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| Source: hedgeco.net |
Then 2012 was consumed by upheaval in my personal life and the house move - but though I was diverted from the business of chasing after novelty, my fragrant Wanderlust was already starting to wane, and I was bonding more with what I already owned. Much as Birgit has explained in her retrospective of 2013, though not quite so marked. Moreover, all the work I have had last year has been local - or on the telephone! - so my sniffing oppos have been much curtailed anyway.
Offsetting that, I seem to have received more promotional product lately, but these packages rarely contained any of the few lemmings I was harbouring (can you harbour a lemming? - you can now!) - more a case of random stuff that perfume houses saw fit to send me, often the smaller, newer brands looking for exposure in social media. And just occasionally new lemmings were ignited this way (can you set a lemming on fire?...of course you can!).
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| Lemming on ice (best I could find - and topical at least!) Source: pogo.lakesideschool.org |
So in view of the woefully limited and lopsided nature of my sniffing experience lately, this post will do no more than nod in the direction of actual releases from the past year, and focus on my perfume-themed highlights of 2013, however they came about...
And as I mentioned in my 3.6 year stock take, this hobby remains as much about the people I meet through it as perfume itself, hence why I would probably say my happiest moments of last year were the meet-ups with fellow perfumistas: the Smelly Cakey Drinky event in March, hooking up with Freddie Albrighton in April, Lucy Raubertas, Undina and Denyse Beaulieu in June, Natalie in August, and Lavanya and Tara in London just last week.
NB Apologies for the veritable thicket of hyperlinks in this post - they do get more sparse from this point on!
TOP SNIFFS (etc)
Best niche perfumes
En Voyage Perfumes Zelda - a sumptuous floral oriental with (to quote myself!) 'a sultry magnolia heart in a crisp galbanum shell'. Zelda is a Southern belle in a pencil skirt, Vivien Leigh in geek glasses, and other images of optimally constrained flounce and sensuality. (Thanks to Natalie of Another Perfume Blog for the sample!)
Puredistance BLACK - review here.
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| Source: Puredistance |
Neela Vermeire Créations Ashoka - If I didn't already own not one but TWO bottles of PG Bois Naufragé, I would have considered Ashoka to be FBW; and though I prefer it by quite some margin to the PG, it is too much in the same 'milky-woody-fig' vein to justify a further acquisition. ;-(
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| Source: Neela Vermeire Créations |
AND
Best under-the-radar niche release
Téo Cabanel Barkhane - a hauntingly beautiful woody oriental with the understated snuffed out quality of Diptyque Volutes edt or Puredistance BLACK, rather than the chutzpah of Amouage Lyric Woman or Tauer L'Air du Désert Marocain - though all four scents have a similarly elusive air of mystery to them.
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| Source: Luckyscent |
Chanel Les Exclusifs 1932 - Chanel No 5 meets Tom Ford Violet Blonde and makes out on a bed of silk.
Frédéric Malle Dries Van Noten / Denise Van Outen(!)- a wispy biscuity scent unlike the aggravated Danish pastry that is Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau and other patisserie perfumes of that kidney.
Favourite perfume discoveries in 2013 from earlier years
Diptyque Volutes edt - see also Barkhane above: a cosy, smoky, powdery caress of a scent (thanks to Tamsin Simmill for the sample of this one).
Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles - I didn't think I liked a pine note in perfume, but the needle has finally dropped!
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| Yesterday's Christmas tree carnage |
L'Erbolario Méharées - a poor man's Musc Ravageur with notes of myrrh and dates (thanks to Odiferess for samples of these last two).
Best oud perfume release (that's enough now, please)
(I have a special note category - for oud?? Yep, that is how 'off kilter'/odd my year has been...)
Exidolo Thirty-Three - wispy rose and oud composition using 33-year old Chinese oud oil, if vintage is your thing! Wild-harvested no less. It is paradoxically evanescent for a scent built around such a tenacious note, but that is okay by me.
Best cheapie oud scent discovery (for any 'dyed in the wood' oud lovers out there)
Dehnal oud
My friend Gillie tumbled to this, and it only costs about £2 for a purse-sized roll-on! Plus it has the seal of approval of a bunch of men on Basenotes, and goodness knows they don't take any prisoners...;)
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| So cheap it's rude not to - whether you like oud or not! |
Most oddball use of a note in a perfume
Mark Buxton Emotional Rescue (gooseberry!)
I don't think Emotional Rescue the perfume will replace chocolate or wine any time soon. And gooseberry's place is firmly in a fool.
Perfume I smelt briefly, have no sample of, and which is now haunting me
Ramon Monégal Ambra di Luna - the moment is captured here.
Perfumes I think I would have liked a lot that I haven't smelt
Dita Von Teese Erotique
Marni
Givenchy Dahlia Noir L'Eau
Most liked perfume that a SA insisted I try (enforced sampling normally being the kiss of death, as we know)
Louise Kennedy (the new scent by the Irish designer of that name)
Described as a 'romantic, floral bouquet with refreshing top notes of geranium bourbon, mimosa and Rose de Mai underscored with bergamot and lemon'. The lemon gives it a pleasant, almost granular tartness, while I also detected a galbanum or hyacinth prickle that stopped the whole composition from straying into girlish tweeness. Before, sadly, the Miss Dior Chérie-style bottle dragged it squarely back again.
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| We are so over chunky tops bedecked in pink bows... Source: www.her.ie |
Most eye-catching set of perfume samples
Téo Cabanel
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| Spirograph squiggles(!) and meticulous colour coordination |
Most unexpected event of the entire year (in a good, horizon-broadening kind of a way)
The Neela Vermeire chicken liver incident.
NASTY NIFFS
Worst niche niff
Viktoria Minya Hedonist
Now I don't go a bundle on boozy notes or peach - or excessive honey twizzling - in a perfume, so this scent was always going to have its work cut out, but still. It was muddy, with a strange, slightly off note, as Freddie of Smellythoughts is my witness!
(Hedonist also takes the award for the perfume where I felt most out of step with the views of other bloggers. Last year that accolade would have gone to Puredistance Opardu if I had written a review of 2012 - it was pretty enough, no question, yet came off as a little too mainstream and laundry musky on my skin.)
Worst mainstream niff
Giorgio Armani Si
Who let that 'orrible blackcurrant note out! And the overpowering vanilla accord that mugs you on the drydown. And hey, I like vanilla. I can almost tolerate vanilla-scented tealights, but not quite. I disliked this scent so much I can't even be bothered to give it its rightful grave accent. It is gravely bad!
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| Source: Fragrantica |
Marketing let down of the year
Ormonde Jayne has been one of my absolute favourite houses, but I feel compelled to let readers know that its Perfume Portrait service - glowing review here - now costs £20 if you book it in advance, but bizarrely remains free if you just walk in off the street. And contrary to the time I had it done for myself, there is now an expectation that you will make a purchase on the spot, which of course is alien to most perfumistas who prefer to procure a sample first and take their time deciding before springing for a full bottle. Assuming they even like anything that much from Ormonde Jayne's relatively compact range (though I personally have a very high strike rate with them). Now it may be that this is not in fact general policy, but it was clearly the deal when I went along with a couple of friends, one of whom had the portrait done. Also, the exploding flower tea ceremony appears to be a thing of the past, albeit we arrived a little late - we were only offered water. And neery a chocolate either.
UPDATE - re the Ormonde Jayne saga above, see Lavanya's comment below for the latest developments, in which she 'outs' herself and Tara as the other participants - it was Lavanya who had the portrait done. ;)
40 comments:
Wonderful post Vanessa great to finally read your best and worst. Agree with Hedonist, it wasn't the worst to me, but it smelt the same on both our skin - grating and uncomfortable, blergh!
Zelda has had so much love this year and deservedly so, it is truly wonderful :D I still need to get me one of those little bottles (and her Vents Ardents which literally blew my socks off).
Hi Freddie,
LOL at the 'blowing your socks off' - ardent winds indeed! I haven't tried that one, but did receive a few Envoyage samples with my purchase, so will check those in case I do in fact have it.
Hedonist I can see appealing to someone who likes peach and rum, and it did smell expensive and luxurious - just not 'nice' on the pair of us, unfortunately.
Really loved your round-up (you should make it annual). ;)
I'm glad Neela got you to try liver, personally, I love it (plus, it's healthy). :-)
You sniffed your way through quite a bit for someone on a slow down! I did better than you though - all I tried were a few Le Labos and Ateliers, Armani's Si and I suppose a few other mainstream things I have already forgotten about. I thought Si was hideous, excruciating, would rather grind glass into my eye. And was there some Madonna thing that came out this year? That seemed okay, although as I've already forgotten what it was called, so it can't have been that great.
My mainstream cheapie discoveries for the year were Calyx, Laura Biagiotti's Roma and Givenchy's Ysatis.
Niche is getting less and less affordable for me.
Lots to agree with here. I also had an Oud category; lol. But seriously I think this note deserves a category to two. The oil is a perfume unto itself with a deep forest soul that synthetics have not yet matched. Unless they have with Denhal Oud. I am off to read the Basenotes thread now and see what is up. People go bonkers about this scent as an oil. A roll-on you say?
Hi annemariec,
Why thank you! It did feel as though I was missing a shedload of things. I had hardly heard of anything on Denyse's list, for example, and when I went to check on NST everything that HAD been released in 2013, it was completely mind boggling - and again, mostly unfamiliar.
Glad to meet someone else who says 'No!' to 'Si'! Haven't tried the new Madonna, though I did read about it. Calyx is good, Roma fuzzy in my mind now, and Ysatis I actually wore in the 80s - because my lodger did and I thought she was too cool for school.
Hi Ines,
Thanks, and I will try! 2012 was the only year that slipped through the net at least. ;)
And I'll be honest, I haven't eaten liver since that day, but then I don't think I could find it locally as spicy and interesting as this variety. ;)
Hi Jordan,
Haha re the oud oil category - so you did! Maybe I had subliminally clocked it as I was reading all the 'best of' posts, which made me feel my own inclusion of one legit and unlikely to cause too many rolled eyes. ;) And as you say, the oil has a 'deep forest soul' - love that expression. My friend Gillie adores oud oil and has sent me on a mission to pick out affordable and beautiful incarnations of it in perfume. She has all my spare samples that nod in that direction - oud + rose is a particular favourite combo.
Yes, the Dehnal is an oil in a roll-on and quite literally costs about £2 over here! Let me know if you can procure it where you are for a similarly small outlay.
Such a great post, Vanessa. Loved so many things about it, including the "aggravated Danish pasty", the lemming pic and your perfect categorisation of scents with "an elusive air of mystery".
I concur with all your awards, even the ones I haven't tried because our tastes have so much overlap. Considering your didn't travel as much last year you meet up rate was still very good. Those meetings are defo the best part, I agree. I always have fun with you V!
CQ anonymously here. I have only one thing to say. Andrex scented bog roll. Fab list!!
Gooseberry fool!!! I haven't had that since I made it in Domestic Science class at St Mary's - god, it was awful. So I shudder to think how a perfume with gooseberry as a note would wear on me - too many associated memories.
Anyhoo, thanks for this great review. I must admit, I spent hours avidly following the plethora of links (I'm newly addicted to blogs as previously mentioned and so have this as my justification) and found the first thought in my sleep-wooly brain this morning was about the storage of your perfumes in the fridges on one of said links. By this time, you might not even still have the fridges nor care about a follow up comment 6 months after the fact, but I feel I must address your question about moisture versus cold versus light issues or it will bug me all day! As I lay in bed, I was struck with the thought that the moisture you were concerned about from the stubbornly reforming ice, would probably not be an issue as far as the contents of the bottles were concerned, but might have a negative effect on the labels. Then I thought : what about oxidation of any metal in the caps? (In fact I even stated "OXIDATION!" out loud at which my poor but {mostly} understanding husband stuck his pillow over his head.) Being rather scientifically challenged, I couldn't answer my own question but am sure others might. And then I thought : If there is ice in the fridges, wouldn’t that mean that’s it’s pretty damn cold? And doesn’t cold shrink things (Sneaking a look over at hubby’s be-pillowed head and deciding not to ask him - sniggering as I did so.) SOOO, would the caps loosen because of the cold? And *then * - triumphant now – the moisture would get in!!
Suffice to say, my excuse for all this blather was no morning Earl Grey had yet been consumed, and my apologies to those of you who are rolling eyes and asking where the hell I went to school…
PS. I’m going to try Ashoka – ty for the heads up…
Hi Sally,
I loved this tale of your nocturnal cogitations - and a special word of thanks to your husband for his patience in the face of these interruptions to his own sleep - I feel an apology may be due on my side for luring you to other areas of the Bonkers archives with said links, and keeping both of you awake as a result.
To fill you in, the fridges have both since been decommissioned, for when I decorated the bedroom they were in in the new house, they suddenly looked too angular and metallic, not to mention noisy. Well, noise had always been a problem in fairness. So the perfumes were moved to the dark and dry - but not especially cold - cupboard under the stairs, while the fridges were consigned to the garage, where they act as overflow storage for Christmas fare.
So whilst you may be on to something with your worries about loosening tops and oxidation, I no longer have this concern in terms of my own collection. Temperature is likely to be the current villain now, but there is nothing I can do about that!
Sorry too to have dredged up unhappy memories of gooseberry fool making - I rather like gooseberry fool, I must say, but my domestic science achievements were limited to French toast and adorning half a grapefruit with a glace cherry.
Hi Tara,
Glad my selection struck a chord with you. We do have quite a lot of overlap in our tastes, so I would be confident you might like the ones you've not come across so far. And I guess my meet up rate is pretty respectable - better than my sniffing one, but that seems to be the way I am heading. ;) I very much enjoyed our meetings too - and not long till the next one...!
Hi Val,
Andrex scented bog roll in the nasty niffs or top sniffs category? I am guessing the former? ;)
hahahaha!! How I recall the grapefruit and cherry! We had to cut the little sections each side of the skin so they would be easy to spoon out. We all thought it was very posh. No apologies needed for the link "journey" (snicker) - it was most enjoyable. Under the stairs you say - I get visions of Harry Potter in my head. I should do something better with my perfumes - I have them in 2 cabinets on my dressing table but they are glass and even though I keep the curtains closed and its fairly dark, I obsess about them declining as we speak. And all of my Guerlains are just on a mirror tray on the same dtable. The sleep deprived hubby made me a great thingy for my samples - its a 2 level pull out shelf with holes in (sort of like an ammo storage unit) and so they are always stored in the dark. Praps he would do something similar for my bottles, altho I do like to see them all...
Love your list. Plenty of wholehearted agreement here, especially Ashoka and the Teo Cabanel sample set.
Portia x
Hi Sally,
Yep, we are clearly from the same generation of domestic science 'studies'. The area under the stairs is fully wood panelled, so does actually look a bit Harry Potter...
Ooh, another link for you with a photo of it!
http://bonkersaboutperfume.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/turkey-stuffing-stuff-on-my-cat-have.html
Regarding your own storage system, it is always a compromise between accessibility and the urge to enjoy bottles on display and the other imperative of 'climate controlled curation'. Seems like the samples are well catered for, so perhaps your extremely obliging hubby could fashion something similar for bottles? When he has finally caught up on his sleep deficit, obviously....;)
Hi Portia,
Glad you liked the list and that it chimed with your own faves from the year. Look forward to meeting you soon!
Hi Vanessa and a happy new year, I hope 2014 brings some delightful scents your way.
I've been thinking a lot about your £2 oud attar. As you know, oud has yet to provide me with any sort of pleasure at all, but attars are potentially interesting to me. Whilst working with the many Arabic teenagers at school, I sometimes catch a whiff of interest. In particular an attar that comes straight from Longsight market (just off Manchester's famous curry mile) that has been projecting a pleasing sandalwoody scent in Year 10 English classes. I think quite a few of them own it. On the horror side, a jasmine one also abounds (bleurgh). Obviously school smells awful in the main, teenage feet and hormones isn't good. I've bought an Al Rehab attar on ebay today (Sondes, a sandalwood rose) to see how it wears. I spent a whopping £2.79 including postage. I'll let you know what happens..
x
Hello Vanessa, what an entertaining post. That Teo Cabanel sample set looks so nice, I am not familiar with that line at all so perhaps a good way to get familiar with the perfumes. I still want to try Hedonist, even if it may be way too much for my taste, I find I still crave powerful perfumes like we had them before (the 8os and the old "fur perfumes").
My sister had smelled Armani Si before Christmas and liked it well enough to think about a full bottle. If anyone has a clue about a similar, but better crafted scent, I would be happy to get a suggestion. She is not equally into perfume as me, so I do not know what aspect she found pleasing. Luckily this time she settled for another perfume (with a prominent note of ylang ylang, a subtly tropical scent).
Great post. I'm another who agrees with you on the Armani Si.
Ah, and Ormonde Jayne and their marketing. I ordered one of their sample sets a few months ago. Free worldwide shipping they announce on their website. Except that once I'd ordered it, they said they couldn't ship to South Korea because the Korean postal service apparently returned everything they sent there. Strange, I thought, because samples from France, Switzerland, Italy and the US have made it to me just fine so you'd think the problem is the UK postal service, if anything. And why on earth don't they mention these issues until you have already ordered...? They offered to cancel the order but in the end I elected to get it sent to my parents' place. After that experience I can't say I was sad to discover that none of the OJ perfumes are my thing. There is a note in most of them that I really don't get along with.
Hi Sarah,
Same to you! What fun about those tantalising - and not so agreeable - whiffs you get from your Arabic pupils! A cheapo potent jasmine can be a horror, but then you don't like prominent jasmine to start with, which doesn't help. Very interested to see how you get on with your sandalwood rose. My mate Gillie is very particular about things not smelling overly synthetic, and the regular oud one got through her picky radar. ;) For £2.79 it is worth getting it all wrong, even.
Hi Ingeborg,
Thanks for your kind comment. The sample set is very pretty - and the range has a number of variants covered, although the orientals were my favourites. You may well love Hedonist, for it isn't overly powerful, except for the initial wallop of honey. If you like those old school 'fur perfumes' (great term!) and if you don't get this funny note Freddie and I did, you will probably get on with it great, as the overwhelming majority of reviewers seemed to.
Oh, the bottle your sister chose in the end sounds lovely - I am very partial to ylang ylang and tropical scents generally.
As regards a subsitute for Armani Si, maybe Carven Le Parfum or Jour d'Hermes? I am not saying that either of those are that similar, but they are modern and bright scents that are well regarded. There's also EL Modern Muse but I personally found it a bit dreary.
Or Elie Saab, maybe?
Hi Sarah K,
Thanks for dropping by with the view from your part of the world, and that interesting story of your postal problems. I can think of no good reason why the UK's shipments should fare worse than those from other countries - it makes no sense as you say. And I am sorry you didn't get along with something about the OJ perfumes when you did finally catch up with them - I must say I like almost all of the OJ range, but if there is that one thing you pick up on, I can see how it could spoil your appreciation of the whole line. I was like that with the early By Kilians and Mona di Orios. And many Givenchys smell plasticky to me.
I was quite surprised, as the OJ line gets a lot of love but it did get me to the discovery that, as you've said, sometimes the 'house style' of a line just doesn't suit a person. That's why I appreciate reviews like your take on Hedonist. They help give a more rounded view and remind me that even the best loved thing won't be loved by everyone.
Hi Sarah,
Yes, I do sometimes find I have a blanket liking or not for a house, more or less - or for *a wave* of perfumes from that house at least. If a person didn't care for 'Guerlainade' or 'Tauerade' they'd be a bit stuffed with a fair few scents from those brands. ;)
Glad you agree that negative reviews have a role to play in the overall picture. Some bloggers take the line that they will only write about things they like, but it can lead to a torrent of glowing praise for a particular scent that is 'in vogue' for a spell. Readers may have no inkling that the other bloggers who held back and refrained from posting a review didn't necessarily rate the scent in question. ;)
Hi Vanessa,
Thank you for your suggestions regarding a scent to replace Si on my sisters wish list. It may well be that she would love Jour d'Hermes. Carven cannot be found here, I think. The first Elie Saab seemed for a while to be a must for so many, so it would sort of not meet the criteria of nudging my sister in a slightly more interesting direction when it comes to perfume.
Hi Ingeborg,
Jour d'Hermes sounds as though it might be a possible contender, then. If I can think of any more alternatives to Si, I will let you know - same goes for anyone reading! There must be some other classy, bright, modern florals that would fit the bill. I have a soft spot for Shalimar Le Parfum Initial, but it is perhaps too patchouli-heavy. Pretty bottle, mind! Then there's Guerlain Idylle, though that might be considered a bit ordinary / ubiquitous now, especially with its various flankers. Plus it isn't particularly bright. That Givenchy Dahlia and Dahlia L'Eau might not be a bad duo to explore. The former is vague in my mind and the latter I haven't tried, but the word on the street is pretty positive. Then there is that green one from Chloe - L'Eau de Chloe, that's it. It was well rated by Robin of NST, and I liked it too, though it didn't wow me. Quite dewy and sparkling. Then Cartier Baiser Vole is very bright and intense, but super powdery at the same time - again it was highly rated, and is not too well known, but the powder might be a problem. Pleasures and Pure White Linen are of course bright abstract florals too, but may lack the obscurity again - or recency indeed.
Great niche discoveries! Are you partial to Oud? :)
Hi Fragrance du Bois,
Not specially, though I see you are!
I have been meaning to update you and Tara (and I owe both of you emails- but am sooo swamped with work-personal and professional) about the OJ visit. Encouraged by Tara's email about how the visit seemed like a let down to her as well (I thought it was only me!), I emailed the store. AND- apparently the sessions *are* complimentary and Chloe, the store manager said that Linda was embarrassed and quite mad that this happened to us. Will email you in more detail but wanted to let you know!
Hi Lavanya,
I know you must be stacked out, so please don't worry about not being in touch - work is pretty hectic at this end too. In my account of the visit to OJ, I was deliberately coy about who was in the party, not necessarily wishing to 'out' you and Tara as the other disappointed parties. I played down my own disappointment at the time, so as not to spoil/squash *any* good feelings from the visit you may have had, not least in the all-important business of 'bonding' with the bottle you were hustled into acquiring. But I am most encouraged to learn that the charge for the portrait service is not normal and that Linda is sorry we had this rather lacklustre and pushy experience. Look forward to hearing more about your exchange with the company when you have a moment!
I'm with you and Freddie on Hedonist: it was just awful on my skin as well. It doesn't happen to me too often that I actually dislike the perfume that most others loved. "Nice but nothing special" is a much more usual reaction for me. But this one... I still didn't feel obligated to write a bad review because this brand (and perfume) deserve their chance - so I do not mind if people go ahead and buy a sample based on theraving reviews. And if they go for a blind buy of the FB and do not like it - maybe they'll learn the lesson to test first ;)
As you can see, I'm a litle bit ;) late but I always get to the posts!
I like your list. You should definitely do that every year! (I never do my own but love reading others')
I've learned about Téo Cabanel's Barkhane just recently and now it's one of a very few lemmings. And even more so after reading that you liked it.
Last year I bought a perfume with goosberry note Jo Malone Elderflower & Gooseberry. I like it :)
Hi Undina,
You do always get to the posts, and it is always worth the wait!
I will try and do a list next year - 2012 was a funny time, but it was a tradition I maintained before that. If you love Volutes - and you do - I would say I am 90% confident that you would enjoy Barkhane. The notes look nothing like the Diptyque but it has a very similar vibe. I would try to extract a bit from my sample vial, but it has the tiniest of apertures - like the 4ml Hermes vials, you know. They are generously sized, but completely unsplittable!
I remember your trying those latest Jo Malones, but the one with gooseberry in it had slipped my mind. I will reserve judgement till I catch up with it, but am still not convinced about it as a note... ;)
Hi Undina,
Hey, that makes three of us who didn't get on with Hedonist. I did feel majorly out of step with reviewers on this one, and I am sure many people will buy at least a sample of it blind. There again, most will probably love it if the proportion of glowing reviews is indicative of how people's tastes will fall in the blogosphere as a whole...a blind buy of the FB would be a much rasher step as you say!
It's an absolute honor to have Zelda included in your Top Indie Three, Vanessa.
I'm thrilled that you enjoyed this fragrance and am very grateful to see her included in such illustrious company!
(Please accept my apologies for being so late to the party.)
Hi Shelley,
I am loving Zelda more and more with every wearing, and can see it being in regular rotation. A big thank you to you for creating this beauty!
And no need to apologise for being late in commenting - there are so many blogs and reviews to keep up with. ;)
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