Le Labo Baie Rose 26

There was a time when I thought I'd never ever enjoy smelling cloves again. The reason for this is a trip to Malaysia me and some fellow exchange students did 20 years ago. Somehwere I'd read about Kretek, Malaysian cigarettes made of tobacco mixed with cloves. At the time, they sounded amazing! And, with the power of initiative only found in teenagers about to something that's bad for them, we did manage to get some. I can't say they were that spectacular. Yes, they did induce a spinning feeling in my head and the cloves made my mouth go numb. From a "smoking-weird-stuff"-point of view they were very lame but what they DID do was making me sick every time I smelled cloves for a very long time afterwards.

Fortunately, this has now passed. Le Labo Baie Rose 26 opens with rose, pepper, allspice and lots of cloves. It's a spicy rose fragrance, not soft spicy in the way orietals are spicy, full of vanilla and cinnamon, this is sharp and spiky spicy. The peppers and cloves are contrasting against the rose like a new punky haircut and a fresh facial peircing look on an otherwise sweet and innocent looking 15 years old.

As the scent wears the pepper dissappears, the spices soften, but they never leave  completely. After about one hour, there is a metallic phase when I can almost feel the taste of iron in my mouth. This might not sound very pleasurable, but I don't mind. The rose part of Baie Rose 26 is deep red and prominent.

During the long dry down the rose softens and melds into the wooden notes. The scents mellows and matures just like I imagine the girl in the picture, first hanging out with her edgy emo friends at school but then going home, removing the eye liner, slipping into somthing comfortable and at the end of the day she's in bed, reading Nietzsche.

Official notes:  aldehydes, clove, pink pepper, rose, pepper, musk, virginia cedar, amber

And, yes, I couldn't resist this image that came up when googling for kretek:

This guy has very little to do with the smell of Baie Rose 26

Images: quizilla.teennick.com, swagooo.com

Cuir et Champignon by DSH Perfumes - and a DRAW!!!

(Yes, I'm reusing this image, here is a reason for that, hang on and you'll see why!)

Lets do a bit of fantasy role play. Imagine it's a cool autumn day. You live somewhere in rural Britain where you're the lord or lady of a huge manor. Every now and then you saddle your fastest white stallion and take him for a ride to inspect your vast properties. As you gallop through the woods and over the fields you notice how the weather is getting colder by the day, soon holiday season will be here. After the ride you relax into your old leather armchair in front of the fireplace. Your butler brings you a cup of tea, a piece of gingerbread and your favorite pipe, stuffed just the way you want. He should know, after all his family has been serving yours for more than 3 generations.

These are the vibes I'm getting from "Cuir et Champignon". It starts out smoky in a big way. In the very beginning I'm getting salami, black pepper, smoked meats and animal. After half an hour CetC calms down into one of the nicest leather interpretations I've smelled, ever. I'm getting saddles and halters. The leather is just my type of leather, there is none of the cloyingness of Cuir Mauresque nor the perversity of Bandit (which I do love, but I couldn't wear it every day). It's comfy and wearable and perfectly accompanied by warm spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. I also get wood and tobacco. The mushroom note does not stand out to me, but it's noticeable if you know it's there and it aids the general feeling of autumn.

In my last review I also wrote about a fragrance with mushroom notes, namely Aftelier Perfumes "Cepes and Tuberose". If I was to compare that one to CetC, "Cepes and Tuberose" happens on a sunny day in September while CetC takes place on a chilly day, late in November.

And what was that thing about the reused picture? Well, I did use it 2 weeks ago when I reviewing "Celadon - a Velvet Green", also from DSH Perfumes. In that post I described how Celadon took me back in time to when I was 8 years old, dreaming of a horse. Celadon had all the elements of that dream, well, everything except the actual horse. Therefore I was utterly astonished when I tried CetC and it turned out to be a another horse riding experience in a bottle. This one mirrored my adult fantasy of a life where horseback riding is an integral part. Totally different but still the same things from two different periods in my life.

And now to the really good news. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, perfumes and founder of DSH Perfumes, has been incredibly generous and sent me extra samples of both "Celadon - a Velvet Green" and "Cuir et Champignon" and they can become yours!!! All you have to do is comment on this blog post before Tuesday, September 20 and I'll announce the lucky winner sometime towards the end of next week. You may live anywhere in the world and I will not be responsible to damage or loss caused by the postal services. Don't miss this chance, these are great fragrances for fall!



Official Notes for Cuir et Champignon:
Top notes: Bergamot, Clary, Sage, Galbanum, Neroli, Wild Chamomile
Middle notes: Cepes (mushroom absolute), Clove Bud, Gardenia,Honey, Orris, Sandalwood, Tuberose Absolute
Base notes: Castoreum, Civet, Guiacwood, Hiba Cedarwood, Indonesian Vetiver, Leather, Peru Balsam, Tobacco Absolute


My samples were sent to me for review but they can also be bought on the DSHPerfumes website. They have a huge sale right now, don't miss it

Cepes and Tuberose by Aftelier Perfumes

The Trolls and the Tuberose

In order to describe Afteliers "Cepes and Tuberose" I'll retell you a short story I read a while ago. It's called "Border" and it's from a collection of stories named "Paper Walls" written by Swedish horror author John Ajvide Lindqvist.

The main character is a woman named Tina who hasn't got the happiest of lives. She married to a good-for-nothing guy who cheats on her and spends her money. Furthermore, she's big boned, scarred and, by most peoples standards, downright ugly. She works at the customers office but the only place where she feels at peace is in the forest.

One day, a man passes her at the customs counter and she just knows he's hiding something. He also smells incredibly good. During a routine customs search, nothing out of the ordinary is found, though.

Paper Walls

Later, it turns out that he's renting a room in the house next to hers. She gets more and more obsessed by him. She breaks in to his room, into his car and just sits there, breathing in his smell, at once musky, woody, beautiful, just RIGHT, somehow.

Now, at this time she might be sounding really creepy, but it turns out that the two of them are not really humans at all, they are trolls. He is one of the last ones to have been raised free. Tina was taken away from her parents at a young age, tail cut off, put up for adoption among humans in an attempt to integrate her into society. Her parents were institutionalized, driven insane from being deprived their peaceful existence in the forest.

I've had this story coming to mind ever since I first put on "Cepes and Tuberose". That is how I picture those trolls smelling. It starts off with boozy orange, chocolate and marzipan accord. When the orange wears off the cepes (=porcini) reveal themselves. A mushroom perfume might sound odd, but just think of the truffle pigs. The reason why they are so keen on finding those truffles is that truffles smell just like a female pig in heat. Ok, she seems to be hiding a few inches below the ground, never a good sign, but sometimes you don't ask any questions. Now, smelling of truffles would be a bit much, at least for me, but the earthiness of cepes are the second best thing on my internal mushroom sexiness ranking chart, and in "Cepes and Tuberose" - they smell good! 

There are other notes as well. I get woody cloves and cedar. Sometimes I get something musky. And there is the tuberose, flickering like an elusive forest fairy. Sometimes she's out in the open, sometimes not, but her glowing pixie dust helps  bringing the other notes to life.

To say that "Cepes and Tuberose" smells like an autumn forest would be true but it would not be the whole truth. This is one of those scents that sum up to a whole lot more than the individual notes in themselves. It IS an autumn forest, but it's a sunny one, a happy one, one that is chock full of pheromones, smiling at you, beckoning to enter.






Disclaimer: I read the story "Border" several years ago and I might not have all the details right. There is a lot more to it than what I tell here.
My sample of "Cepes and Tuberose" I bought at the Aftelier Perfumes Website.
Troll image is by Swedish artist John Bauer.

Tango by Aftelier Perfumes

Earlier this year I spent some weeks on the "Tim Ferriss diet" in order to get rid of those last post-pregnancy kilos. That means, somewhat simplified, 6 days a week you eat low-cal-high-fat food. The seventh day is your "day off" - you get to eat any amount of anything you like. Tango from Aftelier Perfuemes pretty much sums up what I did on my day off, plus a bit more.

But, lets start from the beginning. First time I put on a few precious drops of Tango, I just went "?????" I couldn't figure it out. There just was nothing familiar I could hold on to. Nowhere to begin to understand this thing. I felt so confused. But then the notes started to unfold. The first thing I got took me back to when I was something like 10 years old and went to the dentist to get braces. The dentist took out this metal mould that he filled up with some type of putty. This he shoved into my mouth in order to make a cast of my teeth. That putty tasted a bit like the first seconds of Tango. A very unexpected first impression.

By then things should only get better, and fortunately they did! I started picking up spices. First charred ginger, then cloves and in no time I had a nice little orchestra of spices playing gingerbread dough on my wrist. I also got, at some points marzipan, Cadbury milk chocolate, Kahlua, chai and lots and lots of sweet pipe tobacco. The notes kept on moving, dancing, sometimes disappearing but then showing up in a new guise. Like watching the face of someone you love, discovering new cute things all the time.

At the time I did the testing for this review I was staying at my in-laws house out in the countryside and I asked my mother-in-law if she'd like to try my Tango sample along with me. She did, and Tango turned out very different on her. In fact, if I had not seen her apply about the same amount of Tango as I did at the same time I had never thought it be the same perfume! When I had this symphony of spices and tobacco, she got a bit of sweet wood and some cinnamon during drydown. No gingerbread and no pipe  for her, whatsoever! It was like her skin was eating all those notes alive. On the other hand, we also tried Mandy Afteliers Honey Blossom and the florals there turned out much better on her, more vivid and longer lasting. So now she is the Flower Power Woman while I'm the Spice Girl.

Also, when reading other reviews on the net, I seem to get a sweeter and foodier treatment than others. Actually Tango is listed as a floral on Fragrantica, and Champaca is one of the official notes, but that one is not revealing herself to me at all. But, as a gourmand scent Tango is fantastic, containing all the stuff I love but shouldn't eat too much of, with a bit of pipe smoking thrown in just for fun. It has grown on me every time I've tried it and now I know, if I ever have to do the "Tim Ferriss diet" again, Tango will be what gets me through those 6 days tedious diet days every week.

Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens

Scents inspire me like nothing else. When I try on a scent I get all full of ideas, I see pictures in my head, I think of music, sounds, food, stories, you name it. Iris Silver Mist is a Serge Lutens cult classic. It has been reviewed many times by people who know a lot more about perfume than I do. It's also the scent I get the strongest feelings/pictures about. I've been working this review for a while as wanted to find the right words. I'm realising I probably never will, so here goes my take on Iris Silver Mist.

Imagine you were alive some hundred years ago. Maybe you were a young man, forced to go out to fight in a war that's now long forgotten. Nobody bothered to give you any training and proper equipment. Before you knew it you were lying face down on the battlefield, bones broken, life bleeding out of you. Or maybe you were a young girl living at the same time, one day strange armed men showed up at your house, took you away into the forest, they mutilated and raped you just for the fun of it and left you do die alone in the woods.

After spending hours, maybe days, in utter agony there comes a time when the pain starts to fade. The soul is finally slipping away from the body. Death is reaching out her mighty hands towards you and you're only relieved to see her, happy to return her embrace.

That very moment, when still feeling Mother Earth against your body, breathing in the scent of her soil and roots, mud and grass, fertilized with your own blood. You can also smell what is about to come, there is airy incense with a hint of spices. At that very moment of transition, that is the smell of Iris Silver Mist.

This is a masterpiece of a perfume. It manages to be earthy and ethereal at the same time. It's very sad but also hopeful. It's the best scent I know of to wear when I'm feeling sad. It grounds me, comforts me and at the same time promises that things are going to be better. I love it and I'm rating this at least 5 out of 5.

Artwork by Robert M. Place