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Browsing by author: Kevin

Le Labo Limette 37 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 27 November 2013 14 Comments

Early this year, Le Labo launched Limette 37, one of its city-exclusive fragrances; this time, the city that inspired the perfume, and the only place you can buy it, is San Francisco.1 I live close enough to San Francisco (in “air miles/minutes”) that I don’t need much of an excuse to fly down, even for a day. Mostly, I travel to San Francisco for art; soon I’ll be visiting to see two exhibits: David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young and (also at the de Young) Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George. As luck (the dates of these exhibits) would have it, that means I’ll have to go to San Francisco TWICE before spring! Woo-Hoo!

If Le Labo Limette 37 is really good, I can always grab a bottle at the Le Labo boutique on Fillmore Street…

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L’Occitane Fleur d’Or & Acacia and Ambre & Santal ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 20 November 2013 26 Comments

L’Occitane Fleur d’Or & Acacia and Ambre & Santal

Earlier this year, L’Occitane launched a new line of perfumes — La Collection de Grasse; the collection started off with four fragrances and now has doubled in size.1 I’ve only had the chance to spend quality time with two of the perfumes: Fleur d’Or & Acacia and Ambre & Santal.

Fleur d’Or & Acacia

(lemon, bergamot, mimosa, acacia, white woods, musk)

Fleur d’Or & Acacia begins with, and maintains, an intense acacia-mimosa accord; and at first, this accord smells genuine (natural). The lemon note in Fleur d’Or & Acacia’s opening serves as a momentary “booster” for the florals. After Fleur d’Or & Acacia’s authentic-smelling acacia-mimosa notes vanish, and that happens quickly, they are replaced by acacia-mimosa ‘chemicals’ that soar into space, and up through my nasal passages…

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Bottega Veneta Pour Homme ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 13 November 2013 15 Comments

Bottega Veneta Pour Homme’s inspiration was “the outdoors”…the Italian outdoors; the company description ignites wanderlust:

…a journey north from the Veneto region, where we find ourselves in the Dolomites. Amid the lush mountain meadows, sits a farmhouse; a rustic retreat from reality. The interior is paneled with pinewood and the windows are open wide, letting in a gentle breeze evocative of hay, fir cones, and pine needles from the nearby woods; combined with the chilled air from the glacial stream that is bordered by wild irises.

(We’ll stop there, because the rest of the narrative1 becomes muddled.)

If Bottega Veneta Pour Homme takes me to that cabin in the mountains of Italy, I’ll be happy…

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Gucci Made to Measure ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 6 November 2013 15 Comments

Gucci recently launched Made to Measure for men. “Made to measure” refers to an in-house tailoring service that allows Gucci clients to customize clothing with special textiles and other “details” (baby llama fabric anyone?…why baby llama, Gucci, why?)

The “painstaking attention” that Gucci claims “pours”1 into its Made to Measure service certainly never overflows to fill any Gucci fragrance bottles. Many companies, naming a new perfume after an exclusive and extremely expensive experience, would use that opportunity to make a costly fragrance, full of top-quality ingredients.

Not Gucci…

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Yohji Yamamoto Essential (2013 reissue) ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 30 October 2013 16 Comments

Yohji Yamamoto Essential

Excuses, excuses. I’ve recently returned to school for a year-long course (I’d forgotten what “homework” meant). This week I have the dreaded yearly physical exam to look forward to — so humiliating! I just started giving private tours of a new special exhibit at the museum where I volunteer. Oh, I’m also helping to plan a Day of the Dead event and wrapping up painting the outside of my house before Seattle’s six-month rainy season commences. And I’ve been frantically making jams, jellies, sauces and juice from quince; my quince tree produced so much fruit its branches are touching the ground (the yard smells sensational; my ripe quinces produce an aroma I’ll describe as “apples-on-steroids meet ripe pineapples”).

I’m not asking for pity, just patience. This week’s review will be short ’n sweet; but maybe that’s a good thing…

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