parfum | The Scented Hound

June 5, 2013
by The Scented Hound 18 Comments

Vintage Arpege by Lanvin

WHAT I SMELL: Arpege opens with a large blast of aldehydes with an herbal essence, but immediately shows its floral beauty with rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang infused with a warm and soothing light amber musk. Arpege unfolds seamlessly making it very hard to pick apart the notes and that’s a good thing. I can tell you that there’s a bit of peach hiding inside just enough to give it a slightly sour flavor, but one that’s not offsetting. Instead it gives it just tad bit of a bite to make this a more than a run of the mill floral fragrance. There’s a graceful beauty in Arpege that keeps it’s notes grounded in mystery rather than in light. Not that Arpege is shy by any means, its projection is great and its bold without being loud.

Arpege notes from Fragrantica:

Top notes: bergamot, aldehyde, peach, orange bloom, honeysuckle, orris

Heart notes: rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, coriander, sensitive plant, tuberose, violet, and geranium

Base notes: sandal, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla and musk

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Arpege is a lady. Not a woman, not a dame, but a lady.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ARPEGE: proper, poised, serious

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ARPEGE: Yesterday’s Perfume, The Non-Blonde, Perfume-Smellin’ Things

BOTTOM LINE: There is nothing playful about Arpege. It’s wonderfully elegant and very staid. It’s what you think vintage perfumes should smell like and I love it. And don’t get me wrong, even though I say that Arpege is a lady, there is a masculine edge about the fragrance which bodes well with me. Do I wear it at the office?…no. But I often wear it when I do my Saturday errands, it makes the drudgery of going to the dry cleaners and grocery store so much more palatable.

I do have to say that I originally purchased a 7.5ml bottle of extrait on eBay and that’s when I fell in love. So much so that I saw a good deal on a 30ml extrait bottle (again on eBay) so I snatched it up as well. As with any vintage perfumes, depending on storage, etc. the fragrance can wear differently. In this case, the 7.5 ml bottle is deeper and richer and maybe a bit creamier (don’t get me wrong, this is not a creamy fragrance) right from the beginning which says to me that the top notes may be a bit lost. The 30ml bottle goes on greener with more bergamot, but then moves into wonderful heart notes. But both are wonderful and I’m thrilled that they’re part of my collection.

Bone Rating: 4.5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Floral Aldehyde
Classification: Feminine
Review based on: vintage parfum extrait
Expense: Varies, but can be found on eBay for what I think is a reasonable cost

May 21, 2013
by The Scented Hound 18 Comments

Cinabre by Maria Candida Gentile

WHAT I SMELL: Hatchi-matchi…Cinabre opens with a dirty peppered gingered-rose. The ginger really stands out in center stage while the rose sits quietly in the back. It’s loud and it’s strong and smells like a heavy petroleum. I know this sounds bad, but it’s not. The rose starts to come to the forefront after a short while. It’s a dirty rose, one that isn’t fresh but one that’s thick and ready to mold off of the vine, almost as if it’s liquifying. I can’t say that I like it and there’s something almost repulsive about it; but it keeps drawing me back in. After a bit Cinabre bring forth a resinous sweetness which radiates and cuts out some of the dirt, but the fragrance continues to retain its earthy living state and still remains shockingly large. Finally, the dirt get whisked away and Cinabre moves into a phase that is slightly powdered and very sweetened rose of which the sweetness is sickening if you bring your arm to your nose. In other words, at this point Cinabre is best from a distance. Finally, the fragrance mellows into a lightly sweet vanilla rose, tinged with a hint of opoponax.

Cinabre Notes:

Ginger, black pepper, rose baies, Splendens rose, Morroccan rose, benzoin, vanilla, opoponax.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A working mexican village. So what does that mean? The combination of and smells of food, dirt, and flowers in the hot sun. It’s alive and earthy and the smells are sometimes beautiful and yet sometimes can be too thick with real life. After the heat of the day settles down, the sweeter smells of the town make their appearance.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE CINABRE: thick, gothish, sweetened

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT CINABRE: Scent for Thought, Perfume Shrine, Make Perfume Not War

BOTTOM LINE: Cinabre is one of the more interesting fragrances that I have sniffed in a long time. I can say that I actually quite like it but a little goes a long way and if they offered it in a 10ml offering I would probably pick up a bottle.

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Oriental
Classification: Unisex more at the opening – more feminine in the drydown.
Expense: $185 for 100ml EdP, currently offered as a May 2013 Olfactif offering

February 24, 2013
by The Scented Hound 17 Comments

Daim Blond by Serge Lutens

WHAT I SMELL: I was just at the grocery store and I kept smelling Tide laundry detergent. I didn’t think much of it as I was at the grocery store, but let me explain that I loathe the smell of Tide. I would almost rather not wash my clothes than to have to use Tide because the smell is just nauseating to me. Well, as it turns out, when I got home I sniffed my arm and sure enough what I was smelling was me. Now, I spritzed this on about four hours ago and this was the result.

Let’s look at the beginning of this journey. Daim Blond went on so light that I barely could tell that I had put any perfume on at all. I got an initial whiff of cardamom, but then just a light touch of powder and then almost nothing. After what seems to be about 10 minutes, I started smelling a light sweet flowered apricot. It’s very sheer and almost candied sweet like Sweetarts candy. I don’t mind where the scent is at this point, but it’s so light that you wonder if it yourself that you are smelling or something else that’s in the room. Daim Blond is interpreted as White Suede, but I am not getting any leather whatsoever from this fragrance. But I have to admit that at this stage, Daim Blond albeit wispy is really quite pretty. It’s not until much later that Daim Blond transforms into Tide; which I won’t try to dissect!

From Fragrantica:

The top notes contain hawthorn, Ceylon cardamom; the heart includes iris, apricot kernel, while the base encompasses musk, heliotrope and leather.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Tide laundry detergent, but you already know that!