Tag Archives: Fragrance reviews

Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez’s new Perfumes The Guide 2018

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Source: Amazon.com

Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez just published their Perfumes The Guide 2018, the first new version of the book in ten years. The Kindle version was released on June 28th, while the paperback version came out on July 13th or 14th.

I thought that everyone knew about the release, so I was astonished to hear more than a few people say in the niche/artisanal sample giveaway thread that they had no idea there even was a new book! It has been the subject of quite a few discussions in the perfume world already, which is one reason why I didn’t think to add to it with a review of my own here, but I’ve changed my mind after the comments, particularly as a good number of you went off to buy the book following my post and others have asked for my thoughts on certain fragrance assessments. So I decided to write a review, though it will be a little unconventional at times.

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Lubin, Amouage, Roja Dove & Byredo

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Today, we’ll look at a four releases from Lubin, Amouage, Roja Dove, and Byredo: Epidor, Bracken Woman, Tuberose, and Velvet Haze. They’ll be briefer takes than normal; I’m behind on covering recent niche fragrances after my long absence and I’m afraid I’ll never catch up if I write one of my typical reviews for each scent. Plus, the only way someone as verbose as myself can manage to write short descriptions is if I stick to the most impressionist overview possible, and skip the usual detailed breakdown in development, sharing other people’s perspectives, or arduously looking up retail links around the world. I’ll try to provide a few relevant details or links at the end, should you wish to pursue the scent further, but not many. So, let’s get to it.

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DSH Perfumes: Monet’s Garden, Cartier’s Jewels & Christmas

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Sumptuous florals, Monet’s famous garden at Giverny, Cartier’s jewels, florists, and Christmas — those are just a few of the subjects and inspirations for the roughly ten or so fragrances from DSH Perfumes that we’ll be exploring today. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, DSH Perfumes is a largely all-natural, artisanal brand out of Colorado run by the lovely, gracious, and very talented, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz.

Source: 2luxury2.com

Source: 2luxury2.com

She works extensively in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum and their exhibits, and several of the fragrances mentioned here are part of sets created for that purpose. For example, in last year’s Brilliant Collection, each fragrance was inspired by a particular Cartier piece and its owner, like Rubis Rosé for Elizabeth Taylor‘s ruby necklace, or Jacinthe de Sapphir which was inspired by Queen Marie of Romania. By the same token, this year’s Giverny in Bloom Collection is a quartet of fragrances released to go with the museum’s exhibit of Monet. Other fragrances, however, were created separately like Fleuriste which seeks to capture the scent of a florist’s shop or this year’s annual, limited-edition Christmas fragrance.

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Diptyque, Al Haramain, A Lab on Fire & Etat Libre d’Orange

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Source: diptyqueparis.com

Source: diptyqueparis.com

The end of the year is always a crazy time, particularly in terms of new releases. I’m starting to have visions of a Leaning Tower of Pisa composed of sample vials toppling over and squashing me to death. I simply can’t keep up. It’s almost entirely my own fault because of the detailed, verbose way I approach my reviews, but there are also more and more fragrances being launched every year. According to Michael Edwards, author of Fragrances of the World, there were 1620 releases in 2014 as compared to 38 back in 1984. I’m sure there are even more this year — and it all seems to reach a crescendo during the holidays. I’m exhausted, both mentally and physically, and my stack of notes (some going back months and months) exceeds the number of proper, full reviews I can write before it’s time to do the year-end “Best of” lists.

As a result, for much of this week, I’ll be posting rapid-fire mini reviews, starting today with Diptyque‘s new Oud Palao and Essences Insensées 2015, Al Haramain‘s Najm Gold and Atifa Blanche attars, A Lab on Fire‘s new Mon Musc à Moi by Dominique Ropion, and Etat Libre d’Orange‘s Remarkable People. They are all 2015 releases except for the Al Haramain attars. I’ll provide only the most basic information: note lists, and links to the company, a vendor, and/or Fragrantica for you to pursue later if you’re interested. The “reviews” themselves will be generalised overviews or nutshells. So, let’s get to it.

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