parfum | The Scented Hound

March 13, 2012
by The Scented Hound 7 Comments

Cuir Ottoman by Parfum d’ Empire

I thought it was timely that I do a review of Cuir Ottoman by Parfum de Empire as I have read some interesting reviews as of late and just received a sample myself. Now my preferences don’t lean towards the leather scents, but I have learned to be open to new avenues of fragrances. So after reading what others thought about this fragrance, I decided to give this a try. The first thing that I found when I applied this was a lovely floral note, mixed with what I found to be almost a rubber or plastic smell. Is that the leather trying to come out? Yes. The rubber smell dissipated quickly and the leather made its presence. Now this is not leather that is harsh or strong, but is more of a buttery, suede leather. The mix of floral and leather is very interesting and quite refreshing. This is a scent that stays close to the skin and is surprisingly light, a little sweet and clean and airy. Cuir Ottoman is quite different from what I think of a typical leather scent. As nice as I found this scent to be, my one disappointment was that it disappeared on me after a few hours. In the end, I found Cuir Ottoman to be an elegant surprise. For those of you who love leather scents, I recommend giving this a try.

Cuir Ottoman Notes:

jasmine, leather, iris, benzoin, balsams, resins, incense

Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Iris and Leather Oriental
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $75 for 50ml EDP

February 28, 2012
by The Scented Hound 6 Comments

Educating the Scented Hound

The other day, one of the readers of this blog posed the following:

What do you know about perfume? Most people know what perfume is and many people use it themselves. When men use perfume, it is typically called cologne and the term “perfume” refers to a female’s brand. There are also perfumes for the home and car, etc. but the most common associated with the word is the kind you use on your body.

I have to admit that I have struggled with the same issue. Cologne vs. perfume, male vs. female. I know that colognes and parfums are made up different perfume concentrations, but how does that translate to terminology?

I took this question as an opportunity to further educate myself and decided to reach out to Elena Knezevic, Editor of Fragrantica.com. She graciously provided the following explanation:

There is no strict definition. Here in the US we usually say men’s colognes (without referring to their concentration), but some houses (French for example) offer eau de parfum, or even perfume (parfum or parfum extrait) for Men. We now see a strong trend to avoid the gender definition in fragrances, especially in luxury sector. It doesn’t mean they are unisex, we are free to decide. In this case they are all eau de parfum. For example, Tom Ford Fragrances, they have no gender, but Tuscan Leather is mainly chosen by men, and Champaca Absolute – by women. Terre d’Hermes was launched as pure perfume extrait, and this s a perfume for men. Armani Prive collection, Serge Lutens
fragrances, it even has come to Arabian houses (they usually divide fragrances by gender), but the Omani house Amouage has its luxury Opus collection (6 fragrances so far) without reference to gender.

There was a time when men used colognes and bought them in drug stores and pharmacies together with cosmetic products, so it was more about hygiene, than luxury accessory. Perfumes were exclusively for women (in general of course, not totally).

What are your thoughts on this matter?

Thanks to Elena K. for her valued input.

February 20, 2012
by The Scented Hound Leave a comment

Fiori D’Ambra by Profumum

More ambers; more to love. This lovely perfume opens up with a rush of spice, I would say almost cinnamon in nature, along with a faint sweetness. Funny, my husband said that it smells like root beer. I can see that. That had me a bit worried. But once again, as time would tell, the scent transformed from that spicy blast to a nice and mellowed amber. This is neither harsh or medicinal, but an almost vanilla sweet, lightly spiced amber with great longevity. I would say that it leans a bit on the feminine side, but it is a scent that is close to the skin and therefore when walking through a crowd, no one would assume that a dowager is passing by. Light, sweet, subtle. A very nice amber indeed.

From the Profumum website:

Olfactory notes: Opium flowers, Amber, Spices