Category Archive: Perfume Reviews

Flower of the Mountain – Christian Dior Diorissimo (Vintage) Perfume Review

Diorissimo: A Flower Encased in Steel
Diorissimo: A Flower Encased in Steel

Do you ever have those fragrances that you want to love, but just don’t? They often appear entirely suited to your desires and tastes, and often come lauded with high praise, but for some reason they just don’t click with you. For me, Dior’s Diorissimo was one such scent. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve picked up a tester, spritzed some on and waited for sparks to fly. They never did and I couldn’t understand it. I love white florals.  I love Dior. Why didn’t Diorissimo and I run off into the sunset together to a symphonic burst of Hollywood music? Sigh.

Don’t lose hope, Dear Reader because, as with all true love stories in movies, the boy gets the girl, or alternatively the boy gets the boy (and the girl gets the girl), OR in my case, the boy (of the Candy Perfume variety) ‘gets’ the perfume. So what finally ignited the spark between that elusive Diorissimo and me? I have one word for you: vintage. It is widely known that the current version of Diorissimo is a pale interpretation of its former self, due mainly to restrictions of key ingredients used to create that unmistakeable lily of the valley effect. With this in mind I headed straight to eBay to seek out some vintage Dior to see what all of the fuss is about.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw it: 50ml of 1980’s Diorissimo Eau de Toilette, almost full for £25 with no bids. I didn’t bid on it at first, thinking that it would go and I stupidly allowed this gem to go unsold. Never mind, fate was on my side and I managed to win the bottle on its second listing. I honestly have never been so excited to receive a perfume package in my life. Could this vintage be the Diorissimo for me? Would it finally click into place, and would Diorissimo and I have that Hollywood ending I was looking for? Seeing as we’re talking in movie analogies, let me drop a spoiler: the boy gets the perfume.

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New Escentual Post: DIOR J’adore Touche de Parfum

J'adore Touche de Parfum
J’adore Touche de Parfum

I’m not sure why, but as the festive season approaches I often find myself yearning for fragrances from the house of Dior. Perhaps its the glittery glamour of scents such as Pure Poison and J’adore, or the unconventional warmth of Hypnotic Poison that get me dreaming of Dior, or maybe it’s just that I usually scour stores for a gift set bargain. Whatever the reason, I find myself drawn to Dior and this Christmas la maison has something particularly special to offer: J’adore Touche de Parfum.

Created as a new interpretation of Dior’s flagship fragrance (is it their flagship, or Miss Dior? I can’t keep up), Touche de Parfum is an oil based composition that can be worn under J’adore or all on its lonesome. Personally, I think it is the best version of J’adore to date and I have been literally bathing myself in its golden, glamorous tones over the last week. Also worth noting is the clever bottle, which draws up and delivers a drop of oil all with one simple twist of the stopper. Click here to head on over to Escentual to check out my review.

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Domestic Chic – MOSCHINO Fresh Couture Perfume Review

Couture, yes, but fresh!
Couture, yes, but fresh!

It’s time to put on the Marigolds and start scrubbing because the new fragrance from MOSCHINO is here, and it’s very much channelling spring clean couture. The concept of this eye-catching new scent, the superbly named ‘Fresh Couture‘, is an interesting one. Packaged within the familiar form of an everyday household item, namely a bottle of spray cleaner, Fresh Couture has been created to “juxtapose the most mundane and commonplace of all products, the household cleaner, with something so precious – the juice of a luxury brand’s fragrance”. It is this “dichotomy of high and low”, i.e. the luxury of a fragrance and the value-lacking vessel of a functional cleaner, that is Fresh Couture’s inspiration, and it’s served with Creative Director, Jeremy Scott’s playful signature.

Unlike MOSCHINO’s other kitsch fragrance, the cute teddy bear that is ‘TOY‘ (all style and no substance, as much as I hate to admit it), Fresh Couture is delivered with a definite concept behind the juice. The whole thing plays, unsurprisingly on the idea of freshness in a feminine way boasting notes of citrus, flowers and woods. What could be more MOSCHINO than a “surprising and ironic perfume”, says the brand, and whilst I may not be on board with the idea of this being surprising or ironic, I’m perfectly happy to concede that Fresh Couture says ‘MOSCHINO’ right from head to toe. I should mention that it’s also quite a bit of fun, too.

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New Escentual Post: Amouage Sunshine Man

Let the Sun Shine...
Let the Sun Shine…

Summer may be but a distant memory now, but that doesn’t mean that we should forget about it entirely! With the mercury heading downwards and the knitwear usage on the up, it’s a good time to be a little bit nostalgic about summer or, if that’s not the case for you, it’s at least a perfect opportunity to rock something warm and delightful. Amouage’s tremendously delightful lavender, Sunshine Man is just the scent and it’s certainly got my olfactory senses running in overdrive. Check out my review on Escentual.com here.

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Raw, Elemental Vetiver – Lalique Encre Noire À L’Extrême Perfume Review

Raw. Elemental. Encre Noire À L'Extrême.
Raw. Elemental. Encre Noire À L’Extrême.

I like vetiver but I don’t own many vetiver fragrances.  A brief sweep of my collection highlights the truth that I only own four vetiver-centric scents; Grey Vetiver by Tom Ford in Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette concentrations, Carven’s reissued Vetiver and a bottle of Guerlain’s Vetiver (a must for any card carrying perfume nut).  In fact, that’s not the truth at all because all four of these technically belong to my husband who, for the record, does enjoy a good vetiver.  So why the vetiver snubbing at Candy Perfume Towers?  In all honesty, I do not know.  Perhaps I’m too busy focusing on my florals and macerating over my Muglers to really allowed vetiver to show me its veritas. Who knows?!

There is a new vetiver in town though, that may just sway my opinion.  Well, I say new, but once again I am being creative with the truth.  This vetiver is a flanker to a cult vetiver and I have to admit that it’s rather blinking good.  Most of you will be familiar with Lalique’s famous Encre Noire (Nathalie Lorson; 2006), a dark and brooding vetiver that is often regarded as one of the very best the genre has to offer.  Well now, Encre Noire has spawned a child – an intense and more raw version of itself that has one mission, and one mission only: to smell damn good.

The scent is called Encre Noire À L’Extrême and it is pretty much what you would expect from a fragrance boasting that sort of name: a richer, more intense and more extreme version of the original. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Encre Noire, perfumer Nathalie Lorson has reinterpreted the iconic vetiver fragrance, or as Lalique put it Lorson pens “a new chapter in the saga”. Pushing the signature of the original “to its limits”, Encre Noire À L’Extrême is a fragrance that “plays on contrasts to express every facet of masculinity through powerful, seductive accords.” I’d say that it does a pretty good job of it too!

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A New Kind of Bag Envy – Marc Jacobs Decadence Perfume Review

Decadence
Decadence

If you’ve ever thought that the plastic flowers that adorn the bottles of Marc Jacobs’ popular fragrances Daisy, Lola and Dot were more than slightly OTT, you may want to turn away for the rest of this review. With his latest feminine fragrance, entitled ‘Decadence‘, Jacobs has pulled out all of the bottle design stops and has fashioned a flacon that resembles one of the designer’s much sought after handbags, capturing the familiar shape of his bags. After all, what is the ultimate accessory next to fragrance? Here the designer bag and the designer scent combine to create something that will have the eyes of many fashion fans bulging and their mouths shouting “gimme”! As the press release says, it’s “the ultimate statement maker”, and a statement it certainly makes.

Decadence, the fragrance, was composed by Annie Buzantian (Puredistance I & Marc Jacobs Dot) and is billed as something “glamorous and indulgent” and “impulsively luxurious”. The whole thing seems aimed at a more serious audience and isn’t as youth-courting as Jacobs’ earlier fragrances. In an industry where only the young matter, it’s good to see something that isn’t aimed at tweens, but Decadence is far from mature and appears to simply offer an alternative to the wishy washy bottles of clean florals that saturate the market. But just how decadent is it?

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New Escentual Posts: Calvin Klein Eternity Now & Armani Eau de Cédre

New Escentual Reviews: CK Eternity Now & Armani Eau de Cédre
New Escentual Reviews: CK Eternity Now & Armani Eau de Cédre

The mainstream wheel of the fragrance industry is forever a turning, it seems. For my last two Escentual columns I’ve focused on some scents that I would categorise as nicely done, without being groundbreaking (which, not every single fragrances has to be). Firstly we have the new Eternity Now duo from Calvin Klein, which consists of a sticky tropical fougére with industrial undertones for him, and a peach bubble bath for her. Check out my review of the duo here. Secondly, there is the new Eau de Cédre from Armani, a soft and supple citrus-woodsy thing that is inspired by a velvet jacket. Click here for my review.

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The Red Deserts of Mars – Thierry Mugler Alien Oud Majestueux Perfume Review

Alien in Red
Alien in Red

It was reported last week that NASA had found evidence of liquid water flowing on Mars. The red planet is no longer a dry, and arid collection of rock and dust, it seems. In other surprising and space-related news, Thierry Mugler has made the decision to launch a limited edition version of Alien called ‘Alien Oud Majestueux’, an oriental fragrance that sees the hyper-jasmine of the original accompanied by oud, the ever popular heartwood extracted from the Aquilaria tree, and seen so often in modern fragrances over the last few years. Composed by the masterful Dominique Ropion, who co-signed the original with Laurent Bruyere, this new version of Alien promises to tantalise with its opulent spices and sweet flower nectar. Colour me intrigued.

Now, I must confess that the news of an oud-injected version of Mugler’s successful Alien did arouse some titters on Twitter in addition to the usual moans about the over-exposure of everyone’s favourite noble tree rot. Of course, Mugler has all but resisted the oud trend for quite some time (although, they have flirted with the note in their Miroir Miroir! series) and the fact that the last non-oud converted bastion of the industry had finally given in did elicit a sigh or two, from yours truly included. As time progressed however, the idea of an Alien oud grew to be an interesting one. I mean, Alien is a pretty fierce woody jasmine fragrance that lends itself well to remixes (see Alien Essence Absolue & Alien Le Goût du Parfum), and a middle-eastern take on an intense, space-age floral actually seemed like something worth sniffing. At risk of spoiling the rest of this review, I can confirm that it is.

“Cocoon your mind, body and soul in Alien Oud Majestueux, the new oriental fragrance. This scent will transport you to the spice markets of the Middle East where your senses will be tantalised with the fragrant notes of opulent spices and sweet flower nectar.”

– Thierry Mugler

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My Baby Blue Bakelite Girl – Miu Miu by Miu Miu Perfume Review

My Baby Blue Bakelite Girl
My Baby Blue Bakelite Girl

The perfume and fashion loving public have been longing for a fragrance from clothing and accessories brand, Miu Miu for quite some time. Known largely for their handbags and shoes, the Prada-helmed fashion house knows youthful style quite unlike anyone else, and their aesthetic is undeniably feminine and fun. It’s no surprise that Miu Miu lovers would be keen for a fragrance to represent the aesthetic of such a key fashion brand. On the perfume front, Miu Miu’s parent company Prada has released a decent crop of exceptional perfumes in conjunction with the talents of perfumer Daniela Andrier. It stands to reason then, that a decent scent from Miu Miu would be a no-brainer, and despite some dissenting voices on the blogs, I really think it is just that.

“Natural and timeless in a contemporary way”¹ is the manner in which Miu Miu are describing their eponymous fragrance, which is penned by none other than Prada-favourite, Daniela Andrier, of course. Housed within the most gorgeous bottle to have graced the shelves of department stores in quite some time, Miu Miu the fragrance feels like a baby blue throwback to the pastel-shaded ’60s and ’70s, whilst keeping very much in line with the modern tastes of today. It also centres on lily of the valley, which means it’s a white floral, which therefore means that I was destined to fall for it hook, line and sinker. Just as expected, I did.

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Café Glamour – Tom Ford Noir Pour Femme Perfume Review

Café Glamour
Café Glamour

Tom Ford is a man that knows a thing or two about glamour.  I refer you to this image of Gwyneth Paltrow dressed in TF at the Oscars, should you require any evidence.  Mr. Ford creates exceptionally tailored suits for some of the world’s most attractive gents in addition to beautiful womenswear pieces that often channel old Hollywood glamour.  He pushes the boundaries too and it’s safe to say that Ford is not averse to ‘sexing things up’ more than a little bit, as many of his advertisements will prove!

It’s safe to say that Tom Ford also knows quite a bit about fragrance too, and since he launched his first fragrance way back in 2006, he has created a veritable empire of scent that dominates department stores across the globe. Of course, when fragrance and glamour meet, the results can be very interesting indeed, and within his brand, Ford has many a fabulous fragrance, ranging from the casual chic of Violet Blonde, to the mysterious opulence of Fleur de Chine, with all of the glamour in the world in between.

I speak of the subject of glamour because Ford’s latest feminine fragrance, ‘Noir Pour Femme’, strikes me as a scent that practically pulsates with fierce feminine beauty. Created as the feminine counterpart to Noir, Tom Ford’s popular masculine from 2012, this interpretation for women has been designed to be as “suggestive as a slashed jet-black dress revealing the curve of woman’s shoulder, or the kissable dip of her back”. As you can probably imagine with a description like that, Noir Pour Femme is all sexed up glamour and no shame.

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