Perfume Review – Ineke Hothouse Flower: Welcome to Spring!

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Spring is in the air. The garden is a sea of green, bright, dark and light, all showing signs of the lushness to come and falling like a waterfall over romantic secluded arbors. White flowers raise their heads in the corners and open their delicate buds, reaching towards the sun to let their sweet scent waft in the air. Dew sparkles like diamonds on the leaves. A spring shower is imminent.

Kew Gardens, London. Source: MrsMiniversDaughter.Blogspot.com

That is the image evoked by Hothouse Flower, a very pretty fragrance from the San Francisco niche perfume house, Ineke. I received a sample as a gift from my fellow perfume blogger, the lovely Undina of Undina’s Looking Glass who is a definite expert on florals and who enjoyed the freshness of the scent enough to buy a full bottle.

Hothouse Flower is a soliflore which means a fragrance centered around one single flower; in this case, gardenia. This is not your usual gardenia, however. It’s not a 1980s heavy, indolic, overpoweringly thick, or headache-inducing white floral. Instead, it is the brightest, lightest, most Spring-like gardenia you can imagine and is accompanied by the freshness of green leaves and Earl Grey tea with peppery woods — all over a quiet base of light musk and smoke.

Hothouse Flower was created by Ineke’s founder and nose, Ineke Ruhland, and was released in 2012. According to Ineke’s website, the notes in the perfume are:

Top notes are Earl Grey tea, green folliage and cypress; middle notes are gardenia, galbanum, fig and frankincense; base notes are guaiac wood, musk and corn silk.

Hothouse Flower opens on my skin as a bouquet. It feels like an armful of the loveliest fresh hyacinth, tuberose and gardenia flowers have been bound up with the brightest green leaves and a dainty, white ribbon. Though there is no hyacinth or tuberose in the notes, it really feels like it. The flowers have an unusual twist, however. They are peppered! The note is light, though, and never takes away from the freshness or airiness of the scent. While the pepper waxes and ebbs in prominence throughout the perfume’s development, in the opening minutes, it is particularly subtle.

“Butchart Gardens in the rain” by Matt Emrich. Source: Redbubble.com

Those minutes transport you to the most beautiful country garden, surrounded by walls of climbing greenery and the most fragrant of Spring flowers. I truly expected a Spring shower at any moment, as I inhaled the delicate bouquet with its dewy, fresh notes. The gardenia is surprisingly light for such a rich flower, though there is already an undertone of coconut which I found to be a bit disconcerting in the midst of such an airy symphony. Its underlying richness is a paradox, given the freshness of the fragrance which has a very gauzy, lightweight texture.

Woodland Bridal Bouquet with Gardenias. Source: FrancoiseWeeks.com

As time progresses, the green notes grow more prominent. The scent of new leaves is now joined by the aromatic fragrance of Earl Grey tea. Together, they serve to counter that initial coconut undertone to the gardenia, as does the persistent peppery note. Though I would have preferred absolutely no coconut (which sometimes feels here a little like coconut lotion on my skin), there is no denying that Hothouse Flower is a lovely balance of light sweetness, never heavy or overdone.

Pepper, whole and ground.

Soon, ten minutes in, the perfume transforms from a spring bouquet to something that is less purely floral in nature. The quiet note of finely ground pepper starts to turn woody, bringing the garden’s trees into the mix. Cypress has definitely entered center stage, singing a duet with the gardenia, while fig hovers shyly to the side and in the background. The latter is not a ripe, gooey, sticky version of the fruit but, rather, more akin to something fresh and just barely sweetened. It’s a lovely counterpart to the dark peppered woods. It also contributes to the fresh aspects of the scent when combined with the subtle undertone of earthiness from the galbanum which feels, here, a little like rich, wet soil. The two notes very much add to the overall feel of a garden first thing in the morning.

As noted earlier, the Earl Grey tea note is also noticeable but, like much to do with this fragrance, it is extremely light and subtle. It adds a quiet fragrancy to the green and dark notes, but I think a true tea-lover may find it a little too muted and ephemeral. That said, the second time I tested Hothouse Flower, I applied a far greater quantity of the perfume and the tea note was a little bit more evident. When combined with the woodsy notes, the smoke from the frankincense, and the pepper, the tea takes on a more complex undertone than mere bergamot. This is not citrusy, and definitely resembles Earl Grey instead. Nonetheless, as a whole, it is extremely subtle and never really stands out on its own in this well-blended fragrance.

Despite the darker notes, the true star of the show is the gardenia. It is really lovely and delicate. Regardless of its creamy coconut undertone, it is also never indolic, thick, custard-y or excessive. I know Hothouse Flower is supposed to represent the lush, hot-house version of the flower, but the perfume is simply too airy, thin, fresh and light for that. For many people, that will be a definite plus.

Nonetheless, by the end of the first hour, the perfume does lose some of its gorgeous freshness. The green notes vanish for the most part, and there is no longer the impression of a dewy, Spring bouquet. But Hothouse Flower was intended to be a gardenia soliflore, first and foremost, so I certainly can’t (and don’t) fault it for that.

From the second hour to the end of the perfume’s development, Hothouse Flower takes on its primary characteristic: coconut-y gardenia over a base of light smoke, subtle pepper and quiet musk. It never changes beyond those notes. It may not be wholly my cup of tea due to the coconut, but it is pretty. The addition of the really subtle smoke note from the frankincense and the almost imperceptible pepper hovering in the background adds a lot more complexity to the scent than one would initially imagine from the word “soliflore.” Moreover, despite the rise in the coconut undertone — which makes Hothouse Flower a much richer, heavier scent than it was initially — it’s still incredibly lightweight.

In fact, it’s so light, I had a big problem smelling it at times. The sillage begins at a very low-level from the start, but soon drops even further. Within an hour, at most, Hothouse Flower is a skin scent. By the end of the third hour, I had thought it had disappeared completely! It is a little surprising for something that is eau de parfum concentration. To be honest, I’m not even sure how long Hothouse Flower lasted on me. The first time I tested the perfume, it seemed to vanish by the time the fourth hour rolled around. Only by extremely determined sniffing (in this case, more akin to the feral attack of a hyena on my arm) could I detect small patches of it lingering here and there. By the start of the fifth hour, I wouldn’t swear to its presence in any noticeable way. However, the second time I tested Hothouse Flower, I doubled the amount and could smell faint traces a little after the 6 hour mark.

Clearly, this is a scent whose projection and longevity you can manipulate via quantity. Again, I think that will make the perfume ideal for those who like extremely discreet, very light skin-scents. However, those who prefer moderate projection or great longevity — not to mention more body — will be sorely disappointed, as this is a very thin, sheer perfume. You may have to apply a double-to-triple dose if you want to detect its smell after the first hour from more than an inch away, and to have it last a substantial amount of time.

Despite those issues, Hothouse Flower is a very pretty fragrance and it’s made even lovelier by its price. In the world of niche perfumery, finding a well-blended, well-made, non-artificial, lovely scent that retails for under $100 in a large (2.5 oz/ 75 ml) bottle is a bit like stumbling upon a mythical unicorn in some secret garden. But Ineke Ruhland has done it. Not only that, but she also makes her perfumes extremely accessible via a Deluxe Sample pack of all eight of her eau de parfums for an incredible $25 with free shipping. Honestly, it’s mind-boggling. One cannot help but give a huge “Brava” to someone who very clearly wants the world to enjoy perfume without problems of access or cost.

Gardenia bouquet. Photo: Eric Kelley via Wedding Chicks on ILoveSWmag.com. For more beautiful gardenia bridal photos and bouquets, click on the photo to go to the website.

The combination of all these factors make me think that the perfume would be particularly lovely as a bridal scent. The freshness, femininity, and low sillage would make it a perfect, discreet accompaniment on the big day. And, for those who love gardenia scents, even more so. On Fragrantica, one person (“raw umber”) wrote the perfect summation:

Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It’s Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing. I could see this being very complimentary to the aroma of a morning cup of coffee. It’s like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.

The perfume website, CaFleureBon, also loved Hothouse Flower. So much so that they rated it as one of the Top 25 perfumes of 2012, writing:

In a year with so many good gardenia fragrances it shouldn’t be a surprise I have two on my list. Ineke Ruhland captures a gardenia weighted down and surrounded by the humidity of a hothouse. This gives a depth to the central note that nobody else who assayed this in 2012 came close to matching. I felt like I was surrounded and consumed with this gardenia.

Personally, I don’t think that the gardenia note is “weighted down” since Hothouse Flower is such a light, airy fragrance, but I definitely agree that the flower has depth here.

In short, Hothouse Flower is a very pretty scent, and one that I would definitely recommend for those who enjoy incredibly light, unobtrusive, discreet, fresh florals. Welcome to Spring!

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Hothouse Flower is an Eau de Parfum that comes in a 2.5 oz/75 ml size and which costs $95. You can purchase it from the Ineke website which ships within the US and to Canada. As noted above, there is a fantastic deal on a Deluxe Sampler set where you get all 8 perfumes in the line for $25 with free shipping. Purchase of the set also gives you a discount if you end up buying a full bottle of one of the perfumes from the Ineke website: “When you place an order for the Deluxe Sample Collection, you will also be provided with a discount code that you can apply against your next order of a 75 ml product from our alphabetical collection on our website. The Floral Curiosities collection for Anthropologie is not part of this program.” In the US and Canada, the perfume is also sold at Anthropologie for the same $95 price. In the UK, Ineke fragrances are carried at about seven different sites throughout the country (as listed on Ineke’s website), but the best online resource seems to be The Grooming Clinic which sells Hothouse Flower for £79.75 with free shipping within the UK. I should note that the Ineke line is generally carried by Liberty London, but I don’t see Hothouse Flower listed on the website. In Australia, you can generally find Ineke perfumes on the Libertine website for AUD$160 but, unfortunately, they don’t list Hothouse Flower. Other retail locations — including a good number of international sellers from Italy to Denmark, Greece, Poland and the UAE — can be found on the company’s Stores page. Samples of the perfume are available via Ineke’s own sample set but if you just want to try this one, Surrender to Chance has Hothouse Flower starting at $2.99 for a 1 ml vial.

Perfume Reviews – Jo Malone “Sugar & Spice” Collection: Ginger Biscuit and Bitter Orange & Chocolate

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Jo Malone just launched her limited-edition Spring collection of perfumes inspired by British cakes and desserts. The collection is called “Sugar & Spice” and numbers five fragrances in all, each in the super light cologne concentration.

Source: Fragrantica

According to Basenotes, the perfumer is Christine Nagel of Mane who “spent time with the Jo Malone Creative Studio eating cake in Fortnum and Masons, Claridges and various other fine cake establishments to familiarise herself with the local sweet treats.” The line includes: Redcurrant & Cream, Ginger Biscuit, Lemon Tart, Bitter Orange & Chocolate and Elderflower & Gooseberry.

Source: Fragrantica

The company has really outdone itself with the campaign for this collection. There is a really fun, bubbly, happy video (see midway down below) featuring Adam Ant’s famous 80s hit, Goody Two Shoes, and also, just in case you missed the food aspects to the collection, the company also released four dessert recipes to accompany the fragrances. (I couldn’t find one for Bitter Orange & Chocolate.) You can find the compiled list of all of them at The Daily Mail, though I will provide the direct link to the appropriate recipe in each fragrance’s discussion section.

I have samples of all five colognes, and I’ll review two of them — Ginger Biscuit and Bitter Orange & Chocolate — in this post. You can find my reviews for the other three perfumes in the collection — Elderflower & Gooseberry, Lemon Tart, and Redcurrant & Cream — here.

GINGER BISCUIT:

The Jo Malone website describes Ginger Biscuit as follows:

Just-baked biscuit. Spiced with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon, melting into caramel. Butter-crumbly with roasted hazelnuts. Warmed by tonka bean and vanilla. Irresistible.

Source: The Style Insider.com.

According to Basenotes, the perfumer, Christine Nagel, had the following vision in mind for the fragrance:

‘I wanted to recreate the equivalent deliciousness of a just baked biscuit enlivened with grated ginger.’ says Nagel, ‘Texture was important in this fragrance; the sharp natural note of ginger is set against the sensation of a baked, crumbly biscuit.’

Notes include ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon, caramel, roasted hazelnuts, tonka bean and vanilla.

Ginger Biscuit opens on my skin with a strong note of aldehydes. You can read more about aldehydes and the role they play in perfumery in the Glossary linked at the very top of the page, but, in a nutshell and the simplest terms, aldehydes smell soapy and/or waxy. Here, both aspects are present, though the soap eventually fades after about ten minutes. In those opening minutes, there is also the smell of warm cookies. There are definite and strong notes of vanilla, followed soon thereafter by a light touch hazelnut. Ginger Biscuit smells essentially just like a cookie or biscuit candle, only about a thousand times milder and lighter.

Unfortunately, soon thereafter, something else becomes much more dominant than hazelnut or sweet cookies. There is now a strong note of alcohol — as in rubbing alcohol. Its sharpness makes me think that the “ginger” component is extremely artificial and synthetic. While you can smell ginger, fleetingly, underneath or around it, the note is much more like disinfectant mixed in with vanilla.

I’m rather horrified. It feels exactly like you’ve gone to the doctor’s office and the nurse has swabbed your arm before taking blood with some antiseptic, except, here, it happens to be cloaked in cheap vanilla. If this is “ginger,” then you can get much more genuine and natural-smelling ginger in some of the pre-packaged jars in your supermarket.

On the barely more positive side, the whole damn perfume is so bloody light and ephemeral, you have to practically douse yourself and wolf at your arm to have much hope of smelling anything detailed. And I’m talking about the very first few minutes here! From a distance of about a foot away, you can smell some extremely generic wafts of vanilla and rubbing alcohol. Further than that, and I wouldn’t count on it for the average spray or two.

After the first twenty minutes, the perfume’s low sillage becomes even less. Then, thankfully, shortly before the second hour, the whole thing dies away entirely. It never changed much beyond the main vanilla and alcohol scent I described above, adding a whole new twist on simple, minimalistic and linear.

Lest it was not clear from this review, I think this is a horribly cheap-smelling, synthetic fragrance. I find it revolting, and I think even Bath & Body Works has better cookie or vanilla “fragrance sprays.” They cost about $14 for 8 oz which is about 7 more ounces than this stuff. For example, one of their vanilla fragrance sprays is Warm Vanilla Sugar. It doesn’t have “ginger” in it but, if we’re using Ms. Nagel’s definition of “ginger,” that’s just as well. I’ve smelled a lot of ginger in a lot of perfumes, and what’s in Ginger Biscuit does not seem at all like real, genuine-smelling, good ginger but, rather, like something concocted in a lab. Warm Vanilla Sugar is hardly the best vanilla cookie scent I’ve tried but it’s extremely affordable, lacks the screechingly sharp disinfectant note, and is a damn sight better than Ginger Biscuit, in my opinion. Plus, the Bath & Body Works fragrances don’t have a soapy undertone in the opening minutes.

I cannot believe Jo Malone is asking $60 for this. And for a miniscule bottle, to boot! Outrageous.

To wipe away the bad taste of cheap chemicals, I suggest watching the wonderful, incredibly fun, bubbly video launched as part of the Jo Malone ad campaign for the “Sugar and Spice” collection. It shows all the makeup and food they used in a “behind the scenes” look. Plus, the classic Adam Ant song is always an incredibly peppy and cheerful way to brighten your day:

Finally, if the perfume isn’t your cup of tea (and I really hope it isn’t), you can always try making the recipe for Stem Ginger Biscuits which can be found at this Daily Mail page.

BITTER ORANGE & CHOCOLATE:

Jo Malone’s website describes Bitter Orange & Chocolate as follows:

The bite of bitter orange, layered with dark chocolate. Orange peel counterpoised with warm, powdery cocoa, milky coconut and coumarin. Sumptuous and addictive.

Basenotes quotes Nagel as saying,

[this fragrance is] very special and unexpected. Orange is a classic raw material for a perfumer so we chose to shake things up with a mix of bitter and sweet orange notes. When combined with the chocolate many interesting qualities began to develop. The chocolate is dark, powdery and creamy but the orange adds energy and bite.

Source: Jo Malone.

Bitter Orange & Chocolate opens with an absolutely gorgeous note of rich orange peel and the darkest of bitter chocolate. The orange is sweet, heady and reminiscent of the Seville oranges used in marmalade, only more slightly sugared. It is mouth-watering, delicious, and a simply lovely, lovely note! The chocolate is simultaneously like the dark slabs used in baking but, after ten minutes, it’s also like hot chocolate.

As time passes, the chocolate note starts to dominate, adding an occasionally dusty cocoa powder appearance to its other two faces. The orange recedes (alas) to the background, popping up in visibility for brief moments here or there, but generally content to let the chocolate take the lead in this dance. I don’t smell any coconut, milky or otherwise. After thirty minutes, there is the vaguest hint of coumarin that starts to pop up. This version of it is sweet and faintly hay-like, but also with vanilla undertones. The coumarin is very subtle, yet it adds an interesting subtext of dryness to counter the sweet overtones. In its final stage, the perfume turns into a sheer veil of powdered chocolate with some coumarin.

The whole thing is very light, sheer and subtle, with minimal projection. You can detect definite whiffs of it in the opening minutes from about half a foot away. Perhaps less. Soon thereafter, you can still smell it if you bring your arm a few inches away from your nose. At the thirty minute mark, you have to put your wrist right under your nose to detect it, and it becomes even more minimal after that. Its duration was much shorter than some of the fragrances in the line: the fragrance died away entirely after about 1.5 hours.

All in all, Bitter Orange & Chocolate was my favorite out of the collection. I say that not only because I have an oft-repeated love for orange notes but, also, because this fragrance lacked some of the serious deficiencies of the others in the line. It was neither too, too sweet, nor too artificial and chemical-smelling. There were no notes of sharp disinfectant, soap, or synthetics. It was lovely and well-balanced. It’s not a particularly complicated scent — but, then, it wasn’t trying to be.

The problem is that $60 is a lot for a fragrance that is both very simple and of very short duration. Bitter Orange & Chocolate lasted around 1.5 hours on me, and was barely detectable for much of that time unless I jammed my arm under my nose. Some people don’t mind re-application of their scents, but a 90-minute benchmark requires a lot of re-spraying! Even if someone has skin that doesn’t go through perfume as quickly as mine, Jo Malone fragrances are NOT known for their longevity as a whole. So, when your $60 bottle is a tiny 1 oz., those constant re-applications will finish things off quickly and makes the perfume a bit more costly than it might otherwise appear.

I read somewhere that Jo Malone representatives suggest layering some of these scents with others from her Tea Fragrance Blends collection. That’s fine, and should help in adding some minor modicum of complexity or depth to some of the scents. The problem is, that Tea collection was from 2011 and is no longer available. But even if it were, or even if you used the current Earl Grey & Cucumber fragrance (which is all that remains available from that collection), perfumes can and should be judged on their own merits. They should not be assessed based on how they smell by buying another $60 bottle to help things along. Besides, I highly doubt that layering would significantly change the duration problem.

Like all the fragrances in the collection, Bitter Orange & Chocolate doesn’t suit my personal style or taste, but it is definitely the one I would recommend the most out of the five. You can find my reviews for the other three fragrances in the collection here.

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Each of the colognes in the range costs $60. There is only one size: a very tiny 30 ml/1 fl. oz. As noted earlier, the set is a limited-edition release, but I have no idea how long “limited-edition” means in the Malone world and when they will be removed. Each fragrance can be purchased directly from the Jo Malone website which also offers free shipping “and the fragrance samples of your choice at checkout.” I don’t know how many samples you can get. You can also find the Sugar & Spice Collection at various stores. For example, here is Bitter Orange & Chocolate at Neiman Marcus (with the other perfumes in the series being listed and linked at the bottom of the page). Bergdorf Goodman also carries the full line. Unfortunately, according to a note on their page, neither Bergdorf nor Neiman Marcus ships to Canada. You can also find the collection at Nordstrom. Bloomingdales carries the whole line, along with some sort of Bonus Offer as well.

If you want to try out samples, you can find them at Surrender to Chance which is where I purchased my set. That set is currently sold out, but you can purchase samples of each individual fragrance starting at $2.99 for the smallest size (1/2 a ml vial). I highly recommend that you sign up for Surrender to Chance’s email and newsletter as they send out their monthly discount codes. If you’re interested in trying out the Malone fragrances (or any perfumes from StC, for that matter), here are the codes for March: 5% off orders with the code: nomoresnow. However, orders over $75 can get 8% off with the code: wewantspring. Shipping for all orders of any size within the US is $2.95. Due to the massive increase in international shipping rates by the US Postal Service, international shipping has gone up everywhere. At Surrender to Chance, it is — alas — now $12.95 for all orders under $150.

Perfume Reviews – Jo Malone “Sugar & Spice” Collection: Redcurrants & Cream, Elderflower & Gooseberry; and Lemon Tart

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Source: Fragrantica

According to Basenotes, the perfumer is Christine Nagel of Mane who “spent time with the Jo Malone Creative Studio eating cake in Fortnum and Masons, Claridges and various other fine cake establishments to familiarise herself with the local sweet treats. The line includes: Redcurrant & Cream, Ginger Biscuit, Lemon Tart, Bitter Orange & Chocolate and Elderflower & Gooseberry.”

Source: Fragrantica

The company has really outdone itself with the campaign for this collection. There is a really fun, bubbly, happy video (see midway down below) featuring Adam Ant’s famous 80s hit, Goody Two Shoes, and also, just in case you missed the food aspects to the collection, the company also released dessert recipes to accompany four of the fragrances. (I couldn’t find one for Bitter Orange & Chocolate.) You can find the compiled list of all of the recipes at The Daily Mail, though I will provide the direct link to the appropriate recipe in each fragrance’s discussion section.

I have samples of all five colognes, and I’ll review three of them — Elderflower & Gooseberry, Lemon Tart, and Redcurrant & Cream — in this post. You can find my review of Ginger Biscuit and Bitter Orange & Chocolate here.

REDCURRANT & CREAM:

The company’s website describes Redcurrant & Cream Cologne as “[a] summer pudding. Sharp-scarlet juices of redcurrants, lush strawberries and raspberries rippling through creamy musk. Vivacious and enticing.”

According to Basenotes,

the fragrance uses a molecular extraction technique, exclusive to Mane, to extract notes from red fruits such as strawberries and raspberries, which cannot be obtained with traditional methods. Nagel likens the technology to a pianist having a piano with some new notes on it (the same technique was used by Mane to create the fig notes for Womanity.)

The perfume smells exactly as described: redcurrants, strawberries, and raspberries with a gentle touch of light musk. It opens with a definite flash of red, as the fruits gently swirl in a gauzy, sheer veil above the skin. It’s sweet but, in the first ten minutes, it also has a minimal, extremely light flash of tartness that ensures it’s not pure saccharine in a bottle. The fact that it’s gossamer light also helps.

Source: Jo Malone via the Daily Mail.

However, that faintly tart edge vanishes after the first thirty minutes, leaving a scent that seems to become even sweeter. By the end, it verges a bit on the cloying side to my nose. I definitely feel as though I’m wearing Strawberries and Cream sponge cake on my arm with a delicate touch of raspberries and a hint of a redcurrant purée.

The sillage on the perfume is very low. In the first hour, you can detect it from half a foot away. Maybe. At best. After that, it becomes even closer to the skin. Its lack of projection is a problem for me, but I have no doubt it will make the scent perfect for those who are normally fragrance-averse. The longevity is equally minimal since it is a cologne and, as such, the very lightest possible version of a fragrance. On my perfume-eating skin, it lasted just a little over 1.5 hours on me.

It’s not a hugely complex scent — but it’s not trying to be. I happen to adore redcurrants, so I think it’s an attractive take on a gourmand fragrance. That said, it’s very sweet. Neither dessert scents nor things with minimal duration are my personal style, so I would never wear Redcurrants & Cream, but I have no doubt it will be a very popular fragrance. The specific recipe launched with this fragrance can be found at this Daily Mail page.

ELDERBERRY & GOOSEBERRY:

Jo Malone’s website describes Elderflower & Gooseberry as follows:

A voluptuous gooseberry fool. Crushed, summer-green gooseberries, juicy with lychee, enfolded into the soft delicacy of elderflower. Tender and feminine.

According to Basenotes, “Nagel says that ‘elderflower and gooseberry are two ingredients that do not exist in perfumery so I had to recreate these notes.'”

Source: The Daily Mail

I’ve never personally smelled an elderflower, so I have no idea how accurate the fragrance is, but Elderflower & Gooseberry opens on me with delicate, soapy floral notes. The colour hue before my eyes is spring green and lavender. It’s definitely “tender and feminine,” with a soft, gauzy, sheer feel. It’s sweet and, unlike Redcurrants & Cream, never has even a faint tartness. The soapy aldehydes dominate the opening hour of the scent, leaving the strong impression of expensive floral soap. To be honest, I don’t like aldehydes, but I can tolerate them if done well. I don’t think this is done well.

The real problem is that something in this scent kept making me want to cough. It hurt and irritated the back of my throat, too, which has never happened to me. Usually, the only bad reaction I have had to fragrances is an extreme tightness at the top of my nose and a headache — sure signs of a fragrance with very synthetic ingredients. But this insistent, incredible irritation and scratchiness in my throat is a new one, and much worse. Given that Nagel says she had to invent the scent of the two main notes, I have no doubt she used some artificial concoction in a lab. This does not smell rich, luxurious or particularly natural. My personal opinion is that $60 is too high for a floral soap scent such as this, but the synthetic aspect to it strengthens that opinion.

As time passes, the perfume changes a little bit, but not by much. There is something that evokes lily-of-the-valley in my mind, with perhaps a touch of iris. There is also a very slight powdery feel underlying the notes. The sweetness lessens and the scent feels much more Spring-like.

Elderflower & Gooseberry is not a gourmand fragrance in my opinion, though it can be quite sweet at the start. It is much more a light Spring floral that starts with soap and ends up as a floral powder. In its final drydown, it has somewhat of a baby powder aspect to it.

The projection and longevity are much like Redcurrants & Cream, though I think Elderflower & Gooseberry is a tad stronger and not as sheer. Elderflower lasted a little over 2 hours on me. I’m not a fan of any part of it, least of all the increased scratchiness and irritation in my throat which remained long after the scent died out.

In an attempt to remain positive, however, I absolutely loved the incredibly fun, bubbly, happy video launched as part of the Jo Malone ad campaign for the “Sugar and Spice” collection. It shows all the makeup and food they used for the photographs. Plus, the classic Adam Ant song is always an incredibly peppy and cheerful way to brighten your day:

Finally, if the perfume isn’t your cup of tea, you can always try making the recipe for Gooseberry & Elderflower Fool. (“Fool” is a type of traditional British dessert.)

LEMON TART:

Source: The Daily Mail.

Jo Malone describes Lemon Tart Cologne as follows:

The mouth-watering tang of lemon tart sparking with citrus fruits and verbena, contrasted with swirls of meringue and lemon thyme. Refreshing.

The perfume is exactly as described. It opens with the fresh, light zesty zing of bright lemons. The tartness of the citrus is accompanied by thyme, not dryly arid or dusty, but, rather, fresh and herbal. The perfume is definitely refreshing in its opening moments with a perfect amount of sweetness just lingering daintily in the background. There is a slight soapy note, too, but it’s never heavy and nothing like the dominant, irritating aldehydes in Elderflower & Gooseberry. (Thank God!)

As time passes, the perfume changes a little. First, the sweetness increases just a tiny bit. There are notes of light vanilla, almost like that in an actual custard, but never as heavy or as rich. The real star of show, however, is the lemon which is perfectly underscored by the lovely verbena undertone.

The arrival of the verbena at the ten minute mark is the second change. Verbena is a type of semi-woody, flowering plant that has a very lemony aroma. Here, it adds a slightly floral aspect like that of lemon flowers. When the verbena is combined with the vaguely woody herbaceousness of the thyme, it ensures a perfect balance in the notes. They also serve to make this a much less of a foodie, dessert fragrance than something like Redcurrant & Cream.

Unfortunately, as time passes, much of that zesty lemon freshness fades. The soapy notes overtake the zing and brightness. Lemon Tart turns into a predominantly soapy scent with some thyme and a touch of lemon. There is a very light undercurrent of some artificial white musk. It’s light, but to my nose, it’s evident and feels somewhat synthetic. It’s not terrible, especially if you like soap with a whisper of musk underneath, but I much preferred that sparkling, bright, refreshing opening with its definite ZING.

Lemon Tart is a versatile scent for all seasons, in my opinion. It’s feminine, but also very unisex. Lemon verbena is an old classique in men’s cologne, so I definitely think a man could easily wear the sweetened, creamy version of it. The sillage and longevity of Lemon Tart were on par with the others, though I’d put this one somewhere in the middle of the two prior fragrances in terms of sillage. It projects a touch more than the super light Redcurrant, but a wee bit less than Elderflower. Like Elderflower, it also lasted around two hours on me. (By the way, the recipe released to accompany the fragrance is “Lemon Curd Meringue Tarts” and can be found at The Daily Mail.)

Like all the fragrances in the collection, Lemon Tart doesn’t suit my personal style or taste, but I have no doubt it will be popular with those who like light, airy, minimalistic and sweet scents. Just don’t expect any complexity; these are simple, one-dimensional, and linear fragrances. Given that fact, they’re not exactly giving it away at $60, especially for a mere 1 oz. Compare that to, for example, the fabulous Mitzah from Dior which I just reviewed (and succumbed to a full bottle purchase). That is $155 for 4.25 oz — or $36 an ounce! (Even less, at $27 an ounce, if you buy the large bottle.)

Personally, Lemon Tart is the one that I would recommend the most out of the three that I’ve tried thus far, with Bitter Orange & Chocolate being my favorite as a whole. I would not recommend Elderflower & Gooseberry at all. It’s not because of the soapiness nor even because of the baby powder finish. After all, some people like that. No, I wouldn’t recommend it simply because of how synthetic it smells. Plus, if it irritated my throat (when I’m rarely sensitive to perfumes), then I wouldn’t be surprised if it bothered someone much, much more sensitive to fragrance.

You can find my review for the other two, remaining fragrances in the collection — Bitter Orange & Chocolate and Ginger Biscuit — here.

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Each of the colognes in the range costs $60. There is only one size: a very small 30 ml/1 fl. oz. As noted earlier, the set is a limited-edition release, but I have no idea how long “limited-edition” means in the Malone world and when they will be removed. Each fragrance can be purchased directly from the Jo Malone website which also offers free shipping “and the fragrance samples of your choice at checkout.” I don’t know how many samples you can get. You can also find the Sugar & Spice Collection at various stores. For example, here is Lemon Tart at Neiman Marcus (with the other perfumes in the series being listed and linked at the bottom of the page). Bergdorf Goodman also carries the full line. Unfortunately, according to a note on their page, neither Bergdorf nor Neiman Marcus ships to Canada. You can also find the collection at Nordstrom. Finally, Bloomingdales carries the whole line, along with some sort of Bonus Offer as well.

If you want to try out samples, you can find them at Surrender to Chance which is where I purchased my set. That set is currently sold out, but you can purchase samples of each individual fragrance starting at $2.99 for the smallest size (1/2 a ml vial). I highly recommend that you sign up for Surrender to Chance’s email and newsletter as they send out their monthly discount codes. If you’re interested in trying out the Malone fragrances (or any perfumes from StC, for that matter), here are the codes for March: 5% off orders with the code: nomoresnow. However, orders over $75 can get 8% off with the code: wewantspring. Shipping for all orders of any size within the US is $2.95. Due to the massive increase in international shipping rates by the US Postal Service, international shipping has gone up everywhere. At Surrender to Chance, it is now (alas) $12.95 for all orders under $150.

Perfume Review: M. Micallef Royal Vintage Eau de Parfum

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Vintage Aston Martins, luxurious leather, and Cary Grant…. that is the mental image I had in my mind when I first saw the ads for the brand new, just-released Royal Vintage from the French luxury house, M. Micallef. Unfortunately, that is not quite what I experienced when I tried this sometimes perplexing leather fragrance for men.

On its website, M. Micallef describes the perfume as follows:.

ROYAL VINTAGE is a very subtle fragrance: opening on tonic scents of pink berries and bergamot, the assertive notes of cypress and leather are lightened by the patchouly and musk notes. Timeless and elegant. […] ROYAL VINTAGE is a perfume for men with timeless, sophisticated elegance.

The perfume opens with pink pepper and citrus in a way that evokes very classique, old-fashioned men’s colognes and barber shops. The citrus from the bergamot is not like Earl Grey (something bergamot is often associated with) but, rather, like crisp, light, fresh lemon. It calls to mind very classic aromatic fougères and colognes with their lemony start. Under the veil of the pepper and the lemon, there is the faintest hint of woody notes but it is far from predominant at this stage.

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow interior.
Source: Wedcars.

Less than three minutes in, the leather emerges. It smells soft and supple at first and, then, increasingly, like a very, very expensive, new car interior. It’s lovely but, as time goes on, it takes on a sour, almost metallic undertone that was quite surprising. One of the very few reviews already out for Royal Vintage is from the perfume blog, Sensate, which wrote:

The pepper note is very strong at first. It mixed with the bergamot and a woody note to create something resembling Old Spice. It’s a bit urinous too, which is a nice addition.

I was really surprised when I read that comment prior to testing Royal Vintage, but I think Sensate is absolutely correct on all of it. There is a faintly retro call-back to such scents as Old Spice and the sour undertone to the leather does smell a bit “urinous.” The latter soon fades, however, and what is left is a very cold, smoky, peppery leather with an undertone of citrus. I wrote in my notes how the combination seemed very masculine and how it would probably be extremely sexy on a man. But then, something else occurred.

About fifteen minutes in, Royal Vintage takes on an incredibly strong smell of old cigarettes and ashtrays. I blame it mostly on the combination of the pepper — which seems far stronger, blacker, smokier, and more biting than any mere “pink” peppercorn — in conjunction with the cypress. A professional wood-workers site describes the latter as follows:

Cypress trees have a distinctive odor when cut. Some describe the odor as earthy; others say it smells like cedar and a few references call the odor sour.

Others, however, find the aroma to be slightly smoky as well. Here, I suspect that the combination of the biting, smoky pepper, the cypress and the leather has resulted in something that is really a bit unpleasant for me. It’s as though a man dabbled on a very classique, fresh, aromatic, citrus fragrance and then went to work for 14 hours in a very smoky nightclub. Let me be clear, the ashtray note is quite different than the smoky pepper note. They are both present, but there is no doubt that what was wafting from my arm included the smell of stale cigarettes. I was so surprised by the strength of the note that I tried Royal Vintage on twice. The second time, I put on much less than my usual amount. And, still, I smelled stale ashtrays, though it was just slightly more subtle, more hidden by the citrus, and not quite so overwhelming.

At the one hour mark, Royal Vintage is still predominantly biting black pepper, smoke, ashtrays, and citrus on a base of soft leather. To my relief, the ashtray note is significantly less pronounced at this time, and eventually fades away entirely, leaving just the smoky note from the pepper and woods. The citrus note is occasionally a little closer to bergamot, though still never Earl Grey bergamot. As for the leather, I noticed that, at my first try with the higher dose of perfume, the leather was much colder than it was the second time around when I put on much less. To be precise, it retained the “new car” aspects of leather for much longer at a higher dose than the second time around when it seemed much sweeter, warmer and akin to buttery suede. I suspect it all depends on how much the black pepper and cypress notes dominate.

As time progresses, the notes remained fundamentally the same with the smoky pepper becoming much more manageable with every hour. The leather is soft and tame, underpinned by the sweetness of the musk note which starts to rise to the surface. Then, suddenly, at the three-hour mark, patchouli bursts onto the scene. It’s such an abrupt arrival, it’s quite astonishing — as is the fact that Royal Vintage suddenly becomes another perfume entirely. It’s now all sweet patchouli, soft musk, and suede with green, fresh bergamot. The perfume remains that way for another two hours before fading away entirely. All in all, Royal Vintage lasted around six hours on me. It was always a relatively discreet scent with average-to-low sillage and never loud, though it became very close to the skin around the third hour.

I can’t make up my mind if Royal Vintage is a very retro fragrance or not. Cigarette and ashtray notes are old, classique elements that were first introduced around the early 1900s. Perfumers intentionally sought to replicate some of those accords so that more avant-garde women who had picked up the new fad of smoking as part of their new, liberated or progressive lifestyle could disguise their habit. Hence, scents like Habanita from Molinard. The most famous, of course, is the legendary, fabled Tabac Blond (in vintage version) from the famous house of Caron which is beloved in part because of the leathery-cigarette aspects. But with modern society’s disdain for smoking and our recognition of its dangerous effects, cigarette notes are much less common nowadays than they used to be. Tobacco leaves, yes; cigarettes, no. Etat Libre d’Orange paid homage to the old classics with its Jasmine et Cigarette, but that is a perfume house which seeks to be different on purpose.

All in all, I don’t think Royal Vintage is a very old (or old-time) vintage scent, but its underpinnings can’t be ignored. I think how you interpret it may depend on how well you know (and like) the classics. I find the citrus cologne opening and the cigarette element to be a definite retro touch. And, to be honest, I wasn’t keen on the latter.

And yet, there is undeniable elegance to the perfume, especially in its final stage. For some reason that I cannot explain, it brings to mind Humphrey Bogart for me. He was one of the quieter of the masculine, old Hollywood stars. He wasn’t smooth, blatantly good-looking, or rugged (like Cary Grant or Clark Gable, respectively), but he had a quiet masculinity with a deep, underlying toughness. I always think of him in a leather jacket, too, though his trench-coated Casablanca persona is often more well-known.

Are you a fan of leather perfumes? Have you tried anything that called to mind cigarettes and ashtrays? And will that make you hesitate to try Royal Vintage?

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Royal Vintage will be officially released at the beginning of February 2013, but I do not know the exact date. It is currently available on the Parfums M. Micallef website where it comes in a 1 oz/30 ml size or in a 3.4 oz/100 ml size. I think the larger size costs $185. To be completely honest, I have no idea how to navigate the company’s eternally confusing website (which also moves up and down in an extremely annoying, jittery way) in order to find the prices there. Thankfully, you can buy Royal Vintage at Luckyscent (currently “available for pre-order” with January 31st given as the shipping date), Parfum1, and Parfumerie Nasreen. The sites only offer the larger 3.4 oz/100 ml bottle which retails for $185. According to the Perfume Shrine, quoting from the press release, the UK price for the perfume will be 76 € for a 30ml/ 1oz bottle and 175 € for the 100 ml/3.4 oz size. Outside the U.S., I’ve read that M. Micallef is carried at first-in-fragrance in Germany and fortnumandmason in the UK. If you want to try a sample of the fragrance, you can do so at both Parfum1 and Lucky Scent at the links listed above. LuckyScent sells a 0.7ml vial for $4. I obtained my vial from Parfum1, via eBay, where a 1.2 ml sample is still available for purchase for $4.50 with $2.95 shipping.