August 29, 2016

Madonna Truth or Dare Budget Beauty Pick Perfume Review

L'Esperessence Budget Beauty Pick Centered, Discontinued, Floral Oriental, Gardenia, Glamorous fragrance, Grown Up, Madonna, Mature, Outgoing, Pear, Robert Piguet Fracas, Stephen Nilsen, Summer, Tuberose, Ugly Perfume Bottle, Vanilla, White Floral 11 Comments

In bed with Rubio

Madonna Truth or Dare* Eau de Parfum is surprisingly better than you would think for a celebrity fragrance. I would not call it a masterpiece but well worth a try if you like creamy tuberose or gardenia fragrances. Coty has discontinued Truth or Dare. It is sold now at ridiciously low prices. My back up bottle was € 8,59.

Truth or Dare was the first fragrance Madonna launched.* It was inspired by the 1948 Piguet classic Fracas. Fracas was said to be worn by Madonna’s mother. I do not find Truth or Dare to be very daring as it is neither indolic nor carnal. To some it is a gourmand floral due to the lush creamy vanilla and caramel amber base. The so called addiction accord.

Truth or Dare behaves quite decently on my skin starting with a fruity delicious ripe juicy pear note to continue as a creamy tuberose and gardenia, then moving quite quickly into a slightly but not overly sweet vanilla and carameled amber to end as a barely notice able soapy scent. Reading bloggers’ reviews I did not find others who scented the ripe pear note in the beginning. Some smelled white lily at the heart which luckily, I did not get. Truth or Dare wears quite close to the skin and can only be scented for a few hours. The trick to really enjoy it, is to reapply during the day and spray luxuriously. I like to wear Truth or Dare on warmer summer days.

Portrait of Guus Preitinger wife of Kees van Dongen, Kees van Dongen 1910, van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

What image do I get: a glamorous fur coat and a string of pearls like the lady (and wife of) on this Kees van Dongen painting.

What does it do? Makes me feel glamorous, outgoing, mature and centered.

Given its price and quality I would recommend Truth or Dare to those who like creamy tuberose, white florals or are new to the smell of tuberose and want to experience its lushness before moving on to other more expensive and classic tuberose fragrances like Fracas.

Try Truth or Dare for this bargain price!

Truth or Dare

Notes: (as off Fragrantica website) The scent is both a light and dark, opening with notes of gardenia, creamy tuberose and neroli. The heart consists of jasmine, benzoin and white lily, based on vanilla absolute, caramelized amber and sensual musk.

Launched: 2012

Perfumer: Stephen Nilsen (Givaudan)

Perfume Family: Floral / Floral Oriental

Try if you like: Nicolai Juste Un Reve, Isabey Gardenia, MDCI Peche Cardinal, Miller Harris Noix de Tubereuse

Status: discontinued

Produced by: Coty

Origin of Sample: my own bottles

Price: € 8,59 for a 75 ml tester spray bottle at a Dutch online discount store

Painting: Portrait of Guus Preitinger by Kees van Dongen, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Photographs: made by me, model Rubio

*The Truth or Dare (In Bed with Madonna in Europe) movie was introduced 25 years ago. Read more about the anniversary this year and the original movie.

*Read this interesting interview with the perfumer Stephen Nilsen about creating Truth or Dare and working with Madonna, which was quite challenging.

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

December 1, 2015

Perfume Review: 4160 Tuesdays The Sexiest Scent on the Planet. (IMHO)

L'Esperessence 4160 Tuesdays Bergamot, Gin, Guerlain Jicky, Guerlain Shalimar, Lemon Meringue, Musk, Oriental, Pine, Rijksmuseum, Sex, Vanilla, Woody, Woody Oriental 4 Comments

The Sexiest scent on the Planet IMHO (The Sexiest) starts of with a very fresh citrus note, probably bergamot, which I like. To continue with the woody pine (some say cedarwood to me it smells like pine) and a very sweet and I mean very sweet vanilla, lemon meringue. The Guerlain Shalimar lemon meringue accord is an accord I am very fond of. But the lemon meringue note in The Sexiest, is too sweet for my taste. This smells more like the vanilla in Guerlain Jicky, which I am not too fond of.

The Sexiest feels to me like a very modern wink to two iconic Guerlains Jicky and Shalimar. Personally I prefer Shalimar as I find Jicky much too sweet. On my skin The Sexiest behaved more like Jicky and on paper like Shalimar. Just to be clear here, I see The Sexiest as a wink to Shalimar and Jicky. Maybe it was inspired by it, like a free modern interpretation of these two Guerlain fragrance.

Bottom line, does it radiate sex ? Not in my opinion. The painting shown at the beginning Satyr and Nymph (from 1623) does. But if you associate a Finnish sauna with sex you might associate The Sexiest with sex. And steam. The Finns will not agree.*

Notes: Gin, bergamot, vanilla, woods, musk, ambergris ( according to Lucky Scent)

Painting: Satyr and Nymph to be seen at The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

*Note: the official travel guide of Finland clearly mentions on its website, in the article 10 sauna tips for beginners, that sauna has nothing to do with sex. Funny they mention this so clearly.