Category: Fragrance Reviews

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Costume National Homme Fragrance Review (Mainstream Monday)

costume-national-homme
* Starts with a spicy citrus burst of orange and grapefruit, covered with cinnamon, and sharpened with a touch of cedar.

* With those top notes it feels surprisingly dense – this isn’t a cologne-style citrus, but a cloud that surrounds you.

* The citrus gets sweeter as an earthy patchouli comes in.

* That incredibly dense feel of the top continues and actually starts to make the scent feel a bit muddled.

* Luckily, when the base comes in it gets a lot better. The amber woods with a touch of sweetness and booze are really nice and almost makes the scent worth wearing.

Summary: When I first got this scent, I absolutely loved it. I am guessing over the past few years my tastes have changed. I tried to figure out the right word to describe it and I came across Victoria’s description on EauMG when she called it milky. That’s exactly it. It’s not that I don’t like like milky scents (I love Join the Club Shun Koin) – but just like orange juice is great with cereal and milk – the idea of mixing milk and orange juice together in one drink is disgusting. That’s how it reads on my skin. I haven’t worn this in a while and will probably sell my bottle. I guess I need to go back and revisit CN Scent Intense as well. A lot of people really like CN Homme and it’s worth testing – especially as a designer scent that is unique. It is really long lasting (more than 12 hours) with strong projection – not office friendly and more for nighttime.

Other Opinions

EauMG
Sorcery of Scent
Pere de Pierre
United Style

Fragrant Moments

Costume National Homme is available from Lucky Scent.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed, I own a full bottle. Image courtesy of Lucky Scent.

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Tom Ford Private Blends Oud Fleur Fragrance Review

* Sweet yet subtle flowers – not really muted but not as vivaciously strong as you would expect

* Then after 5 minutes – it blooms – a lush garden of dirty jasmine and spicy carnations.

* Next comes a sweet rose that is both powdery sweet and fruity/jammy.    

* At one point it seemed to have morphed into a fruity floral with a bit of a kick.

* During this portion, if you sniff really closely there is a hint of oud behind the rose.  Not overbearing, it kind of just levels out the sweetness.

* The flowers fade away for a base that is a soft mix of light leather, woods, and amber.

Summary:   Fleur oud is confusing.  It makes me think again of the infamous “chess for girls” sketch from Saturday Night Live, but it goes both ways.  A few times when I wore this, it felt like it could be a safe “non-oud” oud for women who didn’t want a skanky, dirty oud scent. Other times I wore it, it seemed like a floral fragrance that a guy could wear without feeling too girly.  Either way, this is one that definitely needs to be skin-tested several times to get the full story of how it works on your skin.   Projection is strong for the first hour, but after it calms down it would be safe for office wear.  Longevity is excellent for an EDP, lasting over ten hours.   Together with Tobacco Oud, these two scents restore my faith in the Tom Ford Private Blend line.  This is the line that first got me into niche perfumes a few years back.  The past few collections (Musks, Atelier D’Orient, and Jardin Noir) made me feel like the brand had lost their way but these two oud scents make me think that the line is ready for a comeback.

Other opinions:

Perfume Possee
Kafkaesque
The Candy Perfume Boy
The Scentrist
Ca Fleure Bon
Persolaise
Man Loves Cologne
Katie Chutzpah

Tom Ford Private Blend fragrances are available at Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

Disclaimer: Sample provided by sales associate for review. Image courtesy of Neiman Marcus.tom-ford-private-blend-oud-fleur-nordstrom

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Bond I Love NY for Holidays Fragrance Review

bond-no-9-i-love-ny-for-holidays* Fruity kick for the intro with berries, plum, and a sweet citrus.

* The berries stick around and are joined by a melange of florals.

* Just as we say fruit salad for a generic, indistinct jumble of fruit smells – ‘melange of florals’ would be my polite way of saying floral salad.

* The florals last for a couple of hours before fading a bit.

* The base is described as vanilla gelato and sensual musk.  Let’s skip the fancy talk and just say the base is vanilla and amber with a light musk in the mix.

Summary:  I haven’t been that impressed with the recent Bond No 9 fragrances (Parfumista Ave and NY musk) but for some reason the I Love NY scents seem to work better on me (and are at a cheaper price point).  I don’t get the holidays from this scent but that is not necessarily a bad thing – because if it was pine, cinnamon and fruitcake – the scent would be TOO specific to be worn for the holidays.  As it is, it doesn’t stand out from many of the designer fruity floral scents that dominate department store scents, but since it’s at a similar price point, has the iconic I Love NY logo on the bottle, and says “holidays” – it makes an obvious gift for anyone on your holiday list.  The compliment I want to pay it is that it is inoffensive and universal – but that sounds backhanded,  which isn’t my intention.  Longevity is good for an EDP, lasting about 8 hours on my skin before it turns into a subtle skin scent.

Other opinions:

Ca Fleure Bon
Man Loves Cologne
GoodSmellas

Bond I Love NY for the Holidays is available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks 5th Avenue and the Bond No 9 Website.

Disclaimer: Sample provided by department store. Picture courtesy of Sephora.

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Custo Barcelona Man Fragrance Review (MAINSTREAM MONDAY)

custo-barcelona-man
* Begins with a sweet, but not too sweet, mix of citrus and light floral.

* It’s like a sweetened Tom Ford Neroli Portofino on top, but projects stronger.

* Then it gets really interesting.  The orange blossom comes in with a strong, animalic musk and changes it from sweet and clean to dirty- almost to the point of slutty.

* The change comes as a surprise – maybe one hour into wear.

* Sfter a while, the musk retreats.  The base is again a surprisingly strong amber vanilla mix that lasts a long time.

Summary:  Custo Barcelona is a Spanish designer that I fell in love around 2006 because of their vibrant patterns and colors. The scent matches that exactly.  It is bold and brash but doesn’t go all the way to being obnoxious.  It is not an office-friendly fragrance, but would work for a night out fragrance, especially for someone who is not afraid of wearing bold clothing that gets them noticed.  Actually, this would work well for someone who wears neutral or black clothing but wants an accessory that will make them stand out.  Anyone in your proximity will notice you.  I am guessing they called it an EDT because it’s for guys, since the longevity is more like an EDP- lasting more than 10 hours on my skin. It’s also interesting to note that this fragrance was made by Francis Kurkdjian.

Custo Barcelona Man is available from the Custo Barcelona website.

Bottle purchased by me so no disclaimer needed. Image courtesy of Fragrantica.

Fragrance Reviews – Page 8 – Notable Scents

Category: Fragrance Reviews

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Costume National Homme Fragrance Review (Mainstream Monday)

costume-national-homme
* Starts with a spicy citrus burst of orange and grapefruit, covered with cinnamon, and sharpened with a touch of cedar.

* With those top notes it feels surprisingly dense – this isn’t a cologne-style citrus, but a cloud that surrounds you.

* The citrus gets sweeter as an earthy patchouli comes in.

* That incredibly dense feel of the top continues and actually starts to make the scent feel a bit muddled.

* Luckily, when the base comes in it gets a lot better. The amber woods with a touch of sweetness and booze are really nice and almost makes the scent worth wearing.

Summary: When I first got this scent, I absolutely loved it. I am guessing over the past few years my tastes have changed. I tried to figure out the right word to describe it and I came across Victoria’s description on EauMG when she called it milky. That’s exactly it. It’s not that I don’t like like milky scents (I love Join the Club Shun Koin) – but just like orange juice is great with cereal and milk – the idea of mixing milk and orange juice together in one drink is disgusting. That’s how it reads on my skin. I haven’t worn this in a while and will probably sell my bottle. I guess I need to go back and revisit CN Scent Intense as well. A lot of people really like CN Homme and it’s worth testing – especially as a designer scent that is unique. It is really long lasting (more than 12 hours) with strong projection – not office friendly and more for nighttime.

Other Opinions

EauMG
Sorcery of Scent
Pere de Pierre
United Style

Fragrant Moments

Costume National Homme is available from Lucky Scent.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed, I own a full bottle. Image courtesy of Lucky Scent.

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Tom Ford Private Blends Oud Fleur Fragrance Review

* Sweet yet subtle flowers – not really muted but not as vivaciously strong as you would expect

* Then after 5 minutes – it blooms – a lush garden of dirty jasmine and spicy carnations.

* Next comes a sweet rose that is both powdery sweet and fruity/jammy.    

* At one point it seemed to have morphed into a fruity floral with a bit of a kick.

* During this portion, if you sniff really closely there is a hint of oud behind the rose.  Not overbearing, it kind of just levels out the sweetness.

* The flowers fade away for a base that is a soft mix of light leather, woods, and amber.

Summary:   Fleur oud is confusing.  It makes me think again of the infamous “chess for girls” sketch from Saturday Night Live, but it goes both ways.  A few times when I wore this, it felt like it could be a safe “non-oud” oud for women who didn’t want a skanky, dirty oud scent. Other times I wore it, it seemed like a floral fragrance that a guy could wear without feeling too girly.  Either way, this is one that definitely needs to be skin-tested several times to get the full story of how it works on your skin.   Projection is strong for the first hour, but after it calms down it would be safe for office wear.  Longevity is excellent for an EDP, lasting over ten hours.   Together with Tobacco Oud, these two scents restore my faith in the Tom Ford Private Blend line.  This is the line that first got me into niche perfumes a few years back.  The past few collections (Musks, Atelier D’Orient, and Jardin Noir) made me feel like the brand had lost their way but these two oud scents make me think that the line is ready for a comeback.

Other opinions:

Perfume Possee
Kafkaesque
The Candy Perfume Boy
The Scentrist
Ca Fleure Bon
Persolaise
Man Loves Cologne
Katie Chutzpah

Tom Ford Private Blend fragrances are available at Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

Disclaimer: Sample provided by sales associate for review. Image courtesy of Neiman Marcus.tom-ford-private-blend-oud-fleur-nordstrom

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Bond I Love NY for Holidays Fragrance Review

bond-no-9-i-love-ny-for-holidays* Fruity kick for the intro with berries, plum, and a sweet citrus.

* The berries stick around and are joined by a melange of florals.

* Just as we say fruit salad for a generic, indistinct jumble of fruit smells – ‘melange of florals’ would be my polite way of saying floral salad.

* The florals last for a couple of hours before fading a bit.

* The base is described as vanilla gelato and sensual musk.  Let’s skip the fancy talk and just say the base is vanilla and amber with a light musk in the mix.

Summary:  I haven’t been that impressed with the recent Bond No 9 fragrances (Parfumista Ave and NY musk) but for some reason the I Love NY scents seem to work better on me (and are at a cheaper price point).  I don’t get the holidays from this scent but that is not necessarily a bad thing – because if it was pine, cinnamon and fruitcake – the scent would be TOO specific to be worn for the holidays.  As it is, it doesn’t stand out from many of the designer fruity floral scents that dominate department store scents, but since it’s at a similar price point, has the iconic I Love NY logo on the bottle, and says “holidays” – it makes an obvious gift for anyone on your holiday list.  The compliment I want to pay it is that it is inoffensive and universal – but that sounds backhanded,  which isn’t my intention.  Longevity is good for an EDP, lasting about 8 hours on my skin before it turns into a subtle skin scent.

Other opinions:

Ca Fleure Bon
Man Loves Cologne
GoodSmellas

Bond I Love NY for the Holidays is available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks 5th Avenue and the Bond No 9 Website.

Disclaimer: Sample provided by department store. Picture courtesy of Sephora.

Categories
Fragrance Reviews

Custo Barcelona Man Fragrance Review (MAINSTREAM MONDAY)

custo-barcelona-man
* Begins with a sweet, but not too sweet, mix of citrus and light floral.

* It’s like a sweetened Tom Ford Neroli Portofino on top, but projects stronger.

* Then it gets really interesting.  The orange blossom comes in with a strong, animalic musk and changes it from sweet and clean to dirty- almost to the point of slutty.

* The change comes as a surprise – maybe one hour into wear.

* Sfter a while, the musk retreats.  The base is again a surprisingly strong amber vanilla mix that lasts a long time.

Summary:  Custo Barcelona is a Spanish designer that I fell in love around 2006 because of their vibrant patterns and colors. The scent matches that exactly.  It is bold and brash but doesn’t go all the way to being obnoxious.  It is not an office-friendly fragrance, but would work for a night out fragrance, especially for someone who is not afraid of wearing bold clothing that gets them noticed.  Actually, this would work well for someone who wears neutral or black clothing but wants an accessory that will make them stand out.  Anyone in your proximity will notice you.  I am guessing they called it an EDT because it’s for guys, since the longevity is more like an EDP- lasting more than 10 hours on my skin. It’s also interesting to note that this fragrance was made by Francis Kurkdjian.

Custo Barcelona Man is available from the Custo Barcelona website.

Bottle purchased by me so no disclaimer needed. Image courtesy of Fragrantica.