Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
Browsing by category: perfume talk

The freebiemeet, episode 7

Posted by on 122 Comments — Comments are closed

viola

The freebiemeet is open! PLEASE read the instructions! Really, pretty please, with sugar on top! There’s not even that many of them, and you will save us all so much time and confusion. This is not that hard. Plus, it’s free stuff! It’s all good, but it’s even better if you read the instructions.

For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, giving and getting free stuff, there will be a poll along shortly.

If you have perfume-related items you’d like to give away (as opposed to swap for something else — our next swapmeet will be in February or thereabouts), and if you’re reasonably sure you can mail your items within the next month, feel free to list them below in the comments AFTER reading the instructions.

If you see something in the comments that you want, and if you already have a reader account here and have commented at least once (no new accounts today, sorry), you can call dibs AFTER reading the instructions.

I will leave the comments open until next Saturday, then I’ll close the freebiemeet…

Read the rest of this article »

Top 10 Winter Fragrances 2017

Posted by on 49 Comments

I tried not to get too Grinch-y over the holidays, and I did pretty well, considering the world events of late 2016 plus the fact that I was suffering occasional bouts of Instagram ennui. So many exotic vacations, so many artful table settings, so many #thankful embraces scrolling past my eyes; you may know what I mean.

I’m happy with my own lot in life, truly, but sometimes I worry — not on my own behalf, but on yours, dear readers. My taste in perfume may be glamorous, but my life is pretty quiet. I hate to let you down. Still, rather than fabricate some picture-perfect fantasy life, I’ll just come clean and share my own mundane activities, with the fragrances that I wear to dress them up a bit.

Just a regular day at the office: Byredo Rose Noir. This was my most-worn fragrance of 2016, because it’s a “no brainer” for me: a blend of citrus, rose and modern patchouli that doesn’t come on too strong. It’s my olfactory equivalent of my many basic black dresses…

Read the rest of this article »

Annick Goutal Tenue de Soiree ~ perfume review

Posted by on 66 Comments

Annick Goutal Tenue de Soirée brand image

Go ahead, perfumistas, think of all the perfumes you know with a pompom attached to the bottle. I am sure there are more — do comment! — but I could only think of four off the top of my head. Three of those are from Ariana Grande (Ari / Frankie / Sweet Like Candy) and the fourth is Annick Goutal’s latest launch, Tenue de Soirée. If Ariana Grande and Annick Goutal strike you as unexpected bedfellows, think again, because the times they are a-changing at Annick Goutal. The new buzz words are “fun, quirky and young”, and they’re looking to shake up everything from the packaging to the logo to the brand name itself. Tenue de Soirée (evening dress or evening wear) is the “bridge” between the old Annick Goutal and the new, brand-name-yet-to-be-announced. Expect to see the full results of the rebranding by 2018, and for Goutal’s existing line up to be pared down to about 20 or 25 fragrances…

Read the rest of this article »

Sylvaine Delacourte Helicriss ~ fragrance review

Posted by on 42 Comments

Sylvaine Delacourte Helicriss

Since he joined Guerlain as in-house perfumer in 2008, I’ve blamed Thierry Wasser for all the new Guerlains that are awash in white musk. I even thought he might not be able to control himself and add some white musk to Mitsouko or Eau de Cologne Impériale or L’Heure Bleue. I imagined him in charge of the installation of an Olympic-size swimming pool under Guerlain headquarters that, upon completion, was filled with white musk. (Guerlain is doing well financially, so white musk works for them and lots of perfume consumers…if not for me.)

I may have been putting too much blame on Wasser’s shoulders because his cohort, Sylvaine Delacourte, until recently the Director of Fragrance Evaluation and Development at Guerlain, just launched her own perfume line with a collection of fragrances centered around — white musk. Now I imagine Thierry and Sylvaine cavorting in the Guerlain musc blanc pool, planning their next nose-ache in a bottle…

Read the rest of this article »

CB I Hate Perfume On A Clear Day You Can See Forever ~ fragrance review

Posted by on 20 Comments

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, detail from movie poster

Way back in 2009, I reviewed M#2 Black March, from the indie brand CB I Hate Perfume, and I said that along with Memory of Kindness, it was one of my favorites from the brand. Black March, I said, smelled like late March, and Memory of Kindness smelled like early August. Filling out the calendar, Mr. Hulot’s Holiday is July, and Gathering Apples and Burning Leaves would cover October, and Winter 1972 is January into February.* The newer On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (which I’m going to refer to as Clear Day for most of this review, and if you don’t get the movie reference, do see here) brings us April: it’s about spring-blooming bulbs…

Read the rest of this article »

Back to Top

Home
Archives
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Books

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z