Catching Up

I won't go into much here today, but I've gotten a bunch of things:

D.S. and Durga Burning Barbershop, 50 ml.
Etat Libre d'Orange Antihéros, 50 ml.
Bruno Fazzolari Unsettled, 30 ml.
Kiehl's Original Musk Oil, 14 ml.
Marlou 50 ml d'Ambiguité.
Imaginary Authors A City on Fire, 14 ml.
Serge Lutens Bourreau des Fleurs, 50 ml.
Serge Lutens Dent de Lait, 50 ml.
Jean Patou Colony, 100 ml.
Tauer Perfumes Attar AT, 5 ml.
Comme des Garçons 125 Vogue, 100 ml.
Kilian Sacred Wood, 30 ml.
Kilian Noir Aphrodisiaque, 50 ml.

Bourreau des Fleurs is fantastic, and I want to talk about it more. I'll have another post and bring in some of the others in my discussion, because it will all be about skank and burnt smells.  I've just been a bit busy lately to write anything.

Later.

Ummagumma

Continuing with my love of Bruno Fazzolari scents, I picked up Ummagumma (30 ml). I was expecting it to smell sort of like Cadavre Exquis, but no. It is sweet but not that sweet.

It does have chocolate, but the tobacco and leather kind of cut it. To be honest, I've never been much of a Pink Floyd fan, so that part doesn't really resonate with me (reminds me of my troubled teens).  I did get the poster as well!

I finally got a bottle of Comme des Garçons Jaisalmer (50 ml). I was not expecting to like it much and it is actually quite a beautiful incense.

It's really weird but the staff at Barneys always seems to steer me away from Comme des Garçons, so I ordered it online.

I got a travel size of Frédéric Malle Monsieur. (10 ml).  It kind of reminds me of Comme des Garçons Luxe: Patchouli, although not quite as interesting. I guess extra added levels of patchouli don't make that much of a difference. 10 ml will last me quite a while.

I did get another but I want to devote more space to it, so I'll have another post.

Attack of the Spectacular Bottles

I got a few things recently. Three of which have really nice bottles.

The first I got, and have been planning on getting for a while, is Bruno Fazzolari Feu Secret (30 ml). Parfum1 had it with a 20% discount.  It's really nice, although the last time I wore it it kind of reminded me of Flowerbomb, although they really don't share notes.

This is the least nicest bottle. Bruno Fazzolari has thankfully changed the sprayers on these and they work much better than they used to.

I got Jean Patou Chaldée (100 ml).  I had no idea what this would smell like but I really like it and will probably get a lot of wear out of it.  Doesn't smell too feminine to my nose, though it's marketed that way. Gorgeous bottle.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

Next, I got Cartier L'Envol (100 ml). The bottle is really nice and original, if fragile. Kinda reminds me of a giant Vitamin E capsule. I'll probably never use it enough to get a refill, though. I bought this blind based on the honey. It's nice, but not great. Fine for summer.

Last, I got UNUM Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto (100 ml). I was excited to get this, as I had a sample which I was wearing the hell out of.  Definitely worth getting.  The bottle itself is not so spectacular, but the cap has the whole cossack thing going.

The material used reminds me of the material used on a Dishonest John puppet my sister had when we were growing up. Mine does't fall so nicely as the photo of the bottle.  I'm trying to play with it to make it look nicer, though.

Eau des Merveilles

I got a small (1 oz.) bottle of Hermès Eau des Merveilles.  I like Ralf Schwieger pretty much, and was curious.  I have good results usually with Hermès.

I dont know why, but I was expecting this to be sweet.  Not even.  It's rather nice, dry: citrus and the sea. Interestingly, Bruno Fazzolari's horror movie homage, Room 237, smells nearly identical, although the listed notes are very different.  Hmmmmm.....  (EDIT:  I asked my building manager if she thought they smelled the same.  She preferred Room 237 and said it was more feminine and sweeter. Eau des Merveilles smelled masculine to her. )

I also got a bottle of Claude Montana, Montana Black Edition, which was very cheap, and smells it.

I also got a rather large (150 ml) bottle of Bvlgari Eau Parfumée au Thé Bleu, which is not nearly as nice as the Thé Rouge, which has been discontinued.

Suweeeeet

Parfum1 has been having deals of 20% off lately.  I was thinking of getting Serge Lutens L'Incendiare, but unwilling to even shell out the $400 plus needed to do that.  I was interested in a recent Montale:  Honey Aoud. Trebor at Scent for Thought gave it a good review (he is kind of a Montale expert and pretty unforgiving about what he likes and does not like). Gaia at The Non-Blonde also reviewed it positively.  So I ordered it.

It's nice, if sweet.  Cinnamon, but not any oud from what I can tell. Also, the drydown is a bit powdery.  Still, there seems to be a recent trend for honey/oud scents (see also Floris Honey Oud and Vilhelm Parfumerie The Oud Affair -- this last I've tried and, again, while nice, not a lotta oud.  As if I would know the real thing.). Anyway, I like this, in my continued honey hunt.

Bruno Fazzolari teamed up with Antonio Gardoni of Bogue Profumo to issue a limited edition of an alleged perfumer game of The Exquisite Corpse called, appropriately enough, Cadavre Exquis. Only 99 bottles were issued worldwide. Well, I've got one of 'em.

Again, very sweet.  Well it's supposed to be a gourmand. It comes in a plastic ziplock bag of sorts, along with some candies-- including a Mary Jane! -- and a booklet. It's kind of how I imagined Prada Candy to smell (I have no idea).

These might be rough summer wearing.

Au Delà ー Narcisse des Montagnes

On 22 March, I received an email from Bruno Fazzolari announcing the availability of 50 bottles of Au Delà ー Narcisse des Montagnes once more.  I immediately ordered one.  It arrived on 26 March, and languished in my building's office manager's office until yesterday, when I was finally able to retrieve it. As we speak, there are only four left for sale. Allegedly, this will be the last time Fazzolari will offer the perfume "in this formulation", whatever that means.

I had meant to get a bottle last time it was available (last fall), but dithered around so much until they were all gone.

Anyway, it's beautiful and I'm glad I got it.

Perfume and Film

In a recent post by Ça Fleure Bon, Pam Barr has a review of Bruno Fazzolari's new fragrance, Seyrig. In it, she cites Mr. Fazzolari as saying the "cinematic inspiration" for the scent was Faye Dunaway from the late '60s to early '70s.  I find this surprising, since I had figured it referred to Delphine Seyrig.

Similarly, when Serge Lutens released La Réligieuse, the first thing that popped into my head was Anna Karina in Jacques Rivette's film of Diderot's novel (not a happy tale). Reviews I have read have not made this connection.   The Sound of Music and Sister Bertrille have been mentioned, though. Perfume Shrine does discuss Diderot, and perhaps French reviews have as well.

Anyway, just wondering if the connections I made are legit.

EDIT.  I guess a newer film version of La Réligieuse came out in 2013, starring Isabelle Huppert.




Delphine Seyrig photo from Edward Copeland's Tangents.
Anna Karina photo from piclist.com. 

Spend! Spend! Spend!

I really need to get my credit cards paid off, so what do I do? Buy some perfume!

I got a bottle of Ex Idolo's Thirty-Three.

I'm kinda sorta disappointed.  I don't smell the oud at all, just roses. I'll give it more time.

I also got Bruno Fazzolari Lampblack, which is, in a word, amazing.

Luckyscent gave me some other Bruno Fazzolari samples, which I am eager to try given how much I really love this one.





Thirty-Three photo from Fragrantica
Lampblack photo from Brunofazzolari.com