August 2008

Le Feu D’Issey by Issey Miyake

August 23, 2008

Le Feu D’Issey from Issey Miyake is a strange beauty — boldly synthetic, oddly distinctive and way too cool for school. It’s like a 16 year old math protege who can build a time machine but still can’t get a date to the prom. Luca Turin gives it a five star (out of five) review [...]

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Eau de Polder by L’essence de Mastenbroek

August 23, 2008

I won’t bore you with yet one more cut-and-paste of the Eau de Polder backstory (click here to find out more), I just wanted to say that #1) it’s a beautiful Dutch-minimalist bottle, and #2) it’s a clean, green and creamy sweet perfume that’s suitable for just about any occasion. There’s a hint of earth [...]

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It’s Patchouli Friday: Profumum Patchouly, Bois 1920 Real Patchouly, M. Micallef Patchouli, Montale Patchouli Leaves, Les Nereides Patchouli Antique, Etro Patchouly

August 22, 2008

Profumum Patchouly: leaps out of the gate as a no-nonsense, take no prisoners medicinal patchouli. Your average sweet and floral perfume lover will be startled by the high-pitched mint & mothball breath of Profumum Patchouly and flee to seek comfort and solace elsewhere. True patchouli aficionados, however, will be thrilled. Includes amber, sandalwood and incense [...]

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Comme des Garcons: Champaca, Palisander and 888

August 21, 2008

Weird and whacky Japanese design house Comme des Garcons receives critical praise by the barrel, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into bottom line profit — hence, their line of fragrances which they churn out with dizzying abandon. Chandler Burr wrote in his book, The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and [...]

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Esprit de Cuir by Auguste

August 20, 2008

With an ingredient list that reads lemon, geranium, galbanum, jasmine, clove, birch, opoponax, tonka beans and tree moss, you might be forgiven for assuming that Esprit de Cuir, from relatively new prefume kid on the block Auguste, is going to be a whip-crackin’ chypre. Your assumption, however, would be wrong. The backstory to the Auguste [...]

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Etat Libre d’Orange: Secretions Magnifiques

August 19, 2008

The art of perfumery is a weird, f***ed up amalgamation of scent, description and image, with both description and image successfully biasing the consumer in favor of the scent, justly or not. Avery Gilbert, in his fascinating new book ‘What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life‘, devotes a signifiant portion of [...]

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Nasomatto Silver Musk vs. Nasomatto China White

August 18, 2008

Yesterday, I gave a test drive to five Serge Lutens fragrances, since I’ve so far been less than enthusiastic on this blog regarding Serge Lutens perfumes and I wanted to give the line a broader testing to see if I might actually have been missing something special. The answer, to my nose, was no. *UPDATE [...]

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Serge Lutens: La Myrrhe, Arabie, Tubereuse Criminelle, Fumerie Turque, Chene

August 17, 2008

Since I’ve been less than thrilled by the Serge Lutens I’ve so far encountered, and I know that there are a lot of devoted Serge Lutens fans (can a million K-Mart shoppers be wrong?), I thought I’d do a quick Serge Lutens field trip and take a drive-by sniffa at five of his fragrances that [...]

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Eau d’Italie: Bois d’Ombrie and Sienne l’Hiver

August 17, 2008

Created for Italian perfume house Eau d’Italie by Bertrand Duchaufour, who’s just about as talented and famous a perfumer as money can buy these days, Bois d’Ombrie and Sienne l’Hiver are top shelf, top drawer, top notch perfumes that deserve the over the top praise that gets piled at their doorstep. Bois d’Ombrie, named for [...]

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Tom Ford Private Blend: Oud Wood, Moss Breches, Noir de Noir

August 16, 2008

Whatever my personal opinion of Tom Ford (and now that I stop and think about it, I don’t really have a personal opinion about Tom Ford), I will happily give him kudos for his ability to give the people what they want. His juvenile shock-marketing campaigns aside (oh, wait — that qualifies as a personal [...]

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