Sa Majeste la Rose - Serge Lutens

I seem to be on a bit of a rose spree right now. Possibly, it has to do with the weather, I remember I was into roses at this time, last year, as well. Few raw materials gives me such a width of visions as rose scents. There are so many fragrances, yet they all manage to be so different. There are freshly sprung morning roses, complete with dew drops and a garden. There are pale pink shabby chic/country living/dainty teacup roses that are very nice indeed but somehow lack a lower body. There are the smoldering incense roses. Heavyweight Middle Eastern roses. Dark roses. Blood roses.

One excellent rose scent is Serge Lutes Sa Majeste la Rose. This is an almost rose soliflore (is there a technical term for "almost soliflore", I'd love to know), smelling first and foremost of rose with a skeletal background of other notes adding context and spine.

The intro is rose and rose alone. When applied super light it smells very natural, like smelling a rose on its stem in a garden. At the same time heady, innocent and sweet. But whenever wearing more than a single drop another facet comes out to play. Suddenly the scent toggles between its original pretty rosyness and something oily and metallic. The effect is the same as the picture on the right. Just as you either see the beautiful young girl or the old woman, but not both at the same time, I either get the pretty side or the metallic side of Sa Majeste la Rose, but not both. I find this type of olfactory dynamics very interesting, it makes me think of the mad genius stereotype. A person who's brilliant in some ways but also ravinly insane in others.

But oily metal is not something that should be done in excess, and fortunately it does fade, after a while. As Sa Majeste la Rose develops a luxurious honey note reveals itself. The honey somehow warms and opens up the rose, removes every trace of innocence. At this point we've got a sultry, sexy little thing, someone waiting in anticipation for her lover to arrive. And he sure does. As we're moving toward the dry down a note of gaiac wood emerges. I interpert it as very masculine and absolutely gorgeous. First time I noticed it I immediately assumed that it had to be something a male coworker was wearing. Which was odd, as I'd never noticed that any of them wear perfume before, ever. Who'd have believed they'd this good taste? Then I realised it was all me ;)

So, I enjoy Sa Majeste la Rose a lot. It's great for summer and it manages to sport just the right amount of interesting backdrops while still staying in the "lighter rose" category. A great feature is that it comes across very differently depending on how much is applied. It can be perfectly appropriate for work if applied lightly and more suited for ... other occasions when using more.

Offical notes: Moroccan rose absolute, gaiac wood, clove, white honey, musk

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

Amouage Gold pour Femme

One of the best aspects, if not THE best aspect, of having perfumes as a hobby is that you get to meet so many wonderful persons. I'm not the first blogger to point this out, but perfumistas are the friendliest and most generous people around and one of the most adorable ones is Suzanne of Suzannes Perfume Journal. In my opinion, her perfume reviews are some of  the best out there, full of cultural references to books, movies and music as well as references to Suzannes own life. Always written with great humour and spirit, draws me in and while I may understand that I might not like a perfume she writes about, according to the notes present, every time I still love to share her olfactory experience through thoughts and words in the blog.

A while ago, me and Suzanne did a little swap and through that swap I got my first real glimpse of the legendary Omani perfume house Amouage (that I thought was named Amourage until a week ago, well yes, I'm a natural blonde...). There were several samples in that package but the one I'm going to write about today is Amouage Gold pour Femme. It was the first Amouage creation, from 1983, and a BIG scent, intended for evening wear.

Gold starts out with a burst of aldehyde and lilies of the valley. As the soapy aldehydes fade the scent slowly opens up and softens. I do get rose and apricots in the heart and in the drydown, some 24 hours later, the flowers have morphed into the most beatiful, myrrh-like peach. Soft and sexy and utterly feminine. Now, just because I can't name that many notes does not mean that there aren't many notes, there are! According to surrendertochance, Gold is made from 120 ingredients. But they are well blended and balanced and fit together like a perfectly tailored dress. Or maybe not a dress, the feeling I get from Gold is more like a wall. A big massive brick wall built entirely out of the essence of femininity.

Sometimes in perfume reviews you see writings like "It didn't feel like I was wearing the perfume, it felt like the perfume was wearing me". Usually this denotes a negative experience. I'm experiencing exactely this with Gold, but in a very positive way. It's like it's connecting me with some feminine aspect of myself that I wasn't previously aware of. Wearing Gold makes me reach for my most elegant skirts and dresses instead of jeans. It makes me take my time putting on make-up in the mornings, going for a full skin routine and red lips instead of the usual transparent gloss. It even affects the way I paint my toe nails. Normally I go for punky neons, crazy holographics and glitters (my former favourite is a Japanese one containing tiny poodle shaped sequins). Now, I've been doing pale pinks and nudes - colors that previously made me shudder in discomfort and boredom. But when wearing Gold, they are not boring anymore, just classy and elegant. And that's the way I feel about myself as well!

Have you ever experienced that a perfume is altering your personality, in good ways or bad ways? I'm very curious to hear if anyone has had a similar thing happening! And, about the video, when I thought about Gold being a song this one popped up in my head. I love Patti Smiths voice, it's so strong and has so much personality. You don't mess with her and you don't mess with Gold.


Official notes (according to Fragrantica)
Top notes: wild rose, lily-of-the-valley and silver frankincense.
Heart notes: myrrh, orris and jasmine.
Base notes: ambergris, civet, musk, cedarwood and sandalwood.

Anyas Garden's Ambress - a winter gem

This winter has, so far, been an unusul one in Sweden. It didn't really start until one or two weeks ago, before that, what we had was more of a prolonged autumn. Not that I mind, I'm not crazy about snow as there usually isn't a shortage. But as the real winter is here now, it is nice, at least for a few weeks, to look out and see that familiar view outside the window covered in a thick blanket of whitest snow.

 It's very interesting to see how this onslaught of winter is affecting my perception of perfume. It's like the snowfall is distorting the perfumes voices. For better and worse. Some scents that that didn't seem  interesting before now all of a sudden make sense. Others, that I liked during autumn, just don't feel appealing anymore. It's like entering a familiar room in a new light, letting me discover new aspects in my perfumes that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. And this is a most welcome and well timed thing as I suspect the upcoming heating bill will eat my money anyway.

One little gem I've rediscovered is Ambress from Anya's Garden, an all natural take on amber. It starts with a heart breakingly beautiful opening of rose, so dark red it's nearly black. A rose that knows it has just a few last precious hours to live and is thus releasing whatever is in there in a desperate attempt to sway the Grim Reaper to hold off the schythe.

As the scent wears it moves towards a more conventional Amber. There is a spicy side waiting to be revealed, I'm getting cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. There is the classic amber bitterness, sometimes it's herby and sometimes I'm getting the bitter edge you get from real honeycombs. There are some very soft balsams at the very bottom. Sometimes I get an unexpected whiff of something chewinggum-like, maybe jasmine?

Somehow this scent strikes me as very humane. As in every person there is both light and darkness, the same goes for Ambress. There is sweetness in contrast to bitterness, life in contrast to death. If I'd cast is as a person it would be a young woman. Very beautiful but with no end of inner demons waiting to be revealed.

Another point about Ambress it that it goes remarkably well with food! I wore it while having blue cheese and crackers and Ambress took on the feel of an aged, semi sweet sherry. Or a good quality port. I've also had dark chocolate while wearing it during the initial dark rose phase and - OMG! Do not miss out on that combo!

Revisiting perfumes I've disliked

No, this is not me.

As I'm about to move within 3 weeks from now I've been in a major clear out mode recently. I've been going through all of my stuff, forcing myself to categorise it into "keep", "give away" or "throw away". My beloved perfume sample collection has been subjected to this as well. There are some that I'm very sure I'll never ever want to wear again (Hello Secretations Magnefiques and Serge Lutens Miel de Bois). But there are others I'm not so sure of how to handle. These scents I typically tried on once and either mildly disliked or just felt so indifferent about I never bothered to try them again. So now I've decided it's time to take on a few of them on and decided once and for all if they are keepers or not.

Frederic Malle - Une Rose. If I'd play "Guess the recipe" it would be the following:

• 3 parts rose
• 2 parts soap
• 1 part fresh cow urine
• 1 part beef broth

Does this sound like something you'd like to wear? First time I tried it I nearly shreiked in horror but the weirdo in me begged to give it a second chance. This time around I do like it better, it's resonating with the most sad, showy and melodramatic parts of myself. It's a "look how you make me feel, I'm all messed up and I'm desperatly trying to imply it's your fault"-kind if scent. Lets hope I won't find too many occasions to wear it - but I will keep it.

Tauer Perfumes - Incense Rose I remember trying this one on and thinking that the combo roses and washing powder felt old and that the sharpness hurt my nose a little bit. Shouldn't Tauer be able to do better? Now I tried it again and I can't believe I'm remembering the same perfume. The intro is absolutely wonderful, full of spices, reminding me of "glögg", the lovely Swedish mulled wine that's very popular here this time of year. I don't get a lot of roses at all but I do get LOTS of spicy incense. To me this is the perfect Christmas scent and I can't believe I even considered getting rid of my sample. 

Frederic Malle - En Passant. Bright and cheery lilacs. Washing detergent overdrive. When I was 12 real lilacs used to be my favourite smell, smelling them in En Passant makes me feel old. Another sample to be sent away.

Etat Libre d'Orange - Putain de Palaces. I'm perfectly aware of that this is one of the most loved and cherished ELdO scent. But it just doesn't work on my skin. I first tried it this summer and got "Suffocation by Play Doh". Now I also get bitter almonds, unwashed bodies and sun tan lotion. This sample is going away to someone who has better use for it.


http://img-homerenovations.com

Carmaine by House of Matriarch - and a draw!

Earlier this autumn I had the immense luck to win a bottle of Carmine from "House of Matriarch" from Ines blog, "All I am - A Redhead". And it wasn't just any bottle. I was stunned when I went to pick up my prize at the post office and realized that the bottle I had won one was of the same type as depicted above. A heavy ornamental crystal thing with a silver top that looked so classy I'm seriously thinking about getting a new dressing table just to have somewhere proper to display it!

But the best thing was not the bottle but what came inside. Carmine starts out fruity, peppery, smoky and do I get a hint of stables? What happens next seems to be a different thing every time I wear Carmine. Sometimes I have gotten what I can only describe as a chocolate rose. The rose part here has none of that aldehyde washing powder lift that comes in many rose perfumes. This is the soft, sensual scent you'll get of the innermost part of a real booming rose. Imagine that matched with a smooth, highly aromatic chocolate, full of those substances that makes our happy hormones dance in joy.

On other occasions I've been taken back to India, riding a train on an icy cold night. Me and my husband cuddled up under a blanket, warming ourselves holding cups of sweet spicy chai while watching people go on with their lives outside the train windows. I also get fruitiness, this one is very hard to describe. Imagine an extraterrestial hybrid of Thai custard apples, sapodilla and dark caramel sauce and you're somewhere near. During dry down the gourmand chocolate note fades and everything goes softer. There are lots of sweet resins in there. There is faint vanilla, sometimes I think of Coca Cola. 

A man enjoying his chai

Carmine is unique, it's not like any scent I own or have tried. That's not strange given it's part of the Brave New World project by the Natural Perfume Guild. The aim of the project was to put focus on new ingredients, that have only been available to perfumes for the last 10 years. I have to admit I don't have a clue about what half of the officially listed ingredients in Carmine smell like individually. But I do know that Carmine smells good.

And now to the best part - the draw! One lucky reader will receive a sample of Carmine drawn from my own bottle. Just leave a comment below before Thursday the 24 of November and you'll be included in the draw. Contestants may live anywhere in the world and I will not be responsible for loss or damage caused by the post office.


Official Notes:
TOP NOTES:  Hiba Wood, Kewra, Tagetes (Egyptian)
HEART NOTES: Black Pepper, Michelia Alba, Michelia Champaca, Davana BASE NOTES:  Patchouli, Vetiver, Tonka, Oakmoss,  White Copal, Bruizinho, Tobacco, Chai Masala, Africa Stone, Celestial Amber, Sandalwood (Africa)

Images: http://www.matriarch.biz,  http://alittleadrift.com,  http://www.blingcheese.com

RiverCali from Anya's Garden

As with everything, there are different types of perfume lovers out there. If I'd try to categorize myself I'd say I'm the analytical type. I spend a lot of time thinking about the notes I encounter in a perfume. Which ones are there, how do they get along, play each other up etc. I also think a lot about what type of person would wear a certain perfume and what associations in general a perfume brings. When I talk about perfumes I tend to describe them by the different characteristics I find in them, I might say they are woody, floral or "remind me of some old pervert I met once". The ones I like I tend to describe as "interesting". Surprisingly seldom I encounter a perfume that "just smells good", but RiverCali from Anya's Garden does just that.

The first time I tried it was on one of those days. The whole family was in a bad mood due to sleep deprivation and low blood sugar. Everybody was cranky and complaining. But somewhere in all that crankiness I did catch a whiff of something...else. Something happy and comforting that cut right through the drudgery. An unexpected little smile coming from my very own wrist. It made me lower my shoulders, relax, realize that I had a choice about letting all the stress get to me. I could take charge and make the best out of the situation. Which I did.

RiverCali starts with an uplifting leafy lemon note. As the citrus fades a soft, beautiful, creamy floral is revealed. It's hard to pick any one note as they come together near seamlessly but the main players are rose and orange, lingering on a bed of vanilla. When I read the list of official notes I was very surprised to see that there is pink pepper in there. Pink pepper, as well as black pepper, are notes I usually don't get along with. In RiverCali I first didn't notice it but when I really searched for it I realized that there is a hint of pink pepper and it's that tiny sharpness that somehow helps bring focus to the other notes, keeping them on their toes, adding character.

In all, I find RiverCali being calming and energizing at the same time. I tend to always have lots of threads of thought running in my head and it's very unusual for me to find any fragrance, good or bad, that I don't seem to think about all the time. It seems to give that part of my brain a rest but at the same time I don't get bored, which I do get if I don't wear anything (as in no perfume, duh). I reckon this is a very good thing. Like meditation. Really, if I had the chance to rename it, it would be "Blissful Meditation".



Official notes:

Top Notes: pink pepper, pink grapefruit

Middle Notes: petitgrain bigarade, jasmine, petitgrain lemon, neroli, orange, orange flr water,

turkish rose otto

Base Notes: bee goo tincture – tinctured beehive end caps and floor of the hive litter, mitti attar, ambrette seed tincture, vanilla, sandalwood from vanuat

Annick Goutal - A Rose Splendide

I tried my first Annick Goutal scent about 3 months ago. That might sound a bit late bloomish, but AG isn't a label you see much around here. As far as I know there is only one store in Stockholm, a huge department store named NK, that carries them and when I've been there usually something else has caught my eyes and nose. The brands I used to go for were the ones trying to signal they were cool, innovative or reeked of contemporary conceptuality in some way. The first Annick Goutal I tried didn't work on me, so based on that experience and the old fashioned bottle design I just assumed that Annick Goutal "wasn't me".

But I kept noticing how AG got a lot of love, or just general chatter about themselves, in the perfume community so I figuered, I have to give them another try. So, some time later at NK, I grabbed a handful of paper strips, some random perfume bottles (I think those might have been Ninfeo Mio, Songes, Neroli, Un Matin d'Orage and some more, but I'm not sure) and started squirting. And, some of the scents I tried that day made me speechless. It was as if time had stopped and I just stood there, frozen, having a perfect perfume moment. Everyone around me was stressing and hurrying about, I was blissfully smiling, no doubt looking very silly, lost in my own world.

Now, I've only tried a few random scents so this might not be true for the whole line, I'm very much generalizing here, but there is something delightfully naive and charming about the AG scents. They are super girlie in a way that pre dates the Barbie and Hannah Montana kind of girlie. They take me to a place where pink ribbons and a clean white apron is da shit. A world where time is all I got and I get to use that time experiencing the scent of one perfect rose, lingering in a florid Italian garden or enjoying the feeling of a few precious drops of Neroli oil applied on my skin.

Another thing that I'm even newer to than AG is enjoying rose scents. After discovering Etat Libre d'Oranges Rossy de Plama a few weeks ago I've been lucky to have a few wonderful rose samples coming my way (thanks again, Ines!). One of them was Rose Splendide. That is that perfect rose I mentioned earlier. I haven't worked up a vocabulary to describe rose scents yet (I'm working on it) but this one is a stunner is its purity and simplicity. This scent seems to catch the life cycle of a rose. It starts all fresh and dewy and as it wears it grows sweeter and more mature. At the very end it reminds me of the dry incense like rose of Rossy de Palma.

According to Fragrantica the official notes for Rose Splendide are rose, pear, magnolia and musk. The pear is evident in the into. It works as an opening act, doing it's thing until the rose bud is opens up, and it's than the real action starts. It's also interesting how we imagine colors going with scents. For me, this rose is champagne coloured with pink rims, like the one in the picture.

I've read that AG has recently been bought by a Korean company and I've no idea how that will affect the brand. I imagine that the girlity I get from AG will work in Asia, anyway I sincerely hope that the new owners will preserve the perceived innocence and purity of the brand. Cause, at least me, once in a while, I really need something like this.

Etat Libre d'Orange - Eau de protection Rossy de Palma

Rossy de Palma herself

I have said several amazingly stupid thinks on this blog. Like "I don't like vanilla" and "I don't like orange flowers". Luckily for me I've been proved wrong several times on both of those accounts now. Ok, my first experiences with those scent notes might have been a bit unfortunate but there was really no need to dismiss whole scent families because of that.

Another note that I've been prejudiced about in my past is rose. I used to believe that rose scents belonged either on old ladies that are a bit senile and think they are little girls or in fabric softeners. Fortunately, that is changing and one of the reasons for that is Etat Libre d'Oranges "Eau de protection Rossy de Palma".

There are resemblances between Rossy the Actress and Rossy the Scent. At first glance, Rossy herself is no conventional beauty, but the more you see of her the more you want. She just gets better and better - and the scent is just the same.

At first sniff of Rossy the Scent, there is a shrilly rose, reminding me of washing powder. Within a few minutes, dry incense sets in, adding perfect balance to that rose note. It makes me think of hand printed books stored in old Gothic convents. Or, on a sunny day, deciding not to go to the beach but instead sneak to the library, finding a cool and quiet corner and reading fantasy novels all day. During drydown, cocoa and patchouli are revealed, beautifully offsetting the rose, never getting too heavy.

Is this a scent I can imagine Rossy the Actress wearing? No, not at all. It's way to clean. I imagine her wearing something muskier and animalic, radiating all over the room. If I'm to make up a person representing this scent it would be Penelope Cruz playing a shy, sensitive and highly intelligent librarian. Big glasses and and mousy clothes just accentuating her beauty and grace.

So far "Eau de protection Rossy de Palma" is my favourite scent from Etat Libre d'Orange. With their radical image I tend to think that their scents would also small radical but Rossy de Palma just smells "nice" and lovely. Just as I think of Nombril Immense as a patchouli for beginners, Rossy is the perfect gateway into both rose and incense notes. Highly recommended for days when you need a little bit of serene cool and quiet for yourself.

Perfume Shopping in Reykjavík, Iceland

Hi again, now I'm back! I've recently been on a trip to Iceland in order to visit my family there and I've been travelling in Sweden as well, but now I'm back in Stockholm for at least a week! When I go abroad on shorter trips I usually bring a few samples but not to many. Instead I rely on that I'll discover new and interesting scents and just spray them on whenever I see them in the shops. Iceland used to be a great place for that, there used to be a consumer culture that equals nothing I've some across. But as they have been in a major economic recession the last few years, things are very different now. As most Icelanders have no money there are hardly any imported luxury goods available. Even McDonalds has left (I'm not kidding).

But, even if Icelanders themselves have no money, there are lots of people that do - tourists! It used to be very expensive to go there, but not any more. And tourists like to buy local stuff and partake of local culture. So there seems to be a boom in arts and creating things locally. And there are not just souvenir polar bears and little wooden vikings. I found, surprisingly, 2 new local brands of perfume as well.

First one is EFJ, manufactured by Gydja. It's described as a classic, spicy, light and fresh fragrance with hints of citrus, vanilla, roses and bergamot. The perfume is clearly marketed towards tourists as it's made with with glacial water from Eyjafjallajökull and every bottle comes with a small lava rock from the volcano.

The only chance I had to try this one was at the airport, just before leaving.  It's a very generic floral with some rose and citrus thrown in. I didn't get any vanilla. It didn't impress me. But to it's defence I must say that while I was wearing it, I was carrying my very reluctant one year old daughter. First for an hour inside the airport terminal, then I had to try keep her entertained  for 3 hours straight, sitting in my lap, during the flight back home. Not the best conditions for perfume sampling...

The other Icelandic perfume brand I came across was is an extension to an Icelandic clothing brand, named Ella, founded by Elinros Lindal. There are two scents, "Ella" and "Ella Night". The official scent notes of Ella are lemon, verbena and patchouly. Ella Night smells of roses and fur.

I never got to wear these ones. I must admit I was put off by the bottle design, it was so clearly a bad Byredo copy. Normally I'm not too sensitive by such things, I believe that the best product will win in the end, but as I don't care much for Byredo to start with I just felt tired when I saw these. But if anyone has tried them I'd love to hear what you think.

So, I'm not super impressed by Icelandic perfumery yet, but at least there is an embryo of a local perfume industry. That, I believe, is a very good thing, and from now on things should only be able to get better! However, what is impressive are some of the Icelandic clothing designers. I'm including a few links here for anyone who's interested in checking them out:

Spakmannsspjarir , if I was a foot taller and a little more goth looking I'd buy all of theirs stuff! Amazing!

Kron by Kronkron, very cool shoes and stockings.

Elm, apparently Oprah has stopped by here and bought stuff.

Le Maroc Pour Elle by Tauer Perfumes

Wearing "Le Maroc Pour Elle" has been a bit of a challenge for me. I'm sure that for at least 10 times or so, I've sniffed my wrist and thought, "Oh no, that's a note I don't like". Then, when leaning in to take a closer whiff, ready to condemn it forever, I realised "Hey, this is so not me, but I like it". The scent has been tip toe dancing on that thin line of wearability but every time so far it has landed on the ok side. 

In a way "Le Maroc Pour Elle" makes me think of Degas, a French painter that lived 1834 to 1917. He is famous for (among other things) his paintings and drawings of ballet dancers. When taking a first look at his drawings you sometimes think, "Oh, that can't be right, that girl is all wrong looking" and then you look closer and realise that he's been drawing his model correctly, all right, he just caught her in a very odd angle or in a middle of a movement, out of equilibrium. "Le Maroc Pour Elle" is just like that, I keep thinking "The guy who made this, what was he thinking?" and then then I sniff a bit more and go "Hmmmm, interesting...". And I'll choose interesting over perfect any day.

So, what does "Le Maroc Pour Elle" smell like? In the top note there is orange blossoms, sawdust, bad breath and tooth decay. To be honest, it's nasty. But fortunately this only lasts a couple of minutes. Things soon settle into a jammy rose, jasmine and cedar accord. I'm also getting vanilla. At this time "Le Maroc Pour Elle" reminds me a lot of SL "Cuir Mauresque" and I've been trying them wrist by wrist to compare. They both pack a similar rose and jasmine but "Le Maroc Pour Elle" is rougher and has a much more powdery vanilla feel to it. Cuir Mauresque is fruitier, tighter, and leaning more towards leather and cinnamon.

During drydown "Le Maroc Pour Elle" turns into a different beast altogether. The flowers go away and the wooden notes, cedar and sandalwood, get more prominent. At times I feel cedar with a hint of orange and rose jam. At times I'm getting rice pudding, spiked with vanilla, covered with dark chocolate shavings.

Another interesting thing about Degas is that he never really completed his paintings. When looking closely there tend to be some areas that are perfect and other areas that are just sort of smudged over as he didn't bother about them. I find this rather endearing, since I'm just the same, the fun stuff gets done and other things I tend to forget about. I feel that "Le Maroc Pour Elle" also is a little bit like this. The notes dance around, at times they come together perfectly, at times something is sticking out a little bit to far but mostly everything just comes across as charming and fun.

I'm rating it 4 out of 5. This has been a character building experience for me that has broaden my views on what I like to wear and I always take an extra liking to scents that broaden my horizons.

All pictures are made by Degas.

Jo Malones French Lime Blossom

Next in line for Citrus Week is Jo Malones French Lime Blossom. Undina pointed out to me that this one isn't really a citrus, but more of a green floral. You are right about that, but as I'm not a details person, anything with any far fetched citrus connection can be a Citrus Week candidate so here comes French Lime Blossom.

It starts with a crisp lime note and gradually fades to floral. I easily pick out roses and liles of the valley. I love the idea of how all Jo Malones fragrances are made to be layered  and I've really tried to like them. Unfortunately we have some sort of skin chemistry issue. I've tried 4 scents from them and it is always the same story. At first spray I'm thinking "wow, this one is lovely, why did I think I didn't like Jo Malone". After an hour or so I think, "hmmm, maybe this one was not so great on me". After 3 hours or so they have matured into full fleged distaster and I'm rushing to the toilet to wash them off. Sadly, French Lime Blossom was no exception. After a few hours it smelled like sharp detergent and I couldn't bare to walk around wearing it.

So I'm rating French Lime Blossom a 2 out of 5. Jo Malones do smell great on other people, so if you tend to like them you should probably just ignore my negative review here, but this one was not for me.