The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.

Tag Archives: Perfume Review


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An Air of Despair by Imaginary Authors

IA Air of DespairWHAT I SMELL: An Air of Despair opens with a warmed cedar and a wonderfully peppered saffron as well a white musk linen that sits right underneath the spiced wood.  It’s quite close to the skin and slightly mysterious.  In a short while, the perfume does begin to grow and project as it becomes more blended.  After some more time there’s a slight rubbery consistency that comes forward, but for the most part, the perfume lives in this cedar box wrapped up in a dry gauzy musk.

From the Imaginary Author’s website:

When Vivian Gwyn’s parents mysteriously disappear one month before her eighteenth birthday it foils an elaborate plan she had to kill them herself. In her search for clues as to their whereabouts she finds an elegant mink coat and a safe full of valuables in her mother’s cedar closet. Keeping the coat but selling everything else, she embarks on a glamorous adventure that takes her from the small Tennessee town where she grew up to luxurious penthouses in Manhattan, runways in Milan, and finally the castle in Switzerland from which she learns she is a descendant. No expense is spared in Viv’s valiant quest to shake the sadness that plagued her upbringing and she quickly learns it’s not riches that bring happiness but happiness that brings riches.

NOTES: Cedar, Saffron, Musk & Sadness

WHEN TO WEAR: Embrace your summertime sadness. An Air of Despair will lift you up inside while keeping the outward despondency that makes you so desirable in tact. @allbaddays #eternallybummed

Laura PalmerWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The official perfume of Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE AN AIR OF DESPAIR: Northwestern, boxy, singular

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT AN AIR OF DESPAIR:  CaFleureBon, Brooklyn Fragrance Lover

BOTTOM LINE: Josh Meyer’s limited summer release makes you feel that fall is just around the corner and that the cool, bleak rain stained sky will soon be upon us.  I guess An Air of Despair actually is the perfect name isn’t it?!

  • Bone Rating:  3 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Floral Woody Musk
  • Nose: Josh Meyer 
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $55 for 30 ml Limited Release Eau de Parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary


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Antonia by Puredistance

pd-antonia-175WHAT I SMELL:  Antonia opens with an absolutely heady and exhilarating rush of full floral lushness with the beautiful ylang-ylang front and center.  The perfume is luxuriant and rather waxy and it sits on the deepest powdered galbanum that seems to push the florals off of the skin.  Antonio makes my head swim with its feminine power.  There is nothing demure about this lady; but don’t get me wrong she is a lady in every sense of the word.  The perfume transforms, but not dramatically or with any sharp or sudden turns or edges, instead, she slowly moves from the brightest and dryest green to more of a warm and lightly soapy symphony of florals.  Antonia is a ravishing beauty from the very beginning when the rush of the green florals radiate from the first spritz and continues for hours to come.  When you wear this perfume, you are in Antonia’s world and it’s as beautiful of a world as you’ll ever experience.

From the Puredistance website:

Created by Master Perfumer Annie Buzantian in New York, Puredistance ANTONIA is a highly original green floral with a great lushness and warmth of heart, but at the same time pillowy and gentle as can be. Key in the creation of ANTONIA is the image of a strong, positive, but at the same time gentle woman.

The perfume is neither modern, nor old-fashioned. Puredistance ANTONIA is a timeless perfume with a feel of innocence, yet feminine and confident. She grabs you with gentleness and faithfully stays with you, tenacious,  but never overwhelming.

Ingredients: Jasmine, Rose Essence, Ylang Ylang, Orris, Ivy green, Galbanum, Vanilla and Vetiver. 

Ziegfiled Girl 1920s

Ziegfiled Girl – 1920s

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  All woman; all-powerful in her beauty and sexuality.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE ANTONIA:  magnificent, heady, voluminous

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ANTONIA: Olfactoria’s Travels, Undina’s Looking Glass, Kafkaesque

BOTTOM LINE: Puredistance is turning out to at the top of the list of my favorite perfume houses.  Their perfumes are works of art in that they are exquisitely refined and of the highest quality.  Where other perfumes develop with harsh twist and turns, their perfumes transform and reveal the loveliest of secrets with a whisper.  Puredistance wants to ensure their perfumes are perfection, and because of this new introductions to the line are far and few between.  But when they do release a new perfume, its pure magic as evident with their latest release, White.

  • Bone Rating:  5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Floral
  • Nose: Annie Buzantian
  • Classification: Feminine
  • Expense: $160 for 17 ml parfum extrait or $270 for 60 ml.  Note that Puredistance has some fantastic promotions on their website!


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Blomma Cult by Room 1015

Blomma3-500x500

WHAT I SMELL:  Blomma Cult opens with a deep warm bergamot…not the typical bright bergamot, but this beautiful grounded and earthy bergamot mixed with a radiant lilac.  The perfume’s opening is very unusual and very much a temptress if there was one.  Very quickly out of the gate, there’s also a mentholated vapor that engulfs the opening; it feels as if the vapor holds an elixir that could weave a spell of hypnotic control.  And after around 10 minutes, a very subdued cinnamon develops.  I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon in fragrance…or gum, or really in anything, but here it just adds this special layer of bold beefiness to this already warmed and pulsating potion.  After another 10 minutes, the perfume begins to sweeten and soften and the perfume becomes velvety smooth.  There’s also a bit of violet tartness that projects from the mix along with some powder.  What started off as deep and beefy has turned to the beautiful powdered floral musk with hints of the original beef still lingering in the background.

From the Room 1015 website:

”Blomma Cult is a floral, sensual and bewitching fragrance built around patchouli and cashmeran. It is my olfactory perception of the 1960’s and1970’s counterculture movement with the sexual liberation and the rise of the hippie culture.”

Head: Bergamot, Lilac Heart: Cashmeran, Patchouli, Violet  Base: Cinnamon, Vanilla, White Musks

red velvet blazerWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A swinging 60’s red velvet blazer!

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE BLOMMA CULT: dynamic, creative, different

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BLOMMA CULT: Ye Olde Civet Cat

BOTTOM LINE:  Michael Partouche, or Dr. Mike as he is called, created Room 1015 to combine is love for lotions and potions with his love for music which inspired him to create this new line of perfume.  I love the concept, the website, the look and feel…and I really like Blomma Cult.  It’s different, full of energy and at the same time incredibly powdery pretty in the end.  Rock on Dr. Mike!

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary