French niche line Parfum d’Empire will launch Azemour Les Orangers, a new fragrance for women, in September. Azemour Les Orangers is a tribute to the city of Azemmour in Morocco…
Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou ~ fragrance review
Summer is winding down. As the air cools, Eaux de Cologne seem to lose what little power they have; they fade away as quickly as you can apply them to skin. Still, I crave citrus fragrances as the temperature drops, and there are quite a few citrus perfumes that can stand up to fall and winter weather — Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou is one of them.
Yuzu Fou (‘crazy yuzu’) Eau de Parfum includes notes of kumquat, bigarade orange (Citrus aurantium), yuzu, mint, green bamboo, verbena, neroli, blond cedar and white musk. Yuzu Fou begins with a mélange of citrus rind and juice aromas that will make you “fou” if you try too hard to differentiate between the cascading scents of sweet (and fleeting) kumquat, sour, lemony yuzu and powerful bigarade orange (also known as Seville orange).
The dominant note, bigarade orange, or “bitter orange,” in Yuzu Fou is not sweet…
Top 10 Summer Fragrances 2010
To me, perfume has a texture. Some fragrances wear like silk velvet, others like a practical gabardine, and still others — unfortunately — like double knit polyester. In summer, I want to wear perfume that feels like chiffon, linen, the fabric of a well-worn tee shirt, or even nothing at all. Here are the 10 fragrances I’ll be probably be wearing most this summer:
When it’s sizzling out, when lifting the bedroom window feels like opening the door of a convection oven, I want perfume that is crisp, cooling, and effortless. In short, I want perfume that wears like linen.
Christian Dior Eau Fraiche is a perfect linen-like fragrance. I have a bottle more than 40 years old that still sparkles and still has the warm chic of real oakmoss. I can wear it to work, after a bath, or while enjoying a gin and tonic at the neighborhood bar and feel fresh and even elegant, if I have to be.
Annick Goutal Folavril is another good linen substitute…
Parfum d’Empire 3 Fleurs ~ fragrance review
Beauty is tricky. In Sunday’s New York Times, Barbra Streisand explained to a reporter that she doesn’t want her music to be straight and pure, “It has to rub. I want that slight rub there.” Regardless of what you think of Streisand, she has a point. For something to reach its full potential for beauty, it needs a flaw, an unexpected element to catch your attention. Parfum d’Empire 3 Fleurs Eau de Parfum is rich and lovely, and I know many people will wear it to lavish compliments. But it doesn’t have the rub.
Parfum d’Empire released 3 Fleurs (along with Wazamba) this summer. It has notes of Bulgarian rose, Egyptian jasmine, and Indian tuberose—the three flowers of its name—along with galbanum, mint, and white musk. Despite rose, jasmine, and tuberose having equal billing, to me 3 Fleurs is more of a heady rose fragrance with jasmine and tuberose playing strong supporting roles…
Parfum d’Empire Wazamba ~ fragrance review
When Parfum d’Empire’s Yuzu Fou and Aziyadé were released last year, I was excited. My excitement waned as soon as I wore the two perfumes. Yuzu Fou (with notes of yuzu, kumquat, orange/bigarade, mint, verbena, green bamboo, blond cedar, neroli, white musk) was my favorite — it provides a burst of bigarade (Seville orange) followed by a blast of cedar; all the ‘filigree’ I expected (mint, verbena, green bamboo) was missing in action. Yuzu Fou is pleasant but unthrilling (it reminds me of Frederic Malle Bigarade). Wearing Aziyadé, I felt as if my body had been dipped in milk and then dredged in cumin (I was ready for the frying pan). I felt attacked by, impregnated with CUMIN. Aziyadé’s cumin was downright hostile.
Parfum d’Empire’s latest release is Wazamba. I have no idea if a “wazamba” is a Bantu midwife, a Congo tribe, or, as Parfum d’Empire defines it: “a musical instrument often used in initiation ceremonies in Western Africa.” This being Parfum d’Empire, I’m just happy ‘Wazamba’ is not the name of a lost pirate empire whose members ate infants for breakfast and clubbed dodo birds into extinction…