Product Reviews by DunandaFalls

Moisturizers -Shiseido - The Skincare Day Essential Moisturizer Light
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 8:06:00 AM

I have extremely sensitive, combination skin, which is very fastidious when it comes to moisturizers.  If a moisturizer is too thick, it will bring on too much shine, while if it is too light, it will not work effectively on the extremely dry spots.  So I need a light yet effective moisturizer that is never greasy or thick, absorbs quickly and invisibly and will not cause breakouts.  This is the only perfect moisturizer I’ve ever found that meets all of my criteria.  It has a milky consistency and goes on very silky and smooth, absorbing quicker than any other moisturizer I’ve ever tried.  It doesn’t add one bit of shine to the oily spots.  I could care less about the SPF rating of moisturizers, so that has no affect on my view of this product, though it is a nice bonus.  I would say I have tried close to 20 different moisturizers over the past 14 years and this is the only one I will ever use again.  The past year my skin has been wonderful thanks in part to this wonderful product.  It also has a pleasant, invisibly fresh smell that I like as well.  It is the best facial moisturizer made, bar none.

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Fragrance -Chanel - Egoiste pour Homme
rated 1 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 6:29:00 AM

Chanel Egoiste is a very strange smelling fragrance that simply tries to go in too many different directions at once. The tangerine, cinnamon, vanilla, rosewood and sandalwood notes combine to give Egoiste a sickly sweet "cinnamon rolls in a woodshop" smell. It reminds me of a dutch oven cobbler cooking over a hot ember camp fire, minus the smoke. And sadly, the strong rose note only intensifies the cloying, sickly mess. I find Egoiste to be too strange for even my eclectic fragrance tastes and that's saying a lot.

UPDATE: While the EDT is much too cloying and strangely sweet with its clashing rose, wood and sweet notes, the Cologne Concentree version of Egoiste is much more wonderfully blended and balanced. The wood is the more dominant part instead of the cloying sweetness, while the rose note is also stronger giving it a vibrant almost sparkling quality. The sweet and cinnamon notes are not as strong in the CC version and don't punch you in the face like the EDT. It still has a slight cinnamon roll accord but it is much more mellow and has a lovely supporting cast of notes in the much better CC version. This is the one to get?Chanel Egoiste Cologne Concentree. Though better than the EDT, I still don't know how to fit it into the fragrance rotation of a young guy like myself. I find it would probably work best as a romantic evening fragrance for the 40+ crowd. Because of an extreme lack of versatility it gets only 3.5 out of 5 lippies and swapped away by me.

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Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - S.T. Dupont Essence Pure pour Homme
rated 3 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 6:10:00 AM

S.T. Dupont Essence Pure for Men is yet another simple, modern, fresh, highly airy and extremely generic fruity fragrance. Very poorly blended, many of the notes listed as being in Essence Pure never show up, including the cedar leaf, patchouli and amber notes. The ozone and bamboo notes rule this fragrance throughout. I find it too simple and much too done to death. It smells nice and has average lasting power, but thumbs down from me. Since I can't give it a 3.5, I guess it gets a 3.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - Virgilio
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 5:42:00 AM

Diptyque Virgilio is a potent yet light, smooth and clean herbal fragrance that is full of green leaves, light balsamic pine, sunny fresh herbs and Helional, an airy floral note that smells a little like cyclamen or a very light lavender. Much of the olfactory experience of Virgilio is attributed to this synthetic Helional note. The company that owns the patent on the Helional formula describes it as "floral (cyclamen), green, aldehydic, ozone (fresh air/marine) with top notes of ozone and new mown hay." Bottom line, Virgilio smells great! It’s much like MPG's Baime but slightly more wearable. It has a powerful but well-balanced basil note that mixes perfectly with the leafy, green and minty accords. It also has a very nice anise seed heart note develop after about 10 minutes which steers it off of its airy green path down a road filled with dry herbs and cedarwood. This is a summer fragrance at its best and my new favorite Diptyque along with Philosykos.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - Ofresia
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 5:30:00 AM

Diptyque Ofresia is a wet, clean and peppery fragrance with powdery white floral notes of freesia and lily and a nice shrub-like, slightly grassy green note thrown in to add to the "summer garden" feel. The peppery quality gives it distinctly more unisex feel than other white floral fragrances and I think some men could easily pull this one off. It smells like being outdoors after a spring rain -- wet grass, wet tree bark and dewy flowers along with a lovely, sharp, peppery herbal accord that ties it all together. Very unique and distinctive, I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - L Ombre Dans L Eau
rated 4 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 5:02:00 AM

Diptyque L'Ombre dans L'Eau is a very leafy green, rose fragrance that has a crisp, fresh and clean bite that is unlike any fragrance I've smelled. I find it to be only wearable in the summertime and is very nice on a hot day. It even has a slightly tart fruit note that adds to it very nicely. The bite I spoke of is a little bitter, a little sour and very sharp and clingy, and though this is in a good way, one should still try this highly unique fragrance before you buy it. It definitely goes wherever you go and isn’t a shy fragrance in the least.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - L eau
rated 2 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 4:44:00 AM

Though interesting, L’Eau Diptyque is completely unwearable. It's 90% clove, cinnamon and ginger and 10% rose and geranium. If you love the smell of pure cinnamon, clove and gingered oranges you should try it, but as for me, it makes me blanch. It's much too sharp and heady and wearing this would make everyone thing you worked at a pastry shop. It also reminds me a lot of the potpourri my grandma used to set out at Christmas time. The dry down focuses much more on the sandalwood base and develops into a scent that reminds me of my cloying nemesis Chanel Egoiste. Overall it doesn't smell bad, but it should scent a house at Christmas time, not a person.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - Jardin Clos
rated 2 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 4:27:00 AM

I am surprised at how synthetic this “watery floral” smells. It truly does have a somewhat plastic fragrance. It seems to be equal parts white florals, light woods and fruit, and they all seem to fight for control of this fragrance. Like someone said before, a poorly chosen group of supporting notes really do make the floral notes smell lightly of dead, rotting flowers and green stems. Its dry down is bizarre with the sweet pea and spicy mignonette blending very strangely with the balsamic and oakmoss motes, creating a scent that smells like Silly Putty. Jardin Clos just isn’t done right. Poorly blended and balanced, Jardin Clos is a let down.

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Fragrances -Diptyque - Essence of John Galliano Room Spray
rated 4 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 4:22:00 AM

Diptyque Essence of John Galliano begins as another road tar fragrance much like a slightly sweeter version of Santa Maria Novella Nostalgia. It is initially too heady and sharp with the burning wood note, and I find it tough to wear. At first this one is really in your face. Fans of burning wood and wood smoke fragrances will love this one. If you want to smell like a campfire burning exotic woods, this one is for you. The top notes in this one are not my flavor at all, BUT the dry down is very nice and extremely dark, mysterious, spicy and musky along with a warm resinous amber accord. I can't identify the spice because of the smoky wood getting in the way of my senses, but it's either nutmeg or cardamom. This spice accord that develops is superb. Give this one 10 minutes because it smells great, when the sharp burning embers die down a little. It even begins to smell somewhat Christmassy to me with smoke from the roaring fire and a spicy warmth lingering in the air. It’s very fun, unique and intriguing.

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Fragrance -Burberry - Brit for Men
rated 4 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 4:04:00 AM

Burberry Brit for Men is citrus fruits, light florals and spices with light cedarwood and warm musk. It is nice but nothing unique. Though the notes sound interesting, Brit smells a little too generic. It also smells more feminine than masculine to me. The notes are so synthetic and poorly blended that they run together and muddle. I do not even smell the wild roses, only a weak light floral note. The cedarwood note is also weak and bland. The only good note here is its prevalent musk, but it seems to be a rather one dimensional musk fragrance with very little development. Though not bad, Brit was a let down. I would give it 3.5 but rounded it down to 3 instead, because it surely isn't a 4.

UPDATE : 2nd try: Burberry Brit for Men is a very interesting sweet mix that smells at first like a doughnut shop filled with roses. The cedarwood is light but nice and mixes well with the hot, sweet and foody spices of ginger, nutmeg and cardamom. I was surprised by the fact that Brit is almost edible; I didn’t expect it to be a gourmand. It reminds me a lot of Allure pour Homme minus the patchouli, but Brit also has slightly fresher top and middle notes made up of green mandarin, bergamot and rose that makes it smell different. Think of Kenzo Jungle pour Homme meets Allure pour Homme. Brit’s notes may run together a lot, like many synthetic designer fragrances do, but overall it smells great. The musk and creamy tonka bean dry down is very nice as well, but on rare occasions it can get a tad cloying because it's very sweet. This one is growing on me, that’s for sure. Some fragrances need to be tried a few times before they are judged and Brit is one of them. Sweet, sexy, confident and romantic; Brit was much less feminine to me the second time around, though I still think it’s very unisex. I move my score up to 4 lippies.

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Fragrances -Loewe - Angel Schlesser Homme
rated 4 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 3:51:00 AM

Angel Schlesser Homme is a very nice, fresh, green, dry woods and light spices fragrance. It reminds me a bit of a couple of other recently released men’s fragrances -- Lagerfeld Man and Just Cavalli Him -- but it doesn't have that cloying, sharp note that bothers me so much in Lagerfeld Man and it’s slightly lighter and leafier than Just Cavalli Him. Much like both of those I just mentioned, Angel Schlesser Homme has a significant dry wood/bamboo accord that I enjoy immensely. It wears as a light, transparent fragrance but has good lasting power. The leafy notes really add nicely to it. Overall it is very pleasant and unique, even if it is a little lighter than I usually like. I agree with jcyan13, it works best in the summer.

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Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Roberto Cavalli Just Cavalli Him
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 3:34:00 AM

Just Cavalli Him is an amazing blend of light spices and fresh, aromatic woods with a delightful patchouli note and a warm musky dry down the likes of which I’ve never smelled. The potent, airy mace note has a substantial affect on the woody accord, lightening it up to a point that almost has a dry bamboo quality to it. I was very surprised at how good this one was. Very modern and masculine with good lasting power, Cavalli Man is great.

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Fragrance -Davidoff - Cool Water Deep
rated 4 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 2:54:00 AM

Cool Water Deep is a clean and slightly fresher rip-off of Ralph Lauren's Polo Blue, but while fresher, it lacks Polo Blue's warmth. While Cool Water Deep is nice, I slightly prefer Polo Blue. The two are so close that owning both is unnecessary.

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Fragrances -Comptoir Sud Pacifique - Vetyver Haiti
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 2:45:00 AM

Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vetyver Haiti has fresh citrus top notes with a clean floral heart that puts most floral fragrances to shame. The vanilla and musk in the base lighten up the vetiver into a very playful, energetic note; completely unlike the dark, earthy vetiver used in many vetiver fragrances today. Vetiver Haiti is vibrant and sparkling, soft and inviting, with a warmth to it that is captivating. It has slightly above average lasting power on me, like many CSP fragrances. Vetyver Haiti captures a lazy summer Saturday spent lounging in the yard with your favorite book, a warm gentle breeze blowing through your hair. There aren't any others like Vetyver Haiti. It’s wonderful stuff.

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Fragrances -Sonia Rykiel - Rykiel Homme Grey
rated 5 of 5
DunandaFalls 12/11/2004 1:14:00 AM

Rykiel Grey has fruity top notes, hot spicy nutmeg, creamy tonka bean and warm musk. It's like what Joop! Homme would be if it weren’t so strong. Grey is just so sweet, spicy and edible, yet not one bit cloying. Yet it has an undeniable freshness from its citrus and leafy notes. It reminds me a little of a hot, spicy version of the original Rykiel Homme. Grey has a predominantly dark, sexy feel to it that is second to none. The green apple is not too strong and blends very nicely with the other notes. Most apple fragrances are lop sided toward the apple note, but Grey is very well balanced. The fruity accord ends up smelling like plum or mango and much less like green apples. It smells great.

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