Perfume-Celebrity Perfume-Britney Spears-Curious

Curious is one of the Britney Spears’ perfumes that I actually find easy to wear (in comparison with some high-voltage sugary flankers introduced year after year). The start is really watery (not aquatic sports perfume-y, thank god), feminine, with the magnolia wrapped with fresh discreet pear scent. It is sweet, but in a nice, girl-next-door sweet way if not over-applied.

After a while, it gets warmer with the vanilla-y notes coming in, but it’s not that in-your-face cake-y vanilla, it’s soft, smooth, and a good supporting background vanilla for the floral notes. Somehow it makes me think of high school, comfy beanbags and carefree girls (vice versa, high school girls do wear Curious a lot in my memory).

I find the final dry down a bit unstructured or too wishy washy, since it’s a washed down and warmed up, slightly stale and dustier version of the mid phase. However, since at this stage, people can barely smell it unless they press their noses against your skin, Curious gets my forgiveness.

Overall, it’s one of the celebrity perfumes I find nice to wear.

Perfume-Gorilla Perfume at Lush-Tuca Tuca

Tuca Tuca by Lush is quite a surprise; it is one of a kind in a way, judging it as an oriental floral perfume.  However, nice as it is, I find it a bit too edgy in a way that it falls in between grand and trashy (not literally, and by all means, all in a neutral or positive sense).

The scent develops rather linearly, it is like un-sweetened ylang-ylang mixed with woods, which resembles camphor/mothballs in a way, with a bit white floral type of light swirl of jasmine-like aura comes and goes. After checking the notes, I realised that the above smell is more a less a violet accord, oh well, violet does come in many different shapes, in Tuca Tuca, it is definitely a dried-up, bleached-off-of-the-nature-sweetness violet. The very start is slightly spicier and the final dry down is a bit more tamed.

I can see many violet lovers rave after Tuca Tuca, however, I prefer my violet smell more like the real dewy flower and would happily reach Apres L’Ondee by Guerlain, Aimez-Moi by Caron or Flower by Kenzo. However, to each of their own, Tuca Tuca may be a cult following by some, especially due to that Lush is quite a great company with either vegan or vegetarian-friendly products.

Perfume-Gorilla Perfume at Lush-Vanillary (solid)

The Vanillary (solid perfume) looks cute but to me it doesn't really have that much of a cute-cupcake-edible type of typical vanilla in it. It develops in a rather linear fashion with this really overbearing nuttiness and somewhat fuzzy hint of ink-ness in it, along with a really minimum level of vanilla hint. Somewhat this makes me (who had sweet edible vanilla experiences only) think if this perfume’s off, but…apparently it is not. As the scent gets warmed up, the nutty-ness gets closer to dried coconut shred, but in a non-tropical way and the vanilla brings the much needed lively-ness into the coconut-shred-y accord. The more towards the dry down, the more that there is a weird sense of butter-ness oozing out and haunt me, in such a strange way that I cannot decide if this is giving me a headache or I might become addicted to it.

To some this might smell heavenly, but I guess I'm not a fan of over-dried coconut-y scent combined with vanilla. I prefer my vanilla to be bald, oriental, maybe a bit woody or incense-y or even just a non-brainer type of gourmand-y delicious.

Will I buy it? Not really. Will I happily accept it if someone gifted me Vanillary? Yes! Because about half an hour after application, Vanillary is quite a mild non-bothering scent.

The bottom line? I would recommend you to try it, this could be one of those non-conventional vanilla you might actually end up liking.

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

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-La Belle Helene

La Belle Helene by MDCI Parfums is like a beautiful art-deco salon with some old-time charm, yet still look and smell rather captivating in a way that I just can’t take my eyes off (or to be more precise, my nose off my wrist).

It starts with this really juice, yet self-assured, well-blended slightly lily-dominant caramalised fruity scent, which somewhat reminds me a lot of Something about Sofia by Benefit, and Lalique Amythest. I checked out the nose behind La Belle Helene, well, it’s Bertrand Duchaufour, I guess this type of hate-or-love slightly earth and ‘wet’ sweet accord is the Duchaufour signature then. I guess the chemical compositions do play tricks, as I checked, the official top notes suppose to be more leaning towards pear, tangerine, rose, lime, vetiver, osmanthus, ylang ylang, patchouli, Virginia cedar, to name a few.  I guess, sticking with the ‘pear’ accord, La Belle Helene is one of the art-y, tasteful ‘pear’ perfume I’ve ever tried. It is neither too fruity/juice, nor too dry or gourmand with sugar. Everything seems to blend so well, and at this stage, what I can think of is some of those really exquisite Marie-Antoinette style dresses in champagne colour and a lot of fine details would go well with the particular mood La Belle Helene sets.

As the scent develops, the quasi-lily accord goes to the background and becomes more echo-y and moised, i.e typical Duchaufour; while the sweetness gets more settled and slightly warmed and spiced and dried up a bit. I cannot detect any osmanthus, even though this note is one which got me buying a sample of La Belle Helene by MDCI Parfums.

The final dry down is rather nice, it’s like warm, slightly dry woody vanilla scent with a tiny bit muddled white floral touch.

As much as I loved some of the Duchaufour creations (and came to hatred towards nearly the other handful), I guess La Belle Helene is more in the slightly polarizing end and I can see myself hating this perfume one day. I cannot handle this quasi-lily note well, however, if you are a Bertrand Duchaufour fan and you love Lalique Amythest, but want something slightly quieter in a more refined, lady-like way, give La Belle Helene a try!

But if you are on a budget and you don’t mind a more girly sweet opening and some slight insence-y hint in the dry down, in addition to what you can smell in La Belle Helene, I’d say, go for a bottle of Something About Sofia, Benefit makes quite cute bottles by the way.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Vepres Siciliennes

I’m really impressed by Vepres Siciliennes by MDCI Parfums (despite of the question why MDCI picked such a name for this fragrance, which has been bugging me a lot, you can check out the history of Vepres Siciliennes). Even though it is categorised as a chypre fruity perfume, it smells more like a sophisticated floral to my nose.

The beginning is really promising sweet orange-y type of citrusy mixed with juice ripe peach. I know this will be a short-lived opening, which is like a wonderful trailer that sets the tone and makes me want to smell the perfume from the beginning to the very end.

As the fruity accord gradually becomes less dominant, a well blended, tuberose-dominant flower bouquet is what I can smell for quiet a good long time. The tuberose has its soul, but not as aggressive or intensive, somehow a really floral aspect of jasmine comes and goes, which lightens up the scent from time to time, while a rather syrupy, raspberry-jam-y rosey accord mixed with some mouth-watering plum-ness keeps the warmth and sensuality of Vepres Siciliennes. I saw coconut listed as one of the notes in this perfume, however, I can smell none, but there is this overall creamy factor of this scent which makes it quite cosy in a way.

After a while, I can smell the osmanthus note! This is a rather miracle surprise to me because most of the perfumes claiming have osmanthus in the notes don’t smell of this delicate flower at all. The osmanthus here leans towards a rather peach-y sweet end, while the rest of the perfume anchors the osmanthus down with tuberoses and other flowers. This is like a duet, there is brilliant breezy freshness as well as the more grounded, sensual, deeper aspect of the scent, all coming together at a quite harmonically blended concoction.

Towards the dry down, I find the tuberose/jasmine-y accord is a bit too dominant for my liking (mind you, I’m a self-claimed white flower hater), yet I still find this perfume nice.

If you love Chinatown by Bond No.9, you might love this one too. To me, if Chinatown is the dark, woody, mysterious gardenia-y perfume to wear with a little black dress at night, Vepres Siciliennes is the day-time, more floral match of Chinatown and can be versatile enough to be worn from a mundane workday to a fancy brunch if you are a floral fan who likes the flowers to be unapologetic. Apply with a light hand, it works magic.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Rose de Siwa

Old fashioned dressing table rose-scented facial powder comes to my mind after I tried Rose de Siwa, by MDCI Parfums, on. It smells really similar to the springtime limited edition of Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, rose water, or the rose aspect of several L’Occitane’s rose/peony themed scents.

To my nose, the scent develops rather linearly, the only difference between the newly applied perfume and 3-4 hours after, is that the rose/peony combo smells more predominant to my nose while the cosmetic-y powdery notes becomes less present.

The final dry down, is the best aspect of the scent to me, because there is this vaguely creamy woody note mingles perfectly with the rose aspect, and I do love a rose scent to have some depths.

Overall, Rose de Siwa by MDCI Parfums is a lovely rose-themed scent which shows the soft, warm, even a bit balm-ish aspect of rose.

However, will I recommend it? The answer a definite ‘No’. Largely due to its price, for the same amount of money, you could’ve found 3-4 bottles of lovely rose scents of similar quality from perfume brands.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Promesse de l'Aube

Slightly quai-leathery sweetness wrapped with bergamot-y brightness and warmth marks the beginning of Promesse de l’Aube (which means the promises of dawn) by MDCI Parfums. As the scent develops, it reminds me a lot of some particular Chanel perfumes, the typical warm slightly leathery luxury bag type of smell some Chanel perfumes possess. Allure it is! I find Promesse de l’Aube has quite a similarity to Allure’s warmth, but not as dry or powdery as Allure. I can actually smell some sweetness in Promesse de l’Aube, which makes it much more welcoming (mind you, I can’t stand Allure). Promesse de l’Aube smells of something slightly nutty mixed with tart sweet lemon skin on top of lush, slightly fuzzy jasmine. The whole combination makes it warm, fuzzy and somewhat, to me, a bit stale, which is one of the reasons I don’t really like Allure, I guess I find a cleaner scent more attractive than something sweet in a stale fashion.

As Promesse de l’Aube gets warmed up, it becomes sweeter, in a slightly dry, a bit almond-powdery with a little bit hint of marzipan-ness, while the typical Chanel Allure kind of warmth (smells rather stale to me tho) still lingering around and making a quite strong impression.

The dry down is quite typical Chanel Allure, with all of the above plus a little bit non-vanilla kind of impressionist type of vanilla sweet, dry and non-cream creaminess.

If you are a fan of Allure by Chanel, you would love Promesse de l’Aube by MDCI too, however, I find this name doesn’t really fit the perfume, it smells rather like something for a cloudy cool evening. Not my cup of tea and needless to say that you can easily get Allure from Chanel for a cheaper price.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Un Coeur en Mai

Bright, greenish leaves, fresh dewy roses mixed with something along the line of bitter bergamot marks the really promising start of Un Coeur en Mai by MDCI Parfums. It is easy to like, easy to wear, somewhat running the risk of too similar to many of the floral fruity/floral type of commercial “nice-clean” perfumes but Un Coeur en Mai speaks of quality and this very quality makes it easy to inhale, and the pretty smell is somewhat addictive in a way. I find this is easily one of the best and more true-to-the name floral green type of perfume. The green part of the scent is just natural and lush, with a little bit fruity hint (something along the line like those Josephine pear accord).

After the bright opening, Un Coeur en Mai settles down a bit, and there is this quasi Chanel No.19 type of typical “green” type of powdery leathery iris accord comes and goes, which gives the scent more depth. Not finding Chanel No.19 type of powdery green charming, Un Coeur en Mai surprises me that a really small dose of this type of accord brings the scent to life. This smells meadowy to me, it’s like a perfect combination of Vent Vert and fresh floral. This is the type of perfume I find would fit the name “Daisy” more perfectly than the actual Marc Jacob’s Daisy.

Towards the dry down, the scent simply become slightly more powdery in a rose-y powdery way, but unlike those typical rich sweet rose soaps, Un Coeur en Mai has this more discreet approach of its notes. Somehow, it is like Chanel No.19 meets Chloe Chloe 2008 EDP, and Un Coeur en Mai is like the perfect midpoint of those two. This would be a nice skin-perfume for those who have a soft spot for discreet floral perfumes.

Un Coeur en Mai is indeed a pretty scent which can be easily worn daily, however, I find it more a decant-worth (if you like these sort of scent) or sample-worth scent, by judging how much this perfume would actually cost. Because lovely as it is, it doesn’t have that type of backbone make it stand out much. It’s like a nice high quality plain white cotton T-shirt which would cost you over half a grand, I don’t think I’ll splurge on this sort of stuff, will you?

Meanwhile, I’ll be happily using up my sample for sure. :)

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Invasion Barbare

Sweet typical fourgere infused woods with a hint of amber-y sweetness and discreet lavender coolness marks the opening of Invasion Barbare by MDCI Parfums. It is a instant like to me, as I am a bit biased towards oriental fourgere perfume with the type of quasi wormwood-y hint.

L’Artisan’s Fou d’Absinthe come to my mind, as Invasion Barbare has this resemblance of it,  but in a more withdraw way. If Fou d’Absinthe is like this artistic guy who has this warm personality and makes you want to sniff a bit more because it’s kind of addictive (if you like those sort of woody yet aniseed spiced scent), then Invasion Barbare is like the a more businessman-like older brother of Fou d’Absinthe, I guess it’s due to the lavender and the slightly cool-powdery accord in the scent, Invasion Barbare smells like the kind of all-purpose perfume a guy in a suit might wear to work as well as to the after-work parties. It has this calm gentlemen vibe, yet modern/fashionable enough to not be mistaken as one of those oldie-but-a-goodie aftershaves and more self-assured to make a stance rather than being too sweet/distracting/womaniser-smelling—I have Le Male, Pi and a lot of the so-called metrosexual trend perfumes in mind (not saying anything negative about Le Male etc, in fact I like it, it’s just that I find in comparison with those either too sweet or too aquatic trends in the ‘male’ perfumes, Invasion Barbare is much a safer yet charming choice in some situations).

The dry down is like slightly soap-y(without the powdery soapiness)-clean-floral-musk mixed with a little bit tamed leather-y undertone. Somehow, it reminds me a little bit of Narciso Rodriguez’s limited edition of For Him-For Him Musk.

As I believe, perfumes don’t have genders attached, and I do find Invasion Barbare can be pull off by a woman perfectly, if she has the personality. Somehow, I can compare Invasion Barbare to the new release of Shalimar flanker from Guerlain, the Shalimar Parfum Initial, both has this slightly powdered accord, Shalimar Parfum Initial is more caramelised while Invasion Barbare keeps the cool of the powdery notes, with a splash of leathery musky charm, which I find more pleasing to the nose.

As much as I enjoying this scent, this is really overpriced! I thought Bond No.9 was a huge money-sucking machine, but at least you can find their fragrances at discounted rate in some quite reputable fragrance websites; while MDCI’s Invasion Barbare is hard to find and I guess people have to pay the (over)price if really wanting a bottle of this.

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Peche Cardinal

Peche Cardinal by MDCI Parfums is a rather nicely done peachy floral scent. The beginning is like a blast of peachy tuberose, just when I thought the tuberose might be a bit too dominant, the scent starts to behave within seconds. It smells of real juice peach, but not in the zest, fresh, mouth watering fruity way, instead, it smells of more candied peach, in a peach-flavoured drink way. The tuberose is present, but it is definitely a background rather than the main character here.

As the scent settles down a bit more, the candied factor of the peach gets more dominant and the background tuberose gets a little bit creamier and warmer in a more gourmand way.

Then Peche Cardinal develops rather linearly towards the dry down.

To me, MDCI's Peche Cardinal is a grown-up version of sweet floral fruity peach scent. If the nowadays watery synthetic fruity “young bubbly” peach perfumes can be represented by music, it will be those no-brainer lyrics of the pop songs you hear after say 2000, then Peche Cardinal is like the lyrics written by someone from the 50s or 60s, which has more depth and some rather poetic turns.

Again, my dislike towards tuberose prevents me from love Peche Cardinal by MCDI, however, I’d highly recommend this to someone who’s looking for a more elegant peach scent for the modern day.

Perfume-Chanel-Coco Noir

Coco Noir by Chanel had been quite anticipation among perfumistas. Let’s face it, it is a Chanel scent and many of us know of Chanel No.5 perfume long before we actually wear any perfumes. Naturally there is a sense of being compelled to test this scent. Also, ‘Coco’ plus ‘Noir’ somewhat unites the older and the newer generation of Chanel wearers. For those who only knows about Coco Mademoiselle, this is a chance to go to the darker side; while those who praises the rich, golden juice of Chanel, can have an opportunity to test something, potentially engineered towards the younger market.

The bottle of Coco Noir inherits the original Coco’s or Coco Mademoiselle’s square bottle design, but in black. Being the first Chanel perfume bottle in black! It does have some magic and psyched me up to test it.

About the scent, the opening is a reminiscent of both Coco Mademoiselle and Coco, it has the fresh, sparkling patchouli-hinted watery sweet floral aspect of the modern chypre, which Coco Mademoiselle has, while under the sweet watery “spontaneous fun”, the slightly tart, old-glamour, opulent floral sweet part of Coco comes up. Somehow, momentarily, Coco Noir also reminds me of Chance by Chanel, minus the heaviness.

To be honest, I have never been a fan of Coco Medomoiselle, maybe it screams “I’m-fun, sporty yet classy” too much to my liking; while I adored Coco, the spicy aspect and the iconic Chanel-y accord just does not smell that compatible to a 20something who does not dress up in smart suit. Well, now…here comes Coco Noir, I know it is unfair to compare Coco Noir to either Coco Mademoiselle or Coco, but…I do find Coco Noir a polite in-between version of the other two.

The drydown of Coco Noir is quite pretty, a bit vanilla in a powdery sense and with the typical Chanel-y accord been less predominant, it is warm, soft, sweet but not overly so; the whole scent smells quite well-blended to suit a typical working girl who does not want the Chanel-power-suit type of persona.

Maybe I had higher hopes for Coco Noir (I was anticipating something along the Les Exclusifs de Chanel line, like Coromandel), thus the actual scent does not stand out much to me. Personally, I am not a big Chanel fan when it’s about perfumes, but I would still recommend this one simply because it is Chanel making a daily upper-end commercial scent, which does smell of good quality.

Perfume-Guerlain-La Petite Robe Noire

With a rather loud, dark, sweet cherry syrup accord mixed with something a bit rice-cake-y powdery, La Petite Robe Noire (the Little Black Dress) by Guerlain greeted me with an unapologetic sweet and flirty hug. This immediately brings to my mind Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka and In Black by Jesus Del Pozo, for the dark-ish rice-y powdery feeling from the former and the sweet gourmand cherry syrupy accord of the later.

Photo of the commercial 1ml sample and testing cloth of La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain.

As the scent settles down, the loud sweetness and powdery aspect gradually blend more harmoniously and the whole concoction becomes less harsh on the nose. Every now and then, a relatively more distinguished whiff of powdery smell with some dried vanilla and some cooling element would dance around. Somehow I can smell a little bit of the shadow of Shalimar Parfum Initial in this, possibly because of the Guerlain style of vanilla, or more likely, because both La Petite Robe Noire and Shalimar Parfum Initial were created by the same nose—Thierry Wasser.
For those who find that Shalimar or Shalimar Parfum Initial are a bit too animalistic, rest assured, the vanilla in La Petite Robe Noire does not stir up that much strong emotion to my nose. Maybe just like a little black dress, the notes in La Petite Robe Noire are not meant to openly seduce, but simply being there as a confidence boosting measure.

About 4 hours after, the whole scent is tamed -- a bit balmy with minimum amount of sweet gourmand powdery aura in the background and a hint of tartness. The sillage is within 2-3 cm, which surprises me because this is quite unlike the classic Guerlain fragrances I know of. Nevertheless, the scent is quite pretty.

If you loved Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka, La Petite Robe Noire might be a lighter, warmer-weather-friendly substitute, if you do not mind to lose most of the liquorice note which evokes purple-ness, and substitute it by cherry syrup and something smells not as mysterious in a way.

If you want a much “younger”, sweeter, more carefree version of Shalimar Parfum Initial, try La Petite Robe Noire.

However, if you are looking for the little black dress perfume, ironically, I do not find La Petite Robe Noire fits the image that well. Because my version of little black dress says more about elegance and effortless chic, with a bit hidden glamour; but La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain smells a bit too fairy-floss, spring-carnival-fun-park-date to me.

Perfume-Dolce&Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Love

Velvet Love by Dolce & Gabbana is clearly my favourite out of the six Velvet Collection scents from Dolce & Gabbana. If you like things with a hint of Christmas-y spicy, you might not want to miss this one.

The opening of Velvet Love by Dolce & Gabbana is rich, velvet, a bit alcoholic-gourmand, like the feeling Christmas pudding might evoke, yet it is more versatile than being merely spicy and food-y due to the floral notes. Somehow, it reminds me of what an old fashioned chypre floral perfume usually smell like (and the scent comes to my mind is Miss Dior, now being marketed as Miss Dior Original).

Soon after the festival-y spice sweet opening, the spicy, sweet, slightly powdered carnation settles and becomes closer to the skin. It lingers for a good 6+ hours until the final dry down gradually replaces the presence of the 6-inch radius of sillage of this carnation. The dry down is a beautifully done, pleasant ending, which is like one of those elegant deserts you wouldn’t worry about eating due to the calories. It smells like a bit dry, non-sweetened vanilla-y blended with some vague ivory soap smell without too much of the powdery soapiness.

The whole scent of Velvet Love is like a great Christmas dinner to me, from the excitement and anticipation of the beginning, to the final lovely touch of desert; it is just lovely, warm and homely.

I can see myself crave a bottle of Velvet Love in cooler weather.

If you like carnation or want a slightly spiced floral scent with a bit warm, gourmand touch, yet not too overly so, and you can confidently wear the scent during the day or night, I’d recommend Velvet Love Dolce & Gabbana’s Velvet Collection.

Perfume-Dolce&Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Desire

Velvet Desire from the Velvet Collection range by Dolce & Gabbana really caught my eyes, as I am not that much a fan of diva-level tuberose note, but bear in mind that the scents from the Velvet Collection by Dolce&Gabbana which I have tried so far appear to be quite polite, my anticipation of a librarian-style tuberose is in the air.

Upon application, Velvet Desire smells quite like a soliflore (i.e single flower) perfume to my nose. It has a beautiful, springlike, breezy, cleaned-up, non-aggressive, nor heady type of tuberose note, which is really dominant. On top of the tuberose, minor hint of gardenia creaminess comes and goes.

As the perfume settles down and develops, it simply gets closer to the skin in a more harmonious way. Quite a linear scent I’d say.

It will be perfect for those looking for a nice middle ground between tuberose and gardenia, and doesn’t like any of the above white flowers being too potent or rich. As a tuberose avoider, I am impressed!

Perfume-Dolce&Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Patchouli

Velvet Patchouli, from the Velvet Collection by Dolce & Gabbana is quite true to its name: it smells like patchouli essential oil, and it goes really linear.
If you ever smelt directly from those essential oil bottles, you should be able to feel how distinctively and naturally patchouli this scent is. However, if you have never smelt patchouli essence, Velvet Patchouli smells really woody towards the burnt woody smell spectrum, mixed with something a bit earthy.

Velvet Patchouli is definitely unisex, but I do anticipate that it might not be popular among the under 30 crowd Wear this if you want to wear something smells like patchouli essential oil.

Velvet Patchouli is definitely unisex, but I do anticipate that it might not be popular among the under 30, or even under 40 crowd. Oh well, thanks to the modern perfume world, which has fragrant-washed the majority people starting up in discovering perfumes into thinking that sugary-sweet is for the ladies and aquatic-sporty is for the guys, I guess.

Wear this if you want to wear something that smells like patchouli essential oil. It might be rather niche among the crowed, but…so what?

Perfume-Dolce&Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Sublime

Velvet Sublime by Dolce&Gabbana, from its Velvet Collection, is a refreshing, demure, pretty, shy jasmine and citrusy blend.
The start reminds me a lot of classic cologne, due to the citrus; yet it has something more to it to distinguish it from the stereotypical cologne.

As the scent develops, it becomes more and more jasmine-dominant; somehow, it smells like natural jasmine in a dewy morning.

Velvet Sublime might not as “sublime” as it claims, but nevertheless, it is a pretty, easy-to-wear citrusy-transit-to-jasmine type of scent which is neither heavy, nor demanding.

I’d recommend it to whoever’s looking for some natural, light-spirited and polite jasmine scent.

Perfume-Dolce&Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Vertiver

Velvet Vetiver from the Dolce & Gabbana’s The Velvet Collection is another light-spirited, effortless chic perfume. The overall accent of the scent is bright, a bit tard-citrusy, breezy and summery in the beginning.

As the scent develops in a relatively linear fashion, Velvet Vetiver gets slightly powdery in a cool, slightly earthy way, if you are familiar with Prada’s Infusion d’Iris, you will immediately pick up the similarities between these two with regards to the cooling, powdery aspect, but Velvet Vetiver has a relatively quite-yet-there twist of something leafy-coconut-y, which according to the official notes, should be the black fig.
Afterwards, the scent stays quite unchanged til it’s gone.

If you love vetiver note, but find most of them are in those heavy-hitters or just a tad too masculine in the old fashioned sense, Velvet Vetiver should be in your to-test list.

Perfume-Dolce & Gabbana-Velvet Collection-Velvet Wood

Velvet Wood by Dolce & Gabbana belongs to the houses' The Velvet Collection series launched in 2011.

The start of Velvet Wood smells of a cleaned-up version of soft-spoken sweet sandalwood to me, however, Velvet Wood actually has no sandalwood, but containing ebony wood, benzoin and leather according to fragrantica.com.

The scent itself does not develop much, just becoming more tamed and closer to the skin. The distinct sweetness of wood disappears within minutes and leaves the tamed version of this scent lingering.

With regards to the notes, I hold that it still simply smell of cleaned-up sandalwood to me, the benzoin and the leather? Maybe they are there giving me the official ‘tamed’,vaguely unsweetened vanilla-y softer overall feeling to the whole scent.

Nice scent to have if you like discreet woody scent that is rather unisex.

Perfume-Salvador Dali-Little Kiss Cherry

I’ve never been a fan of Salvador Dali’s fragrance, out of a handful of them I’ve casually tried on paper strip in store, nothing has really caught my attention.

Little Kiss Cherry looks kind of promising, when I was searching for a summery day scent. However, I guess Salvador Dali should’ve just stayed with his usual arts, instead of playing with the olfactive art too pre-maturely.

Ok…about the scent, after an initial burst of unpleasant, sharp alcohol smell, Little Kiss Cherry is slightly more tolerable. To my nose, it is quite similar to many commercial “girly” perfumes launched after 2000 which didn’t follow the sugary sweet blue print, a.k.a Little Kiss Cherry is the watery sparkling sour alternative.

To my nose, initially this smells more of an acidic sour cherry on top of some watery twig accord than any imagination “cherry” or “kisses” typically evoke to me. After a while, it gets a bit fruity sweeter, and the citrusy lemon-y accord gradually made it more detectable.

The official notes of this fume look rather colourful, however, this is the time I do become rather sceptic, litchi, cherry blossom, lotus, camellia etc, I guess, most of the time it’s quite subjective to our marketing-induced imagination, to be honest, what I smelt could be all the above, or, honestly, realistically and subjectively, it’s just watery sour cherry and cherry twigs to me.

Little Kiss Cherry does bring in mind many personality-wise similar scents, like Yves Saint Laurent’s Baby Doll and its flankers, Dior Addict II and  Salvatore Ferragamo’s Incanto series (but Little Kiss Cherry is much less sweet) to name a few. However, there is something sharp in this scent which makes me feel quite uneasy and questioning the quality.

Some might find Little Kiss Cherry quite inoffensive and suitable for office.
However, I find it lacks of personality and of quite disappointing quality (perhaps too obviously synthetic/edgy/fuzzy according to my definition and to my nose), I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. For the same amount of money, or several buck extra, get yourself a bottle of Baby Doll I’d say (somewhat Baby Doll becomes a classic when in comparison with Little Kiss Cherry).

Perfume-Calvin Klein-CK IN2U for Her, CK IN2U for Her Pop, CK One, Obsession Night, Secret Obsession, Eternity

Calvin Klein, a brand that most people who don’t normally wear perfumes would know, due to its highly successful unisex perfume CK One launched in the 90s.

When I was a newbie, not sure why, CK perfumes were always on my to-try/try-to-love list. I guess marketing and popularity do play huge roles in perfume choices when it’s more an accessory rather than a passion.

CK IN2U for Her

This was the first CK perfume I actually bought, that was back in 2007, when the commercial was like everywhere and even though I find the type of commercial rather mindless and use something sex-y to sell; I felt to the trap and purchased a bottle. “Well, it’s a bottle of Calvin Klein, how wrong can that go?” Well, when I look back, how naïve it was.

So… about the perfume, it is nothing ground-breaking or mind-blowing. In fact, it is more like a perfume trying hard to mix everything together. Fortunately, the end result isn’t too bad.

The start of CK IN2U for Her, is like a burst of clean/sport vibe from some type of vague citrusy notes, which smell nothing citrusy. It’s a burst of active, spontaneousness made from artificial non-cloying sugary notes, which gives anyone a sugar high. Somehow, it reminds me some of the guys’ deodorants. Or maybe, it’s the legendary cactus note CK claims to have in this perfume.

After the initial burst of sporty accord (thank goodness, this is the most pleasing sporty accord I’ve ever smelt, due to its sans-aqua-note, oriental vanilla themed intension), I can smell fuzzy vanilla mixed with some vague sweet citrusy and floral notes, which mingles around til the end. Not bad at all. In fact, I do find IN2U for her rather pleasing to wear to some sporty outdoor gatherings, and yes when it was 2007 or 2008, I can always spot one or two persons wearing this perfume in a lecture theatre.

Not a bad perfume at all, I can see it become heavily discounted nowadays and soon would become some kind of drug-store-thrill-find for many.

CK IN2U Pop for Her

This is the limited edition/a flanker of the original CK IN2U for Her. This is a much smoother and more a suitable scent for the IN2U name in my opinion.

CK In2U Pop for her is a rather nicely-done perfume from CK. It starts really fruity, fresh, kind of melon-y. It makes think about bubble gum and carefree childhood, but the scent is quite nicely blended and doesn’t give me any headache (while scents with such fruity fresh opening, like Victoria’s Secret perfume, would definitely give me a big headache).

Soon there’s a creamy (something like plum blossom plus vanilla, and creamified maybe 10 fold) and woody accord added in, makes the whole concoction cuter in a fluffy kitten way, it makes me feel lazy and laid back, like in those sunny Sunday afternoon, wearing a huge jumper and reading a nice novel at home.

The dry out is lovely too, like the middle phase being tamed, plus some sweetened papaya. If you’ve tried Boss Orange Sunset, then CK In2U for her at this stage is like a creamy, slightly plumier and papaya-infused version of Boss Sunset. Both of them have this creamy, quasi white floral scented blended really well.

I liked it a lot; however, after wearing this several times, I can’t help but feel a little bit bored and slightly annoyed by Pop for Her. It is a lovely fragrance, but somehow I find the creaminess in it somewhat too demanding, like an attention-seeking child, to me. It is not the same as, say…loud, as in Chinatown by bond no.9, the plum blossom and other notes, but even though the accord in Chinatown is loud, sweet and bold, but somewhat I find it easier to wear. It’s like something in CK In2U Pop for her just doesn’t want to be fitted or tamed. Or maybe that’s why this days I kept on smelling floating perfume clouds around people, maybe it’s the evil intension of most of the designer commercial perfumes, they want to stand out by themselves; and the wearer sometimes just being victimized and become a perfume carrying vesicle when the perfume’s applied with a slightly heavy hand.

CK One

CK One is like a modern classic to me. It does not have that much edge or dazzling personality, but it is surely comfy to wear by many due to its clean/soap water quality.

The beginning of CK One is like bright, sweet-y citrusy with some ‘clean’ factor, just like soap, it smells likable to both the genders. After about 2 minutes, CK one becomes the clean shirt smell. There’s this citrusy, watery factor here steers CK One away from the typical ‘soap/laundry detergent’ category, yet its water and soft enough to not being pushed into a typical citrusy/sports pile. CK One is just versatile and easy to wear. No wonder it has been really popular in many Asian countries where an inoffensive clean scent is what you need to walk in a city full of people.

The dry down of CK One is slightly more powdery than before, which makes this scent a rather linear and safe one to try on.

A nice fragrance preppy scent!

Obsession Night (Women)

Sharply sweet in a peculiar watery way, mingled with something vaguely orchid flower, this is what’s oozing out the small sprit. Somehow there is a really familiar feeling this scent gives me, something vaguely everywhere when it was years ago, but not necessarily that pleasant or well selected.

The scent develops rather linearly, towards the dry down, it is just slightly creamier in the vanilla aspect.

I find this CK offering is not that much a ground breaking scent, definitely doesn’t live up for its name in my opinion. A ‘merhhh’ choice, yet a safe-y choice for a night out or some occasion like that.

Secret Obsession

First spray get me a really masculine (dead straight masculine, not the sweet cute average guy perfume masculine--say like Euphoria Man, or Pi from Givenchy) type of scent. I get a lot nutmeg and spicy kind of scent instantly. I can’t smell anything rosy or plumy even though they are listed in the official notes. I guess the nutmeg is really dominant at the start.

Then after 5 minutes, when the scent starts to settle down, I don’t feel that against it, and actually I start to like it a little bit. I can smell something dark, woody, mysterious, maybe a little bit seductive (but nothing like your usual cameral/chocolate/sugary sexy seductive), it’s purely something makes me curious and want to know/sniff more. Soon the tuberose-y white floral note comes and balances out the strong masculine feeling a little bit.

It is a strong and hypnotizing-in-its-own-way perfume in my definition, even in the relatively softer dry down, I still get a lot of woody scent, with a tiny bit vanilla sweetness. Sensual and dark are quite good description of Secret Obsession.

Even though it’s not the ‘usual’ female perfume I would really love to wear, but I find it definitely wearable and somehow I feel really different and kind of really like to wear it occasionally at night—to mentally teleport myself to somewhere totally new. I guess Secret Obession is just one of those scent for typical feminie-perfume-wearers to step out of their comfort zone and still enjoying the scent.

If Secret Obsession is just a bit too masculine to your liking, Crystal Noir by Versace is a really good alternative and personally I am a bit partial towards Crystal Noir.

Eternity

Eternity starts with lovely cough syrupy(in a nice subtle way), sweet rich YSL-Paris-style rose, with a touch of clove-like spiciness. It is just so Sophia Grojsma.

Later on, I can smell the spicy floral combo (which is carnation dominated), which is really weird in an amazing, unusual way. It is big, bald, with a little bit glamorous touch, really 80’s.

Later on it dries down to something really nice, spicy floral, still has the heart, but tamed, wind-down, with a little bit bee-wax kind of hint.

Eternity wasn’t an instant like, due to some weirdness there, but I know I don’t repel it the way I hate some weird plastic odd synthetic notes. When I gave it a second chance, I’ve started appreciating the weirdness in this perfume; I don’t mind have a sniff once a week. However, I wouldn’t recommend this perfume to most young 20-somethings or even the 30-somethings. It has a certain vintage feel to it, might be hard to pull off on a regular day, in this society where toilet cleaner cleanness or overly sugared sweetheart or aquatic sports accord are the ‘in’ things.

Anyway, Eternity is a lovely perfume and I can see certain people can pull it off effortlessly and elegantly.

Perfume-Demeter-Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, My Melody, ChocoCat

The inner child of me just could not resist the cute Sanrio line from Demeter. Curious and curiouser, I waited and waited, till the day I received the parcel and couldn't wait to open it and smell the scents. However, to be honest, Demeter might have a handful scents which impress me, but...the Sanrio series? some of them are quite disasterious to someone who is seriously looking for a perfume-y perfume. Despite Hello Kitty and Little Twin Stars disappoint me, the other two are rather cute-ish.
Well, here's what I think about the scents:

• Hello Kitty by Demeter

Hello Kitty by Demeter smells of really artificial “apple” flavour. Period.
As much as I wanted to like it, as much as I tried to smell the “apple” notes in it (yep, according to Demeter, there are various  apples featured: red, green and yellow); I find there is this sharp, harsh plastic-y note in Hello Kitty which overpowers anything that’s a bit “apple”-ish smelling.

Photo of Demeter fragrances in purse spray version.

• Little Twin Stars

Little Twin Stars by Demeter starts just like the average household dishwashing detergent, in lemon flavour—it’s lemony with a significant touch of sugar sweetness, yet still gives the illusion of that it’s a lemon scent.  To be honest, it is a little bit disappointing and it would be better if Demeter named this one ‘Detergent, Lemon’ or something.

As time goes by, there’s a watery yet nice element comes in, which makes this scent a bit watered down, the sugary accord less aggressively commercial. Somehow, I’d say, it’s not bad at all. It’s a resemblence of sweet orange and other citrusy essential oil burn in a water essential oil burner, nice for the home environment. Still, I cannot get over the fact that this scent really doesn’t make me feel like wearing it. So much so, that you wouldn’t wear a washing detergent on your skin.

The good thing (or maybe a bad thing) is that, the sillage of the scent simply declains in a drastic linear fashion and about 3 hours later, no matter how hard I press my nose on my arm, there’s nearly nothing left.

• My Melody

My Melody by Demeter is a rather interesting Demeter offering since I’m a vanilla junkie with a sweet tooth. The start is like almond syrup, really sweet, a bit almondy with a tiny hint of alcohol. Then the scent settles to something typically sweet Demeter, which is…hmmm, disappointing. The scent then smells like some kind of slightly burnt warm vanilla-scented rather solid cake, which is quite similar to the dry down of Waffer Cone and Strawberry Icecream, also from Demeter. Somehow I can’t stop but wondering, does Demeter really create all the scents from scretch, or is there a magic base for all the sweet scent, which in the end, leads to such boring similarity. :S

Not bad as a fuzzy, kind of solid (as in when you inhale it, it feels as if the solid of..say a cake, was inhaled) vanilla foody scent, but if vanilla or almond or the combination of vanilla and almond is what you are after, there are surely many scents better than this one. Said that, I wouldn’t mind too much if I was going to wear this one in cooler weather.

• Chococat

Chococat by Demeter is a really yummy scent for gourmand, chocolate lovers.
The start of Chococat smells of real dark chocolate (the scent and the heavy solid feel) with a hint of slightly synthetic yet-non-headache-inducing cherry-ish scent.

After the initial burst of all the scent, Chococat calms down to some better mixture, which smells like vanilla chocotop, the really generic one you can find in the cinema candybar, with a hint of slightly sour and warmed cherries.

Nice scent to try! I don’t mind to wear it at home, however, I guess it is a bit not age apprepriate to wear Chococat out and about, somewhat it just reminds me of a five-year-old who got icecream melted and all over her dress. Nevertheless, it’s a cute scent.

Perfume-En Voyage Perfumes-Carmel Boheme, Carmel de Ville, Debut de Carmel, Peche Noir, Poete de Carmel, Makeda, Havane Pour Homme

En Voyage Perfumes is a niche line based in the Northern California, USA. I was intrigued by the background of self-studied perfumer Shelley Waddington, who is the nose and the creator of her En Voyage Perfumes line.

I ordered some samples from the En Voyage Perfumes website straight away when I found out of this niche line, back in 2011.

Shelley Waddington is lovely, upon receiving the samples, there is also a letter with them, in which Shelley talks about the different scents she created and the mood etc which suits each scents.

The following is what I think about the scents. As much as I wanted to love them all, I’m afraid En Voyage Perfumes is one of those niche houses which I just can’t comfortably wear.

• Carmel Boheme by En Voyage Perfumes

The start of Carmel Boheme, by En Voyage Perfumes, is really potent, like strong, delicious rice wine, and slightly-going-off (but still in a good way) alcohol-smelling, fermented fruits like strawberries and cherries.

Soon there’s this sweet, berry-hint and clean, uplifting sweet jasmine, tuberose kinda essential oil scent dominants the perfume for several good hours. In the beginning of the white-flower domination, there is some 90s-strawberry-flavoured-bubble-gum hint, and then the jasmine goes warmer, and some creamy gardenia scent comes in to stay. I’m not a fan of white flowers, so it’s somewhat headache inducing to me, but I’m sure any white flower lovers would find this one quite nice to try on.

Then dry down is soft, quite coconut-y and vanilla-y creamy which is slightly tropical to me. IN the end when Carmal Boheme fades into a skin scent, I can smell something slightly woodsy and creamy, somewhat it has a similar spirit to Havana pour Homme.

Overall, it is a nice white flower perfume with some delicious edible touch in the beginning and end. I would recommend it to anyone who loves jasmine and gardenia.

• Carmel de Ville by En Voyage Perfumes

Carmel de Ville starts with a burst of sugared plum with slightly green hint, it is weird but in a good way, somewhat it reminds me of the feeling when seeing a Kabuki play. Soon enough, an intriguing smell comes in and stays, it’s not a typical perfume-y smell to my nose, it’s ‘synthetic’ (as in I can’t possibly smelt this smell from any daily fruits or flowers) but not the type of fruity sugary synthetic smell you find in many commercial, somehow it’s like Play-Doh mended with some vaguely water-rose and floral scent.

Then it goes like Play-Doh plus sweetness plus lily smell plus a tiny bit creamy hint for a long while. I am not a fan of dominant lily scent, and somehow it makes me feel cold and a little bit gloomy while sniffing my wrist.

Later on, a weird echo-y milk-y slightly quasi-aquatic smell adds in, and it stabilises and harmonicalise the perfume, but I find it still a little bit headache-inducing.

I wanted to like Carmel de Ville, but it just doesn’t love me back. However, if you likes white flowers like lily, and you can go with aquatic-ish scent, try this one.

• Debut de Carmel by En Voyage Perfumes

Clean ivory soap/tooth paste hybrid smell is the immediate opening of Debut de Carmel by En Voyage Perfumes. Just when I was thinking will this be a weird house hold cleaning product scent, Debut de Carmel has already turned into nice ivory soap scent, with some discreet creaminess and real fresh non-sweet peachy undertone (which I find in nearly every En Voyage Perfumes, maybe the creamy slightly peachy scent is the house’s signature base?).

Soon the ivory soap smell goes away, leaves the nice peachy smell dancing on a light, vanilla-y non-tropical creamy background. The peach-y smell here is the most real yellow peach smell I’ve ever smelt in a perfume(apparently it should be the apricot note here), and it is really mouth-watering and lovely, without any high-voltage pushy sugary interpretation of any particular fruitiness.

Then Debut de Carmel dries to really lovely genuine peach-y apricot-y smell with a tiny bit musky hint.

Debut de Carmel is my favourite among the whole En Voyage Perfumes range, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes real peachy, apricot smell, in a less ‘fresh’ (as in commercial perfume fresh pink way), but more real fruit-y way.

• Peche Noir by En Voyage Perfumes

Peche Noir by En Voyage Perfumes starts in a sugared, syrup water in a delicious, nectarine cold-sweet (as appose to stick Britney or Jessica Simpson sweet) way. I can definitely smell the lily there, but it’s also so well-blend and the lily doesn’t over power other notes. Somehow, this reminds me of the soap bubbles, the plastic container (infused with the soap water smell) and a sunny afternoon in the park when I was little. I like the beginning; however, the only drawback is it is a little bit edgy to my liking.

Then something cold, slightly minty but without the minty-ness ( I guess the lily gives the well-blend other part of the perfume this kind of good, cold minty-ness), and green, lush comes, it smells like a blooming summer night, but nothing like any of the typical white flowers I’ve ever smelt in any other perfumes. It is like a liquid song being inhaled. It is like a mixture of Burberry Weekend for Women and Annic Goutal’s Passion.

The dry down has a clean slightly ink-y smell added in to the middle notes, which makes me think of inhaling the scent of green grass and little flowers around a water pound, in a summer evening.

I don’t find Peche Noir seductive or sexy, despite what goes behind the creation of Peche Noir. It is just a pretty perfume. Peche Noir is not my cup of tea due to my dislike of the kind of sweet peachy floral fruitiness, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Burberry Weekend or perfumes similar to that.

• Poete de Carmel by En Voyage Perfumes

Poete de Carmel by En Voyage Perfumes is a really nice and pretty perfume, but to me, it lacks of a backbone. Poete starts quite powdery in a soap rose water clean way, with a hint of honey.
Then it gets sweeter in the slightly earth, and tart. Every now and then, there’s a little bit fruity sourness comes by. It is like a weird but nice mixture of rose, light spice, and a little bit of Le Labo Oud 27.

Later on, Poete becomes spiced rose water. Somehow I find it really inoffensively familiar, It’s like a rose-themed, female version of Dior Eau Sauvage; or a slightly less melancholy combination of Anna Sui’s Anna Sui and Forbidden Affair and a tiny bit spice, but just better in a well-blend way.

Then it gets tarter, powderier, softer and warmer and sunny spring-like, at the same time a certain dominant sour fruity hint is here too. It is like inhaling brown sugar water with a pinch of spice.

Poete de Carmel is a nice perfume and I find it easy to like and the quality of ingredients makes it stand out when comparing it with generic designer house perfumes like Anna Sui’s. However, I wouldn’t splurge to buy it for myself as it is somewhat a high-quality version of generic-smelling perfume, Poete lacks some spirit to be a Poete de Carmel (or maybe, I have to confess, I had really high expectations for a perfume with such name). Nevertheless, it is a decant-worth/sample-worth perfume to me for sure.

• Makeda by En Voyage Perfumes

What can I say about Makeda by En Voyage Perfumes? It is just Jasmine, a lovely jasmine soliflore, real green dewy jasmine under the sun, with a little bit hint sweet discreet fruitiness.

The opening is quite weird buy lovable in a mixed-up house detergent lemon-y sweet fruity way, but it disappear really soon. After this, Makeda is quite linear, what I can smell is just jasmine! Even though I’m not a fan of jasmine, but the jasmine here is so real, just like the one I smelt in a garden. If you were scared by TM Aline due to the sugared jasmine there, Makeda won’t scare you for sure, instead, it might lure you in to a new world where you find jasmine lovely, make you feel exotic and somewhere in between optimistic and happy.

To me, I can’t really smell much the wood, the dry out is more like a version diluted jasmine oil in some unscented body lotion, by unscented, you know most of the time unscented product have the slightly creamy coconut-y discreet smell undertone there.

Highly recommend to jasmine lovers.

• Havane Pour Homme by En Voyage Perfumes

Havane Pour Homme by En Voyage Perfumes is really worth trying to me, and it could easily be a go-to scent for anyone who likes citrusy essential oils and subtle vanilla-y skin scent in the dry-down.

Loud, cirtusy, zest-lemon-and-lemon-cake-dominant start reminds me of a good cologne to the citrusy extreme. Somehow it’s like some pre-blended citrusy refreshing essential oil. I’m not impressed, but I have to say I like it a lot and the feel of it cannot be compared with another ‘nice’ citrusy perfume. The start is quite typically masculine, but to me, it smells more refreshing and aroma-therapeutic.

Havane pour homme goes lighter and less acidic (citrusy) soon. At one point, it smelt like when you get closer to smell the citrusy oil and ginger oil in an oil burner and you smell both the warm water and oil. At this stage I even find Havane kinda disappointing as it lacks some perfume characteristic.

However, after about 1.5 hours, the smell of Havane gets creamier in a really subtle way, it gets slightly powdery and really vanilla-y (the vanilla here is like the vanilla plant, you can smell the vanilla-ness, but no sugar or any cupcake scent involved here), a little bit coconut kinda creamy (without the coconut tropical smell) and a tiny bit herbal hint somewhere along really discreet tobacco leaves and cocoa smell. Havane is quite sensual in a discreet way and at this stage I simply feel confident, in love and optimistic (in a mature, quite sense, not the fruity happy girly optimistic); it feels like going out with a confident sexy well-groomed workaholic type of guy who doesn’t wear much perfume and whom actually has a softer, and caring side for you only.

It is indeed a great office perfume. Either the typical refreshing aromatherapy beginning or the nice, close-to-skin dry down is a nice. Also, it is the first perfume ever I find not bothering me at all, I can smell it, but I wouldn’t even think that I’m wearing a perfume, it’s like you and the perfume are so naturally together; by no means I’m saying some other perfumes I like are bothering me when I’m wearing them, it’s just I can smell and am more aware of the existence of many other perfumes.

Highly recommended to anyone want a cotton-t-shirt-kinda-easy comfy office perfume or a quite spontaneous natural day perfume.