Ambre 114 & 1969 by Histoires de Parfums : Perfume Reviews

It’s Friday and as promised, we’ll once again be visiting the Histoires de Parfums library. The two perfumes we'll explore today are Ambre 114 and 1969; together they form the “Cult Books” subcategory in Histoires de Parfums' collection of tomes.

· Ambre 114: If you are a fan of amber fragrances, and especially if you like huge, golden holy dragons of scents, like Maître Parfumeur et Gantier’s Ambre Précieux and Artisan’s Ambre Extrême, then you definitely need to try Ambre 114 – you’re going to love it. Ambre 114 pays great emphasis on its gorgeous ambergris note, around which everything seems to revolve with inevitable attraction. It is a wonderfully aromatic take on amber, no doubt due to the use of thyme and nutmeg in the composition. The potion gradually changes from herbal luminescence to a mysterious darkness dimly lit by an incandescent heart of gold. Throughout the development the nose is seduced by a progressively intensifying, exotic smokiness, which finally disperses in the drydown to reveal the most gorgeous vanillic tolu-tobacco accord. Comforting and sensuous at once, this warm golden scent will be perfect for the colder months, ideally in front of a roaring fire.

· 1969: As a teenager, I spent a good number of years obsessed with song lyrics and titles – analyzing them, devising games to play with my friends and often, quite embarrassingly I must admit, replying to questions with them. Something that I discovered through this minor quirk is that numerous songs in both English and other languages are titled 1969. Even more songs reference 1969 in their lyrics. People are fascinated by this year, which has attained a power akin to a magical number in our culture. I am not surprised to see the date crop up on a perfume bottle; 1969 is indeed, as the perfume’s box indicates, a mythical year:

The Beatles give their last public performance.
Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal; they record “Give Peace a Chance”
The first message is sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet; a few months later the first link is established.
The world watches as man takes his first steps on the Moon.
Cold War.
Vietnam.
WOODSTOCK

Perhaps it is that last reference, Woodstock, which has me expecting a patchouli-ladden, headshop extravaganza, done in the most sophisticated manner possible bien sûr, but 1969 is anything but. It is a surprise, much like every event in the unexpectedly significant last year of the decade it pays homage to. It smells like a quaintly decorated shop of sweet culinary delights and fruits. At the very same time, it smells like freshly washed shiny hair, warmed by the sun. It smells edible, but not quite, like candied fruit bewitched. The opening is intense and fruity, like citrus fruits preserved in sugar. And ever so slowly it becomes softer and softer, until the intensity of the fruit dissipates and unfolds, to reveal a perfectly blended, lightly sweet softness underneath. Smelling close, there is something lovely and strange emerging out of the smooth sweetness – something cooling, like mint. The passing of time brings floral notes to the fore, a gentle rose and a shy, mild carnation that become the most salient features of this scent, until finally, in the drydown we are left with a bed of cacao opening its arms to receive the shower of flower petals. This fragrance seems deceptively simple at first, but becomes more and more complex as you get to know it. Its most striking feature, the way it combines coolness with warmth, is definitely worth getting to know.

While we continue to discover the Histoires de Parfum line together, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that the lovely Marina over at Perfume Smelling Things is running a raffle today! The lucky winner will receive a sample packet of all 12 Histoires de Parfum scents.

Images: www.music1969.com and www.histoiresdeparfums.com

Histoire Charnelle by Hubert Maes Créations : Perfume Review

Hubert Maes is the creator of three perfumes so far: Histoire d'un Rêve, Histoire Charnelle and Délicieuse Histoire. He is also the owner of Le Soleil d’Or boutique in Lille, France. I have not tested Histoire d'un Rêve and Délicieuse Histoire extensively enough to have formed a solid opinion on them, but at first sniff the former appeared too girly, young and frivolous for my tastes, while the latter appeared to be altogether too foody. Histoire Charnelle on the other hand was just right – it instantly moved me in a way the other two didn’t, moved me in fact enough to consider buying it on the spot, something I almost never do. What is more surprising though, is that I also felt instantly apologetic upon smelling Histoire Charnelle. Apologetic towards coconut, a note I up until recently deemed rather ...cheap, I guess.

It was only four months ago, in the beginning of July, when I wrote about coconut scents. In that same post I at once admitted to craving coconut scents every summer, yet, at the same time, I adamantly advocated my views on how coconut is never advisable for city-wear, insisted that the note is certainly less than chic, named it inelegant without regret, and even went as far as to say that I am “loath to use the word ‘fragrance’ or ‘perfume’ in the same sentence as coconut”. While I do not yet feel ready to completely revoke these statements for they certainly do apply to most, if not all, of the coconut based fragrances I’d ever smelled before Histoire Charnelle came into my life, I am now forced to admit there do apparently exist exceptions, and Histoire Charnelle is certainly one of them. I couldn’t help but mentally mock my former statements the moment I sniffed it. Even though it is only listed as a top note, coconut is definitely the core of this fragrance, with every other note dancing obediently around it. It never leaves my conscience, persistently remaining the star of the fragrance from the beginning to the end. And yes I do feel apologetic towards it, because it petulantly contradicts everything I’ve ever said about it. Yes, this is an elegant coconut; yes it is chic as can be. Yes, I’d gladly wear it in the city, rain or shine. Yes, yes, yes I’d even wear it in winter, yes, with a tweed jacket and knee length skirt. Yes, I’d wear my leather gloves....With coconut!!! With this coconut.


“She is shadow and figure… she is the woman of today’s world.
This lady, creates envy everywhere she goes.
She leads the dance, she’s ambitious and very conscious of her charm and sensuality.
People look at her when she passes by.”
Hubert Maes, on Histoire Charnelle


Histoire Charnelle means “Carnal Story” and the scent itself is as lusty and warm as the name indicates. The opening is delightfully spicy and, surprisingly perhaps, rather dry, with an intense vintage quality. It is rather thick and bold in character, just as the woman Hubert Maes evokes with the quote above. Uncompromising would be a good word to describe it: This is a fragrance for a woman who cares not what others think of her. In a way, this fragrance smells to me like pure curves... I guess what I am trying to say is that the scent does not evoke images of an ethereal being, but of a creature who is there to stay for as long as she pleases, a provocative presence you cannot possibly ignore. As the fragrance develops on the skin, the dryness slowly disappears (I wish it did last longer, because it is what initially made it so distinguishable) and the scent becomes all the more rounded and voluptuous. I keep getting whiffs of something that smells very spicy, something that vividly makes me think of ground black pepper, but pepper is not one of the listed notes. The cinnamon is deep and dark and adds beautifully to the warmth of this fragrance. Slowly the sweetness of the ambery, vanillic base comes through, making the drydown quite comforting, but I would still hesitate to call it gourmand. To me, this is an oriental fragrance that has enough warmth and voluptuousness to allow the wearer to appear inviting and sensual, but is at the same time elegant enough to allow a certain amount of detachment without appearing false. Beautiful.

Official Notes:
Top Notes: (Fruity-Fresh) pear, coconut, bergamot, tangerine
Heart Notes: (Woody-Aromatic) sandalwood, cedar, patchouli, cinnamon, nutmeg
Base Notes: (Ambergris-Scented) tonka, vanilla

Images: Author's own, www.forzieri.com (artistic interpretation of Forzieri leather jacket w/ fox collar, Author's own) and commons.wikimedia.org

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

Palisander by Ava Luxe : Perfume Review

Ina, over at Aromascope made a post some time ago which sparked a discussion on straightforward perfumes. As I stated at the time, I believe that straightforward, linear perfumes can sometimes be a blessing, because you do not have to think too much. Too, sometimes what you are looking for can only be satisfied by a simpler creation, without too much fuss around it. I know I personally have a number of such little loves at least. Although not all of Ava Serena Franco’s fragrances are linear (some are far more complex than I had imagined before trying them), a lot of them satisfy those cravings for a clean, straightforward blend. Her line is fun, the service is amazing and I often find myself visiting her website to order samples as a pick-me-up gift to myself that will invariably bring me a lot of pleasure when it arrives.

I woke up today planning to write a review of Incense Musk, in order to continue the theme of incense I started with Miyako, but when I visited the website I found that it has been discontinued. Not wanting to write another “you can’t have me” teaser, I first considered writing about Passage d’Enfer, but then I realized that in the process I had actually become more interested in writing about an Ava Luxe scent, than about an incense fragrance in general. After perusing my sample collection for a while I decided to settle on Palisander, a delightful autumnal scent, perfect for when the leaves turn copper and the wind starts baring wintry fangs.

Palisander, conversely one of the more complex Ava Luxe fragrances I have sampled, has a strange earthiness when it is first applied on the skin. An earthiness so strong in fact, that it manages to instantly evoke images of subterranean growth, roots of trees and fibers of plants growing deep in dark, rich soil. There are leaves there too, dropped on the forest floor. They have seen countless rains and are now laying there lifeless, wet, decomposing...Becoming one with the earth that bore them. As the oil warms on the skin, the earthy scent disappears, leaving almost no trace behind. It is replaced by a heavy, woody sweetness. When I originally sampled Palisander, six months or so ago, I found the first whiff of its sweetness frightening - I thought I might have to scrub it off immediately. I do sometimes experience an extreme sense of sweetness from some woody fragrances and essential oils and it is something I honestly can’t stomach. Thankfully, I decided to be brave and let it sit on my skin for a while and this was rewarded: I found that this time the sweetness is anything but nauseating. Yes, the initial entrance is rather grand and dramatic, but it quickly becomes obvious that it is not going to be overpowering: despite its headiness, this is a rather sheer sweetness, one that graciously agrees to dance instead of a solo, together with all the other elements of the blend, one after the other. It becomes a constant, which is at first partnered up with a strange, slightly medicinal freshness, a remnant of the erstwhile earthiness. Then later on, with sensuous amber which eradicates any sense of freshness there was still to be found and allows a beautiful, enveloping warmth to bloom on the skin...until finally, it becomes smoky; dark, intense and almost incense like. There is also something else there: after some hours of wear I find Palisander to take on a peculiar animalic quality; the smell of desire heating up a cold room in winter, like a glowing ember.

Images courtesy of: www.galeriabali.pl, www.csun.edu,