Reviews by Mimi Gardenia

A beautiful patchouli fragrance. Sweet amber to start that recedes into the background to showcase the patchouli .The patchouli is dark , sweetish cacao dry , minty slightly camphorous but never hippie.... slightly musty ...v slightly .
It is a strong scent that melds with skin in the dry down to give off a warm musky , slightly spicy patchouli ambery , patchouli glow.
Lovely scent. Long lasting .

In a nutshell-Violette Fumee is a beauty.
It's very strange - all the reviews I have read of Violette Fumee so far have described progressive single notes as the perfume opens and unfolds. Having worn this for a little bit - I get no distinctive notes standing out ( apart from the obvious - violet ) but instead I get a really very blended distinctive aroma.
Papery small violets and light woods . Aromatic , diffusive, elegant.
On my skin, it is not especially sweet nor especially tart in any way .I get no smoke at all .
There is a fragility about this scent - a wispiness and yet also a feeling of quiet strength . Very yin and yang- masculine and feminine. Very balanced.
It's absolutely gorgeous .Violette Fumee just simmers gently on my skin with good longevity and average sillage I guess but the quality is just superb.
Many thanks to Joreon Oude Sogtoen for making Violette Fumee available for us all .

Mystical cool -warm ScentL'Heure Bleue is a fantastic original fragrance even after reformulation. The vintage L'Heure Bleue was deeper, a little more ambery and animalic , richer and had more nuances, folds and layers to me. But we live in 2013 and the current offering in extrait and in EDP is still excellent. it is more modern, less nuanced but still is L'Heure Bleue . Especially in the top notes , you cannot mistake this for anything else. Cool anise, bergamot , neroli ,violet, carnation , orange blossom rose create something cool and medicinal , powdery yet rich , classic and to some ...dated. To me , it is nostalgic and classical . Add Tonka and vanilla plus amber in the dry down and created is a soft, yet emotional and powerful fragrance . I am not sure if there is any oakmoss left in the modern extrait. It is a terribly unique scent . A cool start leading to warmer, loving and gentle end. L'Heure Bleue was constructed with love and inspiration. I feel the modern version of the extrait shares much of current Vol de Nuit's dry down . Excellent in Extrait and EDP. I have vintage as well but I actually prefer the modern version now. The vintage hits harder and is much deeper, has oakmoss I am sure ...but the modern stuff is more diffusive , lasts longer on me and I prefer it. The dry down of vintage L'heure Bleue reminds me of the dry down of vintage Mitsouko - . Anyway ....L'heure Bleue today is unmistakenly Guerlain .Sylvaine Delacourte's favorite Guerlain scent .Pros: Classic, emotive, beautifulCons: None"

Bold Classy Modern ChypreEau du Soir was one of those fragrances that I loved from * nearly* the first sniff. I was more interested in Miss Dior ( originale ) at first.What won me over was the tenacity ,the quality and the complexity of this scent. It's a beautiful bold and sometimes called a 'fierce' chypre. When you wear Eau du Soir it is a commitment to wear it for the entire day because 2-3 sprays lasts that long. What it is ,is bright and clear citrus top notes , a deep and luxurious heart of iris, jasmine, lily, seringa ,ylang ylang and a deeper and lasting drydown with clean patchouli and lots of moss. There is probably little oakmoss in it from what I smell .Luxurious and classy is Eau du Soir. The whole thing from top to bottom smells wonderful . It is one of my favorite perfumes and you get what you pay for. 100 mls has lasted me more than 5 years already and I still have about 25 % left of the bottle. The soap, shower gel and body cream are true to the scent and beautifully long lasting as well. Sometimes layering them all is too much scent ! Such potent stuff.The limited edition bottles are very very cool .Pros: Very TenaciousCons: Price"

A Real Forest Primeval ScentPeople talk of Ormonde Woman being foresty and primeval and as much as I love Ormonde Woman , I can't help but think it is so refined it reminds me more of the tiny stamp of trees of Berkeley Square not too far away from the Ormonde Jayne boutique than anything truly rolling about in a deep dark forest. As much as Ormonde Woman is a refined ' let's pretend we are in a forest because actually we are in the bloody middle of Mayfair, London' .... Norne is the real deal . You want to feel the deepest darkest forest - go to Norne Forest in SlumberhouseLand. Norne starts with a rubbing of mentholated evergreen - rich green tinges of icey leaves crushed in hand and held to the nose and proceeds to go down through the tree to the gnarly bark ,the woods and to the earth at the roots . From there you can see the sky and you feel alive. Norne is a scent that feels alive . I have read about burnt woods but I don't get burnt woods- I get a light woody incense feel - a grounding .Again in Norne there is there characteristic roughness to the scent - that artisan feel which is endearing actually. Again this speaks to me of Life in general . Life is not smooth sailing and perfect ,not airbrushed or smoothed over. There is a roughness to Life reflected in Slumberhouse scents. It is not a negative trait but an interesting one to me. Though I speak of roughness in Slumberhouse fragrances , Norne is actually a lot smoother to me than Jeke .It rolls gently from one phase to the next and in this way , Norne has elegance. Very unisex - if you love woody incensey scents and a slight mentholated character as well - this will fulfil that . Pros: Lasting and great QualityCons: None"

Great Smokey Patchouli & SpiceThis isn't a little wimpy limpid thing called Jeke .This is a passionate ,strong aroma that will suck you right in . It's not Jeke... it's Jeke !!!!!! Hello !It smells so ' earthly ' - not earthy but so grounding . Straight away - there is that artisan scent smell - I smell that particular rawness that I get with many natural or highly natural perfumes. It's actually shockingly raw- especially if you are used to a lot of commercial perfumes. A good bit of roughness. A bit of a reality check .It's like a nose whack - a good one.Then you get wallops of spicey resin , abit smokey and tons of great patchouli - not clean patchouli but the real good stuff. ( I do not like patchouli much ...but really good patchouli... I have noticed ..I actually love ) The beeswax is there adding to that smokey ,dirty-ish edge.It made me think of Absolue Pour Le Soir by Francis Kurkdjian ( and also a little of Patchouli 24 by Le Labo ) . Lapsong Suchong is my favorite tea and you can smell it in this - at this point I am reminded of another natural perfume I once bought - it was just a simple Lapsong Suchong scent . All these nose whacks are nicely tempered with vanilla - not girly vanilla or anything that makes you think of cupcakes . If you did not know vanilla was in the notes, you might not suspect it has any at all. It just rounds everything off nicely whilst keeping this scent very much its own fascinating ,smokey, resinous ,char-like ,sexy self.Longevity - umm... it hangs around a while ( to say the least ! ) but is closer wearing to the skin. Great scent . If I could have a slogan for Jeke it would be:Jeke : Perfume For The Bold ( men and women of course ) Pros: Longevity and Quality excellentCons: None"

Milky Incense Sexy SkinMilky resins ,hay ,beewax and incense that starts with the smell of hops . Unique ! it's very sniffable .The color of dark yellow comes to my mind with the scent - very much the color of the liquid in the picture . Again there is a certain roughness ( though smoother than Jeke ) , a bold quality which is really a character of Slumberhouse. These are not airy transparent scents but strong and gripping. I get no flowers at all . This smells like sexy skin .Very good. I actually prefer this to Jeke but both are very good. Pros: Long lastingCons: None"

Nouveau chyprePoor Idylle is not greatly loved in the perfumista world but I believe it is widely popular with * normal * people. There is a difference between the EDP and the EDT . I like both but I prefer the EDT.EDT- This is basically more rose- beautiful sweet peony tinged rose. Very lasting for an EDT . It really rocked my boat when I smelt it. More so than the EDP .The EDP is more fuzzy nouveau chypre ( a chypre for our times ) with a Guerlain touch in the drydown . It reminds me of Gucci by Gucci ( brown bottle - new version ) but with all the edges smoothed , powdered and Guerlainized . It has a 'chewy ' character- similar to the Gucci which makes it a nouveau chpyre. I wear Idylle once in a while but it starts to irritate me after a while. Longevity is excellent- lasting but subtle. Pros: Guerlain Plushy Nouveau ChypreCons: None"

Oud Cedar Leather ComboRather than pick at those notes - I am sure they are in there somewhere. This reminded me greatly of White Aoud by Montale. Where is the oud in the notes list because I am getting that oudy bandaid-y vibe which I normally do not like but here ......Dry ,austere yet a slight floral nature , leathery , woody ( cedary - iso e super - I swear I smell it in this ! ) ,oud-y ,sharp and mellow at the same time and extremely elegant. Unisex. This is wonderful stuff and has the personality I expect from something like this from Guerlain. This is exotic- foreign and mysterious .The best out of the three and the one I would buy. Pros: Fantastic Unisex ExoticCons: Price and Availability"

Beautiful emotive vanillaAva Luxe's Love's true Bluish Light not only possesses one of the most beautiful names in perfume , to me but also a very special nuanced vanilla scent. The white amber adds something extra special to this and I love it. This is better than many high end and pricey niche perfumes and certainly beats any department store plasticky vanilla scents. it's grown up and thoughtful vanilla and at the same time retains something child - like. Wonderful and emotive. Moreover, Serena Ava Franco adds her extra special touch to this perfume. One of my old time favorites and always will be. Tenacious and lasting in all forms. Pros: Lasting ,gorgeousCons: None !"

Tiger Balm Incense SoapL'eau Froide opens up distinctly herbally minty fresh - a cross between toothpaste and chinese metholated oil -rub- tiger balm . Thankfully this only lasts a few minutes at most..... before a mild, clean incense comes into play and pushes out the chinese medicine image . Unfortunately for L'eau Froide ,the incense is fleeting and then it becomes a near copy of the original L'eau with a tiny sour edge to it. Practically identical in the dry down of clean soapy mild musks. L'eau is just a smidgen sweeter, that is all . Unless you huff your arm skin endlessly I doubt anyone would notice.Dare you smell of chinese headache oil ? Dare you ? I dare not. Pros: Clean and fresh * zing !! *Cons: Chinese medicine Vibe in the start"

White FloralThank you to my good friend Primrose for this sample. Hugs !This is a classic and beautiful white floral composition much in the vein as Fracas but minus the heaviness and minus vetiver. It is creamy and develops that same clean vibe as Fracas does on my skin but it is not as per namesake - a gardenia fragrance. We have to close our eyes and imagine this as a gardenia scent as we must do with all others like it. It is however a delicious ,quality floral scent for women and can be enjoyed as such . if you love white florals- this one will do the trick .Pros: Creanm non indolic white flowersCons: Not true gardenia but what is ?? "

Powdery Oud Amber RoseRose Nacree is fairly similar to Encens Mythique but minus the slight frankincense in it . There is also less patchouli and Rose Nacree is a bit sweeter .Yes, I know, I know, I am a philistine ! The dark rose in the opening is great- I get that sense of dark rose + oud and swirls of amber smoke and a bit of spice too . The Guerlain powder is there again .I find it quite simple in total . This is a powdery rose with just touches *again* of the exotic. There is not enough oud to hit you over the head and not enough spice to curl your toes . Completely unisex though I suspect some men will not wear these. So far after sampling 2 of these scents- I get the feel Guerlain wants exotic without too much edge and daring. Less interesting than Encens Mythique but still a good quality Guerlain fragrance. Honestly, Nahema has more personality . Just sayin'.Pros: Good quality exotic RoseCons: Price and availability"

Large White FloralThere is a bucketful of notes in C for Women . It's predominantly a creamy white floral that takes off immediately with a bit of spice and citrus - very smooth and then it settles into a creamy big heart of jasmine and tuberose- sweet , non indolic with a touch of spice and a small amount of shy violet. It's a very symphonic scent , well blended .Vanilla ,amber and tonka are apparent in the dry down and the white florals become much more subdued ..becoming a bit more spicey again and woody . It's very good stuff. Pros: Lasting ,Good QualityCons: Price - as always "

Modern Streamlined Sweet LavenderIf there are such things as lavender sweets or lavender lozenges or lavender candy - then I feel Jersey smells how a lavender edible treat would taste .Firstly, you must love lavender and I do . Secondly you must love vanilla- hmmm.. I do - who doesn't ?Somewhere in the opening notes and middle there is a caramelly note that works so well with the lavender. There is not one whiff of old fashioned lavender nor any whiffs of lavender scented pot pourri . It is instead very modern and streamlined . I am guessing this is named after Chanel's jersey fabrics .Well this scent is as streamlined as the material .This Les Exclusifs has not been very well received - I don't know why because I think it's an addictive smell .It's elegant lavender , modern and to the point. I believe the vanilla and musk are well suited to the lavender. If you love Taste of Heaven by Kilian and Kiki by Vero Profumo - then this may be a * go* for you. I love it. Pros: ElegantCons: Price"

Shiny White FloralThis is quite a simple but stunning white floral composition. It's character is light and very slightly shiny metallic ( which must be the lily and musk thing going on my skin ) . I would go so far as to say it's a creamy beachy type scent. It's beautiful . A clean white floral ,non indolic, beachy scent with an ozonic type element to it. I think minus the jasmine and tuberose - this would just be one of those clean ' linen' type fragrances .Lys 41 has that airy ,salty -sweetness ,solar thing about it- salicylates ? If you love Malle's Carnal Flower- this is a good alternative. Also if you love Diorissimo - the new EDP version which has tuberose - this is a good alternative as well. Love Lys 41 ! Pros: Beautiful White FloralCons: None !"

Hefty Woody IncenseTanoke packs quite a lot of heft with its smoldering macho woods ,incense and pepper. It's got a strong and moderately fiery character. I also get a lot of vetiver in the heart . Definitely more masculine but if you love deep incense and woods , a woman can pull this one off. Very good. Pros: TenacityCons: None - but more masculine"

Rich Real HoneyBotrytis is a honey lover's smellfest. You may find Botrytis like catnip to a cat ! This is like the olfactory version of tasting and savoring a very good rich raw honey . It's sweet and a feminine scent. if you are craving a honey scent- this is it. Look no further. Pros: Completely 'honey-ified'Cons: None"

Very GoodI have tried Coco Noir EDP a number of times without really stopping to smell it thoroughly I guess. I am wearing it this afternoon from a sample. It is easy to dismiss this as a disappointment ,another Coco Mademoiselle, not as good as Coco the Original , another fruitchouli sensation, a cop out by Chanel.In actuality , it is a beautifully composed scent . A thoughtful scent and though it shares some qualities of Coco Mademoiselle and Coco , it is a different creation, I feel . As Coco Mademoiselle is the extrovert little sister who loves Pink and a sophisticated thing in its own right - Coco Noir feels elegant , subtle and probably rolls her eyes a bit at Coco Mademoiselle's endless antics and massive persona . Yes, Coco Mademoiselle is an extremely popular girl but Coco Noir is an beautiful ,polished laidback woman . She doesn't require Victoria's Secret and prefers La Perla . There are wisps of Coco Mademoiselle in Noir ( they are related ,after all ! ) and shades of the original Coco as well ( they are related ,after all ! *LOL* ) but Noir is an easy medium betweeen the two scents Coco Mademoiselle and original Coco .The touch of frankincense is lovely. The patchouli is not blindingly clean like Mademoiselle. If Coco Mademoiselle and the original Coco are too bombastic for you- then give Coco Noir a try. It feels like silk and smells exotically but much more subtly Chanel-esque. I am getting tired of all the 'Coco' names ...they should have just called this something else. You know what - I think I will get a bottle at some point to replace Coco Mademoiselle. I can't wear the original Coco - it gives me a headache . So Noir is the easy choice.Well done. 4 stars ! Chanel - please hurry up and bring out the pure perfume version of Coco Noir- I am sure it will be a bestseller . Pros: Chanel-esqueCons: None"

Sugared Almond Bon BonWell, Benevolence is a feel good perfume. The name fits. It is basically a creamy italian sugared almond bon bon scent - very similar in smell toHilde Soliani 's Conafetto . Very close. Though I would say Benevolence has more heft, sillage and tenacity . It is also relatively more expensive and its concentration is parfum extrait. Benevolence could also be an ice cream soda scent with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top ,fizzying gently into the drink .It is a very good fragrance .This is another House of Sillage scent that melds into skin and does not sit on top of it. The orange blossom ,almond ,jasmine and vanilla are the most prominent notes but all is well blended. The lavender is hardly there . I do find it interesting that almond - vanilla can take 2 directions in perfumery . 1. The benevolent/ happy route as in this scent.2.The dangerous sexy vixen route - as in Hypnotic Poison . Both contain many similar notes . 4 stars for Benevolence. I like it greatly. Pros: BeautifulCons: Price"

Jammy Rose Oud PatchouliNouez Moi - " tie me" ..with an expensive swarovski blinged out bow ! This name hints at shades of S and M - a crack of a leather whip and a black mask . If it were referring to a gift ... wouldn't we be " untying me " instead ?? This is a rose + patchouli . A modern chypre type scent. It actually opens up with a full on blast of rose + oud to me ... I am wondering if there is some kind of syntehtic oud in here. Anyway, the opening smells like a lighter By Kilian's Rose Oud . Then in goes a bit jammy with a touch plumminess from the jasmine and it's then full on slightly mentholated rose and yeah , patchouli.It is a great fragrance . Another scents that I am reminded of is Lumiere Noire pour femme by Captain Kurk but Nouez Moi is lighter in feel. I guess this is as dark and edgy as the House of Sillage gets.As the scent dries down, it actually gets lighter...still staying a slightly oud-y medicinal jammy sweet rose. It's quite velvety in texture, I feel. Pros: BeautifulCons: Price"