Month: November 2011

Blown From Polar Fur – Mona di Orio Musc Perfume Review

Kate Bush

This week I have been listening to the new Kate Bush album ’50 Words for Snow’, a striking and beautiful conceptual piece centred around falling snow. Kate Bush is a dab hand at creating a landscape with her music and in my mind these landscapes have been reflected in two of the Mona di Orio’s creations from the Les Nombres d’Or collection. Oud is the golden, shimmering sunset depicted in Kate’s conceptual piece ‘A Sky of Honey’ from the album ‘Aerial’ and Musc is the eerily quiet snow covered landscape depicted in ’50 Words for Snow’.

On the album’s title track, Kate encourages Stephen Fry to cite 50 words for snow (it sounds absolutely bonkers, as you would expect from Ms Bush, but it works), some of the words are real, some are made up and they become completely ridiculous & fantastical as the song progresses (‘Faloop’njoompoola’ anyone?). My favourite of these snowy terms is No 47 ‘Blown From Polar Fur’ (honourable mentions go to ‘Wenceslas Air’ and ‘Bad for Trains’) and it perfectly reflects the snowy nature of Musc.

Musc is part of Mona di Orio’s Les Nombres d’Or (The Golden Numbers) collection which refers to the golden ratio, a mathematical theory of proportion that is showcased in the collection via fragrances centred around a single note, masterfully accentuated by other ingredients.

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Procrastinating With Perfume – Histoires de Parfums Tubéreuse Trilogy Perfume Reviews

Tubéreuse Trilogy

Finally after lots of hard work, late nights and multiple cups of tea (Lavender Earl Grey if you’re interested) the dreaded University assignments have been completed and I can spend some time on the writing that I enjoy!
 
Thankfully the kindness of fellow perfumistas will always get you through any situation and thanks to the lovely Ines of All I am – a redhead, who after reading my Guide to Tuberose, insisted that I tried a number of other tuberoses, I have had the opportunity to distract myself from my work with perfume. My ability to procrastinate is rather impressive, in fact it is so impressive I had to include it within the title of this post.
 
Anyway, on to Histoires de Parfums! Included in my sample care package of tuberoses (and a few other goodies) was all three fragrances in the Histoires de Parfums Tubéreuse Trilogy. Now, as you all know I’m a sucker for tuberose so the idea of a trilogy was rather exciting to me, so imagine my surprise when, upon trying all three I discovered that none of the scents were particularly tuberose-centric at all. That’s right, these three tuberoses aren’t really tuberoses, a fact that would be disappointing to me if they weren’t so good, tuberose or no tuberose.
 

Neela Vermeire Sample Set Giveaway

NVFollowing my review of the three Neela Vermeire fragrances last week I am very happy to announce that I am hosting a very exciting giveaway of not one, but two sample sets for two of my very lucky (and rather wonderful) readers. Each sample set contains a 2ml sample of all three Neela Vermeire fragrances; Trayee, Mohur and Bombay Bling!

For my impressions on the Neela Vermeire fragrances please click here.

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The Candy Perfume Boy Wants Your Opinion

The Candy Perfume BoyThose of you who follow me on Twitter will know that this week I have been wrestling with two rather large, and rather annoying University assignments. Those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter, well, shame on you!

Unfortunately, a large amount of University work isn’t conducive to much blogging, therefore I thought I would take this opportunity to ask you all a question that has been at the back of my mind for quite a while now:

How can I make this blog better?

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Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi, Ce Soir? – Vivienne Westwood Boudoir Perfume Review

Boudoir

Talking about another Vivienne Westwood scent (Anglomania) last week as part of the ‘Gone, But Not Forgotten’ Series led me to drag out my bottle of Boudoir which has been lurking somewhere in the back of my ‘purgatory drawer’ – a fate that awaits those perfumes of mine that no longer have a place in my collection.

When I gave Boudoir its first spritz in what must be at least a year I was shocked, why was this in the purgatory draw? I like this! My biggest problem, it seems, is that I have a short attention span, I can only concentrate for a maximum of about five minutes before being distracted by something shiny or basically anything other than the task at hand (a problem that was recently brought to my attention by my boss, who very politely mentioned that my time management skills left a lot to be desired) and this is true with perfumes, I do tend to love something for a while before I get bored and want something new. I guess you could call me a ‘fragrant magpie’ of sorts.

Anyway, enough about me, on to the fragrance! Boudoir was Vivienne Westwood’s first fragrance and was released in 1998, it is classified as a ‘Floral Chypre’ and is the only Westwood fragrance that seems to have stood the test of time, Libertine, Anglomania and Let it Rock have all since fallen by the way side and have lost their places as part of the Westwood collection.

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A Festival of Colour – Neela Vermeire Trayee, Mohur and Bombay Bling! Perfume Reviews

Festival of Colours

Neela Vermeire is a new Parisian based Niche line that explores the history of India through three vibrant and colourful fragrances. Each fragrance has been created by the very talented Bertrand Duchaufour and is representative of a particular period in India’s history, they are as follows:

Trayee
Vedic Period

Mohur
Moghul British Raj

Bombay Bling!
Modern India

With her first three fragrances, Neela Vermeire offers a festival of colour, fragrances that showcase exotic ingredients and smell as vibrant, lively and diverse as the country that inspires them.

“This diversity has inspired Neela Vermeire to create and dedicate the first trio of fragrances to India – her native country – while living and working in Paris, her adopted city and perfume capital of the world. Neela’s education in social sciences and training in law, may not have any direct connection to perfumes but her formative years in India have had a great and lasting impact on her “olfactory development.” [1]

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Died and Gone to Heaven – By Kilian A Taste of Heaven Perfume Review

A Taste of Heaven

“Pure, unadulterated love at first sniff.”

Like many others, I was lucky enough to receive a sample set of By Kilian’s entire L’Oeuvre Noire line through the By Kilian Facebook page. I have already tried a couple of the scents from the line, I’ve also reviewed two (Sweet Redemption and Back to Black) and my thoughts so far are generally very positive.

The L’Oeuvre Noire (The Black Masterpiece) collection consists of 10 fragrances and “evokes a Faustian atmosphere that casts an iniquitous alluring spell, pervading the spirit and senses, while transporting the soul to nirvana. Inspired by a search for perfection, the poetry of Rimbaud and Baudelaire, as well as the lyrics of modern day poets like Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dog. The Black Masterpiece ‘By Kilian’ is revolving around ingenues, artificial paradises and Parisian orgies.” [1]

This week I gave each sample a quick spritz to see which one I would review first and there was one that instantly stood out – A Taste of Heaven (Absinthe Verte). When I say it stood out, I mean that I literarily died and went to heaven, and if this is just ‘A Taste of Heaven’ I cannot wait to experience the whole thing.

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Death by Chocolate – Thierry Mugler Angel Le Goût du Parfum Perfume Review

Mugler

“This may be death by chocolate but what a way to go…”

Thierry Mugler’s latest collection of limited editions ‘Le Goût du Parfum’ (The Taste of Fragrance) has proved to be one of the best collection of flankers ever released, Mugler has taken the signature of four of his perfumes (Angel, Alien, A*Men and Womanity) and has added a taste enhancer that either adds or amplifies a gourmand facet, this is where haute cuisine meets haute perfumery.

For more on the series please click here.

Angel is Thierry Mugler’s flagship fragrance, she is already infamous for being the first gourmand oriental and one of the first perfumes to use a chocolate note. For Angel Le Goût du Parfum, Mugler has used a taste enhancer of pure cocoa powder (what else?) to emphasise the chocolate notes, the end result promises to be “more gourmand than gourmand” [1] – and it is!

Angel Le Goût du Parfum is a worthy addition to the Angel lineage and whilst it doesn’t replace the original, it does fill a particular void in my collection – a true chocolate fragrance.

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Gone, But Not Forgotten Series Part 5: British Eccentricity – Anglomania by Vivienne Westwood

Anglomania
“Anglomania is quite a blowsy scent, a fact that is only emphasised by the quite, erm, ‘breasty’ advertising image.”

Vivienne Westwood is the epitome of British eccentricity. A self-taught designer, mother of punk and general, all round odd ball, Westwood put British fashion on the map and her mixture of shabby chic and unusual tailoring has proved to be timeless.

Dame Viv has released five fragrances (not including flankers); Boudoir, Libertine *, Anglomania *, Let it Rock * and Naughty Alice, three of which have since been discontinued. If I’m being perfectly honest the fragrances from the line have been a mixed bag, Boudoir is a great, slightly filthy chypre, Libertine is a pretty decent floral citrus (it used to be a favourite of mine until my tastes developed), Let it Rock was a dreadful oriental and don’t get me started on Naughty Alice…..Anglomania is the best and most interesting of the bunch.

Anglomania is named after Westwood’s recurring collection of the same name and the scent is intended to evoke “Asian intensity with British heritage” [1]. It was released in 2004 and was created by the great Domique Ropion (Carnal Flower, Alien, Geranium Pour Monsieur to name but a few), it does exactly what it says on the tin.