Posted by Kevin
on
11 September 2009
Vetiver is in my veins. I use so many vetiver fragrances I’m sure detectable quantities of Chrysopogon zizanioides oil appear in my blood panels. Vetiver has such a hold on me, I believe it must have been one of the first fragrances I smelled as a baby. When I sniff vetiver, I feel warm, happy, calm, and contemplative. Tom Ford associates vetiver, as he does many of his favorite things, with money and power: “It is solid, like the man who wears a custom-made suit or invests in hand-crafted shoes.”1 That statement robs vetiver of all romance, and as I often feel while reading the worldly wit and wisdom of Tom Ford, I want to renounce my possessions, move to a mountaintop, set up house in a cave and own only a robe and a begging bowl. With Tom Ford, “money talks”…and talks, and talks some more.
(O.K. I admit while searching theTom Ford website for images to use in this review, I saw several coats from the fall/winter men’s collection that ignited the most unenlightened thing possible — Desire; perhaps I’m not quite ready for the hermitage.)
At any rate, Tom Ford’s coffers are continually growing…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
14 April 2009
French niche line Honoré des Prés debuted last year with five certified organic perfumes, all (Chaman’s Party, Bonté’s Bloom, Nu Green, Sexy Angelic) save one (Honoré’s Trip) from perfumer Olivia Giacobetti. As I’ve said here before, I don’t really care personally about the synthetic vs. natural debate — to the extent that it is a debate — but it’s been nice to see more and more choice for consumers on the naturals front over the past few years, and of course anything from Olivia Giacobetti is going to get my attention.
My early favorite of the five: Chaman’s Party, the woody-vetiver entry, of course. I have to note as an aside that the brand’s Ecocert status doesn’t stop them from issuing the same sort of breathless PR-speak as everybody else; Chaman’s Party is described as an “explosive perfume due to its top-secret ingredients with aphrodisiac properties”. I don’t know about all that, but it’s a wonderful vetiver, and like the recent Turtle Vetiver Exercise No. 1 from LesNez, I’d call it a must-try for vetiver enthusiasts…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
25 February 2009
I said yesterday that I hadn't swooned over a new fragrance in some time (see Vanille Galante), but I left one out: Turtle Vetiver, from LesNez. It's their latest scent from perfumer Isabelle Doyen, and it was developed as part of the Turtle (“anarchic”) salon:
TURTLE is an open and chaotic network of diverse but interconnecting ideas, people, projects, events, and venues linked by American filmmaker, Michael H Shamberg. Perfumer Isabelle Doyen’s contribution is a Vetiver EdT which she makes in small quantities and constantly changing formulas.
You can read more about the Turtle project here, but I'll skip right ahead to Turtle Vetiver, or more specifically, Turtle Vetiver Exercise No. 1…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
18 February 2009
Brooklyn, which launches next month, will be Bond no. 9's 33rd fragrance. As is the case with many of the brand's recent offerings, the packaging is half the fun; some people objected to the graffiti-covered bottle as a representation of Brooklyn, but I'm in love. Really, Bond ought to start letting their customers choose the bottle they'd like with their favorite fragrance, don't you think? And as long as we're dreaming, have all the empty bottles available in, say, 15 ml?
Brooklyn is a unisex fragrance from perfumer Laurent LeGuernec, and is pegged as a woody oriental. Overall, it's a much fresher scent than you might expect from that designation (the notes: grapefruit, cardamom, cypress wood, geranium, juniper berry, cedar, leather and guaiacwood). The opening is crisp, bright grapefruit, and a burst of cypress joins in shortly, along with a fair dash of spice. It's slightly green, and the juniper berry lends a sort of gin-cocktail vibe in the early stages…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
21 January 2009
When I reviewed Mark Buxton's Wood & Absinth last week, several people mentioned another vetiver + anise fragrance, Kenzo Air (or Kenzoair, as I believe the brand prefers). How I made it all this time without smelling Kenzo Air is a bit of a mystery to me, but I suppose the name “Air” was not all that appealing? Obviously I needed to smell it, and since it didn't seem to be available locally (and it's too cold to go outside anyway), I ordered some right away. I'd like to point out that I made it a full 13 days into 2009 before breaking rule no. 1 (or no. 2? I can't remember) and buying something unsniffed, but this was cheap enough that it wouldn't have killed me if I'd hated it. And lo and behold, everyone who commented was right: it's wonderful.
Kenzo launched Air in 2003; it was intended as…
… a breath of fresh air… it lets a man discover his inner child. The fragrance denotes an elegant, masculine presence, awakening childhood sensations and familiar impressions, shaking things up and reinventing them…
Read the rest of this article »
