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Browsing by author: Kevin

Penhaligon’s Sartorial ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 6 October 2010 53 Comments

Penhaligon's Sartorial + a couple of men

Penhaligon’s Sartorial is meant to conjure the scents of a tailor’s shop: Norton & Sons, Bespoke Tailors at No. 16 Savile Row; but I don’t get the vibe of a high-end tailor’s shop when I smell Sartorial — no scents of old wooden cabinets and floors or “motorized-metallic” aromas of hot, well-oiled sewing machines, no odors of new woolens and cottons. What I DO get when smelling Sartorial is the scent of men…not the natural body scent of men, but the scent of lots of ‘men of a certain age’ gathered in one place, all of them wearing old-fashioned, inexpensive (but not “cheap”) aftershave lotion on their faces.

Sartorial opens with a sparkling aldehydic and “wet” ozone accord. This “department store” fragrance accord leads quickly to familiar territory: metallic violet leaf that smells a tad ‘old fashioned’ and sedate. Perhaps it’s the ‘sedate’ part of Sartorial that gives me pause; every time I wear it I feel sad; my bad mood is no doubt due to some association I have with the overall smell of the composition…

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L’Artisan Parfumeur Coeur de Vetiver Sacre ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 29 September 2010 69 Comments

L’Artisan Parfumeur describes Coeur de Vétiver Sacré as an “offering to the gods” and a “mystical journey from East to West”; the fragrance was created by perfumer Karine Vinchon, whose aim was to deconstruct vetiver into what she considers its main characteristics: sparkle (bergamot, orange, black tea); spice (pepper, ginger, coriander, saffron) and smoke (incense, birch).* When I first smelled Coeur de Vétiver Sacré, I felt it would have been better named Coeur de Gingembre Sacré because a rich candied ginger note is prominent. In fact, naming this perfume “vetiver” is like listing “vanilla ice cream” on a dessert menu when you plan on serving a banana split. There’s certainly vetiver in Coeur de Vétiver Sacré, but it’s not the dominant ingredient. I’m not complaining; the world doesn’t need another straight-up/vetiver-dominant perfume anyway.

Coeur de Vétiver Sacré uses vetiver as a vehicle for other perfume adornments. The list of notes sounds fabulous, complex, intriguing, but Coeur de Vétiver Sacré smells simple and linear…

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Laura Tonatto Amir ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 22 September 2010 59 Comments

I often wonder how many perfume gems are “out there” that I’ll never smell. I sample absurd quantities of perfumes — niche, designer/mainstream, “home-brewed” — and I still haven’t tried many established or “old” fragrances (sad, but even a two-year-old scent seems aged when compared to a cologne that’s about to make its debut). So, I was pleased with my recent introduction to a “new” (for me) fragrance: 2000’s Amir by Laura Tonatto.

Just this year I’ve tried and enjoyed two Tonatto perfumes: Eleonora Duse and Amir. As with so many niche lines, you have to work to get your hands on samples or find testers of Laura Tonatto fragrances. Finally, a new shop in Seattle stocks the Laura Tonatto line, and I’m working my way through the Tonatto perfumes in stock…

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Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 15 September 2010 41 Comments

Parfum d'Empire Yuzu Fou

Summer is winding down. As the air cools, Eaux de Cologne seem to lose what little power they have; they fade away as quickly as you can apply them to skin. Still, I crave citrus fragrances as the temperature drops, and there are quite a few citrus perfumes that can stand up to fall and winter weather — Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou is one of them.

Yuzu Fou (‘crazy yuzu’) Eau de Parfum includes notes of kumquat, bigarade orange (Citrus aurantium), yuzu, mint, green bamboo, verbena, neroli, blond cedar and white musk. Yuzu Fou begins with a mélange of citrus rind and juice aromas that will make you “fou” if you try too hard to differentiate between the cascading scents of sweet (and fleeting) kumquat, sour, lemony yuzu and powerful bigarade orange (also known as Seville orange).

The dominant note, bigarade orange, or “bitter orange,” in Yuzu Fou is not sweet…

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Marc Jacobs Bang ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 8 September 2010 85 Comments

Marc Jacobs gets lots of media coverage, but interviewers seem most interested in Jacobs’ weight. Though I’m impressed by Jacobs’ candor, isn’t he bored with talking about his appearance: his workout routine; his colon-saving diet*; his hair transplants; his tattoos and grooming rituals? Jacobs needs a PR maven who’ll demand a moratorium on all weight-loss talk…after all, Jacobs lost his “excess” pounds years ago.

The launch of Jacobs new men’s fragrance, Bang, has (at last!) given him something new to talk about — even as he uses Bang’s debut to show his half-naked body in perfume ads and magazine spreads (see this month’s Calvin Klein interview with Jacobs in Harper’s Bazaar for a “plumber shot” of Jacobs’ rear end…or don’t).

Let’s begin with the name of Jacobs’ new fragrance — Bang. There are certainly the “Wham!” “Bam!” “Pow!” connotations (the “banged up” Bang bottle), but there’s also the X-rated “bang” (sexual intercourse). Guess which direction the Bang PR materials go? Sex! There’s a rather juvenile Facebook game hosted on the Bang website called “Bang You’re It!” Quoting the press release: “‘Bang You’re It!’ is free for interpretation and allows users to bang friends’ profile pictures and get banged in return in order to rack up points. By banging someone, you are essentially banging their profile picture with the same impacted look as the Bang fragrance bottle…Get banged by people from other countries. Get banged after midnight.” Do ADULTS “bang each other” on this Facebook page? Off I went to find out…

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