this day, I still don't know if I like Arabie. It is strong, forceful, long-lasting and very distinctive. I get the feeling that it is likely to wear someone rather than the other way round. Yet, in a strange way, I do like it. I think once the initial stewed fruit and spicy blast calms (which admittedly is a while) it becomes a very complex and nuanced perfume. Through all the spice and fruit is essentially what I perceive as a fruity leather fragrance, although this accord is not mentioned and I could be wrong. I suppose the intense spiciness of the fragrance just makes me think of leather. I think for most people, this could be a love-it-or-hate-it fragrance.

Like some of Lutens intense and challenging perfumes, I don't think I could wear Arabie frequently, but I do like trying it on occasion. One thing is for sure - it takes no prisoners.

Serge Lutens Chergui

Oh dear, I wasn't expecting this. I used to like Chergui. A lot. I haven't worn it for some time now, but trying it again today, it came across cloying, over-sweet and just a bit nauseating. It's always been a strong perfume on me, like most Lutens, which aren't known for their light, fleeting sheerness. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that today was quite overcast, humid and rainy at times, which just seemed to amplify all that Chergui-ness, like a suffocating and scratchy blanket.

For some reason, every time I smelled Chergui today, I wished I had sprayed on Costamor's Tabacca instead, which on my skin manages to seem dry yet sweet at the same time, and thus very well balanced.

Scent of the weekend - 10 Corso Como

This weekend I wore 10 Corso Como, consecutive days. It isn't often that I do this, but it is testament to how good a fragrance 10CC really is. 

I had a look back over my blog, and see that I've mentioned 10CC in passing on at least six occasions, perhaps more, yet have never written about it in any depth.

Named after the address of a Milanese fashion house, 10CC used to be the rage on the perfume boards, but it seems to be mentioned far less often these days, unless I'm just not reading the relevant posts. I think this is a shame, as 10CC is a very good perfume indeed. Luckyscent lists it as being more feminine than masculine, but to my nose, this perfume is as genderless as you can find. The notes include sandalwood, frankincense, musk, rose, geranium, vetiver and what is described as rare Malay oud wood oil. Now, considering all I have read recently (and knew, mostly) about how rare it actually is to find any perfume containing genuine oud, I am not sure how rare and genuine the Malay oud oil is in 10CC. Not that it really matters, mind you. I have to be honest and state that I don't detect an oud accord in 10CC, but that isn't to say it's not there.

In a nutshell, 10CC smells like a very smooth, sophisticated blend of sandalwood and incense. I know the notes list geranium, rose and musk, but for most of the life of this perfume, it plays out as very woody, with very little floralness about it. When I first used to wear 10CC, I found that it smelled very quiet, a skin scent. It's strange how olfactory perceptions change over time (bearing in mind my recent post on Guerlain's SDV) because today 10CC smells quite prominent on my skin. I would never call it a loud fragrance though - it is very smooth and classy. 

I love 10CC because it contains both a lovely sandalwood and an incense accord, two of my favourite notes. I find that sandalwood and frankincense go very well together anyway, considering the long use of sandalwood in incense and they combine to create a very calming and peaceful perfume.

If you haven't tried 10CC before, I would strongly recommend trying to find a sample. I read a few months ago that some people think the formulation has changed and that it doesn't smell the same or as good anymore. I couldn't vouch for that, as I've only ever tried one source of it, but to me it smells fantastic as it is.

Image credit - http://fimgs.net/

SOTD - Parfumerie Generale Hyperessence Matale

There is something about Hyeressence Matale that has me intrigued. I have written about it fairly recently, here, and I still stand by my opinion that it is a fairly straightforward fragrance, but smells amazing. It is green and citrusy to start, even mossy, and feels perfect for spring. While that is nice, it is the phase when the smoky tea accord emerges that most seduces me. The tea accord smells a bit like incense to me, which makes me think of this fragrance, ultimately, as quite meditative and calming.

Hyperessence Matale is a great tonic for the end of the week. Bring on the weekend!

Scent of the day - Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille

Is it just my skin, or is Spiritueuse Double Vanille frustratingly shy? Perhaps I have developed the nasty olfactory habit of wanting all my perfumes to be strong, but SDV is positively (negatively?) a wilting flower on me. I love the ingredients, I love the idea, and I love the smell, when I can smell it.

It takes some serious close-up wrist-sniffing to detect it and when I do - yum, yum, yummy! Certainly a skin scent on me, unless my sample was diluted. I find that a lot of the modern Guerlain perfumes I've tried are like this on me, including Cuir Beluga and Bois d'Armenie. The frustrating thing is they all smell so good, but so subtle. Too subtle in my opinion.

Has anyone else out there had a similar experience with SDV and friends?

Amouage Library Collection Opus VI

As I have mentioned a couple of times recently on this blog, Amouage's latest in the Library Collection, Opus VI, has really struck a chord with me, making it by far my favourite of the Opus range and certainly one of the best recent releases from Amouage, in my opinion. It is no secret here that I am a fan of Amouage, so I should state that my opinion is possibly biased, but in any event, a perfume house that has so many perfumes that appeal to me must be something special. I don't know why the other Opus perfumes haven't appealed much to me. I think part of the issue is that none of them has that 'something', or the wow factor. In fact, thinking back on Opus I, II, III and IV (I haven't tried V enough to form a fair opinion) I struggle to distinguish between them and if someone had to ask me right now to describe each one, I couldn't.

Opus VI, on the other hand, struck an immediate chord with me the moment I first sprayed it on a card, then on skin. The notes include sichuan pepper, frankincense, St Thomas bay, periploca, cypriol, patchouli, ambranum, Z11, sandalwood and cistus. I think what immediately strikes me about the notes is Amouage's openness about the ingredients. No fancy-schmancy bullshit about all-natural ingredients gathered personally from remote reaches of the world. Cypriol is derived from a grass-with-rhizomes, as I understand it and has a slightly animalic, spicy-musky accord, while Z11 is a new (or fairly new?) synthetic compound that has an amber profile, as does ambranum. The effect is a perfume that to me smells woody, resinous, slightly smoky/leathery and, of course, amber-like. Amouage state that Z11 gives Opus VI a bone-dry feel, and while I can appreciate that, Opus VI does not smell that dry to me - there is some 'sweetness' from the cistus and sandalwood, but it does smell gloriously woody. 

The opening has that that trademark Amouage frankincense accord and throughout the duration of wear, Opus VI to me has hints of, or a nod to Epic, both the men's and women's versions, without the oud or tea notes. 

What I find quite fascinating about Opus VI is that it smells like a totally new take on the amber genre of perfume. It does smell like an amber perfume, yet it feels totally modern and unlike any other amber perfume I have encountered. Opus VI is well-balanced too. Like all Amouage perfumes, it has stellar lasting power, but is not that forceful. At the end of the day, it smells amazing.

If you haven't tried Opus VI yet, I would highly recommend getting your hands on a sample.

Image credit - http://www.punmiris.com/