floral | The Scented Hound

July 1, 2015
by The Scented Hound 5 Comments

New Release: Savage Garden by Thorn & Bloom

WHAT I SMELL: Savage Garden’s opening is warm and inviting yet cool to the skin and the florals are rapturous right from the first spritz. The herbal notes ground the florals making them more earthy and real. After a few minutes the mint begins to radiate making the perfume very comforting. Savage Garden is so grounded in nature that wearing it makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a garden even though you might be in the heart of the city. After some more time, a moistened soil comes into play and the perfume transforms from herbal to more green. This helps to lighten the initial radiating warmth. What was once more comforting is now more light and joyous. In the end, Savage Garden is just that, a wild garden full of herbs, spices and flowers that seem to transform with each step down a path. At times, it feels more floral and then it turns more herbal. Whatever step you take it really is a tranquil beauty of a stroll.

From the Thorn & Bloom website:

Verdant, cool and lush, this spring garden is brimming with unruly sensual delights. Creamy white narcotic blooms of Ylang Ylang andTuberose explode against a backdrop of tangled green foliage, minty herbs, damp earth and young wood. The bouquet is refreshingly vegetal, herbal, floral and earthy. Reminiscent of lilies in full bloom.

Notes: Bluegrass, Tarragon, Ylang Ylang, Tuberose, Vetiver, Orris Root, Sandalwood

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: The perfume is named perfectly…beautiful, untamed, with a new discovery around every turn of a path.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE SAVAGE GARDEN: herbal, natural, comforting

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT SAVAGE GARDEN: None found as of yet.

BOTTOM LINE: Jennifer Botto’s just launched new line of perfumes is a must for anyone who loves natural perfumes and for anyone who loves perfumes that feel like a work of art. Each perfume in the collection is unique and stunning in their own right. My other favorite in the line is Wild Rose. Where I always think that I have had enough of rose based fragrances, I am once again corrected! Jennifer’s introduction to the perfume world makes me excited as to what we’ll see of her in the future.

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral
Nose: Jennifer Botto
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $200 for 30 ml or $65 for 7.5 ml Eau de Parfum (thank you Jennifer for the smaller sizes!)
Available exclusively at the Thorn & Bloom website.

Samples courtesy of Thorn & Bloom. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

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