Friggin' Friday

So, its the last day of March and boy, am I glad it is Le Weekend. 

Yesterday, I had to go down to Dorset to see a client, just for the day. Now, for those of you not familiar with England, it takes about three hours to get to Dorset by train, if you only include the actual train time. Factor in getting to and from stations, waiting in stations for changes and so forth, and its closer to four hours, perhaps even five if you are unlucky and experience a delay.

So to put it in perspective, my day went like this:

Wake up 4.45, shower, shave, dress, brush teeth, get laptop bag and stumble out of front door at 5.30.

Walk to train station, catch 6.09 to London. Startled by how busy train is at 6 in the morning. Don't people have lives - who wants to commute at sparrow fart?

Arrive London Waterloo at 7.10. Buy breakfast baguette and coffee, hang about until 7.30 and board 7.35 train to Bournemouth. Work on train. Regret becoming an accountant...

Arrive Bournemouth 9.40. Walk to town centre, arrive at client 10.00.

Work until 1pm, client takes me out for lunch, but turns out I'm paying and he's drinking lots of wine. Lucky I can claim back disbursements, but won't get away with claiming two bottles of wine, so guess client got lucky. Bastard.

Get back to his office at 2.30 (client a bit woozy I suspect) and try to work until 5.15. He's not much use to me now. Start to wonder why I bothered ruining a Friday for this.

Walk back to train station and hang around until 6pm. Get on a packed train to London. Seems like every goddamn student from Bournemouth and then Southampton universities are heading home for Easter. The bastards.

Arrive London 8pm. Catch train back to Tunbridge Wells, arrive at 9pm. In desperation, get a Chinese takeout on way home. Walk through front door at 9.30pm, exhausted.

Eat Chinese and then after a shower, fall into a deep yet disturbed sleep. Wake up around midnight, parched and thirsty. How much salt, MSG and other additives were in the Chinese food? The bastards.

So that was my day and the end of March. Only good thing about yesterday was I wore Amouage Dia Man. Thank God.

Have a good weekend everyone. I certainly will!

2nd year Blogoversary

It's gone by very quickly. I can scarcely believe it, but today my blog is two years old. I'll keep this short and sweet. I've enjoyed these two years of blogging immensely and believe that during this time I have learned a lot about perfume. 

More importantly, I have discovered a lot of exceptional other blogs, written by wonderful people and along the way, I have also met some wonderful people, albeit it in a virtual world. Perhaps one day I shall meet some of you in person.

Also, a particularly warm thank you to those who comment on my blog regularly. There aren't that many of you, but I do appreciate the comments, really, and without you, my blog and my experiences would be the poorer for it.

So here's to the next year!

A sports cologne showdown

Those who read my blog will most likely be aware of my general disdain for flankers, sports cologne flankers in particular. Now, I am not claiming to be unbiased or unprejudiced here. Truth be told, there could well be some decent sports perfumes out there. Indeed, there must be, seeing as they seemingly fly off the shelves and are released with monotonous regularity. Whatever, I don't dig them, so tough shit.

In this year of the Olympics, there seems to be more than the usual number of sports cologne releases. I sincerely hope the trickle does not turn into a stream.

Today I sampled two recent releases in this genre, Chanel's Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme (mouthful alert) and Dolce & Gabbana's The One Sport.

The showdown begins with a couple of sprays on each wrist and off I go. Both perfumes' openings stray into very familiar sports cologne territory. Think high-pitched, nostril-searing citrus. I've never been a fan of Allure or any of its flankers, and I felt that familiar sense of deja vu here, at least for the first half an hour or so. I could comfortably say that I preferred the first stages of development, such as they are, from The One Sport. 

The One Sport gradually developed more of a marine/salty feel, but in fairness it didn't remind me all that much of the nineties. Into the heart notes and I was finding it has more in common with citrus/mossy men's perfumes from the seventies and eighties, without ever putting a foot firmly in those camps. At this stage I would say it is round 1 to The One Sport, with round 2 probably a tie.

However, the dry down is where it all changed for me. The One Sport dries down to a fairly benign citrusy base. Allure Homme Sport on the other, became warmer, a touch sweeter and in all honesty, a nicer and more complex perfume. With the patchouli, cedar, musk and slightly amber overtones, it strikes me even as slightly oriental in feel, which was a bit of surprise, but a nice one. I don't quite know how to measure my rounds here, but for extra complexity and interest, I would allocate two rounds to the dry down, both of which go to Allure Homme Sport. I therefore declare the winner, two rounds to one, Allure Homme Sport.

Look, in all honesty, I am not blown away by either of these, but in fairness they are both decent mainstream fragrances. I just don't know why they had to be called sports fragrances - it's an irritating term. I was pleasantly surprised by the Chanel, which goes to show one shouldn't always pre-judge a perfume, tempting as it may be to do so.

I'm not going to be buying a bottle of either of these soon, but at the same time they are perfectly good perfumes, which I can see selling well.

A bit of this, a bit of that

As we near the end of March (honestly, how could three months, a whole quarter of 2012, disappear just like that?) here in the UK we've experienced some glorious weather. A slightly nippy breeze aside, we've had days of sunshine and this weekend we got stuck into some gardening for the first time this year. 

When we moved to our house here in Tunbridge Wells, one of the first things we did during our first winter was to plant a cherry tree in our front garden. It has flourished, and this week burst into a profusion of frothy pink blossom, a true sign that spring is here, if ever one was needed. All over town, cherry trees are blooming, as are yellow Forsythia and one of my favourites, the Magnolia. Both my wife and younger daughter have birthdays in early April and depending on the weather, our cherry tree sometimes flowers on their special days, which makes my wife very happy!

On the perfume front, I have been trying a few new releases. Last week I tried Spicebomb for the first time on my skin. On paper it smelled very good, but on my skin it wears slightly sweeter and less spicy than I'd hoped. It's still a very decent mainstream fragrance mind you, far better than some of the dreck that has been released.

I've been given samples of Chanel's Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme. I haven't tried it yet, but part of me is tempted not to purely by the ridiculously long name given to it. Honestly Chanel, what's up?

I've also been playing a bit more with Lostmarch's Lann Ael and Mona Di Orio's Oud. Lann Ael's opening reminds me very much of that buttery, toasty, slightly bready smell of Serge Luten's Jeux de Peaux. After that it tones down a bit, but to me it is a very gourmand fragrance. Oud is a complex, smooth, sophisticated take on what has become a totally overdone note, but I'm tempted to say that Di Orio's take on this is one of the best I've encountered, it is that good.

Finally, after months of procrastination, I have finally started to compile a comprehensive list of my perfumes and samples. Like a true accountant, I have created The Spreadsheet, designed to be manipulated, reported on and generally, aimed to bore the pants off anyone who isn't an accountant or a perfumista. Sad, I know. Interestingly, I have only got through about a third, perhaps even less of my collection and already I have over 150 entries. I shudder to think what the end result will be!

Parfumerie Generale Hyperessence Matale

I acquired a sample of  Parfumerie Generale's Hyperessence Matale from Les Senteurs a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it a lot.

There are a lot of Parfumerie Generale fragrances I enjoy, but must state that it was incredibly refreshing to encounter a fragrance of theirs that is not gourmand in any way. Having said that, the fragrance is not that far removed from food in the sense that it is mostly about tea, a slightly smoky tea at that.

The notes, according to Luckyscent, include citrus, black tea, cedar leaves, musk, pepper and jasmine. The fragrance starts quite fresh and citrusy, which while very nice, does not prepare one for what is to come. The first time I tried it, after smelling the citrus I forgot about it for a while, then a bit later got an intriguing smoky waft, entirely unexpected (I had not read any notes at that point). While the tea accord is smoky, it doesn't have that uber-intense, almost repulsive smokiness that one encounters, say, with Lapsang Souchang tea. It is more toned down than that, thankfully. 

I have to admit that I don't get any floral accord. Jasmine may be listed but my nose doesn't pick it up. The pepper goes very well with the tea and smoke and is lent just a hint of sweetness by musk and grounded with the cedar. While fairly straightforward in construction, Hyperessence Matale is, in my opinion, very well balanced, with a good diffusion, and never boring. I have read some reviews that complain of its relative short staying power, but I can't say that I've experienced that.

I like a lot of perfumes from Parfumerie Generale, but I have to confess that Hyperessence Matale is fast becoming possibly my favourite perfume of the line.

Image credit - http://www.ausliebezumduft.de/

Aftelier Perfumes Shiso

I've had a sample of Shiso for a couple of months now, courtesy of Cymbaline (thanks!). I'm not really sure what to make of it. It's a curious fragrance, to be sure.

Fragrantica describes it as 'an aromatic green fragrance for women and men. Top notes are clove and pepper; middle notes are shiso, pandanus and geranium; basnotes are sandalwood, patchouli and agarwood (oud) Mandy Aftel states that Shiso is based on an old Geisha formula.

To me Shiso smells very herbal, with a definite green and powdery aroma. I wouldn't say it is green as in sappy stems, but evokes powdered herbs. One note that definitely stands out for me, particularly in the first half of development, is geranium. Before I even read the notes, I could identify it. There is something about the use of geranium here that is apothecary in feel. I don't know if anyone has smelled the bath and body products by Neils Yard Remedies, but Shiso smells a lot like them, quite old-fashioned in a way, which seeing as Aftelier is basing this on a turn-of-the-century formula, is perhaps not surprising.

As the fragrance develops, it becomes even more powdery, yet quite woody at the same time. Later on I get the agarwood note, but not the patchouli and sandalwood very much. I had to look up Pandanus, which apparently is a tropical plant used a lot in Southeast Asian cooking, smelling a bit like bread or rice. I can't say I detect such a note in Shiso, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Shiso leaves are used a lot in Japanese cuisine and apparently taste a bit like a mixture between basil and coriander and a little bit bitter. I can't vouch for that as I have never smelled or tasted Shiso leaves. 

When all is said and done, I can't say that I am blown away by Shiso, but it is very distinctive and unusual. For that I do give it kudos and certainly am glad I've tried it. I could see myself trying it from time to time, but not wearing it as an everyday fragrance.

A selection of quotes from Michael Edwards French Feminine Fragrances, part one

Anyone who has followed my blog over the last few weeks will probably have realised that I've been enjoying Michael Edward's wonderful book, French Feminine Fragrances. While I've enjoyed reading about the perfumes and their history, I've possibly enjoyed even more some of the insights and comments by the legendary perfumers behind the fragrances.

I am hardly an expert, but for me, the true essence of art is conveyed through emotions, both of the creator and the receiver, or audience. While I'd obviously prefer to love a work of art, I'd still prefer to be moved, whether it be by attraction or repulsion, than by indifference. Perfume is no different for me; I don't love every great perfume I've encountered, but I have been moved or stimulated in some way, and left with an indelible impression.

What struck me most when reading this book is the emotions that flowed from the perfumers. Almost without exception, these perfumes (we're talking about close to fifty) were inspired and transcended the science and chemistry behind the creations. 

So in this first instalment, I will set out some quotes that really stood out for me from the early part of the book, dealing with Guerlain and its early 20th century perfumes. I can't take any credit for this of course; I am quoting verbatim from the book and stress that all credit is owed to Michael Edwards and his research.

"It endures, not because it was the first modern perfume, but because it is timeless. Jicky is emotion translated into perfume." Jean-Paul Guerlain.

"'I couldn't put it in words', he told me. 'I felt something so intense, I could only express it in a perfume.'" Jean-Paul Guerlain on what inspired Jacques Guerlain to create L'Heure Bleu.

"First you learn to smell,", says Roja Dove. "You learn the smell of your mother, the scent of home. Then, as you grow up, you start to learn about fragrances. When you become a little bit older, you learn about fine French fragrances, and then, hopefully, you learn about the Guerlain fragrances. When in the end, you appreciate L'Heure Bleu, then you know that you really love perfume."

Sylvaine Delacourte, assistant at the time to Jean-Paul Guerlain on Mitsouko: "A perfume is an emotion that men and women can share. Little girls and boys both enjoy smelling flowers and woods. Its only later that someone lays down the law 'this is for women and that is for men'. It is not always true. A great perfume appeals not just to women, or to men, but to all human beings." 

Ernest Beaux: "If I had used so much vanilla, I would have made only a creme anglaise, whereas Jacques Guerlain creates a Shalimar!"

"To this day, there are still customers who believe that Shalimar is the name of the House. They don't think of Shalimar by Guerlain. To them its Shalimar by Shalimar." Sylvaine Delacourte