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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Intelligent Nutrients Hand Purifier ~ scented body product

Posted by Jessica on 6 February 2010 7 Comments

Intelligent Nutrients Hand Purifier

You don’t have to be obsessive-compulsive to worry about germs these days. It’s cold season, it’s flu season, and worse yet, now we have to fear the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) too. Accordingly, sales of antibacterial soaps and hand gels have risen dramatically in recent months. However, there are some problems with mass-market antibacterial products: the ones with triclosan pose possible health concerns, and the ones with too much alcohol leave your hands dry and cracked, and thus vulnerable to all kinds of irritation and infection.

For these reasons, not to mention the harsh window-cleaner smell of so many drugstore antibacterial products, I’ve long preferred alternatives like EO Hand Sanitizer. Lately, I’m even more pleased with the new Hand Purifier from Intelligent Nutrients. It’s a gel product (rather than a liquid that runs down your wrists and onto the front of your winter coat when you try to apply it on the go), and it feels like a lightweight hand lotion…

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Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Diptyque Eau de Minthe ~ fragrance review

Imaginary Authors Saint Julep ~ fragrance review

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

5 Perfumes for: a Mint Refresher

Intelligent Nutrients Hand Purifier ~ scented body product