Carthusia is an Italian niche fragrance line; their Mediterraneo is one of my favorite summer citrus scents. I first tried Uomo last year on a test strip in Bergdorf Goodman, and later managed to score a sample. It has been languishing in my didn’t-love-it-didn’t-hate-it drawer for some time now, and I decided yesterday to finally give it a second try. The notes are raspberry, kelp, and rosewood…
The latest from Jean-Claude Ellena at Hermès, Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, is finally available at Neiman Marcus. I was not able to score a sample (drat!) but did give it a quick try. The verdict: an absolute must have, but as I am too cheap to pay full price, I’ll be waiting impatiently for it to appear at the online discounters. The notes are: green mango, lotus flower, aromatic rushes, incense, sycamore wood.
It starts with a buzz of citrus (grapefruit? maybe some lime?) and intense green notes; the green mango lends some fruitiness but is thankfully not overly sweet…
There was a nice article by Chandler Burr in Sunday's New York Times Style Magazine. Burr, author of The Emperor of Scent, discusses changing ideas about what makes a scent masculine vs. feminine. As a woman who “borrows” quite a few fragrances from the men's counter, I found some of his remarks interesting:
Many houses make no secret that their “masculines” are worn by women. Women wear everything from Givenchy Pour Homme to Dior's Fahrenheit. I sometimes think more women wear Guerlain's Vetiver than its intended customers do.
Perfumes were shared by both sexes until fairly recently anyway, and even Guerlain Jicky was originally developed for men and adopted by so many women that apparently Guerlain gave up and marketed it as a women's scent. One of my favorite quotes from Serge Lutens:
For a start, the word 'unisex' is not very pretty. I believe that perfume is, simply, for men and for women who like perfume…