Fragrance Girl

Mini Reviews of Last Night's Fragrance Marathon

Paris — Balenciaga Extremely muted. Very classy. Definitely worth a try — but verging on too subtle for my gauche tastes. Very Hollywood — Michael Kors The opening is all bubblegum. But once you're over the Hubba Bubba notes this dries down very similarly to the original Michael Kors fragrance. I'm a big fan of the original fragrance, so could imagine coming round to this. Noix de Tubereuse — Miller Harris This is extremely almondy. Lovely. Will definitely be trying this again. I've been looking for a Miller Harris to claim as my own, and this might be it. Un Matin d'Orage — Annick Goutal One of my key discoveries yesterday was how pretty many of the Annick Goutal fragrances are. This is a gardenia fragrance. Not sure if it's my absolute favourite in the range, but nonetheless extremely wearable.
Black March — CB I Hate Perfume This is the fragrance that I came home wearing yesterday. Although I've had quite a few samples of CB I Hate Perfume, it was pure indulgence to try a huge amount from a full size bottle. My husband thought it smelt almost purely of mould. But I could definitely smell black peat and earth. Beautiful and in a class of its own.
Flowerbomb — Viktor&Rolf My husband thought that this smelt of our little baby girl. It might do — but that's because she always has a tinge of sweet fruit yogurt. It's so long since I've smelt Thierry Mugler's Angel, that I don't want to draw a comparison. But Flowerbomb is sweet sweet sweet. A few months ago I would have dismissed this out of hand. But now I can see that it's pretty if you wear it in the right way.
Escale a Pondicherry — Dior As Escale a Portofino is such a personal favourite, I had to try out the sister fragrance. Pondicherry is an extremely stylish smell. It's soapy, which doesn't really describe it, and beautifully muted. An elegant fragrance.
Solar Donkey Power — Six Scents Series Two Solar Donkey Power is described as reminiscent of saunas. My husband told me it smelt of wet flannels, which sort of put me off. But this is a fabulous male fragrance — sexy in an obvious way — which isn't always bad. Diorissimo — Dior Diorissimo needs no introduction, it's such a famous scent. It's definitely spring flowers. But for me it's spring flowers through a loud speaker.
A Room With A View — CB I Hate Perfume This didn't capture my heart as much as Black March. Another extremely evocative fragrance, described as capturing the scent of the hills above Florence. Jicky — Guerlain Wish I could say that I love Guerlain. But sadly I don't. Think it's the bergamot that I find overpowering. However much I smell them things don't change. Maybe one day.
Burberry Sport for Women Surprisingly good. Light and fresh. Somehow, not at all what I was expecting. Orange — Hugo Boss Another big surprise. The name is off-putting. The bottle is tacky. It's only redeeming feature is that Sienna Miller is the face of this new fragrance. It's a light, very wearable fruity floral (I think). Worthy of a proper review at a later date.
Versus — Versace Overwhelming orange notes in the opening made this a definite 'no' for me. Eau du Soir — Sisley Unlike the other Sisley fragrances, this reminds me of Sisley skin products. It' has a 'drenched' note, which possibly isn't a very helpful description. It puts me in mind of Aromatics Elixir, which is a personal favourite. Eau du Soir is fabulous. Ivoire — Balmain Initially I loved this. But the dry down is very peppery and has a slightly irritant quality.Will do another test as I've read many positive reviews about this one and really want to like it.
Geranium Bourbon — Miller Harris This is probably a masculine fragrance. Sadly I don't like it, but can't put my finger on why. There's almost a ginger note in it. Perhaps that's the geranium. Elemis Very mild floral fragrance. Forgettable. Too harsh? Eau d'Hadrien — Annick Goutal Another fragrance that I had read a lot about, it's extremely pretty. I will have a detailed look at the entire Annick Goutal range in the coming weeks.