floral | The Scented Hound

August 24, 2015
by The Scented Hound 3 Comments

New Release: One Night in Rio

WHAT I SMELL: One Night in Rio opens with a luscious sweet and juicy passion fruit; like a bowl full of fruit and melon goodness, so ripe and with just picked freshness. Quickly a dash of pepper comes to sit on top of the fruit extracting the almost too much fruity juicy goodness to more of an exotic spiced cocktail. The perfume rapidly starts to dry and moves from fruity to floral. The florals are pretty, very sexy and round and robust…but still topped with a grounded pepper. After around 10 minutes, the vanilla slowly enters giving the perfume a slightly sweetened tinge. Add to that a light coconut and waxy suntan lotion note and the perfume now makes you feel that you’re walking along the beach at Impanema. One Night in Rio is interesting in that it lives in this other worldly state of sweet and spice, floral and pepper; which means that the perfume is completely and utterly exotic.

From from the A Lab on Fire website:

Passion Fruit Pillow

Night air strokes skin, cheek against shoulder, neck bare. Night air against curved back, touched gently, a new love—his open-armed embrace. Music catches up to you and everyone is dancing, the road is dancing, the cars are dancing. Guarded by its jungled hills, their wide leaves too green, night sky too blue, the city pools. Immerse yourself. Spread your arms out, lithe and swaying. The music plays inside you. Bright street, dark alley. One night to discover a delicate moment in full bloom.

Top~ black pepper, neroli, Mid~ passion fruit, tiare flower, magnolia, Dry~ musk, white amber, vanilla bean

The original Latina Bombshell – Diosa Costello

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: The perfume is modern, yet very nostalgic…and invokes visions of a Latina Bombshell surrounded by big print 1940’s upholstery.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ONE NIGHT IN RIO: sexy, easy, lively

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ONE NIGHT IN RIO: I was unable to find any other reviews, except for a few comments on Fragrantica.

BOTTOM LINE: One Night in Rio is developed by A Lab on Fire, but is being released as “unbranded.” I’m not sure what that’s all about and does it really matter? The fact is that One Night in Rio is a fun and sexy perfume to remind you that even though it’s going to start getting colder soon in the northern hemisphere, you can always head down to Rio for a little summer fun.

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral Fruity
Nose: Jean-Marc Chaillan
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $110 for 60 ml Eau de Parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary

August 10, 2015
by The Scented Hound 18 Comments

Antonia by Puredistance

WHAT I SMELL: Antonia opens with an absolutely heady and exhilarating rush of full floral lushness with the beautiful ylang-ylang front and center. The perfume is luxuriant and rather waxy and it sits on the deepest powdered galbanum that seems to push the florals off of the skin. Antonio makes my head swim with its feminine power. There is nothing demure about this lady; but don’t get me wrong she is a lady in every sense of the word. The perfume transforms, but not dramatically or with any sharp or sudden turns or edges, instead, she slowly moves from the brightest and dryest green to more of a warm and lightly soapy symphony of florals. Antonia is a ravishing beauty from the very beginning when the rush of the green florals radiate from the first spritz and continues for hours to come. When you wear this perfume, you are in Antonia’s world and it’s as beautiful of a world as you’ll ever experience.

From the Puredistance website:

Created by Master Perfumer Annie Buzantian in New York, Puredistance ANTONIA is a highly original green floral with a great lushness and warmth of heart, but at the same time pillowy and gentle as can be. Key in the creation of ANTONIA is the image of a strong, positive, but at the same time gentle woman.

The perfume is neither modern, nor old-fashioned. Puredistance ANTONIA is a timeless perfume with a feel of innocence, yet feminine and confident. She grabs you with gentleness and faithfully stays with you, tenacious, but never overwhelming.

Ingredients: Jasmine, Rose Essence, Ylang Ylang, Orris, Ivy green, Galbanum, Vanilla and Vetiver.

Ziegfiled Girl – 1920s

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: All woman; all-powerful in her beauty and sexuality.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ANTONIA: magnificent, heady, voluminous

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ANTONIA: Olfactoria’s Travels, Undina’s Looking Glass, Kafkaesque

BOTTOM LINE: Puredistance is turning out to at the top of the list of my favorite perfume houses. Their perfumes are works of art in that they are exquisitely refined and of the highest quality. Where other perfumes develop with harsh twist and turns, their perfumes transform and reveal the loveliest of secrets with a whisper. Puredistance wants to ensure their perfumes are perfection, and because of this new introductions to the line are far and few between. But when they do release a new perfume, its pure magic as evident with their latest release, White.

Bone Rating: 5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral
Nose: Annie Buzantian
Classification: Feminine
Expense: $160 for 17 ml parfum extrait or $270 for 60 ml. Note that Puredistance has some fantastic promotions on their website!

July 15, 2015
by The Scented Hound 7 Comments

New Release: Frida by En Voyage Perfumes

WHAT I SMELL: Frida’s opening is wonderfully minty and fruity and the perfume feels like a cornucopia of fruit on a carved out watermelon on a beautiful summertime al fresco dinner party table. It’s juicy, a little spicy and rather snappy. There’s also an energy in the opening as if a bee is buzzing around all of the juicy goodness and as it lands on various fruits, it carries the juice from one gorgeous and ripe fruit to another. After around fifteen minutes, the fruit starts to make way for an indolic tuberose. It’s thick, spicy and incredibly intoxicating. But just as soon as the spiced tuberose starts to dominate, the other florals begin to take over evening out the sharper edges. At this point, Frida is pure loveliness, its bright, soft, tender, but not demure as there’s a projection that is quite large, but the perfume at this point is radiant and full of life. After the 30 minute mark, the tuberose starts to make its way to the center and once again, the perfume begins to become more spicy with a haze of incense hanging over the florals. In the end, Frida leaves you with a lush, fruitful and floral bounty of beauty that I have the feeling will reveal different nuances depending the person’s skin. Whatever is revealed, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

From the En Voyage Perfumes website:

This perfume celebrates the life of Frida Kahlo; the woman and artist, her suffering, her Mexican heritage and her love of nature.

Frida was feminine, fearless and a revolutionary; she cross dressed, smoked cigars, and has been a part of pop culture for over 50 years. A world-travelled sophisticate who had love affairs with both men and women, Frida remained happiest at Casa Azul, her traditional family home.

Tuberose, a flower that the Aztecs called the Boneflower, is an important note in this perfume as an homage to Frida’s brutal calamities and artistic transformation. Other notes include the hibiscus that she wore in her hair as well as the tropical blossoms and plants of Frida’s garden. The fragrance also devotes close attention to other details of Frida’s life, such as the heat of her native Mexico City, the smells of her cigarettes and her heavy hair.

TOP NOTES: The fruits of Frida’s Garden including Apricots, Watermelon, Peaches, Lemons, and Lush Greenery

HEART NOTES: Tuberose, Hibiscus, Cactus Flower, Champaca, Ylang Ylang, Gardenia, and Jasmine

BASE NOTES: Light Woods, Sugar, Oak moss, Aldehydes; Myrrh, Frankincense, and Copal; Tobacco, Green Pepper, Sexual Animalic Notes, Musk, Amber

Still Life with Parrot and Flag, 1951

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A Frida Kahlo still life painting; except there is nothing “still” about her work.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE FRIDA: bountiful, exotic, complex

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT FRIDA: Brooklyn Fragrance Lover, Perfume Polytechnic, The Sounds of Scent

BOTTOM LINE: There is something for everyone with Frida; a little fruit, beautiful florals and just a hint of wood and some wonderful spice make this a beautiful celebration of the one and only Frida Kahlo.

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral
Nose: Shelley Waddington
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $95 for 1 oz. Eau de Parfum