Perfume Reviews: Library of Flowers Linden & Arboretum

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Kafkaesque

It all started as somewhat of a dream when I, sleep-deprived from insomnia, decided to order some perfume samples at 4:27 a.m. upon email notice of a Flash Sale from Surrender to Chance. I wanted some floral scents to counterbalance the blog’s heavy focus on ambers, orientals, and woody fragrances. And I actually thought I was ordering another brand entirely — April Aromatics — which just goes to show you how little sleep I sometimes get. What started as a dazed dream ended up as a bit of a nightmare.

Source: The Perfumed Court.

Library of Flowers is the latest perfume house from Margot Elena, who also founded and owns Tokyo Milk and Lollia. The new brand focuses entirely on flowers, and is described as “American small batch perfumery” that has been “carefully crafted to create memorable journeys through sight and scent… [M]oments are captured in artful perfumes waiting to be released upon happy whim. The perfect pick me up to nourish the senses and inspire the gardens of the imagination.” It turns out that the line even got a small feature in the April 2013 issue of Oprah’s O Magazine. I ordered Linden and Arboretum — and one of them was absolute, unmitigated hell.

LINDEN:

Library of Flowers Linden.

Each Library of Fragrance perfume features a single top, middle and base note, and is an eau de parfum. Thus, for Linden, the notes are:

Top: Linden Blossom Middle: Narcissus Bottom: Clover Honey.

Linden blossom is sometimes called Lime Blossom, and comes from the Tillia tree. It has a sweet, bright, floral aroma that is infused with honey notes. I love honey in fragrances, so I was quite looking forward to Linden, ordering mistake notwithstanding.

Linden blossom. Source: www.selfsufficientish.com

Linden opens on my skin with airy, green, floral notes like magnolia and sweet honeysuckle combined, lightly sprinkled with honey and with a whisper of soapiness lurking underneath. The smell feels almost clear as a bell, except that there is an unusual fuzzy feeling around the edges. It almost feels like light, springy, fluffy, floral-infused cotton balls. The sweet coziness of the scent kept conjuring up images of those extraordinarily fluffy, plush, white, bathrobes you get at very expensive hotels, and which have a very clean, lightly soapy, floral aroma. As the moments progress, the whiff of soft cotton grows stronger underlying that billowy, airy, clear, clean, fresh, softly floral bouquet. I didn’t quite know what to make of it. True, there are faintly floral notes as well; there is a daffodil (narcissus) element that emerges briefly, but it smells more laundry-like than anything you’d smell in a field or florist shop.

Bounce fabric softener and anti-lint dryer sheets.

Then, exactly twelve minutes later, BOOM! Chemical, synthetic notes take over, screeching out exactly like Bounce fabric softener sheets for the dryer. It feels as though I’ve cloaked my entire arm with soapy, clean, white musk and chemicals, right down to Bounce’s underlying chemical florals. It’s unbearably hideous for someone like myself who finds the words “soapy, fresh and clean” — let alone “Bounce fabric softener sheets” — to be expletives in perfumery. And, actually, expletives were abounding out of my mouth as Linden progressed unchanged (and with initially powerful projection) to remain as the very pinnacle of chemical, laundry detergent artificiality for the next seven hours. Terrible, really terrible.

Shortly before the eighth hour, Linden suddenly decides to shift a little. The Bounce accord recedes, somewhat (it’s all relative), and the perfume manifest a strong honey note atop more individually distinct floral notes. Instead of amorphous, abstract, chemical florals, there is now a clear element of sweet honeysuckle mixed in with creamy magnolia. Lindn is still primarily a clean, fresh, white musk fragrance, though it is now, thankfully, a skin scent. Despite that sudden breakthrough, Linden eventually returns to being nothing more than a fresh, white, floral musk — abstract, chemical, and wholly artificial. It finally dies away 10.25 hours later. Words cannot express my utter disgust with the whole thing.

ARBORETUM:

Arboretum with box.

Arboretum is an eau de parfum, and its notes are simple:

Green cardamom, ylang ylang, and amber resin.

Arboretum opens on my skin with green, floral notes infused by honey. There is a fresh, light, almost fruited cardamom that feels as though it is still a green pod on a tree, instead of dried and concentrated. The floral notes are interesting because, to my nose, they resemble white lilies — stargazer lilies, to be exact — more than anything close to ylang-ylang with its buttery, sometimes banana-like, custardy richness. The note is fresh, green, airy and crisp. Arboretum’s base is flecked by light dashes of sweet vanilla which feels quietly muted and somewhat synthetic, though nothing close to the horrifying degree of Linden. Twenty minutes in, Arboretum starts to gain some fresh, clean, white, synthetic musk accords in its base, but the primary bouquet is still of airy, green lilies. The sillage is decent at first, but quickly becomes much softer.

Ylang-ylang

Arboretum doesn’t change enormously for the first half of its life. By the middle of the third hour, it is a soft, white, floral musk with a tinge of soapy lilies underlying it, and very much a skin scent. Around the start of the sixth hour, however, Arboretum suddenly takes on amber hues, and the ylang-ylang makes a strong appearance. The fragrance is now a buttery, custardy, soft, velvety, slightly banana-like, ylang-ylang floral atop soapy amber and light musk. Arboretum no longers feels so crisply airy and green, but, rather, warm and very much like a silky, golden gauze. The fragrance continues to soften until, finally, around the middle of the eighth hour, it is merely a soft, abstract floral note tinged by a vague sense of something ambered.

As a whole, Arboretum was a pleasant scent, though I don’t know how much of my assessment is relative to the sheer horror that was Linden. Arboretum certainly never felt close to the painfully synthetic, cheap, and artificial qualities of its sibling. I somewhat enjoyed the lily parts, and I thought the green cardamom aspect was quite interesting. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, greenishly airy, white floral fragrance that eventually becomes slightly richer, warmer and more ambered towards the end, I suppose you could do a lot worse. But, under no circumstances, would I recommend Linden. Save yourself $54, and just take a few dryer sheets to scrub up and down your arm instead.

DETAILS:

LINDEN Cost & Availability: Linden is an eau de parfum that is available in 1.7 oz/50 ml bottles for $54 or as 70.8 g solid perfume for $21. It can be purchased directly from the Library of Flowers website (which also offers a variety of accompanying products like bath gel, handcream and a Linden candle) and which offers free domestic shipping on all orders over $75. For International shipping, call the company at t 1-888-896-6398 for details. You can also purchase Linden perfume from Beautyhabit which ships overseas. Samples: You can find Linden at Surrender to Chance where prices start at $2.99 for a 1 ml vial or at The Perfumed Court where prices start at $2.95.

ARBORETUM Cost & Availability: Arborteum is an eau de parfum that is available in 1.7 oz/50 ml bottles for $54 or as 70.8 g solid perfume for $21. It can be purchased directly from the Library of Flowers website (which also offers a variety of accompanying products like bath gel, handcream and a candle). You can also purchase Arboretum perfume from Beautyhabit. Samples: You can find Arboretum at Surrender to Chance where prices start at $2.99 for a 1 ml vial, or at The Perfumed Court. Both sites offer sampler sets of the whole Library of Flowers line should you be so interested.

Perfume Review: Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris by Prada (Limited Edition)

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Man cannot live solely on oriental perfumes, though clearly I do my best to try. Still, I recently decided to test Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris, the new flanker fragrance from Prada. The extremely wordy “Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris” (which I shall call just simply, “L’Eau d’Iris“) is a limited-edition eau de toilette which was released in March 2013 and which seems to be exclusive to a particular retailer in each country. For example, in the U.S., it is Macy’s department store; in Canada, it seems to be Holt Renfrew.

L’Eau d’Iris is a light-weight summer fragrance that follows on the heels of Prada’s original, 2007 hit, Infusion d’Iris. There have been a few other flankers since then, and you can read about the various versions from the men’s fragrance to the Eau Absolue (with photos of the differences in packaging or bottles) at The Perfume Shrine. Like all its siblings, L’Eau d’Iris was created by the perfumer, Daniela Roche Andrier (of Givaudan) and, according to Fragrantica, was “inspired by spring flowers and the fusing of iris and laurel in the gardens of Tuscany.” Its notes include:

Top notes: Moroccan mint, Tunisian neroli.

Heart: pink laurel bay, iris, rose, lily of the valley, orange blossom.

Base: white musk, woody notes, vanilla.

I have absolutely no idea what “pink laurel bay” smells like, and it wasn’t easy to research amidst all the references to regular bay leaves, but “laurel bay” appears to have an almond-like, powdery aroma. And, in truth, that is a large part of this very fresh, clean fragrance.

Source: Wallpaperban.com

L’Eau d’Iris opens on my skin with a citrus note that has a faintly soapy edge, followed by white musk and hints of powdery iris. A muted touch of rose lurks around the edges, but, like everything else to do with L’Eau d’Iris, it is soft and light. Less than five minutes into the perfume’s development, the iris takes over, the citrus element fades away, and an almond note rises to the surface. It is a little powdery and smells very much like heliotrope, a note often mixed with iris to create a lightly powdered, floral aroma. As many of you know, the smell of an iris can’t be extracted from the petals, so the scent is often recreated through distillation of its root, as well as through the addition of other elements. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what “iris” smells like, the note has often been compared to boiled carrots, lipstick, or powdery violets. Sometimes, the smell is slightly rooty, if there is a lot of orris root used in the fragrance, but generally it’s a rather cool, floral note. Here, in L’Eau d’Iris, the aroma is powdery, floral, and a little like that of sweet, boiled carrots.

Lily of the Valley, or Muguet.

Thirty minutes into the perfume’s development, L’Eau d’Iris shifts a little. For one thing, it becomes a complete skin scent that is much harder to detect. For another, the light, green, lily of the valley note and the whisper of rose that lurked at the perfume’s edges become even more muted. Taking their place is vanilla and almonds. The vanilla note starts off being light, thin and subtle, but it soon grows stronger and combines with the laurel leaf’s almond essence to create L’Eau d’Iris’ second most dominant accord.

Other elements start to become noticeable. From the start, there was a light alcohol element lurking at the edges of the fragrance. Midway during the second hour, it grows into something chemical and synthetic that really bothered me and gave me a slight headache. I can’t pinpoint if it stems from the white musk (which is always a synthetic ingredient), or from something else. In addition, the powder takes on a sour nuance that I found unpleasant. The second hour also saw the emergence of an amorphous, vague “woody” undertone that was very beige and slightly synthetic. It makes the iris note feel a little more rooty and dry, less purely floral; it also helps to cut through the vanilla and almond.

Source: 123rf.com

As a whole, L’Eau d’Iris was primarily a simple fragrance of powdered iris, vanilla, and clean musk. There are tiny flickers of muguet (or lily of the valley) that lurk in the background, but they are always very subtle. Equally subtle is the light soapiness underlying the scent; it’s almost more of an indirect thing that simply adds to the overall impression of a fresh, clean scent. In its final moments, L’Eau d’Iris was a sheer, abstract, lightly powdered, floral, iris fragrance with a subtle carrot-like nuance, soapy musk, and the merest suggestion of woodiness. At no time did I smell mint, orange blossom, or neroli. On occasion, the fragrance did evoke the scent of makeup powder. All in all, L’Eau d’Iris lasted just short of 5.5 hours on my skin, with moderate sillage at first that quickly dropped even further to become a virtual veil on the skin. At times, it was extremely hard to detect in its sheerness and lightness. I realise that L’Eau d’Iris is meant to be a light “eau” version of an eau de toilette, but I’m not the only one who thought the scent was extremely weak.

Take, for example, the review from Makeup Stash which is the only in-depth assessment that I could find for L’Eau d’Iris. The blogger described the scent as “fleeting,” and seemed singularly unimpressed with the perfume as a whole. (I share her feelings.) The review reads, in part, as follows:

The pink laurel carries an almond hint, while the iris is clearly powdery-floral. […][¶] Pleasantly powdery with a high floral note, I could barely discern the mint of Morocco (meant to illuminate the composition) whose faint whiff edges the scent. When I first learnt of this fragrance, I was intrigued and pleased by the unusual inclusion of the mint. I’d expected its presence to be more apparently – intrusive, even – so the barely-there nature was a bit of a disappointment. Still, it’s nice to have this lively sprinkle.

Unfortunately, the scent disappears very quickly. In this aspect, it surely lives up to its ephemeral inspiration. While it is an agreeable scent and very likely a crowd-pleaser, it is more fleeting than I’d expected it to be. The brand depicts it as being ‘transient yet unforgettable’ but the latter part is hard to live up to, if the fragrance doesn’t last long enough for me to grasp its essence. In my many days of using it, it’s still hovering on the periphery of memorable. Perhaps a scent memory moment will hit me one day and it’ll finally be of recollective substance.

I didn’t smell mint at all, but I completely agree on the gist of her review: L’Eau d’Iris has a pleasant, transient and wholly forgettable nature.

On Fragrantica, in contrast, there is quite a bit of love for L’Eau d’Iris. And, in fact, a lot of people detected the mint note, with one commentator writing: “This is too boring. It’s fresh, sweet and minty. The most dominant notes are iris and mint.” There seems to be a split on another issue, namely the soapiness. One person called L’Eau d’Iris “the soapiest perfume I have ever smelled,” though she loved it. Another said it was not as soapy or dry as the original, Infusion d’Iris, but more floral and green. One couldn’t stand the sour baby powder note that she detected, while another loved all the powder. But no-one talked about orange blossoms or neroli. I have to say, I have a loathing of extremely soapy fragrances, but I thought the note was quite manageable in L’Eau d’Iris. I struggled much more with the synthetic white musk.

All in all, I think that L’Eau d’Iris is a perfume that will appeal to those who like light, fresh, clean, soft, powdery, soapy florals of an extremely unobtrusive nature. It is the furthest thing from my personal cup of tea, but then I’m not one for iris scents in general, let alone something like this. However, if I were to put myself in the shoes of someone who likes these sorts of fragrances, I would probably write a review like that of the Fragrantica commentator, “Vintage_Scent“:

This is my new Spring in a bottle! It is soft pastels and delicate pink petals all riding on a fluffy, powdery cloud! The iris is just as beautiful as ever, but it is definately a light-as-a-feather soft pastel iris. […] The mint is light, but it is always there, all the way through the drydown, which is simply sublime. The drydown is probably my favorite part. It is so soft and angelic, like angels’s wings. […] I must say that midway through this perfume has to be the soapiest perfume I have ever smelled…then the lovliest iris blooms at the end in the most romantic way. Beautiful.

I can completely see how someone who adores fresh, clean, soft florals might view the fragrance that way. At the same time, I have to caution those who may not be a fan of powdery fragrances, especially as the note turned a little sour on someone other than myself. And if you’re looking for a perfume with sillage, forget about it!

I’m trying to be fair to L’Eau d’Iris, but I really don’t think it’s particularly special or noteworthy. However, if you love Prada’s hugely popular original, Infusion d’Iris, or if you love powdery, clean scents in general, then it is probably worth a sniff.

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris is a Limited Edition Eau de Toilette. It is only available in 3.4 oz/100 ml. In the U.S.: the fragrance is exclusive to Macy’s where it retails for $77. Macy’s has free domestic shipping on orders over $50. Nowhere else will sell this particular, limited-edition flanker — not Nordstrom, not Sephora, not Neiman Marcus. Also, I don’t know for how long this perfume will be available, or whether it will be common to all Macy’s brick-and-mortar stores. Outside the U.S.: In Canada, I’ve read that the perfume is available at Holt Renfrew. For other countries, I honestly have no clue where L’Eau d’Iris may be sold. It seems to be exclusive to one retailer in each country. Oddly, I don’t see it listed even on Prada’s own website. It has to be available in Prada boutiques, however, so you may want to check the Store Locator guide on the company’s website or to call one of their stores near you. Samples: The Perfumed Court sells samples starting at $3 for a 1 ml vial.

Perfume Review – Le Labo Lys 41: Dancing Floral Princesses

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Kafkaesque

Source: www.chcrossstitch.com

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there were three princesses who tiptoed out in secret every night to dance until dawn. Lily was the eldest and dominant sister. She wore a white dress but her green and red hair reflected her spicy nature. Then came the young twins, Tuberose and Jasmine: Tuberose was tall, elegant, also dressed in white, but had mint and black hair to reflect her slightly smoky, mentholated, chilly scent; Jasmine was short, round and sweet, bedecked in floaty, gauzy, white and yellow velvet.

Source: Tumblr

Every night, they were secretly escorted to the shores of a magical tropical island by a boatman called Vanilla. He was a husky, swarthy brute of a man who smelled faintly of the buttery coconut that he’d picked up in his travels to Tahiti. He could be domineering, speaking as loudly as the sisters, but he could also be extremely soft. It all depended on his mood, as he watched the sisters dance the night away. They looked like petals floating in the wind, leaping with airy and light footsteps until they were a blur of white. Though they started on a powerful, strong note, they soon tired and their steps softened until they faded away in muted exhaustion. Sometimes, they danced for 4 hours, sometimes for 6. It all depended on how much of the magic potion they had drunk — but they were always a force of femininity, representing both delicacy and full-blown diva power. The boatman had a name for them: Lys 41.

Source: Basenotes.

Lys 41 is one of three new scents released last month, in May 2013, by Le Labo. Two of them — Lys 41 and Ylang 49 — will join the permanent collection and won’t be exclusive to any one city. If you’re new to Le Labo, it is a niche perfume house who hand blends your perfume for you at the time of purchase and who uses numbers in the name of their scents to reference the amount of ingredients in that perfume. So, the eau de parfum, Lys 41, purportedly has 41 notes. As with all their fragrances, the name may not actually correlate to what the perfume smells like. Now Smell This explains more:

In each case, the number in the fragrance name refers to the number of notes that make up the scent’s composition, and the name is taken from the ingredient in the highest concentration; to take one example, Jasmin 17 has 17 ingredients, with jasmine being in the highest concentration. The names are thus not necessarily related to what the fragrance is meant to smell like.

Lys 41 was created by Daphne Bugey and, out of the 41 notes, the only ones we know about are:

Lily, jasmine, tuberose absolute, tiare, warm woody notes, vanilla madagascar and musks.

Source: Jwallpapers.com

Lys 41 opens on my skin as a stunningly beautiful, completely diva-like, big white floral that is surprisingly delicate and a touch green as well. Like the oldest princess in charge in my version of the Grimm fairytale, it’s all about the lily as the dominant note in those opening minutes. She’s fresh, airy, slightly green, very diaphanous and endlessly white. She is trailed by her two white sisters, but the shock comes when the boatman — Vanilla — muscles his way past them to dance with Lily.

Tiare. Source: Kootation.com

He’s a big, brash, bold, hearty fellow who appears almost butch in comparison to his dainty companions. I have to admit, I am very finicky about my vanilla; I like it in a benzoin form or as a light, subtle touch, but almost never as true vanilla-vanilla. And I certainly don’t like it to be so buttery that it takes on an almost coconut-like tropical hue. Which is what our burly boatman does in this story, thanks to the indirect effect of the tiaré flower. As Fragrantica explains, tiaré is a type of Tahitian gardenia with a tropical aroma that “often reminds us of suntan lotion in perfumes due to its frequent use in such products; monoi essence is made by macerating tiara in coconut oil.” For me, the beauty of Lys 41 lies in its white-green notes, not in its more tropical, buttery, coconut undertones. And, yet, the boatman called Vanilla is an odd one. At times, he is so subtle and soft, he’s absolutely perfect. The whiff of tiaré’s coconut vanishes, and Lys 41 becomes a perfect dance of just the three sisters with him providing only a delicate support in the background. Frankly, I wish he (and the bloody tiaré he’s infused with) would stay there and stop joining the others, but he doesn’t. Back and forth, the vanilla note in Lys 41 changes character.

Tuberose. Source: Fragrantica.de

Lily may be the head princess, but the other florals certainly dance alongside her. Ten minutes into Lys 41’s development, Jasmine starts to be a little less shy. Her appearance, in conjunction with her twin, Tuberose, inevitably brings to mind Gardenia as a lost sister in this dance. True gardenia, and not the Tahitian version called Tiaré. Yet, the whiff or visual of gardenia is just a subtle mental flicker. The more interesting thing is the tuberose which starts to take on a subtle camphorous note. In concentrated or absolute form, as it is here, tuberose can have mentholated aspects as it did in Serge Lutens‘ famous Tubereuse Criminelle. Lys 41, however, has none of the gasoline, rubbery, almost black, tarry, asphalt qualities of the Lutens fragrance. Instead, the note feels more chilly and, increasingly, a little bit smoky.

The combination of notes is a marvel of white, a blur as softly airy, diaphanous and delicate as a prima ballerina’s white skirts. In fact, it is really hard not to think of a row of dancing ballerinas when you wear Lys 41. Yes, on some levels, it is a powerhouse white floral and, yet, it isn’t indolic, over-ripe, over-blown and languidly extreme. The green and spicy nuances to the lily prevent the indoles from feeling over the top. Lys 41 is like Fracas in its white intensity, but it’s a surprisingly airy perfume. The best description of it comes from Luckyscent who writes:

While this is definitely not light in the sense of being understated, it is light in the sense of being airy and buoyant. It is an expansive airiness – a large billowy cloud of something weightless: rows and rows of ballerinas spinning in tutus, hundreds of white butterflies being released into the air, an impossibly long chiffon veil floating in the wind.

Absolutely brilliant and right on the nose! (And, see, they thought of ballerinas, too! I’m telling you, this perfume evokes the entire ballet corps of Swan Lake leaping in the air!)

Isabel Munoz dancing. Photo: Le Ballet Nacional de Cuba

Lys 41 remains essentially unchanged for the first two hours. There was, on my first test, a growing note of pepperiness underlying the notes that didn’t feel like ISO E Super (which Le Labo apparently loves to use) because it wasn’t antiseptic or medicinal. Instead, it was just simple “pepperiness.” Yet, I got such a raging migraine, I felt as though someone had taken a cleaver to my head. Oddly enough, during my second test, I actually applied a greater quantity of Lys 41 and… no headache. There also was no pepper nuance that time, but simply the chilly, almost peppermint-y smokiness from the tuberose absolute. I have no explanation.

Regardless, Lys 41’s gorgeous floral bouquet remains unchanged until the start of the third hour when the perfume turns into abstract. Lys 41 is now a skin scent and none of the three dancing sisters is distinguishable in an individual capacity. Rather, they are a blur of soft, delicate white. There is also the perfect touch of vanilla: sheer and evoking the subtle sweetness of a vanilla mousse. The tiaré-coconut and mentholated notes have vanished, and taking their place is a subtle muskiness with a hint of creamy, beige woods. In its final moments, Lys 41 is nothing more than a delicately abstract, nebulous, floral muskiness with a tinge of light soapiness.

I was a little surprised by Lys 41’s longevity. For one thing, Lys 41 is concentrated at 25% perfume oil such that it is really a pure parfum or extrait de parfum in strength. For another, I had read on CaFleureBon that the perfume had “overnight longevity.” Yet, in my first test, Lys 41 lasted a mere 4.5 hours. I was so astonished, I tried it again, applying double the amount of the perfume. This time, the longevity clocked in at 6.5 hours. At least 3.5 hours of that time was spent as a complete skin scent. In my first test, out of the 4.5 hours, 2.5 of them were right on the skin. So, in my opinion, the perfume’s overall sillage is moderate to low, as is the longevity. Yet, in the first 30 minutes, Lys 41 definitely creates a lovely, small cloud around one, wafting about 3 inches above the skin.

One of the best reviews for Lys 41 comes from CaFleureBon, which is the only site I’ve seen thus far to discuss the very subtle, mentholated, smoky note that I detected:

So often with the name of a Le Labo fragrance it is sort of a feint as the note in the name is not the focal point. That is not the case with Lys 41 which perhaps should be written LYS 41 to be completely accurate. The lily is a big old white floral diva in Lys 41 like she knows it’s her name on the label. Perfumer Daphne Bugey creates a ginormous white flower fragrance which at 25% perfume oil concentration is at extrait strength. Often when something is at this concentration it sort of smokes and smolders on the skin. Lys 41 shakes her moneymaker right in front of your nose. The great green floral quality of lily draws you in and quickly it is surrounded with indolic jasmine, tuberose absolute, and tiare. The lily is the lead singer while jasmine adds a bit of low harmony, and tiare the high notes. The tuberose in the form of the absolute adds that camphoraceous quality the best tuberose has in high concentration and that is alto to lily’s contralto. The base is a foundation of woods, vanilla, and musk which you won’t notice for hours after you have this on. The white flowers are in charge and they won’t get off the stage without a fight. I haven’t enjoyed a busty powerhouse white floral like Lys 41 in a long time but this is going to be a summer staple for me.

The Non-Blonde has a very amusing review in which she recounts several people’s experiences with the fragrance, from herself to her friend, husband and brother-in-law. It may be useful for the various comparisons based on skin chemistry and, also, for how men feel about the scent:

It was an unexpected love since I’m not a lily person. I don’t wear Un Lys (Lutens) or Lys Méditerranée (Malle)… but something about Lys 41, the new fragrance from Le Labo, seems to work incredibly well and to gain the approval of friends and husbands, though not everyone liked it on themselves, and my sweet brother-in-law was not amused.

If you ask me, it’s the tuberose. While Lys 41 is chock-full of white flowers, my skin amplifies tuberose and the warm facets of the musky dry-down. The husband found it very sensual and nicely sweetened. On me, that is. His own skin took the jasmine note and shot it to high heaven. However, not even five minutes after spraying the sharp green screech was gone and the orchidy vanilla and fuzzy musk took over. I definitely want to keep smelling Lys 41 on him, and the husband himself doesn’t object, though he says it’s not really his kind of thing. […][¶]

In any case, Le Labo’s newest white floral is lovely. There’s something in the base of both Lys 41 and Ylang 49 that seems to embrace my skin and wrap it in a mohair-like warmth. I love the light twist into vanilla territory in the dry-down which lasts for long hours and projects nicely. I doubt that Lys 41 is office friendly, but I’ll say it’s an incredible date scent.

Obviously, my experience was extremely different in terms of sillage and longevity, not to mention the chilly, slightly smoky nuance I got from the tuberose. Where I think her review is uniquely useful, however, is in the issue of how men may feel about Lys 41. I think a “manly man” like her brother-in-law who prefers more traditional or masculine fragrances would not feel comfortable wearing Lys 41. And if he hate lilies, then forget about it completely! In fact, people of either gender who scream in terror at the thought of any of the flowers in question (you know who you are, you tuberose and jasmine-phobes) should obviously stay far, far away.

I really liked Lys 41 for a variety of reasons. First, I prefer my florals to be super dramatic powerhouse divas; second, I adore lily scents; and third, I am particularly fond of white florals when they have a green, spicy undertone to them. Given my personal experiences with Lys 41’s sillage and longevity (not to mention that headache the first time around), I’m not sure I’d look for a decant, but something about the scent fascinates me and is hard to forget. It’s the sheer delicacy of it all, with the strong mental image of Swan Lake’s entire ballet corps leaping gracefully into the air with skirts like waving petals. It’s the twist on the Brothers’ Grimm tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses. And, lastly, it’s the stunning beauty of the lily note in the first hour.

Source: nipoem.blogspot.com

I think Lys 41 will fit very specific tastes. Those who prefer darkness, woodiness or spice with their florals will be disappointed. Same with those who prefer something less linear and limited in focus. I also think the average man won’t find it to be his cup of tea; Lys 41 definitely skews quite feminine. Yet, for the target audience, I think Lys 41 will be a big hit and extremely popular.

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: Le Labo Lys 41 is an eau de parfum (though it is really extrait or pure parfum concentration) and comes in a few sizes, the most common of which are: 1.7 oz/50 ml for $145; and 3.4 oz/100 ml for $220. (There is also a 15 ml mini and a giant 500 ml bottle available from the company’s website.) Le Labo Website Options: Lys 41 is available directly from Le Labo which says that it will personally make up the bottle for each customer: “all Le Labo products are personalized with labels that bear the client’s name.” The company has a variety of different country options for the website, from North America to UK to France to International. On its North American website, Lys 41 comes in Eau de Parfum and perfume oil, with the usual accompany products like body lotion, shower gel, massage oil, etc., to come later in the fall. The prices are the same as listed above: 1.7 oz/50 ml for $145; and 3.4 oz/100 ml for $220. They also offer a tiny 15 ml bottle for $58. I’m assuming they ship to Canada, too, given the website name. On the UK website, Lys 41 eau de parfum costs £95 for the small size and £138 for the larger 100 ml bottle. Other sizes are also available, including a small 15 ml/0.5 fl. oz bottle for £40. On the International Labo website and the French website, Lys 41 costs €110 and €170 for the 1.7 and 3.4 oz bottles, respectively. Le Labo also offers perfumes in a Travel Refill Kit of 3 x 10 ml bottles (of your choice, and which you can mix or match) for $120. Lys 41 is one of the options listed. Lastly, Le Labo also has a Sample Program: “Our sampling program comes in two forms – a Discovery Set of 3 x 5 ml (0.17 fl.oz.) glass rods with spray and cap and a personalized label with your name on it, ideal for hard core testing of 3 different scents before making up your mind, and a standard (yet beautiful) sample of 1.5 ml (0.05 fl.oz.), available for all scents and ideal for more cost conscious clients who fall in love at first whiff.” I think the individual samples cost $6. As for their shipping prices, I’m afraid I can’t find any pricing information. Le Labo World Boutiques: Le Labo has store locations from New York to London and Tokyo, as well as retailers in a ton of countries from Australia to Italy to Korea. You can find a full list of its locations and vendors here. In the U.S., Le Labo is traditionally carried by Barneys but I don’t see Lys 41 listed yet on its website. The perfume is currently available from Luckyscent. Outside the US: In Canada, Le Labo is carried by Toronto’s 6 by Gee Beauty, but not on their online website for direct purchase. Call to order by phone. In the UK, Le Labo is carried at Harrods’s Designer Department on the First Floor, and at Liberty but Lys 41 is not yet listed on their website. Again, the UK prices for Le Labo, are £95 or £138, depending on size. In the Netherlands, you can find Le Labo products and Lys 41 in specific at Skins Cosmetics which sells the Eau de Parfum for €111.85 or €172.90, depending on size. In Australia, Le Labo is carried at Mecca Cosmetica but I don’t see Lys 41 listed yet on the website. In general, Le Labo prices in Australia range from AUD$198 to AUD$308, depending on size. Samples: I obtained my sample from Surrender to Chance which sells the Eau de Parfum starting at $4.25 for 1 ml vials.

Perfume Reviews – Tom Ford Private Blends Black Violet & Jasmin Rouge

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Kafkaesque

The famous French author, Stendhal, once said “Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.” I think that quote applies to perfume, too. Stendhal’s quote and his brilliant classic, Le Rouge et Le Noir (“The Red and The Black”) came to mind when I decided to review Tom Ford‘s Red and Black perfumes in his Private Blend collection: Jasmin Rouge & Black Violet. Good perfume can lead to happiness but, alas, only one of Tom Ford’s fragrances holds that promise.

BLACK VIOLET:

Private Blend Black Violet was released in 2007, the creation of perfumer, Clement Gavarry, and is classified on Fragrantica as Chypre Floral. Personally, I would call it more an Aromatic Woody scent, for reasons that will soon become apparent. Tom Ford’s press release for the perfume, as quoted in part by Nordstrom, describes Black Violet and its notes as follows:

Crisp citrus surrounds a modern pulpy fruit accord fused with black violets. Woody accents fold into oak moss, adding the universally comforting sensation of warmth.

Notes: lemon, lime, mandarin, orchid, violet, cedarwood, torchwood, vetiver, oakmoss.

Black Violet‘s opening phase is going to be a shock to anyone who expects the name to actually live up to its promise, because there is nary a violet in sight. Not one. Even more surprising, Black Violet starts as the most classic of men’s colognes. There is tart lemon juice, lime, and bergamot that is exactly like a man’s cologne or aftershave in its thinness and lightness.

Source: hdiphonewallpapers.us

Lurking below is vetiver and, even further below, is the faintest touch of some woody note. At first, it’s not spicy, peppered, or smoky, but just something vague. Ten minutes later, however, it starts to take on form and some weight, becoming a quiet dryness. If you’re wondering what the hell this has to do with violets, you’re not alone. There’s certainly none at the start. Same story with the mandarin notes which may have provided some beneficial juiciness or sweetness. There is also no oakmoss (the foundational element for a true “chypre”) that I can smell. While that is not surprising in this day and age of IFRA/EU restrictions on perfume ingredients (especially oakmoss), I don’t smell even a synthetic version in any concrete, substantial, distinctive form. If it’s there, it’s not detectable to my nose.

Vetiver roots, the primary source of the essential oil. Photo: Herbariasoap.com

Thirty minutes into its development, Black Violet slowly becomes a dry citrus scent with vetiver and flickers of a lightly smoked wood accord. The lime, lemon and bergamot no longer feel individually distinct or separate; they’ve just morphed into an overall “citrus” note. The entire perfume feels incredibly thin in weight and low in sillage. I have the hardest time accepting that this is an “eau de parfum” — the second strongest concentration of fragrance after pure parfum — instead of eau de cologne, the very lightest concentration. In fact, I’ve smelled a number of men’s eau colognes that are significantly more potent than Black Violet.

Source: Lovetextures.com

Then, exactly at the one hour mark, Black Violet suddenly changes completely. The citrus men’s cologne aspect retreats and, in its place, is a dewy, earthy floral in the most muted, generalized, amorphous of ways. The floral tone is delicate, damp and green, never feeling quite like violets, but more like some random, delicate, purple flower mixed with what feels like a dash of lilac or hyacinth. It’s a ghostly note that pops up, only to dart away, before eventually returning to start the whole tease all over again. The lingering traces of citrus are similarly subtle, hiding in the background, too. More easily apparent is a cool, earthy note that is just like the dark, damp garden soil first thing in the morning. It’s not rooty, dirty, or dank, but lightly floral.

For the span of the second hour, Black Violet remains as a translucent mix of earthiness, dewy florals, and microscopic flickers of citrus — all muted, indistinct, and so close to the skin that it’s extremely hard to detect. It becomes softer and softer with every moment, turning floral muskiness atop some creamy, woody element tinged with a tiny drop of amber, before finally ending as nothing more than musky woodiness. All in all, Black Violet lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes on my skin with at least 90 minutes of that time being essentially so translucent that I thought it had vanished completely. When I say this perfume is thin in weight, hazy in feel, and close to the skin, I’m really not kidding.

It’s not just me and my perfume-consuming skin, either. The Non-Blonde had an extremely similar experience to mine, from the men’s cologne aspect right down to saying “I can barely smell it after three hours.” She’s much kinder and more generous to the perfume than I am — calling it an “abstract ‘smells good’ veil” at the end — but then, I think she’s probably a nicer, more diplomatic person as a whole. My problem with the scent is this: 1) that it is so vague in form and definition that it’s practically nebulous after the men’s cologne opening; 2) I was disappointed by the generic woodiness which followed; 3) the damp, abstract floral stage was pretty, but too translucent and brief to justify the price of the perfume; and 4) given all these issues, along with the microscopic sillage and terrible longevity, it feels completely outrageous to ask $205 for the smallest bottle of this supposed “eau de parfum.” (Yes, I tend to get peevish about perfume prices when the fragrance is so generically vague, fleeting, and sheer.) Even if you purchased Black Violet off eBay for a lower price than retail, I simply don’t think it’s all that special.

JASMIN ROUGE:

A significantly better perfume, in my opinion, is Tom Ford‘s Jasmin Rouge which was released in 2011 as part of his Private Blend collection. (As a side note, Fragrantica lists it as being part of Tom Ford’s lower-level, cheaper Signature Collection, but that is not how Tom Ford categorizes it on his website.) Jasmin Rouge was created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux, and was the winner of the 2012 Fragrance Foundation FiFi Award for “Best New Fragrance for Women” in the “Speciality Luxe” category. It’s a sophisticated, refined scent that is beautiful in its opening, smells very expensive, and is definitely worth a sniff, even if its full development isn’t perfect enough to perhaps warrant a full bottle.

Tom Ford describes Jasmin Rouge as follows:

Voluptuous. Sensuous. Audacious. Tom Ford Jasmin Rouge is a voluptuous, saturated, spiced floral. An unexpected blend of precious sambac jasmine sepals absolute, an ingredient never used before in perfumery with dusky clary sage and rich spices, it unveils a new facet of jasmine’s erotic decadence. Jasmin Rouge is as audacious as lacquered red lips. Its deep red bottle evokes lush and hedonistic glamour.

It’s a bit of hyperbole but, as one who love jasmine fragrances, I think it’s generally quite accurate, at least for Jasmin Rouge’s opening stage. There is definitely a voluptuous sensuality to the perfume; and its concentrated, saturated nature takes jasmine to both hedonist levels and very glamourous ones.

According to Fragrantica, the notes in Jasmin Rouge include:

Top notes: bergamot, mandarin, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black and white pepper.

Heart: Sambac jasmine, broom, neroli, ylang-ylang, clary sage.

Base: Mexican vanilla, labdanum, leather, wood and amber notes.

Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Despite this plethora of notes, Jasmin Rouge is a soliflore: a fragrance centered around one main note. Yes, there are varying nuances from start to finish, but it’s primarily a super-concentrated jasmine perfume in nature, so those who can’t stand the note or find that jasmine turns plastic-y on their skin should probably stop reading here.

Jasmine peacock created from jasmine flowers. Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Jasmin Rouge opens on my skin with seemingly every possible variation of the flower: green and fresh; spicy; indolic, lush and heady; fruity; and lightly musky. The very first minutes are filled with a surprising purple note that is exactly like very dark, Concord grapes. The note soon disappears, replaced by flickers of citrus and mandarin dancing about in the background. The heady, rich, velvety jasmine is the one, true star, however, evoking a summer’s evening when the night-blooming jasmine cast out their fragrant tendrils across the sky like sirens calling to Odysseus. It’s sweet but also airy, potently strongly, and spectacularly stunning.

Jasmin Rouge calls to mind what would be my favorite jasmine soliflore, if it actually lasted on my skin: Serge Lutens‘ À La Nuit. It is a perfume that many consider to be the gold standard for jasmine soliflores, and it’s truly an exquisite fragrance. Unfortunately, it has the lifespan of a squashed gnat on my skin. (Seriously. 30 minutes tops!) Like the Lutens, Jasmin Rouge is a super-charged, rich, heady jasmine fragrance. Unlike the Lutens, the opening of the Tom Ford perfume has beautiful touches of orange blossom, mandarin and slightly bitter, dry neroli underlying its star. I also detect something that feels like ylang-ylang, though it’s not listed in the notes. And, unlike the Lutens, Jasmin Rouge actually lasts on the skin.

Source: 4coolpics.com

In that lovely opening stage, the fruity-floral bouquet sits upon a base that is, at first, creamily sweet and daintily touched by a milky, light vanilla. Slowly, slowly, the base starts to turn drier, woodier, and spicier; it minimizes the fruited elements and helps prevent any excessive sweetness. So, too, does the slightly green feel of the perfume. It’s almost as if leaves have been brought in to keep the jasmine from turning ripe, over-blown, cloying, or with that feeling of decayed excess that truly indolic flowers (like jasmine, tuberose or gardenia) can sometimes project. Don’t get me wrong, Jasmin Rouge is indolic and heavy — almost boozy in its initial extremeness — but it’s also simultaneously green, fresh and light. It’s a marvelous tight-rope act, and I could not stop sniffing my arm.

Diane Millsap painting, “White Floral I” via Ebsqart.com. (Link to retail page embedded within.)

Two hours into the perfume’s development, Jasmin Rouge starts to lose some of its flair. It’s now woodier, drier, lighter, and sits much closer to the skin. There is still a spicy green nuance to the flower, but much of the perfume’s depth (and most of its powerful projection) has dropped out. The citrus, mandarin, orange blossom, and neroli touches seem more nebulous; the perfume’s body seems less lushly opulent and juicy; and there is a slight (just slight) tinge of smokiness at the very edges. I’m not quite as obsessed with the scent now, though I suspect those who want a dry, less purely floral element to their fragrance may be happier.

Catherine Jeltes Painting, “Modern Brown Abstract Painting WinterScape.” Etsy Store, GalleryZooArt, linked within. (Click on photo.)

Jasmin Rouge’s drydown begins midway around the fifth hour, when the perfume quietly emits woody notes with touches of smoke, pepper and musk. The jasmine is no longer the dominant note; it feels just as green and spicy as before, but it’s sheer and muted. Jasmin Rouge is now more of a bland, abstract woody fragrance where the light, beige notes just happen to be infused with jasmine, rather than the other way around. In its dying moments, just over 8.25 hours in, Jasmin Rouge is simply an amorphous, vaguely ambered, woody scent. All in all, it has good longevity, especially for a soliflore. It has extremely intense sillage at first, but the projection starts to drop after the first hour and the perfume becomes a skin scent by the start of the third hour.

I liked Jasmin Noir a lot more than most of the critics and bloggers out there. Their main issue is with the bland final stage, and I agree with them to an extent. However, I don’t dismiss the perfume as readily as they do. Bois de Jasmin‘s summation pretty much encapsulates the overall perspective of the blogosphere: “Jasmin Rouge is simply an up-market version of a familiar crisp fruity floral. Though it is lovely, it does not offer any revelations.” I think the perfume is better than that. It smells rich, doesn’t smell cheap or synthetic, screams luxury, is both green and lush, and oozes sex appeal and sensuality. I haven’t found a ton of jasmine soliflores to do that — with the exception of the stunning À La Nuit (with its zero longevity on my skin). And I can’t get over how beautiful the green spiciness is! I do wish Jasmin Rouge had retained more of its juicy, opulent, heady beginning for longer (since I prefer my pure florals to remain as such), and I would have also preferred less woods, but all that is a matter of personal taste.

The real question is whether Jasmin Rouge is special enough for the cost. I can only say that I think it’s worth the cost more than most of the other pure florals I’ve tried from Tom Ford. (For example, I thought the Jardin Noir Collection was terribly over-priced for the scents in question. I couldn’t stand Ombre de Hyacinth, and I thought Café Rose was both cloying and exhausting.) In short, it’s all relative. I would absolutely wear Jasmin Rouge if a bottle fell into my lap, but would I actually buy it? I don’t know, especially as I have issues with Tom Ford’s retail prices. If it means anything, I definitely plan on looking on eBay, since Private Blend fragrances can be found there for much more reasonable rates.

The bottom line for Jasmin Rouge is that you have to really love jasmine to wear it. Those who don’t may find the perfume to be the equivalent of death by white flowers, especially if their skin chemistry tends to turn jasmine plastic-y or sour. Those who love the note will undoubtedly adore Jasmin Rouge’s opening, and the unusual spicy greenness underlying such a lush, concentrated, heady bouquet. I’m less certain as to how they’d feel about the drydown, however, or the perfume’s linearity — it all depends on one’s taste. But Jasmin Rouge is absolutely worth a test sniff, so skip the Black and go for the Red. If perfume is nothing other than the promise of happiness (to paraphrase Stendhal), then Jasmin Rouge’s opulently heady, spicy florals and very feminine, sensual, sophisticated, refined manner might possibly be your ticket there.

DETAILS:

BLACK VIOLET – Cost & Availability: Private Blend Black Violet is an eau de parfum and retails for: $205 for a 50 ml/1.7 oz bottle, $280 for a 100 ml/3.4 oz bottle or $495 for a 200 ml/8.45 oz bottle. It is listed on the Tom Ford website. (However, it doesn’t seem clear how you can purchase it from there as I don’t see a shopping cart capability for the perfume.) In the U.S.: You can also find Black Violet at fine department stores such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman. Outside the U.S.: In Canada, I believe Tom Ford is carried at Holt Renfrew, but I don’t see Black Violet listed as one of their 2 Tom Ford fragrances on the online website. In the UK, you can find it at Harrods or House of Fraser. Both stores sell the small 1.7 oz/50 ml size for £135.00, or £300.00 for the super-large 250 ml bottle. The Selfridges website is currently out of stock of the perfume, but you may want to check later. For the rest of Europe, Premiere Avenue is one of the few online retailers that I’ve seen carry Tom Ford fragrances, and it sells Black Violet for €180, €260 or €420, depending on the size. It is a French site that ships worldwide. I know that Tom Ford Beauty is carried in-store at a number of other retailers throughout Europe, from Denmark and Belgium to the Russian Federation. You can use the store locator linked below on the website to find a retailer near you. In Australia, I saw Black Violet listed on a number of retail sites via the GetPrice website, with prices starting at AUD$220. It is also listed on the Feeling Sexy Australia website for AUD$249.95, but I have no clue if that’s a reputable site or not. The Tom Ford line is supposedly carried at David Jones stores, but Black Violet is not one of the handful of Tom Ford fragrances carried on the its website. Elsewhere, Tom Ford fragrances are carried in numerous different countries; hopefully, you can find one near you using the store locator on the Tom Ford website. Samples: You can probably get free samples of Black Violet from any of the department stores listed above, in-store, but you can also order a sample from Surrender to Chance, starting at $3 for a 1/2 ml vial.

JASMIN ROUGE – Cost & Availability: Private Blend Jasmin Rouge is an eau de parfum and retails for: $205, £135.00 or €180 for a 50 ml/1.7 oz bottle; $280, €260, £300.00 for a 100 ml/3.4 oz bottle; or $495 for a 200 ml/8.45 oz bottle. It is listed on the Tom Ford website, but it doesn’t look as though you can buy it directly off of there. In the U.S.: Jasmin Rouge is carried at department stores such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman. Outside the U.S.: In the UK, you can find Jasmin Rouge at Selfridges or Harrods, both of which sell all three sizes of the bottles: the small 1.7 oz/50 ml size for £135.00, the 100 ml bottle for £195, or £300.00 for the super-large 250 ml bottle. For the rest of Europe, Premiere Avenue is the first online website that I’ve found to carry the full Tom Ford line, including all three sizes of Jasmin Rouge. Here is the link for the smallest cheapest size, the 1.7 oz/50 ml bottle which retails for €180. The company ships worldwide, I believe, but you need to email them to ask for the full details. (I did find an Italian vendor, Vittoria Profumi, but it’s selling the same bottle for way over retail at €265.) In the UAE and Dubai, I found Jasmin Rouge at Souq.com. Australian vendors of Jasmin Rouge proved to be hard to track down, especially as Fresh was out of stock of the perfume (which it sells for AUD$259), but I’m sure there are others out there. For all other countries, you can use the Tom Ford’s Store Locator guide linked up above in the Black Violet section. Samples: You can probably get free samples of Jasmin Rouge from any of the department stores listed above, in-store, but you can also order a sample from Surrender to Chance, starting at $3 for a 1/2 ml vial.