Sunday, September 30, 2007

Fragrance Bouquet’s Top 5 for Fall

What are you wearing this fall? Fragrance Bouquet and For the Love of Perfume are sharing their Autumnal loves for 2007 today. Are you going to stay and share your own loves with us? Have you brought out the big guns already? I am talking about the spices, of course! I’ll admit, I never really put them away – there’s always going to be a day when I need some spice in my life, even if it’s during high summer! Fall to me though, is all about woods and amber. Lovely warm notes that will ease me into winter and comfort me as the weather gets progressively colder. Now, without further ado, my personal top 5:

  • 5. Sequoia 7 by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
    It is worth to wait through the slightly shocking opening: the reward is finding one of the most beautiful wood-scents. A deeply satisfying soft, subtle and slightly aloof wood fragrance, that dries down to an unexpected smoky, incense-like clove. It is resilience against the winds of Fall; it is walking in a space of personal calm while the startlingly beautiful dry leaves swivel around, unable to fly any closer.


  • 4. Palisander by Ava Luxe
    The thirst of the rich, dark soil quenched by rain. The golden brown leaves that will feed the trees that once bore them. A barefoot dance on the soft earth under a silver sky that hasn’t seen the sun in days. And then night-time, dark desires, bewitching female mysteries. The smell of heat. This has become a firm favorite, possibly the sexiest autumnal scent I have reviewed. Wearing it makes me just a bit more daring, as though I’m wearing pheromones. (For a full review click here)


  • 3. Ambre Précieux by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier
    Luxurious and warm, this is one of the most exquisite amber scents I know. Myrrh and myrtle, amber, precious balsams and resins and just a little bit of nutmeg to tamper the already gentle vanillic undertones, this fragrance smells as good as the notes sound. It is at once a warm embrace and a sway of the hips to a mystic melody of the east. Close your eyes and enjoy. Need I say more?


  • 2. Miyako by Annayake
    You already know I love this! Ever since I bought it, it has been the perfume I turn to every time I need comfort. It does not cheer me up, it just hugs me, soothes me, helps me get on with things. Incense, resin, wood and amber infused with a soft milky accord and the peculiar, lovely sweetness I couldn’t possibly describe in a different way than I did in my original review: “(...) rather curious, reminding me of the subtly sweet and oh-so-comforting warm air one finds in a house, after a full day of baking spiced goods made of lovingly kneaded dough.” (For a full review click here)


  • 1. Tsukimi by Annayake
    The loveliest autumn scent for me - I can’t do without it. Wearing it, I feel I’m bathed in gold, my forehead anointed with the most precious essences. Tsukimi’s effulgent aurora is as kind and mellow as the sun of autumn. (For a full review click here)


Autumn Don’ts: Or rather “Autumn don’t–even-think-about-its!”. I should have known better – I’ve yet to find a Van Cleef & Arpels fragrance I like- but for the sake of ...autumnal research I thought I’d get a sample of their Autumne scent, from their Les Saisons series. The notes sounded vaguely attractive, although far from special and the opening was agreeable enough. And then... disaster. Autumne smells like the chemicals of an epilating cream! This is not just an Autumn don’t – it is plainly a perfume don’t!

Images courtesy of www.freefoto.com


9 comments:

Unknown said...

So far I am adoring; Burberry Brit Red (love the rhubarb and gingerbread notes), Must de Cartier edt (gingerbread, smoke, powder, vanilla, a hint of cherry almond, and fresh bitter green zest), Un Bois Vanille (a wonderful vanilla liquer),and the random mini I received of D&G Light Blue (I usually associate with summer, but some how that creamy apple note is working perfect in the fall weather).

Anonymous said...

Dear Divina, here's my very temporary ever changing fall top five:

5 Classics with tobacco, like my
beloved Equipage by Hermes, or
Creed's Tabarome, and Miller
Harris Fouille de Tabac.

4 Dark, unusual rose scents:
L'artisan Voleur de Roses,
C & S n. 88.

3 Aromatic Lime by Montale

2 Marquis by the Crown Perfumery

1 Cuir Ottoman by Parfum d'Empire
and the 160 ml. bottle i got
at 50% sale of Cuir by Comptoir
Sud Pacifique

chayaruchama said...

I've not smelled the DSH- but I love your picks-

And so many of the above ones as well.

I've been amber-mad lately.
Ava-Luxe has several great ones, then Ambra del Nepal,Ambra Etro, Ambre Russe, Ambre Sultan,Kuumba Made Amber Paste...

Incenses, too.
Midnight Violet, Rykiel Woman, Cuir Ottoman, CDG's,Heeley, Black Cashmere, #23, ...

And smoky !
Shisha, Kretek, Tabarome, Acqua di Cuba, I Profumi's Tabacco,Aftel's Tango,Poivre,Royal Parvati...

Stop me, please.

Divina said...

Jen, I think you are on to something with Light Blue as a choice for fall. I tested it today in dreary weather and somehow it does shine in a different light now. I dare say it seems slightly too saturated in the bright warmth of spring and summer. This weather compliments it!

Divina said...

Oh my, Edwardian, what a list! I love it! I am especially fond of Fouille de Tabac, Marquis and Cuir Ottoman. I would possibly have skipped over the roses personally though - they smell slightly on the boring side on me most of the time! (what's up with that?) The only rose that really works with my chemistry is Nahema.. Curious to know what you think of it!

Divina said...

Hello Chaya dearest! I'd never dream of stopping you, you're way too much fun to stop! I am so sad Midnight Violet did not work on me - it is so well loved and admired! Royal Parvati (mmmm soo good!) almost made it on the list instead of Palisander. I kept changing my mind almost until the last moment, but in the end decided that Palisander is so effortlessly evocative of autumn, it was impossible to leave it out.

Perfumeshrine said...

D,

I should try the MPG, I always hear about it! You make it sound great. And I don't know the others in your list either :-{

Autumn for me means primarily Mitsouko, especially in rainy weather. Opium gets on the surface on the first sign of cool as well. Then Angelique Encens, Rykiel Woman, Femme, Tam Dao, Fifi...
Lately I have been enjoying Burberry Brit Red, just like Jenavira! LOL

Divina said...

Oh Fifi.. On one hand it is great we are not all the same, (how boring would that be) but on the other hand it is sometimes so frustrating to be unable to see what your fellow perfumistas find in such a well loved fragrance! Fifi is such a failure for me: No matter how hard I try, I cannot learn to love it, nor can I understand why it is so popular. I get the uber-fabulous bottle, true.. but the jus itself smells nothing like it's supposed to on my skin! Glad it works for you, dear E. :)

Anonymous said...

Divana can you give some fragrance ideas for my boyfriend, he just keep buying same old perfume since he was 8 years old ...