Category Archive: Speed Sniffs

Speed Sniff: Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette by GUERLAIN

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Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

*Unpopular Opinion Klaxon* I like Mon Guerlain and I think a lot of you are being unnecessarily grumpy about it. Yup. I’m not sorry. The way I see it, GUERLAIN has to make fragrances that appeal to the mass market as much as they need to keep the likes of Jicky and L’Heure Bleue on the shelves. They have always taken styles populised by others and given them a Guerlain twist (see Mitsouko, a twist on Coty’s Chypre, for example) and that’s exactly what Mon Guerlain is – a Guerlain take on the caramel, ethyl-maltol intensity of the likes of La Vie est Belle. The difference with the Guerlain? It smells good.

Mon Guerlain is candy floss by way of a Jicky-esque lavender and it is eminently wearable. I find it cosy, delicious and easy to wear in winter. I was not however, so keen on the Florale version that launched earlier this year which, for some reason seemed off somehow. Now we have Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette, the third instalment in the Mon Guerlain series and the second to launch this year – we can’t accuse GUERLAIN of being lazy, that’s for sure!

Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette is presented by GUERLAIN as a “citrus oriental” with notes of mandarin, carla lavender, sambac jasmine and vanilla tahitensis. They see it as a scent that presents a freer expression of the GUERLAIN woman – one that is seen through a lens of transparency and freshness. Let’s speed sniff.

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Speed Sniff: AURA Eau de Toilette by MUGLER

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Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

The MUGLER Eau de Toilettes for ANGEL, ALIEN, and now AURA are almost like diet versions of the originals. The structure is still there but they have been lightened in a sense, making them zero-calorie, palatable options that are a little bit easier to get on with. Now I’m here for the full fat, calorie-laden versions at all times, but sometimes one wants a little bit of lightness and clarity. Every now and then, maybe? OK, OK, once in a blue moon then!

Following the success of AURA, MUGLER’S first feminine pillar since 2010’s WOMANITY (poor, doomed WOMANITY), MUGLER have launched an Eau de Toilette version – a yin to the Eau de Parfums yang. They describe it as “a new aromatic interpretation of colourful, glowing freshness”. Or as I’d put it, if AURA EDP is a lush rainforest filled with stifling, scented air, AURA EDT is a fine mist of rain that breezes through said forest. They are of the same place but they are not of the same weight.

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Speed Sniff: COLONIA VANIGLIA by Acqua di Parma

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Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

Acqua di Parma always strikes me as a really stylish brand. Their fragrances have mass appeal but also a finesse that puts them above much of what the mainstream has to offer. Their Colonia is a perfumery icon and it has seen many interpretations over its 100 year life span, most notably in the Colonia Ingredients Collection which sees the classic cologne reimagined with new signature ingredients from the likes of leather to oud and amber. With this collection, Acqua di Parma remixes the effortless refinement of Colonia and presents it in

Created exclusively for luxury retailer Harrods, the latest scent in the Ingredients Collection is COLONIA VANIGLIA, an ode to the exotic spice of Madagascan vanilla. Created by Perfumer François Demachy, COLONIA VANIGLIA is an exotic oriental that is evocative of tropical islands. Acqua di Parma refer to it as having an “olfactory roundness” which just hints at how smooth this fragrance is. Anyways, that’s enough of me waffling on, you want to know what it smells like.  OK, here goes…

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Speed Sniff: Wood Infusion by Goldfield & Banks

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Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

Goldfield & Banks is one of a few punky perfume brands that are making Australia a real contender in terms of perfume making. With their modest collection (just five fragrances) they are showcasing the “lush, aromatic and botanical beauty” of the Australian continent, from the forests, to the deserts and the coastline. Their latest scent is ‘Wood Infusion‘ is inspired by the “balmy heritage listed Fraser Island in the Pacific Ocean”, celebrating a number of wood species all in one infusion.

Let’s give it a quick sniff…

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Speed Sniff: Day for Night by Prada Olfactories

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Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

I am not a massive fan of amber fragrances. There’s something pleasing about the classic blend of benzoin, labdanum and vanilla, absolutely, but I often find that, because it’s such a distinct accord, amber fragrances seem to cover very similar ground. So you own one and there’s little need to own more – you just need to pick out the one for you. I’m also not too keen on leather either, because it tends to dominate a perfume. Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all of this so I shall enlighten you: today I am writing about a amber/leather fragrance that I really love.

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Speed Sniff: Oud Wood Intense by TOM FORD

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There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you to the point reviews fragrances that are quick and easy to digest. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff.

Oud Wood by TOM FORD is a fragrant tour de force. A cult classic that is one of the brand’s most popular fragrances, Oud Wood may not have started the oud trend, but it certainly cemented it as a prominent part of the olfactory zeitgeist. I find it to be a soft, comforting take on oud with an unusually rubbery texture that makes it stand out from the crowd – and even now I’d say that it’s an absolute must-sniff for anyone exploring the world of oud. Oud Wood is sexy and alluring, smart but casual – a complex perfume with a bold signature. Well, fans of Oud Wood can now rejoice because TOM FORD has just launched Oud Wood Intense, which promises Oud Wood but more!

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Speed Sniff: Viking by CREED

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There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you to the point reviews fragrances that are quick and easy to digest. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff.

Only CREED could name a fragrance ‘Viking‘. There’s something so audacious yet so fitting about the name that it could only have been chosen by the house of CREED. Now, I’ll be honest and say that I’m no CREED fan, but I do enjoy a number of their fragrances, namely Virgin Island Water and Love in Black, which are really quite beautiful. So I approached their latest masculine fragrance, which just so happens to be their first since Aventus (which itself has become something of a cult phenomenon, no less), with intrigue and just a touch of caution. I needn’t have been so tentative.

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Speed Sniff: Y by Yves Saint Laurent

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There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you to the point reviews fragrances that are quick and easy to digest. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff and tell you whether the subject is something you want to sniff or not. So hurry up and read, because we don’t have much time…

When I first cast my eyes over ‘Y‘, the brand new fragrance from Yves Saint Laurent, I was super impressed with just how handsome the bottle was. I mean, look at it! That gorgeous shade of sky blue juice and that steely, silver Y that stretches across and around the glass – it’s all aesthetically very pleasing. Even the theme of the scent was appealing – an ode to the white t-shirt for generation y, with a rapper, a sculptor and artificial intelligence researcher fronting the fragrance. Everything is very cool, very current and very casual. It all looks and sounds excellent, but how does it smell?

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Speed Sniff: Coach for Men by Coach

Speed Sniff
Speed Sniff

There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you to the point reviews fragrances that are quick and easy to digest. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff and tell you whether the subject is something you want to sniff or not. So hurry up and read, because we don’t have much time…

Luxury goods brand Coach have overhauled their fragrance collection and it now consists of two pillars: Coach for Her and Coach for Him. There’s something rather clean and tidy about offering two fragrances and it seems like Coach have worked hard to ensure that their feminine and masculine pillar fragrances represent the spirit of the brand. They’ve worked with top notch perfumers and have even incorporated suede, a material so vital to the brand, in each of their fragrances. So the two scents from Coach are perfectly on brand.

Coach for Men, the masculine of the pair launched this summer and was created by perfumers Anne Flipo (MyQueen by Alexander McQueen and Basil & Neroli by Jo Malone London) and Bruno Jovanovic (Dries van Noten and Monsieur. by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle). It’s a fragrance “inspired by mavericks, rebels and all-American dreamers” and fronted by Actor/Director/Artist James Franco, which all sounds very interesting so let’s put it to the speed sniff test!

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Speed Sniff: L’Envol de Cartier Eau de Toilette by Cartier

L'Envol de Cartier Eau de Toilette
L’Envol de Cartier Eau de Toilette

There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you to the point reviews fragrances that are quick and easy to digest. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff and tell you whether the subject is something you want to sniff or not. So hurry up and read, because we don’t have much time…

I reviewed L’Envol de Cartier in its original Eau de Parfum concentration last year so I am designating this Eau de Toilette as a speed sniff, mainly because the differences between the concentrations are not huge – but they are notable, which is why L’Envol Eau de Toilette is worthy of a review. The first flanker to L’Envol presents a fresher signature, taking the honey, mead and iris notes of the original and making them weightless with citrus and gaiac wood. The result is a fresh oriental that gives wings to the complex richness of the original.

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