Vero Profumo Rubj ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 22 November 2010 89 Comments

Vero Profumo Rubj extrait

Orange blossom is saddled with associations the perfume lover has to shake off to really enjoy the flower’s fragrance. First, orange blossom evokes brides, purity, and white lace. For someone looking to project a more sensuous image, orange blossom might not cut it. Next, a lot of cheap soap smells like orange blossom. As a result, when you sniff an orange blossom-based fragrance, you might be torn between visions of church weddings and of gas station bathrooms. Lucky for us, Vero Profumo Rubj, especially in Eau de Parfum, breaks the mold of the typical orange blossom fragrance.

Vero Kern is the nose behind Vero Profumo, founded in 2007. Unlike some perfume houses that burst onto the scene with a dozen perfumes, so far she’s limited her offerings to three fragrances: Onda, Kiki, and Rubj. Each of the fragrances is distinctly different. Onda, with its leathery, almost fetid, vetiver is inscrutable and moody. Kiki’s lavender is energetic and crisp. Rubj bursts with feminine light and emotion…

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Smell Fetishes

Posted by Angela on 15 November 2010 469 Comments

Antique gas pump

I know you love perfume, or you wouldn’t be reading this blog. But is there anything, well, a little off kilter that you love to smell? A smell fetish?

For instance, I adore the smell of gasoline. As a kid I would sit in the backseat of the sweltering Ford Falcon station wagon at the gas station and drink in the fumes. Divine. When I was in my teens, I admitted my fascination with the smell of gasoline to my aunt, and she fetched her purse. Inside was a handkerchief dipped in crude oil, all sealed in a plastic baggie. “I can’t get enough of it,” she said, a little embarrassed.

Today I spent an hour at the vintage clothing store where I used to work. Between trying on crystal necklaces and 1950s cocktail dresses, I talked to Liz, the owner, about smell fetishes. “Oh, I love gasoline, too,” she said. “And the smell of a garage — the rubber, oil, metal, all of it. I love that smell. And parking garages! I love the smell of parking garages.”

Anna, a burlesque dancer, stopped by to show her newly dyed black hair and look at some hats…

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Byredo M/Mink ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 8 November 2010 78 Comments

Byredo M/Mink Eau de Parfum

How you feel about Byredo M/Mink Eau de Parfum might depend on your thoughts about Dada clothing — say, Elsa Schiaparelli‘s shoe hat.¹ The hat is awfully clever. Who would have thought to take something you wear on your feet, flip it heel up, and put it on your head? But the hat isn’t particularly flattering, and, face it, when you wear a shoe on your head, people notice the shoe and little else. Schiaparelli called herself an artist, but some may have thought of her hat less as art than as gimmick. I’ll let you decide where M/Mink falls.

M/Mink is a collaboration between Byredo and a French design firm called M/M, after its founders, Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak. In a press release, M/M says:

In 2009, reversing the usual idea of receiving a brief from a client, they invited Ben Gorham of byredo to their studio in Paris and presented him a creative direction and concept — a block of solid ink purchased in Asia, a photograph showing a Japanese master practising his daily calligraphy, and a large utopian formula that Mathias drew on Korean traditional paper.

It is rare in our days to find objects with a soul that perfectly fits in the trivial world we’re living in. Even though perfume is totally useless, these seemed to fulfill a kind of spiritual function[…]

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Yves Saint Laurent Belle d’Opium ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 1 November 2010 156 Comments

Yves Saint Laurent Belle d'Opium advert

On first smelling Yves Saint Laurent Belle d’Opium, two words came to mind, and they weren’t “must buy.” No, they were “hairspray oriental.” I like some of Opium’s flankers — the lovely Fleur de Shanghai* is a treat on a summer’s night. But rather than referring to Belle d’Opium as a flanker, YSL calls it the “next generation” of Opium. If that’s the case, somebody please talk to Opium about birth control.

Perfumers Honorine Blanc and Alberto Morillas developed Belle d’Opium, giving it notes including Casablanca lily, sandalwood, gardenia, white pepper, jasmine, and narguile accord. After a generous spray of Belle d’Opium, I smell a hint of orange before gardenia takes over. The gardenia isn’t the wet, tropical gardenia of Estée Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia or even Jovan Jungle Gardenia, but is a thin, synthetic flower coated in Aqua Net. A thread of tobacco and fruit run through the gardenia. The tiniest bit of jasmine hums along, too. Because of a little resin and amber, Belle d’Opium does smell like a high-pitched relative of Opium, but without Opium’s drama and deep, clove-y spice…

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Cumin in Perfume

Posted by Angela on 25 October 2010 238 Comments

cumin

Few notes in fragrance are as polarizing as cumin. Some people associate cumin with sweat or food, and even the tiniest hint of it will cause them to double-bag a perfume sample and take it to the garbage can in the backyard. Other people, including me, like the carnal edge cumin adds to a fragrance.

For people who want to experiment with cumin-laced fragrances, I’ve put together this cheat sheet of a few perfumes and their ratings on the cumin-o-meter. I hope you’ll chime in with your favorite fragrances, too.

Cumin-o-meter rating 1: Serge Lutens Chêne. Have you ever leaned your head toward a four-log fire in a fireplace that draws well and breathed deeply? Riding the heat is a touch of cumin…

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Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Vero Profumo Rubj ~ fragrance review

Smell Fetishes

Byredo M/Mink ~ fragrance review

Yves Saint Laurent Belle d’Opium ~ fragrance review

Cumin in Perfume