This Joe Malone perfume is more than it says on the bottle, and the extra bit is a fragrant clove, which took a while on the blotter to come out, but my skin gave back fairly quickly. Other than giving me a pleasant WTF perfume moment (it doesn’t happen very often, last time it was with Declaration by Cartier two months ago), clove took what would have otherwise been a very sophisticated shaving foam (lavender and amber are of [...] Read more »
* Disclaimer for my own title: it refers to the first part of the perfume, in the end it gets better. Dolce Gabbana Pour Homme opens with a quite fragrant lemon, which makes it very Mediterranean right off the box, but then it follows the same fate of Hugo Boss Bottled Night: there is a lot of good will in the shape of herbs and woods, but they end up buried under a hefty dose of detergent smell. [...] Read more »
Are Hugo Boss perfumes really “the deepest pit of hell” as Chandler Burr calls them in his The Perfect Scent? I opened the lid to see what fetid vapours I would find, and I came out of the experience unscathed, although, I have to admit, not much impressed. Bottled Night Hugo Boss starts with citrus, fruity and slightly sweet notes, which soon turn out to be a very fragrant lemon. It could and should have lasted more, but they [...] Read more »
This new edition of Marc Jacobs Bang adds an extra bang and does what it says on the tin. It starts with a good dose of citrus notes and a layer of metallic paint on it, similar to Azzaro Chrome if you will, although this one is more citrusy and less laundry clean. The metallic thing, is actually cardamom, or something of that sort (it’s a tad sweet as well), it becomes more evident when the lemon notes [...] Read more »
This Intense version of Gucci Guilty perfume for men starts citrusy with – I would say – red orange, and that will remain one of the main notes of this fragrance, announced by the fact that my skin didn’t destroy it immediately. The result however, is warm rather than fresh, prelude to the common theme of a diffused darkness just like in Gucci by Gucci for women. The fragrance then adds some herbs and gentle florals to the [...] Read more »
I think there is. The name couldn’t be more appropriate: Azzaro Chrome cologne is a basket full of clean laundry, brushed with a layer of metallic paint. Yes, there are citrus, but you may even not notice them, as you may be overwhelmed by the extreme cleanness of dihydromyrcenol, a molecule used in laundry detergents and defined by Chandler Burr (who admittedly hates it) “a molecule that smells like sink cleanser spilled on an aluminium counter” (from The [...] Read more »
Here is a citrusier version of the original Fuel For Life Homme, part of the Denim collection launched for summer 2011. The opening is – like the original – with cold anise and citrus, then the additional soft floral notes of lavender make this Denim perfume clean and delicate and pretty much unisex for a good while. At least until the woods kick in, and they will be warmish and slightly sweet until the end. Floral – [...] Read more »
To (over) simplify a little, Hermes Merveilles perfume is where orange meets amber. And, like those couples where one has an outspoken personality and the other won’t talk nor smile too much, results may vary. If what you get on your skin – as I did on the paper strip – is a prominent orange and lemon, then amber will provide a warm support, although the overall effect made me think at times of a herbalist’s shop. If, [...] Read more »