January 15, 2016

4160 Tuesdays Midnight in the Palace Garden and Advent Calendar Review

L'Esperessence 4160 Tuesdays Advent Calendar, Alhambra, Atlas Cedarwood, Coffee, Floral Oriental, Jasmine, Neroli, Orange, Orange Blossom, Sarah McCartney, Vanilla 13 Comments

The 4160 Tuesdays Advent Calendar 2015
During the last advent Christmas period I tested 25 different fragrances made by 4160 Tuesdays London based perfumer Sarah McCartney. 4160 Tuesdays had offered an Advent box with a different daily fragrance for 75 pounds. Generous 2,5 ml edp or extrait sprays were wrapped in beautiful coloured envelopes. It was a joyful and playfull way to experience a large part of the 4160 Tuesdays perfume collection. I missed the surprise of opening a new envelop with a different fragrance and tweeting about it at end of the Advent Box on December 25th. Sarah McCartney reacted daily to the tweets which was quite nice as well.

Why writing about it now, after Christmas ?
At the beginning of December and the Advent period, I started blogging everyday about her fragrances but I needed more time to test her fragrances and not all were my personal taste. So I decided to test all of them and afterwards write about the ones I liked and enjoy, starting with Midnight in The Palace Garden (shortly: Midnight) from the Crimes of Passion series.

An honest remark about 4160 Tuesdays fragrances
Before I start with Midnight I have to be honest, most of the 4160 Tuesdays fragrance were not my personal taste. They were either too sweet or too edgy. But they are quite different from all other fragrances I have tried before. The perfume names at times are very funny and I love all the colors Sarah McCartney uses in her collection.

My Four 4160 Tuesdays Favorites
From the whole collection I liked four fragrances, Midnight in the Palace Garden, Centrepiece, Doe in the Snow and Paradox. I will start reviewing Midnight and might review the others another time.

Midnight in The Palace Garden Extrait Review
When I first scented Midnight, it reminded me of the Alhambra Palace in Granada. This could be due to its name or the accompanying story on the 4160 Tuesdays official website:

“Picture a moonlit courtyard, scented with white flowers and orange trees; there’s a fountain, a low table with coffee and sweets, a silk- upolstered divan and the scent of warm skin after a calm hot day.”

Notes: (from official 4160 Tuesdays website)
Atlas cedarwood and skin notes, frangipani, jasmine and neroli, sandalwood, cedarwood, 20th century wood-like modern molecules, blood orange, vanilla and coffee

Orange blossom in Jerez de la Frontera

Midnight starts off at my skin with very sweet oranges, as if you are drenched in oranges in a bath. Shortly afterwards sweet orange candies with a semi liquid orange filling and sweet flowery orange peel appear. To be followed after some minutes by beautiful orange blossom flowers. This is my favorite part of Midnight. After half an hour what remains are the sweets. I did not get any coffee only a slight tobacco idea note at the start. Midnight changes over time but not surprisingly. For a pure extrait, Midnight had some projection, giving the impression of an eau de parfum as more modern extraits do. It lasted about 4 to 5 hours on my skin.

Bottomline: I liked Midnight and I have to admit I like everything from the orange tree from its blossom, twigs, leaves to its fruit. But I wish Midnight was a tad less sweet. The orange blossom note in Midnight is beautiful. If you like orange or orange blossom fragrances give Midnight a try, if you don’t, stay away from it.

Did you try any 4160 Tuesdays fragrances? If so, which was your favorite?

Disclaimer: the Advent Calendar was bought by me

photographs: 1 and 2 : made by me, 4: made by Jerez de La Frontera

August 11, 2014

Hilde Soliani Conaffetto Candied Orange Blossom

L'Esperessence Hilde Soliani Almond, Orange Blossom, Sugar, Wedding 0 Comments

Conaffetto is a fragrance made by the Italian Perfumer Hilde Soliani. It is part of her Profumo e questa in liberta series. This line is based on the Italian Haute Cuisine which is a great love of Hilde Soliani. Some of her perfumes (including Conaffetto) are almost edible. Conaffetto means with affection in Italian. Hilde Soliani made this perfume for a dear friend who was getting married. Its ingredients are almonds, sugar and orange blossom, very appropriate for a wedding.

Orange blossom is used in wedding bouquets in certain countries and sugar coated almonds (Jordan Almonds) are given at weddings. Almonds sweetened with honey were first used in ancient Rome in weddings. The hard candy coating started in the 15^th century. These candies are called Jordan Almonds in the US but confetti in Italy. The bitter almonds symbolize the bitterness of life and the sweet coating the sweetness of love.

I really like the idea of a perfume made for a very special occasion in one’s life. Luce (see my previous review) was for a child’s birth of a friend of Hilde Soliani and Conaffetto for a wedding. Luce could be used to scent birth cards and Conafetto could be used to scent wedding invitations.

What does it smell like ?

The scent starts with a bitter almond note in the top. Then it evolves into orange blossom with a slightly bitter edge. After this the orange blossom becomes sweeter, reminding me of candied violets. Not their scent but the violet candies themselves. If orange blossoms could be candied they would scent like this. It is almost as if you can eat this orange blossom. The orange blossom, almonds and sugar are very well blended. Some mention on the Fragantica website they scent bitter almonds I get bitter almonds quite clearly in the beginning and a bitter note at the middle but to me it could be a bit of bitter orange mixed with bitter almonds. The orange blossom is a not indolic at all, but much more tamed, not yet fully blooming, like a woman in her early/mid twenties there is still some innocence about her. The drydown is like an orange blossom water almond cookie with all the ingredients very well blended together.

What does it do ?

Conaffetto brings a feeling of softness, ease and affection. Like getting a hug from a very dear loving friend. Light and soft with a touch a innocence.

I really like this fragrance, together with Luce made by Hilde Soliani as well, they are my favorites. It is a different and original take on an orange blossom perfume. But I do not love it enough to buy a large 100 ml bottle. If smaller 15 or 30 ml bottles were sold, I would seriously consider buying a bottle.

Sillage: ***

Longevity: ***/****

Notes according to Luckyscent: orange blossom, sugar, almonds

Origin of sample: pr

February 3, 2014

Pictures:

Picture 1: Rébé 1963 Harry Meerson Wedding Dress www.hprints.com

Picture 2: Rene Ruau for Marcella Alix www.hpprints.com,

Picture 3: Bas Balenciaga www.hpprints.com

August 11, 2014

Penhaligon’s Castile A scent of Azahar

L'Esperessence Penhaligon's Citrus, Neroli, Orange Blossom 0 Comments

As this is my first blog about perfumes I was wondering what perfume to choose to write about. I wanted to write about a perfume I really like and from a fragrance house I really like as well. Penhaligon´s is such a house and British.

Penhaligon´s is a very old fragrance house which started with a shop in London in 1870. Their site is one of the best from a fragrance house I have come across. They give online advice on a perfume if you fill out a form online and sent it to them. Which I did and I will write about their advice next time.

About the eau de toilette Castile. I was drawn to this perfume because of its name. Castille, one of the now autonomous communities of Spain, say a kind of state within Spain. To me if you say Castille you say Spain in all its origins. And this appealed to me, being partly Spanish. So when I smelled the eau de toilette Castile I was really surprised to smell Spain, that is azahar. Azahar is the Spanish for orange blossom. You smell Castile by Penhaligon´s and it smells so lovely of orange blossom. But not only orange blossom, as I have smelled other neroli or fleur de oranger scents before. And I do not like most of them. Like Serge Lutens Fleurs d´oranger which I do not like either. Maybe it is the mixture of neroli, petit grain, and orange blossom in Castile. All scents of oranges. I do not know but it reminded me of my Spanish grandmothers home and all the lovely memories of wonderfull Christmas holidays came up. Whoever made this perfume must have had quite an idea of how Spain smells. I could not find any information about the perfumeur of Castile, unfortately. If Spain would be a smell, to me, it would be Castile by the English perfume house Penhaligon´s.

So would I recommend it? Yes I would if you like neroli, fleur de oranger or orange blossom and a summery smell into your house. Penhaligon´s sells scent library with 10 different samples on their site. The older scent library contains Castile as well. The scent library can also be bought via ebay from time to time as well.

Commentaries online were quite positive. American reactions commented on the scent as a grand old European hotel soap scent. In general it was commented that it is expensive and some say it is a soapy scent. In the Netherlands a bottle of 100 ml is 90 euro. But you can buy Castile quite regularly on the British ebay site for half or even a third of that price. You can order 5 different samples in the Netherlands at the webshop from Celeste in The Hague for 10 euro. On Penhaligon´s site you can see where their scents are sold throughout the world.

Castile is in the citrus group and on some sites it is considered a masculine smell. After shave and shaving cream is sold as well. But personally to me it is a more feminine scent and my boy friend agrees. He likes the scent as well.

Notes: neroli, petit grain, bergamot, orange blossom, rose, precious woods and musk

Longevity: quite good for a citrus eau de toilette

The eau de toilette was bought by myself. I do not have any links with Penhaligon´s, my comment is completely independent.

July 12, 2011