Puredistance

At the beginning of this year (March) I was contacted by Puredistance, who offered me a sample of their more masculine offering, M, to review. After my review I posted a link to it, and went on with life. See here for the original review.

Recently Puredistance contacted me again and asked for permission to have my article published in a book that they are making available as a PDF on their website. I was slightly taken aback, albeit safe in the knowledge that this is a marketing tool of sorts, not down to the sheer brilliance of my writing!

Now, I want to assure you that I am not writing this to brag, but to provide an example of how perfume companies can use the internet, blogs and electronic media to their advantage, but also to the consumer's.

When tuberose ain't so good

There are a couple of tuberose perfumes I've discovered recently that work quite well for me, namely L'Artisan's Nuit de Tuberose and Serge Luten's Tubereuse Criminelle.

However, today I encountered tuberose in its worst and deadliest form - worn by a woman with abandon. I work with this woman, sweet lady that she is, but she has no idea. She sprays on tuberose (and I don't know what perfume it is, I'm too afraid to ask) like others use Bodymist and leaves a trail from Kent to Katmandu. Even worse, try sitting right next to her for two hours in an over-heated room, in the most boring meeting ever invented by that twit, The Grey Accountant.

Hmm, you get my drift, I'm sure. If I had the money, I'd buy her bottles of the L'Artisan and Lutens...

Scent of the day - two from Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Today I sampled DSH's Gingembre and Cardamom & Kyphi. Both of these strike me as quite simple constructions, but not inferior.

Gingembre I like because it doesn't conjure up foodie associations for me. While it smells like ginger, it isn't too sweet and confectionery-like, nor too zesty-zingy. Once the ginger fades, it smells to me like a mild amber. Nice.

Cardamom & Kyphi is a little strange. It has a very realistic cardamom opening note, but once that fades it smells almost waxy to me. I still think I like it though. It is different enough that I haven't smelled anything else quite like it.

Favourites revisited

This past week was ever so slightly unusual for me in that I did not try anything new. Instead I wore some of my older favourites, which, thinking about it, is no bad thing.

What amazes me about these perfumes (why does it amaze me, it makes obvious sense really) is that each time I wear them, the memories and associations they evoke come flooding back and I always get that sense of "mmm, now I know why I love this so much".

Starting with Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan, I realise that to me it is still my amber gold standard. What I like so much about Ambre Sultan is that it is complex and smells of more than amber, although amber is the star note. It never turns powdery on me, remaining fairly dry and herbal, and I love that. Like almost all Lutens I can think of, Ambre Sultan lasts and lasts - apply it at 8 in the morning and you will still smell it clearly at bedtime, and faintly the morning after.

On to L'air du Desert Marocain and I can't help but marvel how Andy Tauer manages to create perfumes so powerful and long lasting. A word of warning - if you encounter a Tauer you don't  like, watch out, because you will still be smelling it the morning after. His perfumes have stellar lasting power. Even so, this is a wonderful perfume, full of complexities. 

Finally, Guerlain's L'Instant for Men. I own a bottle of this and every time I wear it, I know I can justify this purchase. If you want to know what a quality, mainstream men's fragrance smells like, try this. L'Instant seems to get overlooked - I hardly ever read about it. I think it is wonderful.

Amouage Gold and Ubar

It's Saturday, I don't have to work, or meet anyone, or pretend to be Mr-Grey-Accountant-I-am-a-cedar-and-icky-synthetic-amber-Man (not that I do anyway), so today I pulled out my samples of Amouage and decided to wear Gold (for da Laydees) and Ubar.

Gold is good and powerful. Like a lot of the earlier Amouage fragrances, it isn't for the faint hearted. Described as a floral oriental, to me it may start quite floral and pushy, but dries down to a quality and sophisticated blend of sandalwood and incense, albeit still quite floral. I've seen this one described often as 'old lady like' and while I can sort of see why (I was surprised that this was released in 1983, according to Basenotes. Can this really be, or is Gold in the 21st century a reinterpretation of the original, bearing in mind likely reformulations anyway?) I don't personally think it smells that dated but irrespective, lets put it this way - this is no fruity floral circa 2011, thankfully.

As for Ubar, I think I actually prefer it to Gold. It is slightly sweeter, with a stronger green note, with Lily of the Valley. After this, a prominent rose note comes to the fore, not miles removed from the Lyric Note, but yet not the same either. The dry down is rich, with a hint of animalic, and still fairly sweet, but not cloying. The listed notes include civet and vanilla. A perusal of the top and base notes, including civet, vanilla, bergamot and lemon could lead one to think this might bear a resemblance to Shalimar, but actually it turns out to be a very different beast indeed.

As a man, while I find these fairly feminine, I didn't feel uncomfortable wearing them, but having said that, the grey accountant in me couldn't really see myself wearing this to a board meeting!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm sorry, I know this is slightly late, but happy Thanksgiving to those of you that celebrate it. 

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend (do you get the Friday as a holiday as well? I hope you do!) and whatever you do, be sure to celebrate with some excellent perfume too!

Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady

Not having worn Portrait of a Lady for a good few months, wearing it today brought home the truth that this is one rose fragrance by Frederic Malle that I just don't quite get, or appreciate. I know it has its fans, but I find it a bit harsh, hinting at a synthetic clumsiness that depresses me.

I know, I know. That seems grouchy, and probably unfair, but give me the superior, earlier Une Rose by Edouard Flechier any day.