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Browsing by author: Angela

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 26 June 2017 55 Comments

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir

My coworkers Brigid and Aimee have worked together for years and are good friends. When they see each other, one will often say in a sultry voice, “Oh, hi” like she’s pretending to run into her high school crush by the locker, when in fact she planned the “accident” all morning. It’s alluring, theatrical, and goofy — over-the-top in the best way — and it cracks me up and warms my heart every time.

This is how I feel about Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir. It’s a dense, sparkling amber-woody fragrance that is to perfume like chocolate volcano cake is to dessert, a marvel of too-muchness I find hard to resist…

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Parfums de Nicolai Odalisque ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 19 June 2017 43 Comments

detail from Grande Odalisque

Oh, Parfums de Nicolaï, perfume house of intriguing fragrances and hideous packaging. To me, this line is the Jan Brady of the perfume world. It’s smart, homely, and too easily overlooked in the company of the glamorous Marsha and baby-cheeked Cindy. Parfums de Nicolaï Odalisque is a good example. It’s elegant and unexpected — and resolutely unfashionable. I hope it stays on the market forever.

Odalisque was created by Parfums de Nicolaï’s founder and Guerlain family member Patricia de Nicolaï. The perfume house’s website describes Odalisque as a green woody chypre, and its notes include mandarin, bergamot, lily of the valley, jasmine, iris, oak moss and musk. To me, it’s a light, spring-fresh floral with a kick of post-church luncheons and ocean breeze…

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Eric Buterbaugh Florals Nick’s Sunflower ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 12 June 2017 46 Comments

Sunflower petals

Nick’s Sunflower is based solely around the Sunflower, or what a sunflower would smell like if it had a scent…The scent is delicate, fun and happy, yet an intriguing choice for a fragrance as the sunflower actually has no scent.

[…] Nick’s Sunflower is an abstract interpretation of a summer moment. Think yellow flowers following the sun, blue skies, immense fields…1

So reads the press release accompanying EB Florals Nick’s Sunflower. As the press release further informs us, EB Florals’s founder Eric Buterbaugh is a “globally renowned floral designer” who “embarked on an exciting venture to return perfumery to its refined luxury status” by paying “homage to the sublime notes of highly coveted flowers.” Nick’s Sunflower was inspired by Venice, California, hat designer Nick Fouquet, who loves sunflowers, a flower Eric Buterbaugh admits he’s not wild about.

Now, back to this abstract interpretation of a sunflower. What might a sunflower smell like to you? I think of heat, earth, corn cobs and squirrel fur. (Good thing I don’t have my own perfume line, huh?) From sampling Nick’s Sunflower, I conclude the folks at EB Florals think of peppery musk…

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Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradis ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 5 June 2017 53 Comments

Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradis

Nearly a decade ago, I sampled Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradis at a big city chi-chi perfume boutique. The person helping me sniffed my forearm and shook his head. “No. Not for you.” And that was it. I figured Bois de Paradis and I suffered a chemical mismatch. So, I moved on.

Last week, I stumbled over my Bois de Paradis sample vial and decided to ignore the long-ago opinion and give it another try. I loved it…

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Lubin Epidor ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 29 May 2017 17 Comments

Lubin Epidor

Some fragrances feel spacious, as if you could move around inside them. You can almost smell their cogs whirling in a scented ballet. And then there are the perfumes that are thick. They present an opaque stew of notes that can be comforting, like a velvet duvet, or downright claustrophobic.

To me, Lubin Epidor is of the “thick” variety. I imagine wearing it in fall, especially, when its woody, fruity, powdery notes would be a terrific counterpoint to cold rain. But then, there’s a special place in my heart for dense orientals — witness my affection for Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut. I’m going to guess that Epidor will be a similarly love-it or hate-it fragrance…

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