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.