Shopping in Den Haag?

I am trying to get all my Christmas shopping done as fast as possible before I leave for Greece where I am going to spend the holidays and it is proving quite a task! I have left the gift shopping for far too late this year, due to my having a terrible cold and an extremely busy university schedulle and now I am forced to rush rush rush! I did find some time to go to Den Haag yesterday though, and I wanted to talk about a couple of finds:

Did you know that Vivienne Westwood's Let it Rock is already here? I'd been looking for it for a while and yesterday I saw it for the first time. It is fa-bu-lous! Definitely something I want to review in January. If you haven't tried it yet, go on, treat yourself to a spritz, you won't regret it! The official notes I've seen do not match the wonderful, incens-y impression my single testing gave me, so I can't wait to try it again and see. The drydown was gorgeous amber with animalic hints - I found it deeply intriguing! I saw this at the Bijenkorf. Next to it, to my surprise, some of the discontinued Libertine was restocked, along with a tester. If you haven't smelled this before or if you're lusting for a backup bottle, now seems to be the chance to get one! But my best find yesterday was surely Balenciaga's rarely seen Le Dix, a sophisticated aleldehydic-floral. At 12 euro per 30ml, a trip to the Bijenkorf is in order!

Something for my Dutch Readers

Back in May, I wrote a review of the now discontinued Libertine, by Vivienne Westwood. At the time, there were still a few testers floating around at some Ici Paris(Boo, Hiss!) boutiques and perhaps one or two bottles as well. Soon after, Libertine completely disappeared, or at least I stopped seeing it altogether in the boutiques I frequent. This Saturday though, I happened upon a drugstore I hadn’t seen before and I decided to step inside, even though it did not look all that interesting at first glance – too many shampoos and shaving paraphernalia and too few perfumes to truly make me think I was going to find anything truly interesting inside. I went in anyway though, and to my surprise, I discovered they still carry Libertine! The shop is called “Beautique La Birynth” and the address is Denneweg 13A, 2514 CB, ‘s-Gravenhage. Their telephone number is 070-3638194. They still have a few bottles left, as well as a tester. Do pay a visit an sniff Libertine while it’s still there, it’s worth the little trip!

I hope this is of help to those of you looking for a bottle of this delightful perfume, or simply curious to sniff it.

Libertine by Vivienne Westwood : Perfume Review

Libertine... Gluttonous abandon, hedonistic encounters... The word brings many associations to mind, but perhaps most salient to me are the wordy, loquacious, sometimes downright pleonastic writings of the time. But no matter which association my wandering mind stumbles upon, the perfume itself seems incongruent with its gifted name. No, I do not mean that this is a fragrance with mass-market appeal, for it isn’t. But it is not quite anti-establishment either, nor is it garrulous and excessive. It follows a linear development and its beauty, albeit not simple, is Spartan and restrained.

It is not difficult to become infatuated with Libertine. The simple beauty I spoke of should not be equated with mediocrity, or with the average. It is the simplicity of a gorgeous woman wearing nothing but her man’s crisp white shirt on a sunny Sunday morning. She needs no make-up or dangly earrings. She is sensual as she is and her silky skin is begging to be explored. It is the simplicity of a pair of sparkling diamond studs: they don’t scream their presence, but they never fail to add an extra spring in your step. So is Libertine, unassuming yet unfailingly noticeable. In the same way one does not need to be a sommelier to recognize the quality of a wine of great vintage upon tasting it, one will immediately recognize the standard of this perfume the moment they come across it. To borrow a term from the field of cognitive psychology, this fragrance has the ‘pop-out effect’.

Like Boudoir, Libertine features viburnum, a flower commonly found in English gardens and favored by Vivienne Westwood. Having never smelled viburnum myself, I cannot say how prominently it features in the fragrance. The rest of the notes listed for Libertine are pineapple and grapefruit at the top, honeysuckle, muguet, and bergamot oil in the middle as well as oakmoss, musk and patchouli at its base. The notes do not quite resonate with me; I would prefer to describe to you how I experience the blend myself. Libertine to me is woodsy, like a dark basket lined with sappy, freshly cut green vines. In it, I do find small pieces of ripe pineapple and flower petals, but also roasted coffee beans, which have been slightly caramelized. In fact, it is this flowery, slightly caramelized coffee smell that makes me love this fragrance so much. The lovely, bittersweet Libertine has sadly been discontinued. You can still find it in some fragrance boutiques until their stocks get exhausted, as well as online. Which reminds me... I really need another bottle.

Pictures courtesy of http://metropolis.co.jp and www.floralimages.co.uk

Tendenza for Her by Van Gils : Perfume Review

Van Gils is a Dutch fashion house that dates back to the 1920s. Their clothes and accessories are clearly inspired by Italian sense of style but can readily be described as boring and unoriginal. Their fragrance line however has enjoyed considerable and not altogether undeserving success. Tendenza for Her, the first female fragrance in the line, was released in March 2005 and is widely available across Europe.

I am not a fan of fruity florals, quite the contrary actually, but for some reason I really wanted to review a fragrance that is both fruity and not high-end lately. For this purpose I chose Tendenza and decided to sample it several times both on myself and on others. The experience has been very disappointing. Tendenza has top notes of Grapefruit and Green Apple, middle notes of Freesia, Peony, Rose and Jasmine and base notes of Amber and Vanilla. The opening is very sharp, but it is perhaps the most intelligent part of this perfume’s development. I rather enjoyed being able to clearly discern both the fresh green apple and the gentle, uplifting smell of Freesia. Unfortunately, both those notes fly off quite fast and what is left is a messy, generic, wildly synthetic girly mixture. The press releases attempted to brand Tendenza for Her as sexy and elegant. It is neither. Instead, it is a fragrance more suited to a misguided romantic teenager that tries to be alluring, ellegant and sexy. Unfortunately, said teenager has not yet developed a good sense of taste, for this is a perfume completely lacking in class and finesse, but one that is so stereotypical of feminine fragrances that will undoubtedly trick many such young girls into buying it. Tendenza is every bit a run-of-the-mill drugstore female fragrance and its cheap packaging does not do it any favors either. The bland flacon was created by Fabrice Legros, the same man who designed the bottles of Caline and Libertine. Its austere, boring lines further conspire to add to its generic, conventional image. The lasting power is punishingly sustained, guaranteed to be there on your skin for much, much longer than would be desired. Hopefully by then, the main offenders will have subsided and you will be left with a much less cruel, sour vanilla. The only point of redemption I can think of, is that on male skin Tendenza manages to evolve a warm chocolate accord for the first few hours of wear. Yet surely, there are much more refined options out there that will provide the same effect.

Lastly I want to say that I feel slightly guilty for painting such a caustically negative picture of this fragrance. I do not mean to offend anyone who finds delight in this perfume. And too, I do not know if you, the readers, find it more interesting to read positive reviews inspired by love, to negative ones. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I find it hard to write about perfumes that do not create any stirring of emotion inside me, the review would be bland if the perfume itself left me completely cold. But I would really appreciate some input on whether blatantly negative reviews are welcome and read with interest. I hope that this review has provided you with at least a chuckle or a smirk!

Pictures courtesy of www.beautyweb.nl and www.fashionunited.co.uk respectively