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Browsing by category: perfume talk

Bruno Fazzolari Ummagumma ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 8 January 2018 44 Comments

Bruno Fazzolari Ummagumma

Bruno Fazzolari Ummagumma is a mess. For some people, it will be cravable mess. If you order cheeseburgers with bacon — and, come to think of it, why not mushrooms and a few slices of avocado, too? — Ummagumma might be your Holy Grail.

Ummagumma (pronounced “oo-ma-goo-ma”) is the name of a Pink Floyd album. It came from a roadie’s slang word for sex.1 Ummagumma’s notes include saffron, carnation, chocolate, tobacco, leather, labdanum, sandalwood, cedar, frankincense, tonka bean and vanilla. Can’t decide between a gourmand or an incense fragrance or a tough leather? With Ummagumma, you get them all…

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Aesop Hwyl ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 3 January 2018 16 Comments

A Princess Visiting a Forest Shrine at Night

The backstory of Aesop’s latest fragrance, Hwyl, is a hodgepodge (to which I’ll contribute). Hwyl is a Welsh word (pronounced, rapidly: WHO-will); according to the Oxford English dictionary, it means “a stirring feeling of emotional motivation and energy.” Yet, Hwyl’s perfumer, Barnabé Fillion, when asked by Philippa Morgan in Vogue Arabia, “How would you describe Hwyl in one sentence?” responded “The silence and verdancy of an ancient Japanese forest, and the wind in the canopy.” Hwyl reminds ME of India — the scent of altars and old-style Ayurvedic apothecaries. To each his own…

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Perfume Resolutions for 2018

Posted by Angela on 1 January 2018 63 Comments

Happy New Year!

Is that a pile of rumpled sequins in the corner? I hope you had a good night out with great friends, something delicious to eat, and lots of dancing.

Or, maybe you’re more like me and refused to leave home on New Year’s Eve. As has become my tradition, I made a fire and had a few friends over on their way out to parties, then I watched Doris Day movies and ate clams casino. I’ve stopped pretending I like to brave the crowds only to wake up with a headache and hoarse voice and mascara caked on the pillowcase.

On New Year’s Eve, I also thought about the year to come. I won’t bore you with my resolutions about health and friends and tidiness (although we can talk about resolutions in the comments, if you’d like), but here are a few thoughts about perfume…

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Perfume: the best of 2017

Posted by Robin on 29 December 2017 76 Comments

This is our 13th annual “Perfume: the best of” post. The industry has changed over those years, and so have my sampling efforts: as I noted last year, the more fragrances they make, the less I try. We’re sticking with the usual title for the sake of tradition, but it would be more accurately called “random things we liked among the random things we managed to try”, and this year, I personally outdid myself to the point where I had to delete a number of my usual categories due to the lack of viable contenders. If you tried most of the 2017 fragrance releases, do comment and tell us what was best — this blog has always been a community venture, and so I will also take this opportunity to thank all of our readers for sticking with us for another year, and for being so kind to us, and each other, in the comments section.

My picks are just below, and then Angela, Erin, Jessica and Kevin weigh in. After that, do click over to Bois de Jasmin and Grain de Musc to see what they appreciated in 2017.

My favorite niche fragrance of 2017: A tie between Ineke Idyllwild and Arielle Shoshana Eau de Parfum…

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La Via del Profumo Venezia Giardini Segreti & Palermo Don Corleone ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Angela on 18 December 2017 14 Comments

As usual, I’m late to the party. Perfume house La Via del Profumo (also known as AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo) has already garnered fans and an article in The New York Times, even though the fragrances are difficult to find and the perfume house’s marketing budget is zilch. Kevin has been reviewing La Via del Profumo’s offerings for five years. You’ve probably known about them for ages.

But for me, they’re new. Last week, I smelled two of the house’s fragrances for the first time: Venezia Giardini Segreti and Palermo Don Corleone, both from La Via del Profumo’s Italian series…

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