Brisk and Happy: Wood Sage and Sea Salt by Jo Malone

Had you told me I was going to like this scent, I would have guffawed. I actually smelled it about a month ago on paper and really did not think much of it. In fact I would have not given it a second thought had I not read other's reviews of it saying you have to try it on the skin because on paper it is lackluster.

So what makes Wood Sage and Sea Salt by Jo Malone so enjoyable, for me it is the buchu note. The first time I encountered buchu was LUSH's Ponche body wash and what buchu provides is a bright citrus black current hybrid of a scent, but thankfully no cat urine note. In Wood Sage and Sea Salt buchu makes a play between a salty mountainous coast and black currents. For me it is the best type of coast line rugged and full of forests and crashing waves. There is nothing tropical about this scent but it does evoke the ocean. There is a salty tangy thing going on that is rather addictive. I will say I do not smell any sage, in fact nothing particularly herbal about it. What it is though is salt laced berries on a coast line. One major problem though with this scent is the longevity is close to nil, you will have to mad spritz to get it to stay a little, and at its price point that is a big problem.

Try if you like: L'Artisan Mure et Musc, LUSH Ponche products, and Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Nil.

image from: Stefan Irvine/ImageBrief.com

Floating in a Dark Rose Heaven: Jo Malone Velvet Rose & Oud

I fluctuate between favorite notes, they guide me to perfumes, sometimes I will find something completely different to adore, but there are those notes that always grab our attention when mentioned in perfume. Mine are: ylang ylang almond, vanilla, tobacco, rose, orange blossom, osmanthus, loukhoum, raspberry/blackberry, fig, and cinnamon. Of late I have been on a rose quest, the type of rose quest that has been down the path of gourmand roses. I have always tended to like the juicy jammy rose scents, the ones that make you want to bite down onto rose petals. I had never fully gone down the road until last year when I purchased a LUSH Rose Jam Bubbleroon and suddenly all I wanted was gourmand roses.

One of the great finds of this never ending gourmand rose quest is Jo Malone's Velvet Rose & Oud, it happened rather accidentally I was trying to smell Jo Malone's Rose Water & Vanilla but could not so randomly decided to try this and I was blown away when I suddenly smelled one of the most delicious jammy rose liquors on the scent strip. I was rather dumbstruck as I stood in the mall smelling the sort of rose scent I was looking for and in of all places at the Jo Malone booth. Jo Malone and I style wise had never met in the perfume catagory, always something was off when I tried one of her scents, although I had admired them on friends.

Velvet Rose & Oud is mainly about perfect dark jammy rose liquor the scent is then supported by a very mellow oud that thankfully is not medicinal. The praline acts to add sweetness but I can really not distinguish it in the scent, I think it more of as a gentle melder, depending on the day every once in awhile I will get a peak of the spiced clove. The quality it makes me think of like being surrounded in a forest with lush red roses and perfectly velvety night, it reminds me of those strange warm autumn nights when the leaves are changing, there is the smell of change in the air, and yet the chill has not arrived. It is seductive but there is no heavy animalic notes, it is easy to wear because it makes the wearer comfortable in its plush smoothness but elegant in the obvious quality of the rose.

Try if you like: Keiko Mecheri Attar de Roses, LUSH Rose Jam, Caron Parfum Sacre, Parfums Generale Brulure de Roses, and Yves Rocher Rose Absolue.

images from: http://purplehandsss.tumblr.com/post/40261682536 and http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/77/4d/97/774d97f429f0bac273531e8acf612e2f.jpg

I swear I do this too often..a return?

Oh perfume blog land suddenly I want to return. Go figure, or maybe I should say this is all the roses fault, the fault being of LUSH's Rose Jam scent that has suddenly made me go down the rabbit hole of rose grails specifically jammy rose searches. The best find so far being Jo Malone's Velvet Rose & Oud, which was a shocker for me. Jo Malone and I have never really met in the chemistry department (the orange blossom one becoming jasmine indolic on me, the pomegranate noir spiced patchouli, and the red rose one very green and stemmy) until a random spritz of VR&O and it was heavenly rose liquor. So lovely and exotic but very amiable in the just smells gorgeous department but then because perfume lovers are absurd you suddenly have that quest of wanting to smell all of those edible roses. Am I back? Probably for a time.

The Mall Report: Chanel, Prada, Jo Malone, and Marchesa or what I really remember

So every once in awhile I have an extra long lunch break so I like to traipse over to the local mall and check out the latest fragrance offerings in the area.

First up Jo Malone's Blackberry and Bay which was not particularily very blackberry or bay, more citrussy than anything, which was disappointing because I love both of those things.

Then the big bad fruitchouli or as they are calling it over at Chanel, Coco Noir, sigh what an utter disappointment, the bottle is gorgeous, the name alone demands something good, but sadly this is a giant fruitchouli with some serious tenacity. Just no thank you.

Marchesa's Parfum D'Extase, big giant white floral, with possible headache inducing qualities, although touted as "fresh" and "different" I only smelled this on a card, and immediately knew it was not for I.

Prada Infusion d'Iris Absolue, this is pretty, very nice, not sure I need it with by bottle of Prada Candy still on the fuller side, as most have said imagine Infusion d'Iris mixed with Candy and you would have something like this but with a richer animalic dry down.

Tomorrow No6 by Naoko Stoop