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Arquiste The Architects Club ~ fragrance review

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Arquiste The Architects Club

Cocktail time, March 1930, London: A group of architects gather for cocktails at Mayfair’s smartest Art Deco smoking room. As they settle in the warm interior of dark woods, leather and velvet, London’s bright young things burst in, frosted martinis in hand, surrounded by a cloud of laughter, white smoke and fine vanilla.

That’s Arquiste…talking about the inspiration for its latest perfume — The Architects Club. The fragrance was developed by one of my favorite perfumers, Yann Vasnier, who was guided in its creation by the imagined aromas of “the smoking room at Claridge’s in Mayfair” circa 1930. After smelling The Architects Club, I had to tweak the PR…

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Issey Miyake Nuit d’Issey ~ fragrance review

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Issey Miyake Nuit d'Issey

Of the Big 3 Japanese design houses with perfume lines — Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake — it’s Miyake’s fragrances that have interested me the least (with one big exception, Feu d’Issey, and a smaller exception, a scent by issey miyake). Miyake’s most famous perfumes, L’Eau d’Issey and L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme, spawned almost-countless imitators, and the two “origin” perfumes today smell like caricatures of “fresh” fragrances (plenty of cleaning products smell like them, cleaning products you can buy at Target). Still, I approached the new Nuit d’Issey1 with an open mind (and nostrils).

Nuit d’Issey starts with greenish citrus (I smell mostly grapefruit) with a sweet-spice accord…

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Atelier Cologne Blanche Immortelle ~ fragrance review

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Helichrysum prostratum

The East Coast has remained relatively (and uncharacteristically) cool and fresh this summer; out west, we’ve simmered and sweated (even in Seattle). Though I’ve done plenty of complaining about the heat, it’s been fun to experience a real summer for the first time in a … decade? I’ve been dousing myself with sunscreens, Eaux de Cologne, and perfumes with lots of jasmine, coconut and tropical flowers in them (beach-y things). Into this hot-weather perfume extravaganza, came a sample of Atelier Cologne Blanche Immortelle1 — an autumn scent.

Blanche Immortelle is part of Atelier Cologne’s Collection Métal which also includes Gold Leather, Silver Iris and Santal Carmin. When I first received my sample and dabbed an arm with Blanche Immortelle, I was not impressed; and I even told Robin here at NST that it was a nonentity and I would not be reviewing it. Weeeeeeell, I realized yesterday I got my samples mixed up; the nonentity is By Kilian Vodka on the Rocks. When I put a real application of Blanche Immortelle on my skin, I was much happier…

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Jean Patou Chaldee, ancienne et nouvelle ~ fragrance reviews

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Sunbaker

Ages ago, I came across, and bought, an unopened box of Jean Patou Ma Collection: Parfums d’Epoque 1925-1964. The glossy black box contained small bottles of 12 Patou perfumes: Amour Amour, Que Sais-Je?, Adieu Sagesse, Chaldée, Moment Suprême, Cocktail, Divine Folie, Normandie, Vacances, Colony, L’Heure Attendue and Câline.

Of all the perfumes in Ma Collection, two stayed in my mind over the years — Chaldée and Colony (maybe the first time I smelled pineapple in a fragrance). Today, I’m reviewing Chaldée in two forms: as it was re-released in 1984, and in today’s Collection Héritage range…

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Nicolas de Barry L’Eau de George Sand, L’Eau de la reine Margot & L’Eau de la marquise de Pompadour ~ fragrance reviews

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George Sand and Nicolas de Barry L'Eau de George Sand

Until recently, perfumer Nicolas de Barry was unknown to me. After sampling his current collection of “historial perfumes” named after famous figures from the past, I’ve chosen three fragrances with distinctive characters to review today.

L’Eau de George Sand: L’Amoureuse (The Lover)

patchouli, amber, musk, rose, sandalwood, bergamot, lemon, oud; 100 ml Eau de Parfum, 129€

I’ve already found one perfume I enjoy that’s inspired by George Sand; here’s another. L’Eau de George Sand starts with a patchouli-amber accord (the patchouli is mid-strength and smells genuine). L’Eau de George Sand’s sillage is interesting; this fragrance smells as if it’s being worn by another person standing near me — a person who has been bustling about in heavy winter clothes that have been worn and re-worn, and have an accumulation of talc-y rose and sandalwood aromas clinging to them…

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