The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.


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A Hound CaFleureBon Post: Perfume Review: Caron Paris En Avion + Celebrating Amelia Earhart Day July 24, 2014 Fountain Fragrance Draw

Earhart_and_electra

77 years ago, Amelia Earhart disappeared while trying to fly solo around the world.  Caron’s En Avion was created in celebration of the original adventuresome pilots from the 1920s and 1930s.  Check out my new CaFleureBon post about these women and enter into the draw for a 7.5ml Caron fountain bottle of En Avion Parfum Extrait!  Sorry, the draw is only open to readers in the U.S.  Read the full article by clicking here!

En Avion became a summer staple for me this year.  I originally gave it a four bone rating…but it’s creeping up to a 4.5 these day!  You can find my original Scented Hound review by clicking here.


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New Release: Eau de Magnolia by Frederic Malle

Eau_de_magnolia

WHAT I SMELL: Eau de Magnolia opens with a lightly fizzy warmed bergamot.  It’s rather sour and green, but that sour aspect retreats after around 10 minutes when the magnolia makes an entrance.  The fragrance at this point is very light and wispy and is sweetened with a breath of patchouli.  All of this seems to be sitting upon a dry woody base that feels like it’s pulling the moisture from the fragrance.  After around 20 minutes the magnolia begins to radiate, but it’s contained and never reveals too much of itself.  It’s also cool and feels rather removed and distant.  After another 20 minutes, the coolness is replaced by some warmth, as if the afternoon begins to filter through the curtains to help lighten and heat up a dark room. In the end you’re left with this light and delicate muted floral that  is infused by a interesting citrus component.

Eau de Magonlia notes from the Frederic Malle website:

Top note is Calabrian bergamot; middle notes are magnolia, vetiver and patchouli; base notes are cedar, moss and amber.

Fading Away, 1858.WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  A fading southern beauty.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE EAU DE MAGNOLIA: somber, muted, fragile

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT EAU DE MAGNOLIA: Olfactoria’s Travels, CaFleureBon, Kafkasesque

BOTTOM LINE:  Magnolia can be tricky to recreate; the floral effect can leave a perfume loud, artificial and cloying.  Eau de Magnolia manages to escape that trajectory and instead takes it in a direction that is soft, haunting and full of melancholy.  It’s pretty, but it’s a perfume that leaves me feeling rather sober.

  • Bone Rating: 3 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent: Floral
  • Nose:  Carlos Benaim
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $175 for 50ml


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New Release: Aedes de Venustas Oeillet Bengale

oeillet bengale

WHAT I SMELL:  Oeillet Bengale opens with a sparkling bergamot, followed very quickly by pepper and rose.  It’s spicy, herbaceous and incredibly medicinal.  The turmeric is pronounced along with the clove. Oeillet Bengale is all about the spice as it seems to be geared more towards being a herb mixture meant to put on grilled vegetables than something you would wear.  At the same time, it smells like Band Aids that have been treated with some kind of built in medicine.  The fragrance does pulse off the skin as if the heat of your body helps to make it radiate.  You would think with this herbal spice combination that the fragrance would seem heavy, but it doesn’t.  After around 20 minutes, the fragrance deepens a bit and it seems to slip down further into the spice.  But there’s some light at the end of the tunnel as the drydown begins to feel more floral as it evens out and becomes slightly powdered and dry and tinged with incense.  In the end, Oeillet Bengale turns into this exquisite spiced floral that has me completely entranced.  You wouldn’t have guessed that from what I wrote just a few sentences before right?

From the Aedes de Venustas website:

A Flower on Fire.  A rose that wants to be a carnation, set ablaze by an exotic spice explosion. Red petals turned black by frankincense.

Top Notes:  bergamot, white pepper

Middle Notes:  rose, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, turmeric, clove

Base Notes:  Tolu balsam, labdanum, ylang-ylang, benzoin, vanilla

LucreziaBorgiaWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Lucrezia Borgia.  The spices and herbs brought from the east were used by her perfumer to create this exotic, beautiful, yet dangerous mix of mystery.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE OEILLET BENGALE:  fascinating, spicy, incomparable

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OEILLET BENGALE: Grain de Musc, CaFleureBon, Now Smell This

BOTTOM LINE: The first time I wore this all I got was a Band Aid smell and I really didn’t care for it.  In subsequent wearings, I start off not caring for it, but then it weaved this spell on me and I find myself bewitched by it.  Oeillet Bengale is complex, of great quality and a seducer.  I just reviewed another fragrance by Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Arquiste L’Etrog Acqua…this it the exact opposite of that on every level and what an incredible addition to his line of creations.

  • Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent: Citrus Aromatic
  • Nose:  Rodrigo Flores-Roux
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $240 for 100ml EdP