Serge Lutens - Daim Blond (perfume review)

I haven't tried many leathers but became obsessed with the idea of finding a good one, which led me to my desire to try Daim Blond (among other things).  According to Aedes, Daim Blond was "Inspired by suede so fine, so soft, so barely perceptible to the touch, like skin on skin, an aura and sensation that intertwine to become one and the same."   Ooh, this sounds mysterious and sexy and warm and cozy...

Wait a second, where's the soft nude suede?? On me, Serge Lutens' Daim Blond opens up strongly with medicinal pencil shavings - camphor, band-aids, rubber, wood. It's cool but dry. Although it's not markedly strong, it feels rough.

photo from acevola.blogspot.com

I know some people enjoy a good medicinal note, but honestly to me, it just smells like hospitals, which isn't particularly pleasant. I can imagine situations where a medicinal touch could enhance other stronger, more prominent notes, but that is just not the case in Daim Blond.

As far as I can tell, there are no other notes.  After a few minutes even the pencil shavings fade away, leaving just camphor and rubber band-aids.  Sadly they're not even awesome band-aids like these:

found on www.geekalerts.com

or

available at mcphee.com

Hehe, okay, I lied. There eventually are other notes. About 30 minutes in, it becomes evident that the 'medicinal' note I was smelling was probably somehow the iris and not the ubiquitous 'oud'. The medicinal aspect softens, and the iris becomes far more powdery and recognizably iris-y. This is definitely a marked improvement over the opening, but maybe not the best fit for me as I'm still on the fence about how I feel about iris. (So far the only iris perfume I've really liked is Atelier's Silver Iris.) And as powdery as it is, the perfume starts to feel kind of sharp and harsh to my nose about an hour in.

From this point on, the iris gets softer (while retaining it's bit of sharpness) and there's just a touch of musk, but that's about it. It really loses strength at the 2 hour mark, and feels just like a light veil of powder. The late drydown is pleasant enough I guess.

One thing Daim Blond *does* have going for it is the lack of cumin.  :)

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My rating of Daim Blond: 2 

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

   Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation    

In short, there is basically nothing about Daim Blond that is my cup of tea.

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Daim Blond as described by the Aedes website:

Family: Spice/Leather

Top Notes: Iris

Middle Notes: Apricot, Cardamom, Hawthorne

Base Notes: Heliotrope, Musk

Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake

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Have you tried Daim Blond? What are some of your favorite suede and leather scents?

Histoires de Parfums - Moulin Rouge 1889 (perfume review)

After giving myself an ample buffer of time following my bad experiences with Vert Pivoine and Blanc Violette, I figured it was finally time to start trying some of the other Histoires de Parfums samples I had purchased. Next on the list was Moulin Rouge 1889.

Photo from Histoires de Parfums Press Visuals

Moulin Rouge is definitely one of the more interesting scents that I've tried so far.  Upon first spritz, I'm greeted with a rather strong plastic smell - but warm plastic - the smell of plasticky dashboard baking in a sun-drenched car. Then when I take a closer sniff of my wrist, there's a definite acridity, delicately wrapped in sweetness, that's reminiscent of rotting fruit. The two scents are clearly separate entities and somehow they dance briskly together without merging. I can't help but think of Johnny reminding Baby to lock her wrists and her arms, emphasizing what was his space and what was her space. (Important side note: BEST MOVIE EVER!!)

After a few moments the forceful plastic relents, making room for powder and the previously distinct auras begin to meld into one. Now I can almost feel the puffs of compact powder swirling about my nose and the creamy dark red lipstick smearing onto my lips. The zing of cinnamon adds energy to the scent and one could easily envision the experience of the Moulin Rouge - the glitz, the glam, the lights, the excitement. The costumed performers back-stage applying their make-up, the drinks, the laughter, the perspiration...

From here the scent gets softer. Instead of being in the middle of the excitement at the Moulin Rouge, I'm now opening a velvet-lined make-up drawer, inhaling the combination of powders, lipsticks, blush and perfumes that have left their caresses upon their vermillion cocoon.

Moulin Rouge never loses its powder and lipstick accords, but in the dry down it mellows out and veers into the territory of a skin scent. While being powdery, it flirts with creamy beige leather. The musk grounds the powdery sweetness and brings a touch of human warmth to the composition.

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Clint's 3: Masculine (reminds him of his grandpa), Coffee, Mint Chocolate

Wow - Clint was all over the board on this one! It really goes to show you that everyone's noses are different. I think he was struggling to describe the warm sweetness of the dry down when he came up with coffee and mint chocolate. It's also interesting that he thought it smelled masculine and reminded him of his grandpa. I've heard of tons of perfumes being 'old lady' but not many being 'old man'!

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My rating of Moulin Rouge 1889: 3

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

    Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation     

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Moulin Rouge 1889 as described by the Histoires de Parfums website:

Family: floral powdered; feminine

Top Notes: Tangerine, Prune, Cinnamon

Middle Notes: Absinthe, Rose of Damas

Base Notes: Iris, Patchouli, Musk, Fir

Perfumer: Gerald Ghislain

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Given that Vert Pivoine and Blanc Violette were disasters on me - this is easily my favorite of the three Histoires de Parfums perfumes that I've tried so far. While I can't claim to love the opening of Moulin Rouge 1889, I can appreciate its interesting combination of notes and evolution on the skin. I was surprised by how much I do actually enjoy the powdery sweet lipstick pleather dry down.

As an added bonus, this is the first scent I've tried with patchouli that I don't hate! *Cheers* 

Nonetheless, there's a world of love-worthy perfumes out there so I wouldn't classify this one as FBW for me (especially given Clint's lukewarm response). 

Have you tried Moulin Rouge 1889? What's your favorite Histoires de Parfums scent?

Histoires de Parfums - Blanc Violette (perfume review)

After the debacle that was Histoires de Parfums Vert Pivoine, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try another Histoires de Parfums scent right away. Especially with the L'Artisan Parfumeur samples calling my name. But I gave it 2 days and was ready to tackle another HdP.  I had 5 options left - 1886 Moulin Rouge, Blanc Violette, 1826, Tubereuse 1 Capricious, and Tubereuse 2 Virginal. I went with Blanc Violette mainly because I'd recently read a comment on another blog where someone claimed to love it the most out of the HdP lineup. 

Photo from Histoires de Parfums Press Downloads

Unlike with Vert Pivoine, I was not blasted with fragrance upon my initial spray. I gave it only one spray lest I be bombarded with the scent of another pickled vegetable, but fortunately that did not come to pass. I let the singular spray dry and then had to lift the scent to my wrist to smell it. The opening felt floral (perhaps this is what violets smell like, but I have never smelled a violet, so I do not know) and high pitched. Flowers obviously don't play instruments - but when I smelled this it sang to me like a high instrumental note. It wasn't quite soft enough to be a flute and not full enough to be a clarinet, but perhaps oboe would be fitting. A high note played on an oboe. It was pleasant and a bit soapy. After about 2 minutes I actually gave it another spray to smell it better.

After about 5 minutes, the high note settled down and mellowed into what smelled to me like a low octave soapy almond accord. For a brief second I got the faintest touch of pepper, but it disappeared quickly and I was left with the soapy almond wrapped in just the slightest gauze of powdery amber. 

Around 30 minutes in, the scent felt even fainter, but conjured up cumin-like spices and earthy wood. Though it required dedicated wrist sniffing to smell it, the fragrance unfortunately never melded into my skin but sat above it kind of awkwardly.

At the 1 hour mark I started to get a whiff of sharp florals. While it didn't change the fragrance *that* much, it made the perfume feel a lot louder to my nose. Strangely, I couldn't smell the Blanc Violette at all unless my wrist was within 6-12 inches of my nose, but when it was, it was there and it was noticeable. 

As the drydown progressed, the spicy earthiness quieted down to musky base while the sharp florals took center stage. They were screaming. At this point the scent was definitely too loud for my tastes but this may be awesome for a lover of big florals.

Overall, I enjoyed the opening of Blanc Violette and appreciated its soft and understated floral tones - especially after my experience with Vert Pivoine. Unfortunately the opening was short and as the scent transformed through the dry down, it wasn't my bag of tea. By the end the screeching florals become too sharp and way too strong for this nose. 

Interestingly, this was the first perfume my hubby actually didn't like (though to be fair I didn't have him smell Vert Pivoine). This may be telling as he's been an easy pleaser. He's liked everything I've sampled even when I didn't. Upon my frequent requests for opinions, he once asked "Don't ALL perfumes smell good? Isn't that the point of perfume?" I tried to explain that not everything necessarily smelled good, but he didn't believe me until today. 

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My rating of Blanc Violette: 2.5

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

 Nausea/Gagging           Meh       Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation 

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Vert Pivoine as described by the Histoires de Parfums Press Kit:
powdered floral; fem.

The violet, from Parma or Toulouse, is delicate and discreetly opens out, revealing its powdered floral scent in all subtlety. An alchemy leaving a delicious imprint.

Top Note: Violet, Bergamot, Iris
Heart Note: Violet, Ylang-ylang, Star Anise
Base Note: Violet, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Musk, Rice Powder

Perfumer: Gerald Ghislain

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Looking at the notes, I didn't get much bergamot, star anise or vanilla. Vanilla would have definitely been welcome to tone down the florals at the end. I'm not sure where I got soapy almond or amber but one reviewer on Luckyscent got cheap chemical movie theater butter so I'm happy with soapy almond! 

Have you tried Blanc Violette?  If you have, what was your take on it?