Thursday, August 30, 2012

Dior Diorling EDT Review

Earlier this summer, I had ordered a Dior sampler pack but never quite got around to testing any of them out. I've always been a little hesitant to try new (to me) perfumes during a heat wave but since the two/three month heat wave is over, I'm willing to try more perfumes.

I've been slowly working my way through testing as many classic perfumes as I can and came to Diorling. I have read that Diorling could be a difficult perfume for some. When I had first sprayed on Diorling, I had a huge blast of pepper that strongly reminded me of green peppers. After the 15 minutes of the green pepper note, Diorling changed. Diorling changed into a classic chypre scent. It had reminded me of Mitsouko without the whopping peach note. The flowers are not overpowering but they whisper and add a lot more to Diorling instead of taking away. What irks me is that the lasting power is very poor even with a thick moisturizer. I probably would get Diorling to last longer if sprayed on clothing. Would I get a bottle? Only if it lasted longer or it was being sold in EDP form. I would keep a decant of this though.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

La Labo Labdanum 18 Review

For the past week or so, it has finally cooled off enough for me to start breaking out the oriental perfumes. This summer has been torture on me where there were only a few perfumes that I could stand wearing. For the past couple days, I have been wearing Le Labo Labdanum 18. I'm note sure why I had taken so long with testing this out before the perpetual, massive heatwave.

After poking around the internet, a few bloggers have made the comparison to Shalimar. I must agree with them especially in the beginning stages. In the beginning, Labdanum 18 is straight up Shalimar without the citrus top note. After a few minutes, a get a distinct cola note, which did take me by surprise. The cola note is not bad but I can't see it adding anything to the whole composition of Labdanum 18. The dry down was interesting though due to the fact that I did get reminded of MKK, slightly animalic. Lasting power and sillage are about average for this. I find Labdanum 18 to be nice but not quite bottle worthy, just decant worthy. If one owns a bottle of Shalimar and MKK, you won't be missing that much by not trying out Labdanum 18.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Adventure at the Mall and Serge Lutens Chene Review

I do not often go to the mall for a couple of reasons. I've never been one that has been a great fan of large crowds. Children running around everywhere and their minders are oblivious to what is going around them. Yesterday, my mother was helping a friend plan for a trip and spent almost 3 hours trying on clothes. I have never been one to enjoy shopping for clothes. When I went to Hawaii 3 years ago for 10 days, I didn't spend that much time for getting new clothes. I was in and out of Macy's in under an hour and only really needed a pair of tennis shoes and a couple shirts. But I was fortunate enough to be able to wander around the mall after I had lunch. Panera was an adventure. It seems like the adults at Penera are not so easy to contend with. They do not have the sense to realize that even though it is still summer, others have a hot tray of soup in their hands. And yet they charge right in front of me as I am turning around and about to find myself a seat. I was very interested looking at the Chanel counter to see if any one of the 3 department stores had Coco Noir. But no, they had the regular Coco, Coco Mademoiselle, no. 5 in all it's variations, and the Chance flankers. Then I remember that I am at the closest mall to wear I live and it isn't the upscale one where there would be potential of having a new Chanel at the counters. Now, since I bored you with my lame mall rant, I think that a review is in order.

I've really been unmotivated in reviewing perfume for some reason but hearing about the bell jars coming to the US kick started me a little. And what is leading me to reviewing Chene is one of my dogs nosing around my kitchen counter and my decant of Chene breaks. In the book, The Guide, Chene is described as something that smells of pencil shavings. This is the second time that I am going to have to agree with the authors of The Guide. The pencil shaving note is dominates the whole wearing but I have noticed that there is a burning rubber note that comes into play. Even though I have trace amounts on my hands, I am just not enjoying Chene at all. Even after 8 hours of wear, the whole get up seems a little crude.


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Serge Lutens Cuir Mauresque Review

After Perfume Shrine had reported that Barney's New York was going to be getting the Serge Lutens non-export line, I was excited. Excited because I didn't have to save up lots of pennies to go to Paris to get a bell jar of Sarrasins. But I had a few questions. On the comments section, one of the commenter had said those of us who really wanted a bottle would be looking at shelling out $290 USD for 2.5 ounces of perfume. I was able to find out that a 2.5 ounce bell jar would equate to about $140-$150 in American money. I have dropped $260 on a bottle of Amouage. Amouage uses the best ingredients available with the budget they got. After smelling some of Serge Lutens' creations, they don't exactly have the budget that Amouage has. That's okay if he doesn't but if the $290 is true, I would be put off on getting a full bottle of Sarrasins. Now, on to the review.

I absolutely adore Chanel's Cuir de Russie and was curious on what Serge Lutens's Cuir Mauresque would be like. I have tried a few of Serge Lutens' creation and I either find them strange, to be a spice cabinet or simple. When I first sprayed Cuir Mauresque, I thought that I had sprayed on Arabie. But I do not have a decant of Arabie but a full bottle of it. It was a monster blast of spices that did calm down somewhat after 45 minutes. Then I got the old but well taken care of leather purse filled with expensive lipsticks on top of the spices. Then Cuir Mauresque morphed again. It morphed into an odd cross of Arabie and Feminite due Bois with leather. I'm lukewarm of Cuir Mauresque because it's a great idea but the whole spice cabinet is slightly headache inducing in August. This lasts for a good 8-10 hours on me. I do not think that I will be getting a bottle of this though.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Not Buying The Hype

Am I the only one who hasn't bought into the hype about Apple products? Every time I turn around, everyone is talking about the newest iPhone, iPad, Macbook or whatever is being released from Apple. My one friend has just gotten in the past two months, an iPhone and now his mother has gotten one. After playing with his phone, I am not impressed. The said friend was moaning about how he should have waited to upgrade his phone because he wants the iPhone 5. A family member has an iPad and loves it. I'm not a huge tech head and have set foot in an Apple store to see what the fuss was about. The only fuss I have ever made about Apple is with an iPod, the only Apple product that I own. And my iPod is 3 years old and now is in need of a new battery.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Chanel's Flanker Game

A few weeks ago, I had received an email from Chanel stating that they were releasing a new perfume. A part of me groaned and a part of me was curious about it. Come to find out that Chanel is releasing Coco Noir. For some reason, I was hoping that Chanel was revamping the original Coco. The original Coco does have a somewhat dated feel to me. But digging around the Internet a few have gotten a hold of a sample, the reviews seem to be mixed on it. I'm still wary of this flanker, even though the bottle looks cool.

I have noticed that Chanel has been playing around with their scents. First it was the ionic no. 5 with Eau Premire. Then it was no. 19 with no. 19 Poudre. Now it is Coco with Coco Noir. I kind of hoped that Chanel would have stopped after no. 5.That was in vain.

I was finally able to grab a back up bottle of no.19 EDP when it was in stock at the Chanel website late last week, so grab a bottle before it goes out of stock again.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Penhaligon Amaranthine Review

I've had this 1.5ml decant sitting in my 'waiting to be reviewed' pile for who knows how long. I don't know what prevented me from trying this out. What got me to test this one was that I had lost most of the decant through evaporation and was left with just a little bit for one or two wearings.

After wearing it yesterday, I can say that I honestly dislike it. Because I get milk and iris. Iris is not listed on the official notes but I think that it is the tea note that is giving me the iris impression. Amaranthine becomes tiresome after a while because I don't a whole lot of development. The milk whatever is giving me the iris note starts to give out a bad raunchy vibe. The raunchy vibe reminds me of someone I knew who bragged about how much sex that they had over the past few days and didn't feel like bothering to shower before leaving the house. I think that I'm just going to toss whatever is left of the decant away.


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Isabey Gardenia EDP Review

Thus far, I am still looking for a gardenia perfume that is not loaded down with tuberose. Bath and Body Works' Gardenia Lily is about the only one so far that I don't detect a huge tuberose note. After looking around the Internet, I kept hearing about Isabey's Gardenia. It was off to Surrender to Chance to order a decant.

On first spray, I was clubbed over the head with a coconut note. The coconut vibe was alright when it calmed down a little bit but then the tuberose came out. The tuberose is very dense, creamy and somewhat in your face. That has always seemed to be my issue with tuberose, it's just too much. After a couple hours, I do get the impression of gardenia, but the gardenia doesn't smell that great. Isabey Gardenia seems to drift into the pleasant perfume territory. The pleasant but generic category which is nice but that is only good when one is just kicking around the house and relaxing. Staying power and sillage are about average. I just can't see myself spending $165 for 50ml of this at the end of the day.