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Browsing by tag: floriental

La Femme Prada ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 23 August 2016 34 Comments

Mia Wasikowska and Mia Goth for La Femme Prada

It’s seemed a long slog through sweet and pink and fruity lately, so I was happy to turn to La Femme Prada even before I actually smelled it. A not-pink fragrance, for grown-ups, from the (mostly) reliable team of Prada and perfumer Daniela Andrier? Even if it didn’t turn out to be a “grand floral that restlessly shakes off the clichés of femininity”, much less “innocence undercut with carnality”, that’s got to beat an awful lot of what we’ve seen on perfume counters this year.

The notes – frangipani, tuberose, ylang ylang, spices, beeswax, vanilla, vetiver — likewise sounded right up my alley, and the advertising, featuring four models generally conducting themselves with dignity, is very Prada and near perfect…

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Cacharel LouLou ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 24 June 2016 41 Comments

Cacharel LouLou vintage advert

I must be feeling nostalgic lately. This week I found myself digging into my “perfume cabinet” and pulling out a bottle of Cacharel LouLou that I bought nearly a decade ago. Cacharel launched LouLou in 1987, positioning it as a more seductive older “sister” to the highly successful Anaïs Anaïs (1978). I was always intrigued by LouLou, and now I’m wondering why I’ve never worn it on a more regular basis…

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Bvlgari Goldea ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 15 January 2016 56 Comments

Isabeli Fontana for Bvlgari Goldea

Goldea is the latest pillar from Bvlgari. Its “jeweled bottle”, according the the brand, “incarnates the gold and the sun”, and it was also inspired by the “powerful symbol” of Serpenti.1 The juice, developed by perfumer Alberto Morillas, is described as “a bright, golden musk symphony”. I was cheered by the news that it was geared towards older women, that is, 30+, which is about as “older” as the fragrance industry is usually willing to go, but perhaps a little dismayed by the name — Goldea? Now taking votes, does anyone like that name? — and the commercial with Isabeli Fontana, which looks like something Guerlain might have done in the 1980s, and is very nearly as corny as the name.

Anyway, the idea of a “golden musk symphony” is reasonably well represented by the floriental fragrance, so long as you like your golden musk symphonies a bit on the sweetish side…

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Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 26 May 2015 34 Comments

Neela Vermeire Créations Pichola

I haven’t reviewed anything from French niche line Neela Vermeire Créations so far, primarily because I know Neela — in the online sense; we’ve never met in person. Pichola so caught my fancy that I’ve been wearing it for weeks, though, and this time I couldn’t resist. Do see my disclaimer below.1

Pichola is named for Lake Pichola, and looking over images of the lake and its palace-studded islands is a pleasant way to while away your morning online, if you were in need of one. So like the other perfumes in the Neela Vermeire Créations line, Pichola was inspired by India. Perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour’s composition, like that of his recent Ostara for Penhaligon’s, comes with a long list of notes…

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Tom Ford Velvet Orchid ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 16 June 2014 87 Comments

Tom Ford Velvet Orchid banner

The old saying has it that “everything old is new again.” Tom Ford Velvet Orchid, a salute to the grand oriental perfumes of the 1980s, seems to have taken that saying to heart. Lovers of Yves Saint Laurent Opium, Estée Lauder Cinnabar, Boucheron de Boucheron, and other room-permeating, spicy-woody-ambery fragrances will want to give it a try. Fans of Velvet Orchid’s older sibling, Black Orchid, will probably see no reason to switch.

Velvet Orchid’s notes include bergamot, mandarin, honey, vanilla, orange blossom, rose, jasmine, narcissus, magnolia, Cattleya leopoldii orchid, heliotrope, rum, suede, labdanum, sandalwood, and myrrh — not that any of these notes stand out distinctly. Even without the gorgeous deco bottle and “orchid” in its name, a single whiff ties Velvet Orchid to Black Orchid.

Although Velvet Orchid has the guts to take the ring with any of the big orientals, it’s billed as a floriental fragrance…

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