Browsing by tag: prada

L’Homme Prada ~ fragrance review, plus a quick poll

Posted by on 53 Comments

Ansel Elgort and Dane DeHaan for L'Homme Prada

L’Homme Prada is a fragrance of pairs, of doubles, of juxtapositions and layers. The classic codes of the male Fougère are all present in Neroli, Geranium and Patchouli. Yet the interchangeable male/female Prada signatures are present, too, in the shape of Iris and Amber, the principal elements. It is a mix that is both airy and yet purposefully, highly sensual.1

So, I didn’t hate La Femme Prada, but I didn’t exactly adore it either. I get another chance with L’Homme Prada, also from perfumer Daniela Andrier, and hey, take a look at the brand’s description above. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like Prada Amber Pour Homme, maybe with a smidgen of Prada Infusion d’Iris (or Infusion d’Homme) thrown in for good measure? Such a thing would suit me fine: I liked Amber Pour Homme,2 and so did an awful lot of other women…

Read the rest of this article »

Shop for perfume

Parfums Raffy

For me this was a disaster

Posted by on 2 Comments

I’d go to New York and buy the perfume from the shop; this little shop, always with an old man who only made perfumes in the summer with a few students. At some point it closed down. Then I felt awful; for me this was a disaster. So the first perfume I tried was based on this one. I went to a man with a piece of the bottle and told him what I remembered about it, what was in my imagination. And that is what became Prada Amber.

— Designer Miuccia Prada talks about the first perfume she fell in love with (and about the latest Prada fragrances) in Miuccia Prada on being shy, working with her husband and her mad office with a helter skelter at The Telegraph.

La Femme Prada ~ perfume review

Posted by on 34 Comments

Mia Wasikowska and Mia Goth for La Femme Prada

It’s seemed a long slog through sweet and pink and fruity lately, so I was happy to turn to La Femme Prada even before I actually smelled it. A not-pink fragrance, for grown-ups, from the (mostly) reliable team of Prada and perfumer Daniela Andrier? Even if it didn’t turn out to be a “grand floral that restlessly shakes off the clichés of femininity”, much less “innocence undercut with carnality”, that’s got to beat an awful lot of what we’ve seen on perfume counters this year.

The notes – frangipani, tuberose, ylang ylang, spices, beeswax, vanilla, vetiver — likewise sounded right up my alley, and the advertising, featuring four models generally conducting themselves with dignity, is very Prada and near perfect…

Read the rest of this article »

5 perfumes: vetiver fragrances for summer

Posted by on 95 Comments

beaded vetiver tassels

I did a year of incense and a year of iris,1 and now as promised, I’m starting in on a year of vetiver.2 Today, five great vetiver choices for summer. Two of my own favorite vetivers for hot weather — Kenzo Air and Paul Smith Story — have been discontinued long enough now that they’re rather hard to find, but if you happen across bottles of either and you’re a vetiver fan, do snap them up! (And then if you don’t like them, send them to me.) And as always, do add your own favorites in the comments…

Read the rest of this article »