Easter in....

Picture: Spring, Easter and Scilla´s in the garden
Photo: Parfumista (c)

 

This year I was pondering of what the theme for my Easterposting should be. Earlier years the theme almost always has been appropriate fragrances for Easter in the (to my nose) for the occasion appropriate fragrancesgroups gourmand, incense and green. As late as this Wednesday I had no clue what theme to choose when suddenly it stood all clear derived from my SOTD that day Mitsouko Edt: Fragrances from the honorable house of Guerlain should be the Eastertheme.

Wednesday (almost Easter): Mitsouko Edt (semivintage from 2001): This is a light sort of carefree Mitosuko, almost easy to wear. The typical peachy, spicy accord is cleaner, brighter, higher on the fragrance notescale and not as multifaceted  as the Edp. The latter could  sometimes, especially with a spritz to much applied, be perceived as almost muddled. The basenotes of the Edt, at least in this version, is dominated from an uplifting and pleasant note of vetiver. I think this verion of Mitisi is truly unisex.

Maundy Thursday: Rose Nacree du Desert - Starts like a green, elegant rose with also  the greenery botteled. Than it evolves to a radiating still very elegant creamy, clean rosy chypre with vintage vibes, if it had a color it would be powdery light salomonpink. When wearing RNdD I come to think of another elegant contemporary chypre Sisley Soir de Lune even if that one is deeper, heavier and more of a evening fragrance, whereas RNdD is a daytime fragrance.

Good Friday: La Petite Robe Noir Couture - Yesterday was very pleasant like I was wrapped in a delicious dessert during the whole day. Not too sweet if moderatly applied, with  just a few spritzes the earthy base with patchouli and vetiver are more present. Excellent longevity, even now  I can smell the pleasant notes of  cherry liqueur and patchouli on my wrists. To me it really smells cherry even if the berry in the notelist is raspberry.

 

 I will continue with a post about the fragrances for the last three days of this Easter on Monday.

Happy Easter!

 

 

It's the Puredistance time of the year....

November and December is the Puredistance time of the year. Of course I'm wearing them during other seasons too, but for this dark months, one need something extra. And as it's also soon is Christmas I come to think of  that the beautiful fragrances from this house are the ones to wear for the holidays. Below some suggestions:

Picture: Puredistance Warszawa
Drawing: PR Puredistance (c)

Warszawa (Puredistance): I've worn the dark, mysterious, almost plummy Warszawa  much during grey November. An elegant, high quality dark floral oriental, with vintage vibes, boardering to a chypre in the light spicy-fruity genre (think Guerlain Mitsouko, original Dior Poison and Tauer Loretta). 

Picture: Puredistance Opardu
Drawing: PR Puredistance (c)

Opardu (Puredistance): Even if Opardu is the ultimate perfume for spring, it has recently lightened the gloomy days up. It's a lilacperfume with many other facets (for example rose) and interesting twists, with something almost crystalized, slight gourmand.Opardu is not of the light, outdoor, airy variety, it has a much deeper texture and more body.

Picture: Puredistance Sheiduna
Drawing: PR Puredistance (c)

Sheiduna (Puredistance):The grey and gloomy weather demands some true quality and elegance to be defeataed. Sheiduna is a brilliant spicy, slight gourmand oriental with warm and boozy accords. There is also some almost refreshing, offsetting notes, almost like tea. Sheiduna is just superb and reminds me slightly of another gem from perfumer Cecile Zarokain Kashnoir from Laboratorio Olfattivio.

Picture: Puredistance M
Drawing: PR Puredistance (c)

M (Puredistance): An elegant, classical gentlemans leather fragrance but just as Marlene Dietrich with Knize Ten, M could be worn by women too. A smooth and close to the skin variation of Hermès Bel Ami.

And last but not least - the luxurious Puredistance sample giftset is the perfect Christmas gift.

Thank's to Puredistance for contributing with samples to test over the years.

UNUM - Rosa Nigra

Picture: From the medevial Källa church
on the island of Öland, Sweden
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

Rosa Nigra is the latest installation in the UNUM perfume line. Rosa Nigra is as the other UNUM fragrances LAVS and Opus 1144 created by Filippo Sorcinelli. Rosa Nigra is created as a variation of the retro powdery smelling Opus 1144.

Rosa Nigra starts with an very intriguing accord which reminds me of a windy, chilly, grey, cloudy day, cold stone, chalk, earth, tangy greenery, like the steem and leafs of a rose. There are some traces from the flower of the rose too, it's a rose from a wild rosebush, not tamed to perfection, I can imagine the rose growing outside an abandoned small medieval countryside church. The tangy, green, dark spirit note of absinth is clearly present, blended with the rose and the chillyness of freesia, balanced with a pleasant peach. This is a combination thet could also be found in Burberry Body but in that one the accord is in a higher octave of the scented notescale and also a bit sweeter. In the topnotes I also find a note that reminds me of honeyed incense and I suspect someincense is involved even if not mentioned in the notelist.

Picture: Rosa Nigra
Photo: PR Unum (c)

As Rosa Nigra dries further down the blend is clearing up after the initial storm and the flowers, peach, absinth are shining also as individual notes interacting in an intricate pattern. One can recognize Opus 1144 but without the thick powdery and dusty lemony smell. The peach is the mainplayer in the second part of Rosa Nigra, the peach has a vintage vibe which make me think of a brighter and cleaner version of the peach in Guerlain Mitsouko. Later on Rosa Nigras also reminds me of the contemporary fruity chypre EnJoy from Jean Patou.The floral-fruity accords are highlighted by the well balanced woody, muksy base. The longer Rosa Nigra dries down the more rosy it becomes, once again. This time there is much more of the rose petals and the perform in a pleasant, pink, creamy version but it's well contratsted with the tangy greenery but in a smaller dose than on the topnotes. Once again the similarity of something that could be a luxury variation of Burberry Body is obvious.

Just as the incensebomb  UNUM LAVS, Rosa Nigra goes from a dramatic, imaginative opening to a much more polished and orderly second part. In the case of Rosa Nigra the fragrance goes from a medivial feeling to a polished contemporary version of a 1920s/1930s fragrance and in its latest stages to a contemporary musky rose.

I find the opening most interesting but in the second part, Rosa Nigra transforms to a very wearable (around the year), really good smelling (at least in the rosy part) and elegant fragrance. Rosa Nigra is classified as an unisex scent but to my nose that applies to the first dramatic part of the fragrance. The elegant second part is more feminine. Sillage is medium and longevity good, for 24h at least.

Rating: 5

Notes: Anise, absinth, freesia, sandalwood, peach, vanilla, cashmere wood, musk, ambra

The perfumed year 2013

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

Time to summerize some perfume related matters from 2013:

* The year started with the intention to say something perfumewise or perfumerelated each Saturday in the "Fragrance(s) of the week" post. This routine lasted as long as three quaters of the year then it subsided. Writing two posts a week, which usually are reviews, is just enough having a full time job in a complete different business, family etc.

* My Twitter also subsided after almost two years of SOTD tweeting. In the end I almost felt exhausted about this daily compulsion. In 2014 I'll try a middle course, tweeting for a  week now and then.

* During the year I tested, sniffed just for short briefs or evaluated fragrance testings outsourced to Mr Parfumista, a number of ca 135 fragrances. It  means that in about 37% of the days of 2013, some form of perfume evaluating activity took place. Upon this there are of course also fragrances just worn which I have not written about but I have registrated most of them in my "scentmemoey" as references.

*In 2013 there was just one or two fragrance free days and this was when I had a stomach flu. When I'm cold and can't smell anything I put on a light cologne for its ambience. In 2014 the sniffing rate will slow down (I think).

*Days when there are no fragrance assessments on the agenda I relax in comforting fragances as for example the Piguets, the Goutals, the By Kilians or the Hermes Colognes or just appreciate the classics. For example Guerlain Mitsouko is far more interesting than most of the new releases even in its current formula.

*I'll coming back to my perfume testing routines in a post next year, ie how I test and evaluate for a full review.

* In 2013, even if there where many good releases, my nose become a bit jaded. There is nothing wrong with the releases as such, but when sniffing a lot of fragrances, in the end, not many of them stands out. Different  fragrances within a certain category are generally very close in style and smell. When reviewing I try to don't let this affect the assessment as such, I like to compare them with other fragrances captured in the scentmemory.

* 2013 was also the year when the EU restrctions which became effective July 1 would put an end to many of the classics so I've stocked up some during the first half of the year, just to be sure. Today it seems as in reality nothing has happened, but who knows when the old stocks runs out.

* At the moment there are some positive signs about the perfumed future. I read somewhere on Bois de Jasmin that Victoria had smelled a new batch of Mitsouko which was very good and smelled much more like the vintage version. Some newly invented/improved moss substitutes are probably the reason for that. Hopefully this is just the start for new inventions and who knows, in the end and taken as a whole, maybe the restrictions dosen't matter. Maybe something even better comes out of this within a few years.

I wish all readers a Happy New 2014!

Fragrance(s) of the week (45) - Jaded but enchanted

Picture: Fall is almost already over.
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

The more fragrances I sniff and/or test, of course just a dimunitive part of the steadily increasing flood of new launches and new houses, the more jaded.Even if a good fragrance as such, there is not so often a fragrance really moves me, even if I can apprediate its composition and good ingredients etc. I see myself more and more longing for the classics (even if reformulated) both older and contemporary classics. Also old reaible houses which have been around for a while, don't overdo and mess the fragrances up, or is just too much in appearance, gets my appreciation. Such houses as Guerlain, Chanel, Hermès, Annick Goutal, Robert Piguet, Parfums de Nicolaï, Serge Lutens some Diors, Maître Parfumeur et Gantier. From newer, but today well established houses, Puredistance, Andy Tauer, Ramon Monegal and By Kilian seldom dissapoint.

To wear the classics, if gentle reformulated with the spirit of the fragrance perserved, is enchanted and never boring. Each fragrance has its own individual profile and it's not one in a dozen (at least) of the similar smelling crowd. When writing this I'm craving classic Guerlains; Shalimar, Liu and Mitsouko,classic Chanels as No 22, Cuir de Russie and the contemporary classic No 5 Eau Premiere and the also contemporary Hermès classic Eau de Merveilles. But honestly I seldom wear them as I'm too curious to resist sampling new frags :-).

Fragrance(s) of the week (30) 2013 - About Mitsi

Picture: Autumn Red peach
Photo: Jack Dykinga, USDA, Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this week I performed a side by side comparasion between the current version of Mitsouko Edp and an earlier version about 10 years old (golden box with yellow fields). The overall impression is similar but I perceive the current version as brighter and thinner in texture, the peachnote is also a tad less ripe. There is also a note close to light vetiver in the base, probably some mossubstitute as I recognize this note from some contemporary chypres and such as Grossmith Golden Chypre. The older version is deeper, darker, moistier and mossier and the impression is more "old-styled". The peachnote is more ripe and light spicy, the base is darker and mossier.  The longevity is about the same for both versions.

I like both versions and just as with the Edt I think that the modern version is more wearable as it is better suited to the tastes of the 2010s, despite retro in style compared to most of the current fragranceofferings. The older version is more oldstyled and reserved for the days when the retromood appears. Overall the new version is a wellcrafted fragrance more intriguing and special even than most of todays niche-offerings.

Fragrance(s) of the week (19) 2013 - Hurry up!

Picture: Miss Dior
Photo: PR Christian Dior (c)

When I a few days ago was reading  this scary entry on the parfumehistorian/perfumeexpert Octavians blog 1000Fragrances, I can not help feel contended with my perfumecollecting strategy during the latest 6-7 months. I have stocked up and complemented with some classics that I really like or think a "full" perfumecollection should contain.

Of course these classics have been reformulated many times since they first appeared but as I have understand from reading the experts as Octavian and Elena at  Perfumeshrine the new regulations will almost completely ruin many of the greats. So the latest half year I have neglected  investments in current perfumereleases, of course I have tested as many as always from samples, but as FB investments I have given the classics the total priority. And even there are some very nice stuff in the current releases tested, overall I get a greater experience with these by this operation salvaged classics as Dior Miss Dior (orginale but the version before the Orignale was added to the name) back-up bottle and Dolce Vita, back-up bottles of Thierry Mugler Angel, Guerlain Shalimar, Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue and also the 2010 version of Yves Saint Laurent Opium to spare my ca 25 ml left of the vintage Edt-version.

Today, it's only 61 days left, so hurry up if you want to be sure to secure some of the perfumelegacy for your collection.........

Picture: Guerlain Mitsouko
Photo: PR Guerlain (c)

Fragrance(s) of the week (11) 2013

Picture: Good old Mitsi
Photo: One of the myriads of  the PR pictures of this classic .

This week I have been terribly cold and just smell fragments of the frags I'm wearing. Beside my Frederic Malle testing activity, my belated Guerlain obsession is growing. I really appreciate to wear (even if they don't suit me perfectly) the classics like Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue in different strenghts and longing for apring and Apres l'Ondee. Even in the current or almost current versions, this frags are by far more original than most of the niche launched today. And also like several of the current Guerlains, for example Cuir Beluga is caring with its smooth, suedelike texture, which is excellent when having a bad cold. I also have to admit that I like Shalimar Initial with its elegant iris-patchouli accord and Shalimar Initial L'Eau, an interersting bergamot and iris combination, perfect for spring.

To further enhance this Guerlaineuphoria I just have to hang around at Monsieur Guerlains blog drooling over these beauties

Fragrance(s) of the week (3) 2013

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

This week I had new experiences with two fragrances which until now have been a bit hard for me:

* Old Mitsi - Mitsouko. It seems as after almost ten years of experimenting I finally found the right dosage and right climat conditions etc as Mitsi now seems to fit quite well. Or at least I imagine so, as every true parfumista of course want this classic to fit. As I lunched with Fragrantfanatic that day, I got a professional opinion; the peaches over the moss was the main impression and that Mitsi smelled good.

* Today  (snowy as usual, - 20 C  :-) I percieved Douglas Hannant by Robert Piguet in a quite different way than when worn in the spring and summer. In the warmer months the pearnote takes the centerstage and DH becames fruity-floral in apperance with a touch of detergent. Today it performs as a bright, clearly tubereusedominated, white floral with just a light supporting pearnote and no laundry vibes. Delicious!

Passande klassiker 2 (4)

Foto: Pafumista (c)

Ursprungligen publicerat på min tidigare blogg "Parfumistans blogg" på Damerns Världs hemsida i januari 2008.

Tyvärr passar jag inte i någon av nedanstående stora kreationer:

Mitsouko (Guerlain) Hur mycket jag än vill passa i denna persiko-trä-chypre så funkar den inte. Men alla andra Parfumistor verkar den passa på …

Shocking (Schirapielli) Luktar kryddig ros på flaskan men enligt herr Parfumista doftar den på mig damträff på Svalnäs.

L’Air du Temps (Ricci) Får mig att känna mig som den framlidna brittiska drottningmodern- wanna-bee.

Oscar (de la Renta) Passade (?) för tjugofem år sedan men luktar i dag som om (återigen enligt herr P) farmor stigit in i bilen.

L’Heure Bleue (Guerlain) Vem vill inte passa i den blå timmens melankoliska doft? Så fin på flaskan men blir tant applicerad på mig.

Chanel No 5 (Chanel) Tyvärr, tyvärr, på mig luktar denna klassikernas klassiker parfymbutik. Den blir liksom bara en doft.

Rose Absolute (Goutal) Denna rena rosendoft slutar tyvärr bara i ett potpurri på mig.

Vilka är dina klassiska besvikelser?

Kommentar 2011: Har gjort mig av med de flesta av dessa prover eller om det fanns en flaska. Den enda som jag fortfarande kämpar med är Mitsouko, någon enstaka gång har den som helhet blivt bra på mig. Vanligen doftar toppnoterna bra men sedan....Chanel No 5 har jag närmat mig igen och nu passar den riktigt bra även om  Eau Premiere passar bättre...L'Heure Bleue finns förstås kvar som referensrör men jag försöker inte ens testa den mer.

Herrdofter

Signaturen mag1102 vill att jag tipsar om dofter för män (tack för förtroendet). Visst kan jag lägga in några kommenterer framöver. Men eftersom jag provar de dofter jag djuplodar i på mig själv så är jag rädd att det inte finns så stort utrymme för herrdofter. Jag är nämligen så tråkig och trist att jag till 98% bär dofter klassade som dam eller unisex. Detta för att det finns så otroligt mycket fler sk damdofter än herrdofter och för att damdofterna (generellt sett), hur ohippt det än är, passar bättre på mig. Dessutom vill (som framskymtat i några tidigare inlägg) herr Parfumista ha sin doftgarderob i fred. Kan förstå att han inte vill att jag ska springa runt med hans kinkigt utvalda dofter. Han skulle aldrig sätta på sig en doft som han inte känner sig helt i komfort med så där skiljer han sig från mig. Jag kan ju som bekant genomlida en dag med Mitsouko bara för att det är en stor doft trots att jag egentligen inte trivs i den.

Dagens Doft - Mitsi

Idag tänkte jag "genomlida" en dag med Mitsouko (recension 28/11 2006). Fast jag lider inte, kanske bara omgivningen. Jag tycker faktiskt att den luktar gott även om den inte är någon toppdoft på just mig. Den är så mångfacetterad att jag varje gång upptäcker nya inslag. Idag känner jag mycket kryddor, nejlika och persika. Har satt på mindre idag och den slår ut på ett annat sätt än förra gången. Det finns en lätt ton av nagellack!!
Får se när mannen kommer hem om det blir hans alltför vanliga kommentar om vintageparfymer: "Luktar "tjej"-träff på Svalnäs"

Mitsouko fortsättning

Nu har Mitsouko blommat ut i en mix av ros, torr persika, trä och lite våt mossa. Det kryddiga ackordet har trätt tillbaka. Mitsouko är en doft som utvecklar sig olika från gång till gång beroende på ens kroppsliga status (hormoner, sjukdom, stressnivå, vad man har ätit), dosering, väder, årstid etc. Doften är komplex och olika toner liksom balansen mellan tonerna framhävs på olika sätt. Det är mao ingen parfym man tröttnar på i första taget då den har så många överraskningar på lut. Det tar tid att tycka om M då den som så många andra "bra" dofter, inte är insmickrande från starten. M är verkligen ljusår från dagens enkla, kemiska och ofta linjära dofter. Mitsouko är i och för sig också en kemisk doft med bla syntetiska frukttoner. Men det är en helt annan klass och finess i M:s aldehyder än i dagens ofta ganska oförfinade dito.  

Dagens doft - Mitsouko

Mysteriet från det ärevördiga huset Guerlain, kreerad av Jaques Guerlain 1919, har jag valt idag. Om Mitsouko florerar så många myter, från långt innan begreppet story-telling myntats inom marknadsföringen.
Det är en speciell doft jämfört med dagens. Det är (liksom gårdagens Femme) en fruktig chypre med persika som tongivande frukt. Kryddor är också en tydlig komponent bland mellannoterna  och i basen självklart ekmossa och trä. I toppnoterna finns citrus och ros. Det är ganska stor skillnad mellan Edt och Edp, Edt:n är mer citrus och mer skarp och försvinner snabbare. Edp sitter bra och har en rundare, mjukare, djupare kryddigare doft. Femme är som sagt inspirerad av Mitsouko men har istället plommon som dominerande frukt och kummin är en tydlig krydda. Femme är kallare Mitsouko trots att den också är en varm doft. Femme känns också modernare. För att generalisera bör man nog ha passerat 35 för att bära upp Mitsouko medan Femme kan man börja med tidigare.