• About
  • Login to comment
    • Facebook
    • RSS
    • Twitter

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
  • Perfume Reviews
  • New Perfumes
  • Perfumers
  • Perfume Houses
  • Shop for perfume
  • Resources
Browsing by tag: mint

Slumberhouse Grev ~ fragrance review and a ghost story

Posted by Angela on 15 July 2019 23 Comments

The Slumberhouse website describes Grev as “a transparent metallic/herbal accord of star anise, crisp apple peel, spearmint leaf, ocean pine and bergamot twisted into hollowed tunnels padded in turquoise hues, dusted in sweet mossy mineral powder and blanketed with copaiba resin and sandalwood oil.” I describe Grev as a minty shiv straight from the freezer.

Grev is one of the four fragrances Slumberhouse issued when the perfume house debuted in 2011. A generous splash from my sample tube gives green apple for a split second before mentholated mint and pine trees obliterate it. After ten minutes, Grev relaxes and becomes more comfortable to wear…

Read the rest of this article »

Diptyque Eau de Minthe ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 24 April 2019 28 Comments

If I’d been presented with Diptyque’s new Eau de Minthé* in an unmarked vial, after the first sniff I’d have bet it was a vintage fougère perfume from the 1960s or 1970s. Eau de Minthé is hairy from eyebrows to toes, and brimming with testosterone.

Eau de Minthé goes on with a blast of bergamot mixing with peppery greens (geranium leaf is noticeable, too). As Eau de Minthé skids into mid-development I get scented hints of rose water, green tea(?), “chewing-gum” spearmint and Life Savers® wintergreen candy…

Read the rest of this article »

Imaginary Authors Saint Julep ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 27 June 2017 103 Comments

Imaginary Authors Saint Julep brand image

On the outskirts of Clarksdale, Mississippi, at the end of a secluded dirt road sat a small ramshackle church. It was not a place of worship but rather where many went to seek refuge during impoverished times. […] It was a distinctly secular place where locals who knew where to find it could share moonshine, socialize, and dance their troubles away. They called their ramshackle juke joint Saint Julep and the oral histories compiled within paint a picture of that magical place where “the smiles was always free and salvation had the distinct smell of sweet mint.”

That’s presumably the imaginary blurb from the imaginary back cover of the imaginary book that inspired Saint Julep, the latest fragrance from indie brand Imaginary Authors. The notes — sweet mint, tangerine, Southern magnolia, bourbon, grisalva (amber molecule), sugarcube and crushed ice — are an obvious nod to the mint julep, and it’s hard to believe, but I’ve never tasted one. Since I assumed it was something heavy and dark and sweet, I likewise expected Saint Julep to be heavy and dark and sweet.

Wrong again. Never judge a book by its cover…

Read the rest of this article »

Dirty by Gorilla Perfume at Lush ~ fragrance and scented body product review

Posted by Jessica on 12 June 2011 8 Comments

Lush Dirty range

I first sniffed the Dirty product line at the New York launch of Gorilla Perfume at Lush last year, and I’ve been looking forward to its release in the United States. Dirty has finally reached our shores, in all its iterations, and it feels just right for summer. According to Gorilla Perfume‘s promotional materials, “Dirty is an invigorating, cathartic breath of fresh air that stirs up something primal.” Its notes include spearmint, thyme, tarragon, lavender, sandalwood, and oakmoss (but no dirt!).

Dirty is available in as a traditional liquid perfume and as a solid fragrance stick; it’s a fresh fragrance that leans slightly towards the masculine end of the spectrum, but it will probably find quite a few female fans who enjoy wearing grassy, minty, or leafy scents. For the first hour or so, Dirty reminds me of an herb garden giving off the aromas of an assortment of plants: the thyme and the tarragon are there, and the mint is especially noticeable. Dirty gradually evolves into a salty sea breeze and an airy musk base with a very sheer sandalwood note. It has good staying power for a “fresh” fragrance, particularly one that includes so many natural ingredients.

The complete Dirty line takes a new approach to “layering”: each product is scented with a different element of the Dirty composition, so that they can be worn together to recreate the total fragrance…

Read the rest of this article »

5 Perfumes for: a Mint Refresher

Posted by Erin on 20 January 2011 131 Comments

mint leaves

Smell is the most associative sense. For years, they have dyed both men’s colognes and sports drinks like Gatorade the exact shade of blue of the absorbing liquid in maxi pad commercials and nobody seems bothered by this, except me — and, well, maybe now you as well. Something I never overhear: “I can’t listen to Bartók anymore, because John Bonham of Led Zeppelin has ruined me for timpani.” Yet every scent enthusiast is familiar with the type of scenario where you apply careful dabs of your most cherished new sample and you are snuffling away at the baptized spot on the back of your hand, squinting and considering every facet, when your spouse breezes in and announces casually: “It smells like Lifebuoy soap in here.” And you are NEVER ABLE TO WEAR IT AGAIN. The band-aid aspect of fragrances with black pepper, the ham in lily soliflores, a whiff of Creamsicle wherever and whenever it is found: once smelled, it haunts you forever.

Perhaps no note in perfumery has suffered more for its associations than mint. The cost of our modern obsession with smelling fresh has been that there are some of us who regularly wear fragrances that evoke the burnt dust of a blown computer CPU, but refuse to wear minty scents on the grounds that we are reminded of toothpaste, mouthwash and chewing gum…

Read the rest of this article »

Older articles »

Advertisement

Search

Browse by…

Topic

Perfume talk New fragrances
Shopping Books :: News
Body products Home fragrance
Polls Another subject

Date

February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
Prior months

Author

Robin Jessica
Angela Kevin
Erin Guest Author

Tag

Celebrity perfumes
Cheap thrills
Collector bottles
Perfumista tip series
Video
The complete tag index

From NST at Twitter

  • "Scented Stickers for Masks Are Becoming A Thing" (wwd via yahoo) https://t.co/FE46q3AyDB, 5 hours ago
  • "A fragrant revival: how the Rothschild family transformed Caron" (town&country) https://t.co/michNS3LWg,
  • News you didn't want: "Mysterious odor caused by BB pellet stuck in teen's nose for 8 years" (livescience) https://t.co/C4TveFM5wi,
  • "Inter Parfums’ earnings rise 80% in peak of pandemic" (cosmetics business) https://t.co/Lm2Xvd4qMI,

Recent reviews

Atelier Cologne Love Osmanthus
Moschino Toy Boy
Arquiste Misfit
Diptyque Eau Capitale
Zoologist Bee
Parfum d’Empire Immortelle Corse
Comme des Garcons Series 10 Clash
Frédéric Malle Rose & Cuir
L’Artisan Parfumeur Le Chant de Camargue
Yves Saint Laurent Grain de Poudre
Régime des Fleurs Chloë Sevigny Little Flower
Chanel 1957
Gallivant Los Angeles
Amouage Portrayal Woman

Blogroll

Bois de Jasmin
Grain de Musc
Perfume Posse
The Non-Blonde
More blogs...

Perfumista lists

100 fragrances every perfumista should try
And 25 more fragrances every perfumista should smell
50 masculine fragrances every perfumista should try
26 vintage fragrances every perfumista should try
25 rose fragrances every perfumista should try
11 Cheap Perfumes Beauty Outsiders Love

Favorite posts

The Great Perfume Reduction Plan
Why I Love Old School Chypres
New to perfume and want to learn more?
How to make fragrance last through the day
Fragrance concentrations: sorting it all out
On reformulations, or why your favorite perfume doesn’t smell like it used to
How to get fragrance samples
Perfume for Life: How Long Will Your Fragrance Collection Last?

Upcoming

List of upcoming Friday projects

TBA April ~ freebiemeet

Back to Top

Home
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy

Shop for Perfume Online
Perfume Shopping in New York
Perfume Shopping in London
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Links
Perfume Books
Fragrance Awards

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z

Copyright © 2005-2021 Now Smell This. All rights reserved.