Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 7 September 2011 81 Comments

Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne

We here at Now Smell This have our seasonal lists of “Top 10” fragrances and each December we release a list of best scents of the year. We are a positive bunch for the most part. But if we were to release a “Worst of 2011” list, I have a nominee: Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne.

Saharienne illustrates what happens when a jacket* is the inspiration for a perfume (talk about a dearth of ideas). After smelling Saharienne, I can only imagine the “creative”-team sessions in Paris before the fragrance went into development:

“What about the scent of a freshly dry cleaned Saharienne jacket?”

“Or a Saharienne jacket hand washed with baby shampoo?”

“I’m smelling a ‘stuffed’ Saharienne jacket — ALL its pockets crammed with scented bathroom tissue.”

“I like the idea of a Saharienne jacket after an encounter with hairspray.”

“…the scent of a woman wearing her Saharienne as she gets a permanent wave in a Fez beauty parlor…?”

Any of those ideas could have produced the current Saharienne…

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Serge Lutens Vitriol d’Oeillet ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 31 August 2011 52 Comments

Serge Lutens Vitriol d'Oeillet

The perfume world is fickle. Though some perfume notes are perennial favorites — bergamot, sandalwood, and petitgrain come to mind — other ingredients become “problematic” over time. Once, Calone was all the rage…then, one day, perhaps due to overuse or a style shift in perfumery, Calone smelled dated. Not that long ago, rose-rich perfumes were considered passé. (Alongside antiquated rose were the scents of oak moss and carnation — suffering not only from associations with old times and ‘old folks,’ but difficult to work with, or re-create, due to IFRA restrictions.) Then, rose had a renaissance, a facelift, an attitude adjustment, and became “young” again, and is used in all manner of mainstream and niche perfumes, including men’s fragrances. Oak moss and carnation are still waiting for their rejuvenation treatments.

So, how do you “update” a dated aroma? How do you transform old-fashioned carnation, that much-maligned flower, associated with death, bad luck and bad taste, into something modern, edgy and desirable? One way would be to make carnation brazen: accent every facet of its scent, amplify its impact with newer, unusual perfume materials, make it bloom in a new way. Another tactic is familiar from the world of food…

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Three by Korres ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 16 August 2011 19 Comments

I’ve waited a long time for the latest Korres perfumes to arrive in the U.S. I guess the colognes are not destined for a Sephora near me, so I ordered samples from Europe to satisfy my curiosity. I’ll start with the most disappointing of the Korres perfumes I tried: Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood.

Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood

Vetiver. How can you go wrong with the lovely, robust, and delightful-smelling root? Korres submerges vetiver (the tiniest drop) in cheap aroma notes. Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood starts off with over-powering, phony-smelling citrus (“citrus” you’ll often encounter in department store sport fragrances for men). What “wood” there is in Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood smells decidedly imitation (there’s not even a “veneer” of real wood scent). The “earthy” aspect of the fragrance is jarring and “dirty” (as in ‘unwashed’). In mid-development, Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood has a ‘watery’ aspect (not water mixed with green tea, but more like menthol mouthwash). Where’s vetiver? Where’s green tea? Where’s cedarwood? At the end of its development, Vetiver Root Green Tea Cedarwood smells like plastic combined with a “forest-scented” supermarket air freshener…

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Balmain Carbone de Balmain ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 10 August 2011 37 Comments

Balmain creative director, Christophe Decarnin,* had a hand (and, presumably, his nose) in the creation of Parfums Balmain’s new (2010) men’s scent Carbone de Balmain:

Decarnin’s Balmain man is sexy and mysterious. He strolls nonchalantly through the city with glam rock elegance. Flashiness goes hand in hand with an ambiguous dark side that often pushes him to the limits of extravagance and provocation. He is demanding and aesthetic and considers art as a core value. He lives in the heart of new technologies, surrounding himself with works of art and objects of graphic design, carved from high-tech materials, as precious and as dark as carbon. Urbane and sophisticated, he is an epicurean who burns with a contagious passion for life. Carbone is a fragrance that develops like a work of art which quietly and secretly casts its spell.

Mysterious and nonchalant, yet…provocative and demanding, elegant, yet…flashy and extravagant, the Carbone de Balmain man is an epicure who values ART, but limits himself to the color black…

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Top 10 Summer Fragrances (and Such) 2011

Posted by Kevin on 5 August 2011 56 Comments

I’m loyal. My favorite summer fragrances haven’t changed (much) in years, but unlike most people on Earth my “favorites” are over 25 in number. I’ve reviewed and praised those perfumes already, so for this summer’s “top 10,” I’m expanding and tweaking the process to include non-perfume, but perfumed, products: things like shower gel, candy bars, candles and incense.

On summer days, it’s pleasurable to sweeten the air inside the house with a scented candle. A closed house coupled with air conditioning can make air stale indoors. Un-air conditioned air also benefits from some “aroma therapy.” I usually opt for lots of fresh floral bouquets inside during summer, but a candle comes in handy as roses, lilies and tuberose peter out in the garden. My candle of choice this summer is not floral or citrus-y, it’s the LAFCO New York Majestic Oak candle (in LAFCO’s House & Home/Dream Home Collection of 15 candles; $55). Majestic Oak (“Tree House”) has a smoky, raw-wood aroma, not cloying or oppressive at all (it contains oak, geranium, fir, vetiver, and light amber). While Majestic Oak burns, the air in the house smells and feels clean, and I’m invigorated.

I’m a fan of scenting the air outdoors too. I shun citronella-scented “garden” incense (soooo utilitarian!) and opt for something more exotic, like Nado Poi Zokhang “Bamboo” incense from Bhutan…

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