What did you try today? (2022)

[d r e]

A lot of stuff, some standouts:

BBW Vanilla Bean Noel: somewhat similar to Tihota

VS Bare Vanilla: kinda like Solinotes and Outremer Vanilla but not as chocolatey. Hard to smell on test strip, very light.

Chanel Allure: nice fresh peach scent, airy sort of elegant and not super feminine. I could see myself wearing this

Chanel Allure EdP: more vibrant version of the EdT. The peach is more bold and with more bite, but not harsh or overly citric. Another winner.

Also like Chanel Coco Noir, but didn't give enough time to gather notes or anything. I actually may prefer the feminine Chanels over the mens

Refreshed my memory on various scents and was sort of impressed with Hollister Jake & SoCal. Nose friendly fresh-sweet fragrances.

 

[ScentMemory]

The Zoo - Vetyver Rain Skin

Moist, green, jungly, earthy. A good headspace representation of lush, wet vegetation. As with most of Laudamiel's scents, his technical skill and the quality of the ingredients are apparent.

 

[Emanuel76]

Frapin - L'Humaniste

My bottle finally arrived.

Spicy, aromatic, herbal, fruity, floral, with oily texture. Boozy impression, but with no alcohol. Mmmm, it's so good!

Thick honeyed floral tea, with cool mint. Strong linden impression. Mild astringency. Hay. A bit too sweet, but it's good.
So, it's strong and sweet, but pleasant for many hours. The problem is that it starts to bore me after a while with the same sweet drone accord.

Honeyed amber, cool-metallic, heady-aldehydic, ozonic, clean-linen/soapy/woody/detergent. That's dihydromyrcenol with something else. Awful! Too strong to be ignored. I had to washed it off. Next morning it was still present.

I found it very strange how strong it still was that cool refreshing part after many hours, which as time went on became more and more metallic. But the fragrance was still pleasant. Only after about 8-9 hours it began to be clear what I was dealing with (probably even sooner, but I was busy). Since it was still very strong, I had to wash it off after about 11-12 hours, when it became unbearable.
Definitely the dihydromyrcenol had a positive contribution to L'Humaniste until some point, after which it began to strongly spoil it.

At the second wearing it will be evident already after 1-2 hours. At the third wearing I will be able to detect it from the very beginning. That's how it usually goes with dihydromyrcenol.
But the truth is, there will be no second wearing at all. I had enough.

Even now, in winter, is not refreshing enough, because it's too sweet and thick, with an oily texture in the first part. In the summer, probably, it's a disaster.

Cheap ingredients in, garbage out.
In fact, it's not just about cheap ingredients, it's about cheap ingredients in exaggeratedly large quantities, because lOnGeViTy.

6/10

 

[hednic]

Oud Carbone by Elixir Prive which I loved.

 

[Schubertian]

In store:
Jo Malone Velvet Rose & Oud - pleasant, but not one for me. A bit sour in the drydown.
Bulgari Splendida Tubereuse Mystique - not a fan of the opening, drydown was pleasant but utterly uninteresting.

 

[ChypreInBloom]

Presently trying Adhara Oud from Cherigan for the second time, man, that smoky rose is attractive.

 

[PStoller]

Gallagher - Mandarin Silk

Mandarin orange on an unobtrusive bed of musk and wood. Pleasant, if a bit single-minded. Dr. T. likes it, and discerned more in it than I, so perhaps there’s magic in the sillage. Anyway, not something I’d buy a bottle of (if I could find one), but if you’re an orange fanatic, you could do much worse.

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Sampling Houbigant Fougere Royale

 

[hednic]

Presently trying Adhara Oud from Cherigan for the second time, man, that smoky rose is attractive.

Is it a thumbs up from you? I bought the entire house a while ago from Paris and just love them.

 

[ChypreInBloom]

Is it a thumbs up from you? I bought the entire house a while ago from Paris and just love them.

Yes it is, absolutely thumbs up. It's very beautiful, I love the smokiness against a fresh rose. 🤩
I love The Purple Bar, Fleurs de Tabac and Or des Îles, too. Others I find less convincing but then I don't know them all.
@hednic, do you wear fragrances or do you smell them mainly on blotters?

 

[Looters-delight]

Le Beau Male by J.P. Gaultier

Today really for the first time!
And I'm disappointed why there was such a hype about this fragrance.
Thank goodness it was just a sample!

 

[Franco65]

Rose Omeyyad by Atelier des Ors, wonderful Rose maybe a little too feminine....

 

[hednic]

Sable Sarrasin by Elixir Prive which I loved.

 

[ChypreInBloom]

Rose Tonnerre, Éditions de Parfums Fréderic Malle
Lovely dark rose. Unfortunately I can only get the faintest trace of truffle but I do get a lot of geranium. Pleasant enough and longlasting but not for me now.

 

[lfc1892]

Ok so contrary to the thread I started a few days ago, I did actually try something today.
Ambre Chromatique by Crivelli
Upside? It’s potent.
Downside? It’s potent.
Really didn’t like it and so it took me ages to scrub it off.

 

[PStoller]

Gallagher - Peaches & Campfires

Peaches & Campfires is a fragrance that has light fruity notes in the top with a strong campfire accord and a spicy/woody in the dry-down. If you like sweet peaches (further sweetened by the Black Currant) and the smell of campfires, this scent is for you.

The good news is, I'm not getting too much sweetness from Peaches & Campfires. The less-good news is, whatever's burning in that campfire should have been kept far from an open flame. Plenty of perfumes mix it up between shadow and light, with anything from birch tar or funky oud to industrial rubber/petrol in contrast with fruits and/or flowers. So, the concept is sound. Alas, both the fruit and fire smell thin and cheap compared to this scent's more illustrious forebears and artful contemporaries. Like others in my older sample set, this has been discontinued. In the case of Peaches & Campfires, I won't lament its passing.

 

[hednic]

Sucre Blanc by Elixir Prive the last one from the house which I loved.

 

[PStoller]

Gallagher - Sine Nomine

Sine Nomine is a delicious fruity-floral with a smooth vanilla dry-down. The top features a crisp red apple and a sweet fig note. The mid features a nice note of tulip and a very dominant, powdery rose otto. The dry-down features a nice vanilla, with hints of woods and green notes, provided by Iso E Super and a fern note, respectively. If you like fruity-florals with a dominant rose note and a vanilla dry-down, this fragrance is for you.

Sine Noxious. I couldn’t make it to the 30 minute mark before scrubbing. I can’t even describe it; I just needed it off me.

*

Gallagher - THAT Guy

THAT Guy is a well-rounded fragrance from start to finish. The opening is unmistakably masculine, with each note collaborating to produce a harmonious ensemble. The dry-down is a nice mix of aquatic/salty, produced by the exquisite Ambroxan note, and a nice combination of masculine woody notes.

Maybe my sample has gone off, but whatever THAT Guy is, well-rounded ain’t it. The drydown is like a mix of brackish water and stale oregano. And it’s still better than Sine Nomine, but that’s not exactly a hurdle. I got a late start today, and I’m still off for a second scrub.

*

Gallagher - Tobacco Silk

An OK linear tobacco over musk and cedar. Easily the best I tried today, but to put it in perspective, I’d prefer Molton Brown Tobacco Absolute.

 

[ErroneousFact]

Michael Malul x Gents Scents Blue Ridge: I'd call this a twist of Bleu de Chanel EDP. More that than Y. It's very nice, like the intent was just to smooth out BdC EDP so it's more casual, which is right up my alley. There's about as much smelling good and a little less I'm trying to smell good. I imagine I'll get a big bottle of this when I run out of BdC. Before then, it would be kind of redundant.

 

[egrorian]

Royal Oud. Not on Basenotes' database (outrageously!). This is fantastic - straight into my top ten.

Oud Attar - Oud Perfume Oils

Specialists in infusing Perfume Oils with our signature Oud scent to deliver a true unique aroma. Discover our fine, long lasting range of Oud Perfume Oils, you might find your new favourite.

oudattar.co.uk

 

[hednic]

Soleil Infidele Extreme by LM Parfums which I just loved.

 

[ChypreInBloom]

African Leather from Memo. Strong cumin blast, pleasant leather after a few hours but really, really, three sprays are just too much. I don't like the overall experience because the harsh cumin supported by a harsh cardamom takes forever to settle into a smoother leather. Just too much for me. I find it screeching for too long. Nice design on the bottle.

 

[Tea_Lilly]

The Nightingale's Cup by Cult of Scent from a sample.

Per the perfume's description: "The Nightingale's Cup starts cool yet warms on the skin to a radiance that captures the joy of Spring mornings and the coming of the sun."

"With a sparkling lemony fresh introduction, a radiant rose heart melts into a base of delicate iris, ambergris and oakmoss."

This is a very nice powdery iris scent supported by rose. It is not cold or metallic, with just a bit of warmth. I very much see a spring morning with the sun warming the flowers as the description states.

 

[Andrewthecologneguy]

Pleasantly surprised, need several more wearings to fully get it.

 

[cheapimitation]

D.S. Durga Bistro Waters from a sample. A nice fresh green peppery cologne type scent. Not nearly as weird as I expected, I don't really get green pepper or anything particularly foodie about. Reminds me of Mugler Cologne or CDG Laurel with its pepper/angelica note. I like it but probably wouldn't buy it because I already have a few fragrances in this style.

 

[hednic]

Sherwood by Memo which I very much loved.

 

[lfc1892]

Ambre 114 - nice enough amber with a nice hippy vibe
Moroccan leather - not bad. Not much leather but a nice interesting blend

 

[PStoller]

Bernard Lalande - Bleu de France

After my roundup of the Bernard Lalande minis by which I was quite taken, I just had to find the full bottles of his "proper perfumes." So, it's Lalande Week again, and first up is his best-known fragrance.

"Best-known" isn't the same as "well-known." It seems the collective fragcomm on the 'net knows almost nothing about it. Fragrantica says it's from 1960 and sums it up as a "floral fragrance for women", and lists its "main accords" in descending order as:

aldehydic
woody
aromatic
fresh
powdery
violet
floral
earthy
soapy
rose

My nose says it's scarcely aldehydic at all, nor particularly woody, though "powdery," "violet," and "soapy" apply well. There's a chalkiness to it, like those old Choward violet mints, but without the sugar. I would hazard a guess the base is largely white musk and a bit of ambergris. The "Lalanade" I detected in the minis shows up here after a few hours, and it adds a welcome roundness.

Meanwhile, Parfumo says it "was released in 1979. The scent is spicy-powdery. Projection and longevity are above-average." I'm not getting much spice with my powder, but the scent is so dry it may read as spicy. 1979 seems a more likely date than 1960, and we know was in production until at least 1989, when it was issued in Pierre Dinand's commemorative Eiffel Tower bottle.

Lalande also released a Bleu de France pour Homme. That's for tomorrow.

 

[JakeStiebs]

The simple note pyramids of all three present you with the name on the bottle. What a great 2022 lineup from B&BW!

 

[bhiter010]

I've just received my new year's present! It is great.
Really royal perfume

 

[hednic]

Ancient Wisdom by Benigna Parfums which I loved.

 

[ChypreInBloom]

Frédéric Malle 's Synthetic Jungle, which made me think of No 19 and Vent Vert. I quite liked it. I wasn't expecting such greenness to go on for such a long time. It's really nice but I don't know, I'd rather gift myself a vintage bottle of Vent Vert.

 

[PStoller]

Bernard Lalande - Bleu de France pour Homme (c. 1979)

It turned out to be a hard day to evaluate in detail, so I wore it again the next night. Which might just be an excuse, because it’s marvelous stuff. Nothing groundbreaking, just top-notch execution of a soapy/mossy fougère—very much a companion piece to the original Bleu de France, but with the prototypical masculine oomph of the era.

The key to its success is it’s not too oomphy: the darker notes are handled judiciously, making Bleu de France pour Homme unfailingly elegant. A unicorn worth hunting.

 

[hednic]

Santal Dan Sha by Armani Prive which I loved.

 

[cheapimitation]

Diving into my Penhaligon's sample set lately. My impression so far is that they are just "nice", subdued and pleasant but nothing to get excited about.

Luna: A pretty watery shampoo floral. Reminds me of something I've tried before from Chanel but can't put my finger on it, it's pleasant but that's about it.

Blenheim Bouquet: I can see why this is one of the more popular ones. I really like the mix of lemon, pepper, and juniper. I get a strong almost lemon candy at the opening, when it threatens to be too sweet it is brought down by the pepper and the juniper creating a nice aromatic mix. Reminds me a bit of the lemon in Profumum Aqua Viva, but this one has very poor longevity. I wouldn't mind a bottle of this for a short lived pick me up spritz.

 

[d r e]

IZOD:
Does not remind me of the original, smells like a soapy Nautica Voyage, however it smells pretty nice and fresh.

Michel Germain Sugarful, Sugarful Dreams, Sugarful Spice:
Awesome, very sweet and airy, I'll prolly get samples of the former 2. The spice one reminds me of male sweet scents like 1 Million & Code Profumo, kinda synthetic but not overly harsh or anything

 

[La Fleur]

I've been on a Chanel run the past 4 days. 11/25 - Le Lion, 11/26 - Egoiste, 11/27 - Coromandel EDP and today - Sycomore EDP. Coromandel EDP and Sycomore EDP have been standouts so far.

 

[thrilledchilled]

Turath by Sultan Pasha, absolutely breath taking.

 

[cheapimitation]

Penhaligon's Duchess Rose: a nice middle of the road rose, not too dark but also not bright or green. It feels very "juicy" , a little peppery, a little woody. It could be the perfect straight down the middle rose for someone, but for me it's a little bland and forgettable.

 

[Uniquefrags]

Took a break from sniffing anything because I felt it was all getting muddled. It definitely helped.

Tested Byredo- a whole bunch of them. This house isn't for me. The only one that continues to be a love is Bal d'Afrique. It's the sparkling opening that I find majestic every time. I wish I could find something that smells like that all the way through. Open to suggestions if anyone has them.

I tested lots from BDK. I like them, for the most part. All very smooth. Their Tubereuse Imperiale is really nice, though a touch like bubblegum, which I wonder if I can tolerate in a full wearing.
Edit: Want to note that BDK lasts a full day on my skin. Everything from them softly projects for around 8 hours, then remains like a shadow for a couple more after that.

I also gave Ella K another try but, yet again, this perfume disappears on my skin. The only one that clings for days is Ghibli and it's a scrubber for me. The others are so softly beautiful but perform like Jo Malone (15 mins, tops). Such a shame. I think this might be just my skin, though. There aren't enough reviews on this house to figure out if others have the same issue.