The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.


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Tolu by Ormonde Jayne

Please remember that when I am reviewing scents, it’s based on my opinion and my opinion only.  Scared??  Well, I wanted to get in this review quickly after finally getting home from being out all day so I could wash this off my skin and put on something else.  I received this sample a few weeks ago and thought I would give it a spin.  Have you figured out yet that it’s not my favorite?  At it’s base, this perfume is amber, but you can’t really tell that it’s so.  The juniper when first applied is all that you smell.  Very green, very crisp.  As time goes on, this mellows into a very light and green clean scent.  And when I say clean, I mean it felt to me as if I just got out of the shower and you could still smell the soap.  It has a bit of a soapy edge to me.  I don’t want to feel like I’m wearing laundry detergent.  This scent reminds me a lot of Mirto di Panerea, one of the fragrances in the Blue Mediterraneo line by Acqua Di Parma.  They both share a lot of the same ingredients.  Neither are for me.  Enough said, time to wash up.

From the Ormonde Jayne website:

Tolu is a Peruvian tree resin.

Perfume treasure, this opulent velvety formulation with pure Tolu resin takes you on a sensual Oriental journey. Laced with golden frankincense and amber, the scent’s core is enveloped with a heady mix of orange blossom and clary sage, while intense citrus notes consolidate the harmony.

Top Notes: Juniper berry, orange blossom and clary sage
Heart Notes: Orchid, Moroccan rose and muguet
Base Notes: Tolu, tonka bean, golden frankincense and amber

  • Bone Rating:   2 out of 5 possible bones
  • Scent:  Oriental Floral
  • Classification:  Feminine or Unisex
  • Expense:   Moderately Expensive – $126 for 50ml EDP


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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


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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