Ava Luxe - Mousse de Chine (perfume review)

The more perfumes I try, the more I realize how many I haven't tried! I have been rather unorganized in my sampling since delving into the perfume world - following individual tangents (such as particular notes or houses) or simply going gaga over the rhetoric surrounding new releases. 

But there's a huge world of perfumes out there and to be quite frank, I am missing whole families of them in my testing so far! For example, chypres. I had never tried a chypre on skin (and have only sniffed a few at most). In fact, to really highlight my ignorance - I can't even tell you what the famous, iconic chypres are. Clearly I have some reading ahead of me. (If I get any credit at all for this, I do know that Hiram Green's release Shangri La is a peach chypre, and I'd like to try it). 

So, in an effort to rectify my chypre-virgin nose, I raided my sample box and decided to give the Ava Luxe chypre Mousse de Chine a try.   

The opening of Mousse de Chine offers about 10 seconds of crisp and loud citrus, then dives straight into sharp lavender and powder. Very shortly thereafter, the lavender powder becomes quieter and is joined by the earthy fern and moss. 

mossy, weedy grass

These greens are slightly herbal and pungent - and lean a touch masculine to me. For some reason, the green notes in Mousse de Chine never feel warm or inviting, instead remaining cool and stoic. This is a little unsettling for me. I guess I like warmth.

moss covered concrete stones

About 20 minutes in, the citrus notes seem to reappear and waft about me - though I don't necessarily smell them when I sniff my wrist. They just float around for a bit.

About an hour in, the lavender fades and the powder remains. The ambergris makes a slightly salty appearance, but it's not particularly loud and I mostly get powder with just a touch of something peppery.

I had to try (and re-apply) Mousse de Chine several times to even get this characterization of it, and it generally became barely noticeable by the 2 hour mark (though it's nearly imperceptible scent remained on my wrist much longer). 

To be fair, I received the sample I tested as a freebie from another lovely perfumista, so I can't be sure if it was very fresh or if time has compromised the sample at all.

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My rating of Mousse de Chine: 2

1  -  - -  -  2  -  -  -  -  3  -  -  -  -  4  -  -  -  -  5

   Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation    

This is the first chypre I've ever tried, so honestly I have no idea how it compares to other chypres. I'm not a big lavender fan though, so Mousse de Chine was not for me.

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Mousse de Chine as described by the Ava Luxe perfume website:

Family: Chypre

Top Notes: bergamot, lime

Middle Notes: fern, lavender, amber, spanish moss, oakmoss

Base Notes: labdanum, musk, ambergris

Perfumer: Serena Ava Franco

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Have you tried Mousse de Chine? What are some of your favorite chypres?

Hiram Green - Moon Bloom (perfume review)

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading my first official post of 2015!  *hugs*

Not too long before Christmas Clint informed me that he needed ideas for one last Christmas gift, as the list I had provided wasn't quite enough to split between him and the family Secret Santa. So I put 2 more things on my list - the 5ml travel atomizer of Moon Bloom and an equally priced scarf. I was kind of hoping for the Moon Bloom as I have read countless lovely reviews for it - but instead I got the best of both worlds, the scarf (which I love increasingly by the day) and a sample of Hiram Green's first creation.

sample purchased from Indigo Perfumery

Moon Bloom is an all natural eau de parfum and it is lovely. On me, the first sniffs are lush, green, creamy and nutty - channeling the smooth aura of coconut without the sweetness. After the initial wave passes, the white florals come out to play. The sharpness that I commonly associate with florals emerges first, and is then balanced by pearly soapiness. The floral accord shifts back and forth between the creamy tuberose and jasmine; they dance together in the night - the moonlight shining down on them through a veil of coconut. There remains a touch of green, and Moon Bloom is warmly tropical. Several other reviewers mention a rubbery notes and a medicinal camphor/menthol note in the opening, but I don't really get either on my skin - though I was dabbing from a vial. 

As Moon Bloom dries down, the jasmine fades behind the tuberose, whose creaminess is enhanced by a touch of sweet banana (which I've read comes from the ylang-ylang). Despite it's milky character (which I would envision as being opaque in my head), Moon Bloom becomes quite light in the dry down, and it feels more like catching a floral breeze through a tropical garden than smelling a bouquet of white tropical flowers.

The sharpness in the early stages Moon Bloom varied on me over several wears. Some days it was hardly perceptible, and other days nearly headache inducing. The greenness varied a bit as well, but the creamy tuberose and milky coconut were a constant - and they alone are worth the wear.

There is no question that Moon Bloom is a beautiful and captivating tuberose - and one that all admirers of tuberose should try. In many ways, Moon Bloom reminded me of my beloved Do Son EdP - lush, creamy, milky florals married with greens. However for me, Moon Bloom doesn't quite live up to Do Son. This is actually a huge relief since I just received my bottle of Do Son for Christmas. On my skin, Do Son feels lusher and thicker, creamier and more opulent - without the sharpness.

While I will *happily* use my sample, I don't think I personally need Moon Bloom while I have Do Son. So in the end, I am exceedingly thankful that Clint got me the beautiful scarf - I guess he knows me even better than I do. :)

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Clint's 3: Soapy, Rose, Sharp

Clint thought Moon Bloom smelled nice, but it didn't elicit as much enthusiasm as some others. I'm not sure where he got rose - but maybe he just associates all floral smells with roses?  :) 

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My rating of Moon Bloom: 4 

1  -  - -  -  2  -  -  -  -  3  -  -  -  -  4  -  -  -  -  5

   Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation    

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Moon Bloom as described by the Hiram Green website:

"Moon Bloom includes generous amounts of tuberose absolute, jasmine absolute and ylang ylang. There are also notes of coconut, leafy greens and hints of tropical spices and resins."

Perfumer: Hiram Green

There's no shortage of reviews on this beautiful scent. For further reading, check out: EauMG, The Scented Hound, Now Smell This, Olfactoria's Travels, Perfume Posse, Kafkaesque, Perfume Shrine, Smelly Thoughts, CaFleureBon.

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Have you tried Moon Bloom? What are some of your favorite and least favorite tuberose perfumes?

Histoires de Parfums - Vert Pivoine (perfume review)

Being new to the wonderful world of perfume, I sought to grow my sample base as quickly as possible. I found that one of the easiest and cheapest ways to do that was to buy sample packs offered by perfume houses. I started with the 10 piece L'Artisan Parfumeur sampler (awesome!) and quickly followed that with a Histoires de Parfums sampler. 

The L'Artisan sampler comes packaged with 10 pre-selected scents, but the Histoires de Parfums sample program allows you to choose any 6 of their scents for 20 USD. Each sample is 0.07 oz, or just over 2 ml. Since I'm pretty clueless when it comes to perfumes, I chose my 6 based off of the descriptions and what I thought I might like note-wise. I also checked out their reviews on Luckyscent. I received the samples about 2 weeks after ordering them and have chosen not to re-read the descriptions prior to sampling to avoid influencing my perceptions of each scent.

The glass vial samples came packaged in a little paper box with paperwork describing the scents.  The kit was mailed in a small bubble envelope.

I've read that perfumes can behave differently when sprayed or dabbed on, so I started by transferring all 6 scents into plastic atomizers. After the transfer, one of the first HdP scents I tried was Vert Pivoine - which translates to Green Peony. I'm no perfumista, so bear with me here as I try to describe my experience.

Photo from Histoires de Parfums Press Downloads

I applied approximately one and a half sprays on my left wrist/forearm. Before I could give Vert Pivoine a chance to dry and then sniff, I was bombarded with a very green (as advertised in the name) opening. The scent was distinctly recognizable but it took me a minute or so to place it - and unfortunately it wasn't peony. To be fair I'm not actually sure what Peony smells like, so maybe I'm wrong. Nonetheless, for me Vert Pivoine opened up with pickles. Not a mere suggestion of pickles dancing amidst a bouquet of beautiful flowers - peonies if you will - but straight up, 100% pickles. More specifically, these were not the vinegary Vlassic jar pickles (which I would have preferred), but the deli pickles you get quartered on the side of your deli sandwich or on a Chicago hot dog. I've never liked these pickles. 

That being said, the pickle opening did have a certain effervescent energy to it. Perhaps the refreshing essence of cucumber was shining through? In fact, my 5 month old son promptly awoke from his nap - filled with an unusual vigor - the moment I sat down beside him post-spritz. (This is probably another ping against the fragrance in my book...)

After 5 minutes or so, the screaming pickles faded down to... well... pickle perfume. I'm not really sure how to describe it. Vert Pivoine definitely had a classic (dare I say "old-lady") perfume-y base above which floated the distinct and enduring pickle. It must be something in my chemistry, because I simply can't imagine that peonies smell like deli pickles, and if they DO, I can't imagine that anyone would want to smell like them.

About two hours later the pickle may have faded away completely. I did feel as though I was still smelling it, but I'm not sure if it was really there or if my brain was stuck on pickle. At this point however, Vert Pivoine was becoming unpleasantly sharp - the kind of sharp that clings to the inside of your nose and burns. Not unlike the ammonia in cat pee. Of course it didn't smell like cat pee, but that's what it felt like in my nose. Pungent and headache inducing. I wondered if babies get headaches and worried that I was subjecting my poor Walden to a headache as well.

By the three hour mark I could bear the torture no longer and tried washing it off with tea tree oil hand soap and then again with lavender hand soap. While I couldn't get all of the fragrance off of my wrist I did mute the scent enough for my headache to go away. A sniff of the wrist still imparted a faint pickle scent and at that point I was tempted to go to the store and buy some pickles (the Vlassic kind, which I do enjoy).

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My rating of Vert Pivoine:  1.5

1  -  -X-  -  2  -  -  -  -  3  -  -  -  -  4  -  -  -  -  5

 Nausea/Gagging           Meh       Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation 

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Vert Pivoine as described in the Histoires de Parfums Press Kit:
fresh floral; fem.

Peony is considered as the queen of flowers in China, expressing elegance and wealth. Its colored roundness and exquisitely fresh floral vapor trail is an ode to femininity.

Top Note: Peony, Ivy Leaves, Rose water

Heart Note: Peony, Rose, Mimosa, Gardenia, Rose Berry

Base Note: Peony, Cedar, Sandal, Musk 

Perfumer: Gerald Ghislain

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The reviews of Vert Pivoine on Luckyscent make it sound oh-so-floral, but unfortunately I didn't get any florals - except perhaps in the old-lady perfume scent in the drydown. (I'm not sure what notes comprise the old-lady perfume scent.) I can agree, however, that the scent was green, fresh (pickles are fresh, right?), and on the revitalizing side. I may have to give this one another go in the very distant future to see if anything changes. I'd love to experience this as a fresh and feminine floral.

Have you tried Vert Pivoine? If so, I'd love to hear your take on it!