Ambra Aurea Profumum Roma

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: www.profumum.com

Smooth criminal.

This is like a sensual and languorous trip that winds and loops, doubles back and proceeds once more through creamy vanilla, smoky incense, sweet myrrh, dusky warm labdanum, freshly shaven wood and a hint of camphor. Despite being a gourmand lover of sweet things, I prefer my ambers not too sweet and thankfully the sugar level is controlled in this smooth, rich and dense fragrance. I have to mention its ridiculously persistent longevity (ditto sillage) which seems to be a common trait amongst Profumum Roma scents. Mind the oily residue when sprayed though it does give one the fantasy factor of applying liquid amber on. 

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Of course I have to compare it with my Holy Grail of ambers...Ambre Sultan, Ambra Aurea is glossy and lustrous where Ambre Sultan is dry and spicy. Ambre Sultan takes me on a magic carpet ride to desert lands of Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia whereas Ambra Aurea is like the Sex and the City version of the Middle East i.e. a bit OTT but still loveable in the end. 

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Both are glorious amber perfumes in their own right and for those who can't decide whether they need a bottle of Ambra Aurea if they already own the Lutens I would say go for it. Many thanks (or not) to the fragrant friend/fiend who sent me vials of Fiori d'Ambra and Ambra Aurea, both labelled "smell me immediately". I obeyed your instructions and am now hooked.

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. 

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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. 

Stoned Solange Azagury-Partridge

Source: Twitter.com

Stoned has all my favourite accords and shares characteristics with some of my treasured perfumes like Musc Ravageur and Dries Van Noten from Frederic Malle, L'air de Rien by Miller Harris and Le Labo's Labdanum 18. The pillowy musk, citrus-tinged diet vanilla and a buttery suede-leathery effect stand out the most for me from the beginning to the end, which was about 8 hours on clothes for me even though it stayed close throughout. 

An unobtrusive scent but anyone entering your personal space will want to stay there. It's oddly comforting and yet sensual, like a fluffy Maine Coon with Cleopatra's exotic kohl eye-liner, prowling confidently and in a way only felines and clothes-horses can achieve. It smells expensive yet naughty, like laying under 800 thread count sheets butt-naked. 

Cristina Hilde Soliani

Source: Luckyscent

I fell in love with a sample of Cristina that was thoughtfully included in a perfume parcel from a fragrant friend who knows what a "patch head" I am. She was right, I loved Cristina from the first wearing and despite the patchouli department of my wardrobe being well-stocked, I had to have it. I mean, after reaching a certain number of bottles, does another one really matter any more? :)

  Patchouli has so many different faces ranging from hippie to haughty and Cristina seems to embody most of them although the most apt description would be that of a oriental gourmand, the vanilla flavoured buttery white chocolate that eluded me in Chanel's Les Exclusifs Coromandel standing out clearly in Cristina. Also present in Cristina is the woody and dark soil aspect of patchouli like in Jovoy's Psychedelique or Histoires de Parfums Noir Patchouli and a creamy nuttiness like in Montale's Patchouli Leaves, all these mixed with a heady caramelized resinous syrup.

Despite its potent richness, Cristina like other Hilde Soliani fragrances I have tried, does not come across as heavy but instead is like a soft cloud that drifts lazily about you. 

Habanita L'Esprit Molinard

Habanita L'Esprit starts off heavy but winds up soft after about an hour so I tend to carry my bottle around with me. I've never tried the original Habanita or the 2012 eau de parfum version so I regretfully can't compare them at this time. 

I have been weaning myself off the risky habit of blind buys but this one was a successful gamble as Habanita L'Esprit has all the notes I enjoy, being a well-orchestrated combination of an unclean musk, leather, resins and powder. I say unclean as it's more smutty than a clean musk like The Body Shop's White Musk but not enough to join the legion of dark musks like Kiehl's Original Musk. The leathery labdanum and musk stand out during the first hour but slink away thereafter so that in the drydown you get sweet warm resins and citrus-tinged vanilla powder. This part reminds me a little of Guerlain's Shalimar but with less vanilla than in Shalimar. Overall a nice and cosy scent that's worth its price. 

Collection Rouge No. 2 M. Micallef

Source: boutique.osswaldnyc.com

A Micallef that I really enjoy, Rouge No. 2 was a bit of a surprise find. I was on the hunt for labdanum based scents and this opulent red bottle caught my eye. To put it simply Rouge No. 2 is a fancy mix of an oriental and fruity-floral, that's sweet enough in its initial stages to be ranked as a gourmand oriental but not tooth-achingly so. 

It starts with bushels of luscious ripe berries that are turned into a mouth-watering fruit and caramel dessert, the sweetness held in check by a tangy cassis. The scent leaves the gourmand territory as it dries and goes down a darker resinous path, ending as a powdery warm amber with a tinge of dark musk, that is suggestive without reeking of sex. 

Rouge No. 2 has a very potent opening which wanes to become a skin scent by around the fifth hour wearing it. After having sampled it a few times (and finally succumbing to a full bottle), I feel its aptly named, from the succulent berry opening, the intensely dark creme de cassis and its ending with a hint of carnal pleasures awaiting.  

Lei, Mazzolari

I've had the pleasure of Lei's company for a number of times and can't decide yet if it will develop into a full relationship. 

I adore patchouli in all its various characters and Lei is chock-full of patchouli, sweet, earthy and dark. I don't smell chocolate or cacao but Lei smells like a chocolate brown to me, something in the spectrum of Serge Lutens' Chergui with its amber hues, not Lei's own pale gold liquid. 

Further contributions to the warm brown imagery, come from the labdanum and vetiver. The vetiver is smoky and woody, like how it smells in Le Labo's Vetyver 46. Labdanum is a multi-faceted gem and in Lei, it plays a role in the balmy quality of the scent, further introducing a leathery note that adds to the alluring glow of Lei. It truly is an oriental scent from the first sniff. 

Lei dries to a citrus-tinged, woody vanilla base, that's as snug as a bug and reminds me of the dry down of Guerlain's Shalimar. It is because of this similarity to Shalimar that makes me wonder if I need Lei in my life. Lei has a bitterness that is downplayed by its overall sweetness whereas Shalimar is a sublime, smoky vanilla without any bitterness. 

The scent projects well from my skin for the first four hours and subsequently remains as a skin scent for much longer.

Labdanum 18 Le Labo

This was my last birthday gift to myself and came shipped from Luckyscent via an amazing perfume-friend. I adore the skank Rose 31, the super leathery Patchouli 24, the hyper-realistic Lys 41, the gorgeous woody Belle du Soir, Santal 33 my favorite happy sandalwood and I was ready to be impressed by Labdanum 18.

I'm not wowed off my feet, but I'll say it's a good SKIN SCENT. It's so soft, it's practically made of fairies' wings. Not something I expected with labdanum and civet amongst its notes. 

I sprayed a copious amount on my sleeve and finally met Labdanum 18. It's a smoky, Oriental musk, with a hint of animals hiding behind the trees. Not as smoky like Le Labo's broody Vetyver 46, it's more resinous than a wood fire. 

So it didn't win the sweepstakes in projection but it's rather long-lasting, I could still detect its balmy sweetness eight hours on if I stick my nose to my arm. Good for days you want to remain discreet in office meetings before you have a rendezvous with your lover after, it's guaranteed he/she will respond amorously to this musky "like skin" but "skin rolled in animal funk and incense" scent. 

I've heard it compared to Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle. I would say there are similarities but they are not identical twins, maybe fraternal. First I can actually smell Musc Ravageur after one spray (sorry for the repeated gripe), secondly Musc Ravageur has this potent, obvious spiciness about it that is not present in Labdanum 18. Musc Ravageur is provocative, in your face wantonness whereas Labdanum 18 is quietly alluring. Ok, Musc Ravageur would be Angelina Jolie (how could you miss all that sex appeal starting from the lips right?) versus the gamine Audrey Tautou as Labdanum 18 (watch Amelie then go watch Hors de prix). At the end of the day, it depends on who or what you want to channel. 

Calligraphy Rose Aramis

I was attracted first by the notes, then the positive reviews it has garnered and the cherry on top would be the reasonable online prices. I bought a split from a perfume friend and it is now on my perfume wish list.

It opens tart and sweet, fresh dewy roses with green notes. This phase lasted a good 15 minutes to half hour on me before the scent shows its oriental nature, introducing sweet resins, a little dark and smoky here and a spicy, dry dustiness from the saffron.

If there is ambergris in Calligraphy Rose it's synthetic, considering how rare and expensive the real stuff is. Here it's emulating the white kind, there's no barnyard funk here, just a marine like salty sweetness that reminds me a little of Hermes' Eau des Merveilles..

The rose remains all the way through, its scent deep and intensive. The scent projects very well and the longevity is superb, it outdoes many of its more expensive competitors. I highly recommend.

L'Oiseau de Nuit Parfumerie Generale

L'Oiseau de Nuit. The Night Bird has landed in my hands from a Luckyscent sample. 

Now this is good stuff. 

It opens with a smell similar to lemongrass-herbal, bittersweet and green. The medicinal part abates a bit and I smell the leather that makes me think of really buttery soft leather gloves that you never want to take off but you have to because the SA is staring at you suspiciously and the price-tag is astronomical. 

There's an animal in this scent and I don't mean the name. It smells like an unwashed beast...but I like it...in the scent that is. Not the actual beast up close, I've dated enough of those thank you.


The Odalisque, Aldophe Weisz 1884

I smell sweet smoky resins, which one exactly I can never tell, I get mixed up with the different types of balsams and resins. The official notes list labdanum and benzoin.

The scent twists and turns on me like smoke does in the air, now I get the herbal bitterness, now I get then thick resinous sweetness, then I get the leather and the unwashed beast. 

Sillage is very very good, considering I applied a little bit from a dab sample to my right elbow and I can smell this as clear as if I had my wrist stuck to my nose...that's good in my books. 

My first full bottle worthy PG scent, I may even spring for the 100 ml bottle. Definitely reinvigorated to try more! 

Turning Thirty-Three Part Trois and the Finale

Well the celebratory bottle-acquiring had to reach an end, I don't have the financial stamina to fund endless parties for a month unfortunately.. Plus one is going to New York in about two weeks and a little bit, so money has to be set aside for that trip! Osswald, MIN and Aedes deVenustas here I come! ( I got the lists from here: Best NYC fragrance stores, 23 NYC Fragrance Hot Spots and from The Non-Blonde of course.)

My package from First in Fragrance is here! Well in the country that is. The DHL tracking shows that it arrived yesterday but they haven't delivered it. Hopefully it'll arrive today, that would be perfect! That's the one containing my new love... Vero Profumo's Rozy in Voile d'Extrait as well as sample packs of Vero Kern's creations in EDP and VdE. Judging by the notes I think I will wind up liking Rubj, Onda and Kiki. I prefer the official arrangement of the notes for Rubj in the Voile d'Extrait form but according to some fragrant friends who have tried all of the line, they think I will prefer the EDP. I am looking at the EDP versions of Onda and Kiki with great interest (Onda appears to be the least challenging in the EDP and Kiki sounds really fun!).

A second package coming from a lovely fragrant friend in LA is somewhere between the US and here. That one contains a half bottle split of Le Labo's Labdanum 18, ordered and split when I was in a "I need labdanum" period. There's also lots of samples she helped me get from Luckyscent (how lovely it would be to have the equivalent of Luckyscent just down the street). While waiting for that to arrive, I have these labdanum beauties to keep me company: Solange Azagury-Patridge's Stoned (nose is Lyn Harris of Miller Harris, so you already know the quality is good. Labdanum, musk, vanilla and a buttery suede effect...gorgeous) and Habanita L'Espirit by Molinard. It's very affordable on several online stores including Fragrancex. I got mine as a tester bottle in a local store quite by chance. It's all creamy, musky and balmy creation on me, so comforting. I tested and loved Cristina by Hilde Soliani, no science needed there, patchouli, vanilla and labdanum, how could I not fall for it? It's not a well-behaved patchouli so if you like your patchouli tame and toeing the line, Cristina will not be your cup of tea. I've also got a sample of Parfumerie Generale's L'Oiseau de Nuit and I'm hoping that will be the first PG that I will get along with, I haven't had the smoothest relationship with the PG line. 

On a side note when I'm wearing one of the labdanums, I feel like a big fuzzy cat...like a Maine Coon...which kind of looks like David Bowie in Labyrinth. See for yourself...I don't know, it's something about his eye-liner.

So back to the haul...

Last night I got home to a really HUGE surprise. My family has already accepted that this perfume habit of mine isn't disappearing any time soon. I think my dad enjoys finding out where the boxes came from rather than what's in them( he's taken to asking me for the stamps on the boxes, so far I've gotten him stamps from France, Greece, Croatia, Spain, Australia, Russia and Algeria). Anyway back to the HUGE surprise. My sister got me Amouage's Fate for my birthday. How great is that?? Two Amouages in one month! Total windfall! I've wanted Fate since it came out but just like Beloved it's always been too expensive to pull the trigger and I've survived on samples and decants...but now I own not just one but BOTH these beauties! Gorgeous from box down to juice really. 

I adore Google. I just realized that this is showing on my google search screen today.

and when I scroll my mouse over it, a caption with "Happy Birthday Kristine" pops up...such a nice little extra!