La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Mitzah Christian Dior

Desirability: Sample

Source: parfumglamour.com

Luxurious. 

Mitzah is a perfect ensemble of well-loved notes including patchouli, incense, labdanum and spices both sweet and well, spicy. 

A seamless blend of spices and deep amber colours reminiscent of the oriental perfumes from Serge Lutens but toned down a few notches in terms of spiciness, the sweet resinous labdanum of Habanita L'Esprit, the dark and soulful patchouli of Mazzolari's Lei. Smooth and dreamy, more on the feminine side, Mitzah is like the rich glowing colours of precious stones set in lavish Byzantine jewelry. 

Source: socialsciencesalpajes.wordpress.com

The only problem with Mitzah is it shares similarities with a few perfumes I have, so at this point I can't justify getting a full bottle, discontinued or not. Which is a good thing, my bank account reminds me in consolation. 

Gourmand Coquin Guerlain

Desirability: Decant

Source: www.guerlain.com

Love the bottle and the marketing blurb behind the Elixir Charnel range from Guerlain. Taking this excerpt from the description for Gourmand Coquin on Guerlain's website:

 A delicious and sexy fragrance reflecting a mischievous, intrepid and charming woman. 

Who wouldn't want to be all that? I know I would. 

The thing that frustrates me about Gourmand Coquin and holds me back from getting a full bottle, is that the vanilla outweighs the chocolate on me. Yes the chocolate is there, a divine milky chocolate bar that's covered by...vanilla. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the vanilla, it's a gourmand dream of a yummy sweet vanilla but my vanilla corner is densely populated from gourmands to woody to vampy and currently on the pedestal is Vanitas who won't be happy with competition. 

Gourmand Coquin besides the chocolate and vanilla is lightly spiced and slightly boozy, giving one a festive air of partying and indulging without the hangover and self recriminations. Well done, smoothly blended. It's Guerlain. So back to the advertisement. Yes it's delicious if you are into gourmands, yes it's sexy if well you get turned on by dessert, mischievous and charming it is but intrepid...hmm. That's something I would reserve for Mona di Orio's Vanille instead.

Valentine's Day is around the corner so if you are feeling particularly generous and loving, I can let you know where to send a bottle :) Oh and if it's not too much trouble I'll take bottles of Oriental Brulant and Angélique Noire too :)

Miel de Bois Serge Lutens

 "Let me thank all those whose labor contributed to making this fragrance.... in other words, the bees and flowers. 

From candied honey I made an ether to obtain the rich scent of the golden nectar."  

-- Serge Lutens

My signature scent if I had to name one. I have to thank Providence for my bottle actually, can you imagine the shop was going to throw their full tester in the trash since Miel de Bois was pulled from the export line and made a Palais Royale exclusive. I was in the right place at the right time to save the tester. Who throws away perfume, let alone a deity like Miel de Bois!! 

If you are looking for a gourmand honeyed scent along the lines of Tokyo Milk's Honey & The Moon, this isn't quite it.

Don't get me wrong, there is honey in Miel de Bois, but it's way more mysterious. It's a musty, musky and woody honey that is polarising, either you fall in lust and love or you think it smells like cats' piss/toilet spray/urinal cakes etc. Yup I said musty, it smells like an ages old bottle that was forgotten in an attic, musty that brings to mind antiques and marvellous relics of a different lifetime, moth eaten heavy curtains... a little like what Miss Havisham's room must have been like. 

It has a similar vintage and animalistic quality that Jean Desprez's Bal de Versailles or Schiaparelli's Shocking has on me and belongs in the category of scents that I feel require a "Danger" label for it's drug-like effects on the senses, or nausea-inducing if you can't handle indoles or  dark musks. Not forgetting that this stuff is potent and more than one spray can knock out a whole room so caution should be applied. 

I think if one gets past the initial blast of dark, dry woods and heavy sweetness, Miel de Bois dries down to the most addictive mildly spiced, sweet-woody musk, that smells like nothing else and stays with you for hours and hours like a most beguiling ambience. It's the dry down that has this heartrending quality I have only experienced otherwise with Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko or Francis Kurkdjian's Lumiere Noir Pour Femme, once again a Lutens has gotten the better of my emotions.

Miel de Bois is controversial, unique, passionate and wild (I'll slide in the skank award here too)...please don't ever be discontinued, the withdrawal will be unbearable.

P.S: I don't advise blind-buying Miel de Bois as it's picky with which skin chemistry it gets along with. P.P.S: I'm always happy to adopt more bottles. I leave you here with a song that is as emotive as this scent. 

Mon Precieux Nectar Guerlain- of Jordan almonds and honeyed white florals.

Desirability: Full bottle and a back up

Source: Fragrantica

Mon Precieux Nectar is all honeyed white flowers and dragées amandes on me. Make that the most luxurious and lush bouquet of white flowers and candied almonds that money can buy. Whilst staying within the realm of tasteful. 

There are many variations available on the honeyed white florals like Ginestat's Botrytis (super super thick almost cloying animalic honey on dried fruit and flowers), The Bodyshop's Honeymania (translucent white honey and wildflowers), Elie Saab's Le Parfum featuring Francis Kurkdjian's work with white honey and orange blossoms, Chanel's Beige (a lovely tender hearted tropical beauty of honey and tiare), La Chasse aux Papillons Extreme by L'Artisan (the most ethereal tuberose on a background of sweet white flowers) and many others I can't think of right now.

Whereas Guerlain's L'Instant is vanilla and white flowers, L'Instant Magic pushes it more to the gourmand side with the almond note. I love the smell of almonds in perfumes from bitter almonds like Mazzolari's Alessandro (bitter powdery almonds but alas it's so short-lived on me), my chilly bitter almond beauty Louve by Serge Lutens and two Jordan almond types that I'm longing to try, Confetto by Profumum Roma and Conaffetto by Hilde Soliani. Some of my fragrant friends put Dior's Hypnotic Poison under the jordan almond label but it's pure creamy almond milk on me with a irritatingly artificial vibe about it(my bottle was bought in the past two years so reformulated, I have not tried the vintage versions).

Loukhoum-wise I prefer L'Artisan's Traversee du Bosphore (smells like pomme d'amour and Turkish delight on me, really yummy) and Keiko Mercheri's Loukhoum Eau Poudree (like having a powder puff of sugary goodness right in the face). 

Mon Precieux Nectar has the ethereal white flowers of La Chasse aux Papillons, the tenderness of Chanel's Beige, more candied than bitter almonds like in L'Instant Magic and the touch of class all Guerlains possess from the indisputable majesties to the new breeds. She's part child part woman. It's a soft scent that plays hide and seek with you for the better part of the day, becoming bolder in the heat and withdrawing again in the cold. 

As ambrosial a nectar as Mon Precieux Nectar undoubtedly is, I am still hesitant to fork out the exorbitant amount of money required for the juice in the exquisite "bee bottle" it comes in(couldn't they sell a version in a less divine bottle for us people who don't mind so much about looks?). However I am very fortunate to have been gifted a bottle and this gorgeous flacon has a place of honor in my perfume closet. Tip: I misguidedly threw out the stopper that came with the flacon and kept the vintage sprayer attached. This however causes the perfume to evaporate (alarmingly) so I would advise to keep it stoppered when not in use.