February | 2012 | The Scented Hound

February 25, 2012
by The Scented Hound 2 Comments

Lumiere Noire by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Winter has come back with a vengeance today. The sun shines for a few minutes, then the sky returns to gray and the snow swirls through the heavy winds that are blowing. As it’s still February I guess this kind of weather is to be expected. But we have been spoiled by a lovely winter thus far. After reading the newspaper, feeding the cats and going for a winter walk, I put on my Saturday comfy clothes to go run my weekend errands. I thought I would check out a sample of Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Lumiere Noire pour homme that has been sitting on my shelf for a while. When first applied, I found this to be a little spicy (most likely the cumin and cinnamon), but surprisingly green at the same time. OK, I typically love heavy scents and my husband loves the lighter green scents; so I’m thinking this is nice, but not really my cup of tea. So I go to my husband and ask him what he thinks. No surprise, he loved it. So we head out of the house, run to the stores, and I could not help finding that this scent, in a lovely dry down, wafted and swirled up and around me through the wind. Lumiere Noire is a rose scent, but it is so faintly so that you don’t immediately think “roses.” Although this is for men, I do believe this easily fits into a unisex category. This is a lovely scent that I found to be clean and fresh. I would also say that this is a safe scent; you won’t offend others or yourself when you wear this. Lumiere Noire worked perfectly for a gloomy errand running winter day, so much so that I can’t wait to see what it can do for a beautiful and warm spring day. Simply lovely.

From the Maison Francis Kurkdjian website:

Olfactory family: Rose – Cumin – Cinnamon – Patchouli – Wormwood

Play of opposites for both agreements as two extremes which meet. An eau de toilette fragrance mysterious that draws up cause the abandonment of self.

Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Floral
Classification: Masculine or Unisex
Expense: Moderately Expensive – $155 for 70ml EDT

February 22, 2012
by The Scented Hound 9 Comments

L’Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer Perfumes

I really wanted to like this scent. I had read some wonderful reviews where people were raving about how distinct and special L’Air du Desert Marocain was. Maybe it’s just my body chemistry but this scent just got lost on me. In the bottle it smells amazing and when I applied it, I got an immediate rush of green in an almost medicinal sense. Then it quickly moved into an ever so slight floral…I was thinking that this may turn sweet? No, it then moved to a very dry and woody single layered scent that I found to be nice. But I need more than nice. As the day wore on, it just disappeared on me. I recently reviewed 07 Tanoke by Odin and found this to be similar, but it lacks the extra special something (maybe the tinge of sweetness?) that Odin found.

From the Tauer Perfumes Website:

Head Notes: Coriander and cumin, carefully blended with petitgrain.

Heart Notes: A warm heart note with rock rose and a hint of jasmine.

Body Notes: Dry cedar woods and vetiver, brilliantly joined on a fine ambergris background.

Powerful, sensual and pure. Laying on the bed, watching the moon raising over the sandy hills of the Saharan desert, he dreamt the fragrance of a Moroccan night.

Bone Rating: 2 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: dry, woody
Classification: Unisex but leans towards masculine
Expense: Moderately expensive – $105 for 50ml EDT intense

February 20, 2012
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Fiori D’Ambra by Profumum

More ambers; more to love. This lovely perfume opens up with a rush of spice, I would say almost cinnamon in nature, along with a faint sweetness. Funny, my husband said that it smells like root beer. I can see that. That had me a bit worried. But once again, as time would tell, the scent transformed from that spicy blast to a nice and mellowed amber. This is neither harsh or medicinal, but an almost vanilla sweet, lightly spiced amber with great longevity. I would say that it leans a bit on the feminine side, but it is a scent that is close to the skin and therefore when walking through a crowd, no one would assume that a dowager is passing by. Light, sweet, subtle. A very nice amber indeed.

From the Profumum website:

Olfactory notes: Opium flowers, Amber, Spices