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Browsing by tag: aldehydic

Jul et Mad Stairway to Heaven ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 17 October 2019 6 Comments

Okay, just do it: sing a few lines of the Led Zeppelin song and get it out of your system. Despite what you may have expected (or hoped), Jul et Mad’s Stairway to Heaven has nothing to do with a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, etc. It was inspired instead by a trek into Nepal’s Annapurna mountain range that turned out to be “a veritable inner quest, in search of the mysteries of life, of serenity, of absolute happiness on the Summits of the Gods…” (Then again, that does sound pretty Zeppelinesque…)

Stairway to Heaven was developed by perfumer Cécile Zarokian and promises to evoke a “dual whiteness: pure and immaculate, but warming and enveloping.” That sounds almost like Stairway could be an “Eau Chaude,” in the tradition of Jean-Claude Ellena’s L’Eau d’Hiver for Frédéric Malle…

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Parfum d’Empire Le Cri de la Lumiere ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 21 May 2018 22 Comments

Sometimes it’s interesting to put aside the scent of a fragrance for a minute and focus on its texture. Is it murky and thick like a dark paisley wool throw? Or maybe it’s as diffuse as silk chiffon? The feel of a fragrance can be tight and dry or roomy and almost humid. It can be too dark to parse or nearly seem to shimmer.

As its name advertises, Parfum d’Empire Le Cri de la Lumière throws light like a moonstone. At the same time, it’s as cool and as finely grained as luxury face powder. Something so delicate should crush and fade easily, but Le Cri de la Lumière is a solid number, leading me to yet another comparison: a crystal take on Brancusi’s bird resting on an end table by the window…

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Serge Lutens Dent de Lait ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 8 August 2017 62 Comments

Serge Lutens Dent de Lait

Changes are afoot at French niche house Serge Lutens, in case you didn’t get the memo. What was once the “export line”, that is, the scents you could buy in the rectangular 50 ml bottles, is soon to be “Collection Noire”, in 100 ml for €180.1 Some of the fragrances from the export line have been shuffled into what was once the “exclusive line”, that is, the bell jars. The Vapo series, in which “exclusive” fragrances were made widely available in 30 ml travel sizes, is possibly gone. Maybe some scents have been discontinued altogether, maybe they haven’t, I’ve heard both cases stated with authority.2 Reports of the brand’s fragrances being significantly reformulated have been around for years now, and that is true of so many brands that perhaps the time has come when you should never replace a bottle of anything without smelling a new tester first.

None of this really matters much to me. I haven’t adored a new Serge Lutens scent in years,3 and I have so much perfume that I’ll possibly never need to replace any of my old Lutens favorites…

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Alber Elbaz par Frederic Malle Superstitious ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 10 April 2017 95 Comments

Frédéric Malle and Alber Elbaz for Superstitious

Who here likes old-fashioned aldehydic florals? I do. I love their whiff of silk stockings, champagne and evenings at the opera. I adore how tidy and elegant these fragrances are compared to my messy, cat-hair fluffed life. I even appreciate the genre’s inscrutability to the general public weaned on fruit, soliflores and patchouli.

If you’re like me, you’ve been impatient to smell Frédéric Malle Superstitious, classified by the company as a “grand aldehyde floral…”

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Sisley Izia ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 14 February 2017 34 Comments

Sisley Izia brand image

I have no relationship with Sisley, as a (luxury) brand. I’ve never used the skincare. I used to adore Eau de Campagne, the first fragrance from my BFF perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, but I always thought it was too expensive for what it was, and while I was worrying over the price, and stopping by a Sisley counter every so often to avail myself of another spray from the tester, they went and reformulated it and I stopped adoring it: problem solved.1 I never cared for Eau du Soir. I liked the Eau de Sisley 1, 2 and 3 they brought out way back in 2009, but I didn’t adore them and they were likewise spendy. I know I sprayed Eau Tropicale on a blotter once but I’ve forgotten what it smelled like.

The latest launch, Izia, attracted my attention right away. The graphics are distinctive and so is the bottle, and if I love the one and hate the other, well, that still works…

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