Parfumerie Generale - Cadjmere

I am a women with many obsessions, together with a lot of other things I have a quite big collection of boxes. Boxes isn´t that bad to collect, there is a lot of different boxes, they are easy available and one can always afford a small box (and they dosn´t take that much space either if you travelling around). Of course there is also very expensive boxes, like antique japanese varnish boxes, delicate boxes from the era of rokoko and artfully made wooden boxes with intarsia and mother-of-pearl. I have to admit that I haven´t that many of that kind of boxes in my collection.

There is a kind of box that can be both beautiful to look at and also fascinating, so called secret boxes. Boxes with different kinds of hidden mechanism that make it a challenge to open the box. Sometimes even small boxex hidden in a bigger, like russian babushkas. I think in that kind of box, one should keep love letters, secret charms and strange poitions. Imagine to find that kind of box at an antique store, no one has been able to open it for years and who knows what kind of secrets hiding inside it? Oh, if I could only open it!

Well, let us for a while leave the secret box and instead turn our fokus to Parfumerie Generale`s Cadjmere. I´ve got a little sample of it together with a lot of other samples from Luckyscent right before I was going to Boden and my mothers birthday party. During the trip I tested the perfumes, and of all Cadjmere was the one I liked the most. I liked it so much, that I decided to wear it at my mothers party. As soon as I put on another fragrance I missed Cadjmere and wish that I could wear it instead. Well, I use to love perfumes at fist sniff, but Cadjmere almost put a spell on me.

I´ve got home and continue to test other perfumes, but with Cadjmere constantly in my mind. You can understand that a small 1 ml sample, dosn´t last long if you want to wear the tiny drops all the time?But how does Cadjmere smell? Is it the most fantastic interesting, refined, wonderful and remarkable olfactory trip ever? Nope. It smells good. It smells really good, a little sweet and chilly and warm wood and some citrus and some more good. Cadjmere makes me happy. But it dosn´t really touch me. I smell it and I find it to smell SUPERNICE but without depth, without interesting layers and no memories rises, nothing, nada, zero!

The days go by and I try other perfumes, learn to know them and with some I discover a deep, a soul that only have taken some time to get to know. Cadjmere continue to lure me but I ignore it.

After a coupple of days I try Cadjmere again, and well, the crush is gone. It still smells as good as the first time, but I have manage to get out at the other side of Cadjmere and realise it´s lack of something. Lack of life, deep and soul.

It is like struggeling for days with a secret box trying to open it and finally made it and discover that it is... all empty. The box itself is of course still beautiful, but in the imagination one have made the content so big that when one find the box empty, it is hard to appreciate the beuty of it.

Cadj,ere is a beautiful perfume and maybe I imagine i become a little more beautiful when I wear it, and it makes me happy and that isn´t bad. After all Cadjmere is so worth trying, after all, on you it may become something more than a futile fragrant beauty?

Parfumerie Generale - Bois Blonde

In Baggböle outside Umeå, Arboretum Norr is situated, arboretum means a small collection of trees. At Arboretum Norr you can find trees and bushes from the north hemisphere. When we lived in Umeå we often went for picnic to Baggböle and the arboretum that is situated beautifully close to the Umeriver. There was a tree there that I still remember, because it was very beautiful, the golden bird cherry, or in latin Prunus maackii. It has almost golden bark.

So when I´ve got my sample of Parfumerie Generale´s Bois Blonde I come to think about that beautiful tree. Imagine a small forrest of golden bird cherrie trees, in sunny autumn leaves. At least I can´t think of any blonder forrest. But do Bois Blonde really smell like blonde forrest? Or blonde wood? What do blonde wood smell like? Blonde wood are as far as I know trees with light wood. And how the beaytiful golden bird cherry smell, I really don´t know that either, as bird cherry I guess? Bois Blonde is also supposed to smell like hay, but I can´t find any particular smell of hay in it. No, this is more woody, fresh and clean.

For me Boid Blonde can be that blonde wood, and it do remind me of another of PGs perfumes, namely Aomassai. Aomassai could go with the name of Bois Noir, because they are so similar. Aomassai also happens to be one of my favourites, so the question is if Bois Blonde is as good, or better? Or maybe not? It is a question of taste, Aomassai is filled with so much more than wood, there is coffee, candy sugar, spices and a high, clear pureness that I really love. Bois Blonde is like Aomassai without all that goodies in it, like a minimalistic version of Aomassai, but still not, since PGs perfume style is not that minimalistic after all.

Bois Blonde is slightly more fresh than Aomassai, but not brighter. There is sweetness and warmth in Bois Blonde, without getting gourmand. Bois Blonde could be Aomassai for daytime wear, but still to special to wear casual. Don´t think that Bois Blonde is scaled down or discrete, but still a little compared to Aomassai.

I still prefer Aomassai, but also think that Aomassai could be a little challenging in the long run. Maybe if I had big bottles of them both, I would after all use Bois Blonde more often? Well, both of them are longlasting and with good sillage. And I recommend both of them, they are lovely fragrances with a lot of warmth.

I tought for a long time that Aomassai would be the first big bottle I will buy from Parfumerie Generale, but it has got a rival and it isn´t Bois Blonde!

To write about perfume...

... is like dancing about architecture, the founders of Le Labo is supposed to have said. Well, I agree with them to some point, but not totally, then of course I wouldn´t have a perfume blog. It is a lot about having contact with emotions, memories and imagination and to have the possibility to verbalise what you experience. Some perfumes insantly fill me with associations, others smells good, but without touching me. Some perfumes embraces you with open arms and others tend to be a little withdrawn, but can be much more interesting as soon as you got a grip.

Others again can have a note somewhere that dosn´t match the rest of the perfume, there is something in it that disturb the whole thing, as much as it would be if one musician in an orchester played another melody than the rest!

And there is perfumes that are so different from most other perfumes, that I immediatly start to think if the perfumer maybe is lefthanded or maybe have a big talent for mathematics? Hmm, do such thing´s really matter? Yes, I belive so. I once take a course in creative writing and one of the girls was studying mathematics, all the rest was studying social sciences or humanistic sciences. The mathematic girl wrote totally different than the rest, maybe not better, but very different. Therefore I once in a while suspect a certain perfumer to be really mathematicly talented!

Some perfumes have some similarities with the perfumers other perfumes, like a common denominator or like a serie to be continued. And there is also certain in house-notes, recognised from perfume to perfume from one and the same perfume house.

Yes, one can sure write about perfume, even tough it is only one way to interpret and understand perfumes. It is sure one of the easiest ways, if you want to share your perfume experiences with others. But I also think that a musical talented could interpret a perfume to music or an artist to a painting or maybe the other way around as well...

Why should we limit our experiences if it isn´t necesarry? Saying a perfume is only a scented experience isn´t enough for me. A strong music experience is so much more than just a hearing experience, right?

It may sound like above par for a newbie perfumista that having problems to find words to match what you experiences and feels when you smell a perfume. To learn the difference between notes can be very challenging at first and to recognise similarities as well. But it is very much about training, the more perfumes that passes your nose, the better you will be to experience them.

The disadvantage with a trained sence of smell is of course that perfumes considered as a masterpiece a year ago, would be only 3+ now. And perfumes I didn´t appriciated a year ago is now the masterpieces!

Guerlain - Insolence EdP

I have a childish excitement for kaleidoscopes. Patterns that repeats and also changes in eternity makes me extremly fascinated. If it wasn´t for the fact that I´m allready collect perfumes, maybe I could collect kaleidoscopes? But, at least I own one kaleidoscope, even tough I don´t look in it that often. A perfect occation to look in the kaleidoscope would be when I try Guerlain´s Insolence EdP. Insolence is one of my latest crush in perfume. I am so thrilled about it, that I probably will buy me a bottle of it soon. The price level is higher than the usual discount perfumes, but still not as much as pricy niche perfumes. The quality is absolutly worth about 35 euro for a 30 ml bottle.

Once again Maurice Roucel is involved in a perfume that I immediately likes a lot. I like a lot of works from different perfumers, but Maurice Roucel is, in my nose, outstanding. To try all the perfumes he has done, becomes a bit like buying all the records with a favourite artist.

Insolence is a warm, sweet and kind of solid, and yes, heavy perfume. I happen to enjoy heavy perfumes, so for me the heaviness in Insolence isn´t a problem, maybe Insolence EdT is lighter, but I haven´t tried it. And everything I write is about Insolence EdP, nothing else.

Insolence starts with a sunwarmt, almost jammy sweetness from ripe berries. I smell blackberry, raspberry and black currant. Blackberries can have a very perfumed smell in perfumes, and that isn´t maybe so strange, but I am usually not so found of that. Berries in perfumes unfortunatly seldom smells like real berries, and that´s kind of sad. In Insolence the smell of berries is more natural, but also much bigger, concrete and sensual. Once again Maurice manage to make something smell so big that I feel like a small manikin. In this phase I think it´s possible to feel that the perfume wears you instead of the other way around, but just wait a little moment. Soon there is a warm, creamy and sweet violet scent, accompanied by something that smells like caramel, vanilly, oriental and rich sweetness. This create a feeling of the perfume flowering, develops and changes on my skin. After a while the berries return, but lighter, and here comes a slightly smoky fragrance as well, is it a smoky vanilla or clean insence? The iris chill it down a little, a contribute with new colours, patterns and shapes... Yes, Insolence is wonderful, changing and blooming on my skin.

The base in Insolence I experiences as very concrete, precence and kind of grounded, at the same times there is notes in it that is very abstract and fleeting. Just as with a kaleidoscope, the form is given, but the details is constantly changing. Do I dare to say how much I like it? Yes, I know I allredy likes a lot of perfumes this much! But Insolence is qualified to enter that group with ease.

Despite of berries and sweetness I think Insolence is a very sofisticated perfume. It is demanding and want´s to be worn at night together with beautiful clothes. Don´t offend it by wearing it with thorn jeans and washed out t-shirts, or maybe it is then you need Insolence the most? But it is actually a real gala-perfume, once again a beautiful diva that I fell in love with. When it comes to perfumes, I am as unpractical as when it comes to clothes, I tend to fell in love with the dramatic, original and -for casual occations- hard to wear.

Weekend happenings.

It has been a quite intense weekend in the house, my little brother come to visit us, unfortunatly my husband worked. But at least the oldest son also stopped by and we had some absinthe shots and discussions in the kitchen.

On sunday the sons new girlfriend come to visit for the first time. We had dinner and familiarise a little, I couldn´t resist showing my perfume collection. I guess she could understand it, since she have a big collection of shoes! I even get the oppurtunity to spray some Anglomania on her.

My brother went back to Stockholm and meetings, but I strengthed him with some Zafferano from Odori, it looked like he could need it.

Otherwise, the monday started with an express delivery right after the kids was off to school, still in the robe I have to sign a package. O o o so exciting and what a surprise! I huess you already have figuring out that it was perfumes, but I won´t tell you wich yet.

Patchouli

Patchouli stir up emotions. It´s a note that many people having trouble with in perfumes, maybe because patchouli is associated with hippies, cheap indian perfume oils and headshops. Honestly I don´t really know what a headshop is, but it´s a place often mentioned in international perfume reviews when patchouli is on the agenda. A ptachouli that smells headshop is bad, and if the patchouli don´t it´s better.

I usually likes patchouli. If I don´t like a perfume, there isn´t because of the patchouli, on the contrary patchouli often fascinate me. But theres no doubt about that there is a lot of different patchoulis. Thierry Mugler´s Angel is a well-known patchouli bomb and I like Angel, but I like Angel´s shyer, softer and more watery flanker Eau de Star even better. A perfect summer fragrance I think. Almost as easy as an cologne and still oriental, a very nice combination in my opinion even tough I seldom like aquatic perfumes. With Angel you sedate and hypnotise you´re surruondings, with Eau de Star you got all the compliments.

Another favourite with patchouli is Serge Luten´s Borneo 1834, I´ve already written about it, but in my opinion a dark, orientalic and heavy perfume at it´s best.

An light-weighter in patchouli is Parfumerie General´s Intrigant Patchouli, with a patchouli as soft and tender as in Eau de Star. A good introduction if you´re unsure about patchouli note. Intrigant Patchouli is actaully so softspoken and intriguing that I at first didn´t realised how much I liked it, but now it´s on my top five-list of fragrances from Parfumerie General, and thats good, since I have a big weak spot for fragrances from PG.

Patchouli is terrific to blend with some sweetness and gourmand-notes, and that is what Il Profvmo do in Chocolat. At first it´s a good, dark chocolate fragrance, but after a while the chocolate gradually changes to patchouli, and I like it. Here patchouli mingle with soft, creamy sweetness and aromatic vanilla, the chocolate is still there but in the shadow of other notes.

A harsh, dry and dark patchouli I find in Histoire de Parfums Noir Patchouli. I´ve got a feeling of bunches of patchouli left to dry in a warm and dark place. This isn´t a pleasing patchouli, and maybe nothing to start with if you´re having problems with patchouli. But on the other hand Patchouli Noir never get´s sticky or strong.

Do you have any patchouli smelling favourites? Or only cathastropies? I do like patchouli that much that I have start to wonder about growing it in a pot in my garden. It will survive if I take it in during winter and have it in a sunny and sheltered part of the garden. But it dosn´t seem so easy to find patchouli plants or seed in Sweden. If you´re having any tips on how to get some patchouli, please let me know, I have heard that the plant smells wonderful.

Krasnaya Moskva - Red Moscow

Since a while back, I am owner of a bottle of Krasnaya Moskva/Red Moscow (manufactured by Novaya Zarya), I think the name speak for itself. Yes, this i the fragrance, that -more or less-perfumed the Soviet Union. It isn´t really cleared when and by whom the perfume first was made. Some say it´s the perfume Le Bouquet Préféré de l'Impératrice (created 1913, before the revolution) that only has been given a new name, other says it was created 1925, after the revolution. No matter what is correct, Red Moscow become the perfume that was absolutly most popular during the Soviet-era. A lot of younger people in todays Russia remember that this was how there grannies used to smell.

As the revolutionary romantic I am, it´s of course cool to have an own bottle of Red Moscow. For me it is, a small but still important, historic artefact. At the same time Red Moscow is critiqued. Why swoon about something that can be a symbol for repression, tyranny and communism? People also say it is of low quality and that the formula today has little to do with the original (but on the other hand what western perfume classics hasn´t been re-formulated?).

For me, the Soviet Union is dead and buried. Of course there is still people left that has suffer under it´s rule, and I do hope that that kind of controlling and ruling is forever gone, but to reject a perfume because of that? I understand that citizens in the former eastern block want to tear down statues of Lenin and change -back- the names of streets. But a statue of lenin still has a historical value. In Kungsträdgården (King´s Garden, Stockholm) there is a statue of Carl XII, I guess he wouldn´t be so popular as a leader today? But to tear down his statue?

Well, Red Moscow as a perfume, does it work? Honestly, it isn´t a perfume that I will wear that often, it starts off with very strong aldehydes, and it really smells red! Red carnation is a symbol for communism and left wing socialism, so I think it´s suitably that it is the dominant flower in Red Moscow. But after the strongest aldehydic clouds has dried in the basenotes are really pleasant, comfy, powdery and warmth from tonka bean, vanilla and iris. Worth waiting for if you ask me, maybe not super unique, but very nice and cozy. It has really good longvity and a few drops (it´s a splash bottle) goes a long way, it dosn´t feel that cheap at all. Really worth trying if you have the chanse, or even better, get yourself an own bottle of Red Moscow.

But, but... perfumes and politics? Isn´t that as bad to combine as sports and politics? Who want´s the time back when atleths couldn´t participate in the Olympic Games because it was the "wrong" country hosting them? Should I boycott perfumes from arabic/muslim countries? Or if I am against the US interference in Iraq, shouldn´t I buy american fragrances then? If available, some old stash of perfumes, from the Nazi-era in Germany, should they be burned? Or would they become cult-objects among perfumistas, raving about their sparse and elegant bottle design and the pureness of the perfume?

Quite uncomfortable to think about, but maybe we should? Or... girls just wanna have fun?

Keiko Mecheri - Loukhoum Eau Poudree and Loukhoum Parfum du Soir.

As if Keiko Mecheri`s Loukhoum isn´t pink enough on it´s own, it also got two flankers. Namely Loukhoum Eau Poudree and Loukhoum Parfum du Soir.

Eau Poudree is supposed to be the powdery version and Parfum du Soir is of course for evening wear. Actually I think I am doing allright with only the original Loukhoum, the flankers must be for real hardcore-fans that want´s to smell Loukhoum all day, all year and all times possible. On the other hand it´s nice with flankers that really are similar to the original to more than just the name.

Eau Poudree is the careful in the company, jag don´t think of it as more powdery than Loukhoum. I don´t think of it as more anything, it´s rather less of everything. But I do recommend it to everyone that has tried Loukhoum and found it to sweet, but still likes it in a way, maybe Eau Podree is the one for you? Eau Poudree is cooler than Loukhoum, there is a hint of something cold and crispy in it, maybe menthol or eucalypthus, and it´s rather nice, but unfortunatly to weak to make any bigger impression. There is a vague similarity to another perfume as well, but I can´t figuring out wich one.

I had some expectations on Parfum du Soir, but it ends up being the least liked of the three. This one is rather a little to much of everything, to sweet, to rosy and instead of delicious turkish delight it end up smelling like sticky marcipan cake. About the oud-and patchoulinotes, they escape my nose totally. And it´s strenght and longvity is better than Loukhoum, so well, yes it tend to be a little to much, honestly.

If Loukhoum is the same colour as exclusive pink underwear, Eau Poudree is the same pink as on a cozy flannel pyjamas, and Parfum du Soir is the dark pink of a synthetic shirt from the 80'ies...

Keiko Mecheri - Loukhoum

Turkish delight, or loukhoum as it is also called, is almost the sweetest thing you can eat. It´s so sweat it´s almost ache in the teaths after eating a whole package, or almost a whole package, of it. For some reason turkish delight is that kind of thing that I really don´t like, but still can´t stop eating when I have started eating. And after all, turkish delight is beautiful to look at with it´s pink transparence covered with the lightest powder sugar.

Keiko Mecheri´s Loukhoum is among the pinkest perfumes I know off. Perfumes often have a colour in my imagination. There are warm red, golden and watery blue perfumes and as the case with Loukhoum, very beautiful, pretty and girly pink. Honestly my collection dosn´t have many other "pink" perfumes, anything slighly pink use to end up with my middle daughter that is a very pink person. But Keiko Mecheri´s Loukhoum is "pink" in a way that works on me! OK, it might work even better on my middle daughter, but still I like it a lot.

Yes, it is sweet, but on me never too sweet. The rose, almond and vanilla has a nice transparence and the little, discrete musk is finishing it of very nicely. Loukhoum is a sultry and sensual perfume. Two drops is enough -in my imagination- to make me to the sultan´s favourite dressed in golden embroided harem trousers and a sequin top, comfortably seated on thick velvet pillows. Two drops of Loukhoum is more than enough, this is strong stuff, it can easily become to much. And it is amazingly longlasting, the two drops lasts for hours and hours.

I know there are many perfumes that interprets turkish delight, but this far Keiko Mecheri´s Loukhoum is the only one I have tried.

Layering.

Probably I´m not the only one that have heard that you shouldn´t blend different perfumes. It is said that one good perfume + one good perfume become a terrible mess. OK, it isn´t all wrong, but I am so curious and experimental that I can´t stop thinking about how the result will be if I blend some perfumes together.

What works and what works not?

I am quite new to layering perfumes, but I have at least some favourite combinations.

Vivienne Westwood´s Anglomania is an dear old acquainted, but with all perfumes I have I feel somewhat tired of it, but not ready to let go either. So what to do? Well, I´ve mixed Anglomania with Costume National`s Scent Intense and what a great combination I´ve got! Anglomania become a little edgier and at the same time Scent Intense get softer and a bit more sensual. A really good combination, so good that I care to recommend it. I take as much from both of them.

I´ve writed about Ava Luxe´s Nude Musk and Film Noir earlier, they are both really nice. Film Noir is quite demanding and Nude Musk can be a bit precautious. Layer them 50/5o and you got something totally new. I consider both of them as sexy, but together they are even sexier, if possible. Nude Musk is recommended to layering with other perfumes, so it works with a lot of different fragrances, but avoid the sweetest. Perfect to soften up almost anything sharp and strong.

I like the smell of Tauer´s Lonestar Memories, straight from the bottle or on my husband, but not on myself. On me it becomes strong, harsh and difficult to wear. But, try to layer it with IL PROFVMO`s Vanille Bourbon. There is no doubt about that it is still Lonestar Memories as the main character, but all the harshness is gone, without the vanilla more than just there. Super combo! Lonestar Memories has a good longvity and so do Vanille Bourbon. They last and last and last...

Do you like Comme Des Garcon`s Tar? No? To strong? To edgy? To rubbery? Yes, I have had some troubbles with it. It is interesting, but not on me. It seems like men have better skin chemistry for it. Well, layer it with Vanille Bourbon, and what do we got? Something with a small resemblance to Bvlgari´s Black. But here it is a lot moore of rubber and a lot less of vanilla, really, really cool.

Just as Ava Luxe´s Nude Musk, it seems like IL PROFVMO´s Vanille Bourbon can be layered with almost anything that need to be softened up a little. I haven´t yet tried it, but I think it could change a lot of perfumes for men to become nice unisex-fragrances.

Both Nude Musk and Vanille Bourbon have good longvity and therefor are they good to prolong the longvity on other perfumes that lacks that.

Do you have any layering favourites? Or have you mixed perfumes that shouldn´t have been mixed? Do you have any secret perfume that you use to prolong the longvity on other perfumes?