Perfume (and More) for Travel

Posted by Angela on 9 September 2013 102 Comments

rainbow-bridge

Tuesday — tomorrow by the time this posts — I’m getting on a plane to spend 10 days in Paris. As of Saturday, I haven’t packed a thing. I’ve dragged a suitcase up from the basement, spritzed the inside with Guerlain Eau Impériale, and left it to air. I’ve bought a few euros to get me into town, and I’ve arranged for a house sitter and a ride to the airport. But I haven’t packed a thing.

Packing a suitcase is like assembling a capsule of “you” — or at least the “you” you want to be on your trip. It’s the chance to distill your style and choose the few pieces of jewelry, the lipstick, the perfume that best telegraph who you are. It’s your armor and its your comfort. That’s a lot of pressure.

Packing for Paris is even more intimidating…

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Perfume to Celebrate Labor Day

Posted by Angela on 2 September 2013 66 Comments

Estée Lauder White Linen, advert

Labor Day means so many things: among them, a day to commemorate the working class; the end of summer; the start of a new school year; and for the sartorially correct, the last day to wear white shoes and seersucker. What perfume feels right to you for Labor Day?

Here are a few choices of the top of my head:

Estée Lauder White Linen: O.K., I admit I chose this one for its name. From the sound of it, White Linen should herald summer and tea parties on long, sloping lawns with people dressed like Jay Gatsby playing croquet. The truth is, White Linen is sharp and clean and infinitely more versatile than its name implies, as long as its wearer has combed her hair and powdered her nose.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Piment Brûlant: Time for summer salads and barbeque! Piment Brûlant smells like a freshly snapped red bell pepper on a bed of vanilla-scented rose petals and cut grass…

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Elizabeth Arden Untold ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 26 August 2013 88 Comments

Elizabeth Arden Untold, advert

According to Woman’s Wear Daily, Elizabeth Arden released its new fragrance, Untold, to attract a younger audience to the fusty brand. To many, Elizabeth Arden is known as the prized cosmetics line of American matrons and for its tubes of eight-hour cream. Elizabeth Arden wants to change that. WWD quoted E. Scott Beattie, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Elizabeth Arden as saying, “This [Untold] is a modern interpretation of a woman, which will bring younger consumers to the franchise. We believe this will be a gateway for those consumers to show the brand is relevant to them. And we believe the concept — which is downtown New York cool — is universal enough that it will play well globally.”¹

The article also notes that fragrance comprises half of the brand’s business, and Elizabeth Arden hasn’t had a major fragrance launch since Red Door in 1989. They must be expecting a lot of Untold.

And how does the fragrance hold up? Is it the young, New York cool fragrance they’re counting on? For my take on it, let me refer you to the episode of Sex in the City where Carrie insisted to her boyfriend, Berger, that she could identify a real Manhattanite by looks alone…

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Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 19 August 2013 37 Comments

Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale, product line

Last week I stopped by the Goodwill boutique and found a gorgeous old pair of Gucci loafers. Their black leather was thick and shiny, and the creases from use only made them feel more luxurious. Someone had lovingly resoled them, probably many times. An abstract version of Gucci’s classic horse bit strapped the toes.

Did I buy them? No. As beautiful as they were, the shoes didn’t suit me. They would have been right at home in a (literally) well-heeled matron’s closet, and someone with Margot Tenenbaum’s chic could have pulled them off, but they weren’t for me. That’s how I feel about Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale. It smells pretty and not cheap, but it belongs in someone else’s perfume cupboard…

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Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces ~ perfume review

Posted by Angela on 12 August 2013 62 Comments

Etat Libre d'Orange Putain des Palaces flacon & box

Let’s get this over with quickly so we can move on the fragrance itself: Yes, Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces’s English translation — as supplied by Etat Libre, at least — is “Hotel Slut.” And, yes, its logo (see below) is a phallic key inserted into a pink, ovoid lock. All right, we’ve got it, ha ha ha.

But “Hotel Slut” casts the wrong impression of the perfume. It sounds too cheap. After rejecting Truck Stop Floozy (not tony enough) and Penthouse Suite Slattern (really I just listed this name for the chance to use “slattern”), I think High Class Harlot is more like it.

Putain des Palaces was released in 2006 and was developed by perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer. Its notes include rose absolute, violet, leather, lily of the valley, tangerine, ginger, rice powder, amber and animal notes. For once, the list of notes is a good representation of the actual fragrance.

Putain des Palaces is an aldehydic floral juiced with ginger-spiked citrus and sandwiched between a whiff of body odor and a bed of supple stiletto leather…

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a blog about perfume

Perfume (and More) for Travel

Perfume to Celebrate Labor Day

Elizabeth Arden Untold ~ fragrance review

Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale ~ fragrance review

Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces ~ perfume review