EDP | The Scented Hound

June 24, 2015
by The Scented Hound 5 Comments

M. Micallef Style

WHAT I SMELL: Style opens wonderfully warm and herbal, accentuated by cardamom and nutmeg. Its clean and crisp, like a starched dress shirt. There’s a generous, thoughtful and inviting masculinity in the perfume. After around 5 minutes, the dried lavender starts to bring with it a rather large projection. It’s warm, dreamlike and very elegant. There’s a layer of incense that swirls below the lavender, that adds just a hint of sexiness to the rather formal composition. After some more time, the perfume becomes more woody and dry, but the incense still layers the perfume from below like the remains of a bonfire drifting in the distance. As the perfume continues to develop, the incense begins to wain and the sandalwood brings a welcomed light creaminess along with a light floral bloom to the dry and woody heart.

Notes listed from Fragrantica:

Top notes of the composition will offer a spicy blend of nutmeg, warm and gourmand cinnamon and cardamom, refreshed by luminous and sunny lemon zest. The heart of the composition accentuates floral notes of elegant jasmine and lily of the valley softened with aromatic lavender, while base notes provide us with warmth and precious woody notes of patchouli and sandalwood embraced by a mysterious veil of incense and sensual musk.

MCCREA, Joel , 1933 , RKO , Bird of Paradise,

Joel McCrea , 1933 , RKO , Bird of Paradise

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A dashing 1930’s Joel McCrea; accessible and easy masculinity.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE STYLE: classic, controlled, elegant

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT STYLE: Chemist in the Bottle, CaFleureBon, Memory of Scent

BOTTOM LINE: Style is an elegant and wonderfully controlled and easy to wear masculine perfume. This would be an easy add to any man’s wardrobe.

Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Oriental Woody
Nose: Jean-Claude Astier
Classification: Masculine
Expense: $110 for 30 ml Eau de Parfum

June 15, 2015
by The Scented Hound 10 Comments

The Peradam by Apoteker Tepe

WHAT I SMELL: The Peradam opens with a buttery, thickened and plasticine lily. There’s so much volume and weight to the perfume, but there’s an incredible smoothness about that it feels like a sheen of dense paint has been layered on my skin. Lily can go horribly wrong on my skin and it has a tendency to overpower. Here the lily, ever evident and deeply weighted, remains surprisingly subdued. After a slow progression, the jasmine, thick and bold, starts to bring an ever so slight ray of light to the perfume, but that’s not saying much as this is the most indolic jasmine that I have experienced in some time. The perfume is heady, thick, earthy, bold and spicy but surprisingly close to the skin. After another 20 minutes or so, the sandalwood makes it way in giving what I feel is like a layer of light sandpaper in which the perfume sits on. After an hour, all the notes soften and converge to reside in blended and mysterious harmony that’s topped off with a radiant and buttery finish. Where many fragrances leave their best for the beginning and then fade in beauty towards the end, The Peradam bucks that standard. Because as interesting and unusual as this goes on, hours afterwards, the warm, light and radiant finish is the quiet and reverenced beauty that is the star.

From the Apoteker Tepe website:

The Peradam combines the most precious materials in perfumery for a fragrance of unusual character, depth, and rarity.

According to the French author René Daumal, a ‘peradam’ is an object that only appears to those who seek it. For those who have been seeking the most precious and rarely experienced raw ingredients in perfumery, The Peradam combines a rare SCO2 extraction of Jasmine grandiflorum, real orris butter, and sustainably harvested Mysore Sandalwood into a fragrance that is warm, enveloping, uniquely addictive, and impossible to find elsewhere.

Notes: Madonna lily, Jasmine, Orris butter, Sandalwood
Profile: Floral, Jasmine, Indolic, Woody

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Unimaginable grief from the loss of a most beautiful of love.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE THE PERADAM: gothic, storied, evocative

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE PERADAM: None to be found as of yet.

BOTTOM LINE: The Peradam is a perfume with a story, as you can see from my description of what it smells like to me. There’s passion, decay, beauty and a quiet intensity about the perfume that’s very haunting. There’s a lot of emotion in this creation. I can’t say that for many perfumes and that makes it distinctively unique and all that more special.

Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $130 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary.

June 11, 2015
by The Scented Hound 7 Comments

Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum

WHAT I SMELL: Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum opens up light and sweet with an oh so pretty bergamot that’s sparkling and fizzy. The jasmine is lively and full of energy and it has an incredibly happy disposition. The projection of this delightful perfume is big and rather candied. But there’s a slight spice that keeps the candied aspects from going full-blown lollipop. There’s not a lot of morphing with the perfume, but the addition of patchouli brings another sweet tincture to the scent and the fragrance begins to become a bit more woody and it starts to flatten. There’s a high level of radiant projection here, but the patchouli begins to completely take over with a brush of musk. The perfume begins to dry with an oak moss powder, but the one spritz I applied begins to overpower. What started off a lovely, is now turning into a shouting superpower that’s too sweet, too artificial and too in your face. In the end, it does quiet down, but what promise there was in the beginning just makes me feel a bit tired. What else is there to say?!

From the Bottega Veneta website:

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A overpefumed cotton ball.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE BOTTEGA VENETA EAU DE PARFUM: overt, sweetened, billowing

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BOTTEGA VENETA EAU DE PARFUM: Now Smell This, The Candy Perfume Boy, Olfactoria’s Travels

BOTTOM LINE: Boy, my nose missed the boat on this perfume. If you read the other reviews, there was a much more positive experience had by most. And the suede or leather aspects? I got nothing of the sort and I wore this several times to see if it was just the heat, humidity, my skin at the time, etc. I guess all perfumes are not equal when it comes to the wearer….especially in this case. But I have to say, it does come in a lovely bottle!

Bone Rating: 2 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Chypre Floral
Nose: Michel Almairic
Classification: Feminine
Expense: $115 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum