The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.

Tag Archives: fragrance


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New Release: Noir Exquis by L’Artisan Parfumeur

Noir Exquis

WHAT I SMELL:  Noir Exquis opens slightly sour at first, quickly moving to a gourmand breaded pastry that is covered with a hazelnut glaze.  After a couple of minutes, the perfume begins to grow and it smells just like Coffee-mate Hazelnut Non-Dairy Creamer.  After a few more minutes the perfume takes on a slight hair spray note, making the perfume slightly prickly, but it also makes it feel like it’s covered in raw sugar, meaning that it’s sweet without being saccharine sweet.  After some more time, a maple syrup note creeps in and it melds with the existing nutty structure.  Thankfully, after 30 minutes, the whole structure seems to tame.  The sweetened hazelnut becomes quieter and the perfume takes on a more woody sandalwood and patchouli note tinged with a burnt amber.

From the L’Artisan Parfumeur website:

The inspiration for Noir Exquis is an unexpected rendez-vous in a French patisserie.  Two people meet over a coffee. In this delicious atmosphere of patisserie and coffee, hushed looks are exchanged. This delightful rendez-vous is the beginning of a new story with Noir Exquis.

Noir Exquis is a work of contrast and the unexpected. The addictive note of coffee, combined with the warm and comfortable notes of maple syrup, glazed chestnuts and orange blossom, brings an intriguing juxtaposition to this fragrance.
Rich and velvety, Noir Exquis connects these two persons during this moment beyond time and place.

Opulent and gourmand, Noir Exquis is a fragrance with a warm and charismatic aura.

Notes: Glazed chestnut, Coffee, Maple syrup, Macassar Wood 

Coffee-mate HazelnutWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  I can’t get this out of my head…Coffee-mate Hazelnut Non-Dairy Creamer

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE NOIR EXQUIS: creamy, sweetened, breakfasty (is that a word?)

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NOIR EXQUIS:  Kafkaesque, Bois de Jasmin, Megan in Saint Maxime

BOTTOM LINE:  If you like flavored coffee creamers in your morning coffee and like gourmand scents, this may be for you.  Personally, I don’t want to feel like I just rubbed a breakfast pastry over myself.  In the end, the perfume does quiet down, but it still radiates this artificial creaminess.

  • Bone Rating:  2.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Oriental Vanilla
  • Nose:  Bertrand Duchaufour
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $120 for 1.7 oz. eau de parfum


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Palo Santo by Carner Barcelona

Carner-Barcelona-Palo-SantoWHAT I SMELL:  Palo Santo opens with a milky coconut, boozy rum accord.  It’s sugared without being sweet, but it crackles with a wonderful gourmand and slightly earthy goodness.  The sugared aspect begins to retreat as the perfume starts to become a bit more woody.  Add on top of that a light burnt hue as if the woods and rum have attracted a lit fire which singed the sweetened wood.  The guaiac wood starts to become prominent as it begins to dominate the perfume.  Thankfully, the guaiac is tempered quickly by the addition of a woody vetiver which helps to bring the perfume into a more sharpened tonality.  After around 30 minutes or so, the perfume begins to blend with hints of incense and tonka bean sitting on top of a woody base that is full of cream.  Palo Santo is at first rather big, bold and in charge, but with a rather sweet demeanor.  In the end, all those elements are still there, but they settle down to more of a whisper.

From the Carner Barcelona website:

A ‘’sacred wood’’ steeped in magic and mysticism for thousands of years, releases an enchanting aromatic essence that swirls to life in a spellbinding blend that infuses earthy hints of wood and incense.

Coveted by shamans for centuries, it is believed that this spiritual wood has the power to protect and usher in good fortune. A faint misting will cleanse the mood and raise spirits, invoking the true purifying virtues of Palo Santo

top notes: Indian Davana, Rum Accord

mid notes: Warm Milk, Paraguayan Guaiacum Wood, Venezuelan Tonka Bean

base notes: Moroccan Cedar Wood, Vetyver from Haiti, Dominican Republican Amyris

brown-bear-4689WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Don’t ask me why, but for some reason this brings to mind a very happy and content brown bear.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE PALO SANTO:  milky, calming, peaceful

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT PALO SANTO: Chemist in the Bottle, Colognoisseur, Kafkaesque

BOTTOM LINE:  Palo Santo is smooth and creamy and full of guaiac wood which unfortunately never seems to work on my skin.  However, if you do like guaiac wood…this might just be a good fit as it softens to a nice woody glow in the end.


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Semi-New Kid on the Block: Blocki Perfumes

This-Grand-Affair-500x500

Almost two years ago to the day, I attended my first Sniffapalooza in New York City.  At the infamous Bergdorf Goodman breakfast, there was a lovely couple that was sitting next to our table.  This too was their first time at Sniffapalooza, and like me, they were just as excited to be participating in this fun event.  Unlike the group of perfumistas at our table, their interest extended beyond a love of fragrance.  Instead, they were working towards resurrecting a family perfume business….one in which had an incredible American heritage.  Two years later, the couple; Tyler and Tammy Kraemer have made their dream a reality by re-introducing Blocki Perfumes to the world.

JohnBlocki

John Blocki

As hinted to earlier, their story didn’t start merely two years ago, Blocki Perfumes has an American pedigree that goes back to the mid 19th century when Tyler’s great-grandfather, John Blocki, considered a pioneer in American perfumery, started creating, selling and distributing his own collection of perfumes.  In fact, Blocki was the first to open a perfume boutique in Chicago in 1903.  After his death, in 1934, Blocki Perfumes faded into American perfumed history.  But in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first Blocki & Son perfumery, Tyler and Tammy have launched this new collection in homage to their ancestral American pioneer.

The three perfumes in the newly released Blocki Perfumes collection “for walks,” “in every season,” and “this grand affair” are inspired by and are meant to embody memoir passages penned by John Blocki’s wife and Tyler’s great-grandmother, Emma Blocki.  Of the collection, “this grand affair,” a wonderful full-bodied floral, is my personal favorite.

thisgrand affair

WHAT I SMELL:  “this grand affair” opens with the most beautiful floral citrus combination that is warm, full of juice and full of life.  The opening is joyous and rapturous and everything you want with a big floral perfume.  In a bit, a lovely subdued lavender joins the mix creating a rather majestic and proper feel as the perfume tones down from a full and rounded floral bouquet to more of an old world garden.  It feels as if you’re being welcomed into the manor house by an open door on a beautiful summer day.  After some time, a mandarin note comes to the front as if the ripened fruit and flowers are being carried by the buzzing bees.  “this grand affair” opens big and beautiful and like a grand party, carries itself with beautiful but simple opulence. And like the party, it quietly retreats to a lovely warm and lightly powdered beautiful memory of the magic of the night.

“this grand affair” notes from the Blocki Perfumes website –

Top: citrus duet of grapefruit and neroli, sweet woody davana oil

Middle: Bulgarian lavender, rose d’orient, petitgrain of lemon and mandarin

Base: vanilla, musk, tonka bean and patchouli

Gilded Age Party

“this grand affair”

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The perfume is like a grand affair, or rather like a grand party of the Gilded Age.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE THIS GRAND AFFAIR: majestic, radiant, proper

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS GRAND AFFAIR:  It’s not a review, but Tyler Kraemer penned a wonderful article at CaFleureBon about the history behind Block Perfumes past and present.

BOTTOM LINE:  The wonderful backstory of the resurrection of this classic American perfumery is reason enough to check out the new line of Blocki Perfumes.  The fact that these perfumes are beautiful and wonderfully modern with a classic sensibility is just icing on the cake.