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Browsing by category: perfume talk

Richard E Grant / Jack Covent Garden ~ quick fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 24 February 2017 11 Comments

Jack Covent Garden

A couple weeks ago, I reviewed the debut fragrance from actor Richard E. Grant, Jack by Jack Perfumes. I thought I’d review his other two fragrances the following week, but the best laid plans and all that. Here, a bit late, is a brief review of the second fragrance, Covent Garden, and I’ll try to get to the third next week. Covent Garden was…

… inspired by [Grant’s] early days in the business, waiting tables in Covent Garden – once a prominent fruit, vegetable and flower market and the centre of the theatre district. Taking cues from his early environment, the professional tradition of actors receiving fresh fruit and flowers on opening nights and the use of ginger to nurse their voices, Richard E. Grant created his second eau de parfum…

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Edward Bess Spanish Veil ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 23 February 2017 19 Comments

John Singer Sargent El Jaleo

Last week I swooned a bit over La Femme Bohème, one of three new fragrances from high-end cosmetics line Edward Bess; this week I’ve been wearing Spanish Veil. This is another oriental scent, also developed by perfumer Carlos Benaïm, with notes of sandalwood, tonka bean and guaic wood.

Spanish Veil was inspired by inspired by the artifice and mystery of facial veils worn like a “second skin”: “Scents of the outside world are trapped in the starched net, a magnet for the plumes of smoky incense wafting through ancient basilica walls that mix with the smells of savage animal hides in bullfighter rings and clouds of white dust native to the Latin land.” But once we get past that somewhat overwrought prose…

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Capsule Parfums Brood ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 22 February 2017 13 Comments

Capsule Parfums brand image

Capsule Parfums describes Brood as “old soul spice…a progressive take on ancient ceremonial fragrance.” Often, in perfumers’ argot, “ceremonial” means incense, and though I love incense fragrances in autumn and winter, by spring I’m getting tired of them — no more smoke or ash, please. Only Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose and L’Artisan Timbuktu remain in rotation during warm weather (and many may not consider them “true” incense fragrances). Now, a new summer-incense-y perfume has caught my attention: Capsule Parfums Brood.

Certain herbs, spices and flowers (plum comes to mind, along with other strongly-scented spring blossoms) have an light-incense vibe. Capsule Parfums has chosen wisely by including a heavy dose of spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) in Brood…

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(Guy Laroche) J’ai Ose ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 20 February 2017 40 Comments

(Guy Laroche) J'ai Ose

I need your help. I’m sampling J’ai Osé, and I can find barely anything about it in my books and on the internet. NST’s readership is a robust brain trust. Between all of us, we should be able to unearth the story behind J’ai Osé, including who created it and the differences between the original and current formulas.

This is what I know: J’ai Osé launched in 1977, and its notes include peach, coriander, citrus, jasmine, patchouli, rose, orris, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, amber, olibanum, oakmoss, musk and benzoin. It used to be part of the Guy Laroche perfume house but now is sold under the name “J’ai Osé” alone. (Guy Laroche lists only Fidji and Drakkar Noir on its website now.)

Another thing I know about J’ai Osé is that I adore it…

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The splitmeet, episode 7

Posted by Robin on 18 February 2017 209 Comments — Comments are closed

orchid-thirds

The splitmeet (episode 7) is open for business. PLEASE read the instructions! For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, splitting, there will be a poll along shortly.

Don’t know what a bottle split is, or you know but you’ve never tried it? See here.

Please note that the intention of the splitmeet is to split newly purchased bottles of perfume, not to sell decants of fragrances already in your collection! Anyone can join a split, but only people with current, active reader accounts may host splits. Update: in other words, you cannot host a split if you have never commented here before the day the splitmeet opens.

Our next swapmeet will be in March…

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