Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
Browsing by author: Jessica

Kelly + Jones Vigne, Bouquet and Terroir ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by on 6 Comments

I’m embarrassed to admit that I know very little about wine. I always enjoy ordering cocktails for myself, and I can navigate a beer menu well enough to end up with something I’ll enjoy. Wine, on the other hand? I panic and go blank when confronted with a wine list, unless I’m with a knowledgeable friend, in which case I turn the ordering over to her with a sigh of relief.

Kelly + Jones is a small indie perfume brand “featuring olfactive experiences inspired by the vineyard and beyond.” I’ve already tried their Notes of Wine collection (my favorite: Notes of Merlot) and Mezcal collection and I liked the scents’ easygoing personalities and very reasonable price points (roll-ons for $30!). Kelly + Jones’ latest offering, the Crush Collection (Vigne, Bouquet and Terroir) is “inspired by the world of natural wine and the purity of a vineyard’s terroir…”

Read the rest of this article »

Jul et Mad Stairway to Heaven ~ fragrance review

Posted by on 6 Comments

Okay, just do it: sing a few lines of the Led Zeppelin song and get it out of your system. Despite what you may have expected (or hoped), Jul et Mad’s Stairway to Heaven has nothing to do with a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, etc. It was inspired instead by a trek into Nepal’s Annapurna mountain range that turned out to be “a veritable inner quest, in search of the mysteries of life, of serenity, of absolute happiness on the Summits of the Gods…” (Then again, that does sound pretty Zeppelinesque…)

Stairway to Heaven was developed by perfumer Cécile Zarokian and promises to evoke a “dual whiteness: pure and immaculate, but warming and enveloping.” That sounds almost like Stairway could be an “Eau Chaude,” in the tradition of Jean-Claude Ellena’s L’Eau d’Hiver for Frédéric Malle…

Read the rest of this article »

5 Ocean-Inspired Treats ~ body products review

Posted by on 6 Comments

Although our summer “unofficially” ended on Labor Day and “officially” ended on September 23 with the autumnal equinox, my corner of the world was warm and steamy until this morning, when temperatures abruptly dropped thirty (!) degrees and a cool drizzle began (and lasted all day). As much as I look forward to fall, I do enjoy using fragrances and scented body products that evoke some ideal summer day at the seashore. Here are a few recommended items that I’ve recently tried.

Zum Bar Goat’s Milk Soap in Sea Salt: Zum has been around so long, as a reliable standby in “health food stores” and the like, that sometimes I need to be reminded how much I like this brand…

Read the rest of this article »

Tocca Gia and Jo Malone Poppy & Barley ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by on 21 Comments

When I read the press release for a new fragrance, I can’t help but imagine how it will smell. I know that the list of notes and the promotional copy need to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. All the same, I have fun guessing what the actual experience of the fragrance will be. This week I tried two new-ish scents and neither of them was quite what I’d expected.

First: Gia, the newest fragrance from Tocca, “expresses passion and is given flight by notes of feminine power and purity” in its composition of Turkish rose, pink peppercorn, tangerine, amber and sandalwood. When Gia was first announced, its press release mentioned the artist Georgia O’Keeffe as its inspiration…

Read the rest of this article »

Regime des Fleurs Chloe Sevigny Little Flower ~ fragrance review

Posted by on 19 Comments

A collaboration with film and fashion icon Chloë Sevigny, Little Flower is Régime des Fleurs’ provocative take on Sevigny’s favorite bloom — the rose. . . . Thérèse of Lisieux, a late 19th century French nun who died at the age of 24, was referred to as ‘The Little Flower’ and became the Catholic patron saint of flowers.

Well, if you were trying to come up with a fragrance that would sound irresistible to me, you couldn’t do much better than that. I’m a life-long lover of rose perfumes and a former Catholic schoolgirl still deeply influenced by my religion’s iconography. I’ve also been following Chloë Sevigny’s work (and style) ever since her 1994 profile in The New Yorker, so I already know that she’s a serious perfume fan who used to wear Comme des Garçons Rose…

Read the rest of this article »

Back to Top

Home
Archives
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Books

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z