Andy Tauer Pentachords - Two Reviews (Kinda)

A couple of weeks ago, I asked for a guest blogger to help me write a review of the new Pentachords series from Andy Tauer.  I selected CandyPerfumeBoy because he has a wonderful style of writing, and I knew I'd enjoy his thoughts.  I wasn't wrong.  I also had another reason for needing a guest blogger, and that should become clear as we go along.  I'll let CandyPerfumeBoy take the lead, and I'll interject my comments as and when ...

What I love about Andy Tauer’s fragrances is their ability to surprise. They are never what you expect and the Pentachords are certainly no exception to the rule, all three fragrances in the series are imaginative and each has it’s own distinct and unique character.

White
The Easy One

CandyPerfumeBoy: White is the easiest of the three Pentachords to love and is definitely my favourite. Tauer has already shown us that he is a dab hand at creating a beautiful floral gourmand with Une Rose Vermeille and White is just that. However, where Une Rose Vermeille is huge and crimson, White is soft and subtle.

White is essentially a blend of iris and vanilla with a touch of violet up top to give it a sweet sparkle. The vanilla is considerably more prominent than the iris and it has boozy, rum-like facets that make it irresistible.

The Iris gives White a soft, velvety texture and although it is not in the foreground, it’s always there. The violet is used with a really light touch and it gives White just the right amount of lift in the top notes to stop it from becoming too edible or powdery.

As White settles the vanilla takes centre stage and the other notes fade into the background. The vanilla is lovely, it smells sweet and boozy but at times it can feel slightly synthetic and harsh.
I will most certainly be saving my pennies for a bottle.

Get Lippie:  At the end of his review, CPB (Can I call you CPB, btw?) uses two words that sum up my entire reaction to this fragrance: "... synthetic and harsh."  When I sprayed this onto my skin, I got a gaggingly sweet rush of boozy e-numbers, which was, to my mind, the perfume equivalent of spraying myself with popping candy  and rum. 

It was shrill, it was strident, and, sadly, it was linear, meaning that no matter how long I wore it, the scent never changed.  In its favour, if you like the scent - and some people will, sweet scents sell by the bucket load - it is tenacious, so it will be with you for a very long time.  Mr Lippie hated it.  And, after a time, my stomach decided it hated it too, which is when I decided to scrub it off.  Sorry Andy, I don't normally have such a visceral reaction to a scent, but, man, this caused a reaction!

Verdant
The Clever One

CandyPerfumeBoy: At the end of the garden in my childhood home we had a plot of land that was always overgrown; there were patches of nettles, wild thickets of brambles and lots of old trees to climb. As kids my three siblings and I would spend our summers exploring the land, getting lost in the long grass and gaining more than our fair share of cuts and scrapes from the brambles. 

To me, Verdant smells just like our adventures at the end of the garden, like hot sun on nettles, grass and earth.

Verdant opens with intense green notes, like nettles and a ton of spiky pepper. At first it smells slightly harsh and dry but as it develops it becomes sweeter and earthier. Up close I sense the sweet, bruised leaves of garden mint.

The green notes last throughout the entirety of Verdant’s development and they are a pleasure to smell.  The base is sweet and green with vanilla and a touch of leather, which stops Verdant from ever smelling gourmand.

What is really clever about Verdant is that it manages to smell 99% natural whilst being completely synthetic. It demonstrates the genius of Andy Tauer as a chemist and his knack for creating beautiful, intelligent perfumes.

Get Lippie:  I agree that this smells more natural than White.  To me, however, this is still a shrill and strident, rather linear blend of notes that did not work - at all - with my skin's chemistry.  Less sweet than white, I found it pine-y both in good and bad ways (Mmm, forests!  Urgh, toilet cleaner!) but mainly, I found this LOUD.  And, again, exceptionally tenacious.   I didn't hate it, but ... MrLippie begged me not to wear it near him ever again*.  It's a wish I can probably grant, in all honesty.

Auburn
The Unusual One

CandyPerfumeBoy: Auburn is the odd one in the bunch, it doesn’t really smell like any fragrance I have smelled before. I commend its uniqueness but I’m not entirely sure that I like it, that said I do find myself coming back to it to try and work it out.

Auburn starts with subtle notes of cinnamon and ginger, it’s spicy but not in the conventional way, the spices are muted as if they are hiding behind a veil of milky notes. There is an odd medicinal tinge that hovers in the background throughout Auburn’s development, it never feels intrusive but it feels slightly unsettling on the skin.

At the beginning Auburn smells slightly powdery but as the dry down progresses it becomes warmer and milkier. Just like White and Verdant, Auburn shares the signature Pentachords vanilla base but in Auburn it doesn’t feel as strong.

For me Auburn is just a little bit too subtle, I can’t help but wish the spices had just a bit more oomph and the scent itself had more of a presence. Auburn feels autumnal and the name fits perfectly, I can imagine it being worn as the days become shorter, the weather turns colder and the leaves turn to their wonderful shades of gold, red and auburn.

Get Lippie: Ironically, the one I like most, which I'm sure most of you will be thinking that I'm damning it with faint praise (and I'd probably concede the point to you, actually) right now. But this is warm, a little spicy, and less LOUD AND SHOUTY than the previous two.  Less synthetic and screechy than Green and White, it's more approaching what I would have expected from a Tauer creation, in that it's a little hard to grasp the connections, and it's an interesting puzzler, rather than an in your face concotion.  I'm still not sure I'd wear it again, but it's an interesting addition to my collection, and I'm glad to have smelled it.

Conclusion

Reading CandyPerfumeBoy's thoughts on these fragrances has been fascinating, and it's why I love reading the variety of perfume blogs that I do, no two people ever smell the same things the same way, and, after my somewhat ... extreme ... reaction to two of the scents in the collection, it is why I wanted a co-reviewer!  I was simply physically unable to get past the initial scentings in order to divine deeper thoughts about the fragrances.  I'm very grateful to CPB for his input into this post, and for being able to do what I was unable to.

However, whilst my comments in this post could be construed as negative, it is only my experience, and the things I dislike about the Pentachords may be things other people adore about them. I personally think that what Andy's done with the Pentachord series is a brave experiment, and I definitely think that the fragrances are worth a sniff, but I think that only time will tell whether these end up as classic Tauer material or merely random curiosities.  I'll be interested to see which.

Samples for this post were supplied by Scent and Sensibility. 

* The words "you smell like Toilet Duck" were used.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Alice Temperly Traveller from Elemis

Can't keep him away at the moment!  Here's another ... um ... classic from Mr Lippie, where he decides to look a gift horse in the teeth.  For the faint-hearted, I suggest you skip the pics ...

*****

 

For my birthday, Get Lippie got me an Elemis travel pack, ready for our trip to Portugal - as my previous washbag died a pretty horrible death and was binned during the move to Lippie Underground HQ. So I was delighted to open it up and examine the various bits & bobs which lay within.

 

Now, I'd seen various Elemis products around HQ, but nothing that were for men -  or anything I personally would consider "unisex" - so it was quite intriguing to see what male-friendly stuff was within the bag.

 

In order of usage - I started off with the "Sharp" Shower & Bath gel. Now, it felt fresh, lovely, and was a good size for a travel sample - it's gone through about 4 weeks of continuous usage, with still about an eighth of the bottle to go. It does freshen you up considerably, and the aroma feels quite natural. However, it is CONSIDERABLY spearminty. For me, the instant smell association is chewing gum - which is not entirely want you want to be thinking about when you've got out of the shower? However, it is just a personal feeling - Get Lippie loves (loves!) the aroma, and a couple of friends think it's quite interesting...so obviously people don't have the warped imagination I have. Which, if you think about it, is probably a GOOD THING.

 

Next up, the Deep Cleanse Facial Wash. In keeping with the Shower gel, it comes out minty - but it's not overpowering in the same way - it's very much a background sensation that is refreshing, cooling, and energising. I like it a lot, and can see it being a regular feature of my day.

 

The next item was the Energising Skin Scrub. I approached this with a touch of trepidation, as my only previous experience with a product remotely similar made me feel somewhat sandpapered - although it had some delicious tropical undertones. The Elemis Skin Scrub comes out as a skin coloured cream, but the moment you start to rub it into the skin, it becomes the gritty scrub. There's no real aroma or anything to soften the blow - this is really a very functional hit - you can see exactly why you'd only do this once or twice a week.

 

Now, onto the Ice-Cool Foaming Shave Gel! I had a lot of fun with this, as it's the first time I've consistently used a Shaving Foam - as previously mentioned, my shaving routine would normally consist of a shaving oil or, lately, a cream that I slapped in the general direction of my face using a badger-hair brush! First impression - I just couldn't believe how little of this foam it takes to get me looking like a cross between the abominable snowman and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (as made famous by Ghostbusters!). 

 

 

It may be the case with most foams - but I was shocked that I ended up washing away so much of the foam off my hands. It felt like a terrible waste - especially when the product itself was great. It was v.cooling when put on, spread easily & quickly, and - in keeping with the rest of the range - has that background minty aroma. It slides off quite easilly, and don't have a slightly wet feeling once it's off - although you do have to reach for the towel to get every last drop off!

 

 

Finally, the Daily Moisture Boost. Mildly scented, cooling, a perfect amount dispensed without feeling greasy or that you're walking around with a wet face. Which is nice!

 

Overall, I reckon that the Elemis range is very useable - functionally each & every product was nice to use and felt comfortable aspart of my morning routine. That said, I personally object to smelling like chewing gum in the morning, so the shower gel is not for me! Still, it's a classy little gift set, and works for a good few weeks, so well worth it.

The Fine Print: Get Lippie parted with actual cash-money for this.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Project Perfume: Give me Strength

Since I started Project Perfume, I've been lucky to speak to 'Fumeheads from around the world, and I've been delighted to speak to some of the finest perfumers in the world too.  What's been especially great about getting involved in the perfume world has been how inclusive it is, people from all kinds of different backgrounds, just having an interest in something because it smells nice.

Okay, that makes us all look mad now I've written it down, but, speaking of mad, this link was making the rounds on twitter recently, and it made me roll my eyes somewhat.  You don't have to click the link, I'm transcribing the content here:

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My new boyfriend's place smells suspiciously like women's perfume. At first I thought it was another woman but I'm so hot I don't see how he would have time or leftover desire. Lightbulb! I finally got him to show me where the scent was coming from. He had a whole collection of women's expensive perfumes and he wears them when no one else is around. How weird is that? I don't care so much, except does that mean he's toying with gayness? Do any other guys out there secretly wear women's perfume? Why does he do it? He says his former girlfriend was OK with it, and she would sometimes wear men's cologne. -- Boyfriend Has Girly Smell, Winnipeg 

To which, "Miss Lonelyhearts" replied:

Dear Freaked: Yes, some men do, but it's unusual and means something -- it came from somewhere. Ask him about the origins of his love for perfume. You need to know. Does it have anything to do with his sexuality? Did it start with a certain female in his life: his mom or his sister or his babysitter or an old girlfriend? Is it a method he learned to use for self-stimulation? And finally, does he dress up like a woman and wear the perfume when he's alone? Gently find out what the perfume thing means. It may be nothing or it may be part of a bigger scene he has yet to mention.  

So, apparently, men who wear women's fragrances are gay.  I wonder if the reverse applies?  Women who wear aftershave, are they gay too? Or just ... butch?  It's interesting that this kind of distinction still has a foothold on people's imaginations.  Personally, if I came home and found MrLippie had been raiding my collection of perfumes, I'd be delighted, well, it'd mean I'd finally cured him of his Lynx obsession, once and for all, which has to be a good thing.  Plus, he'd smell AMAZING. I have a great collection these days, it has to be said.  As I'm a frequent stealer of his fragrances too (currently wearing Fleur du Male by Jean Paul Gaultier), I think it would be only fair to let him have his way with my collection.  So to speak.

For a long time through history, there were no distinctions along gender lines in fragrance, there were only things that smelled good - and they were necessary because people smelled bad. Men smelled of flowers, women smelled of flowers, and no one batted an eyelid.  Now, because of aggressive marketing campaigns over the last fifty years or so, apparently men smell of manly things, women smell like womenly things, and apparently the only scent everyone has in common is "sexy".  Or candyfloss.  But never the twain shall meet, it seems. 


Do you think "Miss Lonelyhearts" had a point?  Personally, I'd like to know who she thinks wears unisex fragrances.  I'm sure it'd be  ... interesting.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Project Perfume - Joy by Jean Patou

 I'm aware that I haven't written much for Project Perfume in the last month or so, but that doesn't mean I've been resting on my laurels!  Quite the reverse, in fact ... 


If you have a look at my project perfume page, you'll see that, I've been extremely successful in tracking down a lot of the scents I'd listed at the start of the year, and some of the ones left on the list are the ones that are more ... er ... hard to find.


Oddly, of all the perfumes on the list that are trendy, and niche, and hard to find some of them are surprisingly unmemorable.   Also, for a couple of them, I've been wondering if perfume fumes have gone to Luca and Tania's head.  For example: Let it Rock by Vivienne Westwood. Described in "the book" as comparable to Shalimar Light (I have an entire blogpost about Shalimar coming up soon), and goes on: "a bright, resinous citrus-peel top note, plus a combination of coumarin and heliptropin like a toasted almond biscotti.  A beautiful easy-going, well-made fragrance." I'll say it's an easy-going fragance alright.  It's so easy-going that I sprayed it onto myself just five minutes ago, and already I have no memory whatsoever of what it smells like.  It is, in fact, easy-gone.  I'm sure it's very nice, but I do wonder what the Perfumes The A-Z Guide authors had been ingesting on that particular day.  Lippie rating: Complete and utter nonentity.


But I'm digressing.  One scent that is about as far from unmemorable as can be is Joy, by Jean Patou.  I've wanted to wear it a lot since it appeared, which is strange, as it's actually about as old-fashioned a perfume can be, but its beauty transcends its image, and for me, this a scent I'd like to bathe in.


It's a floral fragrance, and an unabashed one at that. It opens with a bunch of "perfume-y" aldehydes which die down very quickly, leaving you with a bouquet of perfect full-blown roses and jasmine on your skin.  What I find beautiful about this is that sometimes it's just a rose you can smell, and then, it's a perfect jasmine soliflore scent.  What you don't get is just a "flower stew" affair, as in so many modern florals, where you can't pick out any of the individual scents.  This is very definitely roses and jasmine, without being a "rosejasminefloraljam".

Luca Turin says that "to call Joy a floral is to misunderstand it", thereby inferring that picking up on this aspect of the scent is to damn it with faint praise.  I disagree, it's a celebration of flowers, a masterpiece of floral, and an amazingly constructed scent, to boot.  It has moderate sillage (other people will smell you from across the room if you wear too much), and excellent lasting powers.  A small spritz will last you the day.  If all "flowery" fragrances smelled this good, there would be nothing wrong with calling it a floral perfume at all ...


This has made it to the front-line of my scent collection, unexpectedly, and all the more delightful for it.  It's a wonderfully womanly fragrance, comforting in it's way, but ... MrLippie has dammed it with his own faint praise, calling it ""interesting" then going on to say "flowers" in a disdainful way.  I'm guessing it's not his cup of tea...


The Fine Print: Fragrances were provided from a variety of sources, tested on skin.  With my nose.  And the "help" of MrLippie.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Estee Lauder Modern Mercury Collection

  
Another glorious autumn collection this week, this time from the wonderously talented Tom Pecheux, the Creative Director of Estee Lauder.  Modern Mercury is a lovely collection of sludge.  If you're a sludge-lover like what I am, them this is the collection for you.  There are three eyeshadow duos, three liquid liners, a nail polish, and three new matte lipsticks.  Here are my picks:

Yep, I picked out the taupe eyeshadow duo ("Platinums"), but in my defence, the other two duos would be less usable for me - Modern Mercury itself is a white and a dark blue, and Black Chrome is a black and dark blue.  Both beautiful in their way, but not for me - in this duo the white has a micro-shimmer, and the taupe is a lovely cool greyed mink shade.  I don't think I'll get much use out of the slightly chalky white, but the taupe will be very useful.


There is a set of three new formula lipsticks released too, Estee Lauder have finally released their first matte shades, they are a red, a fuschia and a nude.  In my goody bag at the launch recently, I was given the nude:

Whilst it's not the shade I'd have picked from the three (I look like Death in it), the formulation is satiny and rich with pigment.  There's a good chance I'll be buying the red one in the near future.  Oh, and the pink.


And now onto my complete and utter must-haves from the collection, the eyeliners and the nail varnish:

I am obsessed with green nail varnish, and this is a beauty.  A lightly bronzed khaki, this flows like butter onto the nail, and it wears really well too.  I immediately went out and bought this as soon as the collection hit counter, as I know it's going to be really popular.  I'm still wearing it now.


And so onto the eyeliners, which I adore:

 Again, three shades, Graphite, a sparkling grey, Silver Zinc, which is a platinum-taupe shade and Black Quartz, which is a sparkling black:

The shades are soft and subtle, but with enough pigment to be visible, and just a hint of sparkle in each to catch the light, and flatter your eyes.  I was so impressed with Graphite that I went and bought the black and silver shades too.  I've just noticed that Silver Zinc is sold out online though, so if you want this one - and it is a beautiful shade that I think will be flattering on many skin tones - you'll have to hustle down to your local stockist very soon.  They have a flexible point on the brush end, and they're very easy to control.  Super longlasting too.  Some swatches on my hand lasted for over 24 hours!


Modern Mercury is available now, and prices range from £14-£28.  There's a highlighter too, which is a lovely rose-gold, but ... I didn't think I'd get much use out of it, so I've passed on it.  I have an inkling I'm going to regret that in about a week, but them's the breaks ...


What stands out for you?

The Fine Print: A mixture of PR samples, and purchases. Lauder group have my bank details on record these days.
 
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

A Week In Lipstick

 Another week, another week in lipstick.  Here's what made it to the Lippie hall of fame over the last seven days:

From L-R:

New CID iGloss in Spice Berry (lovely shade, but I HATE the light-up lid.  There, I said it)

Estee Lauder Pure Colour in Sublime Nectar (very new, look out for an in-depth blog post soon)

Smashbox Limitless lipstain in Sangria (click link for full review)

Chanel Rouge Allure in Incognito (an old, old favourite, from Chanel's Kaska Beige Collection)

Paul & Joe Blue Horizon lipgloss in 002 Pink (look out for the blue sparkles in the swatch below)

Rouge Coco Shine in 54 Boy

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Velvet in Nude Velvet (see more of this one in tomorrow's post)

It was a bit of a neutral week for me, as you can probably tell.  Mind, I did spend several days wearing blue eyeshadow (waves at Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia palette), so that's probably why.  Smoky eyes demand neutral lips!


Here are the swatches:

Brown, peach, RED, pink, pink, pink, peach.  My favourites out of these are Incognito and the red ...

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Smashbox Limitless Lip Stain in Sangria

  
I don't have a lot of luck with lipstains, as a lot of  them have the nasty habit of being a bit too blue, and just showing up as fuchsia when they're on the skin or lips, no matter what the shade promised on the box or barrel.  So I approached the new Smashbox limitless lipstains with no little trepidation. This is the shade "Sangria".  Some of you who follow me on Twitter may find this amusing.

Based on a marker pen bullet-tip - you use the pointed end to line your lips, then turn it so you can fill in the rest of your lips with the side of the bullet - the Limitless Lipstain differs from it's current rivals by having a coloured balm on the end, to intensify the shade and make it more comfortable in wear.

Delighted by the swatches, that show this to be a deep, rich and highly pigmented red, from the marker I couldn't wait to try this on my lips, where things just got better:

Perfect blood-red lips with no feathering, I couldn't really love this shade any more.


Or could I? Well, I could only love it more if it lasted longer.  I wore this through a recent breakfast meeting, and it was defeated by half a plate of scrambled eggs, leading to a Red Ring of Doom situation ... so bear in mind, this may need reapplying if you're planning to do anything with your lips besides pouting during the day ...


Smashbox products can be difficult to find, but you can usually find them in Debenhams, and you can definitely find them on QVC.

The Fine Print: This popped up in a recent goody bag.  But I love the colour so much I'll be purchasing a backup.  I'll just have to give up eating eggs.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.