Last week’s Saturday Poll asked you about your birthday perfume traditions, and specifically whether you asked for, and received perfume for your birthday or whether you liked to treat yourself. It seems that the majority of you (59%) take the matter into your own hands and treat yourselves to a lovely perfumed-gift on your birthday. Very sensible if you ask me!
I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Al Oudh from Nigel this year, who obviously was feeling the perfume love. I also treated myself to bottles of Amouage’s Honour Woman (a major lemming of mine for a whole year) and Guerlain’s Pamplelune. So yes, I was well and truly spoiled.
On Perfume Making by Frédéric Malle, foreword by Catherine Deneuve and illustrations by Konstantin Kakanias
It’s that time again! I have had the pleasure of being able to read and review yet another book for Basenotes. This time the book in question is the hugely anticipated, and equally huge in size ‘On Perfume Making’ by Frédéric Malle.
Please do head on over to Basenotes to read my review!
Have you ever discovered a perfume that you’ve known about for years but never tried? I have. I cannot tell you how many times I have perused the offerings of many a Guerlain counter, spritzing on and sampling almost everything they have to scent me with, but I always seemed to overlook, nay ignore the Aqua Allegoria line, meaning that up until very recently I had never tried Pamplelune. Now I can’t help but think; “what took you so long Thomas?!”
It was Persolaise’s review of the latest Aqua Allegoria; Lys Soleia, that led me to seeking out the Aqua Allegoria line, and I’m very glad that I did. My interest in the line, and Pamplelune specifically, was further piqued by Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels who had written that she was a big fan of Pamplelune but other people’s reactions prevented her from wearing it. Well after that I simply had to try it, and try it I did.
Pamplelune was part of the original crop of Aqua Allegoria’s released in 1999, a collection inspired by nature and intended to be more accessible to the younger Guerlain consumer. Available in a lighter concentration (EDT) and at a lower price point than the regular Guerlains, the Aqua Allegoria’s still manage to showcase fantastic ingredients, both natural and synthetic, to create perfumes that feel like non-ephemeral interpretations of nature for the skin.
Having stood the test of time, where other Aqua Allegoria’s have come and gone, Pamplelune was created to capture “the spirit of grapefruit” and that’s what it does. Now I should probably say that my opinion of grapefruit as a fruit is the same as my opinion of watermelon (see my review of Ruth Mastenbroek’s Amorosa), that is that I think It’s naff. It tastes so awful I don’t know why anyone would eat it, other than as a form of self-torture and on top of that grapefruit notes in modern perfumes are usually dire. Oh wait, now I know why it took me so long to try Pamplelune…
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.
In previous instalments I have successfully scented a wide range of celebrities and characters ranging from the loveable lunatics that are The Muppets to the hip schizo-rapper Nicki Minaj as well as Icelandic Siren Björk and super-glam glam-poppers Scissor Sisters, even The Royal Family haven’t been able to escape my scented clutches.
I have mentioned before that I am a hardcore fan of The Simpsons, I watch it nearly every day (it’s always on when I get home from work) and I confess to having seen every episode, perhaps more than once! The inhabitants of Springfield are a fascinating bunch and over the course of both parts of Spritzing Springfield I hope to select fragrances that befit their eccentricities and play to their incredibly human characteristics.
Well, it looks like Nigel really came through on the old birthday front (thank you all for your kind wishes btw) deciding much against his better judgement to generously give me a big ole bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Al Oudh as his gift. Al Oudh has been sat on my wish list for quite some time now (which makes me wonder why I haven’t reviewed it already) and out of the slew of ouds available I believe that it is one of the few thatt brings something new to the party.
Al Oudh now joins my three other L’Artisans (Vanille Absolument/Havana Vanille, Traversée du Bosphore and Nuit de Tuberéuse) all of which, Al Oudh included, just so happen to be Bertrand Duchafour creations, thus proving that I really do have a “thing” for le Duchafour, and who can blame me? The dude is clearly a genius and with Al Oudh his skill of turning common accords entirely on their head is in full swing.
Bertrand Duchaufour created Al Oudh for L’Artisan Parfumeur in 2009. It’s billed as an exotic, spicy and woody oud with accents of rose and dried fruits. L’Artisan describe it as “the elixir of sensuality itself”, which is a very fluffy way of saying that it is in fact sex on a stick, or sex in a bottle to be more accurate. Al Oudh may not be what you’re expecting from an oud but that is exactly what makes it so captivating.
Apologies for the lack of proper posts in the latter part of this week. I seem to have got myself into a tiz over work-based issues and haven’t had my head in the right place to do any form of writing, but hopefully normal service will resume next week.
On last week’s Saturday Poll we pitched two reinterpretations of classic fragrances (namely Guerlain’s Shalimar Parfum Initial and Chanel N°5 Eau Première) against each other to see who would be the supreme born-again fragrance. N°5 Eau Première knocked the ball out of the park by gaining a total 40% of the vote, which is interesting seeing as the original lost out to Shalimar in our Flagship Fragrance Showdown the week before.
Following Tuesday’s review of Vero Profumo’s latest fragrance Mito I thought I would share this interesting interview with Vero Kern of Vero Profumo at the launch of her Mito Eau de Parfum in Milan.
In the interview, expertly conducted by Extrait.it, Vero talks about how she is a rebel, discusses the inspirations behind Mito, mentions a potential Mito Extrait and hints at the ideas for her next fragrance.
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.
So far the series has touched upon a variety of famous names including; those fuzzy-wuzzy comics The Muppets, the Icelandic super-talent that is Björk, schizophrenic female (but kinda-male due to her alter ego) rapper Nicki Minaj, the maniacal monarchs that make up the Royal Family and super-glam pop tour de force Scissor Sisters. Joining this patchwork quilt of celebrities is everyone’s favourite dysfunctional TV family, The Simpsons.
I am a die-hard The Simpsons Fan and I confess to having seen nearly every single episode at least twice. The colourful inhabitants of Springfield, or predominately-yellow inhabitants should I say, each provide a large dash of humour to a town that you wouldn’t really want to live in but are quite happy to watch from the comfort and relative safety of your own sofa.
Vero Profumo’s first three fragrances; Rubj, Kiki and Onda are unusual, not only in their style and composition but also in the fact that they are each five star fragrances that can easily be considered as modern masterpieces. They each also have strong personalities, multi-faceted in themselves, but incredibly diverse in character as an entire entity – a collection to be envied.
With her initial collection Swiss indie perfumer Vero Kern proved that she has a natural talent for perfumery as well as a clear and fascinating artistic vision that translates effortlessly into her creations. For her line’s fifth anniversary year Vero Kern is introducing a brand new fragrance, one that doesn’t break cohesion of the line but also brings an entirely new approach to Vero Profumo.
Mito (Italian for “Myth”), will be the latest fragrance from Vero Profumo to join her Eau de Parfum collection. Taking inspiration from Italy, specifically the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, smelling Mito is like opening a time capsule, unleashing a single moment where as time has stopped in the garden of Villa d’Este, allowing Vero Kern to paint an olfactory oil-painting of the trees, mosses, flowers, stones, sculptures and water that inhabit such a beautiful space.
Last week’s Saturday Poll was a classic flagship-fragrance showdown, in which Guerlain’s Shalimar and Chanel’s N°5 went head-to-head to see who was the supreme holder of perfume glory. Both have their loyal fans but scent-wise they could not be further away from each other if they tried; one is a warm, delicious oriental and the other is an abstract aldehydic floral. Opinion was divided!
The results of the poll, as always, were very interesting. Shalimar stormed ahead receiving a huge 56% of the vote, which blows N°5 out of the water with its mere 21%. What is interesting is that the Shalimar appears to be more accessible than the N°5, which like other Chanel’s appears to leave some feeling cold.
The Candy Perfume Boy 