The Perils of Youth or the Requisites of Glamour?

The question of mutton dressed as lamb is, sadly, present even in perfumeland. People actually ask whether a spritz of Clinique Happy, Escada's Pacific Paradise or a Rihanna fragrance might seem too juvenile for them, as if there is an age police around checking under their armpits and behind their ears for compliance to respective age bracket. Obviously that's faulty thinking: wear what you like, perfume is an equal opportunity employer.

But what happens when the question is put in reverse? To paraphrase an infamous quote, can you ever be too young for your perfume? This is the question I put into the test. Like with porn, if you have to ask about it, it probably means you are. But let's get serious.

the caustic Margo Channing courtesy of giphy.com

Youth, especially these days when the desire for wisdom is culturally shunned, doesn't look up to maturity. Long ago little boys and little girls were dressed like little gentlemen and little ladies. Nowadays people in their 70s wear velour tracksuits and bows in their hair and that's considered tasteful (permissible it undoubtedly is, perish the thought of fascist taste police).
And yet the retrospective desire "for the good old days" (which were anything but good, really, come to think about it) around the millennium, has sparked a resurgence for vintage and retro items, from floppy felt hats in glamorous design to opera gloves and strings and strings of long necklaces, all the way to boho chic. Perfumes and beauty items couldn't fall far behind, so they followed.

Therefore we have this paradox. An extremely youth-oriented culture is viewing retro as totally glamorous, yet at the same time questions itself on its being a good fit for that sort of gilded beauty.
Have no fear. Perfume can and should be embraced by the young even in its classic form, that is in compositions which seem old-fashioned or even antiquated sometimes. By exploring one's options, one's horizons and ultimately one's limits, we get a better grasp of who we are. And as fashion designer Ciara Boni once said, "Style is knowing exactly who you are and having the guts to declare it at the top of your lungs".

So without further ado, please visit the link to my latest article: Am I Too Young for my Perfume? And please indulge in the conversation, here and/or on Facebook. 

Back and Spinning, plus Eau Libre

I'm back after a few (deserved) days of holidays away from home, wetting my striped bikini and grilling a mean BBQ aromatized by fresh thyme, so expect to actually see some posts on these pages from now on after this short blog inertia like a dutiful nerd kittie.

In the meantime, I had written a review for one of the less known fragrances by the venerable house of Yves Saint Laurent (magician of le smoking, if you recall). This also came from a clan of products that usher the 1970s in a step as assured as that of an ethic-laced wedge on cork heel rocking the Studio 54 era. That is, Eau Libre, which a very kind reader of this blog sent me a sample of a long while ago. This is a deserved review and it's posted in full on this link on Fragrantica. As always, you're welcome to comment here or there or both ways.
(And stay tuned for more articles of this kind of scents in the very near future)

For those who still haven't left for summer holidays hope you get a great rest and enjoy yourselves and we'll be catching up.

The Secret Sorrows of The Rose

Rose has made a comeback in perfumery in the last decade, there's no doubt about it. Had it ever left? Well...I have composed a top youthful rose fragrances for Fragrance.About.com which you can check out here. In it I revert to this age-old (no pun intended) question: do you feel too young for roses? Many do, alas, myself included. Apparently there are solutions.

I began my perfumephile path as a rose-challenged person (at least in what concerns actual perfume, as I dearly love anything rose-shaded in makeup and use rose-containing skincare with pleasure, like the gorgeous products from Annick Goutal or food-grade rosewater as a toner on my face). You can read my woes on this article: My Troubles with Rose and Overcoming Them one by One.

And overcome I did! I even compiled a top rose fragrances and beauty/food products list, which you can access on this link.

Of course it helps that there are many nuances to a rose. It's not always tea rose, you see, and thank heavens for that!
From the deliciously sophisticated old-school Une Rose Chypree by Tauer, to the orientalized Rose Nacre du Desert by Guerlain and Patricia de Nicolai's Rose Oud, the frivolous cosmetics-reminiscent Drole de Rose by L'Artisan and the thornier Voleur de Roses again by L'Artisan, the personal favorite Mohur by Neela Vermeire, the reckless and spicy Majalis by Parfums de Rosine, the crystalline cool Acqua Nobile Rosa by Acqua di Parma, all the way to Rose Oud By Kilian, there's a rose fragrance for everyone. It just takes a bit of searching. Luckily I try things so you don't have to.

Enjoy the rose articles!

Annick Goutal Duel: fragrance review

Like erotic opponents distancing themselves from each other only to better aim at the heart with a fatal gunshot, the materials in Annick Goutal's fragrance Duel are juxtaposed, yet strangely sharing common ground. One can't shake the impression they'll both live to tell the tale, till a certain point at the very least.

Paraguayan petit grain, a distillate from the leaves and twigs of the citrus aurantia v.amara aka the bitter orange tree [learn about its many raw materials for perfumery here], gives the citrusy top note, Maté absolute provides a leathery undertone; this South American herb has an aroma between black tea and cut hay. The cunning thing is the two notes complement each other rather than oppose one another; the tang of the former provides a welcome suaveness to the pungency of the latter. Maybe they ought to reconcile and with Gallic charm and a gentle shrug of the shoulders decide to share the damsel after all, if she agrees.

The green aura of the combination of the two raw materials, petit grain and maté absolute  (a common facet of both, their "touching back to back" so to speak) provides a summery diversion.
The house's art director, Camille Goutal, daughter of Annick, and perfumer Isabelle Doyen wanted to exploit the green character of mate absolute as well as its leather-scented backdrop into a modern, avant-garde composition that would appeal to those searching for something gentle yet substantial.
Its many facets (hay billowy softness, refreshing hesperidic tanginess, dry austere tobacco-leather) make it graceful and interesting.

Hints of tobacco and iris ground the airier, more fleeting notes in Duel without weighting them down. A prolonged fuzzy softness due to white musk is what makes the fragrance, although featured as a masculine in the Goutal canon, totally wearable by women as well. Like other masculine scents by Goutal, like the little known Eau du Fier, or the helichrysum roasted feel of Sables, Duel can be shared.

Personally I love using this cologne when wearing khakis and white T-shirts, with only sunscreen and mascara on my face, it seems to complement this kind of 'woman on a journalistic mission' rather well ; sort of gives me the energy I need in the heat to feel collected enough to pursue my line of research.

Bottom line: Duel is quite fresh yet oddly sexy; it smells the way Gabriel Garcia Bernal looks.

Available as eau de toilette 100ml at Goutal counters in select boutiques.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: 
Annick Goutal perfume reviews and news
The Leather Fragrance Series
Top 10 Masculine Fragrances
Gender Bender: Masculine Colognes Shared by Women, Feminine Fragrances Worn by Men

Oriental Arabesque for Oud Palao by Diptyque

The newest fragrance by French niche brand Diptyque is called Oud Palao and is -you guessed it- inspired by the mega-trend that is oud. It also incorporates perfume notes of Bulgarian rose, camphor, labdanum,  rum, tobacco, patchouli, Madagascar vanilla, and sandalwood.

But what is most memorable is the gorgeous, eye-catching illustration motif. After all Diptyque started as a quirky design brand of textiles and scents...