The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.

Tag Archives: fragrance


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OroNardo by Xinú

WHAT I SMELL:  OroNardo’s opening is heavenly with creamy buttery lightly spiced tuberose that sparkles and buzzes with just the lightest of earthiness brushed with orange blossom.  The warmed perfume wafts and dances like sun-kissed florals in the Mexican summer breeze.  A greenish stem comes forward taking the perfume from the garden to the most luscious of bouquets.  This is tuberose that’s not heavy nor overbearing, but tuberose that’s fresh and lightly dewy and which is very much alive.  As the perfume continues to develop, the florals become lighter and rise into a heavenly aura.  Here the perfume resides in a true essence of floral harmony wrapped up in the lightest of powder.  Breathtaking.

From the Xinú website:

Mock orange blossom | Queen of the night flower | Marigold | Mexican tuberose | Yellow Oleander flower

Luminous | Elegant | Opulent | Golden

OroNardo is a tribute to the gorgeous Mexican tuberose.

Tuberose accentuated by mock orange blossom to bring out its naturally fleshy sexiness, using the spiciness of marigold to draw its green freshness.

The result captures the totality of the freshly-plucked flower, tuber, stems, petals, leaves, and all.

A bouquet of white and golden flowers..

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Golden tuberose.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ORONARDO:  dreamy, captivating, gorgeous

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ORONARDO:  Colognoisseur

BOTTOM LINE:  Xinú perfumes, based in Mexico City, is devoted to bringing the botanicals of the Americas to life in their perfumes.  OroNardo, which glorifies Mexican tubersose, is an exceptionally beautiful and accessible perfume.  The perfume’s development is as subtle and gracious as the perfume itself and the performance is extraordinary.  OroNardo is the perfect example of just how beautiful and enchanting Mexico can be.

  • Bone Rating:  5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Floral
  • Nose:  Rodrigo Flores-Roux
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $220 for 50 ml.


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November Surprise – Vintage Guerlain Chant d’Arômes Eau de Cologne

I think most of us would agree that 2020 has been a challenging year at best.  The year for me thus far seems to have come to a crescendo in October.  October ended with the 3rd Tropical Storm/Hurricane of the season, thankfully none of which caused too much damage besides record setting amounts of rain.  Some friends found their houses leaking with water damage and/or flooding.  Ours managed to maintain.  But at the same time, and during storm 3, we had to move out of our house because we sold it.  Yes, people do buy homes in foreign lands during a pandemic.  And yes, we too were surprised.  Add to the stress of moving, our movers decided at the last minute they could not store our belongings as they said they could.  That’s a challenge because there is not any climate controlled storage here in Merida and the heat combined with antiques is not a good combination.  So, at the last minute we were able to find a rental that worked out perfectly.   But as 2020 keeps giving; two weeks prior to our move on a quiet Sunday afternoon someone decided to run a stop sign and broadside our car.  Thankfully we weren’t hurt, but the car is still on the shop.  So needless to say, this is why I haven’t posted in a month.  It has been stressful to say the least.

But now it’s November, we’re settled into our beautiful rental.  We’re starting the process for building our new house which is to be completed in a year.  We’re happy and healthy and we have a new President-elect which will hopefully bring promise for a better 2021.   So no complaints because we have plenty to be thankful for.  And add just a bit of a cherry on top to it all, I managed to find an unopened vintage bottle of Guerlain Chant d’Arômes.  I love the vintage Guerlain colognes and this is no exception and a great way to slide into November and a promise of a new beginning.

WHAT I SMELL:  Chant d’Arômes opens with soft and lightly sweetened florals which are greeted with bright aldehydes.  There’s a light powder and a slight metallic edge that seems to drift off rather quickly as the soft, light and bright florals take center stage.  The perfume is more of a collection of flowers than of compartmentalized notes.  The florals meld together to make for a spring bouquet of warm and enticing beauty.  Never harsh, nor too strong, the perfume is softness personified.

From Fragrantica:

Guerlain Chant d’Aromes was created by Jean-Paul Guerlain in 1962. This is a fragrance for a woman which wears perfume for the sake of her pleasures only. It is a floral bouquet that talks a language of flowers. This perfume contains natural essences and belongs to the ‘chypre’ olfactory group. The main notes are aldehydes, gardenia, mirabelle, jasmine, cloves, honeysuckle, ylang-ylang, heliotrope, benzoin, oliban and vetiver.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Contentment.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE CHANT D’ARÔMES:  light, happy, innocent

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT CHANT D’ARÔMES:  The Black Narcissus, The Non-Blonde, Perfume Shrine

BOTTOM LINE: Chant d’Arômes is a soft and pretty perfume that is infinitely easy to wear.  In reading other reviews of the perfume, it seems like the EDT and extrait have essences of peach, which I don’t find with the EDC version.  Instead, I just get a delightfully calming spread of innocent florals.

  • Bone Rating: 4.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent: Chypre Floral
  • Nose:  Jean-Paul Guerlain
  • Classification: Leans feminine
  • Expense:  Varies for vintage


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Vintage Coty Imprévu Parfum

WHAT I SMELL:  Imprévu opens with lemony tinged aldehydes that quickly become entrenched in the most beautiful oak moss in addition to a more rounded citrus.  Soon enough, the perfume moves from the citrus and becomes lightly creamy with pulsating florals.  There’s also a spiced note that gives the perfume a bit of exoticness.  At this stage, Imprévu’s heart is deep, warm, a bit mysterious and incredibly alluring.  After some time, a light soapiness emerges, but that soon dissipates and that’s when the real magic happens.  Around 10 minutes into wearing the perfume, a light rich leather melds with the deep and warm florals and the perfume begins to dry with a powdery oakmoss.  The perfume is so beautiful at this point with its warm, in charge and take no prisoners personality.  Imprévu in french means “unforseen” or “unexpected.”  The perfume is exactly that… but in the most wonderful of ways.

From Fragrantica:

Imprévu was launched in 1965 as an intense female perfume that ideally balances the chypre, wood and leather aromas.  Absolutely mature and opulent, it opens with aldehydes and citruses like bergamot and bitter orange.  The heart is composed of leather with traces of clove and floral notes, placed on a wooden base with oak moss.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Tina Louise…pretty and glamourous in a B-movie kind of way.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE IMPRÉVU:  warm, deep, confident

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT IMPRÉVU:  Perfume Shrine

BOTTOM LINE:  Imprévu is a hidden gem of a drug store perfume that made smelling glamourous and chic affordable.  And there’s nothing here that smells inexpensive except for the slightly soapish drydown finish that you can sometimes find in the over-the-counter fragrances.  But all you need to do to remedy that is to re-apply.  I found this little gem for under $25 online and I’m so glad I decided to make it mine.

  • Bone Rating:  4 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Woody Chypre
  • Classification: Leans feminine, but very wearable for men
  • Nose:  Bernard Chant
  • Expense:  Review based on the parfum extrait concentration.  Prices vary, but can easily be found on sites like eBay.

As an extra bonus, a 1967 Imprévu commercial: