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Cire Trudon Spiritus Sancti room spray ~ home fragrance review

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The holidays are about simple pleasures. I recently expressed that sentiment with a straight face to a friend — after shouting with glee: “Cire Trudon makes room sprays now!” My friend read the Cire Trudon Les Parfums d’Intérieur PR announcement and said: “I get the ‘pleasure’ part, Kevin, but what’s so ‘simple’ about a $142 room spray?” Fair enough.

Cire Trudon’s new room sprays come in its most popular candle fragrances: Roi Soleil, Spiritus Sancti, Abd El Kader, Ernesto, and Nazareth. Since one of my favorite churches, Santo Spirito in Florence, is thousands of miles away, I opted for the Cire Trudon fragrance that might help me conjure its atmosphere this Christmas (provided I close my eyes, get my imagination in high gear, and queue Monteverdi, Cavalli and Albinoni on the CD player); I chose Spiritus Sancti.

Spiritus Sancti smells like “classic” church incense…

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Miller et Bertaux Om: inspire…and smile ~ fragrance review

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Om: inspire… and smile is the latest fragrance from Miller et Bertaux; Om aims to evoke Bali and the perfume is named for the sacred Sanskrit syllable “om” (or “aum”). In Hinduism, om, the sound, is the music of the universe; om, the “idea,” represents Brahma (Creation), Vishnu (Protection) and Shiva (Destruction).

Spiritual om fits nicely with perfume Om’s trajectory. I can certainly imagine the percolating forces of Creation, the head notes, smelling of hot peppers and peppercorns, the strong arms (and heart notes) of Protection scented with myrrh, clove and flowers, and the sturdy base of Destruction (remember, destruction can be good, it can obliterate suffering, blindness and evil in the world) redolent of incense, smoke, and charred wood. And the moment of release from all worldly pain and the phases of birth, life and death? That would smell of amber – full of patchouli and vanilla. Yummmmmmmmmmmm…

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Houbigant Fougere Royale ~ fragrance review

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Houbigant Fougere Royale

Whenever I hear or read the word “fougère” I don’t think of ferns, I think of Houbigant Fougère Royale (1882) — which shows how perfume obsessed I am. Years ago, I got my hands on several old bottles of Fougère Royale (1950s version) and enjoyed every drop of that crisp, sprightly fragrance; I’ve never found a replacement for it, so I was thrilled when I heard Houbigant was reissuing Fougère Royale this year.

Fougère Royale was the first fougère perfume, and was composed using natural bergamot, lavender, clary sage, geranium, heliotrope, rose, orchid, carnation, oakmoss, musk, vanilla, and synthetic coumarin (synthesized in the laboratory from salicylic acid). Fougère Royale’s use of a synthetic note gave it the distinction of being the first “modern” fragrance. Fougère Royale translated the “idea” of ferns into scent; it did not try to duplicate an existing smell — it created a new smell. Fougère Royale’s creator, perfumer Paul Parquet, said: If God gave ferns a scent, they would smell like Fougère Royale.1

Before I go further, let me state the obvious: there’s no one alive today who smelled original, 1882 Fougère Royale…

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Finding A Fougere: Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme & Pascal Morabito Or Black ~ fragrance reviews

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The first fougère perfume was 1882’s Houbigant Fougère Royale — just reissued.* Fougère (fern) fragrances make up a huge proportion of men’s fragrances, but fougère colognes are not well represented in my perfume collection. For a long time, I’ve smelled fougère perfumes, searching for one that I can love and that doesn’t make me smell like a fuddy-duddy.

Fougères come in a variety of formulations: Hermès Brin de Réglisse, Diesel Fuel for Life, Yves Saint Laurent Kouros, Brut, Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle — fougères all! Recently, the fougère genre has revived after years of dormancy. Two new fougère entries are Amouage Memoir Man (a demi-fougère that turns quickly into an incense fragrance) and Penhaligon’s dowdy Sartorial (loved by many, but not by me). To find a fougère I could enjoy wearing, I went back in time to the “archives.”

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003), developed by perfumer Jacques Cavallier, includes notes of bergamot, rosemary, star anise, lavender, geranium, clove, coumarin, patchouli, oak moss, guaiac wood, and vetiver. Rive Gauche pour Homme starts off with bergamot and anise (that go from “crisp/tart” to “creamy” in seconds) followed by a rosemary-lavender-geranium progression that quivers between green/herbal rosemary-lavender leaves, and furry, aromatic geranium leaf. A mild sweetness emerges in the shift from top and middle notes…

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Best new fragrances for men ~ 2009-2010 edition

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As the “publish” button was pressed for this post, I heard the frantic, desperate opening words of Etta James’ Stop the Wedding swirling in my head: “Wait!…WAIT!”

But it was too late…there was no turning back.

Choosing ten men’s fragrances that have been released in the last couple years and deeming them “the best” was difficult. I’ve certainly owned and sampled more than my share of perfumes over the years, and I’ve reached a Perfumed State of Grace (i.e.: I’m jaded), but I’ve certainly not smelled every masculine fragrance released in 2009-2010. Has anyone? (Many of these unsniffed perfumes loom large in my imagination: Miller et Bertaux Om, Christian Dior La Collection Couturier Parfumeur, Honoré des Prés We love NY scents, and The Different Company De Bachmakov.)

My list of best new fragrances for men is personal, and it isn’t categorized with available spots for citrus, chypre, sport, “dressy,” mainstream, or niche perfumes; I’ve simply included what I like. If you can’t believe a certain fragrance is on, or is missing from, the list: GOOD! I’d hate to think I’m predictable.

Please comment if you feel a great fragrance is absent from this list, but if “top 10-type” lists drive you crazy and keep you up at night: “Wait!… WAIT!” … don’t torture yourself by reading mine…

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