The Scented Hound

September 3, 2013
by The Scented Hound 20 Comments

Orlando by Jardins d’Ecrivains

WHAT I SMELL: Orlando, named after the title character from the Virginia Woolf novel of the same name opens with a combination of spicy orange and ginger. There’s almost a minty quality about the opening which quickly then moves into a mentholated stage as it’s deep and thick as you breath it in. I’ve never smelled camphoric patchouli like it is here. Amber is added to the progression, but it’s not warm and fuzzy, but instead is distant and at arm’s length. After around 20 minutes, Orlando becomes lighter and begins to even out with a woody consistency. There is a tang of sour from the gaiaic wood that comes to play and a musk creates a layer of haze over the composition. Around the 30 minute mark, out comes a urinous quality that doesn’t take away from the scent, but actually adds a bit of additional mystery. Orlando becomes lighter as it wears, but by no means does it disappear and it seems to rotate the notes each time you take a sniff; sometimes spicy, sometime musky, sometimes lighter, but never too wispy or demure.

From the Jardins d’Ecrivains website:

Jardins d’Ecrivains puts its own interpretation on the fascinating Virginia Woolf fantasy. An androgynous character with eternal youth, Lord Orlando in the Elizabethan era becomes Lady Orlando in the 18th century. Quirky blends with the eclectic and timeless in a spellbinding fragrance. Irrational dreams, an eastern monarchy and a sense of the divine linger in its wake. A unusual character comes through in the first notes, before the transcendent heart of the fragrance draws you in. And the warm, soft base notes convey its delicate spirit.

Olfactive pyramid:

Top notes : Orange – Pink peppercorn – Ginger

Middle Notes : Amber – Patchouly – Cloves

Base notes : Wood of Gaiac – Musk – Balsam of Peru

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Melancholy

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ORLANDO: mysterious, conflicted, emotional

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ORLANDO: Cafleurebon, BL’eauOG

BOTTOM LINE: Orlando is a strange perfume for me. It’s a fragrance that seems to draw some very primal emotions from inside me. It’s beautiful and pensive and is not something that I could ever wear on a daily basis. However, it’s the perfect fragrance for those quiet fall and winter days when you just want to retreat into your own private world. I was lucky enough to win a full bottle of Orlando from a draw on Cafleurebon, and its the first fragrance that I have ever tried from Jardins d’Ecrivains. If they are all this beautiful, I have to try the rest. Oh, and the bottle is perfection; simple, substantial and classic.

Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Woody Spicy
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $110 for 100ml EdP, available at Beautyhabit.com

September 2, 2013
by The Scented Hound 10 Comments

M. Micallef Art Collection Rouge Draw Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the M. Micallef Art Collection Rouge draw! Each winner will receive one 5ml bottle of Rouge No. 1 and one 5ml bottle of Rouge No. 2. These 10 winners are lucky indeed!

And the winners are…

Undina
Ginny
Tami Holubar
glrsims
Charlotte
Cyn Nagele
Nancysg
Nancy Knows
Poodle
Laurels

If you are one of the lucky winners, you have until midnight eastern standard time on Thursday, September 5, 2013 to send me your contact information to include full name, mailing address and email address. Please send the information to: thescentedhound@gmail.com. If any winner does not provide their information by the time cited above, The Scented Hound has the right to pass the prize to the next participant chosen via the random pull.

Thanks to all the participants in the draw and especially to Jeffrey Dame at Hypoluxe, Inc. the sponsor of this incredible draw!

The draw was completed via random.org.

August 29, 2013
by The Scented Hound 24 Comments

Recent Missteps

We have all been there; “when perfume goes wrong”. It seems I have had a few incidents of late so I thought I would get this off my chest and share in my misfortune…

I THINK I’M ALLERGIC TO CUIR DE LANCOME

I’m not a fan of leather fragrances, but sometimes I get sucked into they hype and think that I might change my mind when I read on Fragrantica and through other reviews about how fantastic and wonderful a perfume is. Case in point, Cuir de Lancome. There it was on eBay, a new bottle with a great price…I couldn’t resist the blind buy. So I get the package a couple of days later. The package was shipped quickly, the box and bottle are perfect; actually the bottle is classically pretty, and then…

I spray some on the back of my hand and I note a nice light suede, it’s very subtle as it’s mixed with a subdued citrus. After a few minutes out comes birch tar and then the back of my tongue starts to hurt and feels like it’s getting slightly larger and I’m salivating from the back and sides of my tongue. It was so odd and so uncomfortable and then it became more metallic and all I could smell was metal, birch tar and some weird floral. It was like steel, very sharp and grey so I thought I would layer some Givenchy Ysatis on top which helped. But after a while it crept out from under the bottom again and starting making my tongue salivate and hurt again.

I can’t write a review on this as I know that something physically weird is happening between me and the fragrance. We just weren’t meant to be friends. So here’s what others are saying so you might get a better picture of the beauty of Cuir de Lancome that others can see that I can’t. And if you reside in the US and want a bottle at a good price, send me an email!

Cuir de Lancome notes from Fragrantica: Top notes are mandarin orange, saffron and bergamot; middle notes are patchouli, hawthorn, jasmine and ylang-ylang; base notes are orris root, birch and styrax.

Cuir de Lancome Reviews: Olfactoria’s Travels, That Smell, Muse in Wooden Shoes

80’S OVERKILL – HALSTON COUTURE

For the past few months I have been on a vintage chypre hunt. I actually have done very well with some of my buys including vintage Miss Dior, Givenchy III and Y by Yves Saint Laurent. I recently found a bottle of Halston Couture at an incredible price and its an EdP which is pretty hard to find. I’m sure it was a great price because the bottle is tarnished and the box is a bit beat up, but the juice seems to be just fine.

Unfortunately, this powerhouse of a fragrance beats you over the head with an overpowering deep patchouli and mossy cloud that just one spritz can put a hole in the ozone layer. I envision big hair 1980s college girls in crew neck sweaters stinking up campuses all around the US. I will try this again in the winter and maybe it will be a better fit, but I have the feeling that won’t make much of a difference. It’s so loud that it’s headache inducing.

Halston Couture notes from Fragrantica: Top notes are bergamot and lemon; middle notes are patchouli, jasmine and rose; base notes are amber and oakmoss.

FREDDIE FROM SMELLYTHOUGHTS IS MY FRIEND, BUT WE TYPICALLY AREN’T FRAGRANCE TWINS

The other day Freddie of Smellythoughts posted a review of a couple of En Voyage Perfumes fragrances; Nectars des Iles and Vents Ardents. A few months ago I purchased Zelda from En Voyage and I love it. It’s perfect for hot summer days when you want to feel like a Southern Belle. So after he posted his review, it made me think that I may have received some samples of those two fragrances with my Zelda purchase. Sure enough, they were hidden in my large stash of unopened samples. Since Freddie loved these two fragrances so much, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to see how I felt about them too.

I was always told that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. This is why I am not going to do a review, but just state the following: Vents Ardents smells to me like a tchotchke shop on a California boardwalk where one can find driftwood clocks and home-made fudge. Nectars Des Iles smells like a flower that has been stuck in a Salt Water Taffy shop for a very long time.