Black Tea Fougere: Eau de Gaga 001 by Lady Gaga

I wouldn't have picked up this perfume except for Victoria over at eaumg.net giving it an incredibly positive review and she was correct in her enthusiasm for the scent.

I could start this review with the usual discussion of how most celebrity fragrances leave much to be desired but honestly it is well covered territory and I'm not adding anything new to the discussion.

So lets get to the scent, for an absurdly low price, you can get what I am going to call a black tea fougere, well that is how Eau de Gaga reads on my skin, and lots of people get the tea note. Frankly, as so many reviewers point this scent smells far more classy and expensive than it should. The word that comes to my mind every time I smell Eau de Gaga is "dapper", this scent is dapper, it's tasteful, fun, and wonderfully androgynous. At times leaning more towards the masculine but then reigning it in enough that the feminine comes out. It is actually rather mercurial on me sometimes the black tea note is the most strong other times the violet steps forward but it always ends up smelling like ambergris leather musk on me. That may sound heavy but in no way is it.

What I find myself respecting the most about this scent is the musk. It's not a laundry detergent white musk, which feels practically unheard of these days at the mass market fragrance counter. It is a warm clean animalic musk that does not suggest I have recently been to the dry cleaner, it's not screechy, rather it is caressing, like skin still damp with water after a bath.

So who thought a bizarrely tasteful and thoughtful scent would come from Lady Gaga? I didn't, but I am wonderfully surprised.

Try if you like Jicky by Guerlain, Gris Clair by Serge Lutens, or Dorian by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

First image from fragrantica.com
Second Image Jiwoon Pak www.kaifineart.com

Enter the King's Forest: Konig by Yosh

I grew up with wood smoke, mountains, and wilderness. In the winter our coats smelled of wood smoke and for me that is the ultimate evocation of the colder seasons.  If you can also evoke the scent of damp chilly woods even better.

The books I loved the most when I was younger were fantasies with heavy fairy tale/ folk lore elements. I adored the dark primal qualities they had with hints of the sinister and the mystical. These qualities I am describing are not easily found in perfumes. Perfumes usually go with other story lines, the uber-sensual taking up most conversation, yet if you enter the sphere of indie/niche perfumes you find that sometimes a perfumer goes down less known path.

Konig by Yosh is a perfume that goes down a different path. It is a scent that evokes the images of forests at the cusp of before turning into winter. The cold rains of Autumn have come already, there is barely a bedraggled leaf on a tree and only the oldest overly ripe moldering fruit is left on the branch. There are mists at the edge of each day. Yosh has created the dark fairy tale country in Konig.

 The scent begins with the lightest note of  Autumn, a beautiful fleeting apple note. From there the perpetual scent of smoke, woods, and leather enter.  Here I am reminded of lapsang souchong tea that has been mixed with cold woods. As the wood smoke calms down on the skin what emerges is the tangy note of vetiver, it smooths out the leather and smoke. Yosh creates perfect balancing act with the use of vetiver, it keeps the leather and smoke smooth and reigned in. Eventually the evergreen notes of the scent are allowed to emerge, they are natural and subtle. Konig is a wearable dark fairy tale.

Try Yosh's Konig if you like Ormonde Jayne Woman, Guerlain's Vetiver, or Knize Ten.

image Greg Shield

Lavender and a Leather Jacket: Lavande Ombree by Au Pays de la Fleur d'Oranger.

Lavender has far more frequently within the world of perfume been a note used most often in men's perfumes than in women's perfumes, while many would argue, including myself that you should wear whatever catches your fancy from whatever gender related department of perfumes, the reality is still that designers and perfumers will put lavender in a men's perfume more frequently. Rarely though does a lavender scent for either gender enter the somewhat sexy smelling devil may care category of perfume yet Lavande Ombree by Au Pays de la Fleur d'Oranger does.

When I smell Lavande Ombree I have this immediate idea that this is what lavender would be if it was a biker, there is a prominent leather note entwined with the lavender, and it is not some sweet suede leather note, nope this that black leather jacket leather note. The leather is pungent but the lavender does not hold back either. As the scent progresses a strong raspy cinnamon and cedar enter and I am reminded of the classic and discontinued original Fendi by Fendi that powerhouse of a scent that was basically incense that decided it wanted to be a 1980's diva.  Lavande Ombree is a forward scent, it takes the idea of lavender as a dandy note, and decides to make it rugged and slightly dangerous. As the scent dries down it softens a bit the lavender less the leader but the cedar and leather remaining accented by musk and a hint of sweet amber to meld into the skin. Overall I can't help but respect that this scent is unabashedly not about sweet, nice, or smooth.

Give it a sniff if you like Knize Ten by Knize, Jolie Madam by Balmain, or Cuir Mauresque by Serge Lutens.

image: Sarah Esteje

Velvet Thorned Rose: L'Arte di Gucci

Somehow in my years of perfume swapping I got a decant of L'Arte di Gucci and since then I have hoarded it, so much so, that I forgot how beautiful it is. L'Arte di Gucci belongs in a special category for me, the category of a chypre that works for me.

L'Arte di Gucci begins with a sweet warm inky rose that is accented with notes of plum. Once again I am entranced by another night rose scent. This is very much a lady of the night scent, what it ends up reminding the most of though is dark plum raw satin, the silky rose is roughened with a hint of moss and leather.  It's funny that this scent is considered a big scent of the 80s because at this point after going through a decade of nuclear fruitchoulis this scent is rather mysterious and playing on a lower octave than the bombastic scents of now. As the dry down comes along notes of vetiver, coriander, musk, and a very light patchouli come through. Yet, this scent for me is never overbearing the rose smooths out the rough edges of chypres for me and the dark elegance remains.

In my head this scent is an Anjelica Huston woman, someone with these gorgeous prominent features, yet patrician qualities.

Try if you like: Agent Provocateur, Jo Malone Velvet Rose & Oud, Rochas Femme, Coriandre.

image from: http://www.moviemoviesite.com/Awards/us_academy_awards/58th.htm

SOTD: Osmanthus Interdite

Working on a sunday is never fun, but I have too, and next sunday. So rather going with my usual relaxing scents (really sundays should be spent relaxing around the kitchen table), I have instead opted for the more up-beat Osmanthus Interdite. I imagine this leathery tart floral would go wonderfully with Japanese Kitsune aka the fox woman; a mythological figure I have always been fascinated by.

Quote of the Day: The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.-- George F. Will


And now for a magical video, A&E by Goldfrapp:


Image provided by http://www.treadwaygallery.com/ONLINECATALOGS/March2004/0051-0100.html

Image: The Fox Woman by Bertha Lum

video uploaded by MuteChannel

SOTD: Osmanthe Yunnan

So I finally got my order decants from Fishbone (by the way she is awesome). I ordered a decant of Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan unsniffed she reduced the price heavily and I could not pass it up (this is also my first Hermes from the special collection). So this is an interesting take on osmanthus, starts off with the smoky tea note that definately has an anamalic musk note going through it. Enter the freesia and orange which when intertwined give this fragrance a hint of pine, and finally the lovely osmanthus in all its leather apricot glory. This is a bit of a smoke and mirrors fragrance with its opening. Interesting I have some Peet's Osmanthus Yunnan tea and well I am going to have to get that out.

Music: Never The Same by Supreme Beings of Leisure (oh how I love pandora)

Quote of the Day: I'm too shy to express my sexual needs except over the phone to people I don't know. -- Garry Shandling

image provided by artnet.com

image: Jeune Fille au Turban Orange by Tamara de Lempicka

SOTD: Parfum d'Empire's Osmanthus Interdite, a leathery osmanthus

Continuing the Osmanthus theme is Parfum d'Empire's Osmanthus Interdite aka Forbidden Osmanthus, if Keiko Mecheri's Fleurs d'Osmanthus is the tropical gentle variation of osmanthus, then Osmanthus Interdite is the more forward and strangely tom boyish cousin. Osmanthus Interdite works with the pronounced tang and leather of osmanthus, it juxtaposes a citrusy zingy apricot note with a strangely lactic leather note. There is a masculine edge to it, but at the same time it evokes the perfect presence of a summer dress with the note of citrus and apricot, it is a leather and fruit scent that does not go into chypre territory, but rather straddles the fruity and leather families. I would almost say this is a naughty scent, but because it is so forward there is nothing naughty about it, for it is obvious. It is a the perfect peachy cream colored summer dress belted with with black leather and paired with black stilettos. For those looking for an animalic fruity leather scent that does not go into hiney territory this is for you, strangely kinky and charming.

image provided by http://www.gallery-ef.com/e07.htm

Eternal Spring by Adam Booth 2006

SOTD: KM Fleurs d'Osmanthus and Osmanthus Green Tea

There are three florals that I am truly attracted too: rose, orange blossom, and osmanthus. Otherwise as many know my fragrance love is more in the category of incense, gourmands, and spices with the occasional fruit. Osmanthus is a floral chameleon in the sense that it is not really a floral scent but a melange of other scents resulting in a scent that is heady, fruity, creamy, tart, and shockingly leatherly. It has been described as the combination of apricot, orange blossom, and leather. It truly holds my attention though at the apricot note. There is one fruit scent I truly love and sadly apricot is a scent few perfumes ever get right (in fact I have yet to find one, the best rendition of apricot being Burt's Bees Apricot Baby Oil). My first meeting with osmanthus came in the form of Keiko Mecheri's Fleurs d'Osmanthus, this scent is a tropical take on osmanthus, upping the creamy part of osmanthus with the addition of tuberose, still as the fragrance dries down the zing of green apricot cream comes forward, it enchants you. It still holds a place in my heart and remains one of the most easy going florals out there. Although, it does bear some resemblance to Serge Luten's Datura Noir, I would say that two migrate in different directions with the dry down, Datura Noir becoming sweeter with a rasp and Fleurs d'Osmanthus taking on a tang and gentleness. Fleurs d'Osmanthus is a lovely gentle enticing scent, that is striking but never overbearing.

Another way to enjoy the the scent of osmanthus and far more traditional way is through tea. This may be the best way of smelling the true scent of osmanthus without having to find an osmanthus bush. Today I am drinking a blend of osmanthus and green tea. The fruity apricot leather note coming out perfectly. I suggest for those of us who are not lovers of jasmine green tea but want to enjoy a scented floral that you seek out an osmanthus scented tea.

image provided by artnet.com

Spring by Irma Kusiani

Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania

To put it simply Vivienne Westwood does not release scents that are easy on the nose, then again neither is the clothing that she designs. Up front Boudoir was unwearable for me, quite frankly it smelled like a woman's sex, and putting that on, well... Being female I really don't need too. Still I couldn't help but admire the audacity of her making a scent that very much had the scent of a woman's ladyparts running through it and all of its blatant glory. As for Libertine I can't say anything on it as I have never smelled it. But then Anglomania (and yes the name leaves much to be wanted) came out and I had the chance to try it and the chance to buy it at a ridiculously low price at TJ Maxx. It is a powdery rose, old fashioned, and by old fashioned I do not mean prim and proper, but the old fashioned scent of the 40's, 30's, and 20's which designed for women usually knock out modern men's fragrance in there sexual audacity and weight. For under the lovely powdery cardamom spiced rose is a hint of leather and a definite hint of skank and a nice bit of tobacco. The image that came to my mind was the incredible lush womanly dark Dita Von Teese who plays with bygone era glamour and sexual kink with a dash of theatrics and sense of humor. The scent is modern but the attitude behind Anglomania is nostalgic kink with humor.
Official Notes to Anglomania:
Top notes: Green Tea, Cardamom, Coriander
Middle notes: Rose otto, Nutmeg, Violet
Bottom notes: Vanilla, Amber, Leather

Recommended: To those that like Fifi Chachnil, wanted to love Habanita or like Habanita, and want something that has something a little classic and dirty.

Facts: Dita Von Teese does wear a classic fragrance-Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant, a scent created in the 1800's and first to not be a soliflore.