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Browsing by author: Kevin

What Not to Buy: Perfume Samples

Posted by Kevin on 25 January 2021 106 Comments

Seattle is a smallish city; comparable to San Francisco in population. We have lots of perfume shops but New York puts us to shame when it comes to variety of product in those shops. And many stores in Seattle are stingy with perfume samples; they won’t even sell me a sample when I ask or beg. Years back, most perfume companies abruptly stopped sending me samples of their wares. Was it because I sometimes gave negative reviews — so it was risky to put a new perfume in nose-shot of me? Was it because I ignored samples that didn’t interest me instead of promoting them?

I didn’t worry about it; I had always re-gifted not only full bottle/full-size products I received from perfume companies, but samples, too. I did this happily! Well, there was the time Amouage sent me a beautiful little bottle of Gold Man. After I pried the bottle from my clenched fist, I gave Gold to a friend at work who said she liked it. I still laugh when I remember the day I took a drive in her truck and smelled Gold; she excitedly admitted she sprayed the mats in her car with Gold…

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Caron Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 4 January 2021 46 Comments

I have a mind that classifies — non-stop. With perfume houses, I often shove them into categories such as:

Holding Steady: Acqua di Parma; Arquiste; Goutal; Chanel; Diptyque; Etat Libre d’Orange; Frédéric Malle; Guerlain; Hermès; Jo Malone; Kilian; L’Artisan Parfumeur; Le Labo; Memo; Ormonde Jayne; Parfum d’Empire

Should Be Better Known: Aesop; Astier de Villatte; Blackbird; Cire Trudon; Salvatore Ferragamo; Vilhelm Parfumerie; Zoologist…

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Scented Snapshot ~ Buddha’s Hand Citron

Posted by Kevin on 2 December 2020 26 Comments

I first saw a Buddha’s hand citron in a museum. The graceful, curly tipped fingers of the fruit had been carved during the Qing Dynasty in milk-colored jade. The carving’s complexity was astonishing and I was equally amazed to learn this was not a fantasy object but the representation of a real fruit.

Since seeing that jade art work, I’ve held, smelled, eaten and “drank” Buddha’s hand citron.

In Japan, China and Korea, the fruit’s “fingers” are thought to resemble the boneless, elegant hands of the Buddha…

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Bvlgari Eau Parfumee Au The Noir ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 28 October 2020 24 Comments

The scent of black tea makes me smile; it can reset my mood from blah to cheerful. Any flavored version of black tea I enjoy tasting, I enjoy smelling, too, even in perfumes. Black tea mixes well with citrus (bergamot, orange, grapefruit, the “classic” lemon), spices, flowers (jasmine, rose), fruits (plum, apricot, peach, berries). Black tea can be sweet, bitter, fresh, or rich and smoky. In Eau Parfumée Au Thé Noir, Bvlgari mixes a black tea accord with bergamot, rose, leather, oud, patchouli and vanilla.

Though I’ve tried Bvlgari’s other Eau Parfumée perfumes — Eau Parfumée Au Thé Vert, Eau Parfumée Au Thé Blanc, Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge, Eau Parfumée Au Thé Bleu — until recently, Eau Parfumée Au Thé Noir was a stranger. I’m glad I discovered it…

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Scented Snapshot ~ Rangoon Creeper

Posted by Kevin on 30 September 2020 15 Comments

Three years ago, I reviewed Gucci Bloom. What caught my attention most were these lines from Gucci’s description of the perfume…

Tuberose and jasmine combine with Rangoon Creeper — a unique flower discovered in South India that is being used for the first time in perfumery…the slightly powdery floral scent is captured (via headspace technology) as the flower blooms….

I wondered: why don’t I know about Rangoon creeper?

Before my Bloom review posted, I’d ordered three Rangoon creeper plants from Florida…

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