Thierry Mugler Oriental Express & Supra Floral (Les Exceptions)

Thierry Mugler launched a prestige collection last year called Les Exceptions, created by Chanel‘s Olivier Polge with Jean-Christophe Hérault. The collection has five fragrances: Oriental Express, Supra Floral, Chyprissime, Fougère Furieuse, and Over the Musk. Modernistic techniques like IFF’s “Head Space” technology were used, according to what one of the perfumers told the blog, Grain de Musc, who found the fragrances to carry a “retro-futuristic” aesthetic. I tried two of the line and don’t think they’re as interesting or complex as that description, but one of them is very enjoyable.

Source: 2luxury2.com

Source: 2luxury2.com

The fragrances are an attempt to partake in the niche trend, so they bear a higher price tag than what is the norm for Mugler and are only available in limited fashion. Outside of Mugler’s U.S. and French websites, I’ve only seen the collection on the American Nordstrom website and Canada’s The Bay. Only a few Nordstrom shops are expected to carry it in-store. Oddly, the scents are not available for actual purchase on a number of Mugler’s sub-sites, like its Italian one, and the perfumes are not even listed on its U.K. page.

Though I generally try not to cover scents with very limited availability, two of the scents caught my eye. Oriental Express tempted me because of its notes and the name’s implicit reference to the legendary train. Supra Floral intrigued me because it is a hyacinth soliflore with incense. Hyacinth is one of my favorite flowers and one that is rarely highlighted in perfumery, let alone with incense. Finally, on a superficial note, the bottles look very chic, sleek, and expensive. So, here are reviews for Oriental Express and Supra Floral.

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Histoires de Parfums Tubereuse 3 Animale

"Luna Surface" by Adrian on Flickr. (Direct website link embedded within.)

“Luna Surface” by Adrian on Flickr. (Direct website link embedded within.)

A shape-shifting, smoky floral leather with resinous darkness and honeyed sweetness lies at the heart of Tubereuse 3 Animale, a most unusual, unconventional take on the flower from Histoires de Parfums. Instead of icy floralcy, the flowers are restrained and blanketed by a dense haze of honeyed immortelle which slowly turns them into a shimmering mirage before swallowing them up entirely in sweet smokiness that verges on the sulfurous at times. The whole thing lies on a thick river of resinous leather, dark tobacco, dry hay, and prunes with an almost molasses-like richness and flecks of chocolate. This is not your regular tuberose, and it’s certainly not your mother’s Fracas. No, this is a different beast entirely — a dark, wholly unisex, sometimes challenging, often sexy fragrance that some consider to be one of the great gems in the Histoires de Parfums line and many love with great abandon. I think it bears a definite kinship to 1740 (Marquis de Sade), its sibling in the Histoires de Parfums’ line, and is a “tuberose” that might surprise you.

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LM Parfums Epine Mortelle

All good fragrances tell stories. Epine Mortelle, the latest release from LM Parfums, reads like an elegant fairytale. Imagine yourself walking in the woods. You take a wrong turn, and suddenly find yourself lost in darkness where trees are made from black and fiery Szechuan peppers, and the air is dense with an aromatic greenness that is almost like pine. A hushed silence hangs over everything — heavy, black, green, and thick. Yet, in the distance, a pale, pink light glows like beacon.

Photo: "Dark forest" by VityaR83 on deviantART http://vityar83.deviantart.com/art/dark-forest-299891639

Photo: “Dark forest” by VityaR83 on deviantART http://vityar83.deviantart.com/art/dark-forest-299891639

Suddenly, before you know it, you stumbled into a clearing where roses blanket the ground as far as the eye can see. Their petals are made of velvet from pink pepper berries, and their heart billows out sweet, yellow mimosa pollen. Candied violets are sprinkled on top, while their roots grow in earthy soil made from musky cassis (or black currents) and spices. Every part of the magical flowers is blanketed with angelica, a herb that grows green and spicy.

Rose petal meringues. Source: foodandtravel.com

Rose petal meringues. Source: foodandtravel.com

It’s hard to believe you were ever in that haunted forest, especially as the scene before your eyes changes quickly. Before you know it, the roses turn dark and rubied, wafting a fruity sweetness infused with spices. Trees made of violet orris lipstick sprout magically from the ground. As you walk, vines made out of a rich vanilla custard curl around your limbs, as tiny fireflies made of cumin dart around you. Then, as if a good witch waved her wand, everything changes and the spicy, lipstick rose vanishes. Now, you’re suddenly sitting down to have tea with sweet, powdery meringues made of roses and angelica. It’s as though you took a brief walk through Maleficient’s dark forest to suddenly end up at the Snow White’s pastry shop, but all of it is done seamlessly, elegantly, and with great richness.

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Indult Tihota: Delicious Vanilla, Cookies & Cream

Source: Indult website

Source: Indult website

Tihota is one of those perfumes that comes with a legend: “The Holy Grail of vanilla fragrances!” or “The best vanilla ever!” It’s always the first name that comes up when people talk about vanilla fragrances, and people rave about it with the sort of adoration usually reserved for the great olfactory masterpieces.

I was highly skeptical. I’ve found few things with that sort of hype to really measure up. More to the point, I’m not really a gourmand lover and I have a low threshold for sweetness, so my experiences with other beloved fragrances in the genre haven’t been very successful. At best, I was unenthused. At worst, I was utterly traumatized by tidal waves of burnt saccharine sweetness that left me with an urgent need to scrub. Still, I’ve been on a perpetual hunt for the perfect vanilla scent, so I ordered a sample of Indult‘s famous creation, and kept my expectations low.

Colour me shocked: Tihota is excellent! Positively delicious, in fact, and it only becomes more appealing with each wearing. I don’t think I would describe it as the “perfect” vanilla, particularly in light of its price, but I completely understand the fuss now, and think that Tihota deserves a good chunk of its acclaim. Continue reading