The Pink Room - No 1

To try new scents is always thrilling. Some of them have nothing to add, while others smells incredible good. Some are very interesting, different or creative, while others are plain boring. some perfumes lack both heart and soul, while other has plenty of it. A lot of fragrances has nothing to say, while a few tells me stories...

The Pink Rooms first offering, No 1, is one of those fragrances that creates a fantastic dreamy story on my skin. From The Pink Room (that until now has been a quite unfamiliar brand to me) I had expect some well made and lovely scents, but really not this...

It´s a grey, windy and gloomy day in the end of january. You´re on your way home through snow slush and ice, people you meet seem to be fully occupied with getting inside as fast as possible. But suddenly, it´s like a grasp of air among the people. You look up and notice a totally stunning beauty pacing down the street. A woman escaped from the most glamorous time of Hollywood. While she´s getting closer, you can swear that she is the young and glorious beautiful Elisabeth Taylor. A young Elisabeth Taylor dressed for an red carpet walk. Wearing an amazing dress in heavy pink velvet, impeccable hair and flawless make up. All the people on the street stops and hold their breath and savors the almost magic moment. When Elisabeth Taylor slowly passes you, you can inhale the smell of her perfect perfume...

In a blink, the scenery is changing. In some way the stunningly beauty Elisabeth Taylor transforms to the pretty, carefree, flirty and girly Katy Perry! While Elisabeth Taylor walked by, the people hold their breaths but now you can see them smile and even laugh. Katy Perry might not be magic och mystic, but her aura is so happy, quirky and filled with joy that you can´t help being smitten. The grey january evening is changed to a shiny party mood.

The Pink Room No 1, sett off my imagination, but also so much more than that. The opening is a radiant, heady, strong and brilliant floral. Full-bodied, sweet, aromatic and classic. This is a scent that would have easily made Elisabeth Taylor justice during her days of glory, or chose which ever grand Hollywood starlet you prefer. If No 1 would be a a piece of clothes, it would be a glamorous vintage creation from some of the big fashion houses, vintage, but still wearable today.

During the last days I have had cravings for No 1. I can think of any better fragrance to chase the january cold and greyness away. The notes of jasmine, lily of the valley and rose is so glowing, heady and big that they become magnificent. No 1 isn´t a perfume for the modest or shy, this is a fragrances that easily ends up wearing you, but sometimes I like that. When it comes to No 1, I love it!

But, somewhere in the middle, No 1 is drastically changing. The huge, classis floral is fading a little and a softer, still floral, but also vanilla laced scent is getting up on the stage. No 1 is now becoming girly, flirty, modern and happy without being childish. very mood lifting, energetic and fun. The jasmine, but even more, the lily of the valley is slowly dissapearing, while the violet becomes more noticable. together with the rose, they create that smell of expensive, creamy lipstick that I love in fragrances. Suddenly No 1 is as made for Kay Perry when she looks the most girly, quirky and flirty fun you can imagine.

The best thing with No 1, is that I love it from start to finnish. Maybe the transformation from classic, huge floral glamour to modern pop princess is a bit abrupt, but that is also for me a reason to like it even more. It´s full fo surprise, happyness and elegance. Both in the opening and base No 1 smells so good I´m having troubble to stop sniffing my wrist. From start to end, No 1 smells well made, luxurious and full bodied.

The sillage is, partculary from start, really big, but getting a little more gentle after a while. It has good lasting power (5-6 hours on me). In my opinion No 1 is a really feminin scent, but that wouldn´t stop perfume interested men from trying a really grand floral. It might be No 1´s hugeness that can cause troubble to some. I´ve heard people saying they have no clothes that would match such a grand perfume, others got headache from it. Thankfully, non of that goes for me. No 1 is probably among the best "larger then life" florals that I have tried. Really FB-worthy if you ask me. :)

You can read more about The Pink Room here: http://www.pinkroom.co.uk/

Pic: Elisabeth Taylor

Katy Perry

Comptoir Sud Pacific - Vanille Canelle

I´ve decided to stay with the vanilla for yet another posting, but the fragrance of today has another note in the leading role, namely cinnamon.

Cinnamon isn´t as commonly used in perfumes as vanilla, still you can find cinnamon in a lot of scents. But, it´s not as common that cinnamon get´s to play the leading role, Comptoir Sud Pacific´s Vanille canelle is an exception. Comptoir Sud Pacific offers a whole line on the vanilla theme such as Vanille Apricot, Vanille Banane etc, but unfortunatly it seem like Vanille Canelle is no longer in the line up, but you can find it at Ebay though.

Vanille Canelle is really a quite simple scent, and parts of it has a slightly syntetic smell (particulary in the opening), but when it settles on my skin it starts to smell incredible jummy. It´s like the scent of warm, spicy and aromatic cinnamon with a dash of vanille in some kind of gas. Really jummy and nice, as a gourmand it never becomes to heavy or sweet, this is light, airy and very comfy.

During the firts half hour, the cinnamon is dominating the fragrance, and I really like this part. After that the cinnamon becomes softer and change places with the vanilla. The vanilla is sweet, soft and creamy and becomes a little more interesting thanks to a slightly burnt sugary note. That is pretty much how complicated Vanille Canelle is, but when I feel for a simple cinnamon without any other spices, florals or whatever, Vanille Canelle is a given choise.

As a gourmand it´s incredible light, easy to like and mouthwatering, as a comfort scent it´s extremly cozy and sensual in a cuddly way. A must try for everyone that likes cinnamon. I wouldn´t mind having it as a home scent either. The sillage is definitly noticable, but the lasting power isn´t that good. After about 3-4 hours all that remains is a weak scent of vanilla sugar. the not so good longvity is something I´ve noticed with some other Comptoir Sud Pacific scents.

Since, Vanille Canelle probably will be harder and harder to find, do anyone have some nice suggestions on other fragrances with cinnamon without so much else going on around? Preferable not so sweet or heavy.

Pic: cinnamon2

LUSH - Vanillary

Can as well keep on going with vanillas, now when I´ve started. And it´s really quite suitable since I´ve had crawings for vanilla fragrances during december and january. Last year at this time I was craving large florals and honey, this year it´s vanilla and amber. What cathegory of fragrances have you had the most lust for during the last months?

Vanilla is a really popular note in fragrances, sometimes used only by very light hand to get some sweetness and softness, and sometimes the vanilla is in center of attention, like in Vanilla Musk that I wrote about yesterday and also many others. In vanillary from LUSH, the vanilla is also in center of attention, but with more company then yesterday´s vanilla.

I have an over all soft spot for LUSH and their products, unfortunatly we don´t have a LUSH store in our town, but everytime I visit our bigger neighbor town I´m for sure heading to the LUSH shop. Their bath ballistics, massage bars, facial masks and soaps are really something little extra. And for some time now, Gorilla Perfumes ( a new start for old Be Never...) had made perfumes for LUSH, so it´s even more nice to stop by...

One good thing with LUSHs perfumes is that they come in several and quite small sizes and they also offer perfume in cream (I haven´t tried it though, but looks like a nice alternative). Their purse sized sprays are so affordable and you can in fact buy both one, two or three of them without being ruined. You van find more information aboutLUSH and their products here:

http://www.lush.se/

The day before Christmas Eve I bought a small bottle of Vanillary and that is totally different vanilla then yesterday´s Vanilla Musk.

Vanillary isn´t really a gourmand vanilla that you put on when you have sweet cravings. Despite that there isn´t any doubts about Vanillary being a vanilla scent fro vanilla lovers, the vanilla is in front and very obvious, I belive the closest is to call it a vanilla for grown up vanilla lovers.

Besides the vanilla I can smell some flowers in vanillary, jasmine but also something else, probably ylang which fades away rather quickly though. Directly from start Vanillary also have a very smoky feeling. This is also a vanilla that would suit men perfect.

I find Vanillary to be strong and can be used by light hand. For me, one spray at my wrist is enough, the sillage is really large, while lasting power is about medium.

The florals from the opening fades little by little, but the smoky note stays, slowly the vanilla getting deeper, darker, but also creamier, a little powdery and sweeter. This phase of the fragrance makes me think of someone smoking vanilla cigarettes. Quite stunning actually, and this also makes Vanillary to a nice vanilla for evening wear. It´s soft and cuddly at the same time as thrilling.

Do you have any LUSH favorites? I´m really a fan of the bath ballistic, Waiving not drowning.

Pic: Marilyn Monroe

Ava Luxe - Vanilla Musk

If you can see the pictures above, I´m sure you can also imagine the flavor of them? And that´s really the only thing that I have to write about Ava Luxe´s divine, yet simpleVanilla Musk. If Indult´s Tihota is my daughters favorite vanilla, Ava Luxe´s Vanilla Musk is mine.

I´ve got a small sample of it in in perfume oil when I placed my order before Christmas and I was totally blown away from the first second...

It´s sweet without being cloying. Full bodied without being heavy. There isn´t anything strange about it like a vanilla fragrance for people that really don´t like vanilla, no this is straight forward vanilla for people that love vanilla that is sweet, gourmandish, juicy, soft, creamy and totally vanilly. It has a soft musk base, that on me deepens and strengthens the vanilla without making it complicated, but it´s a clkean and simple musk that don´t mess up the vanill at all in my opinion.

On me, Vanilla Musk smells at least as good as Indult´s Tihota and therefor I saw my chanse to convince my daughter about that too, but she isn´t that easy to corrupt, she belive Vanilla Musk become a little bit sharp on her and she refuses to compare it with her beloved Tihota. Probably you can experience Vanilla Musk differently depending on skin chemistry and sense of smell and taste. Oh well, according to my senses this is as close you can get to a perfect, uncomplicated vanilla.

My next order at Ava Luxe will definitly be with at least one bottle of Vanilla Musk perfume oil. Has anyone tried it in eau de parfum?

Lasting power is good, even though not as good as some other Ava Luxe´s. Sillages is skin close. A perfect vanilla for people that loves vanilla shortly speaking. Thanks to it´s simple and linear qualities it´s also good for layering.

Time to meet again?

I´ve got some qestions about another perfume meeting in Stockholm. For English speaking readers that is interested to join us, please send me a mail or state so in the comments, so I can return to you for closer information about the meeting. My suggestion is a meeting at saturday 26:th of february.

We have had really nice meetings, and new participants are of course welcome to join us.

Ava Luxe - Loukhoum

I have a soft spot for fragarnces that are an interpretion of turkish delight (loukhoum). Some find that kind of scent to become to sweet, to powdery, to overwhelming, but on me, usually it becomes just delicious.

Of course I haven´t tried all different kind of loukhoum inspired fragrances that is out there, for example I haven´t yet tried Serge Lutens Rahat Loukhoum, but I´m sure I´ll love it when I do. Anyway, I have belive you don´t need several diffrent loukhoum scents, one will do just fine. And until now, Keiko Mecheri´s Loukhoum have been the loukhoum scent in my dream (even though i still don´t have even a decant of it!). Well, that was my opinion until I´ve got my Loukhoum from Ava Luxe...

As you might remember, I have a very special place in my heart for some of Ava luxes fragrances as Nude Musk, Midnight Violet, Film Noir and Kama (and even more that I still haven´t write about here), still some of them fail to impress me as Chaos and No.23. Oh, Loukhoum is so in the first cathegory, it is so beautiful and adorable.

Yes, Loukhoum is definitly a interpretion of turkish delight, the top notes pistachio is both dry/roasted and creamy nutty at the same time. Then the airy rose enters, vanilla, powdery, soft and delicate... kind of transparent and thin, like smelling a cloud of turkish delight.

That is the big difference between Ava Luxe´s Loukhoum and other loukhoum varieties I´ve tried. All of the others are sweet, heavy, on the border of to much of the goodies turkish delight. In Loukhoum Ava Luxe seem to capture it from a totally different view. this Loukhoum smells like if turkish delight wasn´t actually Turkish, but Japanese. Well, japanese delight, a most delicous miniature frolic, that is eaten by the most celbrated geishas during a directed ceremony reminding of the japanese tee ceremony.

When other loukhoum scents tend to be to sweet, Ava Luxe´s Loukhoum become interesting, instead of an obvious, thick kind of scent, this is eteral and subtle. The smell of rose is so delcate, so thin, so crisp that I imagine rose petals so light pink that they are almost not there. The scent of vanilla powder is gorgeous. Shortly speaking, I love everything about it.

The sillage is good, and lasting power is really good (8 hours or so). I´m happy that you can buy Ava Luxe´s eau de parfum in 15t ml bottles, that way I cabn afford more of them, but on the other hand 15 ml is way to little of Loukhoum, I´ve had my bottle in about a month and it has been of much use. I love it, middle daughter love it and youngest daughter too!

I recommend Ava Luxe´s Loukhoum to everyone that usually likes this kind of scents, but also if you find ordinary loukhoum fragrances to sweet, to powdery, to gourmand, this one could very well suit you. Try it!

If you want to indulge in Ava Luxe´s wonderful perfumes here is the link to follow:

http://www.ava-luxe.com/

Pic: flickr.com

Yves Rocher - Nature Millenaire

How doesn´t remember the millenium shift? Personally I celbebrate the ending of the 20:ieth century in Boden with my family and relatives. Not a very special New Year party, but still we had a nice time. Even in little Boden, that years fireworks was something really special!

A little over ten years have passed since then. In some ways it feels like it was not at all long time ago, but in some ways it feels like it really was. One interesting thing with being middle aged, is that you can look back on different phases in life and see them begin and end. During that period I was really a mother with capital M. My youngest was 2½ years old and the others was still kids, or not the oldest one, she was just about grown up. Style wise I was a little influented by Africa, i had a lot of long skrits and dresses, even tie-dyed! I have to admit I don´t have any of those clothes still in my wardrobe.

the perfume I used most back then, and the one I think suited my sooo well, was Yves Rocher´s Nature Millenaire. A flanker to Nature that was sold only about the year around the millenium shift. With that name it was kind of dated in a coupple of months really. Unfortunatly! According to me, this was a great fragrance. When they was about to not sell it any more, I bought two bottle for the price of one, so when we moved here in 2004 I still hade some tiny amounts left. however I runned out of Nature Millenaire at least five years ago.

apparently I wasn´t the only one liking this, becasue now and then a bottle shows up on Tradera and usually goes for quite much money, at least to be an Yves Rocher fragrance. Anyway, a while ago I manage to catch a mini bottle of it. Would I still like it? Time has changes and I wasn´t a perfume nerd back then, so my taste in perfume has also changed pretty much.

But yes, I still likes it. Not as much as back then, but I think it´s a good and different fragrance that would have deserved a longer life and a better name. In my imagination i think it would have been Nature Afrique instead. Back then, when I used it much, I got associations to Africa, heat, sweetness, proud and beautiful women, dark woods, mystic incense and dusty African soil.

This is how I still feels about it, I really think it has something African in it´s apperance. It is warm, sweet, dark, strange, sensual, laid back and cozy. It´s quite linear and I find it to be a little to monotone now, and a little synthetic as well, still without feeling cheap though.

There are two head features in Nature Millenaire, one is the almost narcotic scent of iris mixed with sweet vanilla, the other is the dark wood, dusty almost earthy spices and smoky incense. together they create a very powerful, strong and warm scent. If Yves Rocher decided to make it again, i would totally buy a bottle and use it from time to time. It has something evry special that is totally charming I think.

Great lasting power, huge sillage and porbably would work on men that likes sweet fragarnces as well. Unfortunatly not see easy to come by any more, but if you get a chanse to try it, don´t miss it.

Pic: Paulette 56