Olfactics

  • Misia by Chanel

    Misia is an evocation of the stage underneath ballet dancer’s careful and feather-like feet. Misia too moves gracefully like a ballet dancer, with its oscillations between each movement perfectly and carefully fine tuned. When smelled, I am taken back to picturesque fantasies replaying in my head like pretty little vignettes.…

  • Musc Ravageur for Frederic Malle

    For me, Musc Ravageur is a fragrance that presents a lot of bark and unfortunately very little bite. Perhaps more relevantly, Musc Rav. failed to deliver the high standard I expected due to the ravings in the perfume community. Firstly, the implications of the term ‘Ravageur’ places the perfume, its…

  • Poivre Samarcande by Hermes

    Put simply, Poivre Samarcande takes an age old feature of mellow woods and tickles it in a way that bends it in a playful direction. Take the typical masculine wood note, energise it with spice, and then round it with an aromatic pungency. Poivre Samarcande curves around itself closely, wafting…

  • A Moment with Andy Tauer (Tauer & Tauerville)

    A Moment with Andy Tauer (Tauer & Tauerville)

    You can’t help but to just adore Andy Tauer. I will admit I am relatively new to his works, that is, I’ve only just moved beyond the stunningly beautiful L’Air Du Desert Marocain onto his other great works. Incense Rose is my current favourite! Andy is cordial and convivial – always. In a…

  • Le Plus Beau Jour de Ma Vie by Guerlain

    Le Plus Beau Jour de Ma Vie by Guerlain comes to me in stages – possibly one of the more dramatic perfumes in term of progression from some of the later Guerlain repertoire. Weddings are on Guerlain’s mind, and perhaps the brilliant purity of white too. This is a ‘white’ scent…

  • Cuir by Mona di Orio

    Mona di Orio’s Cuir for me is a throwback to violent leathers. Here in this fragrance, the leather and its accompaniments are intelligently violent, sticking true to the brand’s collection: Les Nombres d’Or, or the golden number. Cuir lives a foreign life of near spite and carnage. It provokes sternly as…

  • Rose Flash by Tauerville

    Andy Tauer makes perfume magical. He makes it a wonderful exercise. On smelling and wearing Rose Flash, I am instantly transported to an image of Mr. Tauer in a purple frock and an eccentric bowtie. Andy Tauer, of course, is an indie perfumer, but he stands alone as an individual adding…

  • Vol de Nuit (EdT) by Guerlain

    There is no way I can accurately grasp Guerlain’s  Vol de Nuit, probably ever. I had been stuck in the drafting stage for this elegant 1933 creation for about two weeks before I felt confidant enough to start something. Considering my troubles, I expressed incredulity to the ravings of this…

  • Etat Libre d’Orange – First Impressions

    Etat Libre d’Orange – First Impressions

    This post originally planned on being a Facebook post. Realising how fun this was, I shifted to a blog post. Enjoy! Today is Etat Libre d’Orange testing day. No official #SOTD really, just a bit of this and a bit of that. I will start by stating that these names…

  • Eau D’Hermès by Hermès

    Eau D’Hermès by Hermès

    “You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty.” (Cecil Baxter) The concept of cleanliness rings very true to the concept of perfumery.  Smell is arresting and surrendering, openly intimate without a strong sense of control. One smells often simply because they breathe, and because of this, perfume has become such…