Fragrances -L'Artisan Fragrances - Ananas Fizz Summer 2004 Limited Edition
darkharbour 8/2/2007 12:32:00 PM
Oh, I did not think I would like this. I am not hugely excited about pineapple in general and thought there was no way this was not going to be an icky-sticky-uber sweet-migraine-inducer. Not so. First, this is a very, very soft fragrance, bordering on a skin scent. It's more like the residue of shower gel or soap on your skin -- but it does not smell soapy at all. There is a sweetish tang I associate with fruit, and I think I can find the subtlest hint of fresh pineapple in here, or perhaps starfruit. Beyond that, it smells a bit of fresh florals and a bit of wood. I have not (thankfully) caught any coconut. Again, very, very soft and nice on a hot day. Lasting power is not great, but typical for this line.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Serge Lutens - A La Nuit
darkharbour 7/30/2007 1:00:00 PM
A lilting soprano among fragrances, this luxurious, heady, and luminous soliflore smells like Grasse on a summer day. The jasmine is pure, crisp, unsullied and unblemished. Nature hates the linear, as she is woman, and thus more comfortable with curves and circles. This jasmine is so utterly luscious, that it begins to circle round a bit, and threatens to fall into the precipice of the foul and rank. It does not quite fall, but it occasionally teeters on the edge. (There is a reason some loathe potently fragranced flowers.) Indolic jasmine can take you places evocative of an infant's soiled diaper. Certain skins may cause this pungent accord to blossom, while others may brush it aside to return to the wonderful creaminess of this tiny, waxy, white flower. The end result, if your skin is the latter, is an enormously fresh fragrance, akin to a very bright white light.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Hair -Unlisted Brand - Quantum Glistening Golds
darkharbour 7/29/2007 10:17:00 AM
Quantum Glistening Golds is a sytem of shampoo and conditioner, available at Sally's, in 10.2 ounce bottles, $5.99 each. The shampoo does contain ALS, and the conditioner contains dimethicone. I share this because I realize that some choose to avoid those ingredients. For twenty or so years, I have tinted my coarse, naturally curly, prone to frizziness, brunette hair various shades of deep auburn, from plums to burgundies to russets to mahoganies. After a while the onslaught of gray precluded such colors, as they fade rather garishly on gray. So, in the past two years, I have instead used a warm, medium brown, and in the past year, have added highlights. The highlights help mask the gray as it grows in, but alas gold is not silver, so the highlights still stand in contrast. As a result, I have been experimenting with various color enhancing shampoos and conditioners in order to maintain the butterscotch gold of my highlights, and to warm the silver of encroaching grays. So far, these products have been successful at doing both, and they have been kind to my processed hair. Someone with fine, oily hair may not enjoy these products as much as I do. But my highlights are not strawlike and have stayed honeyed, warm, and rich. These products are mildly and pleasantly scented.
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Fragrances -Frederic Malle - Le Parfum de Therese
darkharbour 7/25/2007 12:27:00 PM
As others have noted, this is Femme evolved, more simple, lighter, more spiritual. This is a watery-fruity-floral conceived at a time when the world wanted chypres and aldehydes. It gives a ancestorly nod to the modern fragrances with these accords, perhaps a double nod to Calyx or L'Eau d'Issey. Moist, trembling blossoms, watery melons, soft, humid greenery stay close to the skin. An angelic fragrance.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Frederic Malle - Noir Epices
darkharbour 7/25/2007 12:18:00 PM
A dark of night, sorceress of a fragrance. Deep woods, umber spices, and dank-earth patchouli are teased a bit by orange and flowers, but the result is even less inoocent and more like a bubbling cauldron of temptation. The softer notes are corrupted by the darker, more tawdry accords. Yet, this does not screech like Lilith with her owl wings. This is Morgan La Fey; royal blood corrupted, temptation personified, determined to have her way. Part banshee, part faery, all woman. A wild thing, making offerings at the crossroads. "Black Spices." Not for day, not for summer, and certainly not for anyone with any reservations about her intentions. The sillage is powerful. Go easy.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -I Profumi di Firenze - Violetta de Bosco
darkharbour 7/25/2007 11:54:00 AM
This is the Italian version of violet, so you know it will be one of two things: extremely stark and modernistic, or extremely voluptuous and over the top. This is the latter. This violet does not shrink, and in fact it expands mightily. Large, candied, rounded, fruity, and somewhat mossy it blossoms on the skin. This is the smell of the violet flower faeries on May Eve, wildly ecstatic, potent and lush. Can a note associated with all things shy and demure be overtly sexy? Indeed it can.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Maja Eau de Toilette (reformulated and repackaged verison)
darkharbour 7/25/2007 10:57:00 AM
I was originally going to pan this re-orchestration of a masterpiece. But I cannot. The new Maja has none of the raw spiciness of the original, and is decidedly less pungent and aggresive. What is left is a dry, herbally, mildly citrus fragrance that segues into a powdery vanilla accord at the dry down. I can still catch hints of lavender, angelica, geranium and tonka. What this has become is the perfect office fragrance, especially for summer. It has an almost masculine start, but softens considerably. It has remarkable staying power for an EDT, and the sillage is rather good. It smells more like the wonderful Maja soap than the original EDP. My complaint is about expectations; this is not the Maja I expected, steamy, black-laced, and castenet clacking. If I rename and reinvent my expectations, this proves to be a winner.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Frederic Malle - En Passant
darkharbour 7/25/2007 10:30:00 AM
A brisk morning in April finds you wondering whether you can leave your sweater at home, as the sun plays hide and seek among the clouds. You carry home some fresh croissants, buttery and wheat-golden. Perhaps you have spring greens for a salad, with their watery, still-alive aroma. The air is awash with the scent of lilacs; pinks, blues and whites. The almost intolerable beauty of lilacs is made tolerable by the fact that they are around so briefly. The fragrance of these clusters of tiny star- shaped blooms is utterly unique; sweet, heady, with an erotic overlay of sensual, young flesh. Personally,I find the lilac to be more carnal than the rose, the jasmine, or the tuberose. This fragrance causes arousal in the most subtle, alluring fashion. The blend of accords is haunting, tenacious, sensual, and quite beautiful. It is a perfume of cool, muted tones, but it is not in the least bad glum or pensive. A masterpiece of spring.
10 out of 10 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Frederic Malle - Carnal Flower
darkharbour 7/25/2007 10:06:00 AM
Carnal Flower is not a rose at all, but a tuberose. The tuberose is a vanilla colored, waxy, tubular blossom, on a vine, that somehow evokes the marriage of jasmine and gardenia. With tuberose, you get this suggestion of wintergreen or bearberry. It is present in Carnal Flower. Carnal Flower is a soft, clean, true tuberose. If one took Fracas and laundered it to a soft faded cotton, one would have Carnal Flower. It is heady, tenacious, but discreet. It does not enter the room ahead of you. This fragrance caresses your skin and preens sensually during warmer months. Scarlett O'Hara would have loved it.
7 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Coty - jovan white musk
darkharbour 7/18/2007 11:46:00 AM
This is the smell of just washed skin. You should avoid it if you do not care for soapy fragrances. Light, but tenacious. Very worth the splurge.
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Fragrances -Demeter - Prune Pick Me Up Spray
darkharbour 7/2/2007 6:52:00 PM
*Shaking head.* No. No prune, no juicy plum, just sicky-sweet fake sugar plum stuff, like the Sugar Plum at BBW, or the Vanilla Plum Back to Basics hair stuff. Why can't someone make a decent plum or prune? I expected more from Demeter. This is one Demeter I am happy to have fade quickly.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -I Profumi di Firenze - Limone di Sicilia
darkharbour 6/30/2007 6:31:00 AM
Are you mourning your Love's Fresh Lemon? Well, this is not quite it. It is a grown up version of that. The initial burst is enormously powerful, crisp, tart, and almost makes you want to pucker. Like rubbing lemon rinds on your nose. Then, within moments, it sweetens. Not soft like Fresh Sugar, but more like limoncello. Still bracing, but a bit syrupy, and more like lemon blossoms. It did stay crisp and bracing all day, but alas, citrus rarely does. I kept getting wiffs, but could not smell it on my skin. If you love lemons, take the plunge. I can actually taste this as the day progresses.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Demeter - Tomato
darkharbour 6/24/2007 4:19:00 PM
There is something quite sexy about looking under the skirts of a lush tomato plant on a hot August day, and plucking her ripe, succulent fruits. No wonder my grandfather loved doing this. It is downright sensual. And that smell, the essence of summer, the acrid, rich, vegetal smell of those hairy vines and lacy leaves. You could risk smelling like bruschetta here, but it is a mind-blowing true smell of the plant. Not tomato juice at all, more like the pungent, tannin laced leaf.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Agent Provocateur - Agent Provocateur EDP
darkharbour 6/24/2007 4:06:00 PM
First comes this boudoir, vanity set bottle. Then comes this over the top rose fragrance, almost liquor like in its headiness. The rose is somewhat chastened by musk, which keeps it from running rampant and by some woody, peppery undertones. Vavavavom. I cannot imagine how they made rose so sexy -- rose, ROSE. The smell one associates with linen hankies and old fashioned talcums. This is a primal, carnal rose. Not nasty like Rose Poivree. AP has not done "it" yet, but wants to very badly. RP has not only done "it" but has not bathed since. Agent Provacateur should be reserved for evening and applied lightly in hot weather. I cannot imagine a very young woman wearing this often. I would reserve it for evening, when you hope to leave your scent on someone's sheets.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Diptyque - L Ombre Dans L Eau
darkharbour 6/24/2007 3:57:00 PM
I was startled to sense so little rose. What I sense is a fresh, utterly green aroma of a privet hedge, ivy, and a mid-day forest edge. There is a soft floral undercurrent, but it is more wildflower than rose. A friend of warm, sultry days. Perfect for summer. Not at all serious. Glides through the sunshine with an engmatic smile. La Giaconda might have smelled like this.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No