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Browsing by author: Angela

Top 10 Spring Fragrances 2009

Posted by Angela on 24 April 2009 125 Comments

Daffodils isolated against white background

When spring arrives, the black and white world of winter seems to turn technicolor in splotches. The ground is mostly barren, but a patch of lurid daffodils lights up a parking strip, and a tulip tree looks like it has burst into white flames against the grey sky. Even the singing birds sound ridiculously cheerful, like a Looney Tunes short come to life.

Of course, I love it. And mostly I like choosing perfumes for spring that make the same garish splash in the cool, damp air. But sometimes moodier fragrances that reflect the dirt’s slow awakening seem more appropriate. Here are my current favorites for spring, not in any particular order.

Amouage Ubar. Nothing says spring like lily of the valley — light, ethereal, and tinged with green. Unfortunately, when I wear Christian Dior Diorissimo, I feel like I’m wearing someone else’s clothing. It feels cold on me. Ubar, on the other hand, is loaded with lily of the valley and sunny jasmine, but has a warm grounding of sandalwood and civet. I’m hoarding the few drops I have left in my sample sprayer…

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Narciso Rodriguez Essence ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 20 April 2009 125 Comments

Narciso Rodriguez Essence perfume advert

The Rodriguez press machine describes Narciso Rodriguez Essence Eau de Parfum as a “floral powdery musk” with iris, rose, benzoin, amber, and musk notes. It is marketed as a daytime scent that is both clean, like “liquid sunshine”, and sexy. Superstar perfumer Alberto Morillas created it. The sales associate who gave me a sample of it said that in her training on Essence, she learned that unlike some brands that target their scent to a targeted slice of perfume buyers, Essence is suitable scent for everyone from teens to senior citizens.

So, what kind of fragrance is sexy and clean and suitable for you, your niece, and your grandma? The answer: a scent that smells like a hot steam iron pressing a linen dress that had been stored with a sachet of dried flower petals. Essence smells of the metal of the iron, the steam, and the distant impression of a jumble of flowers too mixed to pick out just one.

For a while this is perfect, especially if a whistling-clean fragrance is what suits you…

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Annick Goutal Des Lys ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 13 April 2009 89 Comments

Natural CurlsAnnick Goutal Des Lys fragrance

Last night in a fit of optimism, I packed my winter sweaters and heavy wool skirts into plastic tubs and hauled them to the basement. Out came the cotton dresses and print blouses. Naturally, this morning was chilly, and I see rain splashing into the birdbath outside my window as I write. It’s the cold edge of spring. I want a perfume that is an antidote to the amber, leather, tobacco, and vanilla I’ve been wearing for months. I want something that hints at warm days to come and smells like the air outside: crisp, floral, and green. This is when I reach for Annick Goutal Des Lys Eau de Toilette.

A lily’s fragrance is potent. This has advantages and disadvantages. The pure, thick scent of just one stem of Stargazer lilies on the mantel will steamroll over the odor of dank carpets or an overfull litter box. Within a minute of coming into a room, guests will say, “It smells good in here.” At the same time, lilies can overtake a space, giving it the feel of funeral parlor and fighting with the smell of dinner in the other room. After an hour, guests may well ask for aspirin…

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Perfume for the Prom

Posted by Angela on 6 April 2009 130 Comments

promprom

In my neighborhood vintage clothing store, shopping for prom dresses is well underway. With the downturn in the economy, the relative bargain of a vintage dress looks good to mothers who might otherwise turn to the mall. High school girls seem to like vintage dresses, too. A few want classic 1950s prom dresses with big, tulle skirts, and there will always be fans of the Audrey Hepburn little black dress, but 1980s prom dresses are astonishingly popular. That’s right — shiny mauve, electric blue, and shimmering emerald green dresses with a smothering load of ruffles and poufs are flying out of the store as fast as the owner can bring them in. Which brings me back to my own 1980s prom, forever linked in my mind with Babe Eau de Toilette.

I didn’t wear a store bought dress to my prom. Instead, my grandmother ran up some yellow calico and dotted Swiss lace on her sewing machine, and I went to the prom dressed like the lovechild of Little House on the Prairie and Moulin Rouge. Still, I thought I looked pretty good, especially compared to the Japanese exchange student, Yumi, who lived with us. My grandmother had also sewn Yumi’s dress, not realizing that orange wasn’t her best color. Yumi had put on some weight adjusting to American food and looked something like a chiffon pumpkin…

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Parfums MDCI Enlevement au Serail ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 30 March 2009 76 Comments

Parfums MDCI Enlevement au Serail

It’s easy for me to bemoan the destruction of such legendary perfumes as Worth Je Reviens and Carven Ma Griffe, and to be suspicious of the reformulations of other perfume darlings, like Guerlain Mitsouko. Everywhere I turn, I hear something else alarming: that the Caron reformulations are a travesty and my beloved Tabac Blond will never be the same, or that Jean Patou 1000 may be discontinued. (I can’t speak to either of these, by the way.)

Then along comes a fragrance like Parfums MDCI Enlèvement au Sérail to remind me to chill out…

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