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Browsing by author: Kevin

Astier de Villatte Trois Parfums Historiques: Les Nuits ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 11 April 2023 9 Comments

A hot summer’s night in 1838 at…Nohant, the setting of…famous and decadent late-night parties where all of Paris’s intellectuals and artists throng: Alfred de Musset, Franz Liszt, Marie d’Agoult, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Eugène Delacroix. Inveterate night owls, George Sand and her lover…Frédéric Chopin, stroll languorously through the gardens till dawn. The air is saturated by the opulent trail of the novelist’s sumptuous perfume. — Astier de Villatte

That’s the description of Les Nuits, one of three perfumes in Astier de Villatte’s new Trois Parfums Historiques collection; the other two are Le Dieu Bleu (representing Ancient Egypt) and Artaban (giving us a sniff of Ancient Rome). After a lifetime of MAJOR perfume mistakes (blind buys) and disappointments (blind buys), I was STILL ready to buy Les Nuits without smelling it first — could this fragrance bring me closer to one of my idols, George Sand? I’m a perfect example that “live and learn” is a hope, not a certainty…

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Hot & Humid: Astier de Villatte Tucson Incense & Arquiste Nocturnal Green Candle ~ home fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 17 May 2021 4 Comments

The hottest I’ve been on Earth was in Tucson, Arizona, one July, long ago. My partner and I were driving from Virginia to Los Angeles, and one day, near the end of our journey, we stopped for gasoline and lunch in Tucson. Nearing the city, the car’s air conditioning was overwhelmed; the inside of the car became stuffy, warm like an…oven. Perspiration dripped from my nose. When we stepped outside the car, we were stupefied and in the dry heat all sweat evaporated. The air was as still as the inside of a tomb (and speaking of tombs, Tombstone, Arizona, was just an hour’s drive south). Heat, visible waves of it, attacked us from all directions: below, above, sideways. We were in Hell’s reception room: 113 degrees Fahrenheit. All we needed to complete the scene was the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail in full swing…

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Carine Roitfeld George & Sebastian ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 24 March 2021 19 Comments

I “know” fashion stylist/editor/consultant Carine Roitfeld from hundreds of interviews and media profiles, her book Carine Roitfeld: irreverent and the self-mythologizing documentary film Mademoiselle C (could have been called Carine Roitfeld: interminable). Though I didn’t know much about Roitfeld personally (outside her 10-year editorship at Vogue Paris where her tastes and style made American Vogue look like Family Circle magazine in comparison) I did my research. All those here at Now Smell This who have commented on Tom Ford’s “soft-core” editorials and advertisements (for Gucci and his own brand) — blow Carine a kiss…or give her the finger. Roitfeld’s vision as a stylist influenced those ‘porno-chic’ photo shoots.

Admissions: When it comes to editors-in-chief at Vogue Paris/French Vogue, I’m more of a Joan Juliet Buck and Emmanuelle Alt kinda guy AND I’m two years late to the Carine Roitfeld perfume party…

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Hermes H24 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 15 March 2021 18 Comments

I’ve been working from home over a year now, hiding from COVID-19. During that time, several bottles of perfume have joined the family but not one stitch of new clothing has taken up residence in my closets or dresser drawers. (I’ve not even had the chance to wear clothes I bought in anticipation of last summer.) When I saw the Hermès H24 fragrance ads, my eyes did not land on the H24 bottle but strayed to the H24 model’s jacket and shirts, in those beautiful, soft, calming colors of stone, sky and clouds. The clothes interested me more than another bottle of perfume, especially one in such a sporty, Lacoste-type bottle.

The transition at Hermès from house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena to Christine Nagel has been a bumpy one for me. Since Nagel’s arrival and the debut of her perfumes, I’ve not bought one new Hermès fragrance…

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Quick Sniff / Cheap Thrill ~ Fragonard Bigarade Jasmin fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 3 March 2021 10 Comments

Bigarade Jasmin is a member of Fragonard‘s Garden Collection of perfumes but its character reminded me of another “garden” — Hermès garden range of fragrances.

On first spray, Bigarade Jasmin provides a scented blast of grapefruit, tangy orange peel and indolic jasmine aromas. The scent is brisk but summery…

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