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He says/She says: Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta

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Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta

Acqua di Parma launched Colonia Assoluta in 2003. It is a unisex fragrance, created by Jean Claude Ellena and Bernard Duchaufour, and features notes of orange, bergamot, verbena, cardamom, pink pepper, pimento, jasmine, ylang ylang, rose, wild orchid, cedar, aromatic Thai resins, patchouli, white musk and amber. The “he” below is Marlen, one of the moderators on the basenotes forum, joining me for our third joint review.

He Says: One of my favorite warm weather scents, Colonia Assoluta offers a refreshing and refined bouquet without resorting to employing currently popular notes of tea and grapefruit, and without any ozone or marine accords…

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Perfume Review: Lily Prune Sublime Vanilla

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Lily Prune Sublime Vanilla fragrance

Lily Prune is a low cost line produced by Paris-based perfume house Ulric de Varens and marketed towards the below-20 set (as you might have guessed from the packaging). Lily Prune Sublime Vanilla was created by nose Jean Claude Ellena, and released in 2001; the notes are orange, cherry, plum, vanilla, amber, and sandalwood.

Sublime Vanilla starts out sweet, fruity and perfume-y…

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Hermessence Collection: Vetiver Tonka

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Hermes Vetiver Tonka 15 ml, Hermessence collection

Continuing with Hermessence week, today I am wearing Vetiver Tonka, my vote for the best perfume in the collection. Like the others, it was created by Hermès house nose Jean Claude Ellena and launched in 2004. Hermès Vetiver Tonka is meant to suggest wool, and has notes of vetiver, neroli, bergamot, grilled hazelnut, dry fruit, cereals and tonka bean.

Vetiver Tonka starts off fresh and green, with vetiver and mild citrus. It is deep and rich — the top notes of Guerlain Vetiver smell like water in comparison — but it is not at all heavy, nor is it more than mildy sweet…

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Hermes Ambre Narguile (Hermessence Collection) ~ fragrance review

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Hermes Ambre Narguile

Like the others in the Hermessence line of fragrances (see Rose Ikebana and Poivre Samarcande), Ambre Narguile was created by Hermès house nose Jean-Claude Ellena and released in 2004. Ambre Narguile is meant to evoke cashmere, and features notes of benzoin, labdanum, musk, vanilla, caramel, honey, sugared tonka bean, grilled sesame seeds, cinnamon, rum, coumarine and white orchids.

All of the Hermessence perfumes are foody to one degree or another; Ambre Narguile is the dessert course of the quartet…

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Hermes Poivre Samarcande (Hermessence Collection) ~ fragrance review

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Hermes Poivre Samarcande

As long as we are talking about the Hermessence line from Hermès (see yesterday’s review of Rose Ikebana), I thought I would pull out my sample of Poivre Samarcande and give it a real try on skin. A quick smell on a test strip last fall had convinced me that it was too masculine a fragrance for me to pull off, but test strips are such a waste of time that I don’t know why I bother. Poivre Samarcande is meant to mimic velvet, and has notes of pepper, chili pepper, oak, cedar, chinese moss, and musk…

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