5 bones | The Scented Hound

February 6, 2014
by The Scented Hound 29 Comments

Vintage Review: Cabochard by Gres

How can a pretty little girl wearing a bow be so menacing??

WHAT I SMELL: Cabochard opens quite skanky, biting and strong, with a strange mix of floral and leather that creates this harsh, yet weirdly pretty in your face fragrance. The base is rather tarry, like the bottom of a dirty ashtray. And it’s like the florals are pushing out of the tar, like they are reaching out using the tar as a base like a potted plant. The tar is not thick, but instead is sharp and unrelenting. After a while add to the tar, a coating of dust, like you were just riding a motorcycle down a dirty unpaved road and the dust was filing your nostrils. I know I hardly make this sound enticing, but there is something very primal about this fragrance that hits my perfume sweet spot!

Top: aldehydes, bergamot, mandarin, galbanum, spice

Heart: jasmine, rosa damscena, geranium, ylang-ylang, iris

Base: patchouli, leather, vetiver, castoreum, oakmoss, tobacco, musk, labdanum, sandalwood

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Kitten With a Whip…sexy with a dangerous side.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE CABOCHARD: indiscreet, racy, unrepentant

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT CABOCHARD: Yesterday’s Perfumes, Perfume Shrine, Bois de Jasmin

BOTTOM LINE: Wow, this little gem took me by surprise. I wore this at the gym the other day and combined with a raised body temperature and a little sweat I found myself falling in love with myself. I only have a little bottle of this, but I want more! Cabochard is as masculine of a fragrance that is meant for a woman that there is, which means that this is supremely unisex and I plan to wear it a lot.

Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Leather
Nose: Bernard Chant
Classification: a very masculine feminine fragrance
Expense: Review based on Parfum Extrait. Various prices and vintage concentrations can be found on eBay and through other sources.

November 4, 2013
by The Scented Hound 19 Comments

Enslaved Parfum by Roja Parfums

Please pardon me while I gush…

WHAT I SMELL: Deep and sweet, not sugary sweet, but sweet wrapped up in warm honey that seems to bellow up from darkened chasm. It’s intoxicating and hypnotic. The top notes are listed as citrus, but I’m not getting that so much as the lavender seems to absorb the sharper edges of what we typically experience with lemon and lime. Quickly the prominent jasmine takes the stage where it seduces you along with the ylang-ylang in a pool of heavy and heavenly juice. There’s so much depth to Enslaved that it literally creates this floral force field around you. Then add the rich and glowing labdanum and ambergris, Enslaved pulls out even deeper floral force field. Eventually the oak moss begins to dry out the juiciness, but it never leaves you out in the desert. Of course, everything is blended so seamlessly that picking apart the notes really is rather silly as in this case, it doesn’t really matter as I am completely intoxicated with its beauty.

From the Roja Parfums website:

“With Enslaved I loved the idea of falling in love so deeply and passionately there was no escape. In an old family dictionary, one definition of Ensalved was described as, to become a prisoner of love. I wanted to create a scent that enslaved both its wearer and those who smelt it on them: a scent with no escape where you become the wearers prisoner of love” – Roja Dove

Notes: bergamot, lemon, lime, lavender, carnation, geranium, Jasmine de Grasse, orange blossom, rose, ylang-ylang, cedarwood, oakmoss, patchouli, ambergris, labdanum, musk, vanilla

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Floral hypnosis.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ENSLAVED: seductive, addictive, breathtaking

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ENSLAVED: I only found comments on Fragrantica.

BOTTOM LINE: I was lucky enough to be introduced to Enslaved at Sniffapalooza and then a wonderful perfumista sent me a sample which I am guarding like a grand jewel. I am addicted to this perfume and can only hope that even with the hefty price tag that Santa or the Perfume Fairy will make this mine as we were meant to be together!

Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Oriental
Nose: Roja Dove
Classification: Feminine
Expense: $435 for 50ml Parfum; also available in EdP

June 10, 2013
by The Scented Hound 24 Comments

Vintage Opium Parfum by Yves Saint Laurent

WHAT I SMELL: Opium opens with a spicy bang. It’s peppered with a sweet honeyed striking bite of cloves and cinnamon with hints of citrus. It’s almost overwhelming in its richness and depth. It makes my head swirl with the intoxicating jasmine and dare I say a bit of carnation which is a much hated note by me, but in this case it’s entwined with the other notes and doesn’t dominate. When I hold my arm close to my nose, the peppery spice notes almost burn the insides of my nostrils. There’s a slight smoky incense like layer on top of the floral spice giving it increasing depth. Opium is exotic, powerful and in charge. After a while the cascading full and rounded notes start to even out and Opium becomes dryer with more amber. At this point, Opium is still a spice bomb, but it ‘s now just a bit sweeter, but this is not sweet by any means. Opium never calms all the way down but becomes a bit more woody…it wants to be taken notice for hours and that’s just fine with me.

Opium Notes from Fragrantica:

Top notes are coriander, plum, citruses, mandarin orange, pepper, jasmine, cloves, west indian bay and bergamot; middle notes are carnation, sandalwood, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, peach, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes are labdanum, tolu balsam, sandalwood, opoponax, musk, coconut, vanilla, benzoin, vetiver, incense, cedar, myrrh, castoreum and amber.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Whoever named this perfume, named it perfectly. It’s intoxicating and habit-forming and I can’t get enough.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE OPIUM: mysterious, seductive, passionate

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OPIUM: Kafkaesque, Perfume Fountain, Yesterday’s Perfume

BOTTOM LINE: Once again I can point the finger at Kafkasesque for leading me down the eBay path to buy this beauty. I think I have put some on now for the past 5 days in a row and I continue to fall in love with it. Now mind you, I think you can find some good deals on the EdT versions on eBay, but the vintage parfum is a bit pricier. Even though I paid a lot for this love, it was still a relatively good deal at the price I got. I have done some research and it seems that my version is from somewhere between 1995 and 1999.

Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Oriental Spicy
Nose: Jean Amic and Jean-Louis Sieuzac
Classification: Feminine
Review based on vintage parfum
Expense: Varies on eBay