Perfume-Kaloo-Naturel

Naturel perfum bottle

Naturel by Kaloo somehow just smell like peaches to me. Juice, sweet, realistic  peach.

As the scents gets warmed up, it gets slightly sweeter and less juice-fresh than before, which is still quite cute and peachy-sweet, which I can’t complain.

Then Naturel develops in a rather linear fashion. I guess this is what I imagined what a kids' perfume should be like.

The official website claims that this Kaloo perfume, Naturel, is made with 98% natural ingredients and the head of the bear is made of 100% organic cotton, which all together, makes this perfume an eco-friendly one.

I guess I wouldn't mind to be gifted a bottle of this, but will I actively get a bottle, or suggest this to others? I guess I will not, as this is cute but still…smells a bit too much like shampoo (peach flavour of course) and I was looking for something a bit more complex and discreet with regard to what it smells like.

Also, with regards to kids and perfumes, no matter how eco-friendly the perfume is, I still feel a bit nervous to add more scent to a kid, as if we are not surrounded by enough chemicals already...

Perfume-Kaloo-Liliblue

Liliblue perfume bottle

Liliblue, by Kaloo starts as quite a light, muted, unsweetened citrusy and grassy perfume. It is marketed as a kids' perfume. I find it really mild and might be one of the most kids’ perfume-y type of perfume out there, if mild is what you think a kids’ perfume should be.

Soon after, what I can smell is just light slightly bitter lemon peel scent and something really vaguely floral. Somehow, that’s where my headache radar starts working, as this stage of Liliblue gradually remind me of Blue, another scent by Kaloo, but not as aquatic as Blue, thank goodness.

Liliblue, I guess I don’t mind to try on, or have a very small sample of, just for the fun of it; but … I will not recommend this to anyone. If you are really thinking about getting Liliblue for a kid, maybe, going without a perfume would smell better for the kid, as I find kids generally have this slightly milky scent, why cover that with something like Liliblue (I'm not saying Liliblue is a bad scent tho)?

Perfume-Kaloo-Blue

Blue perfume and fluffy toy coffret

Blue, by Kaloo smells of slightly aquatic vaguely fruity shampoo. There is definitely something citrusy, but watered down and sweetened; there’s something floral-ish there, but muted to the background, leaving this nearly undetectable lily-ish tone. The whole scent somewhat has an overall citrus peel accord, but because the aquatic aspect of the scent, the whole combination somewhat makes me feel a bit uneasy, as in, it smells like the suppose-to-be innocent, fresh, light perfume; but the reality is, my brain and my emotion just can’t stop to warn me that this smells like chemical, chemical and chemical!

After about 5 minutes, Blue smells more of a kid’s perfume, as the projection becomes minimal and it’s basically, literally, a skin scent. You have to really pay attention to it in order to really smell it. Not bad, judging that there’s this aquatic accord there which I hate.

Blue, sorry, I tried. :S

Perfume-Celebrity Perfume-Katy Perry-Meow

Meow by Katy Perry is like a younger, sunnier, more cotton-candy-pink-fluffy version of Purr to me.
The beginning is quite like sugar, as if you were inhaling some fairy floss, plus a bit vaguely creamy/vanilla-y undertone. Somehow, it’s like its predecessor Purr without the fresh bamboo note.

Then Meow by Katy Perry develops in a rather linear fashion, it just gets closer to the skin and the creaminess and candy sweet simply become better mixed instead of a bit oddly out there by themselves.

The dry down of Meow reminiscent Purr a lot, but it is sweeter and with more of a dominant fairy floss scent effect.

If you want something really fairy-floss sweet, but find Britney Spears’ Fantasy or Aquolina's Pink Sugar a bit too overwhelming or headache-inducing, while Demeter’s Cotton Candy a bit too weak, then…give Meow by Katy Perry a go, it might be the perfect balance of the kind of sweetness you are looking for.

Personally, I like Purr and Meow both, judging them as celebrity scents, they both surprised me positively. However, I wouldn't actively buying any of them for myself, just because I want my fume to be a bit more than just sweet, girly, cute, or edible, to be that’s where things went wrong in this modern society with regards to how a girl should smell like, I’ll throw in my 2cents about it in a different post later. Well, if you were tossing in between these two Katy Perry scents (Meow and Purr), my vote goes for Purr tho, simply because it has slightly more depth to it than Meow.

Perfume-Celebrity Perfume-Katy Perry-Purr

Purr by Katy Perry is actually quite a nice surprise to me, considering that I was quite sceptical about her perfume as soon as I saw the packaging, in which Katy Perry wears some kind of rubbery hot pink and blue-y violet cat outfit. I was really judging the perfume from its box/cover. To be honest, I do not care about Katy Perry, as in I don’t mind listen to her songs if it happen to be in the radio in the background, that’s all. The celebrity perfume launching trends also got me scared of sniffing any of the celeb fumes, fearing that I will have another nasty headache.

Well, Purr by Katy Perry is a great non-brainer type of comfort scent. It starts with some kind of creamy sugary vanilla-y vague fruity punch, and something fresh and breezy, which could be the imaginary bamboo note as marketed. The beginning of Purr really makes me think of sunny days, fun park rides and fairy floss.

Soon after the initial burst of sweet fun opening, Purr settles to a really creamy concoction with a tiny swirl of something like cherry-blossom, but really sugared, jerked or pickled in a lot of sweetness. This actually reminds me quite a bit of CK In2U for Her Pop limited edition, but Purr is creamier, warmer and not as bubbly or energetic as CK In2U for Her Pop.

The final dry down has this slightly warmer and fuzzier feel to it in comparison to the middle stage, and it is definitely much less sweet and powderier in powdery-sweet sense.

I know of that Britney Spears’ scents generally get relatively positive feedbacks among many other celebrity perfumes, but I guess after I tried Purr, I’d say Katy Perry’s perfume quality somewhat feels a bit higher to me, than Britney Spears’, which I find as a great thing.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Le Rivage des Syrtes

Le Rivage des Syrtes by MDCI starts with something smells vaguely like flowers and predominantly like sugar water to me. However, it is not your average cheap nasty sugary stuff, it smells like natural, inoffensive, great quality blend. Also, adds to the fascination is that there is a sense of quirky green quasi-citrus freshness in the scent, which just made the whole composition more lively. Somehow, I can predict that I will really end up enjoying the test drive a lot.

Later on, Le Rivage des Syrtes gets a shier and more diluted with some watery feel. This scent feels like one of those beige coloured trench coat, somehow, nearly everyone knows of, and possibly wanted to have one at one stage of life, just for the sake of be able to blend in and somewhat popular (when popular equals indistinguishable).By all means, I am not saying that Le Rivage des Syrtes is bad at all, in fact, I find it quite pleasant and non-demanding to wear.

The dry down of Le Rivage des Syrtes is just slightly softer in a really really light woody-musk way.

I find that Le Rivage des Syrtes is lovely and quite enough to be a perfect office scent (which makes me want to laugh when thinking about some sales assistant actually says to me that YSL’s Parisienne can be worn to office and everyone loves it, oh well, different people have different opinions on what makes a great office scent I guess, also, who knows if one day the sale girl would tell me that Thierry Mugler’s Angel, or Guerlain’s Shalimar would be perfect for office). I guess my notion of a good office scent is that, it should be shy enough, and the scent should be inoffensive enough and have a really soft sillage, to make it an office scent, otherwise, why bother to categories something as an office scent, but it is just a personal favourite you happen to wear to work?

I’d recommend Le Rivage des Syrtes to those who has the kind of disposable income they can use (as none of the MDCI scents are cheap relatively speaking), and happen to be seeking something really quiet and office-y.

Perfume-Yves Saint Laurent-Opium Vapeurs de Parfum

Tart, zest, and slightly balmy citrusy accord marks the beginning of Opium Vapeurs de Parfum (confusingly, an EDT), by Yves Saint Laurent. This type of citrus to me is in-between the sparkling, champagne girly sweet ones (which I picture those for warmer daytime) and the sensual deep and a bit dark ones you might find in Shalimar (which I wouldn't dare to wear to uni). Somehow, this citrus type in Opium Vapeurs de Parfum makes the perfume smell rather versatile.

The middle notes are quite oddly thrown-together to me…Even though the indistinguishable notes bunch somehow might be a sign for a well-blended perfume, but something odd there just make my nose feel uneasy and got a feeling that this phase is not as harmonious as I wished.

The good news is, the middle notes stage is rather momentary, soon Opium Vapeurs de Parfum goes into this blooming, beautifully crafted stage, which is quite close to the skin. It smells like waxy-incense (the quite, relatively clean, Zen y type) on the background of sandalwood (also the more cleaned-up version which uses Iso-E-super for the sandalwood-y smell) with a nutty swirl.

I find Opium Vapeurs de Parfum quite lovely to wear, more in a sense of an intellectual journey. With the soft sillage and close-to-skin personality, I find it quite suitable to many occasions.
However, just like one of the hauntingly beautiful incense-dominant perfume that Opium Vapeurs de Parfum reminds me of—John Galliano’s John Galliano (EDP), these gems might not be love at first sight, wait for them to speak to you, you might be nicely surprised!

My bias towards quite incense and scents with some kind of intellectual depth to me, makes me feel compelled to recommend Opium Vapeurs de Parfum to anyone to try...and I can see myself wear this a lot.

Perfume-Aftelier-Secret Garden

Secret Garden (EDP) by Aftelier has had my attention for a while, maybe it is the name, or maybe it is just my curiosity and my imaginary perfect spring/warm-weather-perfume wish, finally I got a sample!

Cleaned-up patchouli, woody oud-y syrupy sweetness oozed out when I had a drop of Secret Garden on me. It smells really natural, somewhat familiar but I cannot really retrieve the right memory related to this; something I am sure is, Secret Garden at this stage has this quasi-Chanel No.5 Parfum type of civet smell, which is animalic but not stinky; and the syrupy jam-y tart raspberry simply lightens up the whole concoction and smells like Sunday afternoon picnic at grandma’s in a way, the home-made jam, the smell of the sun (if it had a smell) and the whole sense of care-freeness (or maybe, it’s grandma’s Chanel No.5 Parfum in the air mixed with raspberry jam).

Then the scent develops in a really linear fashion. It is sweet, syrupy without the thickness. Somehow it reminds me something from the Chanel Les Exclusif range, but not as sophisticated or that Chanel-y (as in all suited up, business-y).

Secret Garden is not bad at all, somewhat I find it has some personality and I did enjoy it momentarily; however, to smell this syrupy for nearly the whole duration of wearing this perfume, I guess I can easily pass this to someone else.

However, does Secret Garden smell like the type of lush, natural garden I was dreaming of? Not really.
Also, I'm pretty sure Secret Garden would not be that much warm-weather friendly to me.

Oh well, I tried. :S