Fragrance hypersensitivy

Perfume allergy, what is it?


I guess no one have missed that the wonderful world of perfumes are among the best things I know of. That I would get tired of perfumes are as unlikly as that I would get tired of reading good books and listening to music.


Since perfumes has become more then a hobby for me, perfumes are in my thoughts most of the time. When chosing a perfume I think about if I´m going to wear it only because I like it so much or if I am going to chose a perfume for "work" meaning a scent I plan to write about soon. Most thing associated with perfumes are interesting, history, the person that has create the perfume, if the perfume is typical for it´s time, it´s creator or it´s perfume house, the chemistry behind perfumes and all the synthetic ingrediens used (even though I don´t know so much about it yet, still I´m very curious). But, sometimes I am also thinking about the bad things associated with perfumes, favorite scents no longer produced, regulations that forbids use of most loved ingredienses in perfumes. Lately I´ve been thinking about perfumes and the allergies it can cause.


Luckily enough i don´t have many allergic people around me. I have a nickel allergy caused by massive piercing experiences during my teens, and two of my daughters have a light pollen allergic, my sister is allergic to cats and some among my friends have lactos intolerance. Thanks to the facts that I don´t know any person with severe allergy I don´t have to pay much consideration about allergies and I also realise I don´t know so much about it.


There for I decided to ask the people of Swedish Astma-and allergy association a little about perfume allergy and symptoms. Johanna Löf, representative helped me to clear some things out. People that reacts against perfumes doesn´t have any actual perfume allergy, but suffering from something called Sensoric Hypersensitivity(SHS). We all have nerv-endings in our nose, that will provide that the air we breath reaches the lungs in right temperature and quality, but people suffering from SHS have, for some reason, super sensitive nerv-endings. When having an allergic reaction it is the bodies immune system that reacts, this isn´t the case when it comes to SHS, but the symptoms are the same. A person suffering from SHS reacts with symptoms like having a really bad cold. The symptoms comes very rapidly and stays for a coupple of days. And there isn´t any medication that will help (in contrast to allergies). The only thing that helps is to avoid the things causing the problems, perfumed products and also other scents, like cigarette smoke.


Johanna tells me that peoples with SHS often reacts most when they are close to a person that have used a lot of different perfumed products, such as washing detergent, fabric softener, deo, bodylotion, schampoo, hairspray and on top of all that also perfume. And, even though I love perfumes I don´t want to be the one causing someone to have a really bad reaction. And do we really need so many different scented products?


Now, when i know a little more about SHS I´ve stopped buying perfumes washing detergent. And when it comes to perfumes bodylotion I didn´t liked it before, since I think most of them are stealing attention from the perfume. And thanks to the fact that I´m working at home I can use as much perfume as I wish or when I´m walking the dog without disturbing anyone, so I don´t have to use it when I´m going by bus, train or visting places where there can be someone with SHS.


Johanna would like to share a little tips for those of you that likes to wear perfume when going to a party, but has to go with bus or any other public transport. Put on the perfume when you arrive to the party! OK, it can be a little un-convinient to bring a big bottle of perfume in a small purse, but most of us perfume lovers do have sample vials or decant bottles.


I think it´s easy to avoid giving people troubble with my perfumes, what do you think? Maybe you even know someone suffering from fragrance hypersensitivity? Now and then I can get headache from some perfumes, like YSLs Opium. Do you have some scents you´re sensitive to?




Pic: Smart canucks

CB I Hate Perfume - In the Library

CB I Hate Perfumes is really a very special brand. When i first become perfume curious this was one of the first brands that got my attention. Scents with names as Winter 1972, In the Library, I´m a dandelion, Russian caravan tea and At The Beach 1966 are really turn ons for my imagination. Despite that, it took quite a while before I finally tried any of the scents.


Christpher Brosius, the man behind CH I Hate Perfume has a very personal philiosophy about scents. He isn´t interested in usual good smelling perfumes, he likes to create memories and stories in his bottles. Christopher has chose to make two kinds of scents, a water version and an oil version, also many of the scents are possible to get as a room spray. I decided to try some perfume oils, since I´ve heard that the water version isn´t so longlasting.


One of the scents that I´ve been most curious about is In The Library, I love the smell of old books, wooden shelfs and that dry almost dusty air in rooms filled with books, so it isn´t that surprising that this is among the samples I ordered.


But does it smell like a library? Yeah, kind of but still, not really or... On me, In the Library becomes a vague yet very pleasant smell of something a little oily, like leather or maybe wood polish? There is something dusty in the scents as well and something papery. But, In the Library are more like a feeling then a scent I think. I really like to wear this, it feels comfy, homey and and like getting a warm welcoming. But most of all, it makes me think about how it would be as a room scent.


In the Library is more a scent to step in to then to wear I think. Like Christopher stated, it´s more of a story in a bottle then a perfume.


On me, In the Library has at least some staying power, but not more then about 2-3 hours and the sillage is minimal. I´ve also tried Wild pansy, and even though it is the most geunin scent of a shy violet hidden among last years leafs and some mud, it has no staying power what so ever. On me Wild Pansy is totally gone in less then 30 minutes.


One the other hand, it doesn´t matter so much. I would like to have a small collection of CB I Hate Perfumes scents, and use a tiny little drop whenever I feel to wake a certain mood. I have two small 1/3 mls samples and you can´t hardly tell that I´ve tried them.


You can read a lot about the scents at CB I Hate Perfume homepage:
http://www.cbihateperfume.com/home.html


Admit that several of the scents stir both your imagination and curiousity? Despite the poor staying power I´ll order some more samples from this interesting perfume house. Maybe not I would go around wearing every day, but they are after all scents with a soul... and to find such a thing can´t make me dissapointed.


What do you think about CB I Hate Perfume? Have tou tried anything from them? Or are you curious? Or do you think that perfumes are supposed to be perfumes?






Pic: Trinity Old Library

Steampunk and perfumes

I´ve thought a lot about steampunk lately. Before I start hanging out on Etsy I din´t even know there was such a thing. Or, I know that there was without knowing that it had a name. I am probably pretty much dated, but I´m after all more than 40 years old and living in a small town, what else could you expect?


well, for those of you as lost as I am, I can try to explain what steampunk is. It´s a litterary genre relative to science fiction but not taking place in outer space or the future. It´s usual with a Victorian environment, and if you´re thinking about Jules verne, steam engines, zeppelins, geer wheals and early-modern industrialism you´re about to get it. Steampunk can also be contemprary, but a nowadays without digital inventions or computers or jetplanes. Like if we´re driving around in steam engined cars and having big, strange mechanic factories. The environment, mood and clothes you can find in movies like "Wild, wild west" "The Leauge" and "The city of lost children".


I´ve been a little steampunk-inspired when it comes to clothes and home decorating without knowing that steampunk is what it´s called. But I have to admit it isn´t that common that I´m running around in knee high boots, high hat, googles and skirt with bustle. But still, I think it is so beautiful.


If you´re curious about steampunk I suggest that you take a look at Nadya lev´s amazing photos or visit the homepage of Coilhouse, a magasine driven by Nadya lev and a bnch of others.
http://coilhouse.net/


Well, we´re having a small grip on how steampunk looks like, but how does it smell? What perfumes goes with the steampunk-outfit? I´ve thought about some that would be great together with steampunk clothes, and other not so spot on, but still kind of cool giving it a second thought.


The first scent I think about is Be Never To Busy Too Be Beautiful´s Superworldunknown, with it´s more oily less sweet version of Pink sugar paired with warm metallic parts from carousels and the slightest whiffs of roses. Unfortunatly discountinued, so I guess it´s not that easy to come across any more.


Another spot on is CdG/Stephen Jones with it´s smell of romatic and fragile violets mixed with minerals and edgy, sharp metal. I would bet on that some of Stephen Jones famous hats also would go well with steampunk.


Next is Guerlain´s Shalimar. Maybe not as spot on as the one´s mentioned above, but still apropriate. I´ve noticed a scent of something oily and even almost metallic in Shalimar, of course this would be a scent for a steam punk femme fatale.


Etat Libre d'Orange´s Fat Electrician, ooh yeah, this is so great. Vetiver and olive oil is such a cool backdrop to steampunk. It smells like a thich, dark can of grease would smell like if it smelled good.


And if you can wear CdG/Daphne Guiness it is also quite nice in this genre. Unfortunatly on me, Daphne only smells like rancid frying oil. :(


By the way there is also others from CdG that would work well, the cold, metallic Zagorsk (incense series) and Tar of course. I haven´t tried Garage, but I belive it would also make it to steampunk.


Some leathery scents, Histoirs de Parfums Marquis de Sade 1740 and the new, Tubereuse Animale, great scents both of them,


Andy Tauer´s Lonestar Memories, and Le Labo´s Patchouli 24 as well as Oud 27, and also Neil Morris' Gotham, dark, leathery, smokey, rubbery and cool fragrances.


Parfumerie Generale´s Felanilla is a strange, almost oily and medical but still very wearable scent that would suit a steampunker that likes to develop strange poitions in his/hers steam operated laboratory. I think also Montale´s Black aoud could fit in that cathegory.


And then, a little unbacked maybe, Lolita Lempicka (the original scent) It´s both pretty violets and licorice and a dose of the cleanest, most delightful smell of white smoke or steam I´ve encountered in a perfume. Not prominent on everyone though...


And of course, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has surely some oils to offer for those of you that wish to explore steampunk scents a little more.
http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/
There are also several sellers on Etsy that has made a lot of interesting interpretations of the steampunk theme (both perfumes and other things). www.etsy.com


Do you know of any good steampunk scent that I´ve missed? Or some other fun facts about steampunk that you will share?







Pics: The two atop are photos by Nadya lev, the next is from flickr and the last one is from Wikimedia.

Bond No 9 - Andy Warhol Lexington Avenue

Both me and my husband has a weak spot for chinese lanterns. The first one, we bought in Amsterdam and now we got tree different ones. I´ve realised they´re not that popular for everyone, and our middle daughter (she paints and draws all the time) hate it when the whole house has (as she calles it) porno-light.


But what on earth does red (but we got a black and a wine red one also!) lanterns has to do with Bond No 9's Andy Warhol, Lexington Avenue? That´s mostly beacuse I think that Lexington Avenue actually are "Chinatown by Night".


Coney Island, which I wrote about yesterday, isn´t the only scent from Bond No 9 that has surprised me. Chinatown also turned out to be a surprise. I had expected a much more lively scent, but what I got was a calm, meditative and comforting scent. And when I tried Lexington Avenue it is Chinatown, but with loud volume.


It´s more of fruits and berries, more spices and sweetness, and a little higher speed as well. Lexington Avenue is a happy, strong and sexy evening scent. And something in it remind me of Swedish hot and spiced wine (glögg). Which of course contributes to the fact that i think Lexington Avenue would be an excellent scent during late autumn and december. But this time of yesr, when winter goes towards spring it is a little to much.


Lexington Avenue also remind me a little of Shiseido´s Feminite du Bois, but much sweeter, louder and even more vulgare. It doesn´t bother me, but lexington Avenue doesn´t manage to become one of my favorites among Bond No 9's scents, even though I think it´s very nice.


Lexington avenue has a grand sillage, but not as good lasting power as one can expect considering how expensive the fragrances from Bond No 9 are. This doesn´t mean that it´s shortlived, it still last for about 6 hours on me.


Do you have any favorite from Bond No 9?




Pic: Khaosan

Bond No 9 - Coney Island

A story, a dream, a perfume...


Summer, the sun is shining from a clear blue sky, a soft sea breeze ruffles your hair, a bottle of pink lemonade. It´s going to be the greatest day, a day at Coney Island´s amusement parks.
The ferry arrives, a short walk, the streets are strangely unpeopled.The wind suddenly feels colder, the sky turns grey and hazy. Fog are closing in from the sea.
The amusement park is totally abandoned, your steps echoes drearily against the pavement. Suddenly you realise that you´re alone in the fog, your company has dissapeared.
And your on the highest hill in a worn out wagon at the long ago closed roller coaster, the wind make the rusty old parts squeak, the track ends some where down in the milky fog...


Bond No 9´s Coney Island is a big surprise for me. I´ve been curious about it for a long time, and though (considering the notes and the name) that it would be a happy, sweet, summery tivoli kind of scent.


Coney Island is a part of New York, famous for it´s beach and many amusement parks. Coney Island was most popular during early 1900th century, but has since then been on decline. Amusement parks has closed down and some of the most famous rides have been close to ruin. But, just recently the City of New York decided to do over Coney Island ant it´s historic tivolies and roller coasters. So hopefully Coney Island has a bright future ahead.


Coney Island lists notes of melon, guava, vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, chocolate, sandalwood, cedar wood and musk. Maybe it´s not that strange that I belived it would be a sweet, yet somewhat fresh gourmand. Sure, it has some gourmand elements, for start it smells like a sour soda pop mixed with sea air. The sour note dissapears rather fast on me and leave me with strange notes of sea, fog, impenetrable milkyness and from some distant, notes of caramell, vanilla and wood. Maybe I´m anosmic for something in it? But even if I am, I think of Coney Island as a very interesting, exciting and melancholic scent.


But, I have tried another scent similar to Coney Island, without knowing it.
http://rebelladensnella.blogspot.com/search/label/Aral
The notes listed for Aral isn´t the same as for Coney Island, and the scents differes in some way. Aral lacks of Coney Island fresh, tart topnote for instant. When I´ve tried them next to each other I find Aral to be slightly dryer and not as complex and thrilling as Coney Island. The base note of Coney Island is also much more prominent, not only the scent drying in and slowly dissapearing on my skin. I still belive that Aral is a very nice scent (if you happen to stop by France, it is also much cheaper then Coney Island), but if I had tried it AFTER Coney Island I hadn´t find it so unique.


Well, whatever... Coney Island is a perfume worth trying. Maybe it become more gourmand on you? I belive I´ll use Coney island quite much during summer, I think of it as a perfect warm weather scent. This time of year, but also during autumn, I think Coney Island enhance the melancholic mood of melting snow, rain and snow and grey weather...


Have you tried any perfume that smelled totally unlike what you have expected?




Pic: Neatoroma

Costamor

Today we´re heading to Costa Rica´s rainforest. No, not really but we shall learn to know a new line of perfumes, Costamore, inspired by the beautiful nature of Costa Rica. Elisabeth Wright, settled in California, but half Costarican wanted to re-create her happy and beautiful memories from childhood visits in Costa Rica.


For me as a frost-bited Swedish, Costa Rica comes close to my imaginations of paradise. Beautiful nature, greenery, flowers, butterflies, turqoise sea bays, beaches and magnificent mountains. The fact that Costa Rica also is one of Latinamerikas most prosperous and democratic (and stable) countries don´t make it any worse, right? Costa Rica have struggled to maintain their rainforest for a long while and are way ahead many countries when it comes to eco-tourism. And, Costa Rica is also one of very few countries that has no army/military what so ever. Doesn´t that sound like a place to visit?


Well, Costamor offers, this far, four different scents. Tabacca, Sugarwood, Beachwood and Dulcess all of them are EdP.


Dulcess is closest to a fruityfloral, the scent of fruits and flowers that lures butterflies. On me, the top note smells a little lika Aqualina´s Pink Sugar, but softer, lighter and not as sweet. I don´t get that impressed, but after a while Dulcess is changing and become more creamy, smoth and flowery. Now, I think it´s closing in to the smell of a jungle filled with lush flowers and ripe fruits. Dulcess evolves to a quite vibrant and loud tropical floral fiesta. Good longvity and good sillage.


Beachwood is the smell of long sandy beaches, sea and driftwood. This is a little odd take on aquatic, lets call it a woody aquatic. The aquatic accord is quite warm, and makes me think more of warm, turqoise and tropcal waters than on cold and stormy oceans. The notes of wood become more and more obvious and at the same time the aquatic note retires. During the base note the wood has become warm, dry and soft and also a nice nuance of sweet creaminess from coconut. Just as Dulcess this is a longlasting scent with plenty of sillage.


Just as the name suggest, Tabacca is a tobacco scent. If Dulcess and Beachwood aren´t really my cups of tea, Tabacca is. For start it´s sweet, golden and sticky aplle tobacco. Actually it smells exactly as the apple tobacco you can buy to water pipes. And, this I like. The sweetness and moist stays for a good while, but suddenly I discover that Tabacca has developed into something else. Now, it has become a embrasive, dry and genuin scent of smoking cigars and cigarettes. Somewhere along the road, Tabacca has left the Tropics and left me in a Brittish gentlemen´s club... and that isn´t a bad place to be either. Now, Tabacca remind me a little of Ava Luxe´s Film Noir, but slightly softer and maybe easier to wear. Tabacca has also good lasting power and sillage.


But really, my favorite of the four has become Sugarwood. With note of sugar cane, just such a thing! And it´s sweet, but not too sweet, at least not on me. It smells like if sugar would be fresh, green, aromatic, juicy and I guess that is what sugar smells like when it still is sugar canes!? I have never encountered any sugar canes in real life, so for me the sugar cane note in Sugarwood is totally unique and unlike everything I know of (OK, maybe there is a hundred of different scents out there with the same scent, but if so I haven´t tried them.. yet, and I will write more about similarities soon, but that hasn´t got anything to do with the Costamor fragrances). Just like the other scents from Costamor, Sugarwood is changing quite drastically. From comforting green sweetness to something different, not entirely different though. Now a note of caramellised, almost burnt sugar develops and from juicy it goes towards soft, warm woods. A total change, but still a logic one...


Non of the scents from Costamor seem to be so complicated, but they are warm, happy and partly, different. The basenote in all four scents are very concrete, and even though it´s differs from the top-and heart it´s still very belivable. Fresh sugar become burnt sugar. Golden, sweet tobacco becomes smoky tobacco. Aquatic notes and wet wood becomes coconut and dried woods. Cotton candy and caramell changes and becomes flowers and fruits (real thing compared to manufactured sweets).


You can find more information about Costamore here: http://www.costamor.com/
For now, you can buy Sugarwood and Tabacca at Luckyscent, but also directly at the Costamore homepage.


Until I go to Costa rice for real, I have to settle with sniffing on Sugarwood, and I do that with pleasure. Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Is it as fantastic and beautiful as I imagine? Or do you suggest some other paradise that are as good?


Coming up... some fumes from New York as well as some more Italian, and I´ve been doing some research that I´ll publish here soon...

Björk & Berries - White Jasmine EdP

Today, I will write about another pleasant note, namely jasmine.


More exactly the Swedish brand Björk & Berries eau de parfum, White Jasmine. Mainly, Björk & Berries are specialised on making wonderful skincare products. Many of their products have a Nordic style, both in design and scents. Björk & Berries offers for example skincare products with the scent of lingonberry/rose, clodberry/jasmine, wild strawberry and blueberry/lavender. Apart from skincare Björk & Berries also offer four different eau de parfums, White Jasmine, Patchouli Man, Patchouli Woman and Cedar Lime. You can read more about Björk & Berries and their products on their very nice homepage: http://www.bjorkandberries.com/


There isn´t any other note that have the same ability as jasmine to evoke an enchanted, mystical and suggestive mood I think. A well made jasmine scent takes me to enchanted realms populated by fairytale figures. White Jasmine isn´t an exception.


As the name suggest, White Jasmine is a "white" scent, if you by white means clear, clean, crispy, even a little cold, but also delicious and kind of high tuned. At once, when i try White Jasmine for the first time I´ve got associations to midsummernight sun, or more specifik, the white nights you can experience in Northern Sweden during midsummer and the weeks around that time.


I have seen real midnight sun, when visiting Northern Norway and Kiruna (situated in the very Northern parts of Sweden). But, where I came from, Boden, we don´t have any true midnight sun, by the mean of the sun being over the horison during night. The sun sets, but just for a very short while, leaving the night in a white, pale state of dusky dawn for a few hours until it rises again, about 1 or 2 in the morning.


These pale nights gives an enchanted mood, even though I never reflected about it as a kid, I think it´s quite beautiful and special nowadays when I´m visiting my home town during midsummer.


It´s this pale, fragile light that White Jasmine makes me think about. Fairy dance. Fog over the marshes. Figures among the trees with their backs turned against me... was it for real or only in my imagination?


But, White Jasmine is also a happy and purling scent, it´s purling and bubbles on my skin like an alpine creek or a clear coldwater well. White jasmine are on the border to being a soliflor, but gets some support from bergamot and ylang. The top note smells fresh and a little berry, like mineral water flavored with some kind of berries. I belive that the jasmine thanks to bergamot avoid being a little sleepy, as some jasmine frags tends to. It hasn´t got that stale character some other jasmine scents got.


The jasmine scent in White Jasmine is pretty much dominant, but convincable, clean but also interesting. I can sense some coniferus, soil, berries and an extremly pleasant scent of suggestive jasmine. White Jasmine is such a pleasant scent, a must try for every jasmine lover.


White Jasmine is made with 100% natural ingrediense, so this is a pretty soft scent, the sillage is gentle, but noticable. And the lasting power is really good for an all natural scent, I can feel the last remainings of the base note after about 8 hours. I love to wake up in the morning to discover the little traces of yesterdays perfume still lingering on my skin. Together with the bodyproducts with cloudberry/jasmine scent, you can layer White Jasmine and make it a little stronger. I love the coludberry/jasmine scent, even though the jasmine is pretty dominant in it, I can at least smell some cloudberries, lovely!


I like the toned down and Nordic style of Björk&Berries, and their eau de parfums (at least White Jssmine) are very affordable.


But I wish for an even more Nordic approach, why not let cloudberries be a note in one of their eau de parfums also? At the same time I realise that skincare products are their main orientation and that the fragrances are a small, but pleasant compliment. But, in my imagination I can dream about small bottles of eau de parfum with scent of cludberry, lingonberry, wild strwaberry, archipelago, alpine marshes and spruce forest, maybe intended for layering with White Jasmine? Well, I can imagine a lot opf things in my perfumaniac mind.


Another nice thing, is that Björk&Berries actually was a part of this years Oscars goodiebag! It seem like they´re in full progress and when it comes to scented products and perfumes I´m a little bit patriotic, since we´re not spoiled with that sort of things in Sweden.


If you could wish for a Nordic inspired scent, preferably quite simple in style, what would it be?





Pic: Thoughts of Greener Pastures by Jo Barry

(I suggest you check out the amazing paintings of Jo Barry on the net!)

Ambergris

As you know, I´ve got obsessed with things now and then. Earlier this winter it was big, magnificent florals, but that obsession has calmed down now. Now, it is perfumes with prominent notes of amber. I belive it was the wonderful Ambra Nera that started all this.


Well, I was very much in to ambery perfumes before, so it isn´t as much surprise as with the florals. And really, amber isn´t really the correct word, what I mean when I´m talking about amber is actually ambergris (grey amber) a material from the sperm whale. Ambergris has been used by humans for a very long time, in perfumes, medicin and other things as well. But it wasn´t until we started to hunt whales systematically that we discover that the mystic smelling lumps found in sea and at shore lines originate from whales.


Apperantly people still hasn´t agreed if the lumps depends on that the whale has puked them up or poop them out. I belive it make more sense if they are puked up, like cuds from owls. Inside the ambergris lumps jaws from giant octopuss are found. Isn´t it fascinating that we still use whale puke to perfume our self?


Natural ambergris is still used in perfumes, while other animalic ingridients (musk, civet and castor) have become very rare. Most other animalic ingredients where created with much pain for the animals. And for intstant, the musk deer is now protected in many areas. Today, synthetic or/and vegetable ingridienses are used instead of animalic.


Natural ambergris is an expensive and rare material, if you find a big lump (as the women on the pic) you can get a lot of money (100.000 dollar or even more). Oh well, I could imagine me being an ambergris collector in the future. But, the lumps don´t smell that pleasant.


Since it´s common with synthetic and vegetable ingridienses (for instant labdanum resin a material that comes from a rose growing in the Mediterrean area) and in perfumes with ambery characther it can smell very different. From an ambery scent you can expect a warm, creamy or powdery feeling. A slightly resinous smell (from labdanum I presume), coconut, soft sea scent, sweetness, aromatic, amber usually feels full bodied and concrete rather than light and ethereal. Among the animalic notes, amber is the one least animalic, still there is animalic elements in many ambery scents. Amber is often used as a base note, it has an ability to deepen and strenghten other notes. Amber has a complex scent of it´s own and can be used alone in a scent.


There is a lot of interesting things to find out about every single note used in perfumes!


Anyway, my amber obsession make me searching through my drawers for ambery scents that I´ve forgotten about. And I found a small sample that I haven´t even tried. Ambre 114 from Histoires de Parfums.


Why I hadn´t tried it before I don´t know, maybe a premonition. Well, I put on a few drops of Ambre 114 and was expecting to be wrapped up in sweet, golden ambery warmth. But noooo... I had contaminated my skin with a scent that both screamed and scratched. Help!


Evidentually anything with amber isn´t a pleasure to wear. I don´t know how they think when they created Ambre 114. It is sharp, harsh and at the same time strangely bland. A very abrasive patchouli together with geranium isn´t exactly my kind of liking. Well, I didn´t scrub it, and eventually the base note was quite pleasant, but the road there, thanks but no thanks!


So, by now my amber favorites are Farmacia SS Annunziata´s Ambra Nera and as always, Serge Luten´s Ambre Sultan. Which are yours? And do you have any horror amber experience?





Pic: Bag of nothing

Guerlain - Tonka Imperiale

Yes, my other Guerlian-decant was the new Tonka Imperiale. When my decants arrived i was so curious of both of them that I decided to try them both at the same time. Cuir Beluga on one arm and Tonka Imperiale on the other. And you know what, Cuir Beluga was the one getting most of my attention! Even though I had belive that I would like Tonka Imperiale most of the two.


But, maybe I do? I have really hard time deciding in this case. When wearing Tonka Imperiale I´m convinced that I prefer it, but the same goes for Cuir Beluga, and I can´t really figure out why I prefer Cuir Beluga when I wear them simultanously. Cuir Beluga isn´t the stronger of the two either.


Tonka beans are a common ingredient in perfume, apperantly good for prolonging and deepening the scent of other notes. But it´s not that usual that the tonka bean have the main role. Which is abit strange, since it has a lot of different nuances.


At first I smell a lovely almond note when trying Tonka Imperiale, but that soon dissapears and are followed by a note of licorice or anise, I suspect it can be rosmary, even though the scent on my skin aren´t at all herby, but more like soft sweet licorice candy. The licorice note soon gets company by notes of coffee turning to tobacco to hay to honey and back to the licorice again!


Tonka Imperiale is a changing scent and I can smell the canges from a distant, not only when I´ve got my nose attached to my vrist as with Cuir Beluga. Tonka Imperiale smells happy and easier accessible than Cuir Beluga, but still with a rich and luxurious aura.


Tonka Imperiale reminds me of other perfumes, like L de Lolita, M.Micallef´s Gaiac, Korres Jasmine Pepper Gaiac Wood Passion Fruit and even a little of L'Artisans Bois Farine. Still it stand nicely by it´s own, if a relative to L de Lolita Lempicka, it´s a far away relative like a rich second cousin. Thierry Wasser is the one that has created Tonka Imperiale.


Yes, Tonka Imperiale is sweet and with gourmand character, but not too sweet. Really not at all as sweet as L de Lolita for instant. Tonka Imperiale captures me with it´s swirly character, in one second powder and there after sweet and then something burnt and smokey and something cold and distant. Yes, there is a strange cold note in Tonka Imperiale, something like coconut, but actually it makes me think about coconut fat, and that don´t even have much of a smell. Still it makes candy likes ice confect kind of cool. So if you can imagine the smell of ice konfekt without any chocolate, that is what I mean.


Tonka Imperiale has as well as Cuir Beluga a good lasting power and nice sillage. I think I will use my decants quite often, and maybe Tonka Imperiale will be the one I empty first. Even though I really love Cuir Beluga, Tonka Imperiale is more my kind of scent.




Pic: Internet stones

Guerlain - Cuir Beluga

I was planning to write something else than a perfume review now, but I couldn´t. Sometimes I get so fed up with myself and all the amazing perfumes that I write about, and then it´s nice to write about something else as a change.


Of course I´ve got a lot of perfumes lying around that smells like *meh* and even worse, but honestly, it´s not that much fun neither to try them or to write about them. And those kinds of perfume disasters that are so strange/bad/wrong that it´s fun to write about them because of that, well that kind of perfumes I don´t encounter so often.


Guerlian´s Cuir Beluga is anything but *meh*. Cuir Beluga is a part of Guerlains L'Art et la Matière, an exclusive line of perfumes, only available in Guerlian flagship stores. I haven´t been on a trip to Paris to buy my own bottle of Cuir Beluga (even though I wish I had), I happened to find me a nice little decant of it.


I dared to buy 5 ml of Cuir Beluga (and another from L'Art et la Matière, but more about that later) unsniffed, and I can assure you that I´m not regret it.


My first impression was... ooooh... lala... I belive that I never have sniffed a scent that smell so luxurious, so expensive and so... much money kind of. The notes listed are aldehydes, tangerine, patchouli, immortelle, vanilla, amber, suede and heliotrope.


When I getting used to the expensive scent I get a lot of impressions and associations by Cuir Beluga. Enormus sand dunes in pale golden color, but looking on each grain of sand you can see that they´re all unique. Soft, melting praline. Long evening dresses in softest nude colored skin. Pale make-up with bleached eyebrows. Redish blond women with long bones that got manicure and pedicure. Fair leather shoes with high, but comfortable heels. Relaxed, but not decadent, luxury. Piped cream with vanilla flavor in intricat patterns. A fan that slowly spins in the colonial Indochine.


Cuir Beluga is toned down, soft and caressing. There is a lot of things in Cuir Beluga that almost smells. I can almost sense the smell of leather, but the leather in Cuir Beluga is so soft that it almost smells like steaming jasmine-rice. It´s almost the smell of jasmine and heliotrope, but instead I can feel the smell of papery everlasting flowers, but still with the memories of summer and warmth left. It´s almost the smell of cinnamon, the color of cinnamon, the taste of cinnamon, but just almost. It´s almost like a cup of camomille tea with honey left the cool. It´s almost as the sound of quite, slow classical background music. It´s almost like the sunbeam shining through the curtains.


But as a fragrance it isn´t almost good. Cuir Beluga is a true beauty, but in a humble and silent way. Cuir Beluga isn´t (despite the name) anything for newly rich Russians (only joking, it goes for newly rich people no matter where they came from). No, Cuir Beluga is more like a perfume for people that are born into money. How I could have any idea about such a thing? I just make this up you know.


In Sweden (and surely other places to) it´s popular to smell clean and newly showered. I guess L'Eau Serge lutens could be really popular here. Even though my favorite in that cathegory is Neil Morris Clear. But, if people like the smell of clean, why coudln´t they like the smell of rich? If you are curious about that, I suggest that you try Cuir Beluga.


Cuir Beluga has super good lasting power, on me at least 12 hours. The soft leather hangs in there for a long time, but in the end Cuir Beluga is mostly a nice, creamy vanilla, very appropriate for Guerlain. Cuir Beluga is the utmost comfort and in a way very simple, yet complicated when analysing all the different parts of it. Cuir Beluga was released 2005 and created by Oliver Polge. I do suspect that my 5 ml decant will not last so long.


Have you tried any perfumes from L'Art et la Matière? Any favorites? Or are you curious about some of them?


Anyway, it was really fun that Anna from Nyköping won the Swedish Eurovison Song Contest, she has such an amazing voice that girl. But my personal favorite was "Keep on walking".




Pic: Free background

Farmacia SS Annunziata dal 1561 - Ambra Nera

If I want to drink Farmacia SS Annunziata´s Perla and wrap up in Cara, when it comes to Ambra nera I´ll never want to stop smelling it. This is a perfume to move in to. This is a scent that makes me feel bot comfortable and surprised at the same time. Ambra Nera is complex and multi-facetted but also, extremly comfy, soft and warm.


Ambra Nera starts with one of the most animalic notes I ever smelled in an amber perfume. Somewhere in this scent there is a predator hiding. A golden striped tiger camouflaged among flames and shadows of golden ambery light. Ambra nera smells of predator, dangerous and animalic, but also soft, cuddly and erotic. When I first sniffed it I almost made a little happiness dance because of the amazing top note!


When I recognised the animalic note I can smell it all the way through the scent, still I do recommend Ambra Nera even to those of you not so found of animalic scents. Soon it fades away and become more like a nice kitten that have fell a sleep in the sun at the windowsill.


Ambra Nera is so much more then the smell of a tiger. It´s dense, golden, smokey and resinous amber and beautifully lifted by a top note of eucalytus. This is so cool, cause it makes the scent kind of transcluent and active.


This is lighted candles, sweaty bodies, a secret club, big city feeling paired with eastern mystique, incense, henna tattoos, dark eyes and erotic looks...


Excuse me, but Ambra nera almost manage to make Serge Lutens Ambra Sultan look like... well, something not as exciting and perfect when I´ve learned to know Ambra Nera. It is like the (of me made up) belly dancer in Ambra Sultan only was the fore-dancer to the one in Ambra Nera, the one´s that enters stage when all the tourists has return to their hotels. The belly dancer queen in Ambra Nera has a tiger as a pet, while the one in Ambra Sultan has an ordinary cat...


Ambra Nera has a raw, almost sweaty erotic quality, but at the same time laid back, soft and powdery. Some of you might think it is a little to much, but for me it´s perfect. The soft, powdery notes hides the raw and animalic, that maybe are most noticable when sniffing close. Which I of course do all the time, since I´ve got a masterpiece on my wrist.


Maybe it sounds like Ambra Nera is a very demanding kind of scent? But, strangly enough it isn´t. It´s both very sexy and so comfy at the same time. I feel so comfy when I wear it, and still discover new nuances all the time. Do you know what vetiver makes of a base note otherwise consisting of patchouli and amber? A lot of interesting things, it gives the scent a papery dimension while it also manage to calm down the patchouli and make it shows the chocolate aspects of patchouli. I almost think I like the base note the best if it wasn´t for the top note that is so incredible good...


The basenote is like being in a homey, old library and smell old leather bound books and old paper while a piece of dark chocolate slowly melts in your mouth. Do that sound like something you coudl enjoy?


Unfortunatly Farmacia SS Annunziata´s scents are quite hard to find outside Italy! Luckyscent has them, which is soooo good for you if you live in the US. And, Farmacia SS Annunziata´s scents has a very nice price point for being Italian scents. Italian perfumes are wonderful, but I think, sometimes a bit on the pricey side. Not so with Farmacia SS Annunziata. But I wish, they would come in smaller bottles though...


You can read more about Farmacia SS Annunziata here: http://www.farmaciassannunziata1561.com/


Even if Perla and Cara (and several others) are very nice scents, there isn´t any doubt about that Ambra Nera is the one wininng me over totally. Ambra Nera is a perfume, and still it has good sillge and of course good lasting power. I love it from first sniff until there is only memories of it remaining on my skin...





Pic: William Meredith

Winners of Perle di Bianca-sample

Congratulations to Jorid and Ylva!

You´re the winners of a Perle di Bianca-sample. Send your address to my mail so I can send you the samples.

Unfortunatly I can´t past the drawing from random.org here. :(

For the rest of you I wish that you have better luck next time.

Farmacia SS Annunziata dal 1561 - Cara

I´ve never been much of a comfort eater, even though I have cravings for chocolate, salt liqorice and quick macaronies some days in the month. But the older I´ve got the less I can eat, when I was younger I could easily eat at least a big 200 gram of Marabou´s chocolate bar (Marabou is the most popular chocolate bar brand in Sweden, If we ever make a swap i can send you some, they are really jummy). Nowadays I don´t eat more than at most 50 gram. And with a very active young dog in the house, you know I should probably need to eat 200 grams of chocolate.


If I´m not much of a comfort eater I am much more of a comfort sniffer. I was one of those kids with a very close relationship to my favorite stuffed animal (Gammelnalle or Old bear), i didn´t go anywhere without my cuddly toy. And when it waas time to sleep, Old bear should be right under my nose so I could smell his inveterate smell. During teenage the stiffed animals was changed to a Palestinian scarf, and I hope your not curious about all that got spilled on that poor scarf? But the worst thing was when my mother decided to wash it just to be nive! Horror! It didn´t at all smell liked it should! I had a name for it too, "Palle". (Short for Palestinian)


The closest i got to a cuddly toy now is my husband. And I´ve got a theory that you chose a partner which smell you like. Otherwise maybe some perfumes will work as a replacement.


Farmacia SS Annunziata´s Cara is such a scent. It consists of the softest almond, swet fudge and smothest vanilla. Some talkum and amber is also there. Just like Perla, this isn´t a complicated scent, but while Perla is uplifting and cherful, Cara is more cuddly, comfy and caressing.


I prefer gourmands when it´s time to sleep. But it has to be a soft, not so sweet or loud gourmand. Cara is perfect, it can´t be much more comfy than this. Cara wraps you up with a smoth, creamcolored softness of almond milk, vanilla kisses and subtle fudgy sweetness.


Otherwise I have to admit it reminds a little in style about Perla, non of them are complex scents that takes a lot of analyse to be familiar with. But still, among almond scents it has become a big favorite for me. Less is more is so true when it comes to some kinds of scents.


Cara is an eau de parfum and has better longvity then Perla and nice sillage. During base note the wonderful almond notes dissapears and left you with a nice, but somewhat boring, vanilla.


But the scent I´ll write about next from Farmacia SS Annunziata is anything but simple. Don´t miss it!


Do you wear perfume when it´s time to sleep? And if so, what kind of scents do you prefer? Maybe you´re getting hungry and have to have a snack if you wearing gourmand scents in bed?



Pic: Flickr (blossoming almond trees)

Farmacia SS Annunziata dal 1561 - Perla

If Laboratorio Olfattivo is one of the newest perfume lines in Italy, Farmacia SS Annunziata is on of the oldest. Farmacia SS Annunziata is more then a line of perfumes, it´s an farmacy established in Florence 1561. During the years the farmacy has been driven -among others- by monks, but most of the documents get lost during France occupation of Tuscany in early 19th century.


Even though the farmacy history is interesting and Farmacia SS Annunziata is one of the oldest and still existing brands in Italy, I am -as usual- most interested in the perfumes. And Farmacia SS Annunziata sure has a lot to chose from, varies from eau de toilettes to perfume. The scent I´ll write about today is an eau de toilette.


About two years ago I tried a scent fokused on apricots. I thought it smelled good, but after all "how often do i want to go around smelling like apricots" I asked myself. And that was my opinion until I tried Farmacia SS Annunziata´s Perla...


The notes are lemon, osmanthus, amber and vanilla. But on me, Perla is all about apricots. And what an apricot! I could drink/eat/bath in this! Perla is an absolutly stunning, beliveable and mood lifting apricot scent. For start it´s the smell of fresh, sunriped and very juicy apricots and I can taste them in my mouth when I smell Perla. During the heart note, the apricopts become more like dried apricots, sweet, chewy and sour.


Perla isn´t complex, rapidly changing or surprising, except of that it is the best apricot scent I´ve ever smelled. Is even better then real apricots, since I can follow different kinds of apricots in Perla...


Perla is sweet, on me not too sweet, but the youngest daughter think it was to sweet on her. So no matter how much I enjoy Perla, I guess it isn´t for everyone. But, however, a scent that makes me realise that of course I need to go around and smell like apricots, is a scent worth trying, right? Maybe Perla will reveal things about you as well? Beware! :)


During base notes, perla becomes more of a soft, powdery vanilla but with nuances left of the apricots, even though more like delicate apricot powder. Being an eau de toilette it has nice staying power and also good sillage. There isn´t that much to write about a pure apricot scent, perla don´t take me on any cool olfactory tripps, byt it do makes me feel fine and like I am having my own private little sun with me wherever I go, and that isn´t a bad thing.


Do you have some interesting and nice scented surprises to tell about? Any note that made yoy totallt change your opinion just like that?




Pic: Flickr

Laboratorio Olfattivo

I´ve tried to become familiar with the four scents from Laboratorio Olfattivo, a new Italian perfume line, introduced in november last year. The line, this far, consist of Alkemi, Daimiris, Alambar and Cozumel.


The name, Laboratorio Olfattivo makes me think of a laboratorium, but not that kind of modern, cold, and clinical lab (as in Le Labo), but an old, mystic and filled with secrets kind of alchemy lab sort of (and since one of the perfumes are called Alkemi that is probably the intent).


The scents are all warm, golden and with a somewhat mystic aura surrounding them, At first I liked Cozumel (with Marie Duchene as perfumer) and Daimir (created by Pierre Guillaume) the best, but pretty soon I realised that all four scents was really good and also, similar to each other in some way. It´s is quite common that a perfume house/line has some kind of coherent between the scents that makes them easy to identified as belonging to a certain house/line. And, even though Laboratorio Olfattivo is a new line, i think I can sense the story line...


The similarity isn´t a in your face kind of similarity, and I suddenly started to think about the way sieblings could be borh very much alike each other but at the same time their own unique persons. The similarity could be both apperance as well as body language and shared values. And while thinking about siebling I started to think about the old classic fairy tale about "Twelve dancing princesses" a story I really liked when I was little. OK, the king wasn´t the most clever one around, but apart from that I like the story, and most of all I liked to compare the different sister with each other, who was the oldest and who was the prettiest and who has the cutest dress and who was the darkest and so on. What a gold mine for a young girls fantasy, not only twelve sisters but also princesses!


Laboratorio Olfattivos scents could be created for four different fairy tale princesses. And now I don´t think about pastel coloured, girly and cute but half oriental princesses dressed in golden brocade, lush velvet and heavy jewelry.


Alkemi (Marie Duchene) is a saturated, warm and deep oriental floral with ylang-ylang. Myrrh, patchouli and incense makes it dense, dark and suggestive. The dark notes are flickering on my skin as dancing shadows. Still, with some sweetness and the floral notes it isn´t as dark as you can belive considering the notes. In it´s genre I think of Alkemi as a quite light scent. Sensual but at the same time peppy.


Alambar (Enrico Buccella) is all about amber, this is the common line in this scent. The top note is as a golden breeze of bergamot and kakao, after a while the amber got accompanied by a wonderful cinnamon and soft vanilla. This is a complex kind of amber, that changes throug out the scent, it´s both buttery and creamy and powdery... It goes from smoth as honey to almost dark and animalic. Such a pleasure. In Alambar the amber is dancing, floating, dreamy and seductive.


Daimiris (Pierre Guillaume) is the one among the scents that feels most modern, but in a snug and not minimalistic way. Safron, cardamom, rhum and soft suede. Gives a kind of dry but also warm scent with deepth. The sude is of the softest kind and the opowdery note of iris blends together with the dry notes of suede... The spices are sprinkled all over and this is a complicated dance, with advance steps and a lot to learn. Sensual, yet stiff but also fiery... a modern variety of flamenco perhaps?


Cozumel (Marie Duchene) is also a modern scent, different herbs gives it a green but still very soft and warm character. Basil, tobacco, cannabis and sage makes a exuberant and kind of wet greenery laid over a soft, warm and aromatic base. A uplifting, ahppy but also wild kind of dance would go fine with Cosumel.


As you see, the four scents are not that similar, but still something unifies them. Oriental floral (Alkemi) oriental (Alambar) green (Cozumel) and leathery floral (Daimiris). They share a warmth and a kind of golden shimmer, they also have notes of amber all of them. This is well made and interesting scents, but also easy to wear and easy to like (not always the case with niche).


I do hope Laboratorio Olfattivo release more scents, hopefully 8 more, so the princesses will be completed. ;) You can find some more about Laboratorio Olfattivo here http://www.laboratorioolfattivo.it/ (only Italian unfortunatly).






Pic: 12 dancing princesse (trad)

Simone Cosac - Perle di Bianca (and a draw)

In only a few days it´s time for the annual Oscar award ceremony. And, so much more glamorous than the Oscar ceremony it can´t be. Personally I think watching all the stars in beautful creations is almost as interesting as who got the prices. And of course I use to think about what kind of perfumes they wear to those super stunning outfits.


One thing with those kind of big gala parties is that the guests got goodiebags. A "small" gift filled with surprises for the guests to enjoy. Last year it sure was a lot of good things in the goodiebag, among others the pefume I´ll write about today... Perle di Bianca.


Perle di Bianca is created by Simone Cosac Naify, a brasilian now living in Florence, Italy. Simone was inspired by the noble women Bianca Capello´s (1548-87) life and also her beautiful Italian villa, Villa La Tana.


Perle di Bianca is a grand, magnificent and splendid floral scent. It´s both classic and glamorous and well suited for todays Hollywood stars. But even better, I think it would be on the glorious divas of Italian films such as Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and why not our Swedish Anita Ekberg ( she was really big in Italy, thanks to the movie La Dolce Vita). These sensual and well-formed ladies would wear Perle di Bianca perfectly.


When I wear Perle di Bianca I think about a shining, beautiful and white flower of some kind. Perle di Bianca is a scent that took a good while to develop on the skin. It´s like a flwoer that very, very slowly goes from bud to full bloom to eventually lousy. At first Perle di Bianca is a classic white floral, almost stunningly notes of neroli, this is a svent you wont need much of. The scent it self is warm, white, sharp and high tuned.


As I said, you have to wait a while before the entrance of the heart notes, and now it gets more modern and intriguing. Notes of blackberries gives both a sweetness but also a certain freshness that feels very comfy and nice. Suddenly it´s like the white flower is shifting color, strokes of light lavender and icy pink occurs. But then, among floral notes and blackberries I notice a vague but unmistakable note of bitter almond. Now the flower even got some delicat green elements.


This is a perfume to tribute the beauty of slowness in our lifes. A perfect scent if you want to practice some mindfulness.


Since I have focused on the notes of blackberry and bitter almond, I almost missed that the neroli blossom giving way to iris. Now it´s time for another phase. Perle di Bianca is a scent that develops a lot from start to end, but slow, quiet and very refined. Despite of the iris I don´t find Perle di Bianca to be particulary powdery, it´s kind of more like the scent of real flowers than powdery flowers.


Among the basenotes there is myrrh and I wonder if it can help the iris not to become so powdery? Anyway, Perle di Bianca is a radiate, beautiful and comfy white floral. Medium silage and good lasting power. As a scent I think it succed to capture the Florentian spirit as well as the feeling of white pearls.


Perle di Bianca also offers a range of bath-and body products and you can read more about Perle di Bianca here: http://www.perledibianca.com/eng/index.html


I happen to have two little nice spray samples of Perle di Bianca in nice, white organza-pouches. Leave a comment if you like to participate in the draw (write that you are eneter the draw). Two winner (both here and the Swedish blog) will get a sample each. I will draw the winner through random.org next thursday 11/3. Good Luck!


And we´ll wait and see what there is in this years Oscars goodie-bags? Maybe some perfume to write about...?


Besides that there will be quite a big deal about Italy here. France may be the biggest perfume country, but I wonder if Italy is the country where more things are happening?





Pic: Picturefinder

Serge Lutens - L'eau Serge Lutens

Serge Lutens has been knowned for his (and still are) heady, strong, complex, dark and mysterious orientals. There was a time when the perfumistas all over the world was stoked before the release of a new perfume from Serge Lutens. This time has past.


The perfumistas started to "wish for" some scents from Serge Lutens without all the curry stewed fruits, horror musks and intriguing arabesques filled with heavy oriental spices and woods... and well, it seem that they´ve got what they wished for.


At first there was Nuit de Cellophane, a clear, light and comfy floral. I didn´t think it was very interesting, but still I tried it several time, it was after all a Serge Lutens, and I thought I finally would discover the hidden mysteries in it. But I didn´t. Nuit de Cellophane aren´t anything but a nice floral.


L'eau Serge Lutens follow in the same foot steps. But, if Nuit de Cellophane at least are a nice scent, that is more than I can say about L'eau Serge Lutens. In the pressrelease it´s stated that L'eau Serge Lutens is created to be a kind of anti-scent, a reaction against an overly scented world. It´s strange that a perfume guru makes that kind of statement, and it´s hard to figure out if it is lack of self-critisism or the other way around, an actually quite fun and ironic self-distance. I do hope it´s the later.


My problem is that I don´t think of L'eau Serge Lutens as an anti-scent. It´s in fact very noticeable and not at all what I expect from an anti-scent, whitch in my opinion should be some kind of smoth and soft skin-scent. No, to my nose, L'eau Serge Lutens is a fresh, sporty and strong. It has a powerful sillage and is anything but discrete. That it should smell particulary newly showered I don´t think either, there is other scents doing that better.


On me, L'eau Serge Lutens is like I´ve sprayed a lot of after the gym fresh kind of scent, something like Adidas could have done. I don´t think it´s fulfil what to expect as a scent from Serge Lutens, neither what to expect due to the pressrelease.


For me, L'eau Serge Lutens is a big no.


So please, Serge, stick to what you and Christopher Sheldrake are doing so great, magnificent, beautiful, dark and mysterious orientals. Give me more of curry stewed fruits and strange orientals rather than clean, fresh and stated minimalistic creations.





Pic: Pawin.com

Thierry Mugler - Angel Liqueur de Parfum

While Alien Liqueur de Parfum become a more divulged version of the original, Angel Liqueur de Parfum is the other way around. OK, physically speaking there isn´t anything more compact than a black hole, but olfactory speaking Angel Liqueur de Parfum feel more fokused and concrete than the original.


Maybe it´s because I´m only liking Angel that I fell so madly in love with Liqueur de Parfum? In only a few seconds it manage to be my new favorite from Thierry Mugler. Ooooh, this is quite something!


And the name feel even more strange and misleading then the original. This is clearly a scent for a queen of big, dark, secret and beautiful caves hiding somewhere below us in the underworlds precipice. Places no human have visit, except in your fantasy or in litterature and movies, caves as big and grand as cathedrals but where no daylight shines. Caves with magnificent stalagmites and stalagtites, more beautiful than something ever created by humans. Dark passages that becomes more and more narrow and ends up in a dip or an underground river.


Well, this is the pictures Angel Liqueur de Parfum creates in my head, but how does it smell? The opening is darker than most other openings I´ve tried. A strong note of cacao, the darkest there is, cacao so dark it almost become black. The patchouli note is murky, heavy and strong that it´s almost frigthening (at least for people normally not so found of patchouli). This opening makes Serge Lutens Borneo 1834 soft and friendly...


But, pretty soon the impenetrable darkness got accompanied by sweetness, nuances and rays of different colors like golden, emerald green, ruby red, yes like little diamonds and precious stones are sprinkled over a black base. An obvious cherry note occurs, but this is dark cherries, like cherries soaked in golden brown rhum for months. I can also smell notes of creamy vanilla fudge and dark, moist and almost rotten wood.


Liqueur de Parfum is constantly changing. The different notes comes and goes. The dark base hides beneath, almost forgotten since it´s so much interesting things going on at the surface. Even though it´s complex and very variable I experience it as more tied together than original-Angel. And the synthetic you find in both Alien and Angel aren´t as prominent neither in Angel Liqueur de Parfum or the Alien-version. And when it comes to the Angel version it is a really good thing.


Angel Liqueur de Parfum has good longvity and decent sillage. The base is calmer then the rest, aromatic woods, soft and creamy vanilla, patchouli and quite a lot sweetness. It rest so nice on my skin for hours.


Usually I don´t mark perfumes. But I can at least try to rank some of the Alien-and Angel scents.


Alien (original) 8 of 10
Angel (original) 6 of 10
Eau de Star 8 of 10
Alien Liqueur de Parfum 7 of 10
Angel Liqueur de Parfum 10 of 10


So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a sample of Angel Liqueur de Parfum, as fast as possible. I´m having some anguish since it´s only a temporary available scent. I need more of it!


And I wonder if the people liking original-Angel prefers the Liqueur de Parfum-version of Alien and the other way around? What do you think?


And I promise my next inlay won´t be as positive...




Pic: Design Swan

Thierry Mugler - Alien Liqueur de Parfum

When my samples and minis of all different kinds of Aliens and Angels arrived I thought Alien Liqueur de Parfum would be my new favorite. That didn´t happen, but now I slowly learn to like it more and more.


I think my reaction partly depends on the fact that I really like original-Alien. It has a clear, hightuned, synthetic brightness that is like an olfactory but very pleasant electric chock. Alien Liqueur de Parfum don´t have that ability. Liqueur de Parfum is like an opera singer that no longer are able to catch the higest tunes, or something spotlessly clean that starts becoming a little dirty or a sheer beauty that has start to whitter. For start I think of this as something not as good as the original, but now I´ve start appreciate the different nuances a little more.


Liqueur de Parfum isn´t as high, bright and shiny as Alien, but on the other hand it has a wider approach. It´s darker, woodier and the floral notes seem to be a little more complex. well, yes I have to admit I like this to, not so much that I´ll need a bottle of it, but enough to really like testing it.


Alien Liqueur de Parfum is a must try if you find original-Alien to be to sharp, edgy and screamy. Maybe if original-Alien is like pavarotti, Liqueur de Parfum is more of the Lady Gaga-version. And as you realise, still pretty much an attention seeker!


In Liqueur de Parfum the alcohol notes are NOT as strong as in the original. Or at least, they feel more blended, like rhum mixed with sugar and a hint of soapy lime (lime smells a little soapy, don´t you think?). The floral notes has some cherry smelling heliotrope I think. And the woody notes are warmer, darker and more prominent than in the original, and this is the part that makes me like Liqueur de Parfum so much. Together with the woody note I can also smell creamy vanilla and dark sugar.


Liqueur de parfum is more down to earth than the original. I think this would make it easier to like to a lot of people. Just as the original it has good lasting power and sillage, maybe a little more discrete though.



Pic: home and garden