L'Artisan Parfumeur - Nuit de Tubereuse

To find pictures of men and flowers wasn´t that easy. Most pictures I found was with a male holding a boquet of flowers behind his back and looking innocent. Really sterotype and not at all what I wanted. Then I looked among homoerotic artwork, and now I found some males with flowers, problem was they was a little too erotic, so I settled for this one above, maybe he´s a little to cute, but at least he´s wearing some pants...

I´ve tried to figuring out L'Artsian´s Nuit de Tubereuse for a while now. It is another of those scents I´m having some problems to get to know. But so, one day, I get it! Nuit de Tubereuse is a masculine scent, and a masculine tuberose which isn´t the most common thing.

Besides that masculine thing going on, I belive I recognise something in it from some other scent, but I can´t at all figure out which. Have you the same feeling, maybe you even know what scent it reminds of, please let me know.

When I started to get used to Nuit de Tubereuse I almost belived this was another tuberose scent that I could like a lot (this far Carnal Flower is my only BIG tuberose crusch). It is really tuberose, but also a very different take on tuberose. It is soft and in a way shy -for a tuberose scent- still it has almost killer sillage and great lasting power. Sounds weird? Well, I know, but still it has kind of a soft aura even though it sounds impossible.

There is soft greenery in Nuit de Tubereuse, a greenery that smells "hollow", but in a good way. Soft species that softens the sharp tuberose and the tuberose has company of other flowers, gently whispering in the background.

But suddenly, there it is! The masculine note! When I well had discovered it, I can´t stop thinking about it, and realise I don´t like Nuit de Tubereuse as masch as before I discover the masculine note. Usually my skinchemistry fails to lift up masculine notes, even in scents supposed to be masculine or unisex, so this is quite a surprise for me. I can only think of one other floral scent supposedly feminine scent acting the same way, namely Carthusias Aria di Capri, which is a bold and well made floral with masculine elements.

What is masculine and what is not is a matter of taste, and I´m sure a lot of women wears Nuit de Tubereuse without any sign of masculine notes. I really wish that I was one of you!But I have discover that the masculine note don´t shows when I spraying it on clothes, usually I don´t wear perfume at my clothes, but in this case I can make an exception. As is smells on my clothes I wish it would smell on my skin.

Do you have other experiences with Nuit de Tubereuse? I´ll test it on my husband, I think that masculine note wil be really interesting to smell on him. So, Nuit de Tubereuse is a lush, multifaced, lively, full bodied, masculine floral. The sillage is huge and longvity is great.

I really, really recommend Nuit de Tubereuse to men that is interested to find a floral scent suitable for men. Also of course all of you usually liking tuberose, this is a must try, a very different take on tuberose by Bertrand Duchaufour. I also suspect that the masciline note that I can smell, is behaving very different on different types of skin, it isn´t that big that not a lot of women coudl enjoy wearing this as well.

Pic: Bidgood

A little draw!

It´s about time to have a little price draw.

The rules are really simple. Just enter a comment before monday morning 13/9 and I draw two (this goes for the Englisg as well as the Swedish blog) winners with Random.org.

What can you win? Well, one winner gets a nice sample of Andrea Maack´s Sharp as well as a small decanted sample of Andrea Mack´s Craft, also I´ll throw in some surprise sample.

The other winner will get a decanted sample of Craft, and also some surprise.

So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment and wish for luck, I belive that Andrea Maack samples aren´t that easy to find.

Good luck!

Thierry Mugler - Womanity

In a few days Thierry Muglers latest offering, Womanity, will be launched in Sweden. The 10:th of September it´ll be a release-party in Stockholm. I´ve been curious about Womanity all summer, since I read about it long before the launch in Sweden. Anyway, I hadn´t manage to get me even the smallest sample of Womanity.

Then I read that some trendy girl in Stockholm had been chosen to be Womanity´s spokesperson in Sweden and will have a release-party for the celebrities, and I have to admit that I become a bit jelaous that celebrities would have the possibilty to try it before me! What to do?

I posted a little message on my FB-wall, and less then 20 minutes later, sweet Loukia in Greece offered me a sample of Womanity. Oh, that what friends are for. Thank you, dearest Loukia. Overall, that never stops to amaze me, how friendly and generous perfume lovers are.

Usually I appreciate most scents from Thierry Mugler, Alien is a big fave and Angel Liquer de Parfuem is amazing, several of Thierry Mugler´s male scents are also really good, so I had some high expectations on Womanity. Also, the fact that caviar was involved in the fragrance made me very curious. I´ve read that it isn´t actually the smell of caviar, but rather a kind of copy of the caviar molecul structure. To me, that sounds oddly appealing.

Well, how is it then? I have to say that it´s really, really odd. The opening is a really sweet and also tart fruity mis, where I can smell mostly grape fruit. Not anything I would care for, it smells similar to so many other fruty blends available now. This not so nice top note is soon blended with an aquatic note, but no caivar though. When smelling Womanity up close I can feel some fruity mix, something aquatic and later on also a slightly milky character I guess depending on the fig.

This scent isn´t anything I care for at all, it is so mediocre and boring that I almost forget that I´m wearing a scent at all. Is it also very weak, so when I take a walk with husband and I dog I´ve almost forgot that I´m wearing Womanity...

But then, taadaa... kind of right out from nowhere I can suddenly feel the smell of Angel... Where did that come from??? I sniff my wrist, but there´s no sign of Angel there. Just the same boring scent of Womanity.

But then, a while later I can suddenly smell the most delicious vanilla cookie, sprinkled with just a hint of cardamom and cinnamon... (reminding a little of L de Lolita, but much softer and weaker). But, up close, Womanity still smells the same... this is starting to be very frustrating.

The next time it happens, I´m prepared. Now I immediatly recognize the scent of Alien. But just barely, and it´s gone in a blink.

It seem like little bubbles of Alien and Angel (and that vanilla cookie smell and others as well) are hidden within Womanity, bursting suddenly and letting their scent out, but just for a very short moment. It´s kind of like watching a 3D-movie without 3D-glasses. I also recognise the structure a little from Frederic Malle´s Dans Tes Bras, but it´s stronger and more obvious in that.

I suspect that it is in fact these scent bubbles that are similar to the molecul structure of caviar. You know the way a caviar grain burst between your teeth? I belive that the idea behind Womanity is well thought out, but somehow they don´t reach all the way. The basic scent of Woamnity is boring and bland, and the bubbles are so weak that I suspect a lot of people never even discovers them... And if I want to smell Alien or Angel or vanilla cookie, I can much better use those scent then Womanity.

I do suspect that Womanity can be a really interesting scent on the right chemistry, so it´s porbably worth trying anyway, just in case... And even though I have had it for a little while now, I don´t feel really finished with it. I belive Womanity can be one of those scents that grows after a while.

The sillage is really odd, and longvity is good. I guess Womanity -despite it´s name- could work on men too. Have you tried Womanity, what do you think about it?

pic: beut.ie

Andrea Maack - Craft

With notes of aldehydes, elemi (a resin with scent of spicy citrus), cold metal, ice, cedarwood and patchouli, Andrea Maack´s Craft sounds really intriguing. But, I didn´t really think that I would like it, since metallic notes in fragrances seldom seem to mix well with my skin chemistry. I was almost sure that I would like Sharp better, but then, when I tried Craft I got really surprised!

Craft is a really unique scent. Somehow it´s like a scent beyond the post-modern, a scent created for science fiction, space ships and cyborgs. With the aldehydic opening notes, it´s like being greated by a steamy cloud with a tart metallic scent. Like being lost in a foggy forrest with metallic trees and articial citrus fruits hanging from the metallic branches. Or maybe, this is how it smells like in Starship Enterprices hallways? Or is it the perfume that seven-of-nine put on each morning before shs ready to face another space adventure?

Well, somewhere right there I realise that I LIKE Craft a lot! One of few scents with dominant metallic note that actually work well with my skin chemistry. At first Craft is cold, wet, tart and extremly strange, but also interesting, exciting, unique, but most important, wearable. It is far easier to like then I first belived. Somewhere on the way to the heartnotes I detect a scent so much like those tart, papery flying saucers candy, so spot on I can even taste them in my mouth.

Like Sharp, Craft is also a white kind of scent, even though with elemenats of metallic and a hint of lightest green. While Sharp is soft and soothing on the surface, but with something evil/poisionous going on underneath, Craft is the other way around. Cold, wet and strange on the surface, but slowly warming up on my skin.If Sharp is layer on layer, Craft is with the notes parallell developing. It´s in the top notes and for the first hour I think of Craft as a cold scent. When it slowly warms up on my skin a warm, aromatic, woody, earthy and slightly green scent occurs. Still something otherwordly is present, but in a way that ewokes my imagination and curiousity.

During this phase in Craft, it´s like I´m slowly have worked my way to the heart of the spaceship and found out that there´s a giant, wonderfully scented tree that enpowers the spaceship instead of a more common motor (come on, this is sci-fi, anything is possible, at least theoretical). Or is it the little space kids that are having a lecture in biology and growing little miniature trees in petri-dishes?

-Does trees and plants really smell this good for real miss, a little space student wonders.

However, I discovered that I after all are more found of Craft, than of Sharp, even though harp in a way smells more "me", but also is more demanding to wear. Craft is easier to like and also not reminding of any other scent I´ve tried.

Craft has a huge sillage, especially at first when you get surrounden by a humid cloud smelling of citrus and metall. The sillage however are becoming much less dominant when the warmer notes of patvhouli and cedar wood occurs. Craft has good lasting power, even though Sharp has even better. Craft works really well on men too. Craft, as well as Sharp are really a must try scent. It´s not that often this different scents also is so easy to like.

Which is your favorite scent with metallic notes?

pic: seven-of-nine, geeknews

Andrea Maack -Sharp

Andrea Maack is an Icelandic artist that in her work is interested to interfer or complete the visual dominance in art. Andrea has chosen to do so by creating three different fragrances, Sharp, Smart and Craft, that olfactory correspond and mimic other of her artwork, like pencil drawings. With her perfumes Andrea has chosen to enter the commercial sphere and they´ll be launched worldwide. Andrea is fascinated ny the thought that people around the world will wear her art, and every single perfume bottle will be like people having their own Andrea Maack installation in their homes. Not only the scent itself, but also the bottle, the protecting pouch and the box is part of the artwork. You can read and learn morea bout Andrea Maack, her art and her perfumes here: http://www.andreamaack.com/

http://www.andreamaack.com/EauDeParfum.pdf

I have to admit that I´m very, very happy to evaluate these scents of several reasons. First of all, I think it´s really nice, that Iceland, a country not at all on the perfume map, finally have got some representation in the world of perfumes. That the line between art and the commercial interest that runs pretty much everything in perfume industry is getting thinner is interesting. The fact that we´re living in a visual dictatorship, but that it´s possible to interfer with it´s dominance is also very interesting. That these scents are very interesting and unique don´t make it any worse either...

I get Sharp as a very white scent, it´s white on white on white, but with little differences in nuances. Notes for Sharp: orange blossom, angle skin, sweet vanilla, white musk and soothing softness.

Yes, I think of Sharp as soft, powdery, unresisting and feminine, but below the surface there is something sharp (as the name suggest) and edgy lurking. Is Sharp a baby farmer? Or a sweet poison blender? A beautiful, but evil queen that sucks the life out of little children? Or Snowwhite´s cruel stepmother that have poisoned the juicy apple?

For me, the scent Sharp holds a story, a multifaced fairytale. The different notes are piled in layers, and each one is only briefly exposed. Flower petals resting on matt, white paper, on skin as pale as snow, a note of something medical, sharp, poisonous, narcotic and even though I almost experience the scent as repelling I am also extremly attracted to it. The "poison" note is very subtle, and gives Sharp am un-expected character and makes it very unlike most scents.

However, I find that Sharp has some similarities to Dior´s Hypnotic Posion, but like a version with the real thing. The papery floral notes has something in common with Van Cleefs & Arpels Gardenia Petale, but much more complex.

Sharp is in a way beyond comfort, softness and smoth vanilla, but a scent that demand my attention while I´m wearing it. I feel being in some kind of Tabula Rasa-situation, and that I can fill in the contents myself, it isn´t given. I guess this is what I would have wished Nasomatto´s China White to smell like. Sharp has an element of almost icy coolness that feels very comfy amon the mostly warm notes. Sharp is also quite a sweet scent, but that tart medical note wears out the sweetness quite well.

Sharp has great lasting power and could stay with me for a whole day, but however, it is a demanding scent and I can feel like I´m having an "overdose" after several hours with Sharp. It´s manage to evoke a lot of imagination and questions, and I discover new elements every time I try it. The sillage is quite huge, you´ll get notice when you´re wearing Sharp!

Soon, Andrea Maack´s fragrances will be launched in Stockholm, and every perfume lover should try her scents. The price is very affordable for this kind of scents. This is fragarnces that you really, really, really must try! What will you fill your Tabula Rasa with?

Don´t miss the drawing for some Andrea Maack samples coming up soon!

Pic: Andrea Maack

When I think about Iceland...

I guess that I´m not that unique when I think about Iceland.

I think about:

- going there and bathing in hot springs

- going there and riding on Icelandic horses

- the volcano Eyjafjallajökull that got an eruption this spring and mesing up all the air traffic over Europe.

- the talented and pretty Icelandic singer/artist Björk.

No, I don´t think that much about perfumes in connection to iceland, not until now that is... Soon, there will be a review or two about some very, very special Icelandic perfumes. The thing is that I can´t decide what to write about them and how to start, cause they´re really something special.

CoSTUME NATIONAL - 21

It has been a while between my bloggings, mostly because our computer have chrashed and I have to beg my son to use his computer. And since the schools have started and middle daughter is off to Markaryd I have started with the big autumn cleaning, which is fun but quite time consuming.

But, I´ve got a lot of wonderful and interesting perfumes to write about, actually I´ve got so many right now that it´s hard to know where to start.

Returning readers might remember that I tried a perfume at NK when we had our perfume meeting, a perfume that smelled wonderful, but that I couldn´t remember which it was. I suspected two scents, Laura Merciers Marrons Glaces and Costume National´s 21. I´ve tried Marrons Glavces a while ago, but even though it had some similarities to the one I searched for, I was almost certain that it wasn´t the one I was looking for.

Then I´ve ordered a sample of Costume National´s 21 and you can guess that I was so curious when I sprayed it on. But, uhu? Uhu uhu uhu? Nope, hmm.... I had to admit that the opening of 21 isn´t at all anything like the mysterious scent from NK. But, despite the differences I discovered that 21 was a really interesting scent.

Top notes of milk, amber and safron is soon to be followed by oakmoss and wonderful warm spices like clove and cinnamon. 21 smells both very good and a small, small part disturbing. The oakmoss is used with light hand, but I think that it gives such a nice twist to 21 and make it go from comfy gourmand to something different and unique. During this phase I like 21, but not 100% as I said, it has some weird elements. It is complex, both strong and soft at the same time. Very much gourmand, but at the same time woody, spicy and the oakmoss ledning it an almost smoky character. Over all I think Costume Nationals scents deserve much more attention, Scent Intense is a favorite of mine and now it seem 21 will go that way to.

About half an hour after applying the scent, I realsie I sniff my vrist obsessive, and yes... there we got it! The mysterious scent from NK! Yes, yeah yeah yeah, there it is! Still the warm, creamy, smoth and soft scent that I remember from NK is mixed with some harsh oakmoss and wood, but more and more the wonderful scent from NK is shining through. It proved to be the base note of 21 that stayed on my skin and in my memory that day!

And the base note remind me a lot of a Chilean drink called Colo de mono (monkey tail). A drink consisting of milk, coffee, spices and some liquer (rhum or preferable pisco). In Chile you drink this around Christmas and it´s really good. Of course it´s thanks to my sweet Chilean sister in law I come to know this drink. And Costume National´s 21 reminding of this drink with milk, cinnamon, clove and sweet, lush and creamy. No booze though, but we can pretend the oakmoss is some kind of booze?

21 has good if not marvellous lasting power, about 5-6 hous on me. The sillage is great, but not to much. The scent is both complex and challenging, but also very soft and comfy. The oakmoss makes it stay on the right side of sweetness and making 21 work even for people not usually found of sweet and gourmand kind of scents. 21 is also suitable for men and people in all ages. Shortly speaking, this is a little gem that must be tested! And while you´re at it, I suggest you try a glass of Colo de Mono also.

Serving 4: 4 big cups of strong coffee

1 cinnamon stick

4-5 cloves

seeds from a vanilla pod

2½ dl brown sugar

2½ dl boiled, whipped milk

1 tsk cinnamon

1 dl liquer (pisco, rhum or vodka)

What else is coming up on the blog? I will have a drwaing soon, don´t miss it. And I suggest you think a little about what you think when you hear the word Iceland. And of course there will be reviews, Annick Goutal´s Ninfeo Mio, Serge Lutens Bas de Soie and L'Artisan´s Nuit de Tubereuse among others. And I think something really, really vintage will show up here also soon. So, a little this and that, as usual.

stora koppar starkt kaffe

Pic: Colodemono