Lolita Lempicka Elle L’Aime ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 3 December 2013 27 Comments

Elle L’Aime is a timeless, universal and utterly feminine fragrance, a hymn to conquering love. — Harrods

Yadda, yadda, yadda. If I had a dime for every new timeless, universal and utterly feminine fragrance, I’d be at Harrods right now, buying one or two or ten of them. Plus, I tried Lolita Lempicka’s new Elle L’Aime very briefly on a blotter at Neiman Marcus right after it launched, and the fresh citrus-y top notes struck me as pretty much business as usual. So when I finally got a sample, I let it languish while I tried other, more potentially interesting fragrances.

Oops. Elle L’Aime is more fun than you’d think from a quick sniff of the top notes…

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Giorgio Armani Si ~ perfume review & quick poll

Posted by Robin on 7 November 2013 57 Comments

Sì is the latest from Giorgio Armani. It’s Armani’s first pillar fragrance for women since 2010’s Acqua di Gioia, and it’s meant to be a ‘sophisticated’ chypre¹ — note that Sì is fronted by actress Cate Blanchett instead of the the sort of conventionally young and sexy model that they used for Gioia.² All of which might indicate a somewhat older and more sophisticated target market than the usual for Armani’s mainstream output, yes? Which would be fine with me; Armani is not generally my favorite perfume house, and even the more exclusive Armani Privé fragrances don’t always live up to their price tags.

So the first sniff of Sì was a bit of a surprise, of the fruity variety…

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Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 20 September 2013 16 Comments

Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede

The latest fragrance release from Jo Malone is Peony & Blush Suede, a fruity floral developed by perfumer Christine Nagel. Its official description reads: “Peonies in voluptuous bloom, exquisitely fragile. Flirtatious with the juicy bite of red apple and the opulence of jasmine, rose and gillyflower. Mingling with the sensuality of soft, blush suede. Luxurious and seductive.”

Peony & Blush Suede does open with apple, but it’s a pleasantly cider-y apple, not anything like the Jolly Rancher green apple note that shows up in so many mass-market perfumes. The rest of the fragrance is a soft floral with musky underpinnings. The peony is honeyed and a touch dusky, not the lemony-bright flower that some other peony fragrances have tried to evoke…

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Andrea Maack Coal, Jimmy Choo Flash, Strange Invisible Perfumes Likewise ~ quick fragrance reviews

Posted by Robin on 6 August 2013 21 Comments

Several quick reviews of recent(ish) fragrances: Andrea Maack Coal, Jimmy Choo Flash, Strange Invisible Perfumes Likewise.

Feel free to add your own quick reviews of recent releases in the comments!

Andrea Maack Coal

Coal is Reykjavík-based artist Andrea Maack’s sixth fragrance, and it was inspired by one of her drawings made with black coal:

It captures the feeling of creating this piece, the smudge on the fingertips, the coal falling down the white paper as the hand moves creating a pattern and the broken pieces at the bottom of the page.

If that sounds a little weird in a Comme des Garçons kind of way, then you’ve got exactly the right idea…

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