 |
| Source |
A couple of weeks ago, my good friend (and evil perfume enabler) Nathan Branch decided to do a little perfume matchmaking because he'd decided it was time Mandy Aftel and I got acquainted. I was delighted, as I've been following the reviews of Mandy's perfumes for months, and had spent many happy hours filling imaginary shopping baskets on her website. Then not ordering any of the samples I had because I simply couldn't choose between them.
For those who don't know, Mandy is a self-taught perfumer, specialising in all-natural perfumes. She has an uncompromising approach to ingredients, demanding the best, and using only those things she feels are right in every one of her fragrances. And what fragrances they are ... Mandy sent me a box of tiny sample bottles of her fragrances a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that I love them all, very much.
But, for me, so far, there has been one fragrance out of all that I selected (including Fig, Tango, Lumiere and Cepes & Tuberose) that stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is Haute Claire. Put simply, I sprayed one spray and my heart was gone, there was nothing else I wanted to wear. Which is a difficult position to be in when one is eight months into a year-long perfume project!
Conceived during Nathan's Letters to a Fellow Perfumer series whereby both Liz Zorn and Mandy Aftel came up with a fragrance using a similar theme, Haute Claire is a marriage of resinous galbanum and tropical ylang ylang, or, if you want to be reductive, a smoky-floral-green-banana (my description, not Mandy's!). It is exceedingly difficult to describe the scent - Mr Lippie describes it as "sharp", and as the meaning of "Haute Claire" is "High and Clear", I think he's onto something there.
However, Haute Claire is also soft and rounded under the sharpness, and it is this constant interplay between a sharply resinous scent, and a rounded banana-vanilla -which doesn't actually exist, Haute Claire doesn't smell of banana at all, but there is a definite creamy note to this fragrance, chocolate-y even, but it doesn't smell of chocolate either. Not exactly. - that makes this interesting. It doesn't smell like anything else, it smells precisely of itself. That makes no sense written down, but it makes sense from over here. Well, in my head it does. So there.
I've found that Aftelier Perfumes tend to
whisper rather than shout, staying close to the body, but they're very
longlasting overall, and Haute Claire has been no exception to this,
it's office safe, but very distinctive.
Haute Claire is a playful fragrance, it likes to play hide and seek on my skin. When I go hunting for it, sniffing at the spots I've sprayed, I can never find it, and yet, a few seconds or minutes or even hours later, I'll get a little hint of it, seemingly out of nowhere, and it makes me smile. Every. Single. Time.
In a nutshell, if perfume were available on prescription, Haute Claire would be Prozac. Haute Claire costs $150 for a 30ml bottle from Aftelier Perfumes. But you can also buy a 0.25 ml sample for $6, which would be good for at least a week's worth of daily wear.
Now, if you've made it this far in the review you probably think I've gone mental - and you'd be right, but it's not because of this, I assure you - but if you're intrigued, even a little, then Mandy and I would like to offer you the opportunity to try the fragrance for yourself. If you leave a comment on this post, alongside your email address, telling me what your favourite "unusual" smell is, then you're in with a chance of winning the 5ml spray sample vial you can see pictured. Mandy will ship the fragrance worldwide, so this giveaway is open to everyone. Good luck! I'll draw the winner at random, on Wednesday of next week.
The Fine Print: Samples provided by Mandy Aftel for review. Links, as always are for informational purpose only, and are not affiliate links.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
I am nothing if not predictable, for, after my last Chanel post, I did indeed go out and add Graphite and Quartz to my collection:
I'd initially disregarded Quartz and Graphite as not being unique enough, but, on discovering that Peridot was possibly slightly ... um ... too unique for me, I thought I'd pick them up anyway. And I'm glad I did, because they're both very lovely.
Graphite is a speckled grey foil, with hints of silver, grey, and green. It's very sheer on application, but covers nicely. Here, I used two coats, with no topcoat:
No word of a lie, this is similar to OPI's Glitzerland, but it's slightly greener, and leans more pewter than silver. I like it a lot, but there was still a lot of visible nail line, and I could probably have done with a third coat.
I surprised myself for really falling for Quartz:
A soft pearlised taupe, with a fine silver shimmer running through it, this is really lovely:
I was delighted to see that under the right lighting conditions, Quartz has a multi-coloured micro-shimmer. Sadly, because I am a photographic doofus, I couldn't recreate the lighting in-camera, though I kept trying:
It's not quite how it appears under the right lighting, but it's close. Under most lights, it just appears a nice pearly taupe, not quite as grey as it appears in the bottle.
And, because I'm a completist, and I know a few of my readers are too, here's Peridot, once more (but just once):
And there you have it. The sad, sad signs of a makeup addict ...
The Fine Print: Purchases. Sweet, sweet, purchases.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
Right after whipping off Peridot, I decided to go with a real classic, and painted my nails with this, Chanel Rouge Noir. This is an old, old, bottle as I've been wearing Rouge Noir on and off since the 90's.
It's a dark, wine-red creme, a bit gothy, but I find it goes with everything, and always looks classy.
Wear is about average, I tend to get three/four days or so before chipping, if I use a sticky basecoat like Orly Bonder, and this mani was three days old when I took the pics, hence the tipwear in the next photo:
This just reminds me that I need to get much, much better at painting my nails ...mind, before I started this blog, I never used to paint them at all ...
The Fine Print - This was a purchase by me. Possibly in another century. Or it could be a backup bottle. I'm not sure.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
It's that time of the week again! A mixed bag this time around, though you might not think so when you look at the swatches. Here's what made my handbag this week:
Tom Ford Pure Colour - Pink Dusk
Chanel Rouge Allure - Incognito
Chanel Rouge Coco Shine - Bel-Ami
Ilia Pure Lip Care - Arabian Knights (full review on this coming soon)
Chantecaille Lip Chic - China Rose (full review on this coming soon)
L'Oreal Studio Secrets - 460
It's been a bit of a themed week, I wore the Tom Ford lipsticks to the launch of the Tom Ford Full Colour Range, (well, you have to, don't you?) and the Chanels have been in use with my stash of new Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows. The Ilia and Chantecaille both appeared in my collection this week, and I'll be talking more about them soon, and the L'Oreal was a failed attempted at my perfect nude lip shade:
You can see the L'Oreal is far too brown for a nude shade, and the Ilia is actually a nice red stain.
And one last shot for luck:
Just for a laugh, I added up the cost of these lipsticks. I shouldn't have done ...
The Fine Print: I bought four of these, and was sent a couple to review. I like lipstick. What can I say?
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
When two of your favourite people decide to collaborate, it's a cause for celebration. When those two people are as talented as Daniel Sandler and Jonathan Ward, it's a time for jubilation.
I have to admit, I've been (impatiently) waiting for this candle ever since Daniel and Jonathan started chatting on Twitter a few months ago, and I'm happy to say that it's definitely been worth the wait. The first presentation from Daniel Sandler Home, In Love is an ideal introduction to scented candles!
Made to Jonathan's normal exacting standards, the candle is from his usual clean-burning soy base (100% organic) housed in a weighty crystal holder, and smells ... divine. Ingredients include (according the the box) amber, patchouli, clove, cardamom, violet, black pepper and sheer white florals:
It's a double wicked candle (my own personal favourite kind, they're less prone to runnelling, and disperse the scents more quickly), and will have a burn time of 40 hours if treated right. I had this burning for about four hours or so last night - handy tip, with any new candle, always burn it for a minimum of three hours (or until the entire top layer of wax is melted), it'll burn cleaner in future if you do - and today, my living room still smells wonderful. Jonathan Ward candles always perfume a room beautifully, even when they're not lit! Happy to see that Daniel Sandler Home continues that great tradition of wonderful craftsmanship.
The scent is a wonderful soft powdery-spice, powder from the amber and sandalwood, coupled with the spice from the cardamom and pepper. The listed florals are present, but they don't dominate, they just add a little light sparkle to the scent. As such it's a lighter scent than you'd expect from the notes list, but it's still a delightfully heady, sensuous fragrance. Personally, I think this is very much an evening candle, and it would also make a wonderful candle for the bedroom. It's one I'll be saving for the cooler months, as the warm spice and powder are more suited for long dark evenings, and the scent fills the room in a very comforting fashion. Also perfect for thundery August nights!
In Love by Daniel Sandler in collaboration with Jonathan Ward will be available on Escentual.com from October, and will cost £30. Personally, I make it a habit to purchase everything that Jonathan releases, pricey though they are, I can't really help myself. They make wonderful gifts, and everyone I know who I've introduced to the range has immediately fallen for it. If you look closely, you can see my beloved Santissima Amalfi (an intriguing blend of tomato vines and myrrh, which is amazing), in the background of the last picture there! Only a limited number of In Love have been made, so make sure you snap yours up! I look forward to seeing what both Daniel and Jonathan do next ...
The Fine Print: PR Sample.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
Haute Claire is a playful fragrance, it likes to play hide and seek on my skin. When I go hunting for it, sniffing at the spots I've sprayed, I can never find it, and yet, a few seconds or minutes or even hours later, I'll get a little hint of it, seemingly out of nowhere, and it makes me smile. Every. Single. Time.
