Posted by Marlen
on
26 July 2006
It’s amazing that something so simple as sea salt, avocado, and ginger lily should smell so…light and fresh, but this deceptively simple brew works for all the right reasons and stands as a major accomplishment in marine-inspired aromas. Mare, Beth Terry’s 2nd fragrance for her Creative Universe label, is an intoxicating scent of the sea, and one of my newest summer staples.
Having been called everything from “soapy” to “masculine”, with comparisons to Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey and Calvin Klein Escape, it seems that Mare has a different effect on everyone who tries it. When I initially tested it in the late 90’s, I was surprised by how much I liked it, and came very close to buying a bottle, opting instead for who knows what else at the time. Now, let it be known that my favorite “sea” inspired fragrances have long been Calvin Klein’s Eternity for Men, Comptoir Sud Pacifique’s Aqua Motu, and Calypso’s Marine. I tend to like my marines light (bergamot, neroli), aquatic (iodine, algae), and somewhat floral (jasmine, ylang). So imagine my surprise when Mare’s composition revealed none of these notes (well, ok, there is a floral note: ginger lily) and instead, listed sea salt and avocado! Maybe with sushi, but in perfume?
And it’s the darndest thing…
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Posted by Marlen
on
19 July 2006
Having never been much of a lavender fan, it was with some trepidation that I approached Lavandula. Reminding myself that I had been won over time and time again by Penhaligon’s other fragrances (Hammam Bouquet, Endymion, etc) I also faced the first sniff with a modicum of optimism: would this be yet another yawner, or something unique and surprising? The answer: Whoa! With notes of basil, canella, pepper, lavender, lily, clary sage, musk, vanilla, amberwood and tonka bean, Lavandula is like nothing I’ve experienced before.
Lavender. The word conjures images of satin eye pillows, Yardley soap, and bitter, buttery blossoms. Let’s face it, lavender hardly tops anyone’s list as most provocative note, especially as a main note. There are exceptions of course, most notably Caron’s Pour un Homme and Lutens Encens et Lavande, but lavender just seems so…well, dull to me. So you can imagine my shock when I tested Lavandula and found not another boring elixir, but a great, heady brew of herbs and musk that strikingly portrays this most mundane of notes…
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Posted by Marlen
on
29 June 2006
One of the biggest surprises of 2005 was without a doubt Paco Rabanne’s Black XS for Men, created by perfumer Olivier Cresp. A subtle blend of lemon, kalamanzi (a citrus resembling a cross between mandarin and lime), tagete and sage with heart notes of cinnamon, tolu balm, black cardamom and praline, and base notes of palissander wood, black amber, patchouli and ebony wood, Black XS bears little resemblance to its XS predecessors and to put it as simply as possible, smells like a delicious blend of strawberries and patchouli.
Having been a huge fan of XS since its release in the early 90’s, I was eager to see how Rabanne would do a variation, and a supposedly youthful one at that. They got the bottle right, updating it to black glass and resin with a gothic feel and adorned with a rose and “Black” printed in script. The fragrance opens with a smooth citrus blend, surprisingly subtle, juxtaposed against a blend of woods and resins. Though no single note really stands out, the overall effect is “fruity”, so much so that I wondered how it would work as a sorbet…
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Posted by Marlen
on
22 June 2006
I stopped in the L’Occitane store in the Pittsburgh airport the other day, really to do nothing more than kill time, only to be surprised by a host of new and re-released fragrances. Which was the scent that stole my heart and made the biggest impression? Easy: their newest fragrance for men, Eau des Baux; a blend of cypresswood and incense with hints of cardamom and coumarin.
Eau des Baux opens with an ambery blast that immediately reminds me of Nina Ricci Memoire pour Homme and L’Artisan Tea for Two — warm, resinous, almost-smoky, with sweet honeyed tones…
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Posted by Marlen
on
15 June 2006
Melograno (Pomegranate) was launched by Santa Maria Novella in 1965, and has become one of the brand’s most popular fragrances.
Melograno was a puzzle to me for some time as the aroma bears little resemblance to the juicy red fruit it is named for. Instead, Melograno is an aldehydic, powdery musk aroma that invites comparison to scents like Chanel no. 22 and Santa Maria Novella’s own Muschio Oro. An uncomplicated fragrance, Melograno’s unisex composition remains a mystery. Opening with a sharp blast of aldehyde, moving to a middle-note that smells like a combination of gold musk and pencil-eraser (yes, pencil-eraser), and drying down with a hint of leather, Melograno is easily one of the most distinctive colognes I’ve experienced. Having been compared by fellow reviewers to everything from vintage shaving products to hairspray, this is definitely a scent that needs to be experienced to be understood…
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