Diptyque Eau des Sens Soap ~ body product review

Posted by Jessica on 9 March 2017 24 Comments

Diptyque Eau des Sens Soap

Sometimes I just need to cleanse my olfactory palate, not to mention my mind, after trying too many perfumes in a short period and overthinking everything. This is the right time for me to remember the simple pleasures of a really good scented soap. Soap was one of my “gateway” products into living a fragranced life — remember the giant Fresh soaps that were sold at Anthropologie in the 1990s (Verbena!), or the colorful and affordable glycerine bars lined up in every Body Shop?

Diptyque’s soaps require a bit more seeking out, not to mention more cash, but they’re ideal for very occasional splurges or special gifts for appreciative friends…

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Olympic Orchids Mardi Gras ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 19 October 2016 14 Comments

The Carnival King

Every year in late winter New Orleans puts on a grand party like no other. It’s a rainbow-hued, glittering, skanky, riotous celebration of everything there is to celebrate, flowing in and out like a shiny snake amidst the flower-strewn, humidity-drenched, decaying streets of the French Quarter. Mardi Gras may present a polite, rich veneer of real orange blossom and vanilla, like a southern belle delicately munching on a beignet dusted with powdered sugar, but behind the pretty, festive costume are dark undercurrents of voodoo and hoodoo, midnight rituals and outrageous secrets that can only be unleashed under the protective camouflage of the innocent-looking mask.

Olympic Orchids’ description of Mardi Gras¹ is pretty apt; this perfume throws open the curtain on a sullied orange blossom — half dressed, distressed and a bit sweaty…

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Hiram Green Dilettante ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 6 July 2016 35 Comments

Mapp & Lucia

The definitions¹ of “dilettante” are interesting and a bit confusing / conflicting:

1. a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way — if you have the chance, do watch the hilarious TV series Mapp & Lucia for examples of Dabblers-Dilettantes Supreme.

2. a lover of an art or science, especially of a fine art.

I’m guessing Hiram Green’s dilettante combines amusement with love for the creation of fragrances?

Hiram Green’s new perfume, Dilettante, debuted recently and it’s a heady mix of fruit, flowers and spice…

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Diptyque Eau des Sens ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 11 March 2016 42 Comments

Diptyque Eau des Sens brand image

Diptyque’s new Eau des Sens is meant to be a spicy orange blossom, and promises “the scent of the orange tree in its entirety, from the white petals of the orange blossom to the dark green leaves to the juicy, bitter Seville orange hanging off the branches” — I presume half of you are ready to sign up, and the other half have already moved on to the next article. That’s as it should be, because Eau des Sens is pretty much what it says it is, no more, no less.

Be warned, first of all, that Eau de Sens is sheer-ish, as is (mostly) the Diptyque style as of late. In the video I posted yesterday, perfumer Olivier Pescheux said that the best way to discover Eau de Sens is to “spray it generously”, and I’ll concur…

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Senteurs d’Orient Orange Blossom Hammam Soap on a Rope ~ scented body product review

Posted by Jessica on 5 November 2015 16 Comments

Senteurs d'Orient Hammam Soap on a Rope

This must be the first time we’ve reviewed a soap-on-a-rope here at Now Smell This. I’ve always thought of soap-on-a-rope (basically just a bar of soap with a nylon hang-cord attached) as the sort of 1970s-era item that was (is?) only purchased as a slightly depressing, last-resort Father’s Day gift or a holiday present for a male grade-school teacher. Affordable and practical, but sort of silly. You know.

Senteurs d’Orients’ Hammam Soap on a Rope is an altogether different sort of object, and you would never confuse it with a last-minute purchase from the drugstore or the Avon catalogue. These soaps are hand-crafted by local artisans in Lebanon. They’re circular and oversized, hand-molded with elegant, filigree-like patterns of leaves and floral motifs. They’re packaged in decorative, hand-folded boxes, and (most importantly) their scents were developed by the “master perfumers of Grasse…”

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