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Browsing by tag: magnolia

Scent Trunk Aquione, Magnolia & Celestial Gala ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 20 January 2022 15 Comments

Earlier in this pandemic era, as I recall, multiple fashion/beauty magazines came out with similar listicles of the best scents to wear for imaginary travel, in the months of lockdown and pre-vaccine isolation. I liked the concept, but couldn’t help noticing a certain sameness about the selected perfumes and the locales they might conjure up: waves on a tropical beach…the flower fields of southern France…the sunlight and citrus trees of the Mediterranean.

For something more “off the beaten path,” in terms of scents and destinations, I’m personally turning to a handful of samples from Scent Trunk…

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Pierre Bourdon Sous les Magnolias and La Fin d’un Ete ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 28 August 2017 21 Comments

I’m a sucker for anything vintage, including vintage perfume. The problem with old things is exactly what makes them so charming: they’re not new. Vintage dresses are sewn with cotton or silk thread that gives, and fabric that shreds with age. An old pulp novel with a gorgeously lurid cover too often has yellowed pages that barely cling to the spine. Similarly, a vintage fragrance, although dream-inspiringly old fashioned, won’t smell as lively as it did when it first left the store shelf fifty years ago.

So, I was especially happy to get to know Pierre Bourdon Sous les Magnolias and La Fin d’un Eté. These fragrances have the charm and character of a vintage Edmond Roudnitska perfume, but they smell crisp and fresh. I can’t remember the last time I bought new perfume, but I came home from Paris with a bottle of each…

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Frederic Malle Eau de Magnolia ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 2 July 2014 26 Comments

magnolia

The (elusive) scent of magnolia has received lots of attention this year from perfumers. I’ve already reviewed Grandiflora’s two magnolia offerings by Michel Roudnitska and Sandrine Videault, and now comes Frédéric Malle and perfumer Carlos Benaïm with Eau de Magnolia.1

Benaïm has already created scented products for Malle based on magnolia: the Jurassic Flower candle, room spray and rubber incense. I went to the Frédéric Malle boutique at Barneys to get a whiff of Jurassic Flower but became sidetracked, and nasally exhausted, by the zillion candles that were calling out to me, not only from Malle’s line, but from Cire Trudon, too. Jurassic Flower smelled great, if not very “magnolia-ish…”

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Grandiflora Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine & Magnolia Grandiflora Michel ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 9 April 2014 25 Comments

magnolia blossoms

I grew up in Virginia, and I wonder if there’s a state with more magnolia grandiflora trees? (Mississippi…Alabama…Louisiana…South Carolina…I know you have your share!) When I think back, it seems every house, regal or modest, every college campus, farm, mall, gas station, had its own magnolia tree…or trees. Magnolia grandifloras are from an ancient family — they were Earth’s first flowering plants; magnolias are beautiful in many ways: they produce heavy/stiff leaves, ‘lacquered’ dark green on one side, suede-like, sometimes “furry” and brown, on the other; gem-like fruits; noble seed heads — not to mention their huge, glorious-looking (and heavenly scented) flowers. No matter their location, parking lot or plantation, magnolia grandifloras are grand.

I’m betting one of the first floral smells to imprint itself on me was magnolia. How else to explain my writing a piano composition in seventh grade titled Magnolia Whispers? (My piano teacher made all her students write an original piece of music for our annual recital.) I even illustrated the sheet music with tiny drawings of magnolia blossoms. (I wish I could attach a soundtrack to this article so you could get a good laugh.) I never wrote a musical ode to other favorites — gardenias, roses, poppies or marigolds…magnolia reigned supreme…

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Flora by Gucci The Garden Gorgeous Gardenia, Gracious Tuberose and Glamorous Magnolia ~ perfume reviews and a quick poll

Posted by Robin on 27 March 2012 89 Comments

Abbey Lee Kershaw for Gucci Flora The Garden

Gucci launched Flora in 2009. Flora is one of those light and sparkling casual florals, pretty and inoffensive — you know the sort I mean, the kind that go for pleasant and wearable over interesting, but that so perfectly hit that “pleasant and wearable” mark that they’re memorable anyway. When I reviewed it, I called it the still-cheerful older sister of Marc Jacobs Daisy, if that helps you place it. And like Daisy, it was just a notch above the competition. I often recommend it to people who are looking for something in that genre.

Gucci’s new Flora by Gucci The Garden is a quintet of floral flankers. Two of them — Generous Violet and Glorious Mandarin — are in limited distribution, and I have not tried them.1 The other three — Gorgeous Gardenia, Gracious Tuberose and Glamorous Magnolia — are widely available in department and beauty stores, and those are the three I’m reviewing today. All of them, like the original Flora, were reportedly inspired by Gucci’s “renowned” Flora print…

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