Vessel Parfums - Occult

Good Juice

I was approached recently by Hollis Schwanz, founder of the new indie perfume company, Vessel Parfums, and asked if I would like a sample of her debut perfume, Occult.

A disclaimer first: I don't make any money from this blog (really, really the opposite as it encourages the growth of my perfume collection) and everything I write here is my honest opinion. This perfume stuff is just for fun. I don't promise to review anything I'm offered, never mind positively. But I've been wearing Occult a lot and I like it, so here we go.

The marketing material tells me the notes for Occult were chosen to reflect the sensuality of the west coast "back-to-nature" movement in the 1960s. I'm not sure how that's supposed to fit with the name and bottle design (see below) but more on that later.

What I smell is a warm, mysterious ceremony in the woods. Occult opens with a note like mulled wine, fruity and with hints of cinnamon. There's also something rich about it, like creamed honey. There's vanilla but it's not too sweet. The focus of the perfume is on the smooth woods in heart. Sandalwood and cedar notes rub up against amber and civet, like a big, dark cat with gold eyes.

I have only a couple of criticisms. The first is that this rich, dark smell doesn't seem to fit with the idea of sunny 1960's California hippies to me. I could be wrong, I wasn't there. Maybe northern California, deep in the redwoods at night... But it's not the earnestness of the "back-to-nature" movement. Occult is a good name. Hmmm, "Rasputin" might be better actually.


The second thing is the bottles themselves. Occult is available in two sizes, the 2oz bottle and a small 0.5ml vial necklace, called "the talisman." The talisman feels cheap and young,  whereas the perfume definitely does not. The string, the charm, it's like something my 11-year old niece would wear. I don't like the full bottle design either: the Manson font and the vampire eyes. I think this juice smells better than that.

I've been carrying the little talisman around with me in my purse and re-applying often. Just a little dab goes a long way, so I think this is an eau de parfum concentration. Occult smells like quality materials, well put together, and the opposite of the insipid girly-vanilla perfumes out there. It has presence and weight, and is definitely unisex. Give it a try if you like rich orientals with sandalwood and cedar.

House: Vessel Parfums
Perfumer: Natasha Cote, Givaudan
Notes:
Top: Laotian beeswax, black plum, Somalian olibanum
Heart: Texan cedarwwod, Haitian vetiver, leather, amber, Indonesian patchouli, sandalwood
Base: Benzoin (Laos), vanilla bean (Madagasscar), civet, opulent musks

Marie Saint Pierre B and C

Decisions, decisions

Marie Saint Pierre, the doyenne of the Canadian fashion scene, is based in Montreal. Her avant garde designs use a minimalist palette of mostly black with shots of orange, red and gold. The lines are clean, strong and angular.

In 2010 Marie launched two perfumes to complement her collection. They were created by Evelyn El Koubi of Luxe Alternative in Paris. The enigmatically-named B and C are said to be inspired by Montreal, personal travel and garden aromas.

They are both outstanding. I ordered the samples with a purchase from Luckyscent on a whim, because they were Canadian and I'd never heard of them. I wasn't expecting to love them, but I do. They are both beautiful, multi-faceted, sexy and yet comforting. Like her clothing, both are high quality and wearable. I've been wearing them alternately all week and I can't even decide which is my favourite, it seems to depend on which one I'm wearing at the time.

B could stand for 'baisser" (kiss) or "bois" (wood). It's rich and sensual. It starts with a thick caramel and burnt sugar note but it's not cloying or childish. Nutty spices warm it up and a thrum of sexy cedar and sandalwood keep it grounded and mature. The heart has a fruity rose/violet combination that together with the  cedar reminds me a lot of Serge Lutens Bois de Violette.  I see this perfume in colours of cinnamon and gold, melting over wine-dark purple and red. B is a sweet perfume for grown-ups. It's the more outgoing of the twins with more sillage.

C could stand for "caresse" (caress) or "cuir" (leather). C is a soft musk and leather scent with floral and spice facets. The first thing you smell is the green floral combination of petitgrain and orange blossom. Then iris and the softest suede take over. Orange blossom continues to weave in and out through most of the perfume. It dries down to a warm musk and saffron skin scent.  I may have found a new musk perfume to replace the Annick Goutal Musc Nomade that I can no longer wear.

The black lacquered bottles echo Marie Saint Pierre designs. Continuing the Canadian fashion theme, each bottle is sealed with a ceramic bijou of fused glass and ribbon, created by Canadian artist Melanie Laplante, that can be worn multiple way as a necklace or bracelet.


Can I afford two more bottles of perfume? No. Do I have room for two more bottles? Hell no. But can I stop huffing my wrists? Nope. Maybe one now and one for the wish list, but how to decide?

Marie Saint Pierre B and C are available in Canada at several stores in Quebec, one retailer in Kleinburg Ontario, and online from Luckyscent.com. See the link below for more details.


House: Marie Saint Pierre
Nose: Evelyn El Koubi
Notes:

B Notes
bergamot, Turkish rose, Atlas cedar, violet, caramel, beeswax, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, musk, maple sap, vanilla

C Notes
bergamot, petit grain, saffron, buckskin, iris, orange blossom, freesia, leather, cedar, musk

Frederic Malle - Angéliques sous la pluie

The perfect tonic

I think I'm starting to become a big fan of Jean-Claude Ellena. His style is minimalist, sheer, and luminescent. He takes a limited palette of notes and  finds just the right way to combine them to compliment each other.

When I received a sample of Angéliques sous la pluie, I was expecting a floral perfume, the name made me think of Apres l'Ondee. The story accompanying the perfume is that Ellena created it to pay tribute to the smell of a bouquet of angelica gathered after the rain.

I forgot that angelica is an herb, sometimes used to flavour drinks like absinthe and gin. It has a bitter, slightly spicy and green smell. Ellena has elevated the spicy character by adding coriander, and played with the gin connotations of angelica by adding juniper.

The result is wonderful.  Angéliques sous la pluie sparkles like a cool green tonic and wakes me up when I'm feeling tired. I smell the juniper first, like Bombay Sapphire in a crystal tumbler, then the spicy, green angelica. The smell is effervescent yet creamy. The base notes of sheer musk and wood, are like adding a comfortable chair and a soft grey blanket to your garden. This perfume makes me happy and content.

Men, please wear this! I would love to smell this on more men. So much sexier than the usual masculines.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: angelica, juniper, coriander, musk, cedar

We Three Kings: Frederic Malle - Bigarade Concentreé

Gold I bring to Crown Him again

Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

Welcome to We Three Kings week. This week, I and nine other bloggers (see list below) will each be reviewing three perfumes, to represent the three gifts of the magi: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The first up for me is gold, the gift that symbolized kingship on earth.

Gold is the colour of Christmas for me. Gold decorations are on my tree, gold paper and bows wrap my gifts, and golden candlelight fills the apartment in the evenings.  When I was a child, my sister and I would always receive a golden navel orange in the toe of our stockings. The smell of orange peel brings back memories for me of Christmas mornings.

Nothing captures the glorious, bright golden smell of orange peel better than Frederic Malle's Bigarade Concentrée. Based on a bitter orange essence developed specially for Jean-Claude Ellena, Bigarade Concentrée reminds me most of the smell of clementines. Every year I like to get a little wooden box of these Moroccan delicacies in December and the opening of Bigarade Concentrée smells exactly like peeling one of these little jewels.

As it warms up on the skin the intense bitter orange of Bigarade Concentrée becomes more sheer and floral with just a touch of rose, like a rose, orange and gold sunrise. Then another type of gold becomes noticeable, a beautiful sweet, golden hay note. Hay is like liquid summer sunshine; it's sweet and grassy and works really well with the orange and rose. A light dry cedar provides a base that compliments but never overpowers the other notes.

Bigarade Concentrée was a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with a bitter orange perfume, especially in winter, when I usually drift towards spices, incenses or warm ambers. Orange seems to me like it would be a summer scent. But after trying Bigarade Concentrée on a window-sniffing lunch break, I knew by the end of the day that I had to own a full bottle. From a deceptively simple list of notes, Jean-Claude Ellena created a golden treasure that I will wear year round.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: bitter orange, rose, hay, cedar

Photo: Paul.Carroll
Three Kings Icon ©2010 Megan Ruisch

Please visit all these other blogs during We Three Kings week:

• Redolent of Spices
• EauMG 
• Parfumieren 
• All I Am - A Redhead
• Chicken Freak's Obssession 
• Notes from Josephine
• The Perfume Chronicles
• Bonkers About Perfume 
• My Perfume Life

Penhaligon's - Elixer

A day at the spa

Created in 2008 by the talented Olivia Giacobetti, Elixer is a modern interpretation of the Penhaligon's classic Hammam Bouquet which was composed by William Penhaligon in 1872. While Hammam Bouquet was inspired by the smell of Turkish baths, the modern Elixer reminds me of a particular spa.

Near where I live is a water spa. Finished in warm wood and low, ochre-coloured lighting, it's a wonderful relaxing place to spend a couple of hours, sitting under waterfalls, meditating in the sauna, breathing the eucalyptus steam in the steam room, and generally wallowing in sybaritic pleasure. While lounging on poolside couches to catch your breath, kind women will bring you steaming cups of chai tea.

Elixer captures the experience of going to that spa perfectly. A warm, dry combination of woods, particularly cedar, and incense remind me of a sauna in much the same way as Hinoki does. A touch of eucalyptus is like inhaling the vapour in the steam room. The spices, cinnamon, mace and cardamom, along with a touch of vanilla, remind me of the chai tea. Although it's unlikely that Giacobetti has been to my spa, Elixer is an uncanny recreation of that place. Brava.

House: Penhaligon's
Nose: Olivia Giacobetti
Notes:
Head Notes: Eucalyptus, Cardamom, Orange Blossom Absolute and White Cedar
Heart Notes: Red Turkish Rose Absolute, Egyptian Jasmine Absolute, Cinnamon Leaves, Mace and Rosewood
Base Notes: Benzoin, Tonka beans, Vanilla, Incense, Red Sandalwood and Guaicum Wood

Photo: Body Blitz

Full disclosure: I won my bottle of Elixer in a contest on Penhaligon's Facebook page.

Violet Week: Creed - Love in Black

A Spring walk in the wet woods

It's Violet Week! This week I'm doing a little joint blogging with two other perfumistas. We will each be reviewing three violet perfumes: a "high-end" expensive violet, a less expensive, medium-range violet, and a "low-end" violet perfume. Check out Muse in Wooden Shoes and Redolent of Spices this week for their reviews.

I chose Creed Love in Black as my "high end" violet perfume for the Violet Week reviews.

About Creed

Creed is a family-owned luxury brand, founded in 1760. The head perfumers are Oliver Creed and his son Erwin Creed. Historically, Creed has had many famous clients. Fleurissimo was commissioned by Prince Rainer III as a wedding present for Grace Kelly and Green Irish Tweed has reportedly been worn by Robert Redford and Richard Gere. Creed perfumes are expensive and use high quality natural materials and traditional infusion techniques. They are generally very linear, meaning they don't change much from first spray to far dry down.

About Love in Black

Released on the 40th anniversary of her marriage to a Greek shipping tycoon, Love in Black is a tribute to the most famous former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The colour black was chosen to represent her dark hair, black sunglasses, and chic black dresses. The bottle is created with black sand from Greece. The notes include cedar from Virginia, where she rode horses, and Greek wildflowers.

It takes a bigger stretch of the imagination to associate some of the other notes in Love in Black with Mrs. Onassis. Violet from Italy is noted only because she "visited" there, and iris from Florence because it was a "favorite city." Blackcurrent from France is used because that's where "her ancestors were born."

What does it smell like?


Love in Black is a binary fragrance for me. I smell two very different things at the same time: a sweet, bright violet note and dark woody cedar note. It's a bit like a a high note and a low note played at simultaneously and loudly. From arms length, throughout the day, I mostly smell the cedar and a rooty iris. If I smell my wrist up close, I can smell the violets and roses and other florals.

It's as if I am walking in a dark wet forest on a rainy spring day. I take a break to sit down on an old cedar stump and in the black earth beneath my feet I notice there are tiny purple violets beginning to bloom.

However, what other people smell on me is different. From the comments I have gotten, my sillage is apparently all sweet and fruity violets. The black current must be combining with the florals to leave a sweet wake behind me.

As I mentioned above, Love in Black is linear - what you smell when you first spray it on is what you'll smell hours later. It has good sillage and lasting power. It's a bit weird and not subtle, but I like Love in Black, especially on a rainy day.

House: Creed
Nose: Olivier Creed and Erwin Creed
Notes: violet, jasmine, cedar from Virginia, iris, cloves, musk, black currant and rose.

Violet Week: Balmain - Jolie Madame

Why Grandma, what big violets you have!

"Jolie Madame is a homage to woman in all the splendour of her charm, her experience, her appetite for life. I created Jolie Madame for a woman whose sense of adventure allowed her to follow her desires to their ultimate conclusion; to accede, in all her sensuality, to freedom of choice and a sense of being in control of every situation. For women whose uncompromising nature and taste for discovery and risk-taking gives them a love of adventure. Jolie Madame is the fragrance of adventure."  - Pierre Balmain

Jolie Madame was created in 1953 by the famous perfumer Germaine Cellier, who also created my beloved Bandit. Like Bandit, Jolie madame is a bold leather chypre, but where Bandit is green galbanum, leather and naughtiness, Jolie Madame is green violets, leather and smooth sophistication.

Jolie Madame is one of those classic perfumes that perfumistas rave about in vintage formula and grieve the recent re-formulations. Well, I've never smelled the vintage, but however wonderful it may have been, I think the current formulation is terrific. Violet perfumes aren't as popular now as they once were, and leather chypres are rare as well.  I bought my bottle of EdT this year at a discount, which I fervently hope is not a sign that Balmain is planning to discontinue it or change it too much.

On first spray, I smell a combination of aldehydes, violets and a sachet of dried rose petals, that has me thinking "Hello, Grandma." The opening of Jolie Madame has that old-fashioned perfumey smell that no doubt will make many think "old lady perfume." But hang on, because Grandma has a few surprises up her perfectly tailored sleeve.

The heart of Jolie Madame is the smoothest, buttery suede like the inside of a leather pocketbook that held makeup and violet pastilles. The leather creeps in like a shadow over the violets. Around the edges of the leather I can still smell the grassy, green violets, but I also smell a bouquet of rose, jasmine, iris and tuberose. The leather is slightly smoky, maybe Grandma had some cigarettes in that pocketbook as well.

The far dry down is just as lovely, the cedar, moss, vetiver and violet leaf leave a woody, earthy, mossy, slightly grassy smell like the best fairytale forest, dotted with violets. To me, Jolie Madame is anything but "old lady." It makes me feel sophisticated, powerful and slightly wicked, as leather perfumes do. Jolie Madame isn't actually Grandma at all, she's the Big Bad Wolf.

House: Balmain
Nose: Germaine Cellier
Notes:
Head notes: Petitgrain, Cloves, Neroli
Heart notes: Jasmine absolute, Orange blossom, Violet leaves, Tuberose absolute, Lilac
Base notes: Oakmoss, Patchouli essence, Tobacco, Cedarwood

It's Violet Week! Check out the violet reviews at Muse In Wooden Shoes and Redolent of Spices.

Opus Oils - Afraid of the Dark Collection

Lady Death, two vampires and a fiend for Halloween

It's that time of year, when glowing jack-o'-lanterns leer on porches, cobwebs and skulls become decorating staples and scary wee beasties creep in the shadows ready to pounce on candy. Don't you love Halloween? In honour of the delightfully dark day, I'm reviewing the Afraid of the Dark collection by Opus Oils.

The Afraid of the Dark collection has four perfume oils, Vamp, Ode de Vampyre, Lady Death and Charlie No. 5. The collection was released in 2009. 

Vamp

Vamp is meant to be a lush animalic floral in a vintage style, with "smoky" gardenia, orange blossom and tobacco. But Marilyn Monroe vampire never appears. Vamp starts with an interesting smoky note, but I don't really smell the promised gardenia and orange blossom. Instead I get a quiet and, generic white floral for an hour and then nothing. I don't smell the tobacco or vanilla at all. Unfortunately, I do smell coconut quite clearly, which I'm guessing is the coconut oil the perfume is based on. I don't think that it's meant to be a noticeable note.

Notes: Smokey Gardenia, Blond Tobacco, Orange Blossom & Vanilla

Ode de Vampyre

Now this is more like it. I'll admit it, I'm a vampire junkie. Name the movie, TV show or book, I've seen/read them all. So what could be better than a perfume named for my favourite dark and brooding fantasy?

Surprisingly, Ode de Vampyre is a cheerful rosy wood perfume. Loads of cedar and sandalwood combine with a fruity rose in the heart.  I can smell a smidge of honey on the wood in the drydown. This one has good sillage and lasting power.


Notes:  Blood Cedarwood, Saffron, Dark Rose, Orris Root, Sandalwood, Black Agar, Vetiver, Honey & Temple Incense.

Lady Death

Moss covered stones, ethereal night blooming flora, midnight air, sweet anticipation of the last kiss from a ghostly apparition.


I think this is the most unique and interesting of the four perfumes, even if it is the hardest for me to wear. Lady Death features lily, a note I associate with death. But that's perfectly appropriate here. There is also datura, a night-blooming flower with poisonous and hallucinogenic properties. The datura flower attracts ghostly moths at night and is supposed to smell sweet, like jasmine. Lady Death combines lily with this sweet floral and a slightly salty oakmoss. The result is exactly the feeling of funeral bouquets and deadly flowers growing around damp cold stones.

Notes: of Datura, White Musk, Black Lily & Oak Moss

Charlie No. 5

The most controversial of the lot, Charlie No. 5 has apparently been banned from eBay. It must have something to do with its inspiration, the killer Charles Manson. When I originally ordered my oils, the image on the left was a picture of his creepiness.

Do you like amber? If you do, you'll love Charlie No. 5. This perfume is all warm, delicious base notes. The labdanum is woody and balsamic, like a walk through a pine forest, and the patchouli adds a hint of dark earth. The vanilla and amber are smooth and sweet. This is my favourite of the four perfume oils. Despite its infamous inspiration, it's a cuddly comforting scent and  perfect for those chilly dark October nights.

Notes: of Dark Amber, Aged Labdanum, Vanilla, Musk, Vintage Patchouli & Soft Amber

Happy Halloween my fragrant friends!

House: Opus Oils
Nose: Kendra Hart

Bulgari - Omnia

Gingersnaps on a fresh plank

Today, for a refreshing change I'm sure, I'm going to review a non-niche perfume. Bulgari's Omnia is one of my favourite perfumes ever, and you can buy it at Sephora, or at Shopper's Drug Mart. I got my bottle on sale at Winners.

Or, at least you could. I just checked Bulgari's website and they don't even mention the original Omnia anymore. Just the flankers, Omnia Amethyst, Omnia Cristalle and Omnia Jade. I highly recommend picking up the original Omnia in the brown bottle soon, if you get the chance.

In Perfume, The Guide, Luca Turin gives Omnia four stars and says its construction is original and influential. Why are they cancelling this?

Anyway, back to why I love it. Don't read the list of spice notes and wood and think that this is going to be too heavy for you; Omnia is sheer and transparent. It's a perfect woody, fall perfume. Omnia as impressive sillage, and lasts like crazy.

It's fairly linear. The opening has a juicy feeling from the mandarin, and there is a tea note as in all the Bulgari perfumes. But mainly, Omnia is the wonderful melding of three notes: a fresh spicy gingersnap, a creamy "white chocolate," and a wood note like a buzz saw. The wood turns what could have been a boring sweet gourmand into an amazing dry, warm scent. The wood is like fresh sawdust. Combined with the spices and white chocolate, the wood reminds me of a freshly sawed maple plank. Sitting on the plank is a plate of warm gingersnap cookies.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find some bottles to hoard.

House: Bulgari
Nose: Alberto Morillas
Notes: mandarin, saffron, ginger, cardamom, Masala tea, lotus, clove, cinnamon, white chocolate, sandalwood, tonka, guaiac wood (from Perfume Posse)

Photo: kidmissle

Amouage - The Library Collection Opus I, II and III

I'd like to return these books, please

A new trio of fragrances from Amouage, The Library Collection, is built around the concepts of a library, including a "tome of memories," "hidden treasures," discovery and learning. Amouage is a niche, luxury perfume house, based in Grasse in the South of France but inspired by the Sultanate of Oman. Amouage has released perfumes before that I've liked, but The Library Collection volumes are not going to be added to the full bottle list.

Opus I
Cardamom,
lily of the valley,
sour milk,
baby powder,
charcoal,
burning plastic,
vanilla pudding,
sandalwood.

Why do they call this a chypre? I can't bear to wear this again, so my review will have to be the notes I wrote down above. There was a sour, burnt note in the top, but the drydown is a cloying vanilla pudding with sandalwood that lasts forever.

Nose: Daniel Maurel
Notes:
Top: Birgarade, Plum, Cardamom.
Heart: Ylang-ylang, Rose, Jasmine, Tuberose, Lily of the Valley.
Base: Papyrus, Cedarwood, Guaiacwood, Frankincense, Tonka Beans, Sandalwood, Vetiver

Opus II

Amouage is calling  Opus II a fougère. There is a little lavender at the top, but it's very light, thank goodness; lavender is not my favourite note. There is also a little pepper. But the top notes disappear quickly and the perfume dries down to a rosy cedar with a hint of cinnamon. I'm a big fan of cedar so I'm quite happy about this development. Unfortunately it doesn't last for very long.

Nose: Michele Saramito
Notes:
Top: Lavender, Absinth, Pepper, Pink Bay.
Heart: Jasmine, Rose, Cinnamon, Cardamom.
Base: Cedarwood, Patchouli, Amber, Musk, Frankincense.

Opus III

The third volume in this collection is a floral. Opus III is a sweet and powdery violet with mimosa. The violet is slightly tart, reminding me of  little candies. The base of benzoin and vanilla adds to the candy vibe. It's the most linear of the three perfumes and also the least surprising. It does last a decent amount of time though, and the next morning, I have a nice musk still on my wrist.

Nose: Karine Vinchon-Spehn
Notes:
Top: Mimosa, Broom, Carnation, Nutmeg, Thyme.
Heart: Violet, Jasmine, Ylang-ylang, Orange Blossom.
Base: Musk, Papyrus, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Guaiacwood, Benzoin, Vanilla, Frankincense.

In Conclusion

Frankincense is traditionally from Oman, and all Amouage fragrances contain frankincense, as part of a common base accord that links the whole line. If I actually smelled frankincense in The Library Collection trio of perfumes, I might have liked them better. As it is, although I know this is an accomplished house and the prices must indicate fine materials, I don't like any of The Library Collection perfumes enough to purchase.

For other (better) reviews of The Library Collection, try Perfume Shrine, who calls Opus I "truly surprising" and peredepierre who says it's "top-notch." See also Il Modo di Odore who says it's "very good" and also likes Opus II. So, it could just be me.

House: Amouage

Photo: The private library of William Randolph Hearst, by stuck in customs
Photo: vanilla pudding by bochalla
Photo: violet candies by davescunningplan

Gorilla Perfumes- Exhale

Your dad, or an old boyfriend

Gorilla Perfumes is a line carried by Lush. Here in Canada, the Lush stores are only offering Tuca Tuca (a candy violet, from my sniff in the store), but a Twitter pal was nice enough to send me a sample of Exhale from the UK.

Gorilla Perfumes has a cool feature to their website: they list the ingredients of their perfumes, the real ingredients. Exhale contains:

DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Cedarwood Oil (Juniperus virginiana), Vetivert Oil (Vetiveria zizanoides), Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Grapefruit Oil (Citrus paradisi), Cade Oil (Juniperus oxycedrus), *Citral, Coumarin, *Geraniol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool

According to the website, the creator, Simon Constantine, created this accord as the base for another Gorilla perfume, Breath of God, but apparently liked it so much they released it as a separate fragrance. Created after a trip to Tibet, it is supposed to "induce reverence" as smelling incense would.


Exhale starts with a big blast of ashy wood smoke, like starting a fire in a fireplace without remembering to open the chimney flue. After a few minutes that gives way to a strong and persistent woody-amber and musk. It's very linear, and it lasts a loooong time.

On me, it induces nostalgia. The smoke-wood-amber-musk accord reminds me of men. I find it instantly recognizable, unoriginal, and yet I respond to it like Pavlov's dog. Exhale is every manly fragrance from my past. It's the smell of fathers and boyfriends, of stubble rasping my cheek and strong arms and smoke clinging to a sweater.

House: Gorilla Perfumes
Nose: Simon Constantine
Notes: Vetivert, sandalwood, cedarwood, amber, musk.

Photo: Gregory Bastien

DSH Perfumes: The Secrets of Egypt Collection, Part 1 of 3: Arome d'Egypte and Keni

Walk like an Egyptian

Perfumer and aromatherapist Dawn Spencer Hurwitz collaborated with the Denver Art Museum on a set of special perfumes to accompany their 2010-2011 King Tut exhibit, The Secrets of Egypt. The perfumes are only available from the DAM and the DHS web site.

This is part one of my 3 part review of the Secrets of Egypt Collection. 

From a limited palette of notes, those that would have been used in ancient Egyptian perfumes, DSH has created a amazing collection of beautiful and wearable fragrances. By using many of the same notes in each, the collection stands together, but each perfumes focuses on a different accord and has its own personality.

Arome d'Egypte (Special Edition)

Inspired by the perfumes of the Pharaohs. 

Arome d'Egypte focuses on the scent of spikenard. Oil from the root of spikenard was prized in the ancient world as a perfume fit for kings. Kept in alabaster vessels, spikenard was a luxury that had to be imported from far away Nepal. Spikenard is mentioned 3 times in the bible's Song of Songs and the New Testament tell us that Mary of Bethany used a whole pound of costly spikenard ointment to annoint Jesus's feet, causing some grumbling about the waste of money amongst the disciples. I've never smelled it, but reportedly spikenard has a sweet/spicy/musky scent and that's what I smell at the heart of Arome d'Egypt.

Arome d'Egypte also uses many other aromatic ingredients from ancient perfumerie, and these notes are equally present. At first I smell frankincense and balsam then later cedar and cinnamon surrounding the herbal spikenard note. It's a very soothing herbal and resin fragrance with a hint of spiciness. Arome d'Egypte is one of two in the collection that I would consider buying myself.

Notes:
Top notes: Cassia
Middle notes: Centifolia Rose Absolute, Egyptian Jasmine Absolute, Spikenard
Base notes: Ambrette Seed, Atlas Cedarwood, Australian Sandalwood, Benzoin, Labdanum No. 3, Myrrh Gum, Olibanum (Frankincense), Peru Balsam

Keni (aka the Medesian / the Egyptian)

Keni (which means embrace) is the name we chose for our modern adaptation of “the Medesian”. ...Especially popular during Ptolomeic period, it is said that Cleopatra scented her feet with the Mendesian

Keni has a strong cinnamon note that is the star of the show, supported by cardamom. It dries down to base of myrrh with a hint of cinnamon. I think it would be nice to have my feet smell like Keni, but it's not a perfume I would wear often.

Notes:
Top notes: Bitter Almond, Cardamom co2 Absolute, Cassia, Cinnamon Bark
Middle notes: Australian Sandalwood, Benzoin, Fragrant Wine (accord)
Base notes: Atlas Cedarwood, Myrrh Gum, Pine Resin

House: DSH Perfumes, Parfums des Beaux Arts Collection
Nose: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Caron - Royal Bain de Caron

Wine gums and vanilla powder

My leather posts have led me down the path of some older perfumes, the Grand Old Dames I like to call them.  So I thought I would just go with the flow. All the Grand Old Dames I review are modern versions, not vintage, unless I otherwise say otherwise.

Royal Bain de Caron was created in 1941, according to the Caron website:

"To satify the whims of a California billionaire seeking a fragrance to replace the champagne with which he scented his extravagant bath..."

Caron's web site also says it is now selling Royal Bain de Caron as a bath scent again. That's telling.

The opening of RBdC is sweet and fizzy and smells like wine gums. There is a vanilla powder with this that may be from benzoin. After an hour or so I get the faintest hint of an indolic jasmine maybe that unfortunately doesn't last. The dry down is a whisper of cedar.

I think this might be very nice in a bath product, but it's not for me as a perfume.

House: Caron
Nose: Ernest Daltroff
Notes: lilac, cedar, sandalwood

Photo: ecstaticist

Diptyque - Vetyverio

Le déjeuner sur l'herbe

Diptyque's new perfume, Vetyverio, is named for the star ingredient vetiver, a grass whose extracted oil has a woody/earthy smell. It's commonly used in perfumes, especially masculine ones. But the perfume house Diptyque refuses the restriction of  gender categories for its perfumes. According to their website, Vetyverio combines vetiver with rose to create a fragrance that is "both masculine and feminine."

They're right that this could be easily worn by a man or woman, but vetiver and rose aren't the main notes I smell in Vetyverio. If they are, they have combined to create something completely different than what I was expecting.

Vetyverio is a fruity-wood perfume. In the beginning I smell grapefruit, mandarin and cedar. The citrus fruit turns into a more plummy/berry fruit. Maybe it's the rose that is fruity? The cedar continues through the perfume.

In the middleVetyverio finally develops more of a vetiver feel, with an earthy-wood note and gentle spices. The drydown has lots of dry cedar, with a faint hint of plum and earth. It's very easy to wear.

Art History Sidebar

When trying to come up with an image for "fruit, woods, earth, grass" I thought of still-lifes and picnics. The perfect painting is Le déjeuner sur l'herbe by Édouard Manet. Like Diptyque, Manet refused to be confined by restrictions. His painting was rejected for the famous Paris Salon and was exhibited at the Salon des Refusés, It was considered a bit of a scandal because of the nude woman conversing with the (contemporary) clothed men. If he had painted it in a classical setting instead of a contemporary one they probably wouldn't have had a problem, but Manet meant to stand up for artistic freedom.  

A picnic in the woods, fresh fruit spilled on to the grass, and masculine and feminine conversation, and a free spirit make this painting is a perfect illustration for Vetyverio.

House: Diptyque
Nose: Olivier Pescheux
Notes:
Top: mandarin, grapefruit, lemon and bergamot
Middle: ylang-ylang, rose and geranium and spices such as carrot seed, nutmeg and clove
Base: dry cedar, vetiver and musk.

Painting: Édouard Manet Le déjeuner sur l'herbe

Comme des Garçons - Wonderwood

I <3 woods

Wood, glorious wood! Wood in the head, wood in the heart, wood in the base Wonderwood is Comme des Garçons' love song to wood - and they know wood. I've already written about my passion for Hinoki, their perfume inspired by Japanese hot spring baths and Scandinavian forests. In Wonderwood, CdG attempts to squeeze in every wood and wood-like note they can into a perfume.

Wonderwood starts with spices and an aromatic pillar of incense smoke. The incense is not as intense as in other CdG scents - just a light swirl of smokiness through the pepper and nutmeg.

In the heart, a fruity wood is paired with a dry cedar, under the shade of pine boughs. The warm spices, sweet wood, and dry, aromatic cedar and pine make the perfume both warm and cool - it floats in the air and yet seems to wrap you in an embrace. In the base, smooth sandalwood joins the party, making me think of far-away places.

Wonderwood is balanced but still allows you to pick out the individual notes as they shine. The notes all gracefully reveal themselves and then twirl back together like a dance.

This is one aspect of modern perfumery I really like, the way perfumers really allow you to perceive individual naturalistic notes, instead of just blending them all together into something new but undefinable. I want to smell like something. I enjoy the enfolding story of different notes, and the "ah-ha" moments of recognizing exactly what that new note smells like. A perfume may be gorgeous, but bore me terribly if it's just a blend with no surprises.

Wonderwood is never boring. I love wearing it and I think it would smell deeply sexy on a man. I'm already plotting ways I can get Desslock to  wear it (he's a plain soap guy.) It's a must try for anyone who loves woods.

House: Comme des Garcons (for Monocle)
Nose: Antoine Lie
Notes:
Head: Madagascan pepper, Bergamot, Somalian Incense, Nutmeg
Heart: Cristalon (?), Cashmeran (pine and patchouli), Gaïacwood, Cedarwood, Carvi Graines (caraway seeds)
Base: Javanol (sandalwood), Sandalwood, Vetiver, Oud (Agarwood)

Photo: mine

Monocle + Comme des Garçons Scent One: Hinoki

The heavenly smell of forests, the summer cottage and saunas. 

Oh, my fickle nose. For today, forget flowers!  I never want to wear anything but Hinoki. I wrote earlier that my perfect summer perfume would include the smell of a dock in the sun by a lake, and a pine forest. Well here it is, baby.

I'd sniffed Hinoki in a shop but it wasn't until yesterday that I received a sample. Comme des Garçons is a japanese fashion label that has launched many interesting perfumes. Hinoki comes from a type of Japanese cypress tree that is commonly used in temples and baths. The perfume was created in partnership with Monocle, an "international affairs, business, culture and design" magazine. According to the Monocle site, Hinoki was "inspired by Japanese hot-spring baths and Scandinavian forests." 

It starts with the woody-spicy tickle in your nose of frankincense. The incense gives you the feeling of a temple. Then it seems to bloom - to rise up from your skin like fragrant billows of steam in a wood sauna.

For a little while it also reminded me of the wood shop behind my friend's antique furniture store. I loved the smell of sawdust there and all the different woods. At the heart, the scent becomes more like pine forest - deep green, mossy and fragrant.

It was quite wafty for the first couple of hours but now, 8 hours later, it's just a snuggly, woody-incense scent close to my skin.

Hinoki is somehow simultaneously dry and steamy, light as smoke and substantial as a tree trunk. I love it now in the heat, because it makes me think of a muskoka cottage, but I imagine it would be great in the fall too, with the smell of leaves and woodsmoke for company.

House: Comme des Garcons (for Monocle)
Nose: Antoine Maisondieu
Notes: cypress, turpentine, camphor, cedar, thyme, pine, Georgian wood, frankincense, moss and vetiver.

photo: okinawa soba

The Smell of Summer

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dreams, comfort, memory to spare
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.¹

Today was perfect. The kind of warm, sunny day that seems like a gift in Toronto - clear blue sky, no humidity. A perfect day to sit by the pool with a book, walk the dog down in the green grass between Old Fort York and the railway tracks or get some beer and something to BBQ tonight.

I got to thinking about summer and what I would put into a bottle of my perfect scent-of-summer perfume.

It would have to be focused around the smells of northern Ontario of my childhood. The head, heart and base would all revolve around a note of cool, deep green water with sunlight sparkling on top.

The head would include green foliage and the smell of the little orange jewelweed flowers that grow down by a creek. There would be the tang and creaminess of orangecicles and the wood of their dry, licked sticks.

The heart would be the smell of hot grass and clover, and tall queen anne's lace. Add in a touch of dust from the shoulder of a back-country road and some of the orange day lilies growing in the ditch beside it. There would also be a note of wild raspberry and the leaves of the twisted canes that grow beside the road. I can't forget to add the smell of a cedar dock, warmed by the sun but with damp patches shaped like your back. Notes of warm golden skin weave throughout.

As the drydown begins you would smell notes of sticky pine sap on bark, and dry pine needles. There would be a sense of airy space dappled by sunlight slanting low through tall quiet columns of light and shade like a hushed outdoor catherdral. At the base darkness falls and out comes moss and darker woods with a touch of wood smoke. The perfume ends with more of that minerally lake water from a late-night skinny dip.

Is it out there? Can someone make it for me?

¹ Neil Young, Helpless

Ormonde Jayne - Ormonde Woman

Perfume: Ormonde Woman
House: Ormonde Jayne
Nose: Linda Pilkington
Notes: Top: Cardamom, coriander and grass oil Heart: Black hemlock, violet and jasmine absolute Base: Vetiver, cedar wood, amber and sandalwood

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.¹

The perfect scent for a rainy day in Canada is Ormonde Jayne's Ormonde Woman. It may be the perfect scent. I never tire of this perfume, it is endlessly mysterious and beautiful.

Ormonde Jayne is a niche perfume house based in London, England. I visited their little jewel-like shop on the Royal Arcade in 2008 and was charmed by the friendly service and then fell in love with the excellent perfumes. OW was my first purchase, but I have 2 others and probably more will join my horde² in the future. One of the best thing about Ormonde Jayne is Linda Pilkington's assertion that her perfumes will never be reformulated or discontinued. So I never have to worry about running out of Ormonde Woman and can spray with abandon!

OW starts with smooth spices and a striking green feel, from the grass oil. The coniferous note of black hemlock is there from the beginning and carries through the whole composition. It overlays quiet florals, like quiet flowers hidden in the shady undergrowth, and merges with the woody notes at the base of the composition. OW is very well blended, the notes don't stand out individually, but weave together seamlessly for the impression of walking in an ancient forest in the green-black shadows of enormous trees.

You might think with the smell of hemlock and grass oil and woods that this would be a masculine fragrance. It would work well on a man too, but it is one of my husband's favourites on me. Ormonde Woman is a feminine mystery "lovely, dark and deep."


^{1 Robert Frost
2} I should post a picture of my horde someday. It's small by perfumista standards, but it's growing.
Painting: Emily Carr, Forest, BC