Feminine | The Scented Hound

August 12, 2012
by The Scented Hound 18 Comments

George Sand by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

The weather today was actually decent today, so after going for a long walk and then tending to the yard, we took out the convertible and headed into Washington DC. Every now and then I lament the fact that when we moved to this area we purchased a house in Virginia instead of the District of Columbia. DC is progressive and liberal. Virginia is conservative and Southern. We may only live 3 miles to DC, but the laws and politics are diametrically different. In any case, I wanted to go check out some townhomes in the upper NW side of the city. The townhomes are right off Rock Creek Parkway so it seems that you are in the country in the middle of the city. In fact, when we were at one of the open houses, we walked out to the car only to be greeted by 4 deer grazing across the street. So these townhomes were built in the 1970s and were designed for entertaining and adults in mind. Beautiful neighborhood, beautiful home that needed a little updating. But I could imagine the wonderful parties and entertaining one could do. Which leads me to George Sand by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier. It was the perfect fragrance to wear for such elegant surroundings.

WHAT I SMELL: George Sand opens with a flash of lemon and bergemot, but you can’t barely blink before the patchouli comes out with the amber. Whenever I see patchouli as a note in a fragrance, I typically will go running. I have learned however, that patchouli doesn’t always mean hippieish. This is definitely one of those cases in which the patchouli and the warm amber and musk meld to make for an incredibly warm and luxurious and boldly feminine fragrance without being girly-girl. George Sand is a fragrance that changes with your body temperature, one minute seemingly strong and musky, the other vaporishly spicy. I also find that this fragrance hugs close to the skin and with dabbing on it seems average in sillage. But I have the feeling that if this were to be sprayed on the sillage would be substantial.

George Sand Notes: lemon, bergamot, patchouli, rose, amber, musk, Mysore sandalwood, spices

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: This fragrance is a limited edition as part of Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier’s collection of fragrances dedicated to remarkable and influential French people, who marked the 19th century with their high class scandals. George Sand was an aristocratic writer who had a penchant for speaking her mind and wearing men’s clothes. Very much a woman ahead of her time. The funny thing is, I find this fragrance incredibly elegant and very proper. George Sand should be worn at the opera and at the ball in full gown attire. What drew me to this fragrance is that I thought it would be a bit masculine; it’s not, but I can see men wearing it easily. I really love this fragrance and could see myself wearing this often.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE GEORGE SAND: warm, elegant, haunting

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT GEORGE SAND: The Scented Salamander, Nero Profumo, Scenteur7

BOTTOM LINE: I’m in love. The more I wear this fragrance, the more I am enraptured by its incredible beauty. Unfortunately I don’t believe my words give this fragrance justice.

Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Oriental Woody
Classification: Feminine
Nose: Nicolas de Barry
Expense: Approximately $120 for 70ml EdP

August 4, 2012
by The Scented Hound 13 Comments

Billet Doux by Fragonard

It may be a surprise to my readers, but not a surprise to those around me, that I can be a bit obsessive compulsive. So in my last posting I started obsessing about Billet Doux by Fragonard. However, I wasn’t obsessing about the fragrance itself, I was obsessing about the bottle in came in. No longer able to control my obsession, I headed back to Old Town Alexandria and Patricks to see if the perfume itself (only tested on paper thus far) was worth buying the bottle.

WHAT I SMELL: Immediately upon application you smell alcohol. I haven’t put on a fragrance in a long time that smelled so strong of astringent. But thankfully that disappeared rather quickly and out came a lightly spicy floral…hard to distinguish initially. It then morphed a bit more and out came a warm and inviting carnation. Very comforting and genteel. Unfortunately, the base came out way to quickly and Billet Doux became a very sweet and long-lasting, strong carnation scent. Carnation and more carnation with a hint of sweet vanilla with no warmth remaining. I am not digging this fragrance at all. In fact, even the bottle lost is luster with the dislike of this perfume. To me, this requires scrubbing.

From the Fragonard website:

Re-created from a historic Fragonard Perfume, Billet doux, pays homage to the most beautiful flowers of the French Riviera: Sweet William carnation, peony and frangipani blended with bergamot, lemon and mandarin on a background of cedar and vanilla.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: What I envision is what a proper, yet simple Victorian young lady would smell like. Not too adventurous and designed not to offend. You should know that Billet Doux means “love letters” in French which to me conjures up pictures of a pressed carnation in a letter to a beau.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE BILLET DOUX: sweet, unsophisticated, simple

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BILLET DOUX: The Scented Salamander, Olfactory Obsessed, The Smelly Kitty

BOTTOM LINE: Obviously I passed on a purchase and I realize that I am not the target market for this fragrance. However, if I smelled this on a woman, I would not be praising her for fragrance choice.

Bone Rating: 2 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Floral
Classification: Feminine
Expense: Approximately $70 for 50ml EdP

May 28, 2012
by The Scented Hound 22 Comments

Parfum d’Empire’s Azemour les Orangers and Eau Suave – Lots to Love

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, Iskander which 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 :))

Azemour les Orangers Notes:

orange, clementine, tangerine, grapefruit, coriander, cumin, black pepper, pink pepper, blackcurrant, galbanum, neroli, geranium, orange blossom, rose, hay, moss, henna and cypres

Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Fruity Chypre
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $75 for 50ml EDP

Eau Suave

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!