It has been incredibly hot the last couple of days here in DC. In fact, today we broke the record by being 98 degrees with over 60% humidity. So basically it felt like it was about 106 degrees today. Thank God for air conditioning. I always wonder what people did before air conditioning, daily showers, etc. I guess if you had money, you covered up your stench with perfumes. Hmmmm, maybe in a past life I really stunk, thus my love of fragrance. In any case, I digress…
Since it was so hot, I thought I would pull out a fragrance from my husband’s collection, Fico di Amalfi from the Blue Mediterraneo line from Acqua di Parma. He received this as a gift last year and I have never really worn it myself. All that I can say is that the first time he wore it, it immediately took me back to our trip to Aruba last fall. Fico di Amalfi is tropical without being beachy, fruity without being too sweet and perfect for a hot summer day.
Fico di Amalfi goes on with zing. It’s really fresh and cool, with bursts of citrus and grapefruit. It’s also very zesty, like fruit that has just come off of ice or even better, a crushed ice fruit cocktail served on the beach. The opening notes are pure happiness!
After a little while that zesty freshness disappears and a light pepper musk comes to the surface. And then the fig. You are left with the fig, which is green and woody and oh so slightly fruity. It’s calming and fresh and a bit creamy and very comfortable. Fico di Amalfi would be perfect for walking around in a t-shirt and flip-flops to putting on your best linen outfit for a night out on a town.
My one disappointment with this fragrance is that late in the drydown, the scent you are left with reminds me a bit of Tide laundry detergent, but it’s not that significant to stand in my way of wearing it. However, I have to admit, I like smelling this on my husband more than on my self.
Fico di Amalfi is a beautiful fragrance that takes you on a mini-vacation from your everyday life. OK, so it’s not as a good as the real thing, but I’ll take it in the meantime.
Fico di Amalfi notes:
bergamot, lemon, grapefruit, citron, fig nectar, pink pepper, jasmine petals, fig wood, cedar wood and benzoin.
I was a little worried about the appropriateness of sampling L’Ombre Fauve on a hot and humid day. I usually associate amber and musk fragrances as winter wear. I was pleasantly surprised that this worked for today’s weather. In fact, I see it working in both summer and winter. You have to love a fragrance that you can wear comfortably year round!
L’Ombre Fauve is an unusual concoction. For an amber, it’s not sweet. For a musk, it’s not too heavy. I found it very similar to Frederic Malle’s Musc Ravageur… ok, let me articulate that thought. I would consider this to be Musc Ravageur’s little sister. Where Musc Ravageur hits you hard with its musky and animalistic characteristics, L’Ombre Fauve still retains a bit of the naughty, but for the most part it’s just really loving and nice.
L’Ombre Fauve goes on warm and a little spicy. It feels like it hugs the skin, but you find that it comes up to greet you as well… playing tricks on how it sits on your body. The amber is just so lightly sweet which makes this perfect for both men and women alike. The fragrance doesn’t change much after the initial application. But it does have great longevity and with that longevity the dry down (which seems to take a long, long time) moves into an almost light and sweet vanilla.
L’Ombre Fauve is a scent that I thought I might like, but as the day wore on, I began to think that this might be a keeper. Sometimes little sisters can be a pain in the butt, but sometimes they’re just fun to hang out with!
I am officially declaring my love for the Parfum d’Empire fragrances. It started with my receipt of the complete line of the Parfum d’Empire sample collection a while back. If you haven’t checked this out yet, they offer their full line at an incredibly reasonable cost on their website. If it wasn’t for having those samples here, I would not be making this declaration today. For those of you in the business, please note that offering samples at a low cost will entice perfume lovers like myself to buy your samples – which then will lead to full bottle purchases!
OK, let me first start by saying that summer has officially come to Washington DC. For the last 3 days, it has been up in the 90s and incredibly humid. And since it hasn’t been this warm since last summer, my body still has not acclimated to the weather. Luckily I had my new summer fragrance purchase, Iskanderwhich I used generously for a couple of days. A fresh shower + a spritz of Iskander = perfection..almost like the perfect ice-cube for your perfect summer cocktail.
As I completed my yard work and decided to get some work done cleaning up my office, I started going through my mess of samples and thought that Parfum d’ Empire’s Azemour les Orangers sounded like a nice summer companion to Iskander. I was right, another great summer fit.
The bottom line is this; Marc-Antoine Corticchiato has created some of the most luxurious and wearable scents that I have found. There’s something for everybody and what I have noticed is that his fragrances will take me out of my comfort zones in what I like. I’m not a fan of leather scents, but I love Cuir Ottoman. I would have never guessed that I would like a scent like Fougere Bengale and its curried spiciness. And then I fell in love with Eau Suave, a fragrance meant for women. So far I have either liked or loved all of the Parfum d’ Empire scents. I have to tell you, when the next Parfum d’Empire fragrance launches, I’ll be one of the first to grab up a sample. Now, on to my new loves:
Azemour les Orangers
Azemour les Orangers’ opening is like peeling a sweet and juicy orange. One that when you peel it back the zesty spray of the juice flies up in the air and hits you in the face. It’s what you crave on a hot summer day when basking out in the sun all day. But wait, as refreshing as the opening is, Azemour les Orangers then twists and turns with hints of coriander and a luscious oaky moss. This is a beautiful summer scent that doesn’t just bask in its freshness. It’s like a garden. You walk down a path to discover the various fruits, flowers, herbs and other delights along the way. If there was only one wish that I could make for this scent is that the longevity and sillage were a little bit better. In any case, I don’t mind spritzing myself with this lovely fragrance throughout the day. This is a scent for both sexes and it wears this role well. Azemour les Orangers is going on my wishlist (the way my wishlists go, that means I’ll be owning a bottle soon :))
Sometimes in the world of fragrance, the words masculine and feminine are just that…words. Eau Suave is marketed to women. I don’t care. I love it. I crave it. This all started when I was thinking about all of the samples that I have that are meant for women. What should I do with them? Give them away? Trade them? Then one night I thought, hell, why don’t I just spritz some on before I go to bed. A lovely feminine fragrance would be just fine for bedtime. Eau Suave was the first feminine scent that I tried this new practice with. And I fell, and fell hard. Eau Sauve is a lovely warm and intoxicating rose chypre scent. It’s never too sweet and never too rosy. In fact, I think floral, not roses when I put this on. This fragrance has just enough coriander and musk to help avoid a heavy and sweet floral composition. A subtle spiciness and warmth, combined with the floral and berry ingredients make this a very personal and enveloping fragrance. Every time I lift my wrist to my nose, I always find a new surprise. Made for a woman…but I like it too. So much so that it’s on my wishlist and we know what that means!
Eau Suave Notes:
pepper, coriander, saffron, Rose de Malmaison, apricot, raspberry, peach, vanilla and musk
Fico di Amalfi goes on with zing. It’s really fresh and cool, with bursts of citrus and grapefruit. It’s also very zesty, like fruit that has just come off of ice or even better, a crushed ice fruit cocktail served on the beach. The opening notes are pure happiness!
The Scented Hound 