The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.


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Maria Candida Gentile Syconium

syconium_fla_rendWHAT I SMELL:  Syconium opens with a lightly warm and slightly creamy milk and honeyed fig.  The perfume is so lovely transparent that it invites you to breathe in the airy, but juicy aroma.  Fig can greatly overpower a perfume, but so far, what you get here is this gauze like film of a fig that hovers over this sheer honey accord.  It’s almost like walking outside and getting a whiff of a beautiful scent that wisps past your nose, but you look for the source but can’t find where it’s coming from, it just floats along in the air.  After around 10 minutes, the perfume becomes a bit more waxy which gives it slightly more depth, but it continues to remain light and radiant.  After another 10 minutes, the fragrance begins to project with a warmed sandalwood which beefs up the waxy and lightly sugared fig.  The fig in this perfume feels very natural and not manufactured which makes it that much more inviting.  The fragrance doesn’t morph as much as it builds and in the end your left with the most lush, milky and creamy fig that’s warm, soothing and comforting.

Syconium is the ripening of the fig, the best expression of what nature has to offer in the form of fruit, the richness of the flavour and of the perfume that are brought to us by a tree close to us since the earliest times. The pulp but also the milk, the peel, the scorching sun and the shadow of the great leaves.
Top notes: Honey, Milk
Heart notes: Fig
Base notes:  Java Sandal Wood

Balcony Garden

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The prettiest balcony garden with the wafting scent of the fig coming from below. It’s like your own special private secret garden; so safe and secure.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE SYCONIUM: milky, peaceful, comforting

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT SYCONIUM:  Ye Olde Civet Cat

BOTTOM LINE:  Syconium is one of three perfumes in the Maria Candida Gentile “Flight of the Bumblebee Collection”, along with Kitrea and Leuco.  All of the creations in this collection are wonderful, but this dreamy fig creation is my favorite of the three and perfect for the coming long hot summer months.

  • Bone Rating:  4.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Beeswax
  • Nose:  Maria Candida Gentile
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $185 for 100 ml Eau de Parfum; but also available for $45 for the 15 ml travel size (thank you MCG for offering these smaller sizes with your perfumes!)


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Dame Perfumery Desert Rose

Desert RoseWHAT I SMELL:  Desert Rose opens with a soft and delicate peach which is quickly met with a non-sweetened citrus; add to this the fact that it’s airy and semi-bright.  As it develops the perfume gains some body with an ambered base.  However, even with this body, this is one of the lightest and ethereal perfumes I have worn in a long time. And that’s a good thing.  Sometimes rose scents when added to the heat of the summer sun can overwhelm, but with this light composition you won’t have to worry about that.  Before I get too ahead of myself, the pretty Damascenia rose begins to make its way to the front.  It’s floral sweet and not candied sweet and it has a sparkling and vibrant finish to it.  The peach remains, but a lovely soft vanilla joins in to give the perfume a more rounded finish as well as creating this silky smoothness.  The perfume then moves away from being ethereal, yet it never reaches to the point of being too large.  It instead remains vanilla sweetened and silky soft and smooth (and just a tad spicy)…almost like a rose flavored egg cream.

From the Dame Perfumery website:

The composition is a blend of Turkish rose otto and Damascenia Rose with touches of peach, Sicilian lemon, Egyptian jasmine, geranium, carnation, heliotrope, sandalwood, musk, amber and vanilla.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  How can I resist… Sting’s Desert Rose.  The perfume and the song go hand in hand, pretty, ethereal, exotic and dreamily lovely.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE DESERT ROSE:  bright, peach-kissed, dreamy

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT DESERT ROSE:  Scent of Abricots

BOTTOM LINE:  I’m not a huge fan of peach notes in a perfume, but here its nicely infused with the rose.  If you’re looking for something pretty and dreamy, Desert Rose would make for a nice addition to your summer scent wardrobe… and you can’t beat the price!  But with Damascenia rose, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so don’t over spray to ensure that the desert rose doesn’t become a desert dragon!

  • Bone Rating:  3.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Floral
  • Classification: Feminine
  • Expense: $65 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum from the Dame Perfumery website

Sample courtesy of Dame Perfumery.


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Vintage Dior Diorling

Vintage Dior Diorling

WHAT I SMELL:  Dior Diorling opens green, dry, mossy and quite powdery.  It has a vintage feel, but at the same time feels easily modern.  I can’t tell if the top notes are somewhat lost, but the florals are incredibly well blended.  They’re deep, rather beefy  and they feel very structured and firm.  As with Miss Dior, Diorling is pretty in a rather masculine fashion.  That’s what I love about these old classics, they are allowed to be feminine without resorting to sweetness and fruit.  The hyacinth and iris are the anchors here and combined with the moss they make for this powdered haze of sophisticated beauty.  Then add this light punch of leather to the base and you’ve got the perfume wrapped up.  There’s not a lot of development here, (although the lily of the valley pokes it head out ever now and then), but it does soften and becomes somewhat like a perfumed Angora sweater.  Overall from the beginning to the end (and it lasts), you have a classic chypre at its best.

Dior Diorling Notes:

Top notes are hyacinth and bergamot; middle notes are iris, jasmine, rose and lily-of-the-valley; base notes are vetiver, musk, patchouli, oak moss and leather.

Peanut's Pig PenWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Peanut’s Pig-Pen.  OK, to explain myself…take away the dry dusty dirt and replace with a dry dusty mossy cloud.  Besides, the perfume has a very 1960’s vibe about it which was the heyday of the Peanut’s era.  See it all makes sense now, right??!

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE DIOR DIORLING:  drrrryyyy, powdered, unisex

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT DIOR DIORLING: Perfume Shrine, The Black Narcissus, Now Smell This

BOTTOM LINE:  Ridiculously expensive on eBay, I found this beauty for a great price and snatched it up.  So there was a little chip on the stopper and the stopper was stuck (we perfumistas know how to conquer that!), but the perfume is divine!  I don’t think it will ever live up to my love of Miss Dior, but I get giddy every time I put this on because it’s just that good!

  • Bone Rating: 4.5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Chypre
  • Nose:  Paul Vacher
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: Varies greatly.  Review based on the parfum extrait version.