Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Pierre Cardin Cardin for Women (1975): fragrance lore & musings

 Some perfumes seem to exist in limbo. No one has really known them intimately, yet their reputation lives on. Oddly enough, as my colleague Sergey highlighted in his review of the chypre Cardin de Pierre Cardin,"If you go to the Pierre Cardin official website, you will not find this fragrance on it. There, officially, the feminine perfume history of the brand begins in 1981, with Choc de Cardin. As if there was no Cardin de Pierre Cardin (1975) perfume at all. Meanwhile, vintage advertisements and vintage bottles say the opposite." 

 
 Meanredz's 5934 photos on Flickr via pinterest


My view is similar to his, in that it presents a very interesting, yet disturbing phenomenon: Companies re-inventing their past, but contrary to -say- Creed, by omission. As if they want to focus only on the present, or at the very least on what they consider sell-able still. As fragrant history attests,"at least two more Pierre Cardin fragrances were released for women – the floral chypre Suite 16 Pierre Cardin and the green Singulier Pierre Cardin. A couple perfumes more, Amadis and Geste For Men, were also launched around the same time, as Mr. Pierre Cardin opened his Eve and Adam boutiques in Paris, sharing their bottle design with Suite 16." 



Cardin for women was the first fragrance from the house of Pierre Cardin, launched in 1976 according to Fragrantica. It opens with notes of citrus, aldehydes, bergamot, clove and cumin. The heart is a bouquet of flowers such as roses, ylang-ylang and jasmine and woody notes of oak and cedar. The base consists of amber, civet, musk, labdanum, moss, sandalwood and vetiver. Available as EDT, EDP and perfume.

So is Pierre Cardin's Cardin for Women anywhere to be found? I would love to know. 

Friday, January 10, 2025

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Beau Paradise Garden: fragrance review

 Le Beau Paradise Garden by Jean Paul Gaultier is "a tribute to the Garden of Gaultier, filled with vibrant flowers and enticing scents. It masterfully blends the salty coconut's freshness with the green fig's lushness and sandalwood's soothing warmth. Hints of zesty ginger, cool mint, and sun-drenched tonka bean enhance the fragrance's green aquatic and woody character, making it an ideal embodiment for energetic and passionate men." 


pic borrowed via pinterest

Does it deliver? Yes, it surprisingly does. Perfumer du jour Quentin Bisch masterfully composed this fragrance as a woody, green, aquatic melody, capturing the divine atmosphere of a tropical haven in an Eau de Parfum for men concentration. 

Drawing inspiration from the Jean Paul Gaultier Autumn/Winter fashion collection of 2010-2011, imagine a lush, enchanting garden named "Le Beau Paradise Garden" and "La Belle Paradise Garden," a haven of intense delights and fervent desires. The box with its paradisaical pro-lapsarian motifs and the bottle with the green hue and the delicately woven codpiece attached are very pleasing to the eye. Picture a bottle of striking beauty: an emerald-green glass ornately embroidered with a vibrant vine leaf, boasting exquisite, high-fashion details. 

Le Beau Paradise Garden by Gaultier now encompasses the saltiness of Mugler's Womanity (a stand in for the genitals hidden by a fig leaf?) with its fig overtones for the main chord and buttresses them up in delicious coumarin-rich tonka bean. This gives a tasty dessert quality to the mix, creating a good tension between the salty and the sweet without succumbing to either. Although we can't expect something too innovative, since the main chords have been done before and tonka beans are everywhere apparently in later years, I find it a balanced composition. Coconut is more reminiscent of coconut water than shredded coconut sweets, which can become too sweet. In the original Le Beau I found the coconut rather too much, as I'm sensitive, but here it's just right. It's more aqueous overall, with hints of the pre-lapsarian Garden of Eden — green, damp, wet, and creamy. Tonka, after all, is in the same compound class as lactones, and it makes sense to pair them. 

It does come across a bit synthetic, because —hey! — it is synthetic, but the entire market is synthetic anyway. Yet it's mild, quite fresh, mouth watering, not really botanical (which is usually associated with men's fragrances), and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't insult anyone. 



Official fragrance notes for JP Gaultier Le Beau Paradise Garden

TOP NOTES Aquatic Notes, Mint, Ginger, Fresh Greenery
MIDDLE NOTES: Salty Coconut, Green Fig
BASE NOTES: Sandalwood, Tonka Beans


Thursday, January 9, 2025

L' Erbolario Assenzio: fragrance review

Although Assenzio Aqua di Profumo by Italian pharmacist-inspired brand L' Erbolario is an older scent, I only truly discovered it last year, testing it again and again, and contemplating a full bottle of my own for the coming months. 


via pinterest


The Italian name means absinth and it effortlessly recalls ringlets of fragrant smoke rising from a censer into the ethers, which is totally fitting for days of recollection and pensiveness, since incense is usually burnt into a censer and left to rise. Frankincense has a citrusy top note and this is beautifully fanned out in Assenzio, where the citrus and herbal part (bitterish artemisia and wormwood) is the introduction to the hazy, billowy development. 

Perfume lovers have beautiful and zen-quality words to say about it. Silver Hiccup writes in Fragrantica, "Assenzio is ultimately a very gentle, flowy scent, like a fluffy cloud that envelops you. I can admit that for me, it may carry a sense of melancholy."  Cerise Noir writes, "I love this powdery, herbal sweetness. Makes me feel so clean and calm." Abraham 7 says, "An ancient, green, relaxing charm."

Others, like Kioflare are mixed: "The opening is really quite masculine, astringent and not particularly pleasant [...] reminds me in a sense of Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet, which I was not particularly fond of. This goes on for about 15-20 min. The drydown showcases its truly marvellous and gentle side. That is the real unisex herbal talcum [...] becomes a bit chalky sweet, the herbs shine through, but they leave a gentle and warm impression, like a green powdery caress."

Although Assenzio has been compared to Felce Azzura, the famous shower gel and dusting powder products from Italy, another South-eastern European reference that is often conflated with incense, due to the dry soapy-piney ambience, it is not a replication of that (admittedly amazing) scent. But it's worth trying all the same, because the herbal qualities will appeal to lovers of the Italian classic of grooming all the same. 

Best of all? This quiet scent has an array of ancillary products to enjoy from morning till bed-time... Bliss. 

NB. The Aqua di Profumo concentration is the equivalent of Eau de Toilette. 

 

Official notes for Assenzio by L' Erbolario:

Top notes are Wormwood, Amalfi Lemon and Orange.
Middle notes are Artemisia, Coriander, Lavender and Cardamom.
Base notes are Musk, Carnation, Geranium, Patchouli, Benzoin and Cedar.


Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Narciso Rodriguez All of Me: fragrance review

 Boring is a disparaging term for perfume such as the latest All of Me by Narciso Rodriguez, since this is a product relying on fantasy: excitement, anticipation, pleasure. However, as we know, boring can smell gorgeous too, just not particularly new or pushing the envelope. And that's fine, we need some boring fragrances too I guess.  

That would have been OK, if Narciso Rodriguez and the Group behind it, Shiseido, actually continued on the road of the white and black "cubes" of the Narciso collection. But it seems that after a while on that road they missed a significant turning or something and the whole trip derailed. 

I have adored the For Her eau de toilette from the first moment it launched and I have been so outspoken about it ever since, starting with Osmoz, that I feel somewhat personally proud of its enduring footprint in the industry. Imagine then my dismay when some of the best in the NR collection, namely the white and black "cube" fragrances have been discontinued. The rest in the collection have not been wowing me either; pretty, yes, but ultimately not advancing the brand. After a while, the subsequent editions in the For Her line, have also become kinda staid and stilted.

All of Me did not make wild promises, it talked about the mainstays in the world of pretty, feminine, office-friendly fragrances that make Chloé scents a popular mainstay in the department store aisles. Lots of women love them and cherish them and they do look good on a vanity, I'll give them that. However the Narciso Rodriguez brand is not Chloé, even though according to official data they did sell 1 bottle every 6 seconds in 2022 (according to the Shiseido website). The NR aesthetics bring on less apologetic versions of pretty, from the models chosen, to the shape of the bottles and the presentation, not to mention the more straightforward fashions themselves.

Nevertheless, the newest fragrance after all this optical expectation seems limp-wristed, hesitant, yet persistent enough in the screechy version of synthesized roses -with a touch of Frambinone maybe?- which bring on the impression that you're poised between something going bad and a headache blooming at the back of your eyes, like intense light blinding you. 

The characteristic musk component of the Rodriguez brand has rather gone amiss in All of Me and only the fabric softener notes remain behind, with an aldehydic touch of soapiness and aquatic tonality buttressing the rose and geranium essences, making them sickly sweetish for my personal taste. Mind you, I'm particularly sensitive to that effect, so your mileage may vary on that score.

All Of Me was created by Dora Baghriche and Daphné Bugey, who have probably been given a brief to follow closely by Firmenich with which they work, and it launched in 2023. The official top note is Magnolia; the middle notes are Rose and Bourbon Geranium; the base notes are Musk and Sandalwood.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

A Small Collection of the Most Hilarious Comments on Fragrance Weaned off the Net

pinterest

pic borrowed from here re: American Horror Story 


"It smells like spoiled rotten eggnog. The vanilla is nauseating. If I smelled this on another person, I would think that person was trying to cover the stink of an open necrotic abscessing wound by spreading spoiled vanilla cake icing on top of the wound." (OldSchoolCharm hates Musc Ravageur on Basenotes)

"A sweet ambery woody oriental that stays on your skin for at least 6-7 hrs and makes you go nasty and touch yourself. Amazing stuff. (Sneakersitch loves Profumi del Forte Versilia Vintage/Ambre Mediterranea on Basenotes)

"Hooker eating a burrito" (Serpent on Kingdom by Alexander McQueen on Perfume of Life)

"Fragrance reviews are silly. Fragrance marketing is even sillier." (from styleite.com and what makes it so funny is that it's so horrifyingly true)

"Have you rolled in gunpowder? What is it you are smelling of?" he said with an air of surprised distaste. This is what my tender 14 year old years met with one memorable afternoon as I was decked to the nines to go play at a piano concert organized by the Conservatoire. The delivering agent of the comment that would apparently shutter my childlike innocence was my own beloved father as we were entering the car, off to a -not so good- start to the concert in question. Flubberbusted and quite self-conscious for the rest of the afternoon (of which I have little recollection otherwise) I was rolling the info I had on the  innocuous Anais Anais by Cacharel I had just sprayed on in the back corridor of my mind. 
Turns out the real culprit was...Normaderm sulfur-containing ointment on my forehead. (The entire story is recounted HERE). 

"I think the weirdest comment I got was that I smelled like Poison Ivy (from Batman)- that was the guy's association. I was wearing Paestum Rose which I do find a bit toxic. ;) " (reader Ines on this blog)

"The perfume that smells like baby wipes is Park Avenue. It really smells like baby wipes and it has a gentle smell that babies love so they don't cry and do not fear it." (via answers.com)

'Like a vintage boudoir with old pants strewn over the floor' (for Infusion d'Iris, of all things, as mentioned by one of our anonymous readers) 😮

"I bought Guerlain's Mitsouko because I loved LT's review of it. He referred to it as a desert island scent! My husband agrees. He says it is the perfect desert island scent because it smells like bug spray. (our reader Amy Barry)"

"When my son was about three, he often said my perfume smelled "like vegetables." He meant it as a compliment!" 😁 (another reader called Amy)

"The one that puzzled me was "your intelligentsia-style perfumes" - that about my wood-amber-based mass-lux set of Eau des merveilles, Samsara, Sensuous, Prada's L'eau ambrée and Tom Ford's Amber Absolute (which was the immediate cause of the comment!) a bit diluted with Herba Fresca and Tocca's Cleopatra. Not something I would associate with intelligentsia, but well." (PerfumeShrine reader)


If you have come across more of that ilk, please add them in the comments!


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