Estee Lauder Amber Mystique Eau de Parfum

 

Did you know Estee Lauder had a couple of unisex fragrances these days?  No?  Me neither.  But they do.  In 2011 they released Wood Mystique, which has been generally well received by those in the know, and this year, they're following it up with Amber Mystique, which is currently exclusively available in Harrods in the UK.

Both Wood and Amber Mystique are quite firmly targeted at a middle eastern audience, being deep rich fragrances, and both utilising oud wood in their compositions.  I however, am a sucker for amber fragrances at all times, like on a cold day, when I want a hug in a bottle, I instinctively turn to Amber Sultan by Serge Lutens, which smells like a spice market, and I dragged my new husband all over Paris on our mini-moon back in February purely so I could track down a particular supermarket brand of amber-fraganced deodorant that I'm addicted to.  Yes, I like amber.  A lot.

And I do like this fragrance.  It begins with a rose-oud combination, smelling slightly medicinal, and a tiny bit fruity, there's a hint of blackcurrant leaves in the top, with their slightly herbal-soapy scent, then it's rose and pink peppercorns adding a hint of flora and spice to the mix, and then in the drydown there's a woody amber which is a little spiky, smelling more like pencil or cedar-wood shavings than the smooth, lacquered woods I think I was expecting from such an expensive entry from the Estee Lauder line.  It's not a criticism, more an acknowledgement that there actually is something a little unexpected in the heart of what could be a strictly middle-eastern-fragrance-by-numbers, if you were feeling a little cynical about the whole enterprise. 

After spending a couple of years smelling a lot of niche fragrances, I don't think this one from Estee Lauder is particularly original, but I do enjoy it's deep, dark richness, and if you're looking for something a little bit different to the recent releases from Estee Lauder (personally, I've found the recent rash of "Nude" fragrances to be rather underwhelming. Although, by "rather", I do in fact mean "totally"), then this might totally be in your ballpark.
 
The Fine Print - PR Sample.

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Tom Ford Aftelier d'Orient - Plum Japonais and Rive d'Ambre

The Aftelier d'Orient collection from Tom Ford has been on counters for a little while now.  Based on both oriental fragrance types and utilising ingredients from the east, it's an interesting collection, which I personally prefer over last year's "Dark Daffodils" or whatever it was called.  After sniffing all four fragrances, I was most interested in Plum Japonais and Rive d'Ambre.  Whilst I liked Fleur de Chine, it was a little too flowery for me, and Shanghai Lily couldn't - in my opinion at least - hold a candle to the divine Lily & Spice by Penhaligons, so I passed it by.

Plum Japonais is based around an accord of Japanese Ume plum.  I was expecting it to be tart, sharp, and fruity, but what you get is actually a surprisingly smoky scent, redolent with a tiny hit of stewed fruit behind it.  It is similar in feel to Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois, but it lacks a little of the spice that the Lutens contains in spades (and that always reminds me a little of Christmas), making it a little softer and rounder than its Lutens counterpart.  It lasts gloriously well, and this might well be my least sarcastic Tom Ford fragrance review as a result.  It's nice, and I like it a great deal, however, I'm not sure it's original enough for the price tag. It's sophisticated, and gently wearable, whilst being different enough from most things on the high street, but ... you could wear Feminite du Bois for £80 less a bottle ...

Rive d'Ambre I simply fell in love with, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its lack of originality.  It's a cologne, essentially, albeit one that opens with fruity, juicy almost photo-realistic orange juice.  It's bright, fresh and (oddly) adorable.  It's almost the scent of those orange juice ice-lollies you remember from being a little kid.  It's not quite as fresh or green or as bitter as a traditional cologne, remaining fresh, bright and cheerful more or less to the end.  When you do get to the end, there's a cuddlesome amber at the bottom, which is as friendly and lovely as the top notes.  Again, I'm not entirely convinced it's £140's worth of bright friendliness, but it is lovely, and it makes me smile whenever I wear it.

My favourite way to wear these fragrances is layered.  I spritz with Plum Japonais first, then a slight spray of Rive d'Ambre over the top.  Rive just seems to add a little brightness to the rather smoky plum fragrance, and layering extends the wear of both.

Still, at least none of them are called "Daffodil of the Night", I guess ....


The Fine Print: PR Samples
 
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Reiss Grey Flower Eau de Parfum

  
I don't go to Reiss very often.  Well, ever, let's face it, but now they've released a fragrance, at least there will be something in the shop that'll fit me these days ... anyhoo, I was very surprised when I first sniffed Grey Flower released by the brand in association with Azi Glasser, I'd been expecting some fizzy, flowery, sugary syrup designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator with the simple aim of being as innoffensive as possible in order to maximise sales.

I was wrong.

Grey Flower is an amazing fragrance to be launched by a high street store, and from the slightly medicinal (almost oud-like) opening, to the challengingly prickly and spicy wood base, it feels decidedly "niche" to the nose, and I was expecting a higher price point than £49 after I smelled it, too.  This smells expensive and intriguing, and not like anything else for the money.  The formulation also contains pimento berry, frankincense and amber, and the nose-tinglingly spicy woody base is sequoia wood. There is not a flower, or a stewed fruit nor a even the slightest hint of candyfloss in sight. It's a deep golden-seeming fragrance, making the perfume rather peculiarly named ...

It's dry, spicy, and rather unusual, I genuinely can't think of anything else (that I've experienced) that it smells like, and it's rather marvellous for that.  Whether the average perfume customer will appreciate it is another matter, however, and I look forward to finding out the first set of sales figures.  Oh, and I bet the first flanker is a whole bunch more conventional ...

The Fine Print: PR Sample

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Ellie Saab Le Parfum - Eau de Parfum Intense

This is the second flanker to the original Ellie Saab le Parfum, which was released in 2011, the original was, I found, a rather sweet and diaphanous orange blossom and honey fragrance.  I liked it, but it always felt rather "thin" to me, and whilst I do wear it once in a while, I don't adore it as some people do.

In 2012, they released an Eau de Toilette version (which I haven't smelled in all honesty), and that was supposed to evoke a fresh Meditterannean morning to the original's warm midday, and in 2013 they've finally released an "evening" version of the fragrance which is deeper, richer and more intense in almost every conceivable way.

Where the original fizzes on first spraying with bright light citrus, Intense sets its stall out early with an intriguing and heady - intensely heady - burst of orange blossom and rather animalistic honey, letting you know right away that this isn't some flighty little wisp of a fragrance that'll disappear after an hour or so.  Whereas the original finally settles into a powdery blossom fragrance, there's a meaty and distinct amber at the bottom of Intense, which is warmer and more intimate than the EDP.  

I find it a fragrance perfectly designed for the evenings, and I think it'd be a great "date night" fragrance, it seems designed almost to make people want to get closer to you to smell it more. It lasts well, and surprisingly for such a deep fragrance, it sticks close to the skin, having only a rather modest sillage. It's a thick and intense scent, but it also has a hint of playfulness not usually seen in "intense" fragrances, and I think that's down to sparkle of the blossoms used.  It's also, of course, down to the talents of Francis Kurkdjan, who is fast becoming the favourite perfumer of this particular blogger. 

30mls of Ellie Saab le Parfum Eau de Parfum Intense will cost around £40, which is a bargain. 

The Fine Print: PR Sample 

This post: Ellie Saab Le Parfum - Eau de Parfum Intense originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Mugler Cologne by Thierry Mugler

I'm in a funny kind of limbo at the moment, summer is most definitely over, autumn is well under way, winter is approaching on the horizon, and yet here I am preparing for my "summer" holidays.  We delayed our honeymoon quite considerably (the wedding was in February), and there's still the best part of two months before we go away, so I  have a kind of odd reluctance to part with my summer scents, not to mention the clothes!  Mugler Cologne, like so many cologne-scents is perfect for summer, (and it's the fragrance I'm taking with me on my honeymoon as a result) but how insane is that ad above?  I keep looking it and screaming "WHY ARE THERE ONLY THREE ARMS? WHERE'S THE OTHER ARM, THIERRY????", only, you know, inside my head, I'm not insane.

Mugler Cologne is fresh and slightly bitter, clean-scented with hints of laundry-musks, orange blossoms and herbs, it's about the most mainstream fragrance from the Mugler line (if you ignore Angel, that is.  Let's face it, Angel is, essentially, in a league of its own, let's face it). Certainly, it's the easiest Mugler fragrance to wear, no candyfloss (Angel), no space-jasmine (Alien), no caviar and creamy grapefruit (Womanity) and no strange hallucinations of giant Twixes wandering around your flat as on those occasions when MrLippie wears A*men.  Mugler Cologne is simple, free and easy almost.

It is very, very green-smelling, and it's quite difficult to pull out the different scents on the skin whilst you're wearing it, but there are hints of grassy vetiver, and lots of beautiful orange blossom, and I think I can detect something a little creamy, and possibly salty deep down, close to the skin.  It's crisply refreshing, and I'm hoping it'll be the perfect accompaniment to my tropical winter holiday.  It lasts about as long as you'd expect an eau de toilette to, which isn't very long at all, but it's a big bottle and constant reapplications aren't the worst thing in the world.  Sillage is moderate, so you won't be gassing anyone by reapplying, either.

Best of all, it's only £31 per 100ml in Debenhams, and the matching hair & shower gel is £17.  That's about half the price of a similar cologne from Guerlain and - get this - it's a seventh of the price of the same size bottle of Tom Ford Neroli Portofino ...

The Fine Print: The fragrance was a PR sample, but I've been and bought the bathing products as a result of the sample ...

This post: Mugler Cologne by Thierry Mugler originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

The Scent of Fear

I have a confession to make.  Since my month of living hell began, I've not worn any perfume at all, it's an odd situation for me to be in, for, even before Project Perfume began, I would apply perfume daily, even though I wouldn't, actually, pay that much attention to it afterwards.

However, since I've spent most of this year actually paying a lot of attention to how things smell, what I've been trying very hard not to do is to accidentally end up attaching a scent to this period of my life.  For, I keep thinking, if I do, what would happen if I accidentally caught a sniff of that scent afterwards?

I've spent the last week with a racing heart, a dry mouth, total confusion, a constant sense of dread, and  more besides, if that was to come back, even by accident because I caught a whiff of, say, Ananas Fizz by L'Artisan Perfumer (a scent guaranteed to cheer up even the darkest day, with it's pineapple-sunshine sense of fun), then I think I would go crazy.

Scent is an odd sense, as it is most definitely tied to memory.  Even now if I smell  Origins Ginger, it makes me want to throw up, because of a bout of food-poisoning I suffered once whilst wearing it.  The merest smidge of Rive Gauche and it's 1981, and I'm waiting at the airport with my mum, waiting for my dad to come home from his first job abroad.  And for serious, you never want to know what I'm reminded of if I get within even a molecule of Southern Comfort ...

So I haven't wanted to tie a scent to this terrible time.  But, if I did want a comfort-scent, what would you recommend? 

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

A Gin Special with Penhaligons Juniper Sling and Sipsmith

Yay! Gin!

I like gin. There, I said it. In fact, I like it so much that the day before my birthday this year I went to a perfume launch, simply because it had a gin theme. Then, on my birthday, someone (naming no names, MrLippie) bought me tickets for a tour of a gin distillery. So, I guess today's post was kind of inevitable...

I've been wearing Penhaligon's Juniper sling on and off for a couple of months now, and the truth is that I like it a great deal - I've read it panned on another blog for not being interesting enough as a male fragrance, but my take is that as a unisex fragrance, it's actually rather wonderful. Heady with cloves, black pepper and coriander in the top notes - and of course, replete with nips of juniper, too - it's both bracing and spicy, spicy, spicy. At first, I thought this was an odd launch for September, because of the bracing quality, but, on living with it for a while, it makes sense, because what is more comforting when the evenings begin to draw in than a crisp, spicy cocktail? Further down the ingredients list are orris, brown sugar, amber and cherries, making this into a soft skin-scent in the dry down.

Gin ingredients macerating at Sipsmith

On wearing, it's quite noticeably reminiscent of a G&T for the first few seconds, an icy blast of juniper and clove, then it perceptibly warms up with the pepper and coriander, and is spicy and, oddly, comforting. I like this stage of the scent very much, but if I have a criticism (and if you've read my blog for long enough, then you'll know there's always a "but" in every review), I do find that the mid-stages don't last long enough. Ordinarily this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but I do find the dry down rather ... dull, at least compared to those extraordinarily composed, and highly reminiscent, top and mid-stages, so personally, I'd have preferred the spice to have been ramped up, and not to have bothered with the sweetish skin scent. But that's just me! Oh, and I can't get Mr Lippie to wear it for love nor money, which drives me bonkers.

Various trial gin batches at Sipsmith

Last week, I wore Juniper Sling to my tour of Sipsmith, just to get in the mood. Sam, who runs the company is an extraordinary host, and if you get a chance to pop along, then you really should make the most of it. It struck me that the process of making gin is very similar to the process of making perfume, the balancing act of the various ingredients required in the initial stages,the care and attention to detail throughout the process, all dedicated to producing a product that, whilst not a necessity, will bring a little cheer to life.

The Distillery itself is a petite and bijoux garage in Hammersmith, and it is the first all-copper distillery to be set up in London since the 1800's. I was interested to find out that Sipsmith spirits are distilled in a one-shot process, and are sold unfiltered. Always having been taught that filtering is one way to gauge the quality of a spirit (the more filtering processes it goes through, the purer the end product, is the thought process), this was quite a revelation. For Sipsmith gin (and vodka for that matter) are both exceptionally smooth, and wonderfully flavoursome. Indeed, Sipsmith vodka is probably the only spirit I've ever tried that I'm happy to drink at room temperature, and without ice. Unheard of! Discovering there's a Summer Cup (similar to Pimms, but rather more flavoursome, remarkably similar in taste to how Juniper Sling smells), and a Damson Vodka now too was a nice surprise!

So, um yeah. Gin perfume and gin, is there anything finer?

The Fine Print: Juniper sling review based on a sample received at the launch event, and Sipsmiths tour has nothing to do with anything, I just enjoyed it and wanted to share.
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.

Gay Paree!

Get Lippie is in Paris for a few days this week, hoorah! I'm basically heading there to shop, I have a list of places to go - hello Sephora! -  and I've a few things to do, chief amongst them is a visit to here:

Yes, I'm off to see the home of Serge Lutens, and I can't wait! Project Perfume is still going strong - I'll have some more in-depth updates for you soon, but I think visiting Paris - I've never been before - and seeing the home of Guerlain, Hermes, and Chanel amongst countless others is going to be something I'll have lots to say about when I get back.


So, where else should I go?

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

Project Perfume - Book Review

(Click picture for source)

 Alongside "Perfumes the A-Z Guide" by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, I've also read "The Perfect Scent" by Chandler Burr, and it's completely, totally and utterly fascinating.


Burr is the "scent critic" for The New York Times Magazine, and in this book he highlights the journeys of two perfumes on their way to market, One a high-end Perfume House; Hermes, making their way with Un Jardin Sur le Nil, and at the other end of the perfume spectrum, there is Coty, trying to get a celebrity perfume to market, and that is Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely".


At times unintentionally hilarious, as when a trip along the Nile becomes a bit of a disaster when the team from Hermes, who have just drafted in Jean-Claude Ellena as their in-house "nose",  discover that the gardens along the Nile don't really smell of anything, but at all times fascinating, it's an instructive and sometimes quite emotive book about how the high end and the mass-market go about things in their respective industries.


The Hermes story is very much about how much a company can have invested in one person's vision of how a scent should be, and how that will affect a company as whole, whereas the Coty story of Lovely is a little of the opposite, about how "smoothing the edges off" one person's vision can satisfy the company's marketing needs.  At least, that's how I read it.


All through the book you're treated to visions from both Jean-Claude Ellena and Sarah Jessica Parker (who played a surprisingly large role in the creation of her first perfume), of how they wanted the perfumes to smell, and what their inspirations were, and how they went from iteration to iteration of each scent until they were ready (sometimes only just!) to go to market.  I found this very interesting, so much so that I went out and bought a sample of each of the scents in the book, so I could smell the finished product for myself.


First things first, I'm not a massive fan of either Jean-Claude Ellena or of celebrity scents in general, Ellena's scents I find are simply too ethereal, too light, and too ... thin for me.  I can appreciate the master skill that he puts into making his perfumes, but, for me, they disappear too quickly, and usually I'm left resentful that after ten minutes or so I can no longer smell them at all.  With that in mind, to me, Un Jardin Sur Le Nil is pleasant, fruity, and, unsurprisingly insubstantial.  It is something that I will probably get more wear out of during hot weather, where I will appreciate something lighter and fruitier during the summer.  I'll be revisiting this one at a later date, I'm sure.


The real revelation for me is  Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, which I was surprised to find actually lives up to the name.  I am, I admit, a bit of a snob, there are no two ways about it, and I have, for years totally ignored - rightly or wrongly - celebrity perfumes.  I have no real desire to smell like the latest trend, and as the latest trends in perfume all appear to veer towards fruity toilet cleaners (particularly at the cheaper end of the z-list celeb scale)  then, I don't think I've missed all that much.  But this is a little gem, a non-fruity, rather sophisticated little musky floral that I don't mind admitting that I've been carrying around in my handbag for a week or two now.  It's a simple, easy wear, that doesn't need much thought, but it is, as the name suggests it will be, rather pretty, and sometimes, when you've been wrangling with other perfumes which can, and indeed do smell like cat-poo doused in honey (and that's a GOOD THING btw, but more about that later), Lovely is a nice little no-brainer that won't make you smell like Kerry Katona.


So, The Perfect Scent is a "right riveting read" as my mum would say, and a salutory lesson that price isn't - always - everything when it comes to scent.  Highly recommended.


The  Fine Print: Everything mentioned in this post was bought with my own cash, even the cat-poo-doused-in-honey scent, which I'll tell you more about later.


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

Project Perfume - an update

Oof, it's been a little while since I did an update, I have to admit!  It's not been because I've had a lack of things to think about, rather the opposite in fact.

If you take a look at the Project Perfume page itself you'll see that I've sniffed, or obtained samples of around about 50% of the list now, which is due in large part to three websites: Luckyscent, one is Scent and Sensibility and last, but by no means least, Escentual.com.  

Luckyscent (based in the US) and Scent and Sensibility (based in the UK) both specialise in niche, or hard to find perfumes, and I've been purchasing samples from both of them for a while now, I ordered a bunch of Andy Tauer perfumes from Ronny at Scent & Sensibility at the end of last year, and they turned up very quickly and beautifully packaged, and there was a little treat of a sample of Hilde Soliani's Vecchi Rossetti perfume included too, which is about as perfect a scent for a beauty blogger as can possibly be, as it's inspired by the scent of theatres and theatrical makeup.  Violets, roses and beeswax combine to make this smell of the makeup your grandmother used to wear, ladylike and powdery, and just a tad old fashioned, it's a gloriously glamorous scent which evokes the forties and fifties and just needs a beautiful powder compact to make the image complete.  It's not something for everyday wear - it's definitely a fragrance that requires a bit of dressing up to accompany it, but for those days when I prefer my pearls to my edgy silver jewellery, it's wonderfully evocative.

I'll talk more about Luckyscent and Scent & Sensibility next week (look out for a special post next week where I've teamed up with S&S to bring you something I'm very excited about indeed), but I wanted to talk about some scents I've been sent by Escentual.com this week.  

I'm hugely indebted to the lovely Louise (are there any other kinds of Louises?  I rather think not - however long term readers of this blog may have views that differ ... ) at Escentual who saw my list of perfumes and got really on-board with the project, thanks to Louise, I was sent samples of fully a fifth of the perfumes on my list, and it's been wonderful over the last few weeks having a "lucky dip" of some wonderful - and some er ...slightly less so - perfumes to choose from every day!  I suspect my workmates have been a little confused by some of the scents I've been wearing recently, but hey ... 

First off, Calandre by Paco Rabanne:

On first spray this is metallic, and flowery.  And, as is the way of these things, I had an initial impression of tinned peas.  The perfume doesn't, in fact, smell anything like tinned peas, but everytime I wear this, they're what I think about, at least for the first few minutes.  There's a tinny, metallic accord on first spray, which will tickle the back of your nose - and in my case, get the old brain cells working overtime - but, once this ticklish phase is over, there's a beautiful (and I do mean beautiful) essence of roses and glorious full-bodied florals, which leaves me sniffing my wrists in ecstasy.  It's perfume-y, but not at all old-fashioned, which is rather a wonderful trick to pull off, particularly for a scent that was first released in 1966. It's fresh and floral, and rather lovely, I've worn my sample of this one a lot since it arrived, to the detriment of a few other samples that appeared in the same batch.

It wasn't until I went back to Luca Turin and "the book" that I realised where the tinned peas thing came from. Luca talks about Rive Gauche a lot in conjunction with Calandre (allegedly, the two are almost identical), and Rive Gauche is a perfume that my mother wears.  As for the tinned peas, well, there's a very metallic note in Calandre, and my mother ... well ... my mother fed us a lot of tinned vegetables growing up, and that's the scent-memory my subconscious dragged up ...  

Lippie Rating: Lovely.

 Carrying on with the vegetable theme, I next tried Fahrenheit 32 by Dior.  Described as an unpretentious "minty vanilla" by Luca Turin, this is exceptionally difficult to find in stores, I tried everywhere before it turned up.  Yes, it's very definitely a minty vanilla, it's both herbal and sweet, cool and comforting.  For some reason, I do find a lot of vanillas rather too reminiscent of custard, and I'm uncomfortable in them for that reason, but this is very green, and I'm occasionally reminded of watercress (this isn't a criticism, I love watercress, and would eat it every day if I could), with a hint of orange blossom, and the vanilla just takes the edge off the sharp, green herbs, and rounds off the orange blossom a little.  If I want to sharpen it up, I add a little "fizz" with a drop or two of Commes des Garcons Rhubarb (from their "Sherbet" series), and the minty rhubarb'n'custard that results is perfect for carefree weekend days, and wearing with jeans and sitting down the pub in.  
Somehow though, I can't convince MrLippie to wear this, the big wuss.  Although, that might be because I've refused to hand it over to him since it arrived.


Lippie Rating: Weird - but good.


More on Project Perfume coming soon ....


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

When Obsessions Collide...

Did I mention I had a stationery fetish?

Project Perfume - First update featuring Chanel, Guerlain and Thierry Mugler

So, the first month of Project Perfume has gone stonkingly well, I've sniffed around 20 new perfumes, swapped out some old perfumes (and, some newer ones I didn't like), and sat with Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne for a "perfume portrait".  Plus, I've discovered some new perfumes I absolutely adore.  Here are the highlights of my month.

On my Project Perfume page, you can see all the perfumes that I've crossed off the list - I'm not going to list them all here, but the ones that I've found in January were largely ones that were very easy for me to track down, I seem to be saving all the difficult ones for further down the line, possibly a little bit foolhardy, but I'm not really one for making life easy for myself, it seems.  I will be reviewing a couple further down the page though.

I also attended the Scratch + Sniff event: "A Perfumed Journey Around the World" with My Perfume Life and Persolaise  (both of whom are massive inspirations on this project) where we were guided on a journey through Morocco, 1980's Moscow, Bengal, Java, The Alps and Kyoto by James Craven of the infamous perfume store Les Senteurs.  This was a huge amount of fun, and I got some great feedback from other perfume enthusiasts of my live-tweeting of the event.  There were some scents I liked (heavy, spicy smoky ones), some I wasn't bothered about (marine ones), one I loved (by Andy Tauer), and one I didn't like at all (a fruity floral, who knew?), all in all a great evening, and well worth £12.50 of anyone's money, I'll definitely be going back.

So, the scents I've picked out to talk about this month are:

A*Men by Thierry Mugler
Chanel No19 by Chanel, and,
Vetiver by Guerlain


A*Men - Thierry Mugler

 Perfumes The A-Z Guide gives this four stars, and describes it as a "chocolate mint" scent.


An extract: "... one hand a herbaceous lavender-mint chord brightened by aldehydes.  ... reinforces the roasted section with caramel, coffee and tar ... simultaneously poisonous and delicious eat-me-and-die feel as the original.  Hard to imagine on a guy, but a great feminine"


Now, I hate the original version of Angel, it's choking, too sweet, too cloying, too floral, too ... everything.  It's a vision of hell dipped in sugar and sold to unsuspecting 20-somethings who think everything sweet (and strong) is good.  So, I was prepared to hate this, but the description of "chocolate mint" had me thinking that it might be worth a try.  I mentioned already that I go a little bit crazy for mint smells (however cheap and soapy), so I got my hands on a sample.


And, there's no mint in it.  Not a bit.  Chocolate, caramel, and sugar galore, oh yes, but no mint.  And I don't mind.  This is possibly because I don't have to imagine it on a male, MrLippie has been wearing it non-stop since it turned up.  It makes him smell deliciously edible, and it's a wonderful change from all the "clean" scents he's been favouring lately.  Yes, it's loud.  Yes, it smells incredibly odd for the first five minutes after spraying (that'll be the tar, with a slight hint of burnt rubber), but for the rest of the day, you'll smell like a sexy Caramac.


Man, that looks so stupid now I've written it down. It's rather true though.  Lippie rating: Weird (but gooooood)


Anyway, onto:


Chanel No 19

As diametrically opposed to A*Men as it is possible to be, I'm still finding it hard to believe that I'd never smelled this before until now.  Perfumes categorises this as a four star "green floral"


An extract: " ... from the silvery hiss of it's nail-polish-remover beginnings to its poisonously beautiful green-floral heart ... For a fragrance with so many springtime references, all white blossoms and leafy greenery, No19 never lands you in any Sound of Music meadows"

Cold, austere, bitter, but undeniably beautiful, this is a fragrance I can wear whenever I'm pretending to be an elegant businesswoman in control of my destiny, instead of the lightly hassled, frazzled, and dumpy, frumpy, lumpy accountant I actually am.  There's nothing warm or sweet about this fragrance, and it's all the better for it.  It's a spritz of pure confidence in a bottle, and I've taken to wearing it to board meetings.  Yes, I do attend board meetings, something that astonishes me upon occasions too.  It's dry, but less obviously "perfumey" than Chanel No5, and I don't smell many flowers in the perfume until it's almost worn off.  I love it.  For me this falls into the Very Nice category, but for MrLippie, it's merely in the Nice/Soapy area, there aren't enough soft edges for him.  It's a perfume to wear to please yourself, and go hang anyone who doesn't like it.


Vetiver by Guerlain

I hadn't really smelled all that much vetiver till just before Christmas, but this was a beautiful addition to my perfume collection.


Luca Turin names this as the "reference vetiver" and gives it four stars in the book.  His write up is rather dismissive of the current formulation, however, this fragrance is talked about in the context of so many other perfumes in the book, that I felt that my perfume "education" would be incomplete without smelling it.


And I'm very glad I did, it's a perfect "sparkling" green scent, not too sweet, not too citrus, and not too smoky.  Vetiver is a grass, with - on my skin - hints of grapefruit, and for me, this is a perfect every day scent, I get hints of pepper, possibly a bit of clove, but the spice never dominates.  It's clean, it's fresh, but it's never soapy, it's wonderful.  I'm currently trying to convince MrLippie to try it (it's classified as a masculine, but I think it's perfectly, wonderfully unisex), but I'm still having trouble tearing him away from A*Men ...  


This is a massive post, so I think I'll save writing about my meeting with the lovely and amazing Linda Pilkington till later in the week!





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

Project Perfume - The List ...

In the book Perfumes: An A-Z guide, they give the perfumes a star-rating, which is * for dreadful and ***** for classics that will stand the test of time.  I, however, am not as educated in perfume as I wish to be, and so, can't really rate perfumes against each other as Luca Turin and Tanya Sanchez do in the book.  

Also, I tend to find traditional classifications of perfume confusing, eg, what's a chypre?  How is something both oriental and floral? And so on ... so, alongside the traditional categories,  I'll also be using these denominators/ratings/categories on my project:

Disgusting
Ok
Nice/Soapy
Weird 
and the (rare) Very Nice

As far as I can break it down - it's hardly scientific as I'm sure you've already noticed, these are the categories that MrLippie lumps my fragrances into when he smells them - they can be described more fully as follows:

Disgusting = kind of self explanatory, but mainly refers to "scrubbers" (perfumes that immediately make you want to wash/scrub the disgusting stuff off your skin) or fragrances that make me vomit, as there are more than a couple.  I suspect the ingredient that causes it is tonka bean, but I'm hoping to find out properly this year.

OK = better than not wearing perfume at all, but not much (will usually smell of fruit)

Nice/Soapy = Pleasant, and nice to wear but not mind-blowing.  Incidentally, I see a lot of scents written off for being "soapy", in my mind this is a mistake, some of my favourite scents are only available in soap form, and I don't see what's wrong with that.  A lot of soap is actually fragranced by perfume makers in the first place, you know ...

Weird = Something that doesn't always smell of traditional perfume.  Leather, tar, rubber, leaves, vegetables and the like.  Does not mean unpleasant, but just something a little out of the ordinary.

Very Nice = There is a very small category of scents that will make MrLippie sit up and pay attention (out of all the perfumes I own, I think three have made MrL make this observation), and I'll make sure to highlight these ones properly.  


Where mine and MrL's opinions vary widely, the perfume will be given two ratings.  


As for how the project works, there are 120 perfumes on the list that follows, which equates to 10 perfumes a month.  I'm not intending on buying all of these, I'll garner sample sizes where I can, I'll smell others on scent strips, and occasionally, if I like something enough, I'll buy a full-size bottle.  In fact, I've like a few of the scents I smelling in January so much that I might have bought a few full size bottles of them already ... oops!

I'm not intending to do a full review of every perfume on the list, but I will mention my thoughts of very many of them when I do roundups, which will be on a very ad-hoc basis.


So, all that out of the way, here's the full list:


Aqua Allegoria Pamplune by Guerlain
L'Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer
Alliage by Lauder
Amber Absolute by  Tom Ford
Ambre Sultan  by Serge Lutens
A*Men by Thierry Mugler
Anice by Etro
Anne Pliska by Anne Pliska
Antiheros by Etat Libre d'Orange
Apres L'Ondee by Guerlain
Arpege by Lanvin
Aveda Man Pure-formance by Aveda
Azuree by Lauder
Baldessarini by Hugo Boss
Bandit  by Robert Piguet
Beyond Paradise Men by Lauder
Billet Doux by Fragonard
Black by Bulgari
Bois d'Encens by Armani Prive
Bois des Iles by Chanel
Boucheron by Boucheron
Cabaret  by Gres
Calandre by Paco Rabanne
Ca Sent Beau by Kenzo
Chamade by Guerlain
Cologne a la Francaise by Instituit Tres Bien
Crystalle by Chanel
Cuir by Lancome
Cuir de Russie by Chanel
Climat by Lancome
Dazzling Silver by Lauder
Derby by Guerlain
Diorella by Dior
Dior Homme Sport by Dior
Donna Karan Signature by Donna Karan
Eau de Guerlain by Guerlain
Eau Lente by Diptyque
Eau Savage by Dior
Envy by Gucci
Farenheit 32 by Dior
Feminiti du Bois by Serge Lutens
Fracas by Robert Piguet
Le Feu d'Issey by Issey Myaki
Fleur du Male by Jean Paul Gaultier
Fleurs de Sel by Miller Harris
Frangipane Absolute by Ormonde Jayne
Givenchy III by Givenchy
Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene
Gucci Pour Homme by Gucci
Habit Rouge by Guerlain
Halston Z-14 by Halston
Heritage by Guerlain
L'Heure Bleu by Guerlain
Hindu Grass by Nasomatto
Homage by Amouage
Hypnotic Poison by Dior
Incense Extreme by Tauer
Incense Rose by Tauer
Insense by Givenchy
L'Instant Pour Homme by Guerlain
Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens
Joy by Jean Patou (P&G?)
Jules by Dior
Kiki by Vero Profumo
Knize Ten by Knize
Knowing by Lauder
Lauder for Men by Lauder
Lavender by Caldey Island
Let it Rock by Vivienne Westwood
Like This by Etat Libre d'Orange
Lime Basil & Mandarin by Jo Malone
Lonestar Memories by Tauer
Ma Griffe by Carven
Absolue Pour le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian
Menthe Fraiche by Heeley
Miss Balmain by Balmain
Missoni by Missoni
Mitsouko by Guerlain
La Myrrhe by Serge Lutens
Mystere by Aesop
Nahema by Guerlain
New York by Parfums de Nicolai
No 5 EDT by Chanel
No 19 by Chanel
Odalisque by Parfums de Nicolai
Ombre Rose by Jean Charles Brosseau
Onda by Vero Profumo
Orange Star by Tauer
Organza Indecence by Givenchy
Ormonde Woman by Ormonde Jayne
Osmanthe Yunnan by Hermes
Oud 27 by Le Labo
Oydeo by Diptyque
Par Amour Toujours by Clarins
Parfum Sacre by Caron
Pour un Homme by Caron
Private Collection by Lauder
Rush by Gucci
Safran Troublant by L'Artisan de Perfumer
Dzing by L'Artisan de Perfumer
Sarrasins by Serge Lutens
Scent by Theo Fennell
Scent 79 Woman  by Jil Sander
Shalimar by Guerlain
Stetson by Stetson
Sycomore by Chanel
Ta'if by Ormonde Jayne
Tam Dao by Diptyque
Timbuktu by L'Artisan de Perfumer
Tocade by Rochas
Tolu by Ormonde Jayne
Truth by Calvin Klein
Verveine by Heeley
Vetiver by Guerlain
Vetiver pour Elle by Guerlain
Vol de Nuit by Guerlain
White Jasmine & Mint by Jo Malone
White Linen by Lauder
Yatagan by Caron
Yohji by Yohji Yamamoto
Youth Dew by Lauder
There are perfumes by 61 manufacturers here, many main-stream, but plenty are offbeat, and some are pretty niche, but fully half of the list are perfumes by just ten manufacturers, these are:


Guerlain 15
Estee Lauder 9
Chanel 6
Dior 6
Serge Lutens 5
Tauer 5
Ormonde Jayne 4
Caron 3
Diptyque 3
Givenchy 3

All perfumes have been chosen purely because something about the description of them in the book by Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez in some way appealed to me, it's purely a personal choice (you might notice I'm a big fan of the nice/soapy category, and I love masculine fragrances somewhat too ...), this list is in no way a guarantee of quality and/or taste and reason.

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

Project Perfume: Clinique Aromatics Elixir

The week before last, I announced the start of "Project Perfume", where I'm going to attempt to sniff about 10 new (to me) perfumes a month in an attempt to educate myself about scents, their composition, and to see if I can finally, once and for all, identify that particular ingredient in certain perfumes that makes me want to vomit.  I'm a one-woman perfume machine armed only with a fragrance A-Z, a nose and a desire not to throw up in any more department store perfume departments ....

But first I thought I'd cheat a little and write about what is, probably, my "signature scent", and that is Clinique's Aromatics Elixir.  Over the years since I first bought a bottle of this - aged around 15 - I've owned it in every format, perfume, shower gel, body lotion, solid perfume, talc, deodorant (what can I say, layering scents was big in the 80's), but I'm kicking myself at the moment as I missed buying it in scented candle form this year.  I think the only format that it's not appeared in is bath oil, and I'd adore a massive bottle of Bath Elixir, it'd be right at home in my tardis-bath!

Aromatics is a "big" scent, and it's instantly recognisable at even the merest whiff. It's classified as a "floral chypre", but I don't get even the faintest hint of flowers, at least not until the scent has been on my skin for several hours, and ironically, this is what I like about it.  On first spray, it's intensely smoky, and reminds me of a spicy incense, which is intensely evocative.  Because it's strong, I like to save it for winter (though I used to wear it year-round layered constantly over itself) , and as a result, I have a wardrobe full of scarves, coats and sweater which are impregnated delightfully with the stuff, it's a wonderful thing to be able to stick your nose into something you've not worn for a while, and be reminded of occasions where you've worn them before.

After a while on the skin, the smokiness fades, and there's a balsamic, almost medicinal, resinous scent, which lingers around for a while, reminding me of woods and the dense boskyness of walking on mulchy leaves in the autumn countryside.  Eventually, after about 8 hours on the skin I'm left with just the faintest hint of sandalwood and roses - maybe a hint of hippy-free patchouli - and I'm a happy woman.

When I first smelled Aromatics Elixir, I couldn't resist it, as it was so very "different" to everything else I'd smelled at that point, and it remains beautifully different to most of the perfumes you find in department stores today, and I revel in that very "differentness" to this day, nearly 25 years later.

What's your "signature scent"?
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Project Perfume

Accountants need projects like fish need bicycles water.  This year, I've decided to set myself one, I have around fifty different projects going on at work so, what's another one for home?

Over Christmas, I downloaded Perfumes: The A-Z Guide by Luca Turin onto my Kindle App (Santa ignored my repeated requests for a Kindle this year, I hate him), and spent a glorious day and a half reading about practically every perfume under the sun.  I also spent a lot of time bookmarking those perfumes I was really interested in having a sniff of.  It's completely and utterly engrossing, and I learned a great deal reading it.

2010 was the year I really re-discovered perfume. After several years of avoiding buying it altogether, being disgusted with the proliferation of syrupy-sweet stinks that all smelled the same, I stuck to a few old favourites (Acqua di Parma, Jicky and Aromatics Elixir, in the main), and thought that there was nothing on the market to interest little old me.  I was wrong.

So, having spent last year discovering that there was perfume I like available, I'm going to spend some time this year, sniffing my way through the classics (and some not-so-classics - just because I love them) and see if I can educate my nose a bit more.  I spent some time before Christmas with some amazing perfumers, and I'll be talking about those soon.

It turns out that when I'd been bookmarking the scents I was interested in, I'd picked out around 100 or so that I was really, really super interested in, so, being an accountant, I've created a spreadsheet (I even added a pivot table, deep joy!) and I'll be tallying everything I've sniffed as the year goes on. I can manage two sniffs of new perfume a week, I'm sure.  I'll even review them here ... a bit.  Occasionally.  If, over the next 12 months, you see an anorak  accountant with a spangly pen frantically writing notes on random bits of paper in a perfume hall near you, then you'll have spotted Get Lippie out in the wild ... I'll publish the list in full at a later date.

So, if money were no object what perfume would you buy for yourself?