parfum | The Scented Hound

June 22, 2015
by The Scented Hound 16 Comments

Afrika-Olifant by Nishane

WHAT I SMELL: Afrika-Olifant opens like an interesting incense and smoky mystery. I can’t help think of a wrestler walking through clouds of smoke at a WWE event as they walk in the arena. It’s spicy, rather sour and in your face without being heavy-handed. However, there’s a primal male sexuality that’s powerfully overt. The perfume screams SEX. After a few minutes, the leather makes it way in, but as if like a stranger snuck in through the back alley, come up behind you and you feel their presence but can’t see them. That initial rush of smoldering sex, starts to tone down after 10 minutes, but that doesn’t mean the perfume is any less provocative or subdued. The animalic, smoky, spiced and civet laden creation smolders like burning embers. The heat is there and if you get to close you’re going to get burned. After 30 minutes, the musk comes to the forefront, adding another layer of pure sex. Yes…this perfume is all about sex. And as I try to find in my mind descriptors, I just end up back with “damn this is pure sex.” In the end, Afrika-Olifant dries out to leave this layer of burning ash hinting at the power that came before but is now subtle, subdued, but still all that magnetic.

From the Nishane website:

Stimulates hidden desires… The fragrance opens with frankincense and myrrh. As animalic notes castoreum and civet settle down, leather and oud dominate the battlefield. Timid and audacious at the same time…

TOP NOTES: ambergris, frankincense, myrrhe, labdanum

HEART NOTES: castoreum, civet, leather, oud

BASE NOTES: muscenone, thibetone, muscone, civetone

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: As you can see from above, this perfume is all SEX. So many images conjure in my mind, but I’ll go for the G-rated version: the power, the leather, and the viral men of 300!

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE AFRIKA-OLIFANT: smoldering, sexy, primal

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT AFRIKA-OLIFANT: Fashion Lifestyle, Pierre de Nishapur

BOTTOM LINE: Afrika-Olifant is not an office scent and it’s not a fragrance for going on a picnic. It is for wearing when you’re out on the prowl or if you want to create an aura of mystery. In the end, the perfume leaves just enough of a trail to leave those around you wondering where that incredibly sexy smell is coming from. This is my first introduction to the Nishane line, a niche brand from Istanbul, but it won’t be my last because they have some incredible varying perfumes in the line. Duft Bluhten, an beautiful magnolia and gardenia creation is the polar opposite of Afrika-Olifant, but equally as wonderful. Actually, the pretty floral is probably more my style than this perfume which would be on my full bottle list if I was still single and needed to add a layer of testosterone to my Saturday night bar hopping wardrobe.

Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Oriental
Nose: Jorge Lee
Classification: Classified as unisex, but to me, this is completely masculine.
Expense: $230 for 50 ml parfum extrait. Sold exclusively at Twisted Lily in the U.S.

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