Aedes de Venustas Signature Eau de Parfum ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 3 May 2012 32 Comments

Aedes de Venustas Signature Eau de Parfum

Ever since it opened shop in New York City, Aedes de Venustas has had a special place in my perfume-loving heart. I remember the old days when I’d anxiously await the arrival of the always-beautiful Aedes de Venustas catalogues and then figure out what perfume(s) and soaps and candles I couldn’t live without (the intervening 17 years have taught me I can live without just about everything!) I introduced “legions” to the store and online boutique by saying, around birthday-time and Christmas (in wording that varied): “A present for ME? There’s no need! Weeeeell, I love just about everything at (you guessed it) Aedes de Venustas.” Now Aedes de Venustas has launched a new fragrance called Aedes de Venustas Signature Eau de Parfum (not to be confused with the L’Artisan Parfumeur Aedes de Venustas fragrance.)

Bertrand Duchaufour, the perfumer of L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Aedes de Venustas, developed Aedes de Venustas Signature, too; it has fragrance notes of rhubarb, tomato leaf, red currant, green apple, honeysuckle, vetiver, hazelnut and incense.

Aedes de Venustas Signature begins with a tangy, green/fruit accord: a “hot,” rough tomato leaf scent combined with musky currant, a quick burst of apple, and rhubarb. Let’s stop right here and talk “rhubarb”…

Read the rest of this article »

Lorenzo Villoresi Theseus ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 25 April 2012 8 Comments

I’ve never bought a full bottle of a Lorenzo Villoresi perfume (though I do have a love-hate relationship with decant-worthy Alamut, a fragrance that sometimes caresses, then turns on you and begins to constrict and suffocate like a python). I certainly don’t think the Villoresi perfumes are bad, just not my “style.”*

Now comes Lorenzo Villoresi Theseus, an “enriched” citrus perfume. I never give up on a line and I often revisit a perfumer’s or company’s fragrance offerings years after thinking “I don’t like these!”; tastes change…

Read the rest of this article »

Kinski ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 18 April 2012 43 Comments

Kinski fragrance

If you’re going to anoint me with a male-celebrity fragrance, chances are I’d prefer a perfume inspired by Klaus Kinski rather than David Beckham, Tim McGraw or the Pope. Mr. Kinski was interesting for one thing, a wild character — the inventor of his own weird myth (featuring a man-god who did what he wanted — propriety and the feelings of others be damned). Put another way: for perfume inspiration, give me a talented nutcase with over-the-top (legal!) appetites instead of a bland money-grubber.

Does Kinski smell like Kinski? If someone had given me an unmarked bottle of Kinski Eau de Toilette and asked me to wear it and report back on what type of person it evoked, I’d have said a sexy person, a man of a “certain age” who lives in a secluded, art-filled home, which he refers to as a “cabin.” He might also keep an exotic pet…a lemur? He smells of rich amber-y perfume, smokes a joint every now and again, and always has orchids or roses in big silver vases on his desk (with a single blossom tucked in his jacket’s lapel). I’d imagine this man to be a traveler…

Read the rest of this article »

Etat Libre d’Orange Fils de Dieu, du Riz et des Agrumes ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 11 April 2012 17 Comments

Jesus

Risqué ideas and images are nothing new to Etat Libre d’Orange: the company presents us with closet queens, chubby utility workers (with a label showing buttocks cleavage), blond pubic hair (Vraie Blonde), gay beefcake (Tom of Finland), a threesome engaged in oral sex (Archives 69), and a couple of penises (one substituting for a pistol barrel — Je Suis un Homme — the other erect and “spurting” — Sécrétions Magnifiques). Now there’s Philippine Houseboy, whose tagline, fils de dieu, du riz et des agrumes*, has been put into use in North America as the fragrance name (you can apparently still buy this perfume in the Philippine Houseboy bottle in Europe).

No matter the name (I refuse to get worked up about perfume “titles” these days…there are much more important things to protest and worry about!), the fragrance’s “intent” is to capture the sun-drenched, aroma-rich Asian tropics. Fils de Dieu, du Riz et des Agrumes was created by perfumer Ralf Schwieger and lists fragrance notes of bergamot, ginger, lime, coriander leaves, shiso, Jungle Essence coconut and cardamom, rice note, jasmine, cinnamon, French May rose, tonka bean, vetiver, musk, amber, leather and castoreum.

Fils de Dieu opens with gingery lime, and “green” coriander and pungent shiso leaf…

Read the rest of this article »

Odin 07 Tanoke ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 4 April 2012 18 Comments

Odin 07 Tanoke

Odin New York recently released 07 Tanoke, a unisex fragrance. 07 Tanoke was developed by perfumer Corinne Cachen; the inspiration — coastal Northern California.

Odin 07 is a simple fragrance. Though it lists notes of ginger, bitter orange, black pepper, nutmeg, incense, redwood, patchouli, black musk and gaiac wood, it smells of rich, resonant incense. Period. If ever a fragrance conjures the color “black” in my mind, it’s this one; I imagine charred woods, black incense sticks, carbonized nutmegs and peppercorns, and sleek, shiny black vanilla pods and beans. (I do smell bitter orange, but only briefly when the perfume is first applied to skin.)

The character of 07 Tanoke is bolder than Odin’s earlier releases…

Read the rest of this article »

« Newer articles

Older articles »

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Aedes de Venustas Signature Eau de Parfum ~ fragrance review

Lorenzo Villoresi Theseus ~ fragrance review

Kinski ~ fragrance review

Etat Libre d’Orange Fils de Dieu, du Riz et des Agrumes ~ fragrance review

Odin 07 Tanoke ~ fragrance review