Hi all,
Ah … Tocade! This is one of the perfumes forever associated with critic Luca Turin. A bit of ‘harmless fun with roses and vanilla’ is what he called it in Perfumes: the Guide, but so beautifully done from top to bottom, with simple materials normally taken for granted, that it deserves five stars.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green notes, freesia, bergamot, geranium
Heart: Magnolia, iris, orchid, jasmne, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base: Patchouli, musk, amber, vanilla, cedar
I have no quarrel with a perfume that sets out do nothing but please receiving a top rating. Why not? Aren’t Shakespeare’s comedies masterpieces as well as entertainments? Does something have to be cool, dark or moody to deserve the highest accolade? No indeed. No-one – not even me! – can wear Chanel No 19 every day.
That said, I don’t completely love Tocade. It is a bit too loud and too artificial (LT likens it to nail varnish) for me. I enjoy the sillage much more than the scent on skin. Vanilla is Tocade’s key message, and I can only take vanilla in moderate amounts, usually.
There is a darkness to Tocade as well though. I think its ‘pretty, dancing feet’ have seen a few tawdry dance floors over the years. You know that beautiful song ‘Lullaby of Broadway’? It’s been recorded many times but I love Diana Reeves’ version, which pulls the tempo right back to a sweet, wistful imagining the life of a Broadway performer. Behind the ‘hip hooray and ballyhoo’ is a weary existence for a girl who works all night, every night. It’s early in the morning before she can go home to sleep; the ‘milkman on his way’.
Tocade is her perfume. It’s a pretty, showy piece but with a haunting density of patchouli and cedar underneath. The vanilla is smoky as well as sweet. Backstage, as our ‘broadway baby’ she waits for her next cue, she rubs her calloused feet, mends the laced on her dress, and longs for her rest. Sure, her ‘daddy’ buys her ‘this and that’. Perfume, sweets and roses adorn her corner of the dressing room. But when she goes home, she sleeps alone.
Tocade has strong sillage and lasts ages. I snapped up a bottle in the old, crazy packaging, but in 2013 Rochas shoved Tocade into a uniform bottle. I don’t know if the formula has changed, so do comment if you have compared them.
The apparent simplicity of Tocade never fails to give me something to think about. And what about you? Do you have a perfume in your collection which is as puzzling as it is beguiling? Sweet but sad?
Until next time, keep spritzing everyone!
I did what I try not to do. Yes I went to the Le Galion website and blind bought at full retail a bottle of Sang Bleu. I do feel justified sometimes to do it. These guys are creating lovely, interesting, wearable fragrance and I like their whole style. Though not everything in the line has been instant love or a super winner for me they do all have the same feeling of passion brought to life. If I was to pick a house that you could give me anything from the line and I could only wear that one fragrance for 6 months I would ask you to give me any bottle of Le Galion. Their smoothness and easy wear capabilities, they are interesting without being a challenge, can be every day or dressed up and their base lines all wear as a soft wash.
This week we will have 2 winners who will receive: 1 x 10ml decant of Sang Bleu by Le Galion
3 x 1ml decants from the Le Galion range P&H Anywhere in the world
HOW DO YOU WIN?
Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
You must tell me how you follow APJ
and
Tell us about a Le Galion fragrance you love, or about a unisex scent that you wear
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Close Saturday 20th August 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 24th August 2016 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.
Lady Gaga and Gwyneth Paltrow are about as polar opposite as you can imagine. Back in 2011 they were both on Graham Norton’s couch and the subject of fashion fails creeps up. The very last look of this clip is gold. They are both really charming and I love the way they work together. Comedy comes from such unexpected places.
How would you scent Gwyneth and Gaga? Let’s not say what they do wear but what their personalities match with. I reckon Gwyneth would wear something feminine, overblown and intrusive like Midnight Oud, Ysatis or Songes. Lady Gaga is surprisingly conservative under all that show so maybe something that opens really strong then softens to an elegant wash like Mitsouko, Maai or Jasmine Rouge.
Do please take a moment out of your busy life to enjoy this.
Portia xxx
The Graham Norton Show – BBC One
Lady Gaga on falls, ripped crotches and other disasters
Gisele Bündchen has been the highest paid model in the world every year since 2004, and in 1999 was credited with bringing sexy back to the runway and killing the heroin chic look. She was born in 1980 making her 36 years old which is basically a model dinosaur. There is still something so fresh and endearing about her, still sexy, that killer body and a smile that men and women fall instantly in love with. Did you know she is 5’11”? So tall yet she always manages to look petite, and enormously strong. Wikipedia notes that: In 2014, she was listed as the 89th Most Powerful Woman in the World by Forbes PLUS Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell have stated that Bündchen is the only remaining true supermodel.
Below we get to see Gisele in the 2014 CHANEL No 5 ad, this is the long play version. A seriously controversial piece of film. The song’s lyric change had feminists up in arms, the billion $ lifestyle and the 2 minute hug with her daughter before relegating the child to nanny care had mothers upset and running off before a job was finished had working women outraged, there were other complaints that have slipped my mind. Yet if you can overlook all that there has appeared a gorgeous and lush piece of escapism that you can get lost in for three minutes to unclog your brain.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, neroli, ylang-ylang Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, amber, patchouli
CHANEL counters everywhere have testers, go give yourself a spritz.
This video came out in May but it’s been so hectic here I haven’t gotten around to sharing it. One thing I have noticed over the last decade or so is CHANEL’s constant reinvention of ways to market themselves, and the way many other companies jump on board the idea. It’s not new to make videos upselling your product, what else are cinema and TV ads, but CHANEL seems to be in a class of its own.
Please take a moment out of your hectic day to be swept away by the modern dream of a vintage fragrance.
Do you love CHANEL No 5? How about the video?
Portia xx
CHANEL No 5 parfum
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Neroli, ylang-ylang, bergamot, amalfi lemon, aldehydes Heart: Iris, jasmine, orris root, rose, lily-of-the-valley Base: Vetiver, musk, sandalwood, patchouli, oak moss, amber, vanille, civet
Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage has been a staple mens fragrance, gracing their bathrooms and bureaus since 1966. It has survived the changes in fashion and fragrance with tweaks and reformulations. Still it contains hints of what it was while also smelling very nice on the people who love to wear it. Even now when I ask someone who smells particularly good what they’re wearing the answer is sometimes Eau Sauvage.
DIOR has done a lovely video below to celebrate its eternal cash cow. Bravo. 50 years is quite an achievement. Here’s to 50 more.
I missed Safari when it first came out and one way or another, I only discovered it about 25 years later. Well, better late than after discontinuation! So this is a review of a new friend, not an old buddy.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: orange black currant, tagetes, mandarin orange, narcissus, galbanum, hyacinth, cassis
Heart: rosemary, orange blossom, orris root, jasmine, rose
Base: sandalwood, amber, patchouli, vetiver, cedar
Barbara Herman in her book Scents and Subversion adds honey as a middle note, and I agree. For me, honey is a key characteristic in Safari. Yes, the green bitter notes – galbanum and hyacinth especially – are very prominent. Much as I like green florals and chypres, sometimes they are too bitter for me and in Safari, this is held in check by a sweetness that feels like honey. Not saccharine, but rich, smooth and dark. This may be what gives Safari the warm languor which is referenced in the ads (about which more in a moment). There’s fruit in there but the overall effect is dry rather than juicy.
Safari has a reputation for strength and tenacity, a scent in high 1980s style. My bottle was bought in 2016 and while the texture of the fragrance is dense, I would not have said it matches those big ol’ 80s monsters. Perhaps reformulation has toned it down. After a strongish start, I find that Safari settles to a hum quickly. The fragrance lasts all days with just moderate sillage. By the end, I do get a little tired of Safari. The tussle between crisp greenery and smooth sweetness plays out on my skin all day. Nothing wins, and I’m glad when they finally blend and fade.
From bottle to packaging to marketing, the art direction for Safari is beautiful, as you’d expect from Ralph Lauren. The video ad takes us to Africa, of course. Mr Safari bashes on a typewriter (channelling Ernest Hemingway), while Ms Safari shoots the wildlife (with a camera). A bit of lazy canoodling goes on. No doubt there will be drinks on the veranda at sunset, served by native servants. Sorry, I’m not interested in all this colonialist shtick.
Safari for women is almost impossible to find in retail shops in my part of the world, and occasionally some reviewers have wondered if it is discontinued. It’s easy to find online though. The men’s version, a fougère released in 1992, is everywhere. I have not smelled it. Do comment if you know it.
What about you? Was Safari part of your perfumed past? Is this what you would wear out there on the savannah, cuddling a baby lion?
Until next time, keep spritzing everyone!
Something new from YSL! Once upon a time that would be the cue for great rejoicing and whispers of intrigue. Now the only way I know about it is because they have released their ad and it came up on my YouTube.
They are selling it as a modern chypre and while I applaud their audacity still I think I will reserve judgement till I can get my nose on some.
Mon Paris by Yves Saint Laurent 2016
Mon Paris by Olivier Cresp, Harry Fremont and Dora Baghriche-Arnaud
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Calabria bergamot, strawberry, raspberry, pear
Heart: Datura flower, peony, Chinese and Sambac jasmine, orange blossom.
Base: White musk (three types of it), ambroxan, patchouli (Indonesia and Guatemala)
Please enjoy the video. I think it’s gorgeous. What do you think?
Portia xx
One of the most commercially influential and probably least appreciated perfumers of the 20th and 21st centuries passed on January 30, 2016. Few of us fragrance junkies have ever heard her name but probably most of us have smelled her creations. We may even use the products that carry her perfumes on a daily basis.
Rena “Carol” Aulick-Lynn 1949 – 2016
Rena “Carol” Aulick-Lynn was born on July 7, 1949, the eldest daughter of a Kentucky tobacco farmer. As a child Carol loved all things musical, eventually becoming an accomplished vocalist, singing for radio commercials and performing as a member of the May Festival Chorus under the direction of Maestro James Levine. She was also an accomplished pianist and taught piano and music theory.
After various twists and turns of fate, Aulick-Lynn eventually found her path as a scientist and perfumer working for Proctor & Gamble. With P&G she studied perfumery all over the world and was subsequently promoted to Principal Perfumer/Scientist for the company. She later moved to Firmenich in New York as Perfumer and Director of Evaluation and then to Houston Texas, as the Director of Fragrance Development and Executive VP for Intercontinental Fragrances.
This remarkable woman loved adventure sports. In addition to sailing and flying sail planes she also raced trans am with the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America).
So – which fragrances did Carol Aulick-Lynn create? Some of her most recognized functional perfumes grace an extensive variety of household, beauty and hygiene products, including Dreft baby detergent, Tide detergent (probably the original and at least one flanker), Dash detergent, Secret and Sure deodorants and Dawn and Joy dishwashing liquids. Her last iteration of the Tide fragrance won the American Society of Perfumers award for Best Detergent Fragrance on the market.
Years of exposure to scented household, bath and beauty products have blunted my appreciation of the considerable artistry (yes, really) and manipulative science involved in their creation. Lately I’ve resolved that I will no longer turn up my nose at functional fragrances but instead approach them as I would “real” perfumes. I’ve found that there are some amazing beauties in the functional fragrance world that could easily hold their own (albeit a somewhat linear “own”) with many of what we snobbishly refer to as “fine” fragrances.
Recently daughter Lauren forwarded the video below. Not only is it hilarious but it has also given me a new perspective on my addiction to scent.
Here are a couple of questions, APJ: Is there a household product that you use just because it smells so good? How about a beauty product that you love or hate based on its fragrance?
Australian Perfume Junkies 