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Browsing by tag: frangipani

Sana Jardin Revolution de la Fleur, Berber Blonde & Tiger By Her Side ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 30 November 2017 10 Comments

Sana Jardin Berber Blonde

Just in case you haven’t noticed, the phrases “conscious consumerism” and “sustainable luxury” have been appearing with increasing frequency over the past year or two. And now we have Sana Jardin, “the world’s first socially-conscious, luxury fragrance house. . . . created primarily as a vehicle for social change to power social impact through the economic empowerment of women through The Beyond Sustainability™ Movement.”

If you’d like to do some reading about Sana Jardin’s back story and business model, you can find plenty of information on the company website. I’ll limit myself to brief reviews of three Sana Jardin fragrances (from a collection of seven, all developed by perfumer Carlos Benaïm) that I’ve been trying over the past week or so, and you can decide for yourself what socially conscious fragrance might be and how far you’re willing to go for it…

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Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 6 April 2017 5 Comments

Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl brand images

We had an unseasonably warm day last weekend — or maybe it actually was seasonably appropriate weather, who knows anymore? — and I suddenly didn’t want to wear any of my dusky rose-and-patchouli or powdery rose-and-violet perfumes. I reached for my box of recently arrived samples and chose Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl, “a fresh floral fragrance with a salty ozonic top note” that is “inspired by the mystical island of Bali and the pristine waters of the South Seas, home to the magnificent Queen of Pearls, the Pinctada.”

I happen to love pearls; the pearl is my birthstone, and I have a few favorite pieces of jewelry that incorporate pearls…

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I Profumi di Firenze Frangipane e Cocco ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 26 April 2013 19 Comments

coconut

I remember being a big fan of the Italian niche line i Profumi di Firenze a number of years ago, but I have to confess that I’ve lost track of their recent activity. I don’t blame the brand; my ignorance is mostly a result of the fact that the line isn’t as widely available in New York as it once was, and I don’t always get around to placing online sample orders of new releases. I have fond memories of i Profumi’s Florentia 22, Violetta di Bosco, and Caterina de Medici, so when a sample vial of the Frangipane e Cocco came my way, I decided to give it a try.

Frangipane e Cocco has notes of coconut, blood orange, frangipani and frankincense and is billed as a feminine fragrance. After trying it a few times, I like it, although it wasn’t quite what I expected: it’s less floral and feminine than it sounds. Its opening phase is even a touch animalic, with some kind of musky note that has a dirty-hair effect. This bit of “skank” surprised me, especially since it shows up at the top of the fragrance. However, the rest of the fragrance is milder and more of a light gourmand. Its coconut accord is creamy, without any greenness or earthiness. There’s definitely some nutty, milky vanilla in the middle and base; i Profumi di Firenze has always done a nice job with vanilla scents, and they carry on that tradition in Frangipane e Cocco…

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Lush Sikkim Girls ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 29 March 2013 23 Comments

Lush Sikkim Girls

I’ve been a Lush customer for over a decade, and I’ve followed the various permutations of the company’s fragrance line with interest, from B Never Too Busy to Be Beautiful to Gorilla Perfume and everything in between. Lush’s latest fragrance line has delighted me so far; as Robin has said, Mark and Simon Constantine continue to produce “unusual, well-crafted and reasonably priced perfumes whilst seemingly paying no mind to the conventions that rule the rest of the fragrance industry.”

Sikkim Girls is described as “subtle, seductive, heady, exotic, floral…frangipani, jasmine, vanilla and tuberose conjure up exotic climes and heady possibilities.” Its name comes from an anecdote related by the musician Sheema Mukherjee: Mukherjee met a café owner in Darjeeling who claimed that his son-in-law had been lured away by two “Sikkim girls,” unlikely sirens who entranced him with their feminine wiles despite being fully, even modestly, dressed. Its white floral notes, appropriately enough, are traditional but surprisingly heady, not to mention quite long-lasting on the skin…

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