Smack Down

SmackDown: Petroleum by Histoires de Parfums Vs Eau de Engine by Team Vodafone

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Reader,
I have a dirty little secret. I love the fume of petrol. All narcotic, sweet and floral. It’s a wonder that a substance so noxious smells so euphoric!

Apparently, I’m not alone. Histoires de Parfums released Petroleum as an “editions rare” in 2011 to capture all of the pretty aspects of petroleum fuel, whilst leaving out the nasty nausea-inducing bits. When Carlos at the Luckyscent Scent Bar introduced this to me last year, I thought I’d found the liquid gold I never knew I’d been searching for all my life!

Petroleum by Histoires de Parfums
Vs
Eau de Engine by Team Vodafone

Edition Rare - Petroleum Histoires de Parfums FragranticaPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

From LuckyScent: A symbol of wealth and prosperity, Petroleum is an unexpected essence. Once referred to as ‘Black Gold’, it is rich, dark and mysterious…a miraculous gift from the depths of our Earth. 

Petroleum opens like a stroll through a wet garden. You’re brushing against fresh green foliage (bergamot) mixed with the smell of damp soil (patchouli, petrichor). Unlike the other reviews online, I cannot detect any aldehyde. Five minutes in, the leather begins to emerge, as well as the ozonic top notes of real petrol. And then you discover the real heart of this fragrance – a clean floral (rose), white musk, and amber base – coated in sheer, miasmic leather and oud. It’s pretty and sexy.

 eau-de-engine-fragrance-by-teamvodafone allsensePhoto Stolen AllSense

Eau De Engine by TeamVodafone – Jamie Whincup

From Vodaphone: Nothing says motor racing quite like the smell of a V8 Supercar. That’s why we created Eau De Engine, a bespoke fragrance that embodies the very essence of V8 motorsport, fuel and burnt rubber – to promote Vodafone’s sponsorship of V8 motorsport.

Eau de Engine is a limited edition cologne released by Vodafone in 2010 to promote its team in the Sydney 500 V8 Supercar motor race. The marketing brains behind it introduced it to the unsuspecting Australian public with the tagline: “Why smell like a man, when you can smell like a V8”. Indeed.

It opens as a mixture of lime, bergamot and smokey birch tar. Then, just like HdP Petroleum, the leather notes emerge. But it’s a different kind of leather. The leather in HdP Petroleum can perhaps be described as horse leather, the kind that makes me recall L’Artisan Dzing. Eau de Engine is about car leather seats. And comingled with the smell of leather interiors is the scent of ashes after a fire. Overall, this opening is very linear and simple.

Power_house_mechanic WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

30 minutes later…

By now, the rose at the heart of HdP Petroleum has subsided and made way for a sweet amber-musk base with a hint of jasmine. Leather and oud notes still envelop this base, like a cosy chiffon scarf, just seductive enough to lure the boys into the yard. The very last note to reveal itself is the civet. Petroleum isn’t shy on silage.

For Eau de Engine, the smoky carbon and leather seat dance at the start has softened. The cologne evokes the smell of standing in a garage, behind the exhaust of an expensive sportscar in idle. Hello, Sabrina.

Neither of these two fragrances have a drydown. After the middle impressions, they just fade away to nothing.
HdP Petroleum: 6hrs (reapplication is recommended after 3hrs)
Team Vodafone Eau de Engine: 1-2hrs.

Junior_at_Darlington WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Verdict:
Wearing Petroleum and Eau de Engine cannot be more different experiences. One is like seeing the world in technicolour and the other, in black and white. In terms of beauty, complexity and longevity, HdP Petroleum wins hands down. Eau de Engine definitely has its novelty value, but if I smelt it on another person, I’d probably tell them to take a shower.

Disclosure:
I dabbed Histoires de Parfums Petroleum and spritzed eau de engine for this review. Your experience and mileage may differ.
Now, do you have any scent vices?

Willa Zheng xx

SmackDown: Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria vs 4711 Acqua Colonia

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Hello Perfumistas,

In the quest for the perfect orange cologne to splash about in summer, I am smacking Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic (2007, Marie Salamagne) against its cheaper drug store dupe, 4711 Acqua Colonia Blood Orange & Basil (2010) this month. To me, the perfect orange cologne is like mint julep on a hot day – refreshing, uplifting, but not cloying sweet.

SmackDown

Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic

Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Clementine, orange blossom, ivy, green tea, bitter orange
Heart: Peony, chamomile, mandarin orange, basil
Base: Sandalwood, amber

vs 4711 Acqua Colonia Blood Orange & Basil

4711 Acqua Colonia Blood Orange & Basil Maurer & Wirtz FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords in one line:
Blood orange, basil

SmackDown: The hit

Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic opens as a blast of the sweetest, juiciest mandarin juice. Five seconds later, the bitterness from the rind emerges. And it continues to push through and dominate, until you’re like: ‘hold on, I’m smelling a bundle of kitchen herbs sitting next to a plate of oranges and mandarins on the kitchen table’. Mandarin notes are typically sweeter than orange notes, so it was an inspired idea to pair this with basil to temper the sweetness. The overall effect is cheerful, fresh but not cloying sweet.

Blood Orange and Basil opens as a blast of synthetic room-fragrance-like blood orange and alcohol.
It is sweeter and more bitter than Guerlain. Whereas a soothing blend of herbs like chamomile, green tea and ivy become noticeable in Mandarine Basilic after a few minutes, you can’t really detect the basil in 4711 unless you really look for that green note. To a blind sniffer, it is an uplifting, orange with jasmine scent.

DCF 1.0Photo Stolen WikiCommons

SmackDown: The wake

An hour later, my impression of Mandarine Basilic can be best described as sweet and musky. Fragrantica’s description of its middle notes is pretty apt. Yes, there is still the sweet juicy mandarin and herbaceous basil, but they’re now the supporting players to the chamomile and soft floral peony notes anchored by sandalwood and amber. Those notes set the soothing and comforting experience for the rest of the wear of this juice. Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic is surprisingly tenacious for a citrus EDT. 6Hrs+

Unsurprisingly, you can’t really smell 4711 Blood Orange and Basil half an hour later. Junkies are advised to reapply to continue to enjoy the bursts of happiness.

Smackdown Happy woman Sunset Jill111 PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

SmackDown: Verdict

Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic is the clear winner for me, not just in terms of its longevity and complexity, but because it hums so soothingly, melding with the chemistry of the wearer. It’s an exemplary idea of what the Guerlain Aqua Allegoria line can achieve – creating beautiful, affordable, naturalistic fragrances from quality ingredients.

Surrender To Chance has Mandarine Basilic samples from $3/ml

In any case, if you’re after a flutter, 4711 is a cheap thrill that will bring a smile to most wearers’ face. Just keep splashing, baby.

What is your perfect orange?
Willa Zheng xox

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41 – Battle of the summer beach florals

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Dear fumenerds,
It’s summertime here in the Southern hemisphere, and the living is easy. School is out and we wile away endless sunny days by the water. Our skins glisten with sunscreen, various body oils, sweat, and the salty sea water. There’s an almost permanent lingering fragrance of jasmine, gardenia and frangipani in the air.

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41

Battle of the summer beach florals

It was no wonder then, when I first tried on Nuxe’s famous huile predigieux, it had me at first whiff. But it was a body oil, and body oil fragrances generally don’t last. (Although Roger & Gallet have come up with some exceptional fragranced body oils of late…) Then, I was introduced to Le Labo’s Lys 41 (2013) earlier this year. I thought I was whiffing Nuxe, albeit in the guise of an expensive French perfume. Henceforth, I am dedicating this month’s smackdown to my two favourite scents of the summer.

Lys 41 by Daphne Bugey for Le Labo 2013

Lys 41 Le Labo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, tuberose, lily, woody notes, vanilla, musk

Lily fragrances come in two guises: either a spicy clove like Anais Anais, or a salty fleshy white floral. Lys 41 is definitely an interpretation in the latter category.
Created by Daphné Bugey from Firmenich, it is a salty lily dropped into a gardenia-jasmine-tuberose white floral combo. The combination of salt and luscious white florals reminds the wearer of sand, naked flesh and coconut oil. It has an incredible Proustian effect and without the saltiness, I think this would have been another generic white floral, albeit made with very high quality ingredients and skillfully constructed.

Happily, Lys41 is relatively linear and full bodied. Gardenia is more noticeable in the initial first half hour, then jasmine comes to the forefront. Four hours in, in a creamy vanillary bed, the jasmine softens and you can detect faint mentholated tuberose. The drydown is vanilla and woods. I found the silage to be moderate and the fragrance carried itself right until bedtime. Excellent longevity.

Prodigieux Le Parfum by Serge Majoullier for Nuxe 2012

Prodigieux Le Parfum Nuxe FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin orange, orange
Heart: Rose, magnolia, gardenia
Base: Vanilla, coconut milk, pebbles

Start with monoi coconut oil, mix in some generic unscented suncreen to tone down and thin out the floral notes a level, squirt some orange peel oil, go for a dip in a salt water chlorinated pool, and you’ve pretty much recreated your own Nuxe Prodigieux experience.

The citrus lends a sour quality to this fragrance, like a synthetic ripe-banana. It clashes with the other synthetic notes and can cause some people to complain that this smells rancid and cheap. But it’s also the smell of spf, mixed with whatever coconut scented oils you’ve added on top. My mind instantly wanders to languid summer days spent by the beach, catching salty sea breezes. So do give Prodigieux a chance. On me longevity is 6hrs+ but it gets thin after 1hr. Silage is moderate.

Verdict:

Lys41 is a white floral perfume, a very well made and concentrated fine fragrance. Nuxe Prodigieux may as well have been labelled a ‘monoi tanning oil scent’ body spray. But the notes in both are so evocative that you only need an occasional whiff of it before you start to salivate, your mind begins to wander and you long for endless summer days.
For the price, I will keep dousing myself in Nuxe.

What is your favourite scent of summer vacations?
Willa Zheng

Piguet Fracas vs Versace Blonde: Perfume Smackdown

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Hello APJers,

This series is as much as for myself, to navigate, curate and ultimately cull my collection to a more sane level. Let’s begin.

Fracas vs Blonde: Battle of the Tuberoses – Perfume Smackdown

Fracas 3.0 and Donatella’s MK II

Few fragrances inspire the near obsessive devotion as the fans for Robert Piguet’s Fracas. Maybe that’s because it’s so different to other offerings on the market or because of the type of women who wear it (Madonna, Courtney Love, Isabella Blow, Marlene Dietrich). Ever since Fracas went downhill in the late 70s (and later discontinued), several such women took it upon themselves to recreate this iconic take-no-prisoner carnal fragrance.

The legend on the internet goes that Fracas was one of Donatella’s favourite fragrances. When Versace wanted to launch a fragrance in 1995 in honour of Donatella, they knew that they needed to create something just like Fracas, which was at the time traded by Adrien Arpel and smelt unlike Germaine Cellier’s creation. The perks of being a Versace!

But then the Robert Piguet brand got sold to Joe Garces of Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, who hired Pierre Negrin to resurrect Fracas faithfully in an IFAS-compliant form in 1999. With Fracas back on the counters, Donatella retired her Fracas Mk II.

Portia has reviewed the Blonde EDT here in the past. I own the Parfum and will be battling this against my Fracas EDP bottle, circa 2012.

Fracas vs Blonde Opening experience

Fracas Robert Piguet FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Mandarin, Hyacinth, Green notes
Heart: Tuberose, Jasmine, Orange Flower, Lily of the valley, White iris, Violet, Jonquil, Carnation, Coriander, Peach, Osmanthus, Pink geranium
Base: Musk, Cedar, Moss, Sandalwood, Orris, Vetiver, Tolu balsam

The opening of Fracas is like being smacked in the face with a pot of makeup. It’s a swirling jumble of carnation, jasmine, geranium and lilac, tied altogether by mandarin. It’s loud, brash, and jaggedy.

Blonde Versace fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, Pitosporum, violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation, pepper
Base: Benzoin, sensual musk, civet, sandalwood

Versace Blonde opens as a cashmere-soft (violet) buttery gardenia-orange blossom with ripples of a sheer green hyacinth juice running through its vein. Blonde is noticeably greener than Fracas. It’s very harmonious, sensual and confident. The Versace Blonde woman (or man) is sexy, she knows it and she doesn’t feel the need to flash that fact in your face.

Ash_Blonde WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Fracas vs Blonde: The main event

Fracas becomes less muddled after 30minutes. There’s creamy orange blossom and dewy honeysuckle weaving through a jasmine and iris-violet cosmetic powder base. It sinks, attempts to get up and then falls into a creamy orange blossomy puddle again. That watery thin creaminess, mixed with cosmetic powder scent, reminds me of another classic white floral, White Shoulders.

Blonde, by contrast, becomes more radiant, a wedding bouquet of every white floral you can imagine – a la Giorgio Beverly Hills. It’s heavy on the jasmine, made dry and green by the addition of lily of the valley, hyacinth and daffodils. There is also tuberose and ylang ylang. However, it is all very smooth and even, like a creamy white bar of triple milled Jasmine-Lily pebble soap.

VelvetStretchwbite WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Fracas vs Blonde: Drydown

The biggest difference between Fracas and Blonde exists towards the end. Fracas develops a distinctive dry soothing sandalwood with a little bit of oakmoss and vetiver. It’s rubbery, woody and my mind is tripping. Without a doubt, FM’s Carnal Flower was based on the drydown of Fracas. Very carnal indeed.

Versace Blonde parfum by this stage is very faint, and smells like you’ve had a shower with the aforementioned soap. It’s linear, clean and frankly unremarkable.

Surrender To Chance has samples of both for your own Smack Down

Have you tried them? What is your verdict?
Willa X