Posted by Marlen
on
8 June 2006
Estee Lauder continues its tradition of updating its classics with its sparkling new rendition of Pure White Linen. With a composition to make your mouth water, this new interpretation is being referred to as “the fragrance to live in all year long” and is sure to please lovers of crisp velvety florals. Notes include grapefruit, mandarin, iced rose tea, raspberry, pear, Granny Smith apple, dewy greens, lily, white freesia, white ginger, cardamom, red tulips, rose absolute, honeysuckle, gardenia, tuberose, jasmine, iris, osmanthus, white cedarwood, patchouli and white heliotropine.
Having never been a huge fan of the original White Linen, I was quite surprised when I first experienced Pure White Linen. The scent opens with a succulent juicy pairing of grapefruit and pear against a complex but well-blended background of white petals. As the scent progresses, the fruity notes begin to relax as echoes of the original White Linen make their appearance — a soft rose, a green leafy note, powdery heliotrope. As the scent develops, it also relaxes, leaving a trail of mostly honeysuckle, lily and again, heliotrope, but here it has an almost almond-like quality…
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Posted by Marlen
on
23 May 2006
Following up on last week’s review of Jean-Charles Brosseau’s Thé Brun, today I’ll be reviewing Fruit de Bois, another of the fragrances in the Collection Homme released by Brosseau last year. With notes of bergamot, grapefruit, sage, geranium, nutmeg, vetiver, cedar, sandalwood, juniper and amber, this one could easily have been mistaken for a Serge Lutens.
The bois in question here, and clearly the star of this show, is cedar. The scent opens with a faint though not unpleasant zest of grapefruit and juniper paired with earthy nutmeg and vetiver. These notes form a kind of veil over the cedar, preventing it from being too one-dimensional. From here, the cedar takes center stage as the warmer basenotes begin to open. Though the amber and sandalwood envelop the cedar, adding a slightly sweet edge, the bitterness of the cedar resurfaces every now and then…
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Posted by Marlen
on
16 May 2006
Jean-Charles Brosseau, milliner and creator of 1981’s still popular Ombre Rose, has recently released a trio of men’s fragrances: Thé Brun, Atlas Cedar and Fruit de Bois. Of the three, the one I was most anticipating is Thé Brun or Brown Tea, created with perfumer Pierre Bourdon. Thé Brun has notes of bergamot, fruity notes, green leaves, lavender, violet, spices, cumin, jasmine, orange blossom, lapsang tea, palisander wood, powdery notes and musk.
As a huge fan of tea fragrances, it was with great excitement that I tested Thé Brun, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. This magical creation lies somewhere between Comme des Garçons Leaves Series: Tea and Comptoir Sud Pacifique’s Ecume de Thé, and while not entirely a new concept, it does seem to cover some new ground. Opening with a smoky tea accord accented with spice, citrus and wood notes, Thé Brun’s composition is well-blended and no single note really prevails. Whereas Comme des Garçons’s Tea gets weighed down by dark wood and leaf notes, and Comptoir Sud Pacifique’s Ecume de Thé opens with a citrus burst, Thé Brun is a straightforward rendition of a pot of Earl Grey — slightly sweet, slightly aromatic, slightly smoky and completely intoxicating…
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Posted by Marlen
on
11 May 2006
Somewhere between familiar and sexy is Tom Ford’s first men’s fragrance for Gucci, Gucci Envy for Men. This 1998 instant classic featuring opoponax, incense, patchouli, amber, musk, cedar, cardamom, anise, coriander, ginger, nutmeg and pimento is a sweet oriental, quite the opposite of what I had initially expected after testing the very green Envy for Women.
Envy was a big disappointment to me when it launched because I had already sniffed Jivago 7 Elements and Obsession for Men, scents which this fragrance respectfully references, in my humble opinion. Envy opens with a sweet, slightly licorice-tinged ginger note, moving to a sweet musk and amber bouquet. Accents of nutmeg, patchouli, and woods appear now and then and the entire composition melts together into a warm, lingering aroma…
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Posted by Marlen
on
5 May 2006
It’s amazing that nearly 50 years after its initial release, Givenchy’s first fragrance for men, Monsieur de Givenchy, is still available, still selling, and still perfection. A hesperides lover’s dream come true, Monsieur is composed of bergamot, lemon, lime, petitgrain, lavender, clary sage, orange, basil, musk, civet and cedar. Don’t worry — if it sounds herbal, it is, but only slightly.
Monsieur opens with a bright, fresh citrus punch that is quickly restrained by a green bouquet of sage and basil…
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