Review

Bellodgia EdP, Parfum & Oil by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1927

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Hey Hey Stink Monkeys,

Do you ever fall so in love with a fragrance you want to own EVERY available strength and vintage? I have a couple of fragrances that that has been the case for me. Guerlain Shalimar, CHANEL No 5, Versace Blonde, Boucheron Trouble and

Bellodgia EdT, EdP, Parfum & Oil by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1927

Bellodgia FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Carnation and rose
Heart: Jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and violet
Base: Musk, clove, vanilla and sandalwood.

As you may have guessed by the heading I have different versions of this amazing fragrance. This is the order I fell in love with them: EdT, EdP, Parfum and then by luckiest chance the original Oil. I will often layer Bellodgia with oil on wrists, parfum behind knees and EdP on chest, my EdT has about 2 sprays left and never gets pulled out any more, though I did just order a new 30ml one with the purple leather coating, YUMMY. Each one is from a different vintage by the smell of them and the oil is absolutely killer, even the slightest scraping will keep me deeply fragrant with sillage that fills a room in moments. You can smell it on your person but it stealthily creeps around a room until it takes over and becomes the rooms scent, then it lingers for hours.

Funnily, Bellodgia was released as a softer, less in your face sister to much of the Caron work. Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find a young girl willing to be so fragrant and bombastic. My how times have changed. Though Bellodgia has been reformulated there is still a very good nod to the oldest of my collection, the oil which was completely sealed when I received it so not too much air let in to destroy it. I love the opening, so rich with promise and pungent.The crisp minty crackle of carnation cutting through the floral bouquet and vanilla. There is a real rose note that is both spiced and sweet, I think the bouquet is amped towards making a lifelike but still cryptic version of rose, the cloves from the base help too.

I don’t really get the white flowers in the heart but I think that’s my terrible nose, the rose is superstar on my skin and the violet, earthy green and fresh, seems to serve as a counterpoint rather than a feature. Then into the warm and deep dry down where I think Bellodgia really comes into its own, the musk (and I think the oil has the real deal) vanilla and woods all seem to lay a deep downbeat while this fantastical spicy rose maintains its hold for hours and hours.

Do you want to feel like a fabulous flapper, a naughty, nascent beauty ready to pounce upon an unsuspecting world? Bellodgia will definitely put you in the mood, no matter how unlikely we are ever to fit into that category. Dreaming is free.

Caron Bellodgia Flappers StyleIconicPhoto Stolen StyleIconic

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and Olfactoria’sTravels
EssentialMall has the purple leather encased 30ml EdT for $33
SurrenderToChance has a selection of Bellodgia including vintage EdT, EdP & Parfum

Till tomorrow, we hope all is light and joy in your house. If it’s not though, like the rainy weather it will clear. Promise!!
Portia xxx

Celtic Fire by Anastasia Brozler for Union 2012

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Hello Fragrance Buffs,

This crew started up last year and they are getting quite a following. Unfortunately I can’t get into their site to get more info.

EDIT: From the Union Fragrance site thanks to Val the Cookie Queen: Anastasia Brozler is Union’s gifted and passionate Creative Perfumer. Anastasia’s background is in bespoke perfumery, creating personal scents for a coterie of international clients from princes to ballerina’s, actors and politicians. She has established a reputation as the woman that can achieve the impossible from re-creating the scent of your favourite car to that of your grandmother’s handbag!

Celtic Fire by Union 2012

Celtic Fire FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accord:
Top: Oak, balsam fir and pine needles
Heart: Marmite (unnamed on Fragrantica)
Base: Birch, myrtle and peat

Righto! Before we start to talk about the fragrance the bottle looks AH MAY ZING in the photo and I am tempted to lash out and grab myself one before I’ve even tested how good the juice is. I KNOW!! Outrageous.

Sometimes when a fragrance arrives, and I grabbed this decant from SurrenderToChance in a Weekly Chance Special, like Celtic Fire did today I am unreasonably excited. Having read loads of reviews when the brand launched last year and most of the scentbloggosphere was going completely SpazLaLa for them and falling over themselves to add platitudes to praise, I now am at a fever pitch. Honestly, this is not a good way to start a fragrance experience.

Celtic Fire Campfire pbasePhoto Stolen pbase

How did it smell and make me feel? Smokey, like, bonfire BarBQ and charred meat: Birch-tar-y like freshly treated leather hides awaiting stitching, The pine needles pass me by but there is a mulchy, freshly turned earth, sexy gardener sweat accord at the start that has a curious sweetness and the heart is almost pretty and not nearly so aggressively manly. Marmite? Like Vegemite? Really? A salty, tangy, sweetness that I suppose, with auto-suggestion on, you could call Marmite. It makes me feel interesting and alluring, not because it’s sexy but because it is so far removed from what people smell like, so to smell like this is enticing. I do get slight reminders of Interlude Man but not the moaning ecstasy that it engenders. I would be extremely comfortable wearing Celtic Fire and have enjoyed wearing it over two days, before and again after getting ready for work. My decant is dry.

Celtic Fire softens considerably after the first 2 hours and becomes a smell of bushfire or bonfire night on your clothes. It is murky, sweet, smoky, animalic and still very beautiful. Staying like this for hours and hours and I can’t pinpoint its leaving because it has become me so slowly. I am surprised that no one has commented on Celtic Fire over my two days of wear, maybe it doesn’t project as far as I thought?

So even though I was in a fluster of over-excitement it didn’t diminish my enjoyment, Celtic Fire has passed with flying colours.

Further reading TheBlackNarcissus and TheCandyPerfumeBoy
Available online at Selfridges (100ml/£125) and HenriBendel (100ml/$185)
SurrenderToChance starts at $5/ml

Did you try this line yet? And??

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Escale à Portofino by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2008

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Hello Happy Huffers,

In todays post we look at a fragrance that I’ve always thought of as a mid summer spritz to cool, calm and collect myself. I have rarely worn it in the cooler months and then only for memories of summer. It has always felt beautifully blended but today for the first time I am wearing it for review purposes.

Escale à Portofino for DIOR 2008

Escale & Portafino FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, petitgrain and lemon
Heart: Almond, orange blossom and juniper berries
Base: Cedar, cypress, galbanum, caraway and musk

BANG! WHOOSH! Citrus opens bright, effervescent and audacious. A sparkling and fun fizz that says summer is around the corner, we are gripped by spring, life is good and wonders will never cease. For a fun pick me up to any blue day then Escale à Portofino is the antidote. A big cheesy smile in every spritz. We maintain a green freshness as the juniper berries sweep in but my skin and nose doesn’t register the orange blossom except as background voices to the lovely green snap of those berries, and the citrus stays around for a very decent length of time into fragrance life.

Lemonade WallpapersCraftPhoto Stolen WallpapersCraft

When the almonds come through its a sweet milky surprise, woodsy too, adding a lovely depth to what is essentially a very cologne-esque adventure. I am surprised that Escale à Portofino hasn’t been marketed more directly to the men, it would be a perfect masculine as well as being a lovely feminine. The dry down never registered with me before today, it maintains its green heart but warming and unsweetening slightly and becoming a bit more herbal. Very interesting. A very Green Tea scent to close, gorgeous whispers and wafts before finally, gone.

My main qualm with Escale à Portofino is that usually when I wear it the lasting power is terrible, around 3 hours maximum. Today though when worn with the express purpose of reviewing it I got over 6 hours of fragrant life, interesting. This may be better in mid seasons rather that the heat or cold? Today is a lovely 20 degrees celcius with the sun shining and I feel like I have made a new fragrant friend, the whole life of Escale à Portofino got more interesting and longer.

GreenTea Fragrance-OilPhoto Stolen Fragrance-Oil

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and Olfactoria’sTravels
FragranceNet has $55/75ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Don’t you love it when an old favourite that you’ve worn for ages at a certain time changes its face for you? What frags have done this for you?
Portia xx

Baque by Slumberhouse 2012

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Hello Niche Nerds.

I make no disguise of the fact that I love this crew. Every time I try a new fragrance from them there is something magnetic, audacious and animal in every bottle. This particular decant came from a split run by Ruth K on FFF if my memory serves me correctly.

Baque by Slumberhouse 2012

Baque FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Apricot, cedar, vanilla, tobacco leaf, artemisia and ambergris

I have an apology to make, Baque is no longer available and was a limited release made for IndieScents. Josh tells me though that Slumberhouse will be bringing back a couple of their previous Limited Editions, Sana and Flou, in coming weeks so do go check out the Slumberhouse website for those.

Baque Slumberhouse green girl SpiritPartagePhoto Stolen SpiritPartage

So Baque, opens woodsy, sweet, rough and dangerous! The artemesia giving a gorgeous bitter and herbal depth that is at once antiseptic-fresh clean and healthy-damp compost-heap earthy. The apricot and vanilla sweetness cuts across all this forest through the mid range of wear and gives a syrup like patina that would be welcome on pancakes. I am sad that I never bought a bottle because Baque is so deep and luscious. I also detect a hint of freshly used coffee grounds and bitter, dark chocolate. Extraordinary scent that you will never find the likes of in Sephora unless we see drastic change in GP consumer tastes.

Towards the dry down the whole fragrance warms slightly into the vanilla and wood giving a golden warm sepia tint to the whole, much like the below image.

As with all the other Slumberhouse fragrances that I’ve tried and worn sillage is wonderful and projection moderate. Too fragrant for close office quarters, and probably quite a few not too close workplaces, unless fragrance is a welcomed addition to your person. I am fragrant from one spritz for more than 6 hours.

Baque Slumberhouse Wood girl ListOfImagesPhoto Stolen ListOfImages

From Slumberhouse: Slumberhouse is a boutique cologne label in the heart of Portland, OR; created and inspired by urban and street culture, art, film and music – especially the new school of hiphop and graffiti artists. We are a group of young gents who march to our own beat, embracing an absolute disregard for other brands, trends and marketing cliches. Slumberhouse represents an unequivocal love for the art of fragrance making.

Further reading NotableScents and SmellyThoughts looks at a few in the Slumberhouse range
Slumberhouse Website
Parfum1 has a good selection also
SurenderToChance has a selection of the Slumberhouse samples and decants

What from the Slumberhouse range have you tried? Did you enjoy their work? I’d love to hear about your Slumberhouse experiences, good or bad.
Till tomorrow,

Portia xx

Pure Vanilla by Lavanila Laboratories 2007

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Hello Vanilla Lovers,

Have I got a special treat for you today! Sophisticated vanilla…

Pure Vanilla by Lavanila Laboratories 2007

Pure Vanilla FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, freesia, heliotrope, Madagascar vanilla and tonka bean

I have just realised how little vanilla-centric fragrance is in my collection. When I think vanilla I go straight for JPG Le Male, it’s still a fragrance that will make me follow a person wearing it to continue the sillage trail sniffing. Sure, many of my fragrances have or end in a vanilla of sorts but this is a whole new ballgame.

Pure Vanilla is a natural fragrance (whatever that means) and opens with a fabulous rush of lactic, spicy, vanilla. It’s awesome! Rich, warm and comforting, sexy and sensual. Great sillage and excellent scent bubble, though I wasn’t skunking people, and everyone elses fragrance was smelled through a vanilla haze tonight. I felt really beautiful while wearing Pure Vanilla, beautiful and rich. Considering how affordable it is, that is an awesome feat. I enjoyed the ride so much that at home tonight after work, 6 powerhouse hours later, I wanted to relive the fairly linear journey again. Maybe the flowers and patchouli add something elegant to this creation because it’s not just vanilla, it’s so much more: more interesting, more alluring and more beautiful. I am so impressed that I will track a bottle down while in the USA in May.

Pure Vanilla Beans chefleticiaPhoto Stolen chefleticia

If you live in the USA or Canada then go to Lavanila Laboratories with $58/50ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Till tomorrow,
Love, hugs and fragrant waftings.
Portia xx

Hothouse Flower by Ineke Ruhland for INeKE 2012

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Hello Fellow Fumies.

I have a great online fragrance buddy, Undina from Undina’sLookingGlass, she is smart, cool and always a step ahead. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a small Undina curated frag pack in the mail of things she thinks I will like, or that I must sniff. This one got slightly lost in transit but when the shiny blue package arrived I was over the moon. Swapping is a great way to find out more scents with only the charge of some decanting supplies and postage. Thank You Undina again

Hothouse Flower by INeKE 2012

HotHouse Flower FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green tea, green leaves and cypress
Heart: Gardenia, galbanum, fig and olibanum
Base: Guaiac wood, musk and corn silk

My first thought upon spritzing is gardenia, I so love that fresh fragrance and when it feels green, broken branch, sap and crushed leaves overlaid with gardenia I am in fragrance heaven. There is a luscious creaminess in Hothouse Flower that hovers above the green making our cool, sunny Autumn day here in Sydney feel like Spring. I feel as if I should walk outside to see the daffodils and spring runner iris in bloom instead of the Camellias flowering and the Liquidamber just starting to turn red at the top. A fresh gardenia with only the very slightest nod to its skanky, animalic deep notes, Hothouse Flower is a fresh burst of crisp that warm slowly over time but not a lot. It sweetens and the resins add a hint of amber or caramel, maybe it’s the fig adding a sweet milky note? We have a long waist high gardenia hedge four doors down the street and when it’s in flower we get a beautiful soft and elegant waft of an evening that drowns all other natural smells in the street, this smells like that hedge from our front yard. It is both fabulous and alluring, no wonder Billie Holiday chose it as her signature flower. In case you haven’t got the message, I freaking LOVE Hothouse Flower and will make it my first purchase from Scentsation in LA, May 11.

Though I can smell Hothouse Flower and feel extremely fragrant it doesn’t have a huge projection, nor does it take over a room quickly but half an hour later I come back to the room and I can smell a tiny pretty faded gardenia memory. About 4 hours of fragrant before I am left with only a whisper.

Raw Umber on Fragrantica said it excellently: Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It’s Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing….. It’s like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.

Hothouse Flower InekePhoto Stolen INeKE

Further reading NowSmellThis and Undina’sLookingGlass
INeKE has $95/75ml in the USA but doesn’t ship to Australia
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Have you tried this line? I liked Field Notes from Paris and thought it excellently done. Have you a favourite from the line yet?
See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 47 Comments

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Guest Post by Eliza

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Hello you lovely Perfume Peeps!

We are joined today by one of our fabulous APJ winners from the past who has written in praise of Amouage Interlude Woman. I’d like to thank Libertine Parfumerie for their incredible generosity in providing our giveaway today.

Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, grapefruit, ginger, tagete (marigold)
Heart: Rose, frankincense, jasmine, orange blossom, helichrysum (immortelle), opoponax, sandalwood, walnut, coffee, kiwi, honey
Base: Vanilla, benzoin, amber, sandalwood, oakmoss, leather, tonka, musk, agarwood

Eliza here from the US. The package arrived today. What treasures!!! I immediately sprayed on the Amouage Interlude Woman. Initial thoughts were herby medicinal, like echinacia, or chamomile, so I was not surprised to read that it lists tagetes (marigold) in the top notes. Then peppers and something floral. Within a few moments I could smell incense, which finally developed into frankincense and probably myrrh. Right now it is softening to a lovely warm scent with floral underpinnings. But I can still smell the woods, and a bit of the medicine. Incensey perfumes are not my cup of tea, but this is quite lovely.

Amouage Interlude W + M GIVEAWAY!!

Interlude parfumeriePhoto Stolen parfumerie

I have an idea! Well it’s not such a new idea, I’m sure someone else has done it before and better but here it is. If you enter this draw and win then you must write me a MINI REVIEW of one of the fragrances that you win. Cool? The same as Eliza did up the top. Around 100 words. You too can be an APJ GUEST POST WRITER!!

I have four sets of Interlude Man + Interlude Woman by Amouage to give away and some surprises.

If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add a 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are FOUR packs to give away this week, the winners will receive
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Man carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Woman carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x Special Surprise Manufacturers Carded Sample
with P&H anywhere in the world

If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add an extra draw -1 x 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who is a follower of AustralianPerfumeJunkies via email (eM), Bloglovin” (BGL), RSS, or WordPress (WP) and please leave how you follow in your comment. Yes, you may become a new follower to enter! In fact, we encourage it.
All you need to do this week is go to LibertinePerfumerie and get the name of any product they sell that hasn’t been used in this draw before! NO DOUBLE UPS!! That’s it!! EASY PEASY!

So 3 things you need to qualify!
1) Follow AustralianPerfumeJunkies
2) Tell us how you follow
3) Leave a fragrance sold by Libertine Parfumerie with your comment (no double ups)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie AMOUAGE Interlude GIVEAWAY!! http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1wJ @AmouagePerfumes

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 21st 2013 10pm AusEST and winners will be announced in a separate post then.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and TSO Jin will pick them. He doesn’t even stop watching TV to do it usually.
The winners will have till Wednesday 24th 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for the AMOUAGE Interlude Samples. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing and buying the right to import alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

GO TO IT GANG!!!

See you tomorrow,

Portia xxx

Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange by Mathilde Laurent 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hello Lovely APJ Family,

Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange 2010

EaudeCartierEssenced`Orange FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oranges, bergamot
Heart: Violets
Base: Patchouli, cedar

I love the sparkly, fresh burst of opening here, all bright ORANGE! It’s so fun and frisky and perfect for warm weather wearing as the Northern Hemisphere heads towards summer. For us down here it is still eminently wearable on warm Autumnal days like today, we are rocking 25 degrees celcius and the sun is shining gloriously. The violets at the heart of Cartier Essence d`Orange are like woody and powdery soft whispers awaiting the magic of very clean patchouli and woods to round them out and make them more interesting. I love the barely there dry down, it really acts as if my skin smells better than it does, as if it has melded with my scent. Cartier Essence d`Orange becomes a shimmering subterfuge that makes it an excellent date night fragrance, especially if your skin needs to smell 100% on point for the late night playtime.

I am not swept away in a cloud of magical and wondrous memories, nor am I transported to other lands when I wear Cartier Essence d`Orange but it is a lovely scent, quiet and restrained, that gets quite a bit of skin time. I’ve nearly finished my second 5ml decant and ordered a FB online. Honestly, I am lucky to get 2 hours of full fragrance here but that whispering dry down is a killer on my skin and I love it.

OrangePatchouli mosleylanePhoto Stolen mosleyLane

Further reading NowSmellThis
FragranceNet has 100ml/$50
MyPerfumeSamples has $2/m but I bought $6/5ml Cer-Ay-Zee CHEAP!!

You better get a sample first, this may only be so good with my chemistry. If you have tried Cartier Essence d`Orange, what were your thoughts?
Portia xx

Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic 2013

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Hello Fabulous Fumies,

If you have been anywhere around the scentbloggosphere this year then Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic would certainly have registered on your radar. Uber famous frag royalty meets Belguim’s fashion icon in a scented cloud of mutual admiration. Quite the story…

Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle 2013

DriesVanNoten FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sandalwood, guaiac wood, tonka bean, vanilla, saffron, jasmine, musk, bergamot, lemon, nutmeg, cloves, patchouli, woody notes and peru balsam

With all the hype I was totally ready to be underwhelmed by this offering, which is always a good place to start smelling because you can’t be let down. Warm marshmallow sweet and slightly spicy vanilla opens that smells so familiar, like someone I love is nearby, even though I’m sure that I’ve not smelled this mix before. Every time I wear Dries Van Noten it has instantly calmed and unruffled me, and today I am wearing the dregs of a 5ml decant.

Each previous time I have worn Dries Van Noten for the purpose of reviewing it has grabbed my head and asked me to just sit and enjoy its beauty. The whole fragrance feels extremely uncluttered, though it is dense. It goes through a milky, nutmeg stage that reads egg flip to me. An egg flip was dinner sometimes when we were young and made as a great treat for us kids, whole egg, nutmeg, vanilla, ice cream and milk. It was huge and delicious. Nowadays when I think how strict Mum’s budget was I think that maybe she was eeking out her ration by giving us a liquid dinner out of, at that time, extremely cheap materials. I’ll never know now but my sister Jodie and I would feel so great on an egg flip night.

There is the most beautiful woods here too, some resinous amber references, a soft whiff of jasmine that flies mainly under the radar and patchouli, clean and fresh washed. All there making a beautiful chorus under the egg flip.

You must try Dries Van Noten, it is a rich and glamorous fragrance that has me chomping at the bit for more, I’m so sad to have finished my decant. You know what that means!

PalazzoTournabuoni holzbau-brunnerPhoto Stolen holzbau-brunner

Here’s the Frederic Malle site: A perfume built around natural sandalwood, chosen for its softness and its character, and the fact that it is simultaneously exotic and evocative of the tradition of great classic perfumes. This very short formula made of very precious materials, generates a sober but distinct sensuality. It is, in my eyes, a fair parallel to Dries van Noten’s world. ITS CREATOR: Bruno Jovanovic

DriesVanNoten TMagazinePhoto Stolen NYTMagazine

Tom at PerfumeSmellinThings reviewed Dries Van Noten today but has had a polar opposite experience to mine and also today ScentsOfSelf’s Dries Van Noten review is filled with ambivilence.

Further reading GrainDeMusc and Kafkaesque and Patty at PerfumePosse
Frederic Malle starts at $125/3 x 10ml (I think this is IDEAL for splitting)
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml

What a stunner of a fragrance. Have you tried it? Are you likely to?

Till tomorrow, take good care of yourselves and waft fragrantly,
Portia xx

Uomo? By Moschino EDT 1998

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Guest Post by Margeaux

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This month I’m reviewing a fragrance that I knew absolutely nothing about when I bought it on sale some months ago. Launched in 1998, UOMO? By Moschino is an interesting fragrance that I am still a lot unsure about.

Uomo? By Moschino EDT 1998

Uomo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Basenotes lists the following:
Top: New Hedione, Rose Wood, Transparent Coriander, Kumquat
Heart: Cyclamen, Cinnamon Leaves, Clary Sage
Base: Cedarwood, New Amber Accord, Artemisia, Sunlight Accord, Musk

Moschino is an Italian fashion label started in 1983, and became famous for innovative, colourful and eccentric designs as much as for founder Franco Moschino’s criticism of the fashion industry. The labels first men’s fragrance, Pour Homme, was released in 1990 with UONO? following many years later in 1998. Produced under license by Euroitalia, there are now 4 men’s and 10 women’s fragrances released with the Moschino name.

I love woody scents best of all and that was what originally caught my eye in the description of UOMO? when I was shopping for something new to smell. That and I’d never heard of it so chances were that I’d be buying and wearing something that few others would also own. Win win in my book.

The bottle is sleek and hefty, angled clear glass with a silver cap that is made for masculine hands. Its big but fits just right. The pale yellow perfume inside gives the overall bottle an understated and classic look, and it looks good on my dresser.

But that for me is really where the love ends, as I can’t find anything about UOMO? to really rave about. The opening is nothing remarkable, gently fresh and a little citrus, but without any big pow, punch or hit that I seem to desperately want from it. Some of the online reviews suggest that since reformulation it’s lost a lot of its kick, and that seems plausible to me.

Uomo? Moschino FreshCitrusSalad CulinaryCachePhoto Stolen CulinaryCache

I’m straining to get much from the mids or even the base notes as it settles down, and although I’m sure that something is going on, its failed to command even an ounce of attention. Wondering if it was just me and whether or not perhaps I was immune to its charms, I’ve worn it around several friends with good noses and not a single one has mentioned anything at all about it, when they are usually very forthcoming with an opinion or comment on what I am wearing.

I practically drown myself in UOMO? and it smells nice, but nothing that makes me stop in my tracks. It also doesn’t seem to last very long either, and in fact, it disappears entirely for me after only 3-4 hours.
(Ed: Reads like a good work frag for after the gym)

All in all I find this very ho-hum, and very disappointing. I won’t be purchasing it a second time.

FragranceShop has $21/50ml
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2/ml but $6/5ml

Until next time, smell good.
Margeaux x