Starring…! Fragrances (Part 2): The Diva & Almond White Cake Reviews

On Monday we took a look at Starring… Fragrances’ philosophy, website, services and their sweet body products. As promised, today we’ll conclude the in depth-look in this niche line with reviews of two fragrances.

I was sent two samples to try (one oil-based, one alcohol-based) and I am very happy to report that not only does the scent of the perfumes correspond to exactly what you’d expect from the descriptions (playful, fun, exuberant indie scents that are very faithful to the listed notes) but also that the quality is of high standards, with clear evolvement, great lasting power and excellent projection. Too, if you do not like oil-based scents have no fear: all available fragrances are also offered in alcohol format as well. Before getting on with the reviews, I also have to say that I was very impressed with how highly concentrated these perfumes are - I’d venture that they are at least EdP strength.

The first perfume I tried was The Diva, belonging to the Leading Ladies Collection. This absolutely incredible gourmand presents such a life-like explosion of notes to the senses, it had me travelling down memory lane. Growing up, my favorite cake of all was Black Forest Gateau and it still remains my number one indulgence. As a child my mom was bemused by my choice (“How prosaic, darling..!”) and the occasions when I could actually convince her to buy it for the house or for friends was rare. Perhaps due to the craving left unsatisfied I have developed an extreme fondness for this confectionary delight and stubbornly (but with great satisfaction!) serve it at each and every one of my birthday celebrations ever since I can remember. The Diva unfailingly delivers the most realistic rendition of Black Forest Gateau in its top notes (The boyfriend declared “I don’t know if it smells like perfume, but I want to eat you!” and that’s good enough for me!). The genius of Black Forest lies in the combination of devilishly rich chocolate and cool sour cherries. The function of the sour cherry freshness is of course to cleanse the palate of the luxurious chocolate and to keep it from overwhelming. This is exactly what happens with this perfume: beautiful, lavish, bittersweet chocolate is tempered by the fruity freshness of cherries and is rendered luxuriant by a dose of Kirsch spirit, just as in the real deal. As the fragrance evolves, delightful red, fresh strawberries peek through the lashings of chocolate, slowly replacing the cherries. Again, the fruit is incredibly realistic. Raspberries, the freshest, most aromatic and pungent of berries start showing through even further down the line and will continue to accompany the darker scents far into the drydown. The chocolate itself becomes progressively calmer, till it reaches a stage that it is no longer perceptibly edible but takes the form of deep, dark cacao. At this point, the base notes truly shine, with a moist, earthy patchouli taking center stage, caressed by musk and subtle hints of rose petals. The deep drydown finds the raspberry and patchouli becoming ever more abstract, leaving an aromatic, dark feminine whisper on the skin.

The White Almond Cake might be listed on the site under the “Single Note Scentsations” category, but in reality this is a non-linear scent with its own evolvement. It starts out with delightful, intense bitter-sweet Amaretto and goes on to reveal yummy butter-cookie dough infused with orange peel and light hints of cloves. Mmmmm! The bitter almond scent is so convincing and strong, it is a huge surprise that the scent evolves past that, but evolve it does. The almonds get progressively subtler and softer, all the while caressing the skin with their nourishing, comforting scent. Soon, a sugar accord manifests, glazed and positively edible. I am not sure if all readers will be familiar with what I am about to say, but the scent mimics the scent of candied almonds exactly! No, I am not talking about the white bridal sugared almonds, I am talking about the candied roasted almonds with the delightfully crispy crust. Yum! As strange as it sounds, White Almond Cake manages to capture the crunchy, sugary/nutty scent and project it over a bed of cream. As time goes by, the scent becomes milkier (and ever more comforting I might add). Adding incredible warmth, cinnamon blooms on the skin and stays strong, lively and spicy to the very end, over a golden brown, sweet ambery accord. This might be completely out of season now, but it will make an incredible, festive holiday scent. I crave to wear this when it’ll be snowing outside.

Images: www.starringfragrances.com, flickr by mwri, flickr by busymommy, www.notenexpres.nl & Flickr by 00dann

Daisy by Marc Jacobs : Perfume Review

I have been saving my sample of Daisy for a couple of weeks now, with the prospect of using it for this month’s Tried and Tested feature. It struck me though, that perhaps something a little more elaborate is needed in this instance: many of you are likely to be wondering what this actually smells like and whether a visit to the closest department store is in order, since the cute-as-a-button bottle has garnered so much attention.

Well, let me start off by saying that I can hardly believe the nose that created the lovely, subtle and oh-so-thoughtful Bulgari Blu is the same nose behind this scent! The first whiff is quite nice – I get a quite interesting blend of honeysuckle and green foliage from it. Rapidly though, the pleasant green scent gets replaced by an intense wave of fruit. On a paper strip the only fruit I can detect is strawberry, on my skin though, I smell a whole range of red fruit, including pomegranate. Unfortunately, this little fruit salad is rather bland – there is no spice to make it interesting, no dash of a smooth liqueur or even a dollop of cream to make it more palatable: Just some citrus juice to keep the fruit from going brown and a sprig of mint for presentation. And even that tiny sprig of mint spoils it for me: quickly the jus starts reminding me of chewing gum. The type of chewing gum that remains slightly ambivalent where flavor is concerned, uncomfortably hovering between full fruitiness and freshness. As the white florals (jasmine, gardenia) rise to the top, it all goes downhill. Daisy quickly starts smelling completely unoriginal – in fact, it is indistinguishable from other generic fruity-floral concoctions. Too, despite the high intensity of the opening, the entire funfair fizzles out relatively quickly. Daisy lovers will have to reapply frequently: an hour and a half later there is but a trace of musky fruitiness remaining and I practically have to exert effort to discern it. Well, at least the bottle is gorgeous right? Truly, the bottle is very photogenic, but it failed to wow me in real life. I mean, of course it is a beautiful bottle, just not the radiant, whimsical little jewel I was prepared to find judging from the images I had seen. But to be fair, Daisy does have some saving graces. It does not fall into the pitfall of being overly sweet, like many of her sisters do. And once again unlike many other fruity-florals, this one does not smell chemical. It is not likely to be classified as a scrubber by many, nor is it likely to offend anyone. It’s just highly unremarkable and generic. You’ve smelled it all before.

All in all, I have to say that with a name and bottle like this one, I consider this to be an opportunity lost for Marc Jacobs. For me, Daisy would have ideally been a truly innocent, transparent scent for everyday wear. Freshly cut grass and chamomile for example, would have done it for me. They would have perfectly described the feeling of laying lazily on a grassy field studded with tiny daisies on a sunny day. I find fruit to have been a bad choice for a fragrance trying to evoke such images. Not to mention the fact that jasmine and gardenia are both too heavy to be associated with anything daisy-like.

Sorry Marc – Love the shoes.