Friday 27 April 2012

Perfumes-More Moschino's-Funny!, Moschino and Moschino Couture!


Moschino has been my effortless chic, go-to perfume brand for a while. I guess many of us might have noticed that Moschino does create some nice scents which wouldn't cost an arm or a leg to buy.
The following are reviews for some Moschino fragrances: Funny! Moschino, and Moschino Couture!.
  • Funny! by Moschino
Funny! By Moschino, to me, is one of those safe day time scent which actually uplifts instead of merely being a perfume or worse, drags your. Being categorised as a floral fruity (which many associate with bubbly teenagers or younger 20somethings), Funny! is actually quite versatile in a way.
The beginning of the scent is uplifting in with a burst of sweet orange-y scent (which according to the official notes listed, should be tangerine) mixed with a handful of really soft spiciness which makes the scent fresh yet grounded.
Imgae of a girl lying on a deck, under the sun, which to me, evokes exactly the happy feeling that Funny! by Moschino gives me
As the scent develops, the fresh juiciness of tangerine gradually disappears, while this subtle well-blended sweet mute floral accord comes in and softens the scent a bit. I cannot really detect any single note, I guess a mixture of tea and rose-y scent with quite generous dose of tangerine is what is smelt like. Then the scent stayed like this for quite a good 5-6 hours.
Being a floral fruity perfume, Funny! does have something more than sugary water to offer and I’m quite impressed by Funny!, Worth trying.


  • Moschino by Moschino
Moschino smells pretty spice in the beginning, a bit nutmeg-y and a bit woody in a sweetway. Somehow it was like a typical introduction of a perfume made in the 80s. Big bold opening which are rather similar to each other of the 80s spice woody offering, but all develops rather differently after the initial stage. Somehow the smell is addictive with a lot of nostalgic turn, because it actually smells like those insects repellent made from flower-extract, which I happen to caught a glimpse of when I was little back in China; I remember that grandpa was quite found of those insect repellents and it has become a smell I associate with grandpas/grandmas and those old times when you go to your grandparents’ place for summer holiday.
After about 5-8minutes, Moschino becomes mellower and the floral notes gradually come to the central stage, I can smell something rather spice, along the carnation line and something rose-y yet not too loud. On top of the quasi-old-fashioned-Chinese-insect-repellent smell, Moschino smells really lovely to me. Nothing as synthetic as those post 2000 perfumes, what Moschino has is a kind of charm, reserved yet bold.
The dry down is quite lovely, it’s just like the middle notes get faded a bit, and more warmed up on the skin with a much smaller sillage.
I’d associate Moschino with golden colour, Victorian style vanity mirrors etc and I find this perfume is quite an oldie but also a goodie, it’s a perfume with some backbones.



  • Moschino Couture! by Moschino
Couture is the perfume I’ve heard quite a bit hype about, while got it tested on me, I’m not that amazed at all.
The opening of Couture is like superglue to my nose, which I’m pretty clear that it should be the pomegranate accord and its sourness and the glue-ness will disappear. Surely the glue-ness is gone within 5 seconds, and leaves this rather generic, yet well-blended concoction of citrusy and slightly peppery spice. I find Couture! Is not that feminie or luxury as many others find, due to my association of citrusy scents and rather bubbly and sporty type. Somehow, it reminds me a lot of Funny! by Moschino, also in a really similar bottle, but in blue.
After a while when the dominant citrusy notes are gone, Couture! smells of Dove soap (without too much of the soapiness) with a hint of slightly floral-neutralised citruses to me. I can see it’s going to be a rather safe scent to wear as in who would really find soap residue offensive?
From here to the dry down, Couture! develops in a rather linear fashion. I find that I was a bit harsh towards this scent, overall, it is pleasant enough and much better presented than many of the new scents these days.
If you love clean scent with a bit discreet floral feminie touch and some orange-y zest for lightening it up, Couture! is one must-try. However, if you are actually searching for something with more personality and would please yourself more, maybe just leave Couture! in the ‘I-don’t-mind-to-be-gifted-a-bottle-of-this’ list.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Perfume-Narciso Rodriguez-For Her EDT, EDP, Musc Collection EDP Intense, EDT Delicate, EDP Delicate Limited Editions, Essence, Essence Eau de Musc

For Her, by Narciso Rodriguez was quite a hype and claimed its popularity overnight, as a commercial perfume, it does have a bit niche feel in it to start with (or maybe it’s just because that unfortunately most of the other hoses have been mainly producing floral fruity shampoo type of scents since 2000). Despite the criticism from some about the lasting power of Narciso Rodriguez’s fragrances, I find this Narciso Rodriguez’s scents rather collectable and wearable on the right person.
The following are some of my reviews:



  • For Her EDP by Narciso Rodriguez
For Her EDP starts really lovely, muted/mud-infused-rose-y. It is quite musky in the warm, slightly ‘dirty’ (patchouli-hinted) earthy way which gives the perfume a rather laid-back, Sunday afternoon in a Victorian garden type of vibe.
As the perfume develops, the mid phase is just like an extension of the top, while the rose gets more floral-sweet (with an every-now-and-then chypre-y peach nuance) and blended much more with the musk/patchouli and a bit woody undertone and gives a peculiar silky yet fuzzy feel. The dry down is somehow the best part of this perfume to me, it’s much laid back, well blended and somehow like a slightly peach-and-rose-scented cashmere.
For those who likes Cabaret by Gres, for Her EDP would be the darker, heavier version of Cabaret; for those who likes Idylle by Guerlain, for Her EDP is like a much smoother and well-balanced, non-headache-inducing (to me, at least) version of Idylle; for those who likes Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, For Her is a more peach-y and smoother version of Lovely. Despite the resemblance of these fragrances, I find For Her EDP is rather well-done and personally I would suggest people who are tossing between For Her/Idylle or For Her/Lovely, to invest in a bottle of for Her EDP.



  • For Her EDT by Narciso ROdriguez
For Her EDT is a rather light, fruitier and more bubbly and white-floral-infused composition in comparison to the EDP which was created later. The start of the EDT version is quite a shocker, it smells of alcohol to me for about 1-2 minutes.
However, as soon as I start to smell the scent, it is beautiful. It’s like elegant rose-themed floral scent, which smells of fruity (peach-y/apricot-y-infuesed) rose and dry down slightly powderier.
As the scent develops, I can detect a bit jasmine-y white floral notes every now and then, which somewhat plays a duet with the rose and makes the rose much softer and delicate while allows the jasmine itself stand out as the slightly sharper and more powerful type of floral.
The EDT is quite nice and mellows towards the drydown. For those who likes jasmine/white floral scents with a hint of musk, give For Her EDT a try as well, you might be pleasantly surprised.



  • For Her Musc (Musk) Collection Intense by Narciso Rodriguez
This is the most innocent yet seductive and really easy-to-wear musk I've ever tried. For Her Musk doesn't really bear much of the heavy earthy musky similarities from the original for Her, somehow the rather ink-y clean musk makes me instantly attracted to it due to the nice comfy cleaness and softness association with freshly turbo-dried tower.

In the beginning, I couldn't really smell anything for like one minute. Soon there's light soap smell without any of the soapy powderness. It's light, delicate but still has the fine texture, which makes me thinking about nice white evening dress.

Then I can smell some decreed Ylang Ylang note combined finely with the floral laundry powder scent and non-fiery but oh-so-sensual and smooth inky musk.
At this point, it reminds me something oriental, especially stereotype Japanese, light, polite with hidden sexiness.

The dry-down is more powdery and with a tiny hint of jasmine essential oil/Dior Pure Poison kinda white floral notes, but all done in a really light ethereal way, as oppose to the sharper louder jasmine in Alien by Thierry Mugler.

I personally love it and find it really easy to wear, and because of the 'quite' nature of this musk, your can wear it up or down. However, the only con is, somehow it's like wearing a newly washed shirt with washing powder residue.


  • For Her Eau de Parfum Delicate by Narciso Rodriguez
For Her Eau de Parfum Delicate is a limited edition of the For Her EDP, introduced to the market in 2012. Personally, I find this limited edition a much more pleasing composition of the original For Her, and much wearable to environment like uni or parties. Largely because of its higher dose of fruity note and reduced dirty/earthy rose-patchoulli combo.
The perfume starts off really fruity and sweet in a peachy, floral nectar way, which is quite pleasant and nature in comparison with so many sugary sweet perfumes out there.
Then the scent develops into a juice-alcoholic-peach infused rose-y scent with much cleaned-up musk (in comparison to the original). Somehow, this edition smells even more like a Victorian garden to me. The dry down is a slightly powdery, laundry-ish musk base left on my skin after about 12 hours, which is really subtle and lovely as a skin scent.
Personally I find the EDP Delicate one of the best flanker of the For Her EDPs. Plus the slightly florescent neo-pink perfume, it’s just too lovely to be ignored.



  • For Her Eau de Toilette Delicate by Narciso Rodriguez

For Her Eau de Toilette Delicate is a more edible edition among the two limited editions introduced in 2012.
The start of For Her EDT Delicate is surprisingly woody/rum/cocoa infused alcoholic peachy rose. Somehow it has this peculiar happy boozy feel to it. Also, similar to the limited EDP Delicate, this one has a lovely peach-y note too, but in a much sweeter and less alcoholic sense; and similar to the original EDT, it has this white floral type of accord, but in the EDT Delicate, the white floral is not as sharp.
I find this one doesn’t last half as long as the EDP Delicate, not even sure if there’s such thing as dry down in this perfume to me, while I also heard people saying the EDP Delicate just disappear on their skin after like 10 minutes. I guess the longevity/detectiablity of the Narciso Rodriguez scents differs from person to person.
If you find the original EDT or EDP too musky/patchouli for you, while white floral nuance is one of the type accords you like, the EDT Delicate might win your vote over the EDP Delicate.


  • Essence by Narciso Rodriguez
Sweet, clean, nearly fruity-berry yet bares no significant fruitiness marks the opening of Essence. To me, it was an instant like, just like my partial feelings towards baby powder/ivory soap kind of smell, if it was well-done. Essence is a really well-done one to my nose. The subtle clean sweetness in the beginning makes the scent rather inoffensive and quite versatile.
As time goes by, Essence settles to something slightly powdery, which reminiscent the smell of freshly cleaned and dried thick fluffy shower towers.
Towards the dry down, Essence simply goes quieter and closer to the skin.
I find Essence the best clean/fresh-out-of-shower type of scent among which I’ve ever tried. Essence has something sustainable, organic in it, which gives it a rather radiant core and it is polite yet powerful to the point; while many other clean scent, say…Laundry Mat by Demeter, or any of the perfumes from Clean, they strike my nose with the naturally unnatural chemical/washing detergent smell overdose.
Highly recommend to clean scent or baby powder scent lovers.



  • Essence Eau de Musc (Musk) by Narciso Rodriguez
Essence Eau de Musc opens with a rather citrusy aquatic but non-sports-perfume-aquatic top accords, which makes me rather confused. Surprisingly this version of Essence should have some emphasis on musk, but this one, to my nose, has a rather distinct emphasis on the watery more citrusy part.
As the scent develops, the word “L’eau” keeps coming to my mind. I guess, this scent does remind me a lot of the “L’eau” flankers, like the Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau, L’eau de L’Artisan etc, Essence Eau de Musc shares the same diluted citrusy smell with them, which, personally I find this type of muted citrusy accord rather disturbing, it muddles up the original scent to me.
As the original Essence, the Eau de Musc version also develops in a rather close-to-linear fashion, just like a version of the Essence had its rose-y/ivory-soap sweetness being striped off and with an added fuzzy watery citrusy accord.

Eau de Musc, well, my nose detects nothing that really musk here, I find the flankers of the For Her series have been constantly giving me good surprises, the Essence flankers are rather a ‘mehhhh, I’ll pass’ to me.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Perfume-L'Occitane en Provence-Cherry Blossom, Plum Blossom,Peony,Rose Nuit de Mai, Rose 4 Reines

L’Occitane en Provence does make pretty nice skincare products, however, their fragrances? Hmm, a bit too watery and too much on the same level as the Body Shop or Bath and Body Works. It might be a nice gift to a 16 year old who hasn’t had much experience in wearing perfumes; for someone who’s already got a perfume wardrobe, I’d suggest a water-y bath-gel-turned perfume spray section in the wardrobe for most of the L’Occitane scents.
So…here’s a handful of scents I’ve sampled from L’Occitane.


  • Cherry Blossom (Fleurs de Cerisier) by L'Occitane en Provence
Cherry Blossom starts really lovely; it is fresh, juicy, out-of-shower freshness with sparkling cherry and cherry twig scent.
Later on, the sparklingness fades away and the scent just linearly migrates towards the more tamed cherry tree/twig and slightly tart cherry sweetness.

It used to be my go-to scent when I do not know what to wear, for about a week, however, I find L’Occitane perfumes are a bit weird, somehow I don’t find them perfume enough: they smell more like a slightly longer-lived shower gel and somehow they carry a kinda watery body spray feel in them, it’s not that synthetic/plastic as some new release of pink perfumes, but still it nearly gives me a headache. Somehow I find Black XS for men (yes I know it’s marked towards men, but I find it quite unisex) is quite similar to Cherry Blossom, but with more depth. If you like cherry scent and find Cherry Blossom lacks of something, maybe give Black XS for men a try.



  • Plum Blossom (Fluers de Brignoles) by L'Occitane en Provence
Plum Blossom is quite a disappointment as a Mothers’ Day limited edition in 2011. It is like a cross between Cherry Blossom and Britney Spears’ Fantasy, however the sticky sweet and somewhat cloying factor just comes straight the short lived freshness which is about 2 seconds. And then it’s just a linear sweet watered-down BS Fantasy.

I love plum blossom notes in many other perfumes, however, this one, Plum Blossom is quite weird and headache-inducing to me.

Try before you buy.


  • Peony by L'Occitane en Provence
Peony starts with a seemingly monotone peony scent, while actually when I smell more analytically, there’s some fresh zesting citrusy smell there which lifts the scent up, and makes it quite ‘airy’ but not in a sheer way. The beginning has a really similar feel to Moschino I Love Love, but Pivoine Flora has a more fresh floral petals hint in it.

After about 10 minutes, the floral smell comes off stronger, and the citrusy smell barely there. The floral smell is quite peony, but more in a solid and sweet form, I find it somewhat lost the airy fresh nature spirit of peony, but not too bad since Peony doesn’t have a big sillage, and when you are not directly sniffing yourself, the scent actually smell quite nice, as if it was a sweeter and more girly sister of Stella McCartney’s Stella, and weird(in a nice way tho) enough, it smell kinda like the dry down of Dior Addict 2 to me at this stage, the floral, a little bit soft powdery clean poeny smell with the citrusy hint.

Towards the dry down, Peony is gets softer and flora, with a hint of echo-y fresh nearly ‘aquatic’ smell, but not the sports perfume aquatic smell, thank goodness; however I still find the typical watery -smell present in many L’Occitane rose or peony perfumes a tiny little bit synthetic sometimes.

Overall, Peony is such a quiet and pretty perfume to wear, a typical L’Occicante perfume, and a nice fresh ‘rose’ perfume alongside with Stella McCatney’s. However, personally I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s searching for something special.


  • Rose Nuit de Mai by L'Occitane en Provence
Rose Nuit de Mai (roll-on, concentrated edt) makes me think about slightly spiced sweet, velvet, dark rose petals in the beginning, which smells so delicate, fragilely beautiful.

Soon after that it gets more depth, and a little bit powdery, this reminds me quite a lot of Anna Sui Anna Sui and luxury rose-scented soap, but Rose Nut de Mai doesn’t have the melancholy aspect and smells more welcoming and less depressed than the purple gothic Anna Sui.

Later on it gets woodier. It smells like sweet woods and is really dark in a kind and nice way. It reminds me a lot of Dolce Vita by Dior, but Rose Nuit de Mai is totally not on your face. This baby borrows the nice sweet rich woody happiness Dolce Vita has, and wrapped it in with a lovely silk ribbon called ‘subtle’.



  • Rose 4 Reines by L'Occitane en Provence
Rose 4 Reines is quite a real-life rose scent, dewy and smell of rose water to begin with. Then it goes pretty linear. A nice rose scent if you are looking for some real-life rose. However, I find there is something in nearly all of the L’Occitane’s scents, which makes me feel uneasy, it is not the typical headache-inducing scent, but it has this weird quality that makes me feel the watery accord isn’t doing me any good. Maybe it’s just me and L’Occitane are not meant for each other.

Perfume-Jennifer Aniston-Lolavie

Lolavie by Jennifer Aniston is such a Jennifer-style-sweetheart perfume, clean, lovely, happy, not demanding, just there, smiles at you in a nice way, which makes me think of a lot of her characters in those romantic chick flicks. Just as the old sweet Jen, Lolavie is slightly different from most of the other sugary bombshell-wanna-be celebrity perfumes and I have to confess, as snobish/skeptical as I am towards celeb perfumes, I was willingly reaching Lolavie at the perfume counter.

The opening is quite a blast of like everything, but in a nice, inoffensive way, I can’t really put my finger through what it smells like and it’s not like any of your typical celebrity perfume, Lolavie is really well blended and I find the quality of the ingredients is rather pleasant (than a lot of the commercial perfumes in this kind of price range). What I smell after about one minute is white flowers, it’s not aggressive at all, somehow it smells rather soothing, and like Chinese Jasmine tea I find in a tea shop called T2 here (it’s a blend of jasmine flower and normally white tea). Then it fluctuates between the Chinese Jasmine tea smell and a slightly sweeter night blooming floral scent. It could easily be one of the white flower themed perfumes launched by a niche house, as in it’s not that bland ga-ga-y celebrity; it does have the typical people-pleaser personality of a commercial/celebrity perfume, but has a bit more soul in it, a nice soul.

After about half an hour, Lolavie smells like laundry, a peculiar combination of Laundromat from Demeter and for Her Musk from Narciso Rodriguez. It is a clean, fresh-out-of shower scent with a bit household cleaning soapy powdery twist, somehow I like it.

Even thought Lolavie is quite a clean, non-typcial-celebrity scent which I think worth trying (not for a mindset as a connoisseur or deep-thoughtful appreciation, but just for fun)!


However, on a side note, about all the Jennifer Aniston’s perfume and all the celebrity gossip:
I think I read it somewhere that Anais Anais used to be Jennifer’s favourite perfume for years until she grow out of it, hmmm…not sure if Lolavie is Ms Aniston’s tribute to her loved Anias Anais? I guess it might be a rather dangerous task because it seems Anais Anais is still loved by many (I’m one of them) these days, and Lolavie would have a lot of trouble to top that and it does not, in my opinion. Hmmm, why not create something more original?
In addition, as pleasing as this perfume is, I can’t stoping thinking about Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston, in Friends, once Rachel said “I’m not a push-over” but it seems she has been pushed quite a bit. As much a sweetheart as Jennifer is, I guess her perfume wouldn’t end up in my collection (who would want to smell just goody-goody and somewhat like house-hold cleaning product? Sorry, I’m quite harsh…); and I’d rather stock up some vamp-y perfumes favoured by her ‘enemies’.

Perfume-Cristobal Balenciaga-Balenciaga Paris

Balenciaga Paris by Cristobal Balenciaga has been in some eye-catching position with great light, in many shops I've visited, for quite a while ever since its launch. 

I didn't know it is a Chypre Floral until I checked it up. I thought it's more a grown-up sophiscated floral fruity. Oh well, I guess this is what a modern chypre smell like then.

It is weird, but I really smelt a lot of fresh crispy green pear scent with violet soft sweetness in the beginning and I told myself it's the best pear scent ever!

About 3 hours later, the ‘pear’ freshness is still there, but with more floral added in, which made the fragrance softer and really elegant and femmine. However, somehow this reminds me of traditional cologne plus nice optimistic notes from some new pink perfume like Baby Doll by YSL, but all in a unique and interestingly good way. It does smell golden, more self assured, even a bit classic, than most of the pink-y morden chypre-y fragrances out there.

The perfume is really modern and refined, somehow, it’s not hard to see Balenciaga Paris might be the next Chanel No.5 kind of stapler in a woman’s wardrobe, especially if the woman has a spot for violet (this might be the best violet scent I’ve tried so far). It is nothing like old-school classic chypre or aldehyde scents, somehow I feel it has some notes make it float in the air. Quite an interesting scent to try on.
Personally, I find Balenciaga Paris a bit hard to pull off for those more relaxed, casual occasions; also, for anyone under 25, the risk factor simply skyrockets. I don’t normally put perfumes into age groups, however, there is something really grande, which I can’t put my fingers through, in this perfume which makes me feel that it’s too powerful (thinking about workaholic executive women in a company, whom forgot how to smile sometimes :S). On the right person, it might work wonders, however, for now, I guess I’ll pick something lighter and more carefree, like Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood instead, if I was craving for some good violet woody powder scent.