Haydria Perfumery Tainted Love & Harem Girl: fragrance reviews

The Haydria Perfumery is one of those small artisanal brands you probably won't hear of unless you frequent perfume fora and read actual people's views; consequently the perfumers of those brands often twist their inspiration to fit both their own and their customers' base vision, a good thing. A good thing because this is a market segment with pretty sure footing into how perfume used to be before it was put into a compulsory Jenny Craig regime and often very much into what's affectionately termed "hippy stuff" from ma & pa shops (unfortunately more prominent in the USA than in Europe where I am residing). Haydria Perfumery seems to me to unite these two worlds: a vintage-focused pin-up inspired, retro perfumery with glittering, girly stuff reminiscent of the 1950s & 1960s, but also an independent, earthy, oils & musks approach (that's very 60s as well).

Fragrances of the Haydria Perfumery are composed by Hadria Douglas, based in West Hertford CT, USA, customarily presented in liquid perfume (in glass bottles with Swarovski embellishments), solid perfume & compacts and oil form. I tested the oils, which by their own nature present a smoother, softer ambience on skin and therefore sometimes present a lack of structure, but I know many people are mad for oils so it makes sense to offer this concentration. Both fragrances were nice and wearable, if not mind-blowing, just the right thing for that lady you know who appreciates all things soft and purring and sparkling with boudoir promises.

Tainted Love  is said to be "Reminiscent of innocent 50’s love…with a secret! A flirtatious and feminine bouquet of violets, berries and light amber drizzled with honey. The scent to take you back to simpler times".
I was quite taken with this retro, romantic pairing of violet and powder in this perfume oil, I have to admit. The violet is very there, but not your grandma's violet pastilles. There's a clean (white musk) and at the same time lightly salty aspect about the violet, making it subtly woody and not really sweet; just so. I can imagine this delicate and pretty scent on anyone who romanticizes the big balls of the 1950s and fancies themselves in a pink dress with a big corsage and their long hair in luscious curls on naked shoulders. Seamed stockings would be really good too.

Notes for Haydria Perfumery Tainted Love: violets, berries, honey and light amber.

Harem Girl is the most musky and traditionally "erotic" perfume in the Haydria line: "A forbidden, seductive and fiercely feminine fragrance with refined, powdery notes of iris, musk and opoponax veiled with incense. Truly for those with a taste for the exotic!"
Teasingly dabbing this scent on the wrist to entice sounds like what you'd expect from a seductive fragrance, but Harem Girl isn't neither heady nor too musky in that "get down & dirty" way we associate with, well, you know what... It might be because the oil formula opens up the soft aspects of the opoponax and the warm musk and turns it into a lightly sweet, lightly bitterish composite that would be pretty great in enhancing a lovers' play time. The musks used in Haydria's line are tempered, not especially "animalic" and therefore fit for actually wearing on a number of occasions, not just boudoir action, so you could get maximum mileage out of this one. Harem Girl hides a floral element in its oriental core to couple with a light incense veil, a tiny bit smoky, a tiny bit "dusty". Although iris is listed, I didn't especially smell that component; it's sort of powdery, but it's a resinous powdery from the opoponax (and some milky wood note replicating sandalwood?) that is dominant. It actually reminds me more of l'entre deux guerres and its love of Frenchified orientalia than of later pin-ups of the 1940s.

Notes for Haydria Perfumery Harem Girl: powdery iris, musk, opoponax, incense.

Haydria's Etsy Shop is on this link where you can buy the lot at very affordable prices.

The rest of the Haydria line includes:

• Bernie! : gardenia, jasmine and sandalwood accented with soft exotic notes 
• Burlesque Blue has notes of myrrh, sandalwood and plum cascaded over a cool undercurrent of exotic Eastern flowers
• My Geisha has notes of green tea, orange blossom, white flowers and musk
• Gypsy Queen with lush florals and rich spices smoldering with deep wood notes
• L'Eau Exotique features aquatic notes, Asian champa flowers and sandalwood
• Pure Sin has passion fruit, champagne, dark chocolate and white musk.

In the interests of disclosure, I was sent samples directly from the perfumer.

Chris Evans: The Actor who Loves Fragrance

"It's not too classy what I was dousing myself with, but I always made sure I used something," the Captain America actor and currently, alongside actress Evan Rachel-Wood, face of Gucci Guilty reveals to People magazine. Though Chris Evans would of course endorse his current advertising stint for Gucci, it's cute to hear him say: "I like it. Thank god - wouldn't that be horrible if it smelled terrible?"

The actor is sincere on actually liking fragrance in general: He initially sported his father's colognes when he was a teenager and then began to use Polo Sport and various Abercrombie scents in his twenties.
 He even seems to be knowledgable regarding discreet fragrance application: "I give the little mist, then do the walk-through." [source]
Way to go, Chris!


Dear readers, if you don't fancy Captain America, do yourself a favour and catch Puncture with Chris Evans; that's a great movie and he was pretty great in it too.

The "Mousse de Saxe" Base: Creation History, Notes, Influence on Perfumery

Writing about perfume history is an acre of land strewn with minefields. Little has survived into its original form and the industry has been ferociously shrouded in secrecy. Writing about those more elusive, less known aspects, such as perfumers' bases, is even harder because it involves talking about raw materials, and raw materials that are a manufactured composite rather than a single ingredient/molecule at that. Among the most famous bases is De Laire's "Mousse de Saxe".

Structure & History of Creation of "Mousse de Saxe"

The "Mousse de Saxe accord" is comprised of geranium, licorice (created with anise), isobutyl quinoline (leather notes), iodine and vanillin (synthesized vanilla). It was used since the turn of the 20th century and produced by the great aroma-producing firm of De Laire, a composite made by Marie Thérèse de Laire. Edgar de Laire's wife gave birth to the new branch of the factory dedicated to the production of aromatic compounds in 1895. Founded by chemist Georges de Laire (1836-1908), the de Laire firm quickly became a source of synthetic aroma chemicals and "perfumers' bases" (i.e. a ready-made accord of ingredients producing a specific effect, such as famously Prunol, Bouvardia, Ambré 83 and Mousse de Saxe), but also of finished fragrances such as de Laire's Cassis from 1889 or Miel Blanc.

Dark, earthy, mossy bases were in production even in the late years of the 19th century, long before oakmoss and tree moss would fall under the rationing of perfumery regulatory body IFRA, and besides Mousse de Saxe there was also Mousse de Crête (Creatan moss) and Mousse de Chypre (Cypriot moss). The geographical names might hint at some inspiration coming from a material found in Prussia (most of the perfumery mosses traditionally came from the Balkans), much like the dark blue hue in painting is called Bleu de Prusse (Prussian blue) from the military uniforms of the men of the -then independent- Prussia, a counry sharing lands amongst modern day Germany and Poland (The dye was produced in the eighteenth century via sulfuric acid/indigo).

Odour Profile

Mousse de Saxe is a complex creation: It has a dark, sweetish, mossy-woody powdery aspect (indeed chypré) with green, fresh, bracing accents and a musk and leather background of "animalic" character, which is very characteristic once you experience it. De Laire probably infused it with its own revolutionary ionone molecule (which entered in Violetta by Roger & Gallet). The bracing, "cutting" freshness is due to the quinolines (bitter green leathery with a hint of styrax), as De Laire was among the first to produce these novel ingredients.
This base must have been a novel approach in the years of its creation and one can only imagine how perfumers of the time had received it, since perfume formulae have remained a well-kept secret for so long. That reception must have been overwhelmingly positive nevertheless, because of its influence in perfumery in later years.

Fragrances in Which Mousse de Saxe is Perceived

The Mousse de Saxe base is most prominent in Caron's classic Nuit de Noel (1922) but it's used in many Carons; especially the older ones composed by founder Ernest Daltroff. This accord is what gives many of the older Carons their dark undercurrent.

A similar effect is reproduced in perfumes from other brands; notably acclaimed perfumer Guy Robert admits as much as using the backbone of it in his creation for Rochas, Madame Rochas and in Calèche for Hermès.
Other perfumes which present a similar background note are Habanita by Molinard (which also used the Mouse de Saxe base), or the directly influenced base notes of Bois des Iles, Chanel No.19, Grès Cabochard, Shocking by Schiaparelli and YSL classic Opium.

Recently the term "Mousse de Saxe" has lapsed into the public domain and now belongs to Parfumerie Générale and its perfumer Pierre Guillaume who used it in his Papyrus de Ciane press material to describe the base notes used for his modern green, mossy fragrance. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is also doing an homage to Mousse de Saxe in her Pandora perfume.

Mousse de saxe is discussed in Michael Edward's book Perfume Legends: French Feminine Fragrances.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Vintage fragrances (history, info, reviews), Aroma Materials for perfumery
photo on top via Lightyears Collection

Lemon Cloud dessert, enhanced by lemon & bergamot fragrance, by chef Joredi Roca

Jordi Roca is the youngest of the Roca brothers, owners of Celler de Can Roca, one of the best restaurants in Spain. He is the pastry chef, and his desserts based on popular fragances like Eternity, Tresor or Carolina Herrera are famous.
Lemon Cloud is now a stand-alone fragrance available online, inspired by his depicted dessert!

Cartier news: Baiser Vole new extrait de parfum & Le Baiser du Dragon discontinued

The quite lovely Baiser Volé by Cartier is now coming in an extrait de parfum concentration for the ultimate experience of immersing your head in a fresh,green lily bouquet.

Among the prettiest (if not most exciting) releases of 2011, Baiser Volé is now more concentrated in order to cater for indulging our posh genome. The new bottle is shaped like a metal lighter, continuing the tradition of Cartier which began with Must de Cartier (1981).

You can read a review of Baiser Volé on this link and information on lily fragrances on this one.You can find a guide into perfume concentrations on this link.

On the other hand, Le Baiser du Dragon, a sumptuous and hold-no-prisoners oriental from 2003 with bitter almond/amaretto notes and jasmine-gardenia in the heart, is getting discontinued. The reason offered is a desire to focus on the more upscale Les Heures de Parfum line in the Cartier portfolio, developed by in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent.Odd decision, given that the gorgeous name (which translates as Kiss of the Dragon) is used in an orientalised motif inspired jewelry line of the historical house.

It's hard to think the recalibrated focus is the only reason, as Délices de Cartier, So Pretty and several flankers on L'Eau de Cartier still are included in the Cartier portfolio, as strongly as ever. We can hypothesize that slower sales than anticipated thanks to the changing zeitgeist have something to do with it (Le Baiser du Dragon shares the fate of similarly smelling Kenzo's Jungle L'Elephant, if so) or possibly restrictions on some or other ingredient making it impossible to recompose satisfactorily (doubtful). Or perhaps a desire to break loose with the old and establish a new identity with nose Laurent on the helm (naturally Déclaration by Jean Claude Ellena is safe, as it's the biggest Cartier seller by several miles).