Perfume Bloggers

By Donna

Roses have to be among the most beloved of all plants that are cultivated by humans, and hardly anyone does not like their scent. It is a rare person who is not affected in some way by the delicious aroma of a fresh, dewy rose blossom. But when it comes to rose perfumes, even those who love the flower itself are less than enamored of perfumes featuring the rose. Sometimes it is because

Continue reading → Roses in 3-D: Annick Goutal Ce Soir Ou Jamais

Created in the beginning of World War I, N’Aimez Que Moi was meant to be an oath of faithfulness, of willingness to wait, to love only Him, and a manifestation of hope that He, despite the distances between, will love only Her. Times changed, we became that much more sophisticated or, rather, cynical. We wouldn’t dare to pronounce, Love Only Me, in fear of being seen for what we really are,

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Caron N’Aimez Que Moi

In the second week of July, I will have an opportunity to spend a day in the presence of perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, the author of Amouage Jubilation XXV, all Eau d’Italie, many Comme des Garcons and L’Artisan Parfumeur scents and now in charge of L’Atelier de L’Artisan Parfumeur. If there are questions that you would like to ask the celebrated nez, please state them in your comments. I will

Continue reading → Questions for Bertrand Duchaufour

I am rarely in a mood for vanilla. I am always in a mood for a fragrance that is masterfully built on an interesting contrast. In Micallef’s Vanille Aoud, the contrast is announced right in the name. The sweet, milky innocence of vanilla is juxtaposed with the dry, dark sensuality of aoud. Vanilla turns aoud into a mouthwatering delicacy, while aoud turns vanilla into “the little deadly demon

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Micallef Vanille Aoud

By Tom

Nasomatto China White, Isotta Fraschini Profumo Uomo and L’Artisan L’Ete en Douce

First off, I want to thank all of you for wishing me a happy birthday in this blog last week, I was truly touched, and it made turning 137 years old a lot easier. I thank you all!

What did not make it easier was the fact that it was about 137 degrees in the city of the lost Angels this weekend. I know,

Continue reading → On the Lighter Side

By Marla

My last addition to this worthy blog was a rant about the “meh-ness” of this year’s avalanche of perfume debuts. I’ve tried about 50 more since then, and still, have only purchased one, Guerlain’s crispy-bitter Laurier Reglisse; I bought this one because it’s refreshing on hot days, because I was at Heathrow and very bored, and because it’s a sister scent to the discontinued Anisia

Continue reading → The Joys of DIY

…is Karin. Please send me your address using the contact link on the right. Thank you, everybody, for your good wishes and for participating!

Continue reading → The winner of the Histoires de Parfums Raffle…

Oud-lovers, close your eyes or close this page. If you read further, your emotional and financial health will be in serious jeopardy. It is too late for me, a lovely enabler opened for me the (very expensive) world of Arabian Oud …but save yourselves! Now, those reckless enough to keep reading, Arabian Oud, according to their own site, is “the largest Arabian fragrance retailer in the world,

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Arabian Oud King Fahed

Today my little one is graduating from pre-K, so I am sorry, no review will be coming. Instead, let’s have a celebratory prize draw. For a chance to win a set of 12 Histoires de Parfums samples, please leave me a note in your comment. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Tuesday.

But most importantly, Happy Birthday to our wonderful, witty, talented Tom! Tom, you are the best!

Continue reading → Friday Raffle, Graduation and Birthday

Patou describe Divine Folie, created in the “twilight years” of the 1930s, as “a party mood of exquisite madness”. The lush floral-ambery, spicy composition has the intensity, the desperate glamour, the fey feeling of a beautiful world coming to an end and refusing to realize it.

The creamy nuttiness of ylang-ylang, combined with honeyed orange blossom, creates a sweet, slightly powdery accord

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Jean Patou Divine Folie

By Tom

If you have read my blog or the past posts here on PST you will have more than covered the Agatha Christie-esque twists and turns that have brought this new scent to me. (all kudos to the ladies at the Perfumed Court for making up for the vicissitudes of the local Post Office- you ladies rock)
Musc Nomade is the fourth scent in the new line of Goutals, called “Les Orientalists”. The

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Annick Goutal Musc Nomade

A pineapple perfume is a rarity. A non-syrupy, grown-up, complex and wearable pineapple perfume is more precious than rubies. Up untill know I knew of four (Marina de Bourbon, Bahiana, Colony, Ananas Fizz). Somehow I did not expect to find the fifth favorite in a scent inspired by George Sand…although, if you accept Histores de Parfums’ description of her as of a “woman who knew how to live to

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Histoires de Parfums 1804 George Sand

I recently learned a great French expression, “mi chien mi loup”, which basically means “dusk” and literally translates as “between dog and wolf”. I think it perfectly describes that time of day when night is already chasing away the sun, but it is not quite dark yet, and everything is covered with cool, milky mist. At work, we use mi chien mi loup when talking about L’Ete en Douce. I think that

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Histoires de Parfums Blanc Violette

…is CORNLILY. Please email me your address using the Contact Me link on the right, and the set of 12 samples will be on its way to you. As always, thank you, everybody, for playing!

Continue reading → The winner of the June 2nd prize draw…

It might be that I’ve been spending too much time on Madison Avenue or it might be that my personality has underwent a dramatic change due to some latent brain disease, but this summer something bizarre started happening to my style. All of a sudden Ralph Lauren has become my favorite shopping destination. Believe it or not, but never in my life have I owned a polo shirt before. Now I have, um,

Continue reading → In Which I Am Being Preppy

By Tom

First off, is there anyplace in this country in which the weather is not majorly sucking? (see, it’s so bad I am channeling my inner 80’s teen!) Ghastly, humid heat in the North, Auntie-Em sized twisters in the middle, snow (!) in the Northeast, and the Southland is just hot with enough mugginess to make it disgusting.

This weekend was Gay Pride and friends tried to drag me there. No

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande

If it were up to me, I would change “Jardin” to “Watermelon Plantation”. The mousson has passed, and wind and rain wreaked havoc on the field, cracking open huge, ripe watermelons, making them release their syrupy and at the same time watery-fresh aroma….

I bet you are thinking this is going to be a negative review.

I absolutely adore Un Jardin apres la Mousson. Not because it showcases

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Hermes Un Jardin apres la Mousson

By Donna

This is the last in my series of white floral perfume reviews – which certainly does not mean I will never review another one, however. I am always trying new ones and rediscovering past favorites. This I a roundup up those fragrances which I like or even love but which I felt did not merit a stand-alone review yet, at least by me, or I already wrote about them before, or they are

Continue reading → White Floral Queen Part Eight: Best Of The Rest and Also-Rans

I am facing a very busy week with lots of projects ahead of me, so PST will be taking a break till Tuesday, June 10th. Before we go though, I would like to have a prize draw, the entries for which will be accepted till Sunday, June 8th. If you would like to win a set of samples consisting of: Hermes Un Jardin Apres La Mousson, Montale Red Vetiver, Vanilla Extasy and Ginger Musk, Comme de Garcons

Continue reading → Prize Draw …and a Break

Note Vanillee had to struggle against all sorts of odds to even be tested by the jaded little me. I don’t like vanilla and I have been previously underwhelmed by Micallef’s creations. But test it I did, and - you guessed it - loved it!

Typically vanilla scents smell of mum’s cooking, chidlhood memories, of cuddles and smiles and all things nice. Note Vanillee is not that innocent. In fact, she

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Micallef Note Vanillee

Note Vanillee had to struggle against all sorts of odds to even be tested by the jaded little me. I don’t like vanilla and I have been previously underwhelmed by Micallef’s creations. But test it I did, and - you guessed it - loved it!

Typically vanilla scents smell of mum’s cooking, chidlhood memories, of cuddles and smiles and all things nice. Note Vanillee is not that innocent. In fact, she

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Micallef Note Vanillee

By Tom

The post office strikes again…
I would like to be writing about the new Annick Goutal musk scent for this week. I would like to be writing that it’s just wonderful and a full bottle is a must. Or that it ain’t all that and a bag of Doritos (well, I wouldn’t like writing that but were it the case, Tonstant Weader, I would do so) and you can safely strike it from your list of things

Continue reading → Thwarted!

…the fragrance that resurrected my interest in Guerlain, brought upon my love for Apres L’Ondee and is overall one of the most delightful recent discoveries of mine. I will be forever grateful to a fellow perfume lover who introduced me to it. It smelled so charming on her, a delicate sillage that is always there and never overwhelming, a wonderfully feminine, transluscent veil of a scent.

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Guerlain Quand Vient La Pluie…

…the fragrance that resurrected my interest in Guerlain, brought upon my love for Apres L’Ondee and is overall one of the most delightful recent discoveries of mine. I will be forever grateful to a fellow perfume lover who introduced me to it. It smelled so charming on her, a delicate sillage that is always there and never overwhelming, a wonderfully feminine, transluscent veil of a scent.

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Guerlain Quand Vient La Pluie…

By Donna

Well, it will come as no surprise to white floral aficionados everywhere that Fracas is on my list. It’s the one everyone knows and either loves or dislikes. It’s not a take it leave it perfume; it engenders strong opinions in those who have experienced it. Those who think they know me well may be a little taken aback by how much I love it. Why is that? This is THE ultimate diva/femme

Continue reading → White Floral Queen Part Seven: Robert Piguet Fracas

Happy Memorial Day to the US readers, and and I hope everybody had a great weekend. We will be back on Tuesday with a review of something “lush, exotic, sexy and over-the-top”.

Continue reading → Back on Tuesday

Remember the beginning of Meet Joe Black, when a voice is saying, yes, yes, as if answering William Parrish’s unasked question? I have been hearing a voice like that too, only sometimes it whispers, yes, and sometimes, no. My question is probably different from Mr. Parrish’s. I want to know if it is true what they say, that you can never go home again. Because it wouldn’t be the same home, the

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Laura Biagiotti Sotto Voce

Remember the beginning of Meet Joe Black, when a voice is saying, yes, yes, as if answering William Parrish’s unasked question? I have been hearing a voice like that too, only sometimes it whispers, yes, and sometimes, no. My question is probably different from Mr. Parrish’s. I want to know if it is true what they say, that you can never go home again. Because it wouldn’t be the same home, the

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Laura Biagiotti Sotto Voce

By Tom

Okay, my friend Marietta insisted that I worked that phrase in somewhere into a review. I can’t think of a scent that it works better with than with Hermes’ Eau d’Hermes, in the best way possible. March reviewed this a few months ago and when I had the chance to try it I of course had to. Its initial blast is very clean, and that lasts about three seconds before the cumin hits. Right

Continue reading → Stink, Stank, Stunk

As they said in Bull Durham, nobody on this planet ever really chooses each other…it’s all a question of quantum physics, molecular attraction and timing. Same with perfume. You go to a store for a bit of lighthearted sniffing, you try this and that, Le Labo Patchouli smells like the inside of an army boot AND like cotton candy, Avignon and Zagorsk are fantastic but you are not ready to abandon

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Frederic Malle French Lover

As they said in Bull Durham, nobody on this planet ever really chooses each other…it’s all a question of quantum physics, molecular attraction and timing. Same with perfume. You go to a store for a bit of lighthearted sniffing, you try this and that, Le Labo Patchouli smells like the inside of an army boot AND like cotton candy, Avignon and Zagorsk are fantastic but you are not ready to abandon

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Frederic Malle French Lover

The rule of thumb in colombina-world is, the sweeter a Dior scent, the less likely I am to be able to tolerate it. The rule does not necessarily apply to all brands. Some of the sweetest Chanels, Coromandel, Coco and Coco Mademoiselle, are on my Top 25-30 list. I don’t have a very sweet tooth in perfume (and in food, I don’t have it at all), but I have been known to enjoy such sweet monsters as

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Dior Addict

The rule of thumb in colombina-world is, the sweeter a Dior scent, the less likely I am to be able to tolerate it. The rule does not necessarily apply to all brands. Some of the sweetest Chanels, Coromandel, Coco and Coco Mademoiselle, are on my Top 25-30 list. I don’t have a very sweet tooth in perfume (and in food, I don’t have it at all), but I have been known to enjoy such sweet monsters as

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Dior Addict

By Linda

Every once in a while I encounter a scent that I find sufficiently arresting that it brings everything to a halt, calming me like a good cup of tea. The day slows around me and I relax.

By Sand is one of those scents for me, which is shocking, because it is everything I normally do not care for in a scent. It is sweetly girlish. It is fairly linear, after the wild few seconds of the

Continue reading → Ebba: By Sand, Miss Marisa and Miss Marisa Tropical

By Tom

Etat Libre is an niche house with scents that range from raw and interesting to raw and unwearable. Their latest is an eponymous one commissioned by the Tom of Finland Foundation to help mark, well whatever. In any case I was very much looking to try it, since the notes of leather, tonka, vetiver and musks seem right up my dark alley (this dramatic device, for the uninitiated is called

Continue reading → Etat Libre d’Orange Tom of Finland

PST is taking a short break. We will be back in business as usual on Friday. Have a great week, everybody!

Continue reading → We are on a break

By Donna

I have been a devoted fan of the Annick Goutal line from the very first time I tried it at my local perfume shop. To me they represented the best classic traditions carried on in modern formulations. Some are ethereally light while others pack an intense punch of depth and sensuality. My favorite among the latter category is Gardénia Passion.

The 1983 Goutal chypre-floral fragrance

Continue reading → White Floral Queen Part Six: Annick Goutal Gard??nia Passion

…is quinncreative. Please email me your address. Thank you, everybody, for playing!

Continue reading → Winner of the Montale sample draw …

Image source, Ralph Lauren.

Continue reading → Happy Mother’s Day!

March of Perfume Posse introduced me (and most of the perfumanity) to Courtesan by Worth, and I hope she will forgive me this review. It is not negative. I think Courtesan is …unique. And I admire originality regardless of whether I can actually wear the fragrance in question.

If you go to Worth website, it will tell you in plenty of detail what notes Courtesan is supposed to contain. But here

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Worth Courtesan and a Prize Draw

March of Perfume Posse introduced me (and most of the perfumanity) to Courtesan by Worth, and I hope she will forgive me this review. It is not negative. I think Courtesan is …unique. And I admire originality regardless of whether I can actually wear the fragrance in question.

If you go to Worth website, it will tell you in plenty of detail what notes Courtesan is supposed to contain. But here

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Worth Courtesan and a Prize Draw

By Tom

This weekend was lunch with a friend who wanted to stop into Barneys to meet a jewelry designer (she writes about, and is into jewelry). Since I am into gems with approximately the same fervor as I am into, say, Football, I went over to the perfume counter to the Serges.

I looked everything over and realized that I have at least decants of practically everything in the range except the

Continue reading → Roses, roses and more roses

The quality that fascinates me in Patricia de Nicolai scents is their creamy richness. Even the citrusy-fresh, summery fragrances like Eau d’Ete and the new Eau Turquoise have something comfortingly “solid” about them. The first breezy accords dissipate and underneath them one invariably finds the buttery, tonka-full base, “Nicolaiade”.

Eau Turquoise starts with a pleasantly sharp citrus note,

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Parfums de Nicolai Eau Turquoise

The quality that fascinates me in Patricia de Nicolai scents is their creamy richness. Even the citrusy-fresh, summery fragrances like Eau d’Ete and the new Eau Turquoise have something comfortingly “solid” about them. The first breezy accords dissipate and underneath them one invariably finds the buttery, tonka-full base, “Nicolaiade”.

Eau Turquoise starts with a pleasantly sharp citrus note,

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Parfums de Nicolai Eau Turquoise

Estee Lauder never ceases to surprise me in that in their collection there still exist (not too obviously for an average Lauder counter visitor) alongside superficial little things like Pleasures Delight such Classics as White Linen, Knowing, Estee and Private Collection.

The continued existence of the latter is especially amazing. Private Collection is not what I would call lovable and

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Estee Lauder Private Collection

You probably know by now that I am a big fan of Montale’s aouds. And yet I must admit that there are so many of them and the differences between them are so subtle that, well, they all smell kind of the same. Yes, I adore Aoud Roses Petals and Aoud Flowers but, were you to make me blind-smell them, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell which one is which. Red Aoud, however, has something

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Montale Red Aoud

…are: Dark-phoenix54, Ducks, Hopeb, Monica and Kayliana. Please email us your address using the “contact me” link on the right. Thank you, everybody, for participating.

Continue reading → Winners of Pink Manhattan Prize Draw…

Many thanks to Luca Turin for making me open my mind up a crack, with his review of Fahrenheit 32 in Perfumes The Guide. (I do, however, disagree with Turin that Fahrenheit was changed so much as to become unrecognizable. I knew it way back when and I own a bottle of current juice, and yes, the intensity of the original is lost somewhat, but it is still the same fragrance and is still great.) I

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Christian Dior Fahrenheit 32

Many thanks to Luca Turin for making me open my mind up a crack, with his review of Fahrenheit 32 in Perfumes The Guide. (I do, however, disagree with Turin that Fahrenheit was changed so much as to become unrecognizable. I knew it way back when and I own a bottle of current juice, and yes, the intensity of the original is lost somewhat, but it is still the same fragrance and is still great.) I

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Christian Dior Fahrenheit 32

Has the speed and amount of releases exhausted the inspiration behind this formerly Great, no, make it GREAT, line? To me, the downhill movement started with (so-called) Chypre (so-called) Rouge. Louve was shockingly uninteresting, and frankly I thought that the only way from there would be up, but no…Five O’Clock Au Gingembre does not, in my view, signify the new beginning. Rather, it is

Continue reading → Perfume Review: Serge Lutens: Five O’Clock Au Gingembre