The D & G Fragrance Anthology ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 24 June 2009 114 Comments

D & G The Fragrance Anthology adverts

Fragrance folks have griped for years about non-stop perfume launches; it’s impossible to smell everything that’s released. Yet…we try. I’m often annoyed at the time I spend: “begging” for samples at department stores; ordering samples; STORING samples; and wearing fragrance sample after fragrance sample (a never-ending “activity”). Even in this economy, new perfumes keep coming, and I’m irritated! It’s even worse somehow when ONE company releases many new perfumes all at once. It’s like asking a friend who’s a baker to bring a cake to your dinner party, and he arrives with five cakes — and expects everyone to sample EACH one.

I’m suffering from perfume overload, perfume indigestion.

Dolce & Gabbana’s D & G division is launching five new perfumes in a collection called The D & G Fragrance Anthology. The fragrances are named after tarot cards: Le Bateleur 1, L’Imperatrice 3, L’Amoureaux 6, La Roue de la Fortune 10 and La Lune 18. It’s easy to remember those names, right? And before I forget, each scent is represented by a naked model or two…

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MAC Africanimal & Naked Honey ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 17 June 2009 152 Comments

MAC Naked Honey and Africanimal perfumes

I’m a “honey-child.” I love to eat honey; I love the scent of honey in soaps, shampoos, lotions, candles; and I am a PROUD admirer of Serge Lutens Miel de Bois. I’ve been looking for a fragrance that showcases honey for a long time (Miel de Bois is as much about wood as it is honey), so I was happy to read the announcement of MAC’s two new honey fragrances.

MAC (Make-Up Art Cosmetics Inc.) has not been on my perfume “radar”; I didn’t even know the company produced perfumes. Africanimal and Naked Honey (in MAC’s Creations Hue line) were developed, perfumer(s) unknown, to showcase different aspects of honey aroma: spicy and floral.

I know many people who think ‘honey’ smells neither spicy nor floral, but “piss-y.” My friend Hilda who sampled Africanimal with me at Nordstrom exclaimed: “Cat pee!” about 30 minutes after spraying her arm with the fragrance. I don’t have any problem with honey notes in perfumes and never think “urine” when I smell honey accords! If you hate the scent of honey, you’ll probably want to ignore these new MAC fragrances…

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Diptyque L’Eau de Tarocco ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 10 June 2009 105 Comments

Diptyque L'Eau de Tarocco cologne

Often, I think of myself as a jaded sugar daddy. My “paramours”? Perfumes of course! They kiss my neck, fondle my arms, tickle my chest, and try to rouse me from my blasé, “been-there/smelled-that” existence. (They want my money.) Sometimes, it’s hard to keep my eyes open, to feign interest in their “personalities” or their juice.

For instance:

The new parfum-garçon in town approaches (European, overdressed, “exclusive”, always asking me for huge sums of cash) and I think: “He’s not worth it!”

I spot a middle-aged scent, “face-lifted”, all traces of moss liposuctioned away, dressed like a teenager: “I feel I know you, but something has changed…something is ‘different!’ You’ve lost weight! You seem lighter!” I say.

Department store types attract me (they are often cute, “fashionable” and bubbly) but I always get their names mixed up…

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Byredo Bal d’Afrique ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 3 June 2009 74 Comments

Byredo Bal d'Afrique perfume + Josephine Baker

I tried Byredo Bal d’Afrique soon after Now Smell This posted the announcement of its release: “Byredo has launched Bal d’Afrique, a new fragrance inspired by ‘ Paris of 1920’s, balls of Saint Germain and the style of Josephine Baker ‘….”* In its marketing materials, Byredo mentioned not only Baker but “African…music and dance, excess and euphoria” as inspirations. Thinking of “Paris” and “balls” and La Baker, I put on some Bal d’Afrique and a top hat, took off my clothes, played Josephine’s Le Marchand de Bonheur at high volume and did my own version of the ‘banana dance‘ around my living room. (A rite of spring? A folly? Un rêve? You decide — my cats and neighbors aren’t talking.)

Bal d’Afrique was developed by perfumer Jerome Epinette and contains lemon, neroli, African marigold, cyclamen, vetiver, jasmine, violet, bucchu, cedar, black amber, and musk. Bal d’Afrique’s aromatics dance begins with neroli, lemon, a smidgen of marigold, and a punch of “raw” cedar (aimed at the nostrils, emanating from the armpits). The cyclamen note (I assume) provides a touch of clean “water” to the “sweaty” cedar and leads to Bal d’Afrique’s amber-y, musk-y dry-down. Vetiver “jitters” from one phase of Bal d’Afrique to the next and keeps the composition buoyant…

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True Religion for Men, Billy Jealousy Illicit and Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Malt ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 27 May 2009 40 Comments

True Religion for Men

It’s a lot harder to find a good-fitting pair of jeans than it is a ‘good-fitting’ cologne. My house is full of jeans that no longer make the cut (except for gardening duty) — jeans that are too: short, faded, loose, “deconstructed” or embellished for my own good (and the good of innocent onlookers). It’s hard to find a slim-tailored pair of dark blue jeans that have not been abraded, faded/bleached, embroidered, ripped or whiskered. True Religion Brand Jeans are not ‘me’, but what about the new True Religion for Men cologne?

As usual, the company description of True Religion for Men is confusing and unintentionally amusing…

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