Showing posts with label valentine's day fragrances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label valentine's day fragrances. Show all posts

Monday, February 10, 2014

Love is in the Air: Most Complimented Perfumes by the Opposite Sex (Valentine's Day Countdown part 6)

Compliments and the perfumes on which one gets them (or doesn't get them) from one's entourage or even from strangers on the street is a loaded topic in the perfume discussing community for all the obvious reasons. On the one hand, getting a compliment on something is always mood-lifting. In what regards fine fragrances it's even more appreciated since it subliminally affirms a person's private aura (since scent is invisible and so personal) and their intellectual prowess (their taste, their cleverness in matching it to their personality etc.). On the other hand another school of thought claims that paying attention to the amount of compliments one's personal choice of perfume exerts somehow diminishes the very value of that stamp of intellectual individuality (and one can see that point clearly).

weheartit.com via Pinterest
But to revert to the former argument and in view of Valentine's Day looming, when for at least one day of the year, we (well, not everyone but you know what I mean) hope to flatter another person's interest, which perfumes do get the most compliments? For practical purposes I limited the selection to fragrances getting the attention of the opposite sex. For those in the interim space, feel free to mix & match or experiment.

According to women responding to a similar question on a topic discussed on the international boards of Fragrantica, Makeup Alley, Specktra and BeautyHeaven.au, the consensus brings out these perfumes as getting most compliments from men (in no particular order):

Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf
Narciso for Her (Narciso Rodriguez)
Viva la Jicy (Juicy Couture)
Black by Bulgari
Alien and Alien Liqueur de Parfum and Alien Essence Absolue (Thierry Mugler)
Womanity (Thierry Mugler)
Angel (Thierry Mugler)
Pure Grace and Amazing Grace (Philosophy)
Can Can (Paris Hilton)
Coco (Chanel)
Coromandel (Chanel Les Exclusifs)
Light Blue (D&G)
Be delicious (DKNY)
L de Lolita Lempicka
Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka
Obsession (Calvin Klein)
Infusion d'Iris (Prada)
Shalimar (Guerlain)
White Musk (The Body Shop)
Vanilla Lace (Victoria's Secret)
Moon Sparkle (Escada)
Hypnotic Poison (Dior)
Dolce & Gabbana pour femme (D&G)
Aqua di Gioia (Armani)
Cinema (YSL)
Euphoria (Clavin Klein)
J'Adore L'Eau de cologne florale (Dior)
Chinatown (Bond no.9)
Fancy Nights (Jessica Simpson)
Hidden Fantasy (Britney Spears)
Ultraviolet (Paco Rabanne)
Ambre Narguile (Hermessences, boutique Hermes)
Deep Red (Hugo Boss)

via thescentstore blog
On the flip side, these fragrances get most compliments from women (when worn by men, as attested by Basenotes and Fragrantica male members ~please note these represent a rather fragrance savvy segment of the general population):

Silver Mountain Water (Creed)
Dolce & Gabbana pour homme
Hanae Mori for men
Aqua di Gio (Armani)
Lanvin L'Homme
Habit Rouge (Guerlain)
Polo Blue (Ralph Lauren)
Rochas Man
Michael for men (Kors)
Millesime Imperial (Creed)
A*men (Thierry Mugler)
Comme des Garcons 2 for men
Minotaure (Paloma Picasso)
L'eau d'Issey (Miyake)
Chrome (Azzaro)
Body Kouros (YSL)
Cool Water (Davidoff)
Herrera for men (Carolina Herrera)
Rive Gauche pour homme (YSL)

What will you be wearing for Valentine's Day?

And a reminder: the amazing giveaway for a perfume pen with Swarovski crystals which is also a perfume atomizer courtesy of Tijon Fragrance Lab & Boutique is still running till February 12th on this link.



Friday, February 7, 2014

Valentine's Day Special: The Scent of Unrequited or Impossible Love (Valentine's Countdown part 5)

"And the stars, and the cars, and the bars, and the barmen" [1]

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of wirtherings, of tarnishings."[2]

via etsy
So often we focus on Valentine's Day as the occasion when one MUST be coupled to participate in the holiday or when one should at the very least have a romantic interest at the ready if they're single. Obviously some are happily married (such as The Non Blonde) or happily single (such as Chemist in a Bottle) with whom I organized a small joint project; they have their own anecdotes to share.
Poor me I reverted this year to that pool of endless discoveries: literature and specifically two cases of unrequited or impossible love.

One of them revolves around the impossibility of the love of the nymphet, of a "Lolita", in Vladimir Nabovok's famous and stylistically memorable novel of the same name. Indeed one can hardly call it a love story, tragic or otherwise. Although possibly everything must have been written around this lyrical tome and its "poetics of betrayal" ~and the issue of pedophilia is arising again in public consciousness due to the recent allegations (re)thrown at Woody Allen's face decades later~ one of the aspects that hasn't been quite explored yet is the insistence of the emigre writer on the scented aspect of Humbert's unrequited, obsessive (and yes, ultimately sickly) love. It is a sort of love, no doubt, because he expresses all the symptoms of eros. His male gaze is held by the thread of fascination: on the one hand of the unknowing pull that the nymphet, Dolores Haze, has upon him,;on the other hand his sophisticated European professorial veneer recognizes that the stuff arousing the little one's admiration is uniformly "trash" ~she lacks the necessary critical distance to judge it. (This includes celebrity and film magazines,  shops with knick knack souvenirs, comics etc.)

via pinterest
Humbert's own inherited profession is a perfume company, to which he pays little business attention throughout the novel, but which seems to have an indirect yet potent pull in the machinations of his love patterns. There is a specific reference to the unidentified "musky and powdery" scent of his formative love interest, the child Annabel, when he was of comparable age at the French Riviera, which he traces to her borrowing it from the Spanish maid (a reference that might indicate Maja by Myrurgia or even Habanita by Molinard, promoted with a Latin-sounding name and popular in France). But Humbert also references another unidentified perfume in the memorable poem he dedicates to his lost love towards the close of the novel.

"My Dolly, my folly! Her eyes were vair,
And never closed when I kissed her.
Know an old perfume called Soleil Vert?
Are you from Paris, mister?"

Soleil Vert literally translates as "green sun" and isn't among the many historical fragrances which I am aware of. Supposedly this secret smell, this surreal sun which evokes the variations of light shone upon the two unlikely lovers constantly mentioned in the novel, is the one which has bonded the memory of her to him, a gift from him; one which he chose for her. Much like he chose one for her mother's sake, the landlady he had betrothed a little while before her tragic death in the hopes of keeping at the nymphet's side. But it is still interesting to contrast how mother Haze tricks Humbert into thinking he is going to be picking up perfume for a friend of hers, as an intended gift, when in fact the perfume is then held hostage to be used by the flirtatious woman herself in an equally sorrowful love tension tormenting the love-struck Charlotte in the hopes of catching her tenant's (unrequited) amorous interest.

via VioletHour/pinterest

Another memorable incident of scent marking the impossibility of love shared in literature comes from a part of the life-long diaries of Anais Nin, amassed in the tome titled Henry & June in which she recounts her rising desire for sexual and erotic exploration despite her genuine love for her banker husband, Hugo. Her adventuring desire positively detonates upon meeting the writer Henry Miller (famous for his own unabashed depictions of sexual exploration and erotic experiences in his work) and his beautiful, destitute, but "destructive"wife June Mansfield. The two women indulge in a bit of Sapphic intimacy marking the impossibility of a fully fledged relationship in the context of the mores of the times, or more importantly as the writer continually stresses her feelings of love and friendship for her husband whom she won't quit and June's detached state in life. But it is again perfume, this time in the form of Guerlain's Mitsouko, which creates the tension of memory for the star-crossed lovers.

June asks for Anais to gift her with her perfume as a memento. The perfume is again mentioned as being the thing she notices and keeps as a memory from Anais' house. It's referenced by monetary value too (it's expensive for poor Miller and his wife). It's implied as a mysterious veil that captures the essence of Anais too. In a way, the Guerlain perfume loses some of the respectability and bourgeois factor it enjoys as the scent of choice of a banker's wife and earns through this impossible love, this fated affair, the reputation of a scent that signals a capitulation to some erotic journey of the mind and of the soul.

Anais and another Guerlain perfume, L'Heure Bleue, are wonderfully, poignantly tied in a love poem which I had read a while ago and I hereby quote for you.

"The blue hour perfume hesitates
like a turquoise tear, before falling
cerulean through her hourglass night;
a mauve nocturne of
low saxophone notes
and amaretto sorrows,
echoing footfalls of younger years
departing her dark almond-forest hair;
so as not to awaken from a dream
about to come true, blossoming
within herself; an indigo rose,
unfolding lavender lovers
pressed violet against her lips."


found on Underground voices, Don Pesavento

[1] Vladimir Nabokov
[2] Anais Nin

Don't forget to check out the links for the posts of my friends:

Gaia on The Non Blonde
and Lucas on Chemist in a Bottle.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day Fragrance Selection: Scented Duos for Her & for Him

There are some couples you come across that just obviously click; visually as well as instinctively you know from the moment you see them that like a salt & pepper pot duo they're meant to be displayed together. Psychologists tell us that couples who look alike can have a head start in relating to one another.  I don't know if this is the Barbie & Ken conditioning we have been spoon fed since childhood, the rather logical manifestation of common traits that brought people together in the first place (same level of attractiveness, similar tastes, probably analogous socio-economic status) and the equally logical supposition that "a couple" sorta re-invents itself into a single entity, or -in the case of tried & tested couples of some time- a case of "growing up together one gets to look like their dog" (which poses its own delicious problem: who's the dog in that relationship?) The thing is sometimes superficial stuff isn't as superficial as it looks like.

Source: imgfave.com via Shannon on Pinterest


Which nicely brings us into todays' theme:  matching each other's scents for Valentine's Day -or any day beyond. Nothing is more fun than co-ordinating a couple's fragrances, for an occasion or for a special day (or even on a more durable basis, but let's not make this too committed right now). If you have matched in style with your mate during a formal occasion (instead of one showing up in jeans and the other in a floor length gown or one is olives & browns and the other in striking red and black) you know that playing matchy-matchy can be rewarding in photos. Well, fragrance matching can be rewarding in memories, since scent memories are the photos the mind takes in absence of a camera. So here is a small guide with my suggestions for doing just that; creating special memories! I have carefully chosen the fragrances combos to click together in spirit and not clash.

For the purposes of this article the duos are presented (in classic Barbie & Ken fashion, we can't escape!) in  "mood" suggestions for Her and for Him, but gay couples should by no means feel excluded. All the fragrances can be interchangeable and be worn by both sexes.

Source: listal.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Romantic Duo
Amouage Lyric Man and Lyric Woman
I had presented Amouage Lyric Man in my Best Rose Fragrances list previously. The version aimed at women is by no means lesser. Short of the smokier incense note it reprises the loveliness of the masculine version, a rich, nuanced rose that sings melodiously of l'amour!

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial and Guerlain Habit Rouge
The haze of these powdery, soft as a duvet, cuddly as cat's paws scents can only be explained via the romantic references they make to the legendary love affair that inspired the first, classic Shalimar. This recent feminine version is less "tragic love story" and more playful, while still lovely, and the men's version with its opoponax tenderness has always been the "male Shalimar".



Casual Duo
Cartier Declaration and Eau d'Hermes
The juxtaposition of fresh tonalities to more risque magnetism is effortless. They seem like the first thing that came to mind that morning, but they feel like there is a bred intimacy about them, the familiar scent of someone you know too well not to feel inhibited into showing up in flannels.

Frederic Malle L'Eau d'Hiver and Patricia de Nicolai Kiss me Tender
Heliotrope with its almond-like facets is both a yummy and gloriously innocent, tender note. These two takes are among the very best; an eau chaude for him, a butterfly kiss for her.

Sexy Duo
Serge Lutens Fleurs d'Oranger and Ramon Monegal Mon Cuir
The common thread of a honeyed, dense note of orange blossom is tied to a refined but lush animalic, intimate quality about both scents. They're perfect for a romp between the sheets as they're for a candlelit dinner preceding that.

Victor & Rolf Spicebomb and Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille
The two fragrances share the spicy, sweet tobacco bouquet and project as inviting as a soft mattress someplace with a lit fireplace.


Glamorous Duo
Chanel Coromandel and Ramon Monegal Mon Patchouly
The almost chocolate tonality of patchouli is peeking underneath a cluster of amber, balmy notes and fresh accents. They're sumptuous and not at all what you'd associate with patchouli's hippie image.

Source: listal.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Sophisticated Duo
Frederic Malle Dans tes Bras and Geoffrey Beene Grey Flannel
There's something about the scent of violet leaf and violet notes which has a twilight, otherworldly quality to me when done with a restrained hand. They're a bit wistful too, so perfect for those of us who secretly love love stories gone awry.


Retro Duo
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme and The Different Company Jasmin de Nuit 
A classic nostalgic barbershop scent for him (a prototype fougere). A jasmine with spices reminiscent of fragrances of older times. Star anise at the heart of both. At once sensuous and brainy.


I just realized: all the photos I picked are in black & white. Well, maybe there's something to start contrasts as well. ;-) Happy Valentine's Day to anyone celebrating!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Valentine's Day: Personal Perfume Picks for Different Looks

Classifying preferences in fragrances is relatively easy compared to classifying styles of romance. Everyone seems to pepper their behavior with a mix of the flirty, the sexy and the erotic (there's a difference, I swear) before they entangle themselves in the intricasies of the human condition that is. So contrary to yesterday's post about different styles of scents for St.Valentine's according to personality from nuzzling to naughty, I am now offering the theory none of us could really peg themselves a certain way all the time, all the way, with all our beaus over the years. We just want to smell good!

My personal picks for Valentine's Day Fragrances (os shall I say Valentine's Night) do not err much from the troden path of tried & true "recipes" working on my own man. So what follows here ~contrary to other venues where I might have suggested things to suit a multiple variety of taste~ is intensely personal. And illustrated according to my tastes. See if you agree or not.


Guerlain Shalimar Eau Légère is for winged eyeliner, scarlet lipstick and a proper guêpière.



Thierry Mugler Angel Innocent is for tiny whites which belie their womanly appeal.


Chanel No.19 (eau de toilette or vintage parfum) is for classic raincoats and vertigenous black stiletto heels.


Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman is for when you're caught in the rain. Damn transforms to wham!


Caron Tabac Blond is for androgynous black leather days.


Agent Provocateur Eau de Parfum by Agent Provocateur: This naughty rose deserves a red dress with a cinched waist.Chocolate nibbled on the bed can follow.

And finally the promising Flashdance sweatshirt invites the cozy appeal of Guerlain's Cuir Beluga.


What are YOUR picks for Valentine's Day fragrances??

pics via LA times magazine, thehairpin.com, cineacademy.blogspot.com, mindfood.com, pop-eat.com

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Valentine's Day Perfume Suggestions

"When I think of flirty scents, I imagine something that combines youthful innocence and purity with a more carnal sophistication. To me, that's what tuberose smells like. It's the Lolita of the fragrance world."



Revisiting some of the older Allure magazine articles I came across this interesting take on scents for Valentine's Day classed by their projected character (sexy fragrances, flirty scents, romantic perfumes, secure etc) by none other than Frederic Malle himself, of Editions des Parfums.

Of particular note is how he classifies tuberose as flirty (rather than femme fatale) and therefore recommends a liberal use of it, something with which many perfume enthusiasts might argue for or against!

Read the whole article here.

Also catch Allure's slideshow (with short descriptions of many fragrances we have reviewed on Perfume Shrine already) of the top 10 Sexiest Fragrances.

painting of Eros & Psyche by Jacques Louis David via wikimedia commons

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