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Browsing by author: Kevin

D.S. & Durga Cowboy Grass, Marblehead Reds, Barbados, $, Vetyver & Juniper ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 16 April 2009 34 Comments

DS & Durga Cowboy Grass fragrance

New York-based D.S. & Durga has released a large number of fragrances in a very short time; there are two feminine and two masculine perfume collections — 18 perfumes total. I finally got up the energy (and set aside a week) to wear six perfumes from the men’s lines, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of the perfumes.

Cowboy Grass

(vetiver, sage, white thyme)

Judging from the name, Cowboy Grass, I was expecting something a bit “tougher” and wilder. If there were any ‘cowboys’ in the minds of Cowboy Grass’s perfumers, those boys live on a fancy rancho, not on the open range, and they are fresh out of sudsy tubs — scrubbed, shaved, and scented — their jeans, shirts and bandanas ironed to perfection. Cowboy Grass begins with a ‘dusty’ accord that brings to mind New Mexico — my desert area of choice; there’s a hint of incense, a touch of sage-herbs-vetiver. If you’ve ever been in the desert and rubbed sage between your fingers or smelled creosote or burned small bundles of sage smudge sticks, you can perhaps conjure the aroma of Cowboy Grass, but its overall effect in person will be smoother, cleaner and sweeter…

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Nautica Oceans ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 9 April 2009 43 Comments

Nautica Oceans fragrance bottleLuke Flynn for Nautica Oceans, fragrance advert

It’s apt that a company named Nautica (a Coty brand) is releasing a water-based, “aquatic” perfume called Oceans; however, the big story is not the smell of Nautica Oceans, but the way the fragrance is made. Nautica Oceans uses a patent-pending micro-emulsion technology developed by perfumer Michel Mane (Mane USA) that “allows for a concentrated oil load of up to 20 percent to be built into water-based fragrances” (water-based scents usually only have 2-3 percent oil in the formulation).1 Nautica Oceans uses a 10 percent oil load and Nautica has exclusive use of the Mane technology for two years.

Nautica Oceans has impeccable green credentials: its ingredients and packaging are biodegradable (the fully recyclable outer carton is made from 30 percent post consumer recycled fibers and is produced with wind energy in a carbon neutral facility) and Nautica supports Oceana.2 (The only non-green aspect to Nautica Oceans is its two-year exclusive rights agreement with Mane — why not let as many perfumers and fragrance companies as possible use this “cleaner” perfume technology?)3

Nautica Oceans contains ocean air, lemon tonic, sea salt rose, lavender reef, geranium, amber crystals, teak and Regatta Accord. What does Nautica Oceans smell like? I could respond in two ways…

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Donna Karan DKNY Men ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 2 April 2009 36 Comments

Donna Karan DKNY Men 2009 fragrance

We are living in the age of Queen Melon (née Calone) and King Violet Leaf; those two notes are dominating so many releases of the last year and a half that when I smell those notes in a fragrance I lose interest almost immediately. I don’t dislike melon and violet leaf, but smelling them in fragrance after fragrance over a long period of time has dulled their effect on me. So here comes Donna Karan’s DKNY Men (late to the violet leaf party) lagging behind other recent violet leaf-heavy scents such as Narciso Rodriguez For Him, Dsquared2 He Wood, Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme and Burberry The Beat For Men (to name just a few).

DKNY Men was created by perfumers Alberto Morillas and Harry Fremont and contains bergamot, mandarin, juniper, sage, white pepper, cardamom, lavender, violet leaf, jasmine, cedar, patchouli, orris and vetiver. DKNY Men opens with warm bergamot, violet leaf, and a touch of mandarin. The fragrance does not change much after the first few minutes on skin, and as the fragrance dries down, it resembles a slightly happier Burberry The Beat for Men…

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Le Labo Oud 27 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 25 March 2009 79 Comments

Study for the Portrait of a Rocker After Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson

The word “oud” — when relating to perfume — always makes me think of…MONTALE. Montale has won the oud wars in the West by creating more oud-centered fragrances than any company in sight (or smell). When I heard that Le Labo was releasing an oud perfume, I thought: “Poor Le Labo — you haven’t a chance!”

Le Labo launches Oud 27 this month; it’s Le Labo’s first global launch since 2006. (Oud 27 will not be associated with one city — you can buy it at all Le Labo boutiques.) Le Labo divulges only a few components of Oud 27: incense, cedar, patchouli, saffron, gaiac wood and oud…

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Stephanie de Saint-Aignan Un The au Sahara ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 19 March 2009 44 Comments

On vacation in Morocco years ago, I spent a week inexplicably pronouncing the French word for “mint” (menthe) as “mountain” (mont). During that week, in Fez, Marrakech, Casablanca, I ordered lots of ‘mountain tea’ (thé à la mont) before I realized my mistake. I turned red as I remembered all the waiters and café owners who had looked at me strangely as I ordered mountain tea (no such thing!) when what I really wanted was a glass of thé à la menthe. I recall one café proprietress — in the Atlas Mountains of all places — her eyes lined in kohl, shouting at me maniacally (between hearty guffaws) when I asked for some mountain tea:

ME: Thé à la mont, s’il vous plaît.

SHE: (eyes opened wide, shaking head from side to side) Non.

ME: (a bit louder) Thé à la mont, s’il vous plaît.

SHE: (frowning, shaking head from side to side and moving arms up and down) Non!

ME: (emphasizing each word) Thé à la mont, s’il vous plaît…

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