Treatments (Eye) -Nuxe - Contour des Yeux Prodigieux
d77j3p 8/3/2009 5:17:00 AM
I really love this product - as someone who seems to react to pretty much every eye cream, including expensive anti-wrinkle ones and those for sensitive eyes/skin, this is perfect. Not too expensive, light texture but perfectly hydrating, and above all, not in the least irritating. The only other eye cream that works for me is the Clarins one, which is much more expensive and doesn't go as far.
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Fragrances -Parfums De Nicolai - Temps d'Une Fete
d77j3p 5/21/2009 12:03:00 PM
Green florals are definitely top of my list among scent families, but I do love this one in particular. I think it's the sappy green top note and the very rich, high quality narcissus heart. An elegant, but also fresh and spring-like scent. Combined with the name, the smell makes me think of the wedding party scene in Le Grand Meaulnes...all bucolic innocence and dream-like festivities, with a rich seductive glow underneath. Now I just need a comparable occasion to wear it at. The only negative: the drydown is really quite dull and tawdry; it makes me think of Anais Anais, albeit the nicer earlier version, from the eighties.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Lancome - Cuir de Lancome
d77j3p 3/30/2009 6:16:00 AM
There have been lots of comments about the 'gentrification' of the original perfume for the reissue. I haven't smelled the original Revolte/Cuir, so I can't compare, however this new scent is certainly elegant, well-mannered and easy to wear, and in my book that's a positive. I like 'skank' in perfumes as much as the next person, but not in every context. The opening of Cuir is perhaps my favourite stage - and that's not typical for me at all. A rich citrussy note of orange-peel and the faintly oaty smell of petit-grain are the main players here, and combine to give a sunny and sparkling burst of un-astringent warmth that smooths down gradually into the heart notes as the suede smell unfolds. The heart is actually the part that attracted me to the perfume first - kind of: according to the official list saffron is a top note, but I always find it only appears a few minutes in. I LOVE saffron, and here it works wonderfully, combining with a creamy floral bouquet of ylang ylang, jasmine and hawthorn to conjure the posh suede handbag smell others have commented on. At the same time it doesn't smell too posh - what I mean by this is that it doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing a stereotype of money-heavy luxury - to compare, the edt of Cuir de Russie, which I realise is a brilliant scent, is for me too close to the 'my papa drives a Jaguar' type leather which I associate with haute bourgeois complacency, excessive wealth and the driving of cars which push fine craftsmanship into the realm of crassness. (On the saffron front, Theo Fenell Scent and L'Artisan's Safran Troublant are the two other saffron perfumes I'm familiar with, and I think Cuir trumps both - it's more complex and lasting than ST, and less skanky and confusing than Scent,which goes through so many very subtle changes it stops being fun and just makes you dizzy). I can't smell the patchouli at all, but that could be because I often wear scents that are patch from start to finish, and have become desensitized to small quantities. The drydown is the most 'heavy leather' part of the compostion; I love the rough astringency of the birch tar, and can't really smell the orris except at the 'edge' of the birch as a refining restraint. Unfortunately, this stage is fairly faint, and doesn't last as long as it could. Bottom line: wonderful warm, undemanding soft leather scent, elegant but not too refined. Would suit office, evening and casual wear. Might not please leather fanatics, and perhaps better on women than men, but I love it and would definitely buy again, especially given the reasonable price (my bottle was £39 from an online discount store).
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Chanel - Coco Mademoiselle
d77j3p 2/22/2009 6:25:00 AM
Yes I know this is a very popular fragrance, and I agree it is nice. But nice is about as far as I'm willing to go. It's a one-size-fits-all type perfume, floral with a bit of cosy warmth, no surprises just pleasant unassuming niceness. Suitable I guess for people who have to deal with the public as part of their jobs, and can't afford to smell too interesting.
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Fragrance -Christian Dior - Dior Pour Homme
d77j3p 2/22/2009 6:21:00 AM
Bought this for my DH this Christmas after his previous edt (sorry, aftershave...he refuses to admit he's wearing 'perfume') ran out. I spent ages searching the counters for something which didn't remind me some over-scented man in a nightclub - which most of the major men's edts do for me. The minute I sprayed it I knew it was what I was looking for. It's sweet for a masculine, which I love, and the iris-vanilla combination is so original - nothing like your standard alpha-male tedious fresh cologne. Problem is, I like it on myself just as much - and he's become exceedingly territorial about the bottle. I thought maybe I could get the 'extreme' version and so have a similar fragrance without too much overlap - but the iris is really toned down in it, and though it lasts better, the dry down is a cliched sweet vanilla-y amber thing that bores me. So: 5 lippies for Dior Homme, 3 for the 'Extreme' version. The epitome of non-gendered perfume.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Cacharel - Lou Lou
d77j3p 2/21/2009 4:58:00 AM
I remember not liking this when I was sixteen; I sprayed it on yesterday, thinking maybe my tastes had 'matured': big mistake!! This stuff is impossible to get off. One single spray resisted multiple soap & water scrubbings, & even reappeared after I sprayed tom ford black orchid on top. The fragrance is a strange mix of washing-powder soapiness and headache inducing oriental notes. Not sexy. On the plus side - nice bottle, and only £9 in Boots at the moment.
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Fragrances -L'Artisan Fragrances - Passage d-Enfer
d77j3p 12/6/2008 5:00:00 PM
In theory this is a great fragrance - it's well made with high-quality ingredients, and at at first smell seems excitingly incensy without the dusty church overtones. However, once it settles on the skin it doesn't really go anywhere; the scent remains disappointingly linear, almost hollow. It's also somehow too cold for such a simple structure, and the lasting power isn't great either.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Diptyque - Philosykos
d77j3p 12/6/2008 4:49:00 PM
This fragrance was my first fragrance coup de foudre - aged 19, alone for the summer in Berlin, I ventured into a tiny beauty boutique full of diptyque, bumble & bumble hair-cair & nars make-up. I'd read about philosykos in a magazine, and was convinced a fig-scented fragrance would have to be sickly sweet & cloying: how wrong could I have been? It was the most unusual fragrance I'd ever smelt - certainly sweet, in a richly sultry, mediterranean way, but also green, woody and a little milky. Years after that first purchase, on holiday in the med, I passed a fig tree with the figs fully ripe on the branch and more on the ground below just beginning to ferment in the heat - it was exactly the smell of philosykos! The L'Artisan Parfumeur and Jo Malone figs are nice, but nowhere near as good. Many years later, on bottle number 4, I still love this one.
9 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Chanel - Coromandel
d77j3p 12/6/2008 4:22:00 PM
Despite the high quality of most Chanel perfumes, I've never really taken to them, as I find they all have a mildly old-fashioned elegance that on me translates as prissiness. Coromandel is the exception - although the first few seconds of top-notes have an off-putting, slightly rancid harshness, the heart and drydown are heaven: rich, complex, mysterious, yet completely modern. I love amber, but find Ambre Sultan etc. oppressive; I like patchouli, but never thought it could be chic. The two major notes combine to a lovely dry, malty scent, with a constellation of minor notes such as cinnamon, burnt sugar and maybe clove appearing in turn as the fragrance develops. Far too expensive to buy, but I've become a regular at the local Chanel boutique, stopping by for a quick spray before nights out. It lasts well on the skin & even better on clothes - I got a bit on my coat that lasted for well over a week. Update: got myself a decant & have worn this every day for a week...I now have to admit I'm really getting to like that slightly harsh top note, especially as you can really detect a (bare) hint of the signature Chanel aldehydes which tells you where the perfume's from.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No