The Deadly Perfumes of Pride

My lovely perfume sisters and brothers – Persolaise, Eyeliner on a Cat, Fragrant Moments and Olfactoria’s Travels – and I, have yet again clubbed together to bring you an olfactory group project. This time we’re focusing on the seven deadly sins and have cooked up our very best selections of the most sinful perfumes.

“A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.”

The Oxford English Dictionary’s
Definition of ‘Pride’

When given the choice of picking a sin for my article I opted for ‘Pride’. The sin of pride focuses on self-adoration and vanity – taking pleasure and satisfaction from our own achievements, looks and attractive qualities. Pride intrigues me because I think it’s the sin that nearly everybody is guilty of at some time in their lives and it can be a key driver for us to continue to succeed in our professional and personal lives.

The perfumes I have picked for this article all display an element of pride – each in a slight different way. Whether it’s vanity, pride in artistry, the pride that precedes a fall or even a faceless pride, these perfumes are subtly sinful in a subversive and utterly compelling way

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Scent a Celebrity Series: Gentleman, Spritz Your Perfumes – Scenting the Queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race

Gentleman, spritz your perfumes and may the best woman, smell…

I’m back, finally! After a month of painful wrestling with my dissertation and other nasty bits of uni work I can finally turn my attention back to my first love – perfume. The last month has been both stressful and refreshing – stressful for obvious reasons and refreshing because it felt like a good time to take a blogging break so that now, when all the work has been handed in, I can come back with a fresh mind and renewed enthusiasm.

Despite the absence of blogging during my uni-fest I have managed to stay (relatively) sane. This can be attributed to three things; the constant support of Nigel (my partner), a metric ton of Maltesers and a constant supply of episodes of my new all-time favourite TV programme – RuPaul’s Drag Race. That’s right squirrel friends, all one needs to get oneself through a tough time is a parade of drag queens…

If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching RuPaul’s Drag Race then; a) watch it now (go on) and; b) simply picture the model-filled runway of America’s Next Top Model crossed with the home-made fashions of Project Runway with a generous dollop of drag queen fabulous-ness on top. Now can you see why it is perhaps the absolute greatest thing on earth?

I love RuPaul’s Drag Race so much that I thought I would pay my own scented tribute to the queens that make it so darn sickening (that’s sickening in the good sense of the word FYI) to watch. So without further ado I present to you the latest instalment in the Scent a Celebrity Series, an episode containing perfumes and queens who display the ultimate levels of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent – gentleman, start your engines, and may the best woman, smell!

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Scent a Celebrity Series: Scent Up Your Life! Scenting The Spice Girls

The Scent a Celebrity Series is my vain attempt at picking perfumes for those who don’t know any better, yes I mean celebrities. Let’s face it, most celebrities are incapable of choosing decent clothing/boyfriends/girlfriends/movies/insert-celebrity-mistake-here let alone having the ability to make decisions about something as important as their scent – that’s where I come in. Never fear my dear schlebs, I will ensure that you are appropriately scented, all you need to do is listen.

I am a child of the ’90s and I am not ashamed. Yes fashion-wise it was probably one of the worst decades but musically it was pretty ace, for it was the ’90s that bought us Brit Pop, Rave music and most importantly – The Spice Girls. Ginger, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Posh may have long gone their separate ways but I (and many other ’90s kids I’m sure) still hold a soft spot for these persistant purveyors of ‘Girl Power’.

To celebrate the world’s very best girl band I offer up a scented tribute of perfume selections that showcase the ‘zig-a-zag-ah’ that gave the Spice Girls their power. Mad, bad, ridiculous and brilliantly feminine these perfumes invite you to ‘Scent up your life’ and live just like the coolest thing to come out of the ’90s since MC Hammer and his Harem Pants.

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The Joy of Mood Boosting Perfumes and Five Whole Years

The Joy of Mood Enhancing Perfumes and Five Whole Years

I often find myself staring at my perfume shelf of a morning, glancing over the cluttered bottles and pensively deciding what to wear. The question that regularly pops in to my mind during my ritual browsing is “Hmmm, what am I in the mood for today?” and it’s funny how our moods, along with other external factors such as season, fashion and weather influence our choices in regards to perfume.

But how about fragrances that do more than compliment our mood? Those fragrances that go one step further to enhance the emotions we feel and boost our moods. Perfume is after all, an incredibly emotional art, capturing nature and bottling memories. The power of scent to affect how we feel is undeniable.

In conjunction with some of my favourite bloggers I would like to share with you two fragrances that enhance my mood. As the world of perfume brings me nothing but happiness I thought it appropriate that both of my fragrant suggestions be ones that spark feelings of joy and serenity, with one in particular having priceless sentimental value.

[Don’t forget to head over to Persolaise, Olfactoria’s Travels, Eyeliner on a Cat and Fragrant Moments to read about their mood-enhancing perfumes!]

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The Candies 2012: The Very Best and Very Worst Perfumes of 2012

I can’t believe it but it’s the end of 2012 already, which means that it’s time for us perfume bloggers to put together our lists of the very best and very worst perfumes of the year, honestly, where did the time go?! This year I’m affectionately entitling my awards ‘The Candies’ as a short, punchy alternative to The Candy Perfume Boy Awards. Neat huh?

Across all genres there have been many interesting, exciting and unique perfumes unleashed on to the market along with the usual amount of celebrity dreck, dud flankers and down-right-bizarre niche offerings. All-in-all it’s been a busy year with over 1,300 launches. Impressive but exhausting!

Below you will find my awards for Best Masculine, Best Feminine and Best Unisex Fragrances for both niche and mainstream houses. In addition to this I’ve also included awards for Best Flanker, Best Celebrity Fragrance and Best Ad Campaign. But we’re not just celebrating the very best of perfumery in 2012 here, no sir, we’re also highlighting the very worst with the Sour Candy Award, reserved solely for the naffest perfume of the year.

So I hope you’re wearing your very best frock (or tux for the boys, or frock if you prefer, it’s up to you really) and sipping on some fine Champagne as The Candies 2012 are underway…

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Mugler’s Fetish Material – Thierry Mugler Angel, Alien & Womanity Les Parfums de Cuir and A*Men Pure Cuir Perfume Reviews

To celebrate 20 years of haute perfumery, Thierry Mugler parfums is launching a collection of limited edition fragrances with a leather twist in October. Harking back to the origins of traditional perfumery and the link between perfumers and glove makers, Mugler sets to unleash four luxurious limited editions of its four famous fragrances.

Angel, A*Men, Alien and Womanity have all been given the leather treatment, having been infused with tailor made leather pieces in metal caskets for a period of four weeks. These brand new leather interpretations aim to enhance the original compositions with “intense, innovative carnal notes” and showcase Mugler’s four iconic fragrances through “the prisms of leather.”

“(Les Parfums de Cuir) The Fragrances of Leather is a journey to the heart of Mugler fragrances, with a noble material, for a collection of 4 exceptional creations”

As with all things Mugler, Les Parfums de Cuir promises to be an innovative collection of olfactory twists on four fragrances that have each created the mould for their respective genres. So throw on your leather corsets, suits and boots we’re off on a tour of Planet Mugler, and this time we’re doing it in style.

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Smelly News: Thierry Mugler Les Parfums de Cuir + The Making of Teaser Video

I am very pleased to be able to share with you a teaser video for Thierry Mugler’s latest collection; “Les Parfums de Cuir” (The Fragrances of Leather). Launching in October, the collection has been created to celebrate Thierry Mugler Parfums’ 20th birthday and contains four brand new leathery interpretations of Mugler’s classic fragrances; Angel, A*Men, Alien and Womanity.

“This innovative idea marries two know-hows of today and yesterday: Haute Perfumery and the traditional craft of glove makers and perfumers.”

To create Les Parfums de Cuir Thierry Mugler parfums a “tailor made […] natural leather” was added to four custom made vats containing each perfume allowing them to infuse & mature for four weeks and eventually, after the “leather-imbued extracts” were added to a solution, they became Les Parfums de cuir.

More details on the collection below the jump…

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Postcards From My Collection Part 2: Planet Mugler

Group Shot — The Other Half of the Collection

The Postcards From My Collection Series takes you on a voyage through the big pile of clutter that is my perfume collection. The aim is to familiarise you with the fragrances that are special and/or weird enough to take pride of place on my perfume shelf. Some have great sentimental value, others simply just smell awesome and whatever the reason for their residency in my collection, rest assured that they will satiate your need for some shameless perfume porn.

In the first instalment we took a look at those fragrances, both big and small, that were most precious to me. They were a varied bunch including über expensive extraits, paris exclusives and vintage finds that take ultimate pride of place in my collection, which is really an extensive rogues gallery of perfume.

This week we are taking a trip to Planet Mugler and before we take off I have a few safety announcements to get out of the way; 1) please ensure that your hands, feet and noses remain safely in the spacecraft at all times; 2) when we have safely landed on Planet Mugler please do not remove your helmets, the smell of the planet is so strong your head will explode with in seconds without the proper protection; and 3) if you are of a sensitive disposition you will either have to disembark the spaceship immediately or grow a pair because we’re about to take off…

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Musings on Mugler, Leather and Fragrant Enhancers

As I mentioned in my most recent Saturday Poll, Thierry Mugler is set to release four limited edition leather interpretations of their most popular scents. This leather collection follows on from last years La Goût du Parfum, in which Angel, Alien, A*Men and Womanity each had a taste enhancer added to shake things up a bit and a new gourmand twist to them. The brand also released Angel and Alien Liqueur de Parfums in 2009, two fragrances that were aged in oak casks to give a more boozy feel.

The success of these enhanced editions got me thinking about what additional ingredients can be added to fragrances to give an entirely new twist on the original accords. There is something to be said about this intelligent method of flankering, it allows for the essence of the fragrance to be preserved whilst simultaneously offering something new, exciting and even if the end result doesn’t quite work out, it is at least interesting, unusual and worth smelling.

So what should we add to a Thierry Mugler fragrance to enhance it? Are there other fragrances that we could an enhancer to? Or are fragrances best left as they are, without flankers or fragrant meddling?

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Saturday Poll: Which Mugler Are You?

Last week’s Saturday Poll was a Vero Profumo showdown, in which you were asked to vote for your favourite perfume from the lovely renegade perfumer Vero Kern. The results were interesting, especially because everyone seemed to have a clear idea in their mind as to which VP scent was their favourite, which just goes to show how strong each fragrance’s personality is.

Rubj and Onda, both in Extrait, were the joint winners of the poll, with Rubj EDP in third place, suggesting that the Rubj signature is the most popular overall. Who am I to argue with that? I think it’s bloomin’ marvellous!

On to this week’s poll…

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