Fidelis Histoires de Parfums

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: Fragrantica.

Not a scent for the fainthearted.

Fidelis is a heavy hitter from the very first spray. I tend to overspray with hefty pumps thanks to my slight anosmia secondary to chronic allergic rhinitis, but with Fidelis I am cautious not to go above two gentle sprays or else I run the risk of engulfing everyone else around me with its monster projection.

Many if not all houses from niche to mainstream seem to have done a rose/oud/patchouli combination by now and we perfume lovers have one if not several favorites from the glut of choice available. Some of us may even be fatigued by it! Enter Fidelis and a break with tradition. 

Unabashedly loud, almost brash, Fidelis is nothing like the smooth, romantic rose/oud combinations I lean towards. THIS is oud. Upon application, this giant of a scent is almost unbearably bitter with a medicinal oud so thick you could imagine cutting the air in front of you with a knife. Saffron, cardamom and cumin are looted from the spice cupboard and applied with a liberal hand. Their spicy harmony provides a dry, crisp respite (a breath of spicily fresh air literally) from the majestic oud. Patchouli enfolds you in its warm familiar vegetal sweetness, somewhat akin to rolling around on damp forest ground. Rose neither delicate nor syrupy blends a floral theme into the bold and earthy mixture and I suspect allows for my more feminine tastes to better enjoy Fidelis. 

An Original in a sea of rose-ouds which takes you on an endless and passionate journey. Fidelis is not a scent I frequently reach for, as truthfully I find it a tad too demanding for my sensibilities for a regular fixture but on the days I want complexity as well as a major case of intensity with my roses, this is a good one. 

Rima XI Carner Barcelona

Desirability: Decant

Source: pinterest

Rice pudding was my first thought on sniffing Rima XI applied to the crook of my elbow. Jeux de Peau was my second thought. It does have that salty sweetness that I love about the gourmand Lutens but where Jeux de Peau conjures up a reel of memories taken from a warm bakery on a cold day, Rima XI brings to mind the Asian dessert of silky rice pudding flavoured with vanilla and gently powdered with spices. 

It starts off rather dry, with the spices (cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg) dominating the scent at first but mellowing as time progresses, underneath is the creamy rice pudding that is a good balance of sweet and savoury. I like eating rice pudding but smelling like it for hours would not be as enjoyable, thankfully the spices break the mundaneness here in Rima XI. The scent gradually morphs from a gourmand into a soft woody amber base with a little musk. A comfort scent from start to finish. 

By the way this scent doesn't bloom as well on paper as it does on skin, so don't test it on paper. It also performs better in the heat, the scent projects much more than it does in my "colder" office where it creeps back to the skin. Overall I find it a rather light scent with average longevity of about 6 hours. 

Nice but not super interesting which is why I'm happy with my decant.  

Mimosa & Cardamom Jo Malone

Desirability:Full bottle and a back up

Source: pinterest

Never say never. 

I haven't been particularly inspired by Jo Malone before. Something about the sleek minimalist bottles and transparent juice did not speak to my soul which tends to seek out the deep, dark and darker. 

Until recently that is. I have loved mimosa since Une Fleur de Cassie and having quenched my recent thirst for all things roses, my attention was caught by these delicately sweet little yellow flowers in the form of Too Much, which I chanced upon in a blind swap. Since Too Much is out of production and the bottles on Ebay have exorbitant shipping costs tacked to the otherwise reasonable prices, I was determind to find another mimosa to love. Something as sunny and ethereal as Too Much. Mimosa & Cardamom was released at perfect timing in my case and I snagged a bottle during a weekend in Hong Kong, on a five minute break between eating and more eating. Heavenly. I mean Mimosa & Cardamom but yes food in Hong Kong is sublime too. 

There's nothing dark about Mimosa & Cardamom. It's almost like the scene in Stardust where Claire Danes bursts into light and floods the entire place with brilliant illumination which somehow kills Michelle Pfeiffer. But instead of pure white light, Mimosa & Cardamom is radiant with a golden glow that warms you up and turns you into a fuzzy marshmallow inside. The cardamom does not detract from the main focus but instead lends its aromatic spiciness to the subtle sweetness of the flowers. It feels like being surrounded by mimosa trees! Projection and longevity are both pretty good. 

Comparing Mimosa & Cardamom with Too Much and Une Fleur de Cassie, I would say that Too Much is more sparkling and a lighter yellow like champagne, whereas Une Fleur de Cassie is more of a darker honeyed gold and Mimosa & Cardamom being somewhere in between. All are fantastic mimosa scents!

Amoureuse Parfums DelRae

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: pinterest.com

The perfume community keeps raving about Amoureuse and siblings over the years that I've been part of it. Unfortunately due to several reasons including that samples are not easy to find and full bottles even harder to blind buy, Amoureuse and I never got together until I received a decant from a fellow fragrance lover in a recent swap.

It reminds me of Mona di Orio's Nuit Noire, both share animalic, white floral and spicy accords but Amoureuse is much more tame than Nuit Noire. Where Nuit Noire is a sweat-encrusted, well-loved  and worn leather jacket, intoxicating tuberose and sumptuous orange blossom, Amoureuse is lush, honeyed lilies and narcotic jasmine enhanced by the beauty of the tuberose. Cardomom is present in both, imparting its sweet and special spiciness, made even more fiery by fresh ginger in Nuit Noire. Amoureuse stays sweeter throughout its lifetime whereas in Nuit Noire, the sweetness waxes and wanes throughout the story, yet never quite reaching the honeyed tones of Amoureuse. Both scents mellow over time, Amoureuse turning into a soft and powdery affair of sandalwood and flowers whereas Nuit Noire is the glowing coals of a warm amber base. Classic and traditional, both Amoureuese and Nuit Noire are full bottle worthy in my opinion. Sillage and longevity are both very good in the case of Amoureuse, my SOTD clinging on into the night.

Coincidentally while wearing Amoureuse today and surfing the net for potential buys, I came across a very affordable deal for a bottle of Nuit Noire instead. Plus the website had the travel sizes for Profumum Roma so I got one of Battito d'Ali. The icing on the cake was free international shipping. Guess who's an even happier chick than usual today? :) 

La Fumée Ottoman Miller Harris

Desirability: Sample

Source: Fragrantica

This house makes decent fragrances but I haven't been bowled over by another Miller Harris scent since L'Air de Rien. Judging by the notes for La Fumée Ottoman I had high hopes that it would rock my world the way LdR did. 

It starts off with a bright bang of bergamot before taking you into the kitchen where the spices of the Orient exist. The cardamom and cloves are seriously amped up in the beginning and I wish the scent stayed that way, I dig smelling like an aromatic sweaty pig and I mean that in the nicest way possible. However the spices drift away too quickly and the scent evolves into a warm spicy rose backed with sweet incenseand woody notes. The drydown is lovely, the spices are faint shadows of their former selves but still giving an edge to the sweet blushing rose with amber and incense to complete the oriental vibe but it is muted in comparison to the opening and after about two hours it is a skin scent on me. 

The longevity is average but the sillage for La Fumée Ottoman needs to be improved in a major way to make sense of the price tag. A decently made and pleasant fragrance but it's not coming home with me. 

Daimiris Laboratorio Olfattivo

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: Fragrantica

March 2015 is my month for "Eat, Pray, Love". I can't remember the last time I was off for a whole month. Since I'm between jobs I decided to run away from my tropical home to the other side of the world with little stops on the way. Packing for a month especially when one is going to experience all four seasons through that month is no joke and in order to keep my luggage weight reasonable, I obviously had to tone down on the perfume bottles. The problem is when one has so much choice and favourites it gets difficult to choose ONE, I know, first world problems right? Anyway in the end my scent of the moment Daimiris got to come on my soul searching trip. My arguments for choosing Daimiris were as follows.

Spicy and warm, the smell of cardamom and saffron is unmistakeable in the dusty and earthy opening of Daimiris. Beneath the spices you have a blast of heady booze and rich leather, all perfectly proportioned with no rough edges. When I first tried Daimiris while in a hurry a few months back, I could not make out the candy note and vowed to go back for a more leisurely second try and voila! The "daim candy" note is so yummy and true to the taste of the crunchy chocolate almond candy but despite the candy note, Daimiris is not all that sweet and I would say it is more of a spicy oriental than a gourmand. Iris which gave the dusty and earthy/rooty effect of the opening is very much present in the drydown showing its buttery side, saffron prevailing till the end with a subtly sweet amber and an animalic musk contributing to the happy coziness that is Daimiris. Despite all its richness, I find Daimiris to be more of an alluring reddish-gold silk than a thick blanket of spicy warmth.

So gourmand + musky + oriental. It has a few of my favourite things, good projection and longevity and is one of those well-rounded and charming fragrances that you can wear anywhere, even on long haul flights without invading the personal space of the person in the seat next to you. Into my bag it went, wrapped in my wool scarf for insurance against baggage handlers using my luggage for discus practice. 

Voile d'Ambre Yves Rocher

Desirability: Decant

Source: www.punmiris.com

A soft oriental that reminds me of other similarly mild tempered characters like Oppoponax by Les Néréides and Opium Eau D'ete Summer Fragrance 2003 from Yves Saint Laurent. 

Starts off bitter green and tangy like the rinds of dozens of limes being peeled off simultaneously, with a dash of the aromatic sweetness that is unique to cardamom seeds. It turns a bit dry and dusty with a sweet woody smell before evolving into a sheer golden amber, citrus-tinged vanilla and smoky sweet resins. Many ambers get too powdery or too sweet but Voile d'Ambre is nicely balanced in both these categories, with the balsamic elements featuring more prominently.

Voile d'Ambre hovers close to me so much so that I really have to stick my nose to my skin in order to smell it after the first two hours. The longevity fares a bit better, I can detect it up to around six hours. Overall, a nice scent for those just starting to venture into the oriental section of fragrances and those who prefer gossamer-like fragrances in general. 

Tango Masque

Desirability: Decant

Source: luckyscent

Phwoar...talk about heady and intoxicating, Tango just blazed its way onto my want list and I want this in a seriously bad way. Fragrantica lists this as an oriental floral but it wears like a spicy oriental on me, where have all the flowers gone? 

Cumin. Cumin. Cumin. Cloves. Cinnamon. Cardamom. Cumin. CUMIN. Cumin in all its wanton sweaty glory, attractive or repulsive depending on whether you like it. Boozy, bold, exotic and rich, Tango has me in a cinch, make that a steaming hot passionate cinch. It continues to smoulder all the way to its drydown, a warm, dense and sweet amber base with resins and dry wood heaped on the molten fire. Monstrous projection and longevity. Sexy beast. 

Ambra Lorenzo Villoresi

Source: Fragrantica

I've said it way too many times probably that Ambre Sultan is THE amber in my humble opinion and I've never wanted another amber since meeting that Lutens. Some ambers have been too powdery and many more have been too sweet and not resinous enough for my taste. And then there is Lorenzo Villoresi's Ambra from the Vintage Collection. 

You say amber, I think warm, inviting, smouldering, oriental, resinous etc. The opening of Ambra has none of that. "A misnomer", I thought, wrinkling my nose up at the sharp citrus and heavily peppered opening. Elemi is very evident with its fresh, spicy and citrus-like smell. Exotic spices join the line up like cardamom with its green aromatic sweetness, cloves with their unique minty spiciness and a heavy dusting of black pepper. Potent and commanding it most certainly is, the notes teetering on the edge of dissonance. 

It becomes more "amber like" in the later stages, the rough edges of its earlier self smoothed away. The "marine" salty muskiness I've come to associate with ambergris, accompanied by soft powdery woods and sweet smoky resins all lightly spiced, warm and comforting, as if Ambra has matured from a coltish young one to a graceful and loving swan with a mild temperament. Powerful opening that lightens into moderate projection thereafter and overall good longevity. 

PG14 Iris Taizo Parfumerie Generale

Source: Fragrantica

Iris Taizo is another almost but not quite gourmand fragrance from Parfumerie Generale. You need to like cardamom to get through the opening as it starts with a blast of spicy green...incense? That's what I smell anyway. With time the potency of the scent decreases and so does the intensity of it, leaving room for a sweet powdery and woody base to be noticed under the spiciness. On paper the powdery aspect of the iris is played up and I much prefer it on my skin where it's more waxy than powdery, an enveloping warmth of spiced honeyed wood.

My only guff is that despite its promising bellow at the start, the scent wanes quite fast and all that's left is a skin scent that sticks around for the better part of  three hours tops. Solution: buy the 100 ml and lug it around for frequent touch-ups.

Mon Nom Est Rouge Majda Bekkali Sculptures Olfactives

Source: Fragrantica

Spiced rose contenders that I've had the good fortune to sample: Mon Nom Est Rouge, Epic Woman by Amouage, Noir Epices by Frederic Malle/ Michel Roudnitska, Paestum Rose by Eau D'Italie and Rose Poivree by The Different Company. 

The Different Company's Rose Poivree was too peppery for my liking with the barest hint of rose, I didn't get any delicious sweaty animal that some other perfume lovers did but there has been some muttering about batches smelling different so maybe I should revisit Rose Poivree. Eau D'Italie's Paestum Rose is a smoothly blended rose with a touch of incense and spices, feminine and beautiful but I'm looking for more than that. Noir Epices from Frederic Malle/Michel Roudnitska is big and dramatic, spiced roses and citruses as if it's always Christmas time and a finalist that made it to my want list when funds allow. Ditto Amouage's Epic Woman, a luxurious spiced rose and heavy incense affair. 

Mon Nom Est Rouge is regularly compared to Epic Woman and while I agree that there are similarities, I mean they are both spiced roses with the same nose behind them but I find Mon Nom Est Rouge to be lighter and highlighting the rose more than in Epic Woman where the rose shares the limelight and sometimes gets pushed back by the incense and spices. Mon Nom Est Rouge starts out very richly spiced( I smell cardamom and ginger very distinctly) and peppery but not as blindingly so as in Rose Poivree, it stays like this for about an hour or so before gradually fading into a smooth sweet rose and woods, the spices a shadow of their former selves ( I smell cinnamon towards the drydown) and the scent bears more resemblance in its drydown to Paestum Rose than Epic Woman. Mon Nom Est Rouge starts with a resounding opening and shows promise but loses its interesting nature to become a lovely but a been-there-done-that ending. I will stick with Epic Woman instead. 

1969 Parfum de Revolte Histoires de Parfums

Source: www.ufgrangehall.com

1969 was the first perfume I owned from Histoires de Parfums and it entered my life around the beginning of my entry into the "niche" world of perfumes other than Serge Lutens. In contrast to some of my early buys, I've grown to enjoy and appreciate it more than my inexperienced nose ever did before. 

Where before my green self could only smell a fruity chocolate, I now think of it as alluring and spicy, the gourmand notes still present but intertwined with newly recognised notes, 1969 has grown in attraction, the good projection and longevity being plus points as well. Cloves, cardamom and licorice dominate the opening, spicy, herbal and thoroughly invigorating. A fuzzy soft peach and sweet, fresh roses appear after half an hour of wear, the spiciness abating with their appearance but the scent still retains its oriental nature, warm and sensual. 

After the fruit and floral notes are settled in, a dark semi-sweet chocolate emerges and 1969 becomes smoother and creamy, a spiced chocolate that smells different to Arquiste's Anima Dulcis, another spicy chocolate that I adore. The spice in Anima Dulcis smells like how chili tastes or smells, raw, sharp and fiery whereas the spiciness in 1969 are the unmistakeable cardamom and cloves, aromatic with a slightly peppery tickle to the nostrils, the combination of both spices makes me think of mulled wine and Turkish coffee! 

As 1969 dries further, the spices remain as a lingering pleasant aftertaste and leave a rosy sweet and musky dark chocolate behind. Anima Dulcis on the hand becomes a powdery chili chocolate in its drydown, the makings of a comforting mug of spiced cocoa. Both scents are utterly blissful in their own way but I find 1969 a tad seductive with her sweet bits and spicy muskiness, the earthy patchouli in the drydown adding some darkness to her already interesting nature. Anima Dulcis on the other hand is more like her name, a genuinely "sweet soul" that is relatively uncomplicated chili and chocolate, what you see (on the note list) is what you get. 

PG 25 Indochine Parfumerie Generale

Source: Saccani.com

Another scent from Parfumerie Generale that I could fall in lust with. Honeyed spices (cardamom predominant) on a resinous woody base. It starts off with a blast of cardamom (if you don't know what cardamom smells like, smell this and you won't forget it!) which blends beautifully with the honey, both sweet and spicy. The smoke and woods come next, bringing me back to holidays spent in the relative quiet and isolation among the paddy fields of Ubud, Bali, reclining on a veranda and watching the sun languorously descend, its last rays serenely giving way to the impending darkness, a wistful glow caressing every surface goodbye. 

The honey is reigned in by the wood and spices and although sweet, Indochine is more of dry, spiced woods than gourmand on my skin. It has a good sillage on me and average longevity. Lovers of Lutens' Ambre Sultan, Chergui, Five O'Clock Au Gingembre and the like, would enjoy this. I definitely do, Indochine being as idyllic an experience as my remote getaways.