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Browsing by tag: green

Four (affordable) summer fragrances from Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Posted by Robin on 17 July 2009 58 Comments

pink-grapefruit

We’ve had weird weather here this summer. Most of June was cold and rainy and more like April than June. At the end of the month, things finally shaped up, and the normal June weather — perfect warm sunny days with almost no humidity, followed by perfect clear and cool nights — hung around right through the middle of July. In that sort of weather, there’s no need to pack away your fall and winter favorites: you can wear any perfume you like.

Then just when I’d been lulled into complacency, summer started first thing yesterday morning, and with a vengeance: hot, humid, generally nasty, with the added thrill of a late afternoon thunderstorm. The Estée Lauder Jasmine White Moss I was wearing happily the week before? No way would I have worn that yesterday. So. Here are four unisex fragrances from the indie house of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. Three greens, one citrus, and all four can make it through the nastiest summer heat.

Wasabi Shiso (Essence Oils collection)

Does a fragrance with wasabi + shiso sound good to you? I’m guessing that if it does, you’ll love this…

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Summer fun ~ brief reviews of six less-than-serious perfumes for hot weather

Posted by Robin on 2 June 2009 159 Comments

Six contenders for those warm summer days when a serious perfume just won’t do: Lostmarc’h Lann Ael, ElizabethW Sweet Tea, Comme des Garçons Soda, Gap Grass, Demeter Pruning Shears & Demeter Beetroot.

Lostmarc'h Lann Ael perfumeElizabethW Sweet Tea

Lostmarc’h Lann Ael ~ Gourmand-lovers looking for something edible that won’t overwhelm in the summer heat might want to check out Lann Ael from the niche line Lostmarc’h. It is most decidedly not my sort of thing, but something about it makes me smile. If the notes (buckwheat, cereals, milk, apple, vanilla) sound like breakfast, you’re on the right track: this is a dead ringer for my son’s favorite maybe-more-dessert-than-breakfast cereal: Cookie Crisp. It starts out airy and light, with crisp apple (thankfully or not, depending on your point of view, the apple doesn’t last), calms into a mild blend of sweet cereal grains and cookie dough, and eventually finishes off as a light, creamy vanilla…

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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

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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Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 8 May 2009 91 Comments

cristalle-2Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte perfume

The smart thing to do after I received a sample of Chanel’s new Cristalle Eau Verte would have been to have worn it for a few days on its own, and that was my plan. I haven’t got that much will power apparently: within 5 minutes of spraying it on, I’d put the original 1974 Cristalle Eau de Toilette on my other hand, and pretty soon I’d put a dab of the 1993 Cristalle Eau de Parfum farther up my arm, and was busy comparing the three.

The new Cristalle Eau Verte, by Chanel perfumer Jacques Polge, promised to retain the “original honeysuckle accord” of Cristalle and to add magnolia (other notes: lemon, bergamot, neroli, jasmine, and abstract white flowers). There wasn’t any reason to think it would have much to do with the earlier versions, and of course it doesn’t. I don’t know the sales figures for the 1974 Cristalle (a long-time favorite of mine) vs. the 1993 Eau de Parfum, but I would guess the Eau de Parfum is the bigger seller of the two, and that the original Eau de Toilette is no longer viable in the regulatory sense anyway, what with oakmoss and citrus being limited.1

Considered on its own merits, Chanel Eau Verte is quite nice…

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Annick Goutal Des Lys ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 13 April 2009 89 Comments

Natural CurlsAnnick Goutal Des Lys fragrance

Last night in a fit of optimism, I packed my winter sweaters and heavy wool skirts into plastic tubs and hauled them to the basement. Out came the cotton dresses and print blouses. Naturally, this morning was chilly, and I see rain splashing into the birdbath outside my window as I write. It’s the cold edge of spring. I want a perfume that is an antidote to the amber, leather, tobacco, and vanilla I’ve been wearing for months. I want something that hints at warm days to come and smells like the air outside: crisp, floral, and green. This is when I reach for Annick Goutal Des Lys Eau de Toilette.

A lily’s fragrance is potent. This has advantages and disadvantages. The pure, thick scent of just one stem of Stargazer lilies on the mantel will steamroll over the odor of dank carpets or an overfull litter box. Within a minute of coming into a room, guests will say, “It smells good in here.” At the same time, lilies can overtake a space, giving it the feel of funeral parlor and fighting with the smell of dinner in the other room. After an hour, guests may well ask for aspirin…

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