Tempo* is one of two new perfumes that celebrate Diptyque L’Eau’s 50th birthday. (I’ve already tackled the ‘softie’ of the pair, Fleur de Peau.) Here’s what Diptyque has to say about Tempo:
During the 60’s, a certain scent was changing the world: patchouli. It conveyed a sense of freedom and spirituality that was closer to Nature, and the hopes of a generation that was reinventing the future….
Two weeks ago there was a Meeting of the Noses in Portland, Oregon. After knowing each other via Now Smell This and emails for almost !12! years, Angela and I finally met face to face. (And I’m happy to report that Angie is as witty, kind and charming in person as she is in her writing. Okay, add a dash of lighthearted roguery, as well!) One other nose was involved in our meeting, too — raconteuse Tracy Tsefalas of the Portland perfume boutique Fumerie. I forgot how much fun it is to discuss the Perfume Industry with fellow travelers.
On the shelves of Fumerie, I was thrilled to discover some hard-to-find Ortigia products. Ortigia was founded by Sue Townsend of Crabtree & Evelyn fame…
With Aedes de Venustas Musc Encensé, it’s all about texture. A musk-centered fragrance — especially one that puts incense on the billing — could easily be stifling and itchy, a fur stole of a perfume. Musc Encensé, however, is a vapor that hangs as sheer as the waft off of a cup of tea. It’s the sort of fragrance you spray on, forget about, then later catch a whiff of something nice and realize it’s you.
Ralf Schwieger composed Musc Encensé. Its notes include clary sage, cashmeran, tonka, musk, incense and leather. The musk-savvy perfume lover will want to know what kind of musk this fragrance embraces…
I occasionally have a week when I just can’t keep up mentally with all the new fragrance releases, or I’m running short on time and haven’t ordered any samples or visited any stores lately. This was one of those weeks. However, I did share a much-needed coffee catch-up with an old friend, and she surprised me by handing me a little bag of Frédéric Malle samples that she said she longer needed (!). This serendipitous gift seemed like an opportunity for my next review topic, especially when I realized that a few fragrances in the range are still relative strangers to me.
Spritzing on some Outrageous, described as “a cocktail of clean sex appeal” with notes of bergamot, tangerine, green apple, cinnamon, musk and ambroxan, I realized that I’ve never really spent time with this scent before. It was developed for Malle’s Editions des Parfums by perfumer Sophia Grojsman and was originally released in 2007 as an exclusive to Barneys Co-Op, the younger, edgier spin-off of upscale department store Barneys New York. It was then called Outrageous! (with exclamation point, shown above left) and had special, snazzy blue-and-orange packaging…
2018 has not been a good year for me, and while perfume has continued to be a comfort, keeping up with the usual parade of new releases has fallen entirely by the wayside, enough so that as we reach the year’s halfway point, I’m already worried about how on earth I’ll ever write a “Best of 2018” post. I went back to see how many reviews I’d managed so far, and it’s even worse than I thought: not even quite a handful.
So why I’m bothering with Bvlgari’s latest Omnia flanker, Pink Sapphire, is perhaps as much a mystery to me as it is to you. It just seems a shame to stop when I’ve already reviewed seven? I will start by updating the summary I included with the last entry in the series…