review | The Scented Hound

April 23, 2015
by The Scented Hound 10 Comments

Dame Perfumery Desert Rose

WHAT 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.

April 20, 2015
by The Scented Hound 7 Comments

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.

WHAT 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.

April 15, 2015
by The Scented Hound 9 Comments

Balenciaga Paris

WHAT I SMELL: Balenciaga Paris opens quite sweet and soft then quickly it becomes sour, like bitter apple, which then dissipates to reveal a buttery and creamy green note. The fragrance is rather discordant to me because one part smells like something I should like, a rather fresh element. But at the same time, there’s a dirty feet smell that is radiating above it. Wierd. After five minutes, the perfume becomes dryer and more woody and the dirty feet smell is lessened. I am not getting any violet from the perfume at all, just wood and an uninteresting wood at that. OK, maybe if I stick my nose right up against my wrist there’s a faint hint of violet? After 15 minutes, the perfume perks up a bit with a sugared patchouli that comes to the surface. The fragrance then becomes significantly drier and muted. Again, I’m missing any violet, but am left a woody and slightly musky pleasant, but unremarkable fragrance, that at the end creates some pretty impressive projection.

From the Balenciaga website:

A Chypre Violet with the green, fresh signature of the flower and its leaves, blended into a precious harmony of fresh woods.

My apologies to the gentleman in the picture, but there’s something not quite right about his outfit.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: “It’s just not quite right”, well, at least the opening wasn’t.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE BALENCIAGA PARIS: discordant, pleasant, middle of the road

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BALENCIAGA PARIS: Now Smell This, Bois de Jasmin, Muse in Wooden Shoes

BOTTOM LINE: Maybe it’s my allergies, or maybe it’s just my skin, but the opening on this perfume was just not right. If you read the other reviews, they generally thought the opening was delightful. Oh well. In the end, Balenciaga Paris is a nice enough perfume, but it’s nothing that is out of the ordinary or all that special.

Bone Rating: 2.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Chypre Floral
Nose: Olivier Polge
Classification: Feminine? I would say more unisex.
Expense: Varies, around $50 for 1 oz. Eau de Parfum