La Nuit de Paco Rabanne ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 17 September 2012 62 Comments

La Nuit de Paco Rabanne

Some perfumes are a bare wisp that register more emotionally than physically. People around you sense something light about you but can’t quite connect it with perfume. Other fragrances are more insistent and complement your day like a pleasant soundtrack. Sure, people smell your perfume, but it’s a natural accompaniment to who you are.

And then there are the thugs like La Nuit de Paco Rabanne. La Nuit doesn’t waste time with seduction. It slips on brass knuckles and tells you and everyone else within noseshot how it’s going to be. And how it’s going to be is your trashiest 1980s nightmare come true. You just might love it…

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Guerlain Coriolan ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 13 August 2012 47 Comments

Guerlain Coriolan advert

A spray of Guerlain Coriolan, and right away I smell the high desert on a summer’s evening, the time when the ground still holds the hot scent of the earth while the wind is cool and fresh. The earth smells of hot rock, pinyon pine, immortelle, dry wood, and the piney sage that grows gnarled on the ground. The breeze delivers the bite of mint, citrus and fennel. Somehow the cool air and hot landscape meld into a singular fragrance. Coriolan reminds me of eastern Montana in August.

Jean-Paul Guerlain created Coriolan, and it was released in 1998. It’s a woody chypre with notes including lemon tree leaves, bergamot, juniper, absinthe, coriander, nutmeg, oakmoss, patchouli and everlasting flower. I also smell dry wood, amber, musk, and what I swear is mint.

Coriolan bombed. Despite its gorgeous bottle, caged in pink-gold metal with a flip-top lid, sales were weak enough for Guerlain to pull Coriolan before too long…

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Dior-Dior by Christian Dior ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 16 July 2012 90 Comments

Rene Gruau Dior-Dior advert, detail

A few more spritzes from my sample tube, and there it goes — the last of my Christian Dior Dior-Dior. Finished.

Lately I’ve been working my way through the crystal cocktail glass storing my most precious samples. A few unexpected (and in one case, fatal) accidents in my world during the past few weeks have startled me out of complacence. We’re not going to live forever. Meanwhile, those few drops of old Guerlain Mitsouko parfum, that dram of Lanvin Scandal parfum, that tiny vial of Christian Dior Dioressence parfum, and, yes, a two ml spray of Christian Dior Dior-Dior Eau de Toilette were going unappreciated. I put an end to that. It’s hard to use a vintage, discontinued fragrance knowing that when it’s gone it’s likely gone for good. But enjoying a perfume sure beats simply having the perfume…

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Faberge Aphrodisia ~ vintage fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 13 July 2012 22 Comments

Sometimes I try to ignore the existence of vintage fragrances on auction websites, and the raves they may receive on the perfume blogs, because what’s the point of falling for something that’s already discontinued or reformulated beyond recognition? And I’m usually pretty successful in this effort. Recently, however, I was intrigued by author M.J. Rose’s description of an unnamed men’s fragrance in her novel The Book of Lost Fragrances, and when I learned that Fabergé’s Aphrodisia (the men’s version) had been her inspiration for that scent, I wanted to know more. Thanks to a kind Now Smell This reader, I now own a bit of Aphrodisia (the women’s version), and I’m hooked.

According to my trusty copy of The H&R Book: Fragrances Guide, Feminine Notes, Fabergé Aphrodisia is a “fresh-mossy-aldehydic” chypre that includes top notes of bergamot, lemon, neroli and fruit; middle notes of rose, honey, ylang-ylang, carnation and jasmine; and base notes of oakmoss, vetiver, civet, ambrein and musk. Aphrodisia was released in 1938 and was available in various concentrations throughout its lifetime. I’ve been wearing a cologne version that seems to date from the 1960s…

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Pierre Cardin Choc de Cardin ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 26 March 2012 42 Comments

Pierre Cardin Choc de Cardin

As an antidote to hot weather, a chilled bottle of something refreshing to splash on is a must. Open my refrigerator, and among the salted anchovies, ancient miso, and quart of half and half you’ll find a plastic jug of Revlon Jean Naté. If I could swing it, you’d see a clutch of Pierre Cardin Choc de Cardin bottles instead.

Choc de Cardin, developed by perfumer Françoise Caron, launched in 1981.¹ It’s that rare fragrance that’s a mix of refreshingly clean and scintillatingly dirty. To get an idea of what I mean, imagine the scent of a hot sidewalk after a rain. No, Choc de Cardin doesn’t smell like wet cement, but it blends the sensation of dirt and crisp clean. Or think of what it’s like to emerge from the shower, all soapy fresh, then slip on your honey’s bathrobe — the robe that should have gone in last week’s wash but didn’t. That’s what I mean.

Choc de Cardin opens with sharp, soapy green. Initially it smells like many bergamot and herb-tinged colognes, cool and refreshing and not overly citrus. Before long, skank kicks in in the form of coriander and civet…

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