Now Smell This: I am a perfume geek
Two weeks ago I mentioned that at the silent auction I bought a box o' perfumes and that I would write about that in a separate post.
But then real life intervened.
But, now things are calmer and I have spent the intervening time sniffing my new acquisitions and re-sampling all the ones I already had.
I totally love perfume and always have. I love many smelly things, like cheese, wine, olive oil, vinegar. I hate some smelly things, like laundry detergent, shampoo and fabric softener (with some exceptions).
But loving perfumes is something of an expensive habit (especially since my husband is pretty much indifferent, and it's not like I go out anywhere and have to smell nice for it) so for the past several years I have kind of been more into shower gels and soaps (Lush! Yes!)
Occasionally I read perfume blogs like Now Smell This and Smellin' Things and get all wistful, then sternly remind myself that I have other things to spend my money on.
But while at the silent auction I spotted an item labelled "Beauty Products 3 -- musk-based perfumes" and saw that it contained bottles of scents from Editions de parfums Frederic Malle, Annick Goutal, L'eau d'Italie, L'artisan parfumeur and Jil Sander and I lost my head for a second and put my name down for the minimum bid of $100 (because, c'mon, the face values was something like $500!) And as it turned out nobody else wanted it, so I am now the proud owner of bottles of
Annick Goutal - Musc Nomade
Editions de parfums Frederic Malle - Musc Ravageur (Maurice Roucel)
L'Artisan Parfumeur - Mure et Musc (us. trans as "Berry Musk")
Jil Sander Woman - Scent 79
L'eau d'Italie - Bois d'Ombrie (Umbrian Wood)
I am happy to report that I really like them all! I already had a bottle of Mure et Musc, so I might give this one to my mom, or try to sell it (it's a 100 ml bottle, so even if I sell it at half price I should do OK).
I totally love the Annick Goutal and the Frederic Malle, which are both very popular perfumes that uniformly get excellent reviews. The Musc Ravageur is more cinnamon-y and vanillic, completely non floral, but it smells really good on me (at least to me ... scent is so individualistic). I'm not really a huge floral fan, so I'm very happy. The spicy/vanilla smell is very warm, but not too wintry, so I can wear it on gloomy days like today and it's comforting.
Musc Nomade is sweeter than the Musc Ravageur and lacks the cinnamon and vanilla scents. It has a rose-y, powdery quality which is also really nice. Both are "clean" musks rather than "dirty" animalic musks (you won't scare anyone by wearing them).
Jil Sander Woman Scent 79, like the Annick Goutal, is also quite sweet. It's classified as a "chypre" scent (which means to me, "initially smells like Chanel No 5" but officially is a scent with oak moss and amber as base notes) and also aldehydic, which means, again, "smells like Chanel No 5 at first." It's girlier and more citrus/cologne-y than the first two. I am actually a chypre/aldehyde fan (though not so much a Chanel No 5 fan, though that was the first perfume I ever wore ... ) Scent 79 is quite floral (rose, jasmine, iris) with a base of leather and musk once it dries down. Very nice. The fruit notes I smell are actually meant to be cranberries and peach leaves ... so I guess it's not actually "citrusy." The leather note is really lovely, like smelling the inside of a really expensive handbag. The overall effect (on me, anyway) is more refined, classic, and a bit older than the first two.
The last one is the Bois d'Ombrie, which mostly has terrible reviews online. I was apprehensive about trying it, especially after I sniffed the spray head and thought "EWW! Pickles!" However, once I tried it on my skin, I was enchanted. It is supposed to encapsulate all the odors of a forest in Umbria and to my mind it does, all the way from a sharp vegetal scent initially (the smell of growing things) to a lovely lingering finish which I can only describe as "sexy fireplace." It has whiskey, cognac, leather and tobacco notes and is meant to be unisex, but honestly, I thought it was super sexy on me. It's definitely a niche fragrance though (judging by the reviews!) Alas, given the magnificent layers of the fragrance, the packaging is only one step above inkjet-label-stickers.
A note on Mure et Musc -- basically blackberries with a musky drydown. It's been around for about 20 years and has always been very popular.
But then real life intervened.
But, now things are calmer and I have spent the intervening time sniffing my new acquisitions and re-sampling all the ones I already had.
I totally love perfume and always have. I love many smelly things, like cheese, wine, olive oil, vinegar. I hate some smelly things, like laundry detergent, shampoo and fabric softener (with some exceptions).
But loving perfumes is something of an expensive habit (especially since my husband is pretty much indifferent, and it's not like I go out anywhere and have to smell nice for it) so for the past several years I have kind of been more into shower gels and soaps (Lush! Yes!)
Occasionally I read perfume blogs like Now Smell This and Smellin' Things and get all wistful, then sternly remind myself that I have other things to spend my money on.
But while at the silent auction I spotted an item labelled "Beauty Products 3 -- musk-based perfumes" and saw that it contained bottles of scents from Editions de parfums Frederic Malle, Annick Goutal, L'eau d'Italie, L'artisan parfumeur and Jil Sander and I lost my head for a second and put my name down for the minimum bid of $100 (because, c'mon, the face values was something like $500!) And as it turned out nobody else wanted it, so I am now the proud owner of bottles of
Annick Goutal - Musc Nomade
Editions de parfums Frederic Malle - Musc Ravageur (Maurice Roucel)
L'Artisan Parfumeur - Mure et Musc (us. trans as "Berry Musk")
Jil Sander Woman - Scent 79
L'eau d'Italie - Bois d'Ombrie (Umbrian Wood)
I am happy to report that I really like them all! I already had a bottle of Mure et Musc, so I might give this one to my mom, or try to sell it (it's a 100 ml bottle, so even if I sell it at half price I should do OK).
I totally love the Annick Goutal and the Frederic Malle, which are both very popular perfumes that uniformly get excellent reviews. The Musc Ravageur is more cinnamon-y and vanillic, completely non floral, but it smells really good on me (at least to me ... scent is so individualistic). I'm not really a huge floral fan, so I'm very happy. The spicy/vanilla smell is very warm, but not too wintry, so I can wear it on gloomy days like today and it's comforting.
Musc Nomade is sweeter than the Musc Ravageur and lacks the cinnamon and vanilla scents. It has a rose-y, powdery quality which is also really nice. Both are "clean" musks rather than "dirty" animalic musks (you won't scare anyone by wearing them).
Jil Sander Woman Scent 79, like the Annick Goutal, is also quite sweet. It's classified as a "chypre" scent (which means to me, "initially smells like Chanel No 5" but officially is a scent with oak moss and amber as base notes) and also aldehydic, which means, again, "smells like Chanel No 5 at first." It's girlier and more citrus/cologne-y than the first two. I am actually a chypre/aldehyde fan (though not so much a Chanel No 5 fan, though that was the first perfume I ever wore ... ) Scent 79 is quite floral (rose, jasmine, iris) with a base of leather and musk once it dries down. Very nice. The fruit notes I smell are actually meant to be cranberries and peach leaves ... so I guess it's not actually "citrusy." The leather note is really lovely, like smelling the inside of a really expensive handbag. The overall effect (on me, anyway) is more refined, classic, and a bit older than the first two.
The last one is the Bois d'Ombrie, which mostly has terrible reviews online. I was apprehensive about trying it, especially after I sniffed the spray head and thought "EWW! Pickles!" However, once I tried it on my skin, I was enchanted. It is supposed to encapsulate all the odors of a forest in Umbria and to my mind it does, all the way from a sharp vegetal scent initially (the smell of growing things) to a lovely lingering finish which I can only describe as "sexy fireplace." It has whiskey, cognac, leather and tobacco notes and is meant to be unisex, but honestly, I thought it was super sexy on me. It's definitely a niche fragrance though (judging by the reviews!) Alas, given the magnificent layers of the fragrance, the packaging is only one step above inkjet-label-stickers.
A note on Mure et Musc -- basically blackberries with a musky drydown. It's been around for about 20 years and has always been very popular.