Showing posts with label gift guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift guide. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

Father's Day Guide: Masculine Fragrance Recs for the First Guy in Your Life

With Father's Day around the corner, we're rethinking our fragrant gifts, opting for elegance, quiet sophistication and a sense of fun. Why shouldn't dads share in our appreciation of smelling good? After all, as we were growing up, they formed our perception of how males should smell like (I know it happened to me). With that in mind, here's a brief guide of fragrance suggestions for dads and beyond by Perfume Shrine: By no means conclusive, and pliable to inspire classical-leaning boyfriends and adventurous daughters, stealing a spritz or two in a gender-bender game, like when they were little ones.


  • For the Traditional Dad
Hermès Equipage 
It's hard to do a more elegant, more traditionally classical composition than this fragrance, originally created by legendary perfumer Guy Robert for Hermès in 1970. A scent of single-malt scotch; rich, warm, with a pungent leathery undercurrent, yet never heavy, it speaks of a lost kind of elegance. Even the modern, reformulated version by Jean Claude Ellena is excellent.  

Aqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta Eau de Cologne
Fresh, sensual and vibrant, Colonia Assoluta comprises crisp notes of hesperidia (Sicilian bitter orange, bergamot and sweet orange) with warmer spicy notes of cardamom, pink peppercorns and paprika, resulting in a hearty, sunny melange that feels reassuringly graceful and dependable.
  • For the Trend-Savvy Dad
Dior Homme 
Never mind it's everywhere, this is one of the most interesting masculine releases of the last decade, because it brings a most unusual iris root note, halfway between face powder and dusty dried flowers, into an otherwise masculine formula.

Le Labo Santal33 
Santal 33, a butch, ruggedly woody scent from a hip brand, develops in roughly two main stages, not wildly opposed: The opening is full of the roughened up dry woodiness, as much due to Australian sandalwood as to cedarwood and its synth conspirators, with that characteristic duet which makes its appearence in masculine perfumery to great aplomb. Cardamom makes a welcome respite, although nowhere as prominent as in Cartier's Déclaration. The woods are fanned on copious amounts of ionones from the violet & iris "note" listed. The latter stage includes an amplifying of the ambery-woody tonalities due to the marked presence of Ambrox. As trendy as it gets and very "macho".


  • For the Outdoors-Loving Dad
DSquared2 He Wood
Wood is by nature a solid and reassuring substance, but also aromatic reminiscence, personal refuge, vibrant sensation... The creative duo behind fashion brand DSquared2, Dean and Dan, were inspired by their native place, Canada, and designed the bottle of He Wood to be framed by Canadian Red Alder. The scent is among the nicer woody fougères* to come out in recent seasons, cool and warm at the same time.

Annick Goutal Eau de Sud
Less well-known than Eau d'Hadrien, but with a mossier, more dusky feel, it evokes summers in Provence and Tuscany: the freshness of the breeze coming from the groves, the mist of summer sprays and the aromatic herbs off the garden and the warmth of the sun. Citrusy on top but with a peppery middle due to basil Eau de Sud (Water of the South) dries to a mossy-patchouli-leafy scent that lasts rather long.
  • For the Sophisticated Dad
Chanel Sycomore
Chanel is synonymous with style and restrained elegance. Sycomore is perhaps its most graceful specimen in their boutique exclusive line Les Exclusifs. Sycomore emphasizes the aristocratic dryness of vetiver's humble origins with a tangy grapefruit opening and subtly cooling, clean muguet notes that complement the Haitian vetiver variety, also used in Guerlain Vétiver. Almost simultaneously it allows soft impressions of a warm incense cloud slowly setting upon evergreen needles, woodfire smoke and rooty dirt to uplift you into a wistful and introspective contemplation.

Amouage Epic Man 
Amouage Epic for Men is luxurious in every sense of the word: It recalls an old-fashioned leathery ~due to castoreum~ fougère* (a little reminiscent of Bel Ami or even Jules), with spicy accents and a light oud/aoud note throughout which is pleasing to me as the dense mustiness of oud usually leaves me with sensory overload unable to smell anything else. The spices, of the cool type, such as prominent cardamom, mace and nutmeg, meddle along with the tea note. The musky drydown phase of Epic Man is sprinkled with incense, in an interplay of animalic with more austere elements.

  • For the Cosmopolitan Dad
Caron Yuzu Man
Yuzu is named after a Japanese citrus fruit that is renowned for its clean and fresh aroma. It marries vitality with serenity and a feel good factor. In Caron's latest masculine, East meets West in a refined fragrance which also includes Indian verbena and Indonesian basil over the more green, oleaginous notes of Provencal fig and Spanish lentiscus (i.e.lentisque or mastic). The woody basenotes anchor Yin and Yang in this scent bathed in sunshine.

Guerlain Sous le Vent
Technically a chypre, yet poised between that and an aromatic fougère*, Sous le Vent bears no great relation to the mysterious guiles of Guerlain's Mitsouko but instead harkens back to the original inspiration behind it, Chypre de Coty, and another Guerlain thoroughbred ~Jicky. Sous le Vent starts with a rush of subtly medicinal top notes of herbs that smell like lavender, rosemary and tarragon, a full spectrum of Provençal aromata. A tart bergamot note along with what seems like bitterly green galbanum skyrocket the scent into the territory of freshness and a smart "clean". Its next stage encompasses dry accords, soon mollified by the heart chord of a classic chypre composition of dusty moss with sweet tonalities of generous flowers that evoke the banana fruit: ylang ylang notably and jasmine sambac. In the final stages I seem to perceive the dusky foliage of patchouli. Wonderful!


*Fougère is a classic olfactory family -mainly of masculine scents- that relies on a chord of lavender-coumarin-oakmoss

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Summer Fragrances that Last, Top 10 Memorable Masculine Scents

Monday, May 2, 2011

Mother's Day Last Minute Gifts Guide

We are reminded of the true beauty of a mother in her touch, her kindness, her smile, her eyes, her voice, and even her smell. Celebrate your (or your own) mom’s special day with gifts that leave a special fingerprint, your own.

What most romantic (but also practically last-minute) gift is there than a fragrant bouquet of fresh flowers? Dating back to Greek mythology, the iris comes in a variety of colors, but the most popular is the deep blue variety. Irises symbolize admiration & courage, traits especially familiar to mothers. If you also make your own card (easier than it sounds following these steps) it's guaranteed she will be thrilled!

Ormonde Jayne presented their new bath soap scented with Osmanthus a little while ago as discussed on these pages before. The soaps are impeccably crafted, triple milled and hard milled which gives them their fine consistency and lather, ensuring their shape is kept till the end. The uplifting scent of Osmanthus is infused into the soaps to give a perfect spring day whatever the weather. A fabulous present for your mother…or to ask your family for yourself!
Available at the official Ormonde Jayne e-boutique.

Coral is big this spring and what best than some fragrance inspired by corals, such as Corallium by Italian niche brand Carthusia with its aromatic bay laurel and sage tones over Mediterranean fruits (bergamot and mandarin), flowers, and smoky woods roughened by sea air. If you want to go grand, you can add makeup items: Coral suits a variety of complexions if done sheer and weightless. Dior Addict Lipstick in Bobo #530 is a sheer coral shade ($28, at www.nordstrom.com) while Lancome Ultra Lavande Collection in Coral Crush ($48, www.neimanmarcus.com) should compliment with 5 shades that give a luminous eye look.

21 Drops, a line of all-natural, pre-blended therapeutic-grade essential oils come under $30 and just might do the trick for stressed out mothers. Co-founded by Cary Caster (a mother and clinically certified aromatherapist,) the blends are created to counteract the effects of our thoroughly busy lives, with an easy roller-ball application and convenient durable case, each blend is designed for use anytime, anywhere.

presskit_image_11 De-Stress – Blended from frankincense, lavender, ylang ylang and german chamomile, the #11 De-Stress blend helps to steady nerves, reduce tension and reduce stress on the limbic system. The oils in this blend are effective in countering situational irritation and angst and promote emotional flexibility. De-Stress helps you to stay cool under fire, encouraging graciousness and diplomacy, balance and decisiveness.

presskit_image_01 Invigorate – Blended from cedarwood, rosemary, black pepper and juniper, the #01 Invigorate blend helps to stimulate circulation, motivate and energize. These warming oils help oxygenate the blood and promote blood flow, which in turn energizes the body.

presskit_image_18 Sleep – Blended from sandalwood, ylang ylang, palmarosa and vetiver, the #18 Sleep blend helps to sedate, soothe and quiet. The oils in this blend work on the nervous system to hush a racing anxious mind and settle states of restlessness and agitation.

Priced at $28 each and available at www.21drops.com, these blends are the perfect gift for any mom on-the-go!



Another pampering idea for stressed moms comes from all naturals indie perfumer Ayala Moriel: Bath salts in fragrant varieties for a most relaxing soak. She recommends Hinoki Ritual: "These ritual bath salts are scented with hinoki (Japanese Cypress), shiso leaf and seaweed essential oils! It will make you feel as if you are bathing in a traditional wooden bath in Japan and make your bathing ritual special and relaxing".
I would also propose Geranium which was indeed created especially for Mother's Day 2009: "These beautiful bath salts are a real treat for mom's bath. Scented with rose geranium, Egyptian geranium, vanilla, begramot and a touch of myrrh these bath salts are sweet, soothing and luxurious.
Tin contains the bath salts (500gr) and a wooden scoop to pour into the water and the price at 46$CAN is very fetching.



Last but not least, Roxana Villa of Illuminated Perfume is promoting her daughter's and her friend's headbands project: You can find more on this link from Roxana's blog and catch the video.


Blue irises pic via Moon Stars and Paper

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