With Cymbaline in London - snifftastic

Cymbaline is a lovely lady who I've become friendly with as she has commented regularly on my blog and we've exchanged perfume samples. It also turns out that she is a Bob Dylan fan too, which is even better!

She and her friend Tanya were in London for a week's holiday recently and we agreed to meet up in London and I'd show them around the perfume 'sites', so to speak. I suppose one does not know what to expect when meeting someone for the first time, which is particularly strange when a friendship has developed over the internet. It was a first for me, but I can honestly say that Cym is as nice in the flesh as she is in cyber-world, and it turned out that Tanya was too.

I caught the train up to London and made my way over to Pimlico, meeting Cym and Tanya at their little hotel on Belgrave Road. I know the Pimlico/Victoria/Belgravia areas of London very well, having first stayed in a hostel in Victoria when my wife and I arrived for the first time in London way back in 2001. Later on, the company I worked for relocated to Victoria from Piccadilly, so I spent many a lunch hour traipsing the local streets, which coincided with the time when I first got 'into' perfume. It was just a matter of time before I discovered Les Senteurs in Elizabeth Street, not far away.

Anyway, we all walked the short distance from the hotel to Les Senteurs and spent a very enjoyable hour just sniffing and looking at what they stock. I think Cym and Tanya really enjoyed this little niche gem of a store. I know I certainly do and go back time and again. They've opened a new outlet near Marble Arch and I haven't been there yet, but I love the Belgravia branch. We sniffed so much stuff that it is hard to recall everything we tried. Tanya is a fan of leather, so I know she sampled quite a few leather fragrances, including Mona Di Orio's Cuir. Cym and Tanya must have sprayed perfume on almost every conceivable area of exposed flesh! Although my sense of smell was still not quite right on the day (still recovering from a cold) I did smell a lot too and ended up getting samples of ELDO's Rien and Antihero, MPG Iris Bleu Gris and Lorenzo Villoresi's Incensi. Cym and I also smelled the new ELDO Bijou Romantique and Fils De Dieu and Heeley's Agarwood. I have to say that none of the last three impressed me much on an initial sniff. The Agarwood in particular was very slight and to be honest, I am so over oud already, that it takes a very special oud perfume indeed to wow me.

We left Les Senteurs almost in a daze and moved on to the Amouage Boutique on Lowndes Street, not far from Harrods. Cym was very keen to visit the boutique and I must say that it is very elegant and well presented. Needless to say, it smells heavenly too. Cym ended up purchasing a solid perfume of what I think is Epic and also a cream. We also smelled the new Library Collection Opus VI. I think it is safe to say that all three of us loved it. Having tried Opus VI a few times now, I can reliably confirm that it is by far my favourite in the Library Collection and the best I have smelled from Amouage in quite some time. Its combination of dry smoky amber is potent and gorgeous. If you haven't tried it already, get your hands on a sample, I urge you!

It was lunchtime by now so we meandered over to a sandwich shop across the road from Harrods and had a quick bite to eat. Cym and Tanya found it very amusing that here in the UK most exit signs say 'Way Out' rather than 'Exit' and we also chuckled over some other British peculiarities and turns of phrase. We had a good chat about where they come from in Washington State. One thing we definitely seem to have in common is the weather!

After lunch we went into that curious temple of kitsch and style that is Harrods. After climbing about six flights of stairs we eventually made our way into Roja Dove's Haute Perfumerie. Again, I think I can safely say that we were in awe - so much good and rare stuff is on display here that it felt like a pilgrimage to me. A revelation to me was when Cym asked me to dab on Onda Parfum Extrait by Vero Profumo. Wowza! What a bomb of a fragrance and strong too. So strong that I still had it on my skin 24 hours later, but what a stunning perfume, so animalic and complex. Cym also steered me to trying Invasion Barbare by Parfums MDCI. Again, I liked it very much. I haven't tried much by MDCI but this is great. By this point we had tried so many perfumes that I honestly can't recall what else we looked at, but it was a fabulous experience.

We were so 'perfumed out' by now that we decided our last stop would be Ormonde Jayne's boutique in Mayfair, so we caught a tube to Green Park and on to the Royal Arcade. When we walked into OJ, it was empty downstairs and silent, save for the tinkling bell as we entered. We stood there and were immediately met with the distinctive OJ house note, coming no doubt from the many products on display. We heard a voice shout out from upstairs that she was coming down and soon were met by an exuberant and excitable short lady, who very charmingly started to explain the perfumes to us. Although I am sure that between us we had no space to spray, the lady began to spray us with Orris Noir, Zizan and Isfarkand and explained a bit more about her perfumes. It was only at that point that we all clicked that this was no sales assistant, but Linda Pilkington herself, the owner and creator of OJ! I am not someone who has met any perfumers, so it was a real treat to meet Linda. The thing that struck us most was how humble and gracious she was and she spent close on half an hour talking to us about where we come from, her perfumes and how they are made and sourced (only briefly of course - I doubt she would give away too many house secrets). All I can say is thank you Linda for your time and treating us like we were the most important people in your life for that short time. Charmingly, Linda had to dash, as she was about to receive a parking ticket!

And so ended our perfume extravaganza. I took Cym and Tanya through the streets of Soho to a pub, where we had a pint of good English Beer, while the rain pelted down outside as evening approached. Over a beer we chatted about lots of different things, including music and Bob Dylan, of course!

We headed back to Charing Cross Station, where I was to catch my train home. I was sad to say goodbye to Cym and Tanya, even though we had only just met really. I could have spent a few days with them. As I made my way home that evening, I ruminated on the day's events and couldn't help feeling that perfume fanatics are some of the nicest people out there.

Cym and Tanya, it was lovely meeting you in person and I sincerely hope we will get the opportunity to meet again in the not too distant future.

A store, a friend and Amouage

I have a friend at a department store in Tunbridge Wells. She shall remain nameless for the purpose of this post, but some of you who have followed my blog for some time might be aware that she has been very generous in supplying me with many samples. In turn, I have tried to return the favour a little by giving her various samples to try from my collection, many of which are not readily available at most stores. 

Over time we've swopped perfume and other stories and enjoyed a bit of a natter at lunchtimes. Anyway, last week she gave me a whole lot of Amouage samples, including Gold, Dia, Ubar, Jubilation, Lyric, Epic and Reflection. I've tried many of these before, but I am always grateful to get my hands on more, for I am a Amouage fan, again as some of you will know.

Today I am wearing Dia for Men, a perfume I never grow tired of. I've reviewed it before, here, but suffice to state that it smells gentlemanly (in a good way) but by no means boring, sophisticated and frankly, just damn good. 

So, to my perfume friend, thank you and here's to more perfume patter!

The end of summer (and more Amouage)

Depending on how you view it, today could have been the last day of summer. Some people think of summer being the three months of June, July and August; others' view is that summer officially ends at the autumn equinox, which I think is somewhere around the 21st of September.

Irrespective, here in the UK summer may as well be over. In fact, I can't honestly say that it ever started. Such is the capriciousness of British weather.

Yesterday I encountered Amouage's Honour Man and Women. Typically, Amouage have released another duo of fragrances. This isn't a proper review, as I've only tried these once, but my initial impression is that I like Honour Man, but Honour Women is a stinker. Not literally, but it is a white fruity floral, and I can only handle so many of those in a ubiquitious world of feminine fruity florals. Admittedly, I am hardly in the best position to comment on this style, but the lady who showed Honour Woman summed it up most aptly when she said that it would make the perfect bridal scent. And to be be fair, I am sure Honour Woman is good, but it is so not my style.

So what about Honour Man? I liked its strong peppery opening, as well as the smooth incense and woods dry down. I prefer it initially to recent Amouage releases, such as Opus IV and Memoir, although there is still something in Honour that bears some resemblance to the aforementioned, something faintly fruity-sweet, which I didn't like. Still, it's a decent fragrance, but in a slightly cynical way, I can't help feeling that Amouage has shot it's bolt somehow. I just don't think that the recent releases are reaching the heights of some of their classics, for example Lyric, Jubilation, Dia and Gold. Then again, it was a hard act to follow.

Amouage Library collection

Ok, so now we have Opus I, II, III, IV and V. A few days ago I said that I haven't been that impressed with the library releases, particularly Opus IV. I still stand by my impression of IV. I've tried it numerous times now and it just doesn't wear very comfortably on my skin. I haven't tried V yet, although the notes do sound fantastic. I wrote about II a long time ago. At the time I liked it, and I still think it is nice, although by no means anywhere near one of my favourites in the Amouage line.

So what about I and III? Funnily enough, they were the last two I tried eventually, and have ended up being the best of the lot, particularly III. I should say that these have stellar lasting power. I first tested them on paper a couple of times, just to get a general feel for them, and the scent strips powered through my pockets for almost a week. On skin they project very well too, easily lasting through a vigorous shower. Of course, Amouage is not exactly known for its skin scents...

I don't intend to write in-depth about I and III. The notes for I include bigarade, plum, cardamom, rose, jasmine, tuberose, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, papyrus, cedar, gaiac wood, incense, tonka bean, sandalwood and vetiver. In other words, everything but the kitchen sink. The first stages are very floral, which along with incense, is an Amouage trademark touch. Remarkably I don't find the florals too much. There are enough woods and incense to balance it nicely. It is very rich and opulent though.

III includes notes of mimosa, broom, clove, nutmeg, thyme, violet, jasmine, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, musk, ambrette, papyrus, cedar, sandalwood, gaiac wood, benzoin and vanilla. While some of the woods and florals are quite similar to Opus I, Opus III smells significantly different. I detect a lot of mimosa to start, with plenty of violet in the mid stage. The dry down was sweet, but not cloying and smelled warm and inviting. Overall II really hit the spot for me and as I already said, I like it the most out of this collection.

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

Amouage Dia Men

It's been a while since I last wrote about an Amouage perfume. Readers of this blog will be well aware of my love affair with Amouage, although I have to say that recent releases have left me rather less inspired. Dia was one of the first perfumes I tried from the line and I love it still to this day.

I wouldn't say that Dia is incredibly innovative. It smells very masculine, although with that trademark Amouage use of lots of floral notes it is by no means run-of-the-mill. Above all, Dia smells to me of high quality ingredients, masterfully blended. It really does speak of class. Dia opens fairly gently, with citrus notes that are very quickly joined by herbs and cardamom. As I also said, there are some heft floral notes too. I detected mainly ylang-ylang and rose, although the list of notes mention peony, ylang-ylang and plum blossom. The heart is where Dia really sings, as the vetivier and patchouli come to the fore and a more structured chypre accord becomes recognisable. It smells slightly mossy, refined, sophisticated and, quite frankly, stunning. I also detected a slight creaminess, which I thought was sandalwood, and a hint of leather. Again, the notes do mention leather, but palisander rather than sandalwood.

In the dry down the vetiver becomes the most prominent note to me and Dia becomes woodier and more masculine in feel. The patchouli lends a slight earthiness that probably counter-balances the florals.

The notes are cistus, bigarade, cardamom, frankincense, labdanum, peony, ylang-ylang, orris, plum blossom, vetiver, leather, patchouli, amber and palisander. I have to admit that overall Dia is so well blended that I don't smell half these notes, although I would suspect that the whole in this case is greater than the sum of its parts.

I know this is a slightly technical review, with lots of notes and quite a lot of complicated development, but don't let that put you off. Dia is a lovely perfume well worth looking out for. At  least sample it. It is quite masculine, but the slightly mossy, floral chypre feel to it would make it, I suspect, a little easier for a woman to try.

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

Amouage Reflection Woman and Man

I've tried a lot of Amouage perfumes over the last few years and while Reflection Man was one of the first I sampled, I have never tried the Woman's version. Reflection Man is one of those in the line that seldom seems to garner much attention, yet I actually enjoy it a lot. It's a bit of a slow burner, without that signature frankincense, but it dries down to a lovely combination of cedar, vetiver, patchouli and sandalwood. The notes include red pepper berries,  rosemary, bitter orange leaves, orris, jasmine, neroli, cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli and vetiver. The opening borders on being an aquatic, which is not appealing, but just as you think this is going to be run-of-the-mill, the heart reveals an interesting combination of iris and jasmine and then the lovely dry down. Amouage is not afraid of using florals in its men's perfumes, but the effect is quite restrained here. I wouldn't say that Reflection Man is my favourite in the line, but it is very decent and worth sampling for a different take on Amouage. 

I have mentioned it before, that is that I quite often enjoy the Woman's 'version' of an Amouage fragrance more than the Men's. Case in point being Lyric in particular, and to a lesser extent Epic. Although I am slowly changing my mind about Epic. It is growing on me with each wearing. Reflection Woman's notes include water violet, freesia, tropical green leaves, magnolia, ylang-ylang, jasmine, amber, musk, cedarwood and sandalwood. You might notice the heavy presence of florals here, and this is possibly the most floral Amouage I have tried. I know Gold is quite heavy on the florals too, but I find the combination in Reflection Woman quite off-putting. This is definitely a case of my preferring the men's version to the woman's, without a doubt. I hate to say this, and it is a matter of opinion of course, but Reflection Woman is the least enjoyable Amouage fragrance I have tried, and this is coming from a fully-annointed acolyte of the line. It does strike me as far more marine-like than the men's version, and stays that way. Whereas Reflection Man moves away from this feel into a more appealing iris-and-woods with a light floral touch, Reflection Woman never quite achieves this, preferring to stay near whatever grows and flowers at or near the pond, dam, lake or whatever it is in this case. Incidentally, I do love the bottle, pictured top left. It is gorgeous.

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

Amouage Lyric Woman and Man

Seeing that I'm in an Amouage frame of mind, I thought I'd put together some thoughts on Lyric Woman and Lyric Man, two excellent fragrances from Amouage. I find the whole Man and Woman thing quite interesting. In the case of Lyric and Epic, both the masculine and feminine versions do have some similarities. For example, Lyric is mostly about rose, while Epic is about tea and oud. Earlier fragrances exhibit less of this cohesiveness. A classic example would be Jubilation 25 and XXV. The feminine perfume is mostly a gorgeous chypre underpinned by incense, while the men's is a fruity, spicy, woody, incense-y middle eastern delight, one of my absolute favourites in the line. Getting back to Lyric, I originally sampled the men's version a couple of years ago and loved it off the bat. It was pungent, full of incense and rose, and surprisingly floral. I hadn't smelled anything like it before. The notes include bergamot, lime, rose, angelica, orange blossom, galbanum, ginger, nutmeg, saffron, pine, sandalwood, vanilla, musk and frankincense. I still like Lyric Man, but it is an absolute powerhouse of a scent on me. It literally lasts all day and survives a thorough shower. It's no shrinking violet and if over-applied, can be very screechy and over the top. Although I love the concept of Lyric Man, the opening especially can be a bit overbearing, and the use of incense here is the most powerful and pungent I have found of all the Amouage fragrances, which is saying a lot.

Lyric Woman, pictured top left, was a much later sample and it blew me away. I would say that it is possibly my favourite of the whole line, ignoring gender. While the men's version shouts and struts its way around, Lyric Woman is understated, smooth, jammy, creamy and oozes sophistication. But don't be fooled. There is a slinky and somewhat sly facet to Lyric Woman, perhaps not that surprising. After all, most roses have thorns, and this one has enough going on to suggest some femme fatale beneath the sweet exterior. The notes include bergamot, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, rose, angelica, jasmine, ylang-ylang, orris, geranium, oakmoss, musk, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka and frankincense. The strange thing for me is that going from the notes, the ladies' version seems to contain every note known to pefumery, while the mens', while not exactly short of notes, is a bit less busy. Yet in reality, Lyric Man has far more going on on my skin, with a lot of competing notes, while Lyric Woman, to me, is mostly about a jammy sweet rose, light incense, creamy sandalwood and spice, but quite simple in development. However, I'm not for one second suggesting that Lyric Woman is inferior or actually simple. In fact, it is the harmony and interaction of its notes wherein which lies its beauty. Lyric Man, as good as it is, strikes me a bit as trying too hard, and is ever so slightly clumsy. I love the use of rose in Lyric Woman. It is a sweet, jammy, slightly earthy rose, yet never becomes cloying or like potpourri. It stays quite true to the smell of rose, but has a slight dirtiness to it that is intriguing. Although by no means the same, it shares some characteristic with Kingdom, by Alexander Mcqueen, in that it is suggestive of sexuality, without actually blatantly flirting it. Some would disagree on Kingdom - I know many find it skanky. 

Although Lyric Woman is undeniably feminine in some ways, I have no trouble wearing it and I think it performs well on my skin. It is one of the most interesting perfumes in my collection and if ever I was going to go for full bottle purchases from the Amouage line, I think Lyric Woman and Jubilation XXV would top my list. If you haven't tried Lyric before, I would urge you to give it a go. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Image credit - luckyscent.com

Amouage Opus II Library Collection

As quite a few people have pointed out recently, Amouage seems to be churning out fragrances. Certainly in the last nine months they've released about seven new ones, including the recent Memoir Man and Woman. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Amouage and any review of their products leaves me feeling slightly apprehensive, in case I am blinded by bias and not impartial. The Library Collection appears to have received a mixed reception. If anything, it seems to have been a lukewarm-ish response, with a few that have loved these, and those that think the house standards are slipping. Well, I don't. Admittedly I haven't tried Opus I or III yet, but Opus II, the one meant to be the most masculine in the collection, certainly meets with my approval. I read that it is a reinterpretation of a fougere, which perhaps it is. I don't claim to be an expert, but I didn't perceive it much as a fougere. I thought it is predominantly an exercise in incense, a highly sophisticated one. 

The notes include lavender, absinthe, pepper, pink bay (pink pepper?), jasmine, rose, cinnamon, cardamom, cedar, patchouli, amber, musk and incense. The opening for me is a light, yet strangely intense mix of pepper and citrus, and quite spicy. I don't detect lavender in its stereotypical form, or much absinthe. I'm always a little confused by absinthe anyway. It's derived from wormwood, which is a principal opening note in Yatagan, by Caron, but it is definitely not presented in that fashion here. The incense makes its presence felt almost immediately after the top notes fade, which is no surprise, given Amouage's inclination for using this note, and very nice it is too. The spiciness is balanced by a subtle, almost fruity sweetness that emerges, lightly floral but not overpowering. I take this to be mostly rose, with a little jasmine, but no man need feel uncomfortable with the use of these florals in this case. Underpinning all this is a dry and light pepperiness that I think is pink pepper, but masterfully presented. The use of pink pepper has become so indicative of men's perfumery but it smells so good in Opus II. It is almost bracing, combining with the slightly lemony facets of incense and the subtle sweetness of rose to create a wonderful heart accord. To my mind this is the most impressive phase of development in Opus II. As it moves into the dry down, the woodier elements of the scent slowly emerge and mingle to create a solid, if somewhat conservative ending to a lovely fragrance. The base smells good, and Amouage is no stranger to the combination of cedar, musk and patchouli, used in a number of their fragrances. Dia Man and Reflection Man spring to mind, but to me Opus II borrows some of those elements without simply rehashing it verbatim. 

I've read reviews describing Opus II as smelling like a barbershop, which is the usual impression created by a classical fougere, I think. However, I don't personally detect this at all and at no point did I think Opus II was a bog-standard fougere. Although it is quite masculine, I don't think it is obviously so and I can't see why a woman couldn't wear this with absolute confidence. I think Opus II is sufficiently different to its predecessors to warrant and deserve being part of the Amouage lineup and I for one am very impressed with it.

Image credit - luckyscent.com

London and the Roja Dove Haute Perfumerie

Last Friday I spent a day in London, mainly visiting and browsing a number of perfume 'shops', for want of a better word. This was a little treat to myself. Usually I only get up to London these days for work-related courses, squeezing in a hurried half-an-hour or so to pop into Liberty to spray on a few fragrances. As I was on holiday last week, I left the family behind (selfish, I know) and treated myself to a unhurried stroll through the grimy streets of the Capital. I used to live in London and worked in Piccadilly and later around Victoria Station. I started my day by strolling across St James' Park to the Army and Navy Stores in Victoria Street, now sadly just another outlet of the better-known House of Fraser chain of department stores. I think Army and Navy sounds much better - I can't remember which novel it was, but Graham Greene refers to this very store as does Somerset Maugham. Anyway, as far as perfume goes, this store has a decent, albeit fairly bog-standard selection of fragrances. I had bigger fish to fry, so after a quick stop at the wonderful Neo-Byzantine Westminster Cathedral, with its quirky red-and-white-brick towers and domes, I headed on to Elizabeth Street, in the heart of Belgravia. 

Belgravia is the preserve of new money mostly from the east, including Russian and Chinese billionaires who have a few spare million pounds to blow on a modest little pied-a-terre in Eaton Square. Elizabeth Street is home to the wonderful Les Senteurs, which stocks a brilliant selection of niche perfumes. As I've blogged a couple of times before about this perfume store, I won't go into much detail here, suffice to say that as usual, they were more than happy to decant some perfume samples for me. This is the one place in London that will literally offer to give you samples - in the big department stores you'd literally have to sell your mother to get even a sample of the most dreary recent release, in my experience. This time I picked up samples of Parfum D'Empire's Eau Suave and Fougere Bengale as well as three from the Parfumerie Generale line, Corps et Ames, Leau Guerriere and Harmatan Noir. I haven't tested any of these yet, but on paper Fougere Bengale initially reminds me of Arabie by Serge Lutens, with a weird curry note, while Corps et Ames smells like a very smooth, sophisticated chypre. Harmatan Noir is a curious, minty blend. Full reviews will eventually appear here at some point.

I wandered further up into some seriously hot retail districts, heading for Lowndes Street, where one can find the newly-opened Amouage boutique. I am a huge fan of Amouage and was thrilled to be able to visit. I am very familiar with their regular line, but my reason for visiting the boutique was to check out the attars, some 12-16 of them! The sales assistant was very friendly, but explained that he couldn't allow me to buy any attars that day as there have been recent complaints of skin irritations. Needless to say, I couldn't remotely afford to buy one of the attars anyway, but I bravely put on my most disappointed face - when in Rome (or Knightsbridge) do as the Romans do I say. He did provide me with paper strips dipped in a few of the bottles though - two of them were Tribute and Homage, both lovely, while the other two were Badr Al Badour and Al Shomuk. The intensity of these attars is quite astounding and  intoxicating. If only I had the bucks.... If any of you are ever in London, do look up the Amouage store. It is beautiful and the products are set out wonderfully. Incidentally, I also got to have a sneak-preview sniff of the latest release, set for the end of the month. Memoir Man and Woman are being released soon, inspired by Baudelaire, it is claimed. As I only smelled the men's version on paper, I can't quite comment yet, suffice to say that to my nose it represents a bit of a departure for Amouage. It's smelled quite leathery and woody, with a tinge of vetiver. I'm really looking forward to trying both of these at the end of the month.

My next stop on my perfume itinerary was that glitzy, gaudy temple of kitsch, Harrods. Not usually my favourite place, Harrods holds my interest a bit more than it used to since I became  more interested in perfume. It has a wonderful range of perfumes, not least the Roja Dove Haute Perfumerie on the top floor. The amazing thing is when you walk through the main perfume hall at Harrods, you are assaulted by a legion of spritzing sales associates. It represents my worst nightmare - I hate browsing knowing that every one of those people are bearing down on me, with the sole intention of making a sale. I did try a few of the Tom Ford Private Blends, namely Tuscan Leather, Arabian Wood and Oud Wood. To be honest, the only one that made sort of an impression on me was Oud Wood, which smelled very nice. The  other two were very subdued and fleeting really, considering their premium price tag. Once I eventually made it to the Roja Dove room at the top, it was like entering another world. I've got a picture of the room at the top left, which is a sanctuary of perfume like none you have seen before. These days I am quite used to visiting high end perfume shops and trying niche perfumes, but I was blown away by this place. Seriously. If you are ever in London, this is a must-stop, please. I was befriended by a charming man, whose name I can't remember, unfortunately (it wasn't Roja Dove...) and he must have spent about half an hour showing me around, allowing me to sniff various perfumes and explaining the origins of some of the more obscure stuff. This is not an exhaustive list, but some of the perfume contained in this one room includes the Caron Urns, Clive Christian (obscene), Xerjoff, Tom Ford Private Blend, Molinard, Amouage, Roja Dove, Guerlain, Creed, Jean Patou, Grossmith, Profumum Roma, Teo Cabanel, Puredistance, Mona di Orio, Pierre de Velay and Robert Piguet. The lovely thing is that many of these lines include the harder-to-find concentrations and some vintage formulations as well. I was particularly taken with Pierre de Velay, a line that Roja Dove apparently stumbled across in Grasse, managed to buy the formulas and tweaked them for modernisation (ie read exclude oakmoss). Most of these are gorgeous, warm chypres. My 'guide' also allowed me to sniff one of Roja's own chypres (no 5 I think) - preformulated and then the modern, no-oakmoss version. The amazing thing (and this is the first time I have experienced the effect of the oakmoss debacle firsthand) is that the older version, with real oakmoss, smelled totally different to the reformulated version. They literally were different perfumes. While the new version smelled slightly thin, fruity and almost fresh, the old version was peppery, warm, velvety and enveloping. Honestly, it was a real eye opener to me. I also got to smell the new Molinard single-note oils, trying the sandalwood, amber and musk oils, as well as the crystallised rose. This sounds weird, I know, but the assistant had to scrape out some crystals from the vial with the wand and smear them onto a paper strip for me. But the smell and potency! He did warn me. I have never smelled such an intense and forceful rose absolute note before. It literally made my eyes water. Five days later and the strip now smells of exquisite rose!

The rest of my day was spent popping into my favourite haunt, Liberty, where I tried the new L'artisan Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, on skin. I'm not sure what to say about this one. It's intriguing, and unlike any other vetiver perfume I've come across. I really need to try this again to do it justice. For ages it did not even smell like vetiver to me. Strange, but beguiling.

Finally, I spent a calm half an hour in the National Art Gallery in Trafalgar Square, enjoying some peace, before I got on the train and made my way home to the rather more mundane realm of West Kent. It was a thoroughly exhausting, yet fascinating day.

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.

   

Hoopers department store pamper party

You may recall from one of my earliest posts that we have two department stores in Tunbridge Wells. Hoopers is situated right across from the train station in a prominent position. It is in a lovely, old-fashioned Victorian building, and inside, although modern in product, it retains an atmosphere of a slightly earlier age. Although there are obviously lifts and compliance with fire and health & safety regulations, the spaces are intimate, the corridors narrow and the stairways constructed of solid wood. 

I pop into Hoopers quite often, as their service is lovely and they carry a good range of perfumes. They have the whole Amouage line, excluding attars, Grossmith, Creed, Lalique, Guerlain, Chanel, Dior, Hermes, Roget and Gallet, La Prairie and Rochas. In addition they carry all the usual designer fragrances. This past week Hoopers held a pamper party, which is basically a day where you buy a ticket, have access to free manicures, pedicures, demonstrations, receive a discount off any purchase and are given a goodie bag. I suppose this is pretty similar to the types of marketing events you encounter at the top American department stores like Bloomingdales, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and so on, although I'm sure on a much smaller scale. A lady that I have become quite friendly with in the perfume section, Melanie, invited me to the most recent one. I accepted, but was a bit nervous because it isn't the sort of event men often go to. Incidentally, Melanie is very generous with providing me with samples, and if you are reading this, thank you so much! The event itself was really nice, although I was literally the only guy in the store, as I feared. However, Melanie befriended me and helped to make me feel less out of place. I wasn't able to stay very long, but I did purchase a 10%-off sample set of the  Amouage men's line. It's not the entire line, but the six best-selling, which are Gold, Dia, Jubilation, Reflection, Lyric and Epic. I have had samples of all of these before but have sadly run out, so it was a good opportunity to stock up again. As always, Amouage's packaging is excellent and the set comes in a black box, with the samples set in a velvet template. Each sample is topped with a silver or gold (obviously not genuine) cap. Oh happy days! If they'd have had the women's set in stock I would have purchased it too, because I am as much a fan of the ladies' as I am of the mens' range. I was also given a lovely goodie bag that included minis of Prada Amber and L'eau Ambree, quite a few facial samples, a Cartier Declaration body wash, some other perfume samples and a travel and toiletry bag. Very generous I think, particularly in these troubled economic times in England. Again, a big thank you to Melanie for encouraging me to attend and for keeping me company!

If any of you reading this are from the Kent area and like perfume, I would encourage you to visit Hoopers' perfume department (and the whole store in fact). You might just find something there that will surprise you.

Just to set the record straight, I am not affiliated to Hoopers in any way and I am not plugging their store to earn money - it's purely because I like their friendly staff, they carry a good range of perfume and I think they deserve some word-of-mouth marketing.

Amouage Tribute Attar

I have long been a fan of the Amouage line, having sampled just about all of the fragrances. I finally obtained a sample of the Tribute Attar from Luckyscent. I balked slightly at the thought of paying about $10 for 0.4ml of juice, but needn't have worried, as one or two slight dabs on the wrist last literally 10 hours on my skin. As someone who has very little experience of perfume oils firstly, and even less of Attars, I was initially taken back by how strong this is! 

The listed notes are Frankincense, Rose Taifi, Jasmine and Saffron. You can bet your last dollar that there are more ingredients than this; it is too complex and long-lasting to simply have these four ingredients. The opening is quite subdued, I think probably because it is so oily it takes a little while to warm up on the skin and open up. There isn't the typical top, middle and base notes of your EDP or EDT formulations. As it warms up there is a lovely rose note that emerges, not unlike that in Lyric Women, but slightly less dewy. As the initial innocence fades there emerges a smoky leather accord and its at this point that I realised I was in for a fairly dark journey. The attar intensifies quite considerably and takes on the form of a leathery chypre, not green, but rather dominated by rose, leather and something that emerges as slightly tangy/sour. I can't quite identify it, but it does seem slightly vetivery, although I have no clue whether this is actually the case. There is no distinct progression here - the rose, smoke and incense sort of weave in and out, mingling together a bit like a wafting smoky breeze. One minute it seems really intense and almost overpowering; the next I have to sniff quite closely. 

This is a seriously complex scent; thick, dark, sweet, yet dry. I find it quite hard to describe exactly how it smells. Much later the attar does smooth out and become a dry, rosy incense with some smoke and again, what I perceive as vetiver. If I could come up with one word to describe this, it would be shape-shifter - I can't pigeonhole this in any way. It changes character constantly and keeps me guessing.

Tribute is seriously expensive, so I think it is unlikely that I will ever own a bottle of it, but to be honest, half a millilitre could last you quite a while, if you aren't going to wear it every day. I find it too complex and dark to wear often, but every now and again is a real treat. I would say that it is more suitable to cooler weather, but having said that, Middle-Eastern perfume is usually strong and complex and usually worn in very hot weather so I am keen to try this in the summer and see how it wears on my skin - perhaps another facet shall emerge to keep me riveted. This comes highly recommended, even with the hefty price tag and I would urge you to at least sample this; it is brilliant.