Vanilla Lemon Pie, Vanilla Pom d’Amour & Vanilla Fruit Sorbet by Crazylibellule and the Poppies : Perfume Reviews

Wow, darlings, it’s been two weeks since my last post! Are you still here? I hope so! Me, oh my… You know this has been a super-crazy-busy year for me what with my thesis and everything. Well, it’s all going a little smoother now and by the end of June I should be done. We’ve finished recruiting participants for our experiment and tomorrow we’re going in the lab. I am tremendously excited - my first ever research. The hard part is still to come when I’ll have to statistically analyze the data (tremble, shiver, shake) but more than anything else, I’m excited! Anyway, I’m not going to bore you anymore with talk about the experiment, I’m just gonna dive into this review that I’ve been meaning to write for a while now.

If you’ve read my review of the Garçonnes Collection by Crazy Libellule and the Poppies, then you probably already know how I feel about this brand. I’m not gonna reiterate everything I’ve said before since it’s just a click away with the link above, but for those not in the mood to go back and look, suffice to say that in my opinion this is a super-innovative, super-fun brand that makes me happy. Each collection the brand releases seems to offer a coffret containing three popular solids of the collection, each dubbed “The Classic Set” followed by the collection’s name. At the height of my vanilla obsession last year, I got the Classic Set from the Poule de Luxe Collection, a series devoted to vanilla. Each perfume focuses on vanilla as the main theme, combining the delicious note with various gourmandise delights. The coffret in the Poule de Luxe Collection contains Vanilla Lemon Pie, Vanilla Pom d’Amour and Vanilla Fruit Sorbet. I am not sure if the company uses the same box as they did when I got them, but mine looks amazing: The darling box is decorated simply in black and soft pastel pink and looks utterly boudoir-appropriate - in fact it looks as delightful and sexy as an Agent Provocateur balm coffret. The sticks themselves feature the unabashedly pretty striped pattern that all Poule de Luxe sticks come in. I love this pattern - it makes me think of the awning of a small, treasure-like gelato shop on a sparkling, sunny promenade, which is of course utterly fitting with the gourmand theme of this collection.

But I bet you’re rather more interested in the scents themselves, aren’t you? Well, I have good news and bad news, although I fear the bad outweigh the good. The smell fabulous... In the box. That is, they smell amazing when you sniff the stick itself, but after a short while on the skin, disaster strikes. Let’s check them out one by one.

Vanilla Fruit Sorbet: This one features notes of Vanilla, Rose, Iris, Raspberry and Musk and is my least favorite of the three. Sniffing the stick itself, I get an innocent, soft floral scent (barely-there powdery soft rose, peony) tinged with vanilla. Once on the skin, as if by magic the scent changes completely and becomes full on raspberry on a bed of dry, dusky rose petals. Still not unpleasant, although certainly not me. Half an hour later and I want to scrub the tiny patch where I’d applied this “perfume caress” (as the company likes to call the sticks) raw: Unexpectedly the scent has turned utterly synthetic smelling and any tenderness and innocence is long gone. Despite careful application, it always turns bad and always, always seems penetrating and harsh. Unbelievable, as you wouldn’t expect a perfume solid to have such power!

Pom d’ Amour: The official notes for this one are Red Fruits, Hawthorn, Musk, Rhum, Peach, Tangerine, Vanilla and Liquorice. Smelling the stick the vanilla is almost unapparent: Instead, I get clean, citrusy-crisp apple and plenty of white musk. The scent is very spring-like and calm. On the skin the apple loses its crispness, becoming rounder, while the vanilla intensifies, gaining in warmth. Despite the abundance of notes I can’t say I smell much else other than that, nor do I find it very complex. As time wears on the peach becomes more apparent, but I wouldn’t consider that a good thing (it’s very Body Shop type of peach, if you know what I mean). The longer it stays on the skin the more candy-like it becomes - I can’t imagine wearing this myself unless I was feeling particularly coy and playful (ugh, that is, never): it is the smell of a little girl gorging on candy. It soon suffers almost the same fate as sister Vanilla Fruit Sorbet: the intensity and the chemical, synthetic smell kills all pleasantness.

Vanilla Lemon Pie: This is my favorite of the three, which is not hard, considering the other two turn so bad in the end. The good news is, this one doesn’t. Official notes are: Neroli, Lemon, Orange, Vanilla, Heliotrope, Almond and Caramel. I’ve been lusting after Laura Mercier’s Tarte au Citron for AGES, but it is impossible to get here and I haven’t had much luck trying to swap a bottle for it either. While this is not a perfect substitute by any stretch of the imagination, it does serve to satisfy my sweet gourmand-lemon cravings from time to time. The stick itself smells absolutely delicious, exactly like lemon cookies, complete with the buttery sweet smell that accompanies them. It makes me want to eat it! Just like the other two perfumes, this one loses part of its charm once on the skin, but unlike the other two, this one remains delightful throughout. The smell doesn’t significantly change - it just becomes slightly less ‘edible’ in terms of smell when on the skin. The only drawback is its longevity: Vanilla Lemon Pie quiets down pretty fast, unlike the other two.

So can one out of three still be considered a success story? You be the judge. The Poule de Luxe collection has two relatively new offerings as well: Vanilla Ganache and Vanilla Orangette. On the flip side however, they seem to have discontinued Vanilla Moka, Vanilla Macarons and Vanilla Pralines - just the ones I wanted to try next. It figures huh? Vanilla Pralines especially with its notes of hazelnuts and pecans sounded very, very interesting. Well, for those of you that got them while they still were around: enjoy them in good health! For the rest of you wanting to have a little vanilla on a stick, I heartily recommend Vanilla Lemon Pie.

And… If you have a bottle of Laura Mercier’s Tarte au Citron you’re interested in swapping or selling, do let me know! That was a desperate plea up there, in case it wasn’t clear! Hahahah!

Les Garçonnes Collection by Crazylibellule and the Poppies : Perfume Reviews

When was the last time you had fun with perfume? No, I mean real fun, the kind that makes you giggle, the kind that brings a flush of color to your face due to pure giddiness and glee. We perfume lovers tend to take perfume seriously; we consider it art. Smelling a fabulous new elixir will bring enormous excitement, snapping up that last discontinued bottle will make our heart quiver, following a wonderful presentation will mesmerize us, and spraying our favorite will always make us sigh with pleasure. But when really was the last time we had fun with perfume? Thoughts like these flooded my mind as I opened my box containing the latest Crazylibellule and the Poppies collection, for finally, after I don’t even know how many years, I truly felt again what it’s like to have fun with perfume! The so-called Crazysticks opened up a whole new world in perfume for me. Holding the tiny, ultra-cute boxes in my hands instantly made me feel like a little girl again, when shiny pebbles were as good as diamonds, ballerina shoes were magic, sparkly hair-clips were tiaras and little fripperies made my kiddy heart beat faster with excitement. Yes, my skin flushed with the gorgeous pink blush of joy, yes I giggled, yes I took all my little boxes to bed with me so that I could play! I had fun! And I thought to myself: I’ve got to share this feeling, this profound joy of actually having fun with perfume! I’ve got to buy Crazysticks for all my girlfriends, give them some girly joy as well, help them remember what it was like back when every little tiny thing of beauty was magic. Cause these are magic! And then the practical, adult side of me awakened, and it liked what it saw as well: All those occasions, when you want to treat each of the girls in your group of friends with something small and beautiful that won’t break the bank - these will be perfect! Down with little pink underwear and tiny lipglosses! Next time I’m gifting my friends with something different: Crazysticks. And every time they need to bring a smile to their face, they can just open their purse to find an ultra-light, uber-cute, beautiful little object to scent their skin with, the gorgeous perfume brightening their day.

But enough gushing from me, let’s do some reviewing. The newest Crazystick collection is titled Les Garçonnes (The Boys), a beautiful series that celebrates, pays homage and is directly inspired by women of the past that dared break the societal boundaries of their time. These were women that travelled, created, painted, smoked in public, cropped their hair, believed in themselves and lived life to the fullest.

• Hommage à Gabrielle: “Mademoiselle, how I have longed to dedicate this perfume stick to you. O to dare such freedom, to glimpse you in the heavens of the Ritz. I will freely accept your word, and dream of you wearing it.” Hommage à Gabrielle is a gorgeous and very daring blend of peony and leather with light accents of tobacco and vanilla on a bed of woods and light incense. Deep and sensual, it further grabs the interest by presenting a strange feminine fresh note that cuts through the composition taking one by surprise. Smoky and mysterious, this is perfect for the sophisticate with a dark edge.

• Pompon Gardénia: “She wears a most peculiar dress, covered with pompoms. Something quite insolent, and resolutely daring. Her singularity electrifies the bar, our glasses stand forgotten. So elusive! And we sit, captivated, by this vision. She leaves, unsullied, floating, down the grand staircase... the Bugatti takes her away leaving just her perfume, which tortures us already.” A bouquet of white blossoms (lily of the valley, jasmine, light yet creamy gardenia) forms the core of Pompon Gardénia, with a subtle tobacco notes caressing the petals. The composition is very smoothly rounded with sweet heliotrope and amber. Unfortunately (for me at least), I find the combination of fresh lime and aqueous watermelon too dissonant and distracting. I do not generally like aquatic notes in perfume (with very few exceptions) and as expected, they bother me here as well. I have to say however that this girly blend will serve those that do not mind aquatic notes well in the heat of summer: it smells very refreshing and clean.

• Joséphine Jonquille: “Sounds falling in a frenzy, and her barely clad skin as it shimmies. Life, as an ode to joy, against all odds. Jonquil-Jasmine, Hot perfume, perfect skin. Fascinating and impetuous.” This is absolutely wonderful, possibly my favorite in the Garçonnes collection! While it features notes of jasmine-jonquil and tiare, my nose does not really pick them up, except as a vague feminine, silky touch that caresses the otherwise relatively masculine composition. I smell sensual spices and deep woody notes (light, clean patchouli, touch of vetiver, sandalwood) simply delightfully combined with gourmand notes of ginger (cookie-like) and pure dark chocolate. This is blissful!

• Jeanne Voyage: “Travel the world, getting drunk on art. A passion for exception. Adorned with a stole indecent to the touch. The suave odor of unfastened chests crammed with wonders, the smell of somewhere else, a few flowers laid... a sumptuous Italian blue, and sketches torn from a travel diary...” This one is absolutely perfect to replicate the scent of baby soft, velvety, clean skin. It smells delightful: Sweet and musky, clean and soft, tenderly powdery. I smell a lovely warm, sweet musk with clean but subtle soapy accents infused with the gorgeously powdery scent of iris. Spicy nutmeg amps the comfort-feel of this warm fragrance. The tenderness of this perfume is perfectly underscored by the subtle touch of heliotrope. Yum.

• Chère Louise: “In the silence of the studios, Louise turns. Impenetrable, mythical. I can imagine her voice. A pure, sophisticated, enigmatic caress, both mysterious and youthful.” Perfectly unisex, as it precariously balances on the verge of masculinity with its notes of sharp aoudh, vetiver and pepper while at the same time utilizing a curiously abstract and undoubtedly feminine floral cord with gentle rose at its core, Chère Louise is enigmatic and strange, in the manner of perfumes that get you obsessively sniffing your wrist all day long. The resinous character of storax and the bitter-sweet touch of saffron render this a beautiful, soft oriental.

• Tamara Charleston: “Breathe in the air on the steps of the villa and feel your body quiver once more. Dizzy, a glass of gin on the rocks, drawing on a cigarette before her portrait. Listening to the garden, naked... and the Charleston electrifying the night” Tamara Charleston is this collection’s gem, together with Joséphine Jonquille. While the latter wins my heart due to its comforting, gourmand nature, Tamara Charleston comes very close by virtue of its thoughtful, unique composition. I’ve been enamored with notes of peach and apricot in perfume for years, but good ones are extremely hard to come by - most smelling rather synthetic, simple and juvenile. In Tamara Charleston the peach note is utterly youthful, fresh and natural, yet blissfully refrains from taking over the composition or overshadowing the other notes. In other words it’s perfect, lending a feeling of that youthful, first sexual awakening to the blend, while allowing the other notes to weave their magic around it. Sweet hay, with a dirty, erotic tinge, milky grass and a few precious droplets of mandarin nectar infused with a gentle floralcy are summoned around this glorious fruit note to create the image of an enchanted sunny clearing, where anything can happen.

• Rose à Saïgon: “Her name was Rose, and she dreamed of other worlds, of the effervescence of the roaring twenties... The moist air of Indochina, a crackly melody on the gramophone, and the spellbinding odor of dreams on her skin.” A fruity composition that according to the official notes is meant to focus on the passion fruit, but what I predominately smell is raspberry. In fact this smells very much like Framboise eau de vie, sweet and tart at the same time. The passion fruit is there alright, but playing a secondary role, subtly infusing the raspberry with a hint of the exotic. This is very young, very girly, and much less complex than the rest of the fragrances in the collection.

The glide on the skin smoothly, leaving no residue. You know I love solids, both as a concept as well as for practical reasons (travel, carrying in the purse etc) and these pleasantly go a step further since you do not actually have to dip your fingers in them in order to perfume your skin (kind of annoying if you have long nails). The lasting power is great for me, but sillage is minimal. The scent has perfect intensity, but does not project - only those that come close enough for a hug will be able to detect your perfume.