L'Artisan Parfumeur - Bois Farine

Do you like peanut butter? Peanut butter is one of those things you seem to either like very much or don´t care for at all. When I was small, peanut butter wasn´t available in Sweden, at least not in the little town in northern Sweden where I lived. But peanut butter was in my dreams, yes it was that bad, because I read Donald Duck and other american kids stories and they all had peanut butter sandwiches for brekfast. Me, on the other hand ate oat grain porridge to breakfast. Well, I shouldn´t complain, bescuse while I ate my porridge my parents told me to be happy, since the kids in Africa didn´t have nothing at all to eat. For some reason the kids in Africa become even more starving if I didn´t finished my porridge.

I get a little bigger, and tada, one day my local store finally get peanut butter. It was achildhood halleluya-moment I can tell you! I must have drop my jaw. It looked even better than I imagined, it was golden, smoth and creamy. The peanut butter was from Sun Pat, and wasn´t excactly cheap. As i remember a small jar costed as much as a jar of peanut butter does today. About 3-4 euro. It was quite a lot of money for an eleven year old, and my parents didn+t think we needed something that expensive, when there was much cheaper things to put on the sandwishes available.

I don´t really remember how long I had to long for the penaut butter, before I finally got me a jar. But as I recall I manage to convince my father that we needed it. And ever since that day I have been very found of peanut butter. It is soooo good! And very useful!

L'Artisan´s perfume Bois Farine smell just like peanut butter when I put it on. Actually, this is another perfume I could drink right out of the bottle. It doesn´t just smell as peanut butter, it has the same feeling also, kind of short and dry, but still creamy. Despite the amazing top note I was for a long time not really convinced that Bois farine was something for me. The top note dissapear so quickly and the rest of the perfume was so, well I didn´t become so impressed.

Still, I have my little sample left and I have tested it from time to time and slowly grew to like it. It wasn´t until this summer I started to like and really smell the rest of Bois Farine. Maybe it´s the warmth that make me like it or the fact that I slowly have starting appreciate even more subdued perfumes. Well, whatever it depends on, Bois Farine have slowly evolved from something with just an amazing topnote to a perfume filled with comfort, warmth, personality and beauty.

Sometimes I am really a slow starter! I guess I would be happy if there was a Bois Farine Extreme, if it was true to the original, just a little stronger. But really, Bois Farine doesn´t have to be stronger, now that I´ve learned to like it as it is.

Bois Farine is an oriental, floral and woody perfume. A cathegory where you can find a lot of strong and powerfull perfumes, but Bois Farine isn´t at all one of them. It´s more like Chinatown (Bond No 9) or Timbukte (also L'Artisan), subdued, light and caressing rather than noicy and big.

I am so happy that my perfume trip have take me to the place where I can appreciate and like the more light scents. When I need some olfactory peace and quite they are so comfortable to reach for. But, they´re really so much more than just that.

The head note in Bois Farine is a flower that only grows on the Reunion island in french Caribia. Appearantly the flwoer smells of flour and that´s how Bois Farine also smells when the peanut note has retired. And well, flour doesn´t smell that much. Despite that, I discover new sides of Bois Farine all the time, a subdued, soft note of flowers, little traces of nutty scent, warm woods and a soft musc. And all the time remains as powdert, dry and beautiful.

Picture yourself a beautiful, warm and exotiv forrest with trees and flowers all covered with a fine layer of white flour. That is how Bois Farine smells. It´s both linear and complex at the same time, the note of flour is there all the time, while the notes of flowers, wood and nuts shines trough once in a while, I even discover a fruity note in it.

I guess you realise what this means? I have to get me some more of it, during august I have almost emptied my little sample. I am very curous about how it would develop on my skin when I spray it on.

I guess you all have heard about L'Artisan´s newest perfume, Havane Vanille, by Bertrand Duchaufour. I mentioned it on my blog earler, and I am so curious about it. It seem like "all" the perfume bloggers have reviewed it with pleasure and I can´t wait to try it. Well, it seem like a small sample is on it´s way to me... :) Thanks for that!

Oh, and well, Bois Farine has a good sillage, but still discrete. The longvity isn´t that good, lasts not over four hours on me.

Pic: Arbres-reunion.fr

Montale - Red Aoud

Now I have had some time to get to know my Montale samples. And it seem like I wont get along with Black Aoud, so I think I just leave it for a while. Red Aoud on the other hand only getting better and better for each time I try it. And now it is really, really good.

I´ve got some info from Bipbap on how to order directly from Montale´s homepage, and even if it seem a little tricky I guess it´s the best way to buy Montale perfumes. Here´s a link to Montale: http://www.montaleparfumsparis.com/

Now I happened to order a bottle of perfume just the other day, but anyway, Montale seem to have quite a lot to offer. Until yesterday I tought if I was about to order anything from Montale it would be a bottle of Amandes Orientales with a small bonus bottle of Red Aoud. But today I think it would be the other way around.

What kind of music do you listen to? I listen to a little of this and that, even tough I having hard times to appreciate some, for instant j-rock, experimental jazz, navel-gazing electronica, hammering screaming-metal, swedish dancemusic and boring gangsta hiphop. Since listening to music is a big pleasure in my life I also like to think of why I don´t like or understand some kinds of music, even tough I, in some cases, can hear that it´s good and interesting. I guess I miss some link to that kind of music. Like I haven´t listen enough on music that reminds of it to fully appreciate it. I know I am about to wondering off to a totally different subject now, sorry...

What I really want to say is that Red Aoud is like one of those strange, but also beautiful oriental tunes. Nothing in it is really like I am used to. The first time it is unknown but also interesting. The second time I could feel patterns and melodies, and the third time I sit with a smile on my lips and trying to sing along in a foreign language.

That is how I responded to Red Aoud. Now, when wearing it I can´t even understand how I thought of it as foreign at first. It is warm, friendly and and familiar. Red Aoud is really a perfume for evening-or night wear. Red Aoud is like Ayer´s Rock in moonlight, red desert sand, a warm wind in the dark night, a intricat pattern of henna on a beautiful hand, a big bag of red safron pistilles.

Red Aoud is despite of it´s sensual heaviness and spicyness also a strangely light perfume. Black Aoud is light in the same starnge way, but while I find Black Aoud bland and watery, I find Red Aoud kind of cool, like a sensaul caress. Black Aoud turns out some kind of strong rose water blended with tincture. While in Red Aoud, the rose become like a soft base for the notes to lean on.

I can have some troubbles with the note of rose in perfumes. Either I really, really like it or else I don´t care for it at all, there isn´t anything inbetween with rose for me. Red Aoud manage the rose just perfect. Only while writing this I realise I will have trouble living without Red Aoud.

I realise the hardcore aoud-lover may think of Red Aoud as a little to nice and sweet, but also to spicy at the same time. I suspect, or hope fot, that Red Aoud might be the bridge for further understanding and enjoying of stronger, heavier and more difficult oud-scents. I hope that Red Aoud is the key to unlock several oud-scents for me.

With notes of safron and vetiver it isn´t that strange that I like Red Aoud. But there is also notes of cumin, wich I don´t usually like that much. In Red Aoud the cumin is used with light hand and just enough of it to make the scent interesting.

Towards the base notes I experiences that the vetiver folds in to the other notes in an intersting way, like it´s doing it´s own thing, adding some smoke and also papery scent.

Red Aoud is very, very longlasting and with a huge sillage also. I have only dabbed on a few drops, and still it´s like sitting in a cloud of Red Aoud. Red Aoud, together with the Montale´s I´ve tried should be used with easy hand. Red Aoud would be nice on mens to, but it´s a little sweeter than Black Aoud.

Pic: Red Moon

Scent by the Sea

What I am about to admit will probably lead to that readers of my blog become convinced of that I am suffering from multipersonal disorder. Well, I´m not as far as I know. What is it that I will confess? Oh well, among all other things I have some attraction to I also have an attraction to hippies, hippie style and hippie music. Is there really anyone that gets surprised? Maybe you want me to write a list of all alternative styles and subcultures that I´ve been drawn to over the years, so you know what to expect... On the other hand you would be so tired of all the scrolling so I think even the most commited reader will lose interest long before the middle of the list!

Scent by the Sea is another seller on Etsy that offers a big selection of perfume oils: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5482958

Besides all other little project that I have, one of them is to going trough the most of the perfume and perfume oils sellers on Etsy. I´m aware of the time consuming point of that project, but I´ve got a lot of time. Etsy sellers offers a lot of good things, low prices, big selection and nice and easy to communicate with. It´s small-scaled and personal in a way I really like.

Well, I can´t like everything from Etsy that I´ve try, no matter how idealistic and handmade-romantic I try to be.

I ordered a sample-pack from Scent by the Sea (situated in Redondo Beach, California it´s kind of wow) with ten different perfume oils: Salome, Cioccolata, Morpheus, Patchouli Rose, Jasmine, Lolita, Violet, Dark Patchouli, Green Tea and Sweet Hashish. That´s quite a lot of oils to try for only ten bucks. The oils comes in pretty little brown bottles, with a beautiful tag around and put in a nice organza pouch. I think the bottles empty, the tags and the pouch alone is worth more than ten dollar!

I have to admit that for ten dollar I really cant expect a perfume experience in world class. And I didn´t get one either. Violet and Jasmine is screamingly sweet and smells according to the price. My youngest daughter wich is about to become as perfume nerdy as me like Ciccolata tough with it´s sweet, chocolaty and jummy smell.

But my favourites among the perfume oils are, not so unexpected I think, Dark Patchouli, Patchouli Rose and Sweet Hashish.

As a patchouli scent I guess that Dark Patchouli is pretty close to the smell of a hippie and that´s fine with me. I find it to be dark, mushy, earthy, slightly brisk and I´ve got a witchy feeling from it. It´s a strong scent and I like to wear it when I take my long walks with the dog and my husband.

Patchouli Rose is softer, rounder and sweeter, but still more of a patchouli scent than a rose scent. I´ve get hints of vanilla and over all Patchouli Rose is a pleasant scent, and nice to layer with Dark Patchouli.

But I don´t think either Dark Patchouli or Patchouli Rose is something for the one´s that don´t like patchouli. I am really in to patchouli in different shapes so Dark Patchouli and Patchouli Rose is right up my alley. For a strong and powerful patchouli, I think Dark Patchouli is a really good alternative.

Anyway, my biggest favourite among the perfume oils I´ve tried from Scent by the Sea is Sweet Hashish. And Sweet Hashish isn´t less of hippie than patchouli? I don´t really think that Sweet Hashish smells of hashish, no it smells of a full-bodied, sweet, rich and candylike tobacco. And oh yeah, this one I really like! I could drink it! Honestly this little sample os worth the ten dollars easily. This is as goos as it get´s for that price, or actually in my opinion, much better. Sweet Hashish is a comfy, warm and slightly changing scent. There is hints of fruity pear, vanilla, fudge, amber and golden tobacco. A scent to wrap you up with when the autumn comes closer (today it´s really grey and rainy here).

It´s really nice to layer Sweet Hashish with Dark Patchouli, if you prefer a tobacco with some edge. *hehe* That is real hippie I think.

I realise that young, fresh and trendy perfumista-girls maybe don´t want to go around and smell like hippies, but I´m not young or fresh or trendy so for me it works just fine.

All the perfume oils from Scent by the Sea got a big sillage and last long, two really small drops will do it. They are nice to layer with each other.

The pic above is from Milos Forman´s movie "Hair". I think I have watched it about ten times, still it´s a movie that makes me really happy, but also sad. How many times have you seen it? None? Well, you must see it, really. And be sure to put a drop of Dark Patchouli on one wrist and a drop of Sweet Hashish on the other.

Pic: From the movie Hair

Montale - Amandes Orientales

Lately I´ve read some other perfume blogs that are almost lyrical about Montale perfumes. I have been curious about them earler, and even tried a few but without being convinced. The few i´ve tried before hasn´t been some of the more well-knowned Montale´s, so I decided to order a few samples according to my own curiosity. The one´s I´ve ordered was Black Aoud, Red Aoud, Greyland, Mukhallat and Amandes Orientales. So, I have to admit that I am having big troubbles getting along with Black Aoud. On me i´t becomes strangely bland and watery, but also really strong. On the husband Balck Aoud becomes dark, velvety soft, warm and interesting! Red Aoud seem to work better on me, but even tough I like it, I don´t like it a lot, even if I think I might do that after a while. No, this far, Amandes Orientales is the one that manage to capture me the most.


Amandes Orientales is a contradictive scent. Notes of sweet vanilla and soft almond are blended with smoky notes, but on me the smoky notes turn musky, leathery and very skanky. Usually both almond and vanilla is soft, sweet, round, girly and almost innocent notes. I know that most perfume houses these days trying to come up with a grown up-vanilla scent and among others I am really looking forward to try L'Artisans new Havanne Vanille that will be released during this autumn. But before it become increasingly popular with grown up-vanillas, vanilla was a pretty, sweet and cherful little note. Almond is possibly even more so, even if we can find grown up-almond as well.


In Amandes Orientales the white, soft and sweet in vanilla and almond are working together with darkess and shadows from smoke, leather and musc. Very interesting, very well done and very sensual.


But once again, a perfumes as far away as possible from western pop-sensualism with teenaged RnB singers that preen in to short dresses in video after video. Amandes Orientales make me think of the sensualism you can find in arabic women. With or without veil, hijab or a like the eyes of an arabic women can be one hundred times more sensual, expressive and interesting than the whole little cutest western pop-princess. Well, no I wont discuss the political, religious or feministic aspects of the veil, hijab or burkha I stick to the shallow and estetic aspects right now. And really, I can´t think of any other garment that emphasize the eyes better than a veil.


In Amandes Orientales the almond and vanilla represent the practical, casual, sweet and well-knowned things while the animalic notes become a part of seduction, laughters in darkness, warm skin and caress. Amandes Orientales has more than it´s share of dark, vibrant and luring notes. If you like perfumes like Musc Koublai Khan, Dzing!, Kama, Rasa, Musc Ravegeur, Silver Factory and alike you must try Amandes Orientales! Amandes Orientales is as unexpectedly dirty as Silver Factory, but in a totally different way.


This can be quite and experience if you expect something sweet candied vanilla with some smoky notes as I did. I wan´t at all prepared for the animalic notes in it, so at first I tought it smelled bad. Interesting ok, but also strange in bad way. A little if you think you will drink a glass of cool grape juice, and instead have a glass of oak-aged Bordeaux from 1969 or something. Well, the Bordeaux is much better but if you expect grape juice you might not appreciate the Bordeaux fully.


Now, when I know what to expect from it, I like Amandes Orientales better for each time I wear it. Of course, if you haven´t tried anything from Montale yet, I think you should give some of the Aoud scents a try, but don´t miss Amandes Orientales.


A big plus for the staying power, over all Montale seem to make perfumes that are really longlasting. The aoud scents last for + 20 hours, or even more, but I usually take a shower and put on something else during that time so exactly how longlasting they are I´m not sure of. Amandes Orientales stays on for at least 10-12 hours. The sillage is a little below medium, but I dab it on so I think it could be better with a spray.


Do you have any Montale favourite? Or do you have any tips on how I can be friend with Black Aoud?

Pic: Arabic eyes

Bond No 9 - Chinatown

A little more New York and Bond No 9. I belive Chinatwon is their most popular perfume. I have to admit that I at first didn´t realise why. Or, actually I thought it was kind of bland, nice and inoffenisice, wich could be the reason for it to be popular.




So while Silver Factory almost at once become a favourite, Chinatown failed to capture me. Slowly I began to realise that that was a part of the charm with Chinatown.




I don´t know about you, but I am picturing Chinatown as a place filled with busy people, noices and a lot of colours. Chinatown isn´t really a whole town, what I´ve heard it´s more of a block or a quite small part of New York. Well, the size doesn´t really matter, I still think of Chinatown as full of life, noices, colours and scents from chinese food, candies and groceries.




How come the perfume Chinatown is so light, soft and calm? On me it starts with a burst of wild strawberries, and then some soft peach and florals. The heart and base consists of cardamom and patchouli, even tough the patchouli seem to be there as a careful support for the other notes rather than something so noticeable. At least on me.




Chinatwon isn´t at all a noicy perfume, but a very light, caressing and discrete perfume. But with a strong and very comfortable presence. When I realised that, I also realised I´ve slowly starting to like Chinatown. Yes, it´s pretty and nice, but it has a strong and unique personality, that I normally -more easily- find in stronger perfumes.




I have also thought about why Bond No 9 choses to interprent Chinatown in this way? That I´ve tried japanese Miya Shinma´s perfumes might have help me to understand why. I belive that (many) chinese people could have similar perfume preferences as (many) japanese people. Light, floral and fruity perfumes with lack of animalic notes like musk and leather. Asian perfumes seem to be lighter, more transcluent and more delicate than western perfumes.




Still they aren´t at all -only- floral fruity. Western floral-fruity is, in my nose, kind of uptempo, fresh, sexy, youth and party. The eastern perfume I´ve tried is something completly different, more of stillness, calm, and tranquile estetics I seldom find in western perfumes.




Oh well, I could be kind of stressed when it come to perfumes. I want it to be ooooh and aaaah and my nose attached to my wrist and how could I get more of this amazing juice??? But that doesn´t work well with more eastern asia influenced perfumes, as I think of Chinatown. Because in Chinatown I find that eastern soul or heart or spirit that I recognise from for instant Miya Shinma´s perfumes. When Chinatown comes to me, I find in it, an almost meditative feeling.




I guess you understand that I really like Chinatown now and that I must get me some more of it soon, my little sample is almost finnished now.




Besides of wild strawberries, peaches, cardamom and patchouli I find a light nuttiness in Chinatown that is really nice. For some reason Chinatown make me think of beautiful butterflies in a sunny orchard.




I am glad that I´ve finally learnt to know Chinatwon and appreciate it and also admire it´s transcluent and soft beauty. That kind of perfumes has it´s very own place in any perfume collection I think.


The sillage is discrete, but constantly there and it´s very longlasting considering the light character of the perfume.


Have you tried Chinatown? Did it become a favourite at once or did you struggle with it? Or do you not like it at all?


















Pic: R.Guskind

Bond No 9 - Andy Warhol, Silver Factory

It is almost unbeliveable how many perfume houses-brands-lines and collection there is out there. I have blogged almost for an year now and hardly mention Bond No 9´s perfumes. Well, for what it´s worth there is also a lot of perfumes I haven´t yet mention at all. And even more brands that I still haven´t tried a single perfume from. When it comes to Bond No 9, at least I´ve tried some of their perfumes. But not wrote about any of them yet. Why is that? Are they bad and boring? Nope, not really, even tough I don´t have any of them on top of my most wanted-list, there are two, Andy Warhol´s Silver Factory, and also, Chinatown that isn´t pretty far from it.


What is special with Bond No 9? Well, it is a perfume collection dedicated to the city of New York, with it´s archetypical skyskrapers, busy avenues and city disctricts so well-knowned globally that they are almost as home, even tough I never set my foot there. The perfumes from Bond No 9 have borrowed their names from famous streets, places and even persons (Andy Warhol) in and from New York, even beaches outside New york can be found among hte perfume names. What about names like Broadway Night, Chinatown, New Haarlem, Coney Island and Bryant Park? At the same time familiar, but also exotic and filled with big city-feeling.


As I wrote above, I´ve never been to New York, even tough it´s one of the cities I most definitly would love to visit. Lucky the one´s that already have been there. But, despite the fact that I haven´t (yet), I think a lot of us have certain picture and feeling of New York. Not at all what it´s really are like, but not as far from truth as it would be if it was another big city, not yet visited, like Tokyo, Buenos Aires or Mumbai. Of course that is thanks too the many movies with New York, if not in main role, at least as the main scene or something like that. In New York it would be possible to recognise buildings and places and to feel almost a little at home, I don´t think that would be possible for most of us if we visited for instant, Tokyo.


Thanks to this facts, you imagine that you´re a little familiar with New York, you almost belive you can tell about the city´s heart, soul and pulse. (Or at least I do!)


This is one reason for me to question if the perfumes from Bond No 9 really are able to capture the spirit of such an amazing city. It´s not little to ask for tough, that a single perfume could capture all that, or even of one single avenue or beach or park. Born new yorkers/ and or passionate new yorkers aren´t all that content with Bond No 9´s interprention of their loved parts of the city. Maybe, the bottles are what succed best to capture New York? Even tough their bottle to the perfume Brooklyn get much critique, at least I think that a bottle decorated with grafiti feels quite much Brooklyn. How the bottles look like, and the names of all the perfumes and a lot more you can find here: http://www.bondno9.com/splash


Now, I will try to focus on Bond No 9`s Andy Warhol Silver Factory. There are several Bond No 9 perfumes dedicated to and inspired from the well-knowned New York artist, Andy Warhol. Besdies of Silver Factory there is also; Lexington Avenue, Union Square and the newest, Succes is a job in New York (if there´s anyone reading my blog that have got the chanse to try it, please tell me about it!). Well, now it´s easy for me that is so easily distracted to start to writing about Andy Warhol instead of the perfume. But at least I van tell you that Silver Factory was Andy Warhols atelie, studio and the place to hang around if you where something in New York back then.


I can´t tell if the perfume Silver Factory manage to capture any of the soul and spirit of the actual Silver Factory, but at least, as a perfume it is strange, interesting but also quite easy to like.


When i tried Silver Factory for the first time during winter, I liked it at once. It starts with some what chilly top notes of citruses, soon joined by some dirty, but quite light animalic musk and some metallic, also very light, note. Maybe not the smell of silver, but a nice and easy metallic note. I immediatly started to plan to get me some more of this strange and also wonderful perfume. It was really nice on my husband too.


If it wasn´t for a slight incident with Silver Factory a month later, I think I would have a small deacnt of it by now!


Imagine, me, my half-sidter and her husband and my brother in car driving all the way from northern Sweden to Stockholm during one day. When it started to get dark, we where all kind of sleapy and my brother asked if I happened to have any uplifting perfume, something eith citrus maybe? Oh yeah, sugarmummy got what you need, namely Silver Factory. It´s not the easiset to put some perfume on another person in a car on the motorway, so I guess I spilled about the half sample all over my brother. And belive me, Silver Factory is much more strong and potent that you might belive only using smaller amounts of it. We spent the rest of the trip in car reeking with citruses, a more and more strange metallic note and an animalic musk slowly but steadily growing towards mushiness and un-mentionable stanks. This was a perfume I kind of like, but I don´t want to think about my poor fellow-passengers.


This incident changed my view of Silver Factory from something strange, funny and easy to like to something with enough animalic contents to attack little children! It become a huge, blury mess of mushy musk with almost suffocating qualities.


But there is hope, now I am sitting her and sniffing it agian, quite content I have to admit. Obviously the car incident have slowly become forgotten. (Even tough I will probably always think about that trip when I wear it!) I like it again, not really as much as in the beginning, but enough to start think about a decant again.


Shortly speaking, I do recommend Silver Factory. It´s an unique, potent and easy kind of perfume, that would suit most people and occations. Normally, the sillage is average and the longvity is ok. You have to try it, even if you´re not that in to citrus. The base is also really pleasant, much warmer than the rest of the blend, as long as you stay away from overdose it.

Pic: smugmug

Lolita Lempicka - Lolita Lempicka

Well, I feel kind of purple right now. I think that purple was a colour appropriate for older women and widows in earlier times. Maybe Lolita Lempicka is a real old women-scent apart from the name. And I guess I´ve reached the age when old lady-scents fit me as the hand in the glove.

Without joking, I´m not really much fore the idea that a certain age couldn´t wear certains perfumes and so on. Even tough I now and then knows that I am guilty of writing that some perfume would suit someone 30+ or something, even tough I am totally sure that it would also work excellent on someone only 17 years old. It´s some kind of general age prejudice I´ve got that make me think that swedish (or whatever nationality I guess) teenage girl don´t know so much about perfume outside the most trendy brands. But then I realised not even older swedish women know much about perfume either. So my appologies if I ranting about with my prejudice without thinking, after all I don´t even belive it myself. Meaning that I don´t always stop to question myself before I write.

This was supposed to be about Lolita Lempicka, nothing else. And Lolita Lempicka is so much more than violets and anice, wich are the most famous notes in it. Yes, it´s a cozy violet perfume and the note of anice gives it a certain character that for sure was something special when it was released in 1997.

Despite that, I have a lot of other violet scents I prefer more than Lolita Lempicka. Lolita Lempicka is partly a little to sweet, a little to strong and dominant. But it has something I don´t have encountered in any other perfume this far, a most delicious, pure and beautiful note of smoke.

No, it isn´t the smell of strong oriental incense or the smoke from a crackling bonfire, it makes me think of some kind of clean smoke that emerged without any actual burning process. Probably sounds kind of weird? I´m not even sure that it is smoke, but I don´t know wich other word to describe it with. It doesn´t really matter if it is smoke or light purple twilight clouds or enchanted fog in the dawn, I know for sure that it´s smells good.

That the note I am longing for when I want to wear Lolita Lempicka. I wonder if it is the vetiver? Because I can smell a brisk and papery note in the base that I guess must be the vetiver. Probably it´s a work of many notes together, lmaybe tobacco, tonka bean and vanilla. In the smoky cloud I can also smell discrete notes of wood, almond and vanilla.

The base makes Lolita Lempicka to a much more complex perfume than you can belive at first. But, with that in mind, it´s also a very heavy violet perfume, so I guess it´s hard to overcome that if you´re not in to violet. The pricing is nice, you can get Lolita Lempicka for bargain prices at the internet. The sillage is huge and it´s also longlasting. I can see why it´s so popular and also at the same time not.

What´s your opinion about Lolita Lempicka?

Ava Luxe - Midnight Violet

My oldest daughter and her family visitied us last week. When it comes to perfumes I think I´ve influenced my daughter quite much, so of course we had some cozy perfume testing. The perfumes from B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful become popular, except one of them. One with a violet note. I really don´t like violet, my daughter said. I didn´t said anything, she can go around disliking the note of violet, but gosh, there are sure a lot of wonderful perfumes she´ll be missing then.

Maybe violet is one of those notes people can have troubbles with? I can´t really understand why, since violet in my nose is a versatile note that comes in many different shapes. Maybe people think of violet as something almost candylike sweet or old lady-like powdery stuff? But there is so many different perfume that manage to do something totally different with this shy flower.

Comme Des Garcon´s Stephen Jones is without doubt a perfume with notes of violet. But is is sweet? Nope. Is it powdery? Oh no. It´s chilly and cold with an strange, but appealing, mineral note in it. A true futuristic floral.

Frederic Malle´s Dans Tes Bras is almost as far away from Stephen Jones as a violet perfume is possible to be, but still it isn´t at all sweet or powdery. It´s like the forest floor with violet-and mushroom smelling greenery, a magic forest filled with fairies, trolls and foxes.

Calé´s Bressa di Zeta is sweeter and more powdery, but I think it´s rather the smell of crushed violet leafs then the flower I smell in it. A refined feminine, beautiful and clean scent, but for a modern women.

There is sweeter varietes as well, like Lolita Lempicka ( I realise I haven´t wrote about it yet, but maybe I will soon, I feel like I am in to purple now) that is both powdery and sweet, but still very good, at least in my opinion.

But I have to admit that I tried a violet perfume the other day that was toothaching sweet and it smell like violet candy and with a giant sillage that made people around me think that I was eating violet candies without sharing!

But how many different kinds of violet scents can it be? Well, my violet scent collection isn´t complete without Ava Luxe´s Midnight Violet. It is also a very special interprention of violet.

Midnight Violet is most of all a night violet. And a violet scent that works on men too. And I am sure that it´s also a violet scent that can make the most notorious violet hater to like violet notes in perfume. Really, it´s hard for me to understand how anybody can resist Midnight Violet. Accordning to my nose, Midnight Violet is all together a wonderful perfume.

Why? Well, there´s a darkness in it, a comfy and safe kind of darkness. The violets are so dark that they look almost like black velvet. There´s a hint of sweetness, but just a little hint. It make med think of some kind of golden glow, maybe the moonlight shines on the little violets in the moss? Becasue Midnight Violet is so much more than only violets. There is also wood, moss, deep purple and dark sweetness.

Midnight Violet is also a grown up violet scent. Sensual, beautiful and vibrant, but not really erotic or animalic. I don´t miss that kind of notes, it´s interesting enough without them. Even tough I find Midnight Violet unique and different, I think it´s a perfume that can be easy to like for a lot of different people.

Yes, it´s absolutly a violet for evening wear, even tough I can wear it any time of day. But the sillage is quite big, so it isn´t appropriate for all occasions. It´s also quite longlasting, several hours at least. But it also make me realise that it isn´t possible to find ONE perfect perfume, it isn´t even possible to find ONE perfect violet perfume. For me there is way to many perfect violet perfumes all ready, and Midnight Violet is one of them.

So, Midnight Violet is one of the perfumes I want more of from Ava Luxe´s impressive collection of perfume master pieces. I sure hope she soon will start offering her usual selection, until then we have to be satisfied with the perfume oils offered in her Etsy-shop.

In your opinion, is there any more violet perfumes I shouldn´t miss? Maybe you allready know about that "perfect" violet scent that I´ve missed out on. :)

Magickal Realism

Among all the other things I´ve done in my life, I was during a period of my life attracted to witches, magical herbs, strange salves and witchcraft. Well, to be honest I still have some drawing left to witchcraft, but I never have become passionate about it. It is among those almost-interest I´ve got, usually they stay under the surface, but now and then they remind me of their existence. My first witch-period was when I had two toddlers, one school kid, a crazy dog, a cat, chickens and a house in the countryside (well I had the same husband as now, but he was and still are kind of selfgoing). Sounds just perfect to be into witchery in those surroundings, right? But, no... all I´ve really had time to was all the kids and the animals. So when it come to witchery, I´ve really never crossed the line, as I did with my perfume interest that went from modest to passionate over a night.


This partly explains why I have a drawing towards mushy perfume oils with strange name, something a lot of other perfumistas frown at. Those names make my imagination spinn and I want them as much as I want the most expensive and hard to get perfumes.


Another perfume lover at Fragrantica suggested Magickal Realism to me. Magickal Realism has a small perfume shop at Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=93472


You must check it out! All those amazing names and how much they have to offer! I´ve ordered a small sample pack with five of the most popular oils; If, Coffee Wonderful, Sex & Politics, Zombie Repellent and Vampire Groupie (aka Fang Banger). All the oils are 100% natural and that I´ve noticed. The olis had to be shaken before use, so that they blend together a little. For me it looks genuin and interesting, but some of you may sigh YUCK! This is as far away from putting the perfume at a piedestahl and I like it... also. In my world of perfumed goodies there is room for any ol´kinds...


Now it happens to be that Magickal Realism´s perfume oils not only have cool and interesting names, they also smell really interesting and good and for a really long time considering they´re 100% natural. Magickal Realism probably offers among the best you can find in natural perfumery. I can´t understand why this wonderful perfume maker hasn´t become more well knowned?


Among the one´s I´ve tried I have to admit that Vampire Groupie (Fang Banger) is horrible! On me it smells almost like Etat Libre d'Orange´s Viergos et Toreros, but without flowers. There is a bloody smell or at least a sweet rusty note of something metallic. But it sure fits the name, if you don´t attract vampires when wearing this, I don´t now what to do. If you don´t feel like attracting any vampires I suggest you stay away from Vampire Groupie.


If is the opposite, it´s soft and shy and a mix of neroli, myrrh and spices. It won´t disturb anyone, I find it nice but a little dull, it fail to make any impression on me. But it sure smells good.


Sex & Politics manage to smell both good and interesting. It´s a sweet, spicy and slightly animalic blend. Nice sillage, wothout being to large. Sex & Politics is dark, mysterious and with an erotic touch. A perfume for night wear, but I wonder wich swedish politician you can hook when wearing this? I´m not sure if I want to hook any swedish politician.


Zombie Repellent is also interesting, sweet, buttery and vanilly, but also with some edge, I think it´s thanks too the vetiver (from Haiti of course). Among the tried I like Zombie Repellent the best. It is warm, spicy and kind of strange. Do you struggle with some zombies in your environment? Then you do need some of this magic blend!


Last, but not least, there is Coffee Wonderful. It smells of coffee, and you can see the coffee not entirely blended with the oil. This is the one that smells the most and the longest. It makes me think about coffee parties and a lot of cakes. Because it smells not only coffee, but also vanilla and spices. Coffee Wonderful is an uplifting scent that make me happy. It remind me of the kind of coffee common in northern Sweden.


There is a lot of other oils to sniff trough at Magickal Realism, and I am sure curious about a lot fo them. Oils for certain rituals and times, such as midsummer and christmas, also oils for your star sign can be found.


Etsy is a goldmine if you like to find unique and artisan made perfumes and perfume oils. The prices are really good and the sellers are easy to get in contact with. You can also find some more well knowned perfumers on Etsy, Ava luxe has recently started up her shop there again, even tough I hope she will offer her usual perfumes again soon.

Pic: greengrimoire.net

Shiseido - Feminite du Bois

Some time last winter I received a little sample of Feminite Du Bois. Feminite Du Bois is said to be a real masterpiece of perfume, until recently produced by Shiseido. Feminite Du Bois was Serege Lutens first perfume inspiration for Shiseido, but the perfumes is made by Christopher Sheldrake and Pierre Bourdon. Nowadays Feminite Du Bois is a part of Serge Lutens own line of perfumes, Les Salon Du Palais Royal Shiseido.


Well, I´ve had the little sample and was of course curious about the famous perfume. But, hmm... I didn´t like it. Oh well, I didn´t particulary dislike it either, I found it to be nice, totally ok and fine but also totally dull. Feminite Du Bois didn´t do anything for me. I read reviews about it, written by perfume lovers that I respect and couldn´t understand how they could think it was so amazing. Time goes by and my little sample of Feminite Du Bois was almost forgotten.


Then I happened to got a small bonus in a swap, an original spray sample of Feminite Du Bois from Shiseido. The other was an anonymus homedecanted sample. I think it was about time to give Feminite Du Bois a second chanse. It could be whole lot of different to spray or to dab a perfume on.


Ooooh, yes... I think you can guess what happened? I realise I am wearing a perfume that I must sniff constantly. Feminite Du Bois in spraysample from Shiseido is something totally different from the other Feminite DU Bois sample I´ve got. Of course they are the same scent, but while one of them is sparkling of perfume magic on my skin, the other one is as dull and stale as before.


I don´t now if the difference depend on the fact that I spray it on, or if it is because of reformulations. Serge Lutens himself has stir up some emotions, since he admit that the perfume has been changed, but without anything changed. Sounds kind of strange, if you change the recepie, how can the outcome be the same? I don´t know if my first sample is from before or after the reformulation. All I know is that the spray sample is filled with magic, while the other isn´t.


While writing this I have a spray of the magic perfume on my left arm, and a dab of the not-magic one on the right arm. And the difference is so big that I can get a stiff neck from smelling only at one side. And still I can smell that they are frustrating alike. What is the actual olfactory difference?


Feminite Du Bois, Shiseido (spray) smells a lot more, it is something in it that make it almost bubble and sparkle on my skin, like a heavenly brew made by -nice- witches. A brew of fruits, spices and woods, and even tough it´s plum (I can have some problem with plum sometimes) it´s not that kind of syrupy sugary plum. No it´s like a purple glow surrounded with almost golden shimmer. The other version is like if someone have tried to make water colour painting of the purple forest without being neither talented or inspired.


This difference confuse me a lot, I want more of Shiseido´s Feminite Du Bois, but at the same time I want to figuring out what the difference depends on.


The spray version is really longlasting and with a good sillage on me, while the other seem to lack also in staying power and sillage. I do recommend Feminite Du Bois, but the Shiseido sprayversion, you might get disapointed if you try some other version.






Pic: Background forest fantasy, photobucket

Profumum Roma - Aqua di Sale

I wrote earlier about that I am dreaming that I find the perfect perfume. Well, I don´t belive that it´s possible. I am constantly changing my mind and prefer to have a lots of perfumes that goes with different clothes and different weather. Perfumes for parties and perfumes for lonely moments, comfy perfumes, edgy and challenging perfumes, sexy perfumes and perfumes that make me happy. I don´t think that one, single perfume can live up to that.


But, I think it would be possible to find the perfect perfume in it´s genre. The perfect violet perfume, perfect incense scent and the perfect vanilla and so on.


I might have found the perfect sea scent, Profumum Roma´s Aqua di Sale. Usually I am not that thrilled about perfumes with the scent of sea or very aquatic perfumes. A lot of them become to fresh and sporty, like some male cologne supposed to be sprayed on after the gym or some others are to understatet and vague, so that I forgot that I wear a perfume after a short while. So the aquatic perfumes I´ve enjoyed this far has been kind of aquatic gourmands like Missoni by Missoni, L de Lolita Lempicka and Eau de Star by Thierry Mugler.


And there comes Aqua di Sale, among the one´s I´ve tried from Profumum Roma I´ve got almost the lowest expectations on Aqua di Sale and as usually it´s great fun to realise that I really like something from an usually not so liked cathegory of scents. Aqua di Sale isn´t one of those ozonic fresh aquatic perfumes nor the subdued and minimalistic kind either. It´s strangely concrete and still with a very aquatic feeling. It isn´t the sea, but an idealistic interprention, without traces of beach life, sun lotion and exotic flowers. Aqua di Sale is the sea at an forgotten, rocky bay at the mediterrean during autumn storms.


Aqua di Sale is the smell of a salty sea, but also soft notes of the cilffs, the air and the far away forrest. Aqua di Sale make me long for a mediterrean sea off-season, with abandoned taverns and beaches in rain and fog, taking long walks along empty shore lines and now and sit down on a rock and feel the smell of sea. Have you ever dreamed of being a lighthouse keeper on a distant island, Aqua di Sale may help your daydreams and imagination a little.


Don´t think of Aqua di Sale as a difficult and harsh scent, cause it isn´t. There is a light softness in it. A softness that remind me of the life giving facets of the sea, probably it´s that little softness that make Aqua di Sale so easy to like. This softness isn´t common in this kind of scents, and I´ve also encountered it in Creative Universes Mare, but that was unfortunatly a perfume that dissapeared on me.


Aqua di Sale has discrete sillage but is amazingly longlasting, aspecially if considering the scents wet and subdued character.


The basenotes abandoned the sea theme a little, overall the base notes in Profumum Roma´s perfumes seem to have little connection with the rest of the perfume for some reason. Aqua di Sale isn´t an excpetion, but the base notes is still nice and comfy. A little like coming in after a long day at the sea, maybe that isn´t so bad after all?


Unfortuntaly Profumum Roma is quite an expensive brand, and I don´t think I will buy a bottle of Aqua di Sale, but a nice decant would be just enough for start.


I strongly recommend it, you really should try it, even if you usually don´t like sea scents.


Do you have any sea smelling favourites?

pic: Waves, William Dalton, flickr

Summer scents.

I hope there´s still some summer left, but during night there was some rain. Maybe the autumn isn´t that distant after all. The rain made me think about what perfumes that have been this summer´s favourites.

My top ten summer scents look like this, no certain order.

Frapin´s Esprit de Fleurs, lovely creamy, uplifting and soft summer scent.

Missoni by Missoni, chocolate-orange with just enough aquatic feel.

Tepidarium by Calé Fragranze d'Autore, delicious ice creamy vanilla, lemon, pineapple and mango. Refreshing and creamy at the same time.

Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens, the one I have longed for the most when summer nights has become darker.

Amouage´s Reflection Women, yes really. I am getting used to it, and it is like a glass of really cold water filled with ice cubes, extremly longlasting.

Estee Lauder´s Amber Ylang Ylang, really pleasant, feminine floral with radiance and strenght.

Profumum Roma´s Aqua di Sale, the best interprention of the sea I´ve tried.

Parfums 137s Spearmint, lovely fresh citrusy mint, great unisex!

Humiecki and Graef´s Eau Radieuse, grapefruit, rhubarb and shadow. Cooling unisex.

Parfumerie Generale´s Aomassai, perfect all year round. Comforting gourmand, but with some transcluent feeling so you can wear it even in heat, without feeling sticky.

Do you have any summer favourities?

Dreams...

It´s a sunny summer day and I sit here and waiting for my daughters to wake up so we can have a picnic. I sit here and now and then i sniff with joy one of my latest perfume passions, M. Micallef´s Gaiac that I wrote about yesterday.


I guess I am easy to impress, sometimes the scnet of an interesting, wonderful and well done perfume is enough to make me start imagine things and daydream. Yes, as I wrote about before, I even dream about perfumes when I sleep. Sometimes the perfume I wear when I go to sleep follow me to the land of dreams. Sometimes i dream about amazing perfumes that suddenly is a part of my collection or about a hunt for the perfect perfume in the most wonderful perfume shops. As you understand, the nerd factor increses a lot when I wake up and realise that I have dreamt about perfumes. But that about dreaming, this was supposed to be about daydreaming...


I think it´s a part of human nature to daydream and sometimes the dreams is an escape from a hard and un-inspiering life, sometimes they are a little private place of pleasure and joy and sometimes we making plans and dream about the future. I am so one-dimensional that a lot of my daydreams also are about perfumes! Well, acually, I am the dreamy kind of person, so I daydream about a lot of other things as well, even tough perfumes are a returning element.


I read about new perfumes releases, and new perfume lines, maybe produced by a person that have dreamed their whole life to create perfumes. Or, as with Mr Silvio Levi, the founder of Calé Fragranze D'Autore, he has worked with distributing niche perfumes for a long time, and finally get his own line of perfumes. I also know there´s a lot of indieperfumers starting of as perfume lovers, and knowing as little about perfumes as I do know, and then little by little learning more and more and finally start producing their own perfumes. Such stories are wonderful I think. Or people being sales person behind the counter of an ordinary department store, selling massmarket perfumes and then suddenly change path and open their own little exclusive perfume boutique.


I suspect there is a lot of perfume lovers wishing that they could work with perfumes one way or an other. I also suspect that a lot of perfume lovers feels that they can´t or don´t dare to start something completly new, aspecially in times of finanical crisis. And if living in Sweden, or some other part of the world, where perfumes isn´t yet that big, there maybe isn´t enough people for a reliable customer base.


Do you dream about working with perfumes? Maybe you already have tried it? If it would be possible for you to work with perfumes, in what way would you work? Creating, selling, writing, courses, perfume trying, consulting? Or maybe something completly different? Or maybe are you totally content to have perfumes only as a hobby?


I am so glad to write about perfumes, I have never before wrote about such an inspiering and fun subject. But I don´t make any money on it. But, one will never know what comes next...

Pic: Dreaming, photobucket

M. Micallef - Gaiac

The reason why I have tried M. Micallef´s Gaiac is a little different. I have been more curious about it than on many other perfumes, so when the sample finally arrived I was eager to try it at once. I admit that there´s a lot of perfumes I am really looking forward to try, but Gaiac has quite another story.


Michelyn Camen is a, in the perfume society, well-knowned person. She lives in New York and work as a perfume writer and also a perfume consultant. People can consult Michelyn for advise and with the help of a lot of questions she can recommend them a spot on signature perfume, mostly rare niche-perfumes, so that the client can have their very unique signature scent.


When Michelyn offers to give me a small perfume consulting I was of course curious, interested and happy. It was a whole lot of questions to answer, about olfactory memories, favourite notes and skin chemistry. Even tough I am a perfume lover, some of the question was something to toroughly think about for a while. When I sen my answers to Michelyn, it didn´t take long before she wrote to me and suggest that M. Micallef´s Gaiac was my perfume. Guess if I was eager to try it? I´ve heard about M. Micallefs perfumes before, but hadn´t test any of them, and not heard so much about the line either, so over all it was a new experience.


I looked up the notes for Gaiac, and they sure sounded promising: bergamotte, clove, jasmine, vetiver, gaiac wood and vanilla. I was so thrilled!


Well, I am also a skeptic kind of person. Even tough I found Michelyn´s recommendation really interesting I was also unsure if it would be so spot on? I guess it´s easier to convince people that isn´t that in to perfumes as I am. And after all I have tried a whole lot more perfumes than the common perfume user. But oooooh... what if... it is so gorgeus that I imagine?


I understand if you´re curious about the verdict? Was it good? Or was it a disapointment?


Gaiac is a totally different perfume, and don´t remind me of anything else I´ve tried. The top notes are amazingly nice and smell like a strange mix between candy sugar, fresh aromatic wood and something airy and light that lifts the whole thing, probably with the help of bergamotte that are very, very subtle. there is the faintest smell of some kind of salve or a an ancient tincture with powerful substances and golden powder in it. Yes, there is something in Gaiac that makes me think of gold, but more of imaginary gold than the actual metal. Gaiac has an extreme lightness and at the same time something very heavy and grounded. I have never smelled that in any perfume before.


Gaiac is an oriental kind of perfume, but also as soft as the softest caress. Gaiac is worn close to the skin, and I imagine beautiful women with dark eyes and golden skin that smears them selfs in with a secret scented oil containing gold dust. An oil that make their body glowing and deliciously smelling, but they let every one else belive that they smell that good and look that golden all by them self. Gaiac is their own, private secret.


Gaiac make me want to wrap my self up in all my jewelry, decorate my hands with henna and my eyes with black kohl and put on my harem pants and cuddle up in the bed and wait for my husband...


Yes, Gaiac is a really sensual perfume, but also I can think of wearing it casual, since it wears so close to skin. In the heart note the jasmine starts to get noticed, it´s beautiful blended with vetiver, gaiac wood and vanilla. Everything in Gaiac is used with light hands, there is no overdose of spicy clove, sweet vanilla or brisk vetiver. There isn´t any note dominating, they are all blended together seamlessly, but also very complex. The notes goes in and out, one after another. Gaiac isn´t linear and predictible, no Gaiac is complex, subtle and hard to nail. I smell discrete ginger bread, flowering jasmine, golden dust, beautiful wooden carvings and light incense at the same time.


Yes, I am so grateful for Michelyn´s advice. By the way, Gaiac is originally a male perfume, and I think it would wotk great on men, even tough I think of it as an unisex.


The base is dry, papery and powdery. I wrote about colours that think of when it comes to powdery notes, Gaiac is most definitly golden powder! It has good longvity, at least 7-8 hours on me, but the sillage is very discrete. I would really like to have more of Gaiac, and Aus Liebe Zum Duft offer a 30 ml bottle, wich would suit me just right. Maybe something for my birthday?


Have you tried some of M. Micallef´s perfumes? Do you have some favourite among them? Maybe you even have tried Gaiac? What did you think about it? Well, don´t miss this line of perfumes, Gaiac made me very curious about the rest of the line.

Pic: golden arabesque, markus the bardus flickr