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Browsing by author: Jessica

Gallivant Los Angeles ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 22 August 2019 8 Comments

This week I’ve been “traveling” cross-country with the niche line Gallivant, from Brooklyn (where I spend much of my time in real life) to Los Angeles (a place I’ve never actually visited). Los Angeles is the latest “urban exploration” fragrance from Gallivant and it’s described as “a hot and sensual woody floral, cooled with a marine breeze.” It was developed by perfumer Karine Chevallier and features notes of eucalyptus, clary sage, mandarin, pineapple, narcissus, tuberose, cade, guaiac, nagarmotha, musks and heliotrope.

I like Gallivant’s note about Los Angeles being “a neon floral fragrance,” since it feels fabulously artificial…

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Amouage Portrayal Woman ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 9 August 2019 22 Comments

I have to confess that I haven’t been keeping up with Amouage very well lately. My interest in Luxury-with-a-capital-L fragrance houses, never too intense in the first place, has dwindled over recent years; meanwhile, Amouage’s pace of new releases has been fast and furious. The fragrance duo of Portrayal Woman and Portrayal Man, in their matching iridescent white bottles, was launched back in April and I’ve just had a chance to try a sample.

Portrayal Woman, developed for Amouage by perfumer Annick Menardo, is “an olfactive portrayal of the 1920s cultural liberation” with a “playful refinement” and notes of jasmine, tuberose, “Craven A tobacco accord,” elemi and vanilla. I don’t know whether I understand the 1920s reference; I don’t associate big white florals with that era as much as I do with the 1940s (Fracas, Billie Holiday with gardenias in her hair, etc.). In any case, Portrayal is a classical white floral…

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Maison Martin Margiela Replica Whispers in the Library ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 1 August 2019 17 Comments

Whispers in the Library is a recent addition to the Maison Martin Margiela Replica fragrance collection; it “evokes the memory of a mysterious library made of antique woodwork perfectly waxed. The slowing down of time between books and the whispers of turning pages.” Its remembered or imagined setting is “Oxford 1997” and it’s categorized as an “oriental woody” scent for men or women.

I’ve spent a significant portion of my adult life in libraries — in graduate school, during dissertation research, and in various jobs — and I love the idea of a perfume inspired by libraries and old books…

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Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Sharkskin ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 12 July 2019 1 Comment

Independent perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has just released Sharkskin, the seventh fragrance in her limited edition Heirloom Series.1 This one is timed for summer: it’s “tailor-made to get you through the steamiest days of the year…a wonderful balance of sparkling lightness, luxurious depth, and ease. In my perfect fantasy, this is the scent that both Frank Sinatra AND Grace Kelly are wearing to be cool as a cucumber, the picture of elegance, and ever so fresh in the heat of the NYC summer, circa 1957.”

This scent’s name refers to the fabric called sharkskin, a lightweight wool material that’s tightly woven with alternating colors of thread for a resulting smoothness and subtle, two-toned sheen. The members of the Rat Pack were often photographed wearing sharp-cut sharkskin suits in the 1950s and 1960s, hence the reference above! — but the material is still used in suiting for both genders…

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Memo Winter Palace & Siwa ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 5 July 2019 12 Comments

Earlier this month, I dove into the new fragrance line Hermetica. This week I took a step back to revisit Memo, Hermetica’s older “sibling” brand, and I sampled two fragrances that I hadn’t tried before — one new, one old, both developed for Memo by perfumer Aliénor Massenet.

The new release is Winter Palace, summarized as “Tea and Fire.” Its composition includes notes of grapefruit, dry amber wood, bergamot, benzoin, cistus labdanum, orange, styrax, tolu, vanilla, red tea, musk, tonka bean, lemon, maté and Gurjum balsam. Winter Palace has joined Memo’s “Artland” collection…

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