August 5, 2019

MoodScent4 Project: Playing The Diva Perfumes

L'Esperessence Isabey, MoodScent4 Project, Robert Piquet Gardenia, Isabey Gardenia, Quick Sniffs, Tuberose 10 Comments

It’s with great pleasure I am writing a new episode together with fellow bloggers Sam from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies.

Together we choose a different subject every couple of months and link fragrance to mood or occasion. This time we have chosen to write about “playing the diva perfumes”. Due to moving houses I haven’t written in a long time on my website. I am very glad to do so for this special festive event. My perfume collection is not completely unpacked so I was slightly limited in my choices and reviews. But let’s continue and play!

Madonna Truth or Dare Perfume Ad

Each of us might have a different image of a diva, To me a diva is a larger than (daily) life grand lady, preferably dressed in a long red velvet dress with feathers, wearing a faux fur coat, demanding and getting a lot of attention.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind

If I were to play a diva with perfume this would be with a lush white floral fragrance from night blooming flowers like gardenia or tuberose. The perfume would have strong sillage* and leave a beautiful scented trail when walking down the crimson velvet stairs in the theatre or opera house.

Isabey Paris Gardenia

Isabey Paris Gardenia

Isabey Paris Gardenia Eau de Parfum comes to mind. Isabey Gardénia was created in 1924 and won the gold medal at the prestigious International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925. As its face it had operetta singer Yvonne Printemps. Isabey Gardenia is a lush bouquet of white creamy flowers of tuberose and exotic ylang-ylang oozing vintage luxury from a bygone era. It leaves a harmonious veil of sandalwood, soft iris and musk which lingers for hours on the skin. A luxurious, mature and well balanced fragrance which makes you feel glamorous and like a diva from the roaring Twenties.

Its notes (according to the LuckyScent website) are Tangerine Peel, Ylang-Ylang, Orange Blossom, Gardenia, Bulgarian Rose, Jasmine, Iris, Ambergris, Musk, Sandalwood.

Yvonne Printemps

Robert Piquet Fracas and Madonna Truth or Dare

Other fragrances to play a diva would be tuberose classic Robert Piquet Fracas, created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier and said to be worn by Madonna. Fracas is still packed in a box somewhere so I can’t go into much more detail unfortunately. Madonna launched her own Fracas inspired fragrance Truth or Dare in 2012. Truth or Dare was discontinued but the shower gel and body lotion are still available online for very reasonable prices. You can have a lavish affordable bath in true diva style and still be able to pay your mortgage or rent.

Concluding: My personal picks to play the diva were creamy tuberose centered fragrances like Isabey Paris Gardenia, Robert Piquet Fracas and Madonna Truth or Dare bath products.

Have a look on the blog of Sam from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies to read their choices. I am very curious how they play the diva, aren’t you?

How would you play the diva? Which fragrances would you choose?

*Sillage: meaning the scented trail left by the wearer of a fragrance

You can read my full review of Truth or Dare here.

Special thanks Vicky, from The Perfume Lounge, Amsterdam

Disclosure: all fragrances mentioned in this article were bought by me

March 11, 2019

Mood Scent 4 : Guilty Pleasures

L'Esperessence Guerlain, Hermes, MoodScent4 Project, Nicolaï, Parfums Elegant Fragrances, Guilty Pleasures, Les Ballets Russes, Patricia de Nicolai 16 Comments

It’s with great pleasure I am writing a new episode together with fellow bloggers Sam from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and our latest marvelous addition to our Mood Scent 4 project: Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies. Regrettably Tara has left our project for personal reasons, I wish her well with her wonderful blog A Bottled Rose!

Together we choose a different subject every couple of months and link fragrance to mood or occasion. This time we have chosen to write about “guilty pleasures”.

When you think about guilty pleasures relating to perfume you might link this to celebrity, chocolate centred or seductive perfumes. But I have a different “guilty” and more private olfactory pleasure. Some of my favorite perfumes are elegant classic French fragrances like Guerlain Chamade, Hermes Caleche or Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur Odalisque. Fragrances which you might expect from someone wearing a made to measure two piece exquisite suit not the jeans, outdoor sweaters or hiking boots I prefer to wear.

Guerlain Chamade

One of my favorite perfumes when staying at our garden cottage is Guerlain Chamade. Starting green like a sunny spring garden in the morning, fresh hyacinths with small drops of dew on their petals Chamade dries down to leave a scent of very light soft dusted vanilla powder and a contrasting green lightness and freshness.

Hermes Caleche

The very soft clean and floral elegant Caleche is another favorite. Named after a special type of light carriage, Hermes Caleche invokes a feeling of Parisian sophistication with classic silk dresses, expensive leather bags, beautiful handmade scarves and soft leather gloves. Created as an elegant easy to wear and not too cloying fragrance sadly the newer Caleche has a become a more agressive aldehydic soap floral. But it’s still a refined creation.

Nicolai Parfumeur Odalisque

With its musky base, bright citrus bergamot orange blossom opening and classic white rich bouquet of flowers, Odalisque is a very classic French creation as well. Launched in 1989 it harks back to the past, some say the eighties. I would say even before that. Although I don’t like the musky salty base on my skin and normally don’t wear lily of the valley fragrances I notice I grab this Eau de Parfum from time to time as a “guilty pleasure” or when I feel a bit melancholic. Like revisiting an Art Deco café once in a while as it reminds you of happy times when you used to visit with your grandmother or another older loved one.

Guerlain Mitsouko

Finally I have another confession, I like to spray the balancing and relaxing Guerlain Mitsouko on my cushion when I go to sleep, inspired by the impressario Sergei Diaghilev of Les Ballets Russes who used to spray Mitsouko on his drapes. Talking about a guilty pleasure…

Concluding: Hermes Caleche, Guerlain Mitsouko, Chamade and Nicolai Odalisque are the “guilty pleasure” fragrances I have chosen for our Mood Scent 4 Project. I am very curious about the choices of my fellow bloggers. You can read the picks of Sam from I Scent You A Day , Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies by clicking on the links.

How about you, what are your “guilty pleasures”? I love to read your comments and thoughts! Please share them with me and visit my fellow bloggers as well.

Interesting to know:

Hermes Caleche (1961) Perfumer: Guy Robert. Fragrance Family*: Mossy Woods/Chypre. Caleche features the notes of: aldehydes, bergamot, mandarin, orange blossom, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, gardenia, iris, ylang-ylang, oakmoss, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver. ** I tested a recent Soie de Parfum, vintage Extrait and vintage Eau de Cologne version of Hermes Caleche for this post.

Guerlain Chamade (1969) Perfumer: Jean-Paul Guerlain Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental. Chamade features notes of: hyacinth, galbanum, ylang-ylang, rose, jasmine, blackcurrant buds, vanilla and woods. **

Nicolai Parfumeur Createur Odalisque (1989) Perfumer: Patricia de Nicolai, Fragrance Family: Floral. Odalisque features notes of bergamot, mandarin, galbanum, jasmine, lily of the valley, tuberose, ylang ylang, patchouli, oakmoss, amber and castoreum.

Guerlain Mitsouko (1919) Perfumer: Jacques Guerlain, Fragrance Family: Mossy Woods/Chypre. Mitsouko features notes of: bergamot, jasmine, peach, rose, oakmoss, pepper, cinnamon, vetiver. **

* As classified by Michael Edwards in Fragrances Of The World 2014

** Notes were taken from Perfume Legends by Michael Edwards

Disclosure: All photographs were made by Esperessence. The cards on the last 2 photographs feature costume designs created by Leon Bakst for Les Ballets Russes (Narcissus and Shéhérazade).

October 1, 2018

Mood Scent 4 : Perfumes That Work For Everybody Else But You

L'Esperessence Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, MoodScent4 Project, Parfum d'Empire Dominique Ropion, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, Orange, Patchouli, Rose 8 Comments

It’s Mood Scent 4 time again! Tara from A Bottled Rose, Samantha from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St Maxime and I are all writing on the same subject every couple of months. This time we write about fragrances which work for everybody else except us. It might be due to skin chemistry, hormones or just personal taste. You can find the links to the others blogs at the end of this article.

I have chosen two fragrances very much loved amongst many perfume lovers: Parfum d’Empire Azemour and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Portrait Of A Lady. Unfortunately both don’t work for me, here’s why.

Parfum d’Empire Azemour Les Orangers Eau de Parfum

Notes: orange, clementine, tangerine, grapefruit, coriander, cumin, black pepper, pink pepper, blackcurrant, galbanum, neroli, geranium, orange blossom, rose, hay, moss, henna and cypres (as of to Luckyscent)

Fragrance Family: Mossy Woods / Chypre (as of Michael Edwards)

Azemour was introduced in 2011 and created as a tribute to Morocco where it’s perfumer Marc-Antoine Corticchiato was born and raised. The Eau de Parfum is said to contain all the parts of the orange tree from pulp, fruit, peel, leaves, to bark and earth. I found the use of all parts of an orange tree very appealing as I love everything from the orange tree. Azemour has had many positive reviews online (Bois de Jasmin, The Scented Hound and Olfactoria to name a few).

Orange Tree

Azemour starts very promising on my skin with golden sweet orange to continue quite rapidly into a very sour citrus. The glorious orange shines through from time to time showing a glimpse of the chypre I would like it to be but the dusty moss/hay and sour citrus notes ruin this Eau de Parfum completely for me. I was given a tester bottle when I purchased a fragrance a few years ago and used Azemour from time to time hoping for the better but alas the dusty moss/hay and sour citrus notes make it rather difficult for me to wear. My partner wore Azemour this summer and it smells amazingly warm bright and golden on him. I wish it smelled like this on me. My skin and Azemour just don’t match.

Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Portrait Of A Lady Eau de Parfum

Notes: rose, blackcurrant, raspberry, clove, patchouli,sandalwood, frankincense (as of the official Frederic Malle EU website)

Fragrance Family: Mossy Woods / Chypre (as of Michael Edwards)

Another well loved fragrance among many perfume lovers which doesn’t suit me is Frédéric Malle Portrait Of A Lady (often called in short PoaL). PoaL is said to originate from an accord of Frédéric Malle Geranium pour Monsieur. Some describe PoaL as a jammy rose with incense or as a dark rose. On my skin PoaL is very much about patchouli which I am not very fond of when it plays a prominent role. I get whiffs of jammy rose but mostly of very earthy patchouli which I can appreciate at certain moments but not for a whole day. Unfortunately the rose is not too noticable on my skin.

Bottomline: A perfume might not work for you due to personal taste, skin chemistry or hormones. Parfum d’Empire Azemour didn’t work due to my skin and probably hormones and Portrait of a Lady due to the prominent patchouli. So always test on your skin before buying a fragrance and monitor how it develops during the day. If you can test a few times.

You can read the choices of perfumes which don’t work for Tara from A Bottled Rose, Samantha from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St Maxime by klicking on their names.

Are there any perfumes which seem to work for everybody else except you?