Fiori d'Ambra Profumum Roma

Desirability: Decant

Source: www.parfumneroli.hu

Having already tried and been won over by another amber from Profumum Roma namely Ambra Aurea, I had high hopes of falling in love with Fiori d'Ambra. Well it's not quite a love but it's a firm like. 

I don't particularly like overly powdery ambers and well Fiori d'Ambra did start rather floral powdery and dry on me, giving it a vintage air similar to the scented drawer sheets my mother used to line her armoire until they went out of production like a decade ago. Thankfully the powder blows away revealing a spicy floral heart both dark and beguiling with a strange herbal vibe about it that isn't unpleasant but is well, strange. A smooth semi sweet amber enters unobtrusively and with time the scent has this balmy "glowing coals in a grate" effect. 

It has a much smaller presence than the booming personality of its relative Ambra Aurea and Fiori d'Ambra seems to perform a appearing/disappearing act throughout the day so rest assured it lasts a good while even if discreetly. 

L'Aimant Coty

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: Amazon.com

Suffering withdrawal symptoms from my month long holiday, one thing that revived me was the many parcels I accumulated while away. All of them were swaps with other fragrance lovers and many of them were blind swaps, including L'Aimant (the version I have is pictured above). 

A generous yet smooth and gentle dose of aldehydes, fuzzy peaches, dusty florals drying down to baby powder if it is possible to find baby powder smelling of musk and sandalwood. Elegant, warm and so lovely from beginning to end, L'Aimant would appeal to lovers of scents with a vintage flair. L'Aimant doesn't feel like the pink colour it is boxed in but more of a hazy peachy colour, like being enveloped in a loving hug. 

L'Aimant has been compared and contrasted to Chanel No. 5 but personally I won't recommend it as a dupe or a replacement. L'Aimant is easier on the senses than No. 5, with a milder character than the demanding "look at me, look at me" personality of No. 5. I've always felt that No. 5 is a moody if glamorous scent with dark secrets ( well the No. 5 of my childhood that I smelt on my mother who wore the same scent over the years and reluctantly moved on to something else due in part to the reformulations of No. 5) as compared to L'Aimant which comes across bright and joyful. I can't say that this would ever be a favourite as it is more mellow than I like my fragrances to be, but it is a nice relief from the many over the top/sugary sweet perfumes we are overloaded with today.  

A scent that you can wear anytime and to any place in any weather, with decent sillage and OK longevity=Blind swap success! I hate to make negative remarks but L'Aimant as a cologne spray lasted longer than my No. 5 parfum which I bought in 2013 from a Chanel counter (just in case Chanel loyalists accuse me of buying off the grey market). Last but not least let's not forget how very affordable L'Aimant is! Highly recommend!

Garofano Lorenzo Villoresi

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: www.lorenzovilloresi.it

I was never blown away by Caron's Bellodgia as loved and lauded as it is. Perhaps my new-ish bottle lacks the magic of previous formulations or perhaps I tried it too soon on my scent journey to truly appreciate it but Bellodgia got swapped away before I gave it another chance to someone else who really loves it. In return I got a sample of Garofano and this is something I can see myself wearing.

To avoid confusion, the sample is from the Vintage Collection from which I've tried and loved both Ylang Ylang and Ambra, the former being the most natural ylang ylang I've smelt and the latter being a unique interpretation of amber that's nothing like most other ambers on the market recently. 

Before I came across the universe of scents I never thought of carnations as fragrant, at least not the ones in the florist shops on my tropical island. The very most I could come up with after sticking my nose into various store bought carnations was the mildest of mild spicy floral and even that's exaggerating. Snooping on gardening forums I came to the conclusion that the ones that I've been sniffing are likely new hybrids that were crossbred for their size and colour with little attention paid to their scent whereas carnations which have not been domesticated smell like well, like carnations are meant to smell. 

So never having smelt an untouched carnation nor carnation absolute, I have to rely on Google which tells me carnations smell as follows: heavy, musky, spicy, clove-like, floral, powdery, sweet as honey, exotic. 

If this is true then Garofano encompasses all these characteristics. It is a rich and deep scent that smells like pepper and other aromatic spices from the kitchen, a dark and thick honey, leaving the kitchen and entering a boudoir whose walls and carpet hold the smells of powder, both the living and the ghosts of glorious floral arrangements as well as a hint of musk from the owner. Garofano doesn't unfold on me chapter by chapter but instead I smell everything together and yet separately, the different notes coming forwards and drifting away again as if the notes are in a free-style dance but sharing the limelight almost equally. I say almost equally because the most distinct on me would be the spicy floral and powdery bits. 

Biased perhaps by the olfactory hallucinations of canopied four-posters, heavy velvet drapings and plush outfittings a la Dangerous Liaisons, I find Garofano to be more feminine than unisex unless you are John Malkovich. Besides smelling like a historical aristocratic drama filled with intrigue, Garofano has a great projection with a moderate longevity and I would highly recommend this to lovers of carnations and vintage-y scents. 

Fate for Women Amouage

Source: pinterest.com

Fate and Beloved are two oddly comforting perfumes for me. I say odd only because I tend to view Amouge perfumes as luxurious jewels and instruments of seduction not burrito blankets( I learnt a new slang today, thank you Bella).

Beloved I group together with another beloved Shalimar under "classy classics", I find Fate to be more extroverted and gregarious compared to them. Perfume is for anytime and any place of course, but I reach more often for Fate to chill out with in a hole-y tee and Beloved to look presentable for, even though both turn me into a contented, purring cat.

Fate starts a bit sharp and peppery but the sharpness doesn't last for more than it takes the spray to evaporate on my skin, before it turns into a smoky, spicy and woody balm for the soul, that envelops one in a blissful bubble, like sitting and watching firewood burning merrily on a cold weekend afternoon, a mug of something sinful in hand while one shuffles around at home still in pajamas at 4 pm. I get powdery florals as it further dries which gives Fate some vintage charm like Besame cosmetics. The floral powder, smoke, woods, resins and spices all blend smoothly into a complex and sublime scent that shares traits with other Amouage scents (Dia for floral powder, Epic and Beloved for warm spicy florals, Interlude and Memoir for smoky resins) before it but remains unique.

Source: community.sephora.com

I prefer wearing Fate when its cold i.e when the air-conditioning is on as the scent blooms beautifully whereas much of its performance is dampened in heat and curiously enough the sillage/longevity seems to be affected by temperature too. I get amped up sillage in heat but with poor longevity and in colder temperatures, the sillage is still good but the longevity is way better.

* Just to avoid confusion, I refer to the female versions of the scents mentioned above.

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.