Fragrances -Guerlain - Aqua Allegoria Figue-Iris
Gother 2/10/2013 9:35:00 AM
Figue-Iris is quite strange for being an Aqua Allegoria: unlike her other sisters, this one has stubborn staying power on me. Also, forget about fig leaves or anything green from the fig note: the other notes (mainly vanilla and iris) manage to turn this fig into a milky, sweet fruit with no leaves at all (nothing like Phylosikos, for example). The iris note is also very well detectable and generally good (iris being a cherished flower in the Guerlain House and a main character in some masterpieces, namely L'Heure Bleue and Après l'Ondée). Overall, this fragrance smells comforting, classy and very spring like to me, so worth owning a full bottle if you like the notes.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -E. Coudray - Musc et Freesia
Gother 2/10/2013 9:29:00 AM
Freesia is a very heady note for a fragrance. It adds grace and light to bouquets, but it can get a bit strong as a soliflore. Also, I find that freesia, as well as many other white flowers, combined with musk result in an unpleasant urine note to my nose.
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Mascara -Estee Lauder - Sumptuous
Gother 2/10/2013 9:01:00 AM
With all the money I blindly threw on this one, I desperately and stubbornly kept hoping this was a good mascara until one of those gigantic clumps entered into my left eye... Mascara-wise, the masterpiece from Estee Lauder brand is the Double Wear: glossy, easy, not clumpy, incredibly long lasting. I really hoped Sumptuous would be as good as Double Wear, only a bit more dramatic and volumizing, but no, all I got from this tube is clumps and more clumps. Even if I make a great prepping work (scooping the wand on the rims of the tube, applying with the lightest hand and then wiggling like a maniac to avoid lashes from gruping into five gigantic clumps) the result is not what I wish for in mascara. Of course mascara is one of those products where you really need to try on yourself rather than trusting other users' opinion, but if you happen to love Double Wear, do not waste your time on this one.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Valentino - Valentina Acqua Floreale
Gother 2/6/2013 1:31:00 AM
I was given a sample of this and I tried it three times. It's a lot for me, which means I kind of like the fragrance. To my snose it smells mainly tuberose, rich and gorgeous, but never as heady as other tuberoses: here it' surrounded by a bunch of spring flowers (namely, mimosa, orange flower and neroli) and a rich squeeze of bergamot which make it cheerful and, yes, springlike. It's very different from the original Valentina EDP. At first I swear I can smell a light leather note that vanishes after a few minutes: I bet it must come from the patchouly-amr combo as basenotes. I've got a thing against patchouly overdose in commercial fragrances, lately, so I may be taken with a grain of salt when I state this fragrance ends up smelling too generic to be full bottle worthy: it's my opinion, anyway.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Elie Saab-Le Parfum
Gother 2/6/2013 1:16:00 AM
Elie Saab is a moderately good, gracious fragrance that still projects some personality. The notes can smell strong and I not always like it. Also, I'm starting to smell it everywhere, and I'm one who usually runs away from crowd pleasers. Gorgeous bottle and ad campaign, though.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Bond No.9 - Madison Square Park
Gother 2/3/2013 1:18:00 PM
I'll pass the tacky bottle and come straight to the fragrance. It's pretty, sparkling and yet elegant. The key to rescueing an overly fruity fragrance from a "junior high school cheerleader" verdict is the fresh grass note, which lends a dose of class to the whole fruit-flower salad. Also notice that the blueberry note resonates of the world famous Bond Scent of Peace: I imagine Maurice Ramé concocting her scents in an off-white NY kitchen and realizing there's a whole plate of fresh blueberry leftover from Scent of Peace, she tosses them in her rose-tulip salad for a refreshing dessert (and while she's there, she'll even save some for her lovely I love NY for Her candies: OK, mrs. Ramé never goes wrong with bluekberries...). I love wearing this in spring, although the close resemblance with Marc Jacobs' Daisy (which leads me to consider how both Jacobs and Ramé considered adding a plastic flower to their bottles just to raise the price tag and still convince consumers they're not tacky reminiscences from the Eighties...) makes me somewhat ask myself if I'm not gone a bit too media-manipulated to shell thousands of dollars on a bottle of this when I could have smelled the same way for a lot less (but I wouldn't have my wonderful classy pea-green bracelet at my arm).
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
BB Cream -Christian Dior - Diorskin Nude BB Creme
Gother 2/2/2013 11:15:00 AM
This one left me unimpressed. I've tried the Nude foundations and they're OK, but I expect BB creams to be extremely smooth (hence the name: Blemish Balm, not cream, not liquid). This is just a foundation in a very light formula that sits on my skin without actually blend into it the way other BBs do. I notice a very fine net of tiny particles sitting around my lines and wherever m skin is not perfect (dry patches, for example). It's quite deceiving, because there are so many BBs at a very cheap price (my best bet so far has been the Garnier one, and I'm the drugstore snob! - second comes the Erborian BB cream, which should be the very first BB cream to hit the Western market), and I don't see why Dior should ruin it's Nude line with a BB that's not up to other "real" BBs.
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Fragrances -Montale - Candy Rose
Gother 1/29/2013 5:55:00 AM
This is a fresh sugary rose with lots of citrus both at the opening and all through the drydown. The opening smells a lot like the berry-citrus combination of Bond no. 9 The Scent of Peace, although there is no grapefruit and no blueberries. Then the rose appears and it settles into a nice fresh rose fragrance without the powdery effect. I'd call it a rose for teenagers, although I love to wear it in my forties. As for the "candy" effect, it does exist a kind of sugary tone, but not at all sickeningly sweet or vanillic. It's just lingering, which is perfect. It's hard to guess the fragrance from the notes list, so you'd better smell it and, as with all Montale, let it grow on your skin.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Chanel - Frisson
Gother 1/28/2013 10:48:00 PM
I adore the golden reflex of the glittery particles in this pale peach polish. It screams Spring. Two coats are perfect for my fair skinned hands (I think it looks especially precious on olive skins).
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Chanel - Frenzy
Gother 1/28/2013 10:45:00 PM
Nice cool colour. It gives the word "chic" a real meaning. I wished the brush were a bit larger.
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Fragrances -Annick Goutal - Vanille Exquise
Gother 1/28/2013 10:42:00 PM
A sugarfree vanilla, at last! My love for vanilla started with CSP Vanille Apricot, which I bought about 6 years ago. After that, vanilla started appearing everywhere and expecially hit the cheap fragrance market, so that everyone, girls and boys and mature ladies and sales assistants, started smelling like "bakers' wives" (that's the definition given to vanilla lovers by Serge Lutens just 5 seconds before he came out with his own rendition of Vanilla - the world famous, but not for me, Un bois Vanille). But back to me. Too much of a good thing can make you sick, especially if the thing is doomed to smell sweet by its own definition, and my Glycemic Index started to rise every time I smelled a vanilla frag. So I just left my haf bottle of CSP in the cabinet and kind of forgot about it. Then I happened to smell Un Bois Vanille. Yes, the anti-bakery Lutensian Vanilla. I felt it smells a lot like Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti, by Maison de la Vanille, at double the price. Lighter, master-y Vanilla, but Vanilla anyway. And yet, it was somewhat different from the heady gourmandy vanillas I was used to smelling before, and it sort of tickled my curiosity to delve deeper into the vanilla word again. I can't remember how I came to feel curious about this one. I love Goutal fragrances and I own Petite Cherie, Eau de Charlotte (my favourite), Un Matin d'Orage and Quel Amour, plus a bunch of samples that I really appreciate. Reading that Vanille Exquise was nothing like all vanilla fragrances, because it was balanced by Angelica, and learning that it had almonds as an added bonus (I've been on an almond diet lately, but I don't like sickening in-your-face, marzipan almonds, I prefer the sheer hint of them in otherwise lighter bouquets) made me itching to buy it... unsniffed. Not only: as it seems that they don't make a 50 ml. bottle, I got the 100 ml. one. Well it was a leap of faith, but it paid back. This is indeed a gorgeous, vibrant vanilla. It resonates of spring-y, slightly pungent angelica note: I can smell that greenish, earthy, astringent note that keeps many fragrances from Goutal together: the rooty Le Jasmin, then Un Matin d'Orage, then Eau de Camille (which is, by the way, a tad too green for me). It's an EdT, so it's never overwhelming, yet it has vigorous staying power and I can smell whiffs of it for hours and always fel incredibly soothed and fine and my Glycemic Index is under control.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
BB Cream -Christian Dior - Hydra Life BB Creme
Gother 1/28/2013 1:18:00 PM
I used to love the Hydra Life tinted noisturizer that was around four or five years ago. I believe I went through two full bottles, which is rare for me. I also loved the Estee Lauder Daywear tinted moisturizer. Then the BB cream craze started running around and suddenly all producers started re-editing their tinted moisturizer and baptizing them BB. But they aren't. I had the chance to try the Hydra Life BB creme and I was positive it would be as good as its mum, but it was a huge disappointment instead. I love the soft, balmy consistency of BBs (think Erborian, Garnier - my very favourite - Dr. Brandt and many others), but Hydra Life just feels like a regular foundation. Also, the colour is rather yellowish (think liver problems) and cakey and it turns into an unpleasant shiny sheen after an hour or so. Definitely not good for my T-Zone. There are so many BBs in the market, but many are just bland formulations with a market strategy behind them. Too sad they are badly done reformulations of previously good products.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Dolce & Gabbana - The Lipgloss in Nude
Gother 12/5/2012 1:39:00 AM
I must admit I'm enthusiast for D&G glosses because of their amazing fragrance. They smell almost exactly like Kenzo Flower (or, if you're more into higher brands, Keiko Mecheri White Petals). So warm and wintery! The glosses are decent and I like the glittery but not gritty particles. As with all glosses, unfortunately my lips remain a litl bit dry when I take them off, but overall, these glosses are worth the bucks.
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Lip Gloss -Sisley - Phyto Lip Star lipgloss
Gother 11/27/2012 11:00:00 AM
This gloss costs a little fortune but it works amazing: it won't dry my lips the way a lot of other glosses do (the product claims to have natural ingredients to moisturize and soften lips). I bought this in Shiny Ruby and I can't stop admiring my lips! It doesn't leave much colour, but it makes my lips look healthy and brilliant. As a lipstick junkie, I think it's quite a fact thet I love to wear this lip gloss alone and still feel absolutely satisfied with it! The only think I'd change if I could is the applicator, as I prefer sponge wands to the small brush it actually comes with.
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Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - The Different Company - After Midnight
Gother 11/26/2012 1:18:00 PM
A perfect cologne that has all the qualities a cologne should have: freshness, a sense of clean, elegance, but most of all subtleness (which is hard to find in cheap colognes). The notes are perfectly balanced, with musk and ambrette playing with angelica and bergamot. And my beloved cinnamon! I love it, but unfortunately, it lasts one nanosecond on me, so it's not worth the big bucks. Sad. I find it very similar to The Healing Garden Lavender & Chamomile fragrance (with all its bath line), which I used to really love some years ago.
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