Fraaagola Saalaaata Hilde Soliani

Desirability: Decant

Source: Fragrantica

The listed notes mention salt and strawberries and I smell a candied version of strawberries (sweet but not agonisingly so, still it might appeal more to gourmand lovers) but salt...not quite a sprinkling of table salt however I am reminded of Garrett's Mix popcorn with the combination of Garrett's Savoury CheeseCorn and CaramelCrisp...so what I do get from Fraaagola Saalaaata is buttery salty sweetness. 

Projection is massive, so do be extremely careful when applying this, I accidentally sprayed one time too many and shortly after my family could smell it two floors below. It lasts and lasts and lasts...until you give your clothes a good washing. I slept in the same teeshirt and the scent carried over on to my bedsheets which meant I had lovely buttered strawberry smelling dreams for a few nights. 

Terralba Masque

Desirability: Sample

Source: twistedlily.com

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." Khalil Gibran

Refreshing. Citrus. Woody. Aromatic. Herbal. Salty? Breathing in Terralba feels as stress-relieving and invigorating as practising ujjayi breathing. A cool salt-encrusted breeze carried in from the sea, tinged with sour citrus fruit, filtered through endless forests green and brown before reaching you sitting perched on a rocky ledge with an eagle's eye view of miles of unspoiled nature. I'll put a gin and tonic in the picture as juniper is egging me on to give it airtime. 

I would like this as a room fragrance or to smell it on another person but not something to wear personally. I need my intense brooding Orientals and this as pleasant as it is, is too vegetal! Still, I recommend at least sampling this. Uniquely weird yet nice. 

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. 

Umé Keiko Mecheri

Source: www.supermama.lt

 Keiko Mercheri Umé is incredibly yummy and realistic especially if you enjoy the taste of small Japanese pickled plums known as umeboshi. Being Asian and exposed to all sorts of pickled fruit and vegetables from an early age, umeboshi posed no problem for the palate no matter how salty (the level of sweet/saltiness can vary quite a bit) and although I don't like eating it on its own, it adds a lovely salty and sweet tartness to whatever you choose to eat it with, be it plain rice or in a salad. 

Even without knowing what Umé or umeboshi is, it is easy to recognise the plums in Keiko Mercheri's Umé immediately that are sweet with a piquant edge to their taste. As the scent settles down, there appears a very light boozy note reminiscent of Umeshu or Japanese plum liqueur but the scent remains quite sheer despite the booze. In the dry down it becomes more balmy with earthy and woody notes but the tartly sweet and salted plum remains front and center of the scent.  

Source: shizuokagourmet.com

Having met Umé I much prefer its delicate freshness over Tom Ford's syrupy and boozy Plum Japonais. If you wish to try your hand at making Umeboshi at home, I found what is possibly the most detailed and helpful recipe at Just Hungry.

Embruns Keiko Mecheri

Source:  www.allaviolettaboutique.com

Embruns. Sea spray.

Probably not the most attractive description of Embruns but it smells like salted orange peels that were dipped in water in an attempt to wash off some of the salt and preservatives. Embruns has peppery opening overlaying the citrus and salt water notes, the pepper doesn't tickle the nostrils and perks up the other two notes but does not last for long, leaving the salt and citrus to be joined in the drydown by smoky woody notes.

It's unisex but not my cup of tea (which I prefer rich and thick) and I agree with those who think this aromatic aquatic composition would work better on a man, being so fresh and lightweight it feels more like a eau de cologne than an eau de parfum.

My grumble about Embruns would be that it is barely a skin scent on me even after smearing on most of my sample from Luckyscent. Another fragrance lover suggested it might project better if sprayed on as opposed to dabbing but I'll have to get another sample to test that hypothesis. 

Café Cacao En Voyage Perfumes

Source: www.basenotes.net

“What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.” 

― Katharine Hepburn.

I would be perfectly content to be holed up with BCCC (which is also reflective of my college grades)- books, chocolate, chips/crisps (or anything potato) and coffee. Café Cacao has two of my loves chocolate and coffee, it is literally a sea salt chocolate bar in a bottle, the chocolate being a dark chocolate of say 70% with that unique and well-balanced bittersweet cocoa taste. I say 70% not 90% as 90% is a bit too intense for my liking and with 70% you still get a tinge of sweetness. The salt in Café Cacao isn't your regular table salt, it's the characteristic sweet and salty earthy smell that I associate with ambergris with a bit of funky odour thrown in. 

The coffee in Café Cacao isn't like the sweet dark coffee in Bond No. 9 I Love New York For All which could have been a cup from Starbucks or another coffee club, in Café Cacao the coffee reminds me of Turkish coffee that's wonderfully pungent and flavoured with cardamom and slightly burnt( in Café Cacao that is). As the scent settles down on my skin, it turns sweeter and more creamy but I love how the salty and bitter notes keep Café Cacao from turning into a too sweet mocha. 

I got Café Cacao as part of a trio including Captured in Amber and Indigo Vanilla, my favourite being Café Cacao followed closely by Captured in Amber. I should be fair and say that it's not the fault of Indigo Vanilla but I'm afraid I've been too engrossed with the other two to have paid Indigo Vanilla the deserved attention for now. From what I've tried, the trio which come in dab bottles of 4ml of Eau de Parfum but have an oilier consistency more like an extrait, have very good projection and longevity.

Trivia: if you ever wondered what the cacao percentages mean or want to know the process of making chocolate from scratch, I found this page to be thoroughly informative for a wannabe chocolate know it all. Chocolate: A Complete Beginner’s Guide.

Bois Naufrage Parfumerie Generale

Source: Fragrantica.com

Bois Naufrage was inspired by a photograph entitled 'Nu au Bois Flotte' (naked on driftwood) by the legendary Lucien Clergue in 1971. In French, bois flotté is translated to driftwood; naufragé means shipwrecked.

This is a warmer and more polished ode to driftwood and the sea in general, as compared to the cool and bracing air of Arran Aromatics' Driftwood. I smell and envision a warm, salty sea air on a sunny afternoon by a beach dotted with washed up bodies of driftwood, polished smooth by the sea.

 There is a subtle sweetness in Bois Naufrage that reminds me of figs, more green like in Profumum Roma's Ichnusa as compared to the milky fig Dambrosia from the same house. The wind carries the smell of wildflowers and grass that cling tenaciously to what soil there is by the seashore. Where Arran Aromatics' Driftwood takes me back to the cold shores of the Atlantic in fall, Bois Naufrage takes me to the warm blue-green waters of the Mediterranean, accompanied by the light-hearted freedom of summer holidays.

It has a raw and piercing opening but quickly settles into a snugly, wind-swept, brine-encrusted woody scent that would lounge comfortably on both smart attire or casual wear. Bois Naufrage has an average projection and longevity on me after settling down from its brash start. I think its easily unisex but personally I would prefer to smell this on the right guy. 

PHI Une Rose de Kandahar Tauer

Source: Luckyscent

I can now spray my Tauer PHI without worrying that I will run out anytime soon, when I noticed that it was back on the market and labelled a "limited release" I broke my no-buy rule and snapped one up, having been a miser with my 15 ml from an explorer set purchased in 2013. 

I love how my perspective of scents have changed from when I first got into my perfume obsession. I put it down to experience, having smelt more and learning to identify notes and their variations/combinations and still getting them wrong, re-discovering old loves and ending/starting relationships when I find a different side to them that I didn't notice/understand before. 

When I first wore PHI a year ago, I could only appreciate it as a salty musky rose, a beautiful one at that but I missed out on the rest of PHI until recently when we got re-acquainted. The opening is sour and sparkling citrus that does a quick pirouette and exits, making way for a fuzzy complex rose, made up of powdery notes, a soft and demure fruity non-screechy rose, salty musk and a light bitter almond which is similar to the almond in loukoum scents like Serge Lutens' Rahat Loukoum but it does not turn PHI into a gourmand. Fuzzy like a long-haired cat is the vibe I get from PHI. Further along the day, I smell incense and spices but at a muted volume, not like in previous Tauer creations. 

Andy Tauer wrote in his blog that the formula for PHI remains unchanged and I would agree that both my bottles smell the same. A rose like no other. 

Ispahan Black Sharif LaRoche

I'm in trouble. The more I sample from Agarscents Bazaar, the more I want and Ispahan Black is not proving otherwise. Etsy is a treasure trove for indie perfumers and Sharif LaRoche is one of the treasures. 

The Etsy store lists the notes for Ispahan Black as: Opium, Deer Musk, Rose Otto, Spices.

The rose of Ispahan,also known as Pompon des Princes or simply Ispahan, is an old world Damask rose that is light pink with a heady fragrance and which blooms only once but which lasts for about six weeks, one of the longest blooming periods among the old world roses.  Rose d'Ispahan has been seen growing wild on the hills between Shiraz and Isfahan, a city renowned for its gardens and roses and after which the rose is named.

Rose Absolute and Rose Otto, what's the difference? Rose Absolute is extracted through a solvent process and can contain chemicals whereas Rose Otto is considered an essential oil as it is extracted through steam distillation.

So back to Ispahan Black the perfume oil.

Rosy sweet, gorgeous, lush blooms that swell up from a tiny drop of the oil on my forearm. Used with a very light hand, the spices add to the intoxicating composition and do not detract from the roses. Likewise, the salty dark musk doesn't overshadow its rose companion but together they create such a passionate, vitalizing and stimulating scent.

True to its namesake, the rose keeps its bloom throughout the scent, never fading nor turning powdery, like some roses do. The musk despite being animalic, doesn't turn the lady into a tramp, but instead the fragility of the  pale pink rose petals is enhanced by the contrasting shadowy musk.

So seriously, do get a sample. And also a sample of his Ambergris Taifi, which I promise to properly review soon, once I can formulate actual sentences instead of nonsensical rapturous babble upon smelling it.

After the Rain Arran Aromatics

This is my second fragrance from Arran Aromatics, Driftwood being my first acquisition, both reflecting the mission statement of the company:

"Your antidote to modern living. Apothecary draws on centuries of knowledge of essential oils and wellbeing; like lavender to bring a sense of island calm and aloe vera to heal, soothe and nourish."

An excerpt from the write up for After the Rain on the Arran Aromatics website is as follows:

 "... After the Rain was inspired by our founder Janet's desire to capture the unique, fresh scent of her Arran garden following a rain storm. An irresistibly fresh fragrance to make you feel awakened, cleansed and re-discovered, After the Rain contains essential oils of Lime, Lavandin, Mandarin, Juniper and Cardamom."

Fragrantica lists the notes as follows: Top notes are citruses and floral notes; middle notes are rose and jasmine, base notes are precious woods and musk.

So what does it smell like on me?

It smells cold. It reminds me of living in Ireland, of my weekends on the Atlantic coast with a bracing salty and icy wind clearing out my lungs and head. The grass and leaves are dark to emerald green, not the sun burnt yellow green we have here under a perennially scorching sun. The air there always smelt pure and invigorating, far away from the pollution of the big cities, with a sweetness I attributed to the nearby ocean and the flowers of the garden, flowers that can't survive in my tropical country, flowers of a thousand colours and smells. 

Irish coastline 

Where Apres l'Ondee smells of fragile dew drops balancing on delicate violet flowers, After the Rain smells robust, of trees and plants renewed after a big shower, their leaves all green and glistening with rain, the soil damp and brown, the heat rising from the earth, drawing a moist musky smell upwards, your wellies squishing in the mud as you take a deep inhale of the sweet wildflowers and watch the rays of the sun break through the grey skies above. 

The scent is linear and the notes are jumbled together but it doesn't come across as being discordant, it's refreshingly simple without being boring or common and it can't be dismissed as just another clean scent. I won't classify this as a floral scent as it is in Fragrantica, it is more of an aromatic woody scent and sits firmly in the unisex.

The sillage is good and the longevity is decent, it stays on me for about four to six hours. I highly recommend this for being unique, inexpensive and of good quality. 

Turning 33- Part Deux (Ambergris Taifi, Sharif LaRoche, Agarscents Bazaar)

So a brown package came through the post today from Sharif LaRoche who owns Agarscents Bazaar (he has stores on both Etsy and Ebay). Postage took slightly under two weeks, shipping was very reasonable to Singapore and service/communication perfect and prompt.

Thanks to a very dear albeit virtual, fragrant friend of mine, I was introduced to this indie/niche house, whose website writes:

Enchanting French Arabian and Oriental perfumes, composed with Oudh, pure Musk, Ambergris oil, Bakhoor and rare Blossoms-Essences of Paradise. 

We specialize in the finest 100% pure, Dhen al Oudh, pure Sandalwood, genuine Ambergris oil, pure Deer Musk and fine Rose Otto (Wardh and Gulab).

I adore oud or at least what I've been introduced to, ambergris is a strong favourite, ditto musk and rose, sandalwood I get along with pretty well. So I definitely had to try this house. My first order was a 1ml of Ambergris Taifi (he sells his oils/attars in 3ml amber bottles but you can contact Sharif which I did through Etsy and he put up a listing for 1ml for me. From what my fragrant enabler told me, you can buy an even smaller fraction than 1ml and such is the potency of the oils, a drop is all that is needed).

Along with my 1ml order of Ambergris Taifi, such is his generosity, I was gifted a neatly wrapped incense stick of Kashimiri Kasthuri Ultimate which is scenting my work drawer as we speak of sweet and spicy musk, as well as samples of:

Ispahan Black which is described on the website as:

"Aro'mantically vivacious-

subtly sweet, slightly spicy, 

nuances-oil of agar and fine musk, an ambient elixir of art and sophistication

enveloping, intoxicating, masterfully composed composition, 

with mid notes of currants, opium and spice

- beans of tonka soften the approach-

which leads to a vanilic heart,

and a path to treasure. "

Misk Tahara is described as:

"the musk of purity, the scent of clean, fresh skin, lightly sweet and musky."

Civet Musk Mukhallat:

"a luxurious Oriental treasure... Sumptuous notes of Eastern splendor... rich, velvety musk draped in warm amber and exotic blossoms… sophisticated and elegant - evocative ."

As for all first time customers, I got a free gift in the form of a pretty 3ml glass flacon of Egyptian Musk Superior. This was a sweet and clean musk on my skin, sort of what Narciso Rodriguez musks have been like on me minus the lingering chemical note that keeps me at odds with the NR line. Soft florals round this musk off nicely into what I find is rather unisex despite the sweetness and florals. Sillage and longevity are awesome considering I basically just swiped the plastic stick on my skin once. This musk is very affordable if you are looking for an alternative to the NR range.

Now on to the real reason why I wrote this piece. Ambergris Taifi. OMG. OMG. This is amazing. No. It's AMAZING!!!!!!! I'm about to book myself more weekend work just to cover a purchase of a 3ml bottle of this in case it's discontinued or some other similar tragedy ensues.

Taif Roses.

I have a precious 15ml bottle of Tauer's Phi Une Rose de Kandahar, which is a gorgeous salty and musky rose on my skin. Amp up the salty and musky tones, some sweet animalic notes (not quite up to barnyard level), amp up the decibels on the rose, add a smidgen of vintage face powder and you have Ambergris Taifi. Part skank part rose and the salty sweetness just continues undulating and swirling about me for hours without abating. The salt is not so much sea-salt like in Merveilles but I find it more akin to the saltiness of sweat on skin. The sweetness(not talking about the rose here) is harder to describe without causing nausea amongst the more delicate palates. I will borrow from the agarscentsbazaar page to do it justice.

"...the subtle, sweet addictive aroma that beach combing dreams are made of."

I am far from being able to describe the distinctiveness of the Taifi rose note, except to say that I raided the rose section of my wardrobe from Malle's Une Rose to Caron's Rose, JHAG's entire line to the Rosines I have and came up with, it just smells different. Deeper, more intensely rose. On a fragrant friend of mine, it is more vintage powdery rose so perhaps chemistry plays a role again. I highly recommend trying Sharif LaRoche's Ambergris Taifi, for any and all rose lovers.

Eau des Merveilles Hermes

Good morning. Today I feel pretty drained out despite it just past the 9 am mark and also being a Friday. To give you a gist, this is what I feel like :)

Cholmondeley Oudry, White Duck

I needed a pick-me-up scent today and reached for Hermes Eau des Merveilles, which I was introduced to this year and am slowly developing a taste for, being more of a dark Oriental lover than a fan of aromatic marines( I know Fragrantica lists this as an Oriental Woody but I don't find it Oriental. Woody I would accept. Maybe Aromatic Woody?).

Perfumes from Hermes are the only reason I step into the store, the coveted silk scarves being out of my financial reach(and seriously what would I do with them anyway? I work with spit and blood, not in Vogue) and the bags I developed a dislike to after seeing them on none too classy reality TV people. 

After much dithering, I left with both Eau des Merveilles and Elixir des Merveilles, just in time for a getaway in Bali. Perfect choices for an island holiday really. The Eau starts off with a citrus blast without smelling like dishwashing liquid, it smells like when you dig your fingernail into an orange. It's a bracing salty sweet scent, not like salted caramel but literally gourmet rock salt and a tad of something that is naturally sweet, I suspect it's a combination of the amber/elemi/fir. 

It's perfect for hot tropical weather and when feeling under the weather. Sillage is good on me but longevity I get about 4 hours tops before it pretty much disappears. Since I have a habit of lugging the SOTD around, that's not much of a problem for me. 

So post liberal spraying of Eau des Merveilles, I will make my foray out today, feeling a little more like this. Enjoy your Friday :)

Certain Uncertainties, Christian Vincent