Coming clean with myself

I realized yesterday that I dislike Bond No. 9 Chinatown.  This is after years of thinking I loved it and that it was among Bond’s best offerings.  Oddly, I still think it’s a neat perfume on others, and I still think it’s among Bond’s bests, but on me it reeks of waxy crayons.  I picture red and purple crayons.  Melted.

This got me thinking about all the other perfumes I've professed my love for when in fact I’ve finally admitted to myself I dislike.  The “admittance to myself” is the key point.  I haven’t gone around pretending to like these perfumes for anyone elses' sake but my own.  I talked myself into liking them.  Many for years.  I’m unsure why.  I’m not the type of person who routinely pretends to enjoy perfumes she doesn’t.   I don’t think I’ve ever pretended I like Chanel No. 5 or Apres L’Ondee; because I’ve known from the start I would never wear either.  I also don’t think this is a case of my taste changing over time.  My taste has changed over time.  I’m experiencing a period right now where I dislike almost all of my ambery perfumes; everything ambery smells musty to me.  But this is a sudden change, and I think (hope) it’s temporary.  There are plenty of fragrances I’ve disliked over the years, but these aren’t the ones I forced myself to like, thinking that I truly liked them.

In addition to Chinatown, here are a few more I’m finally admitting I just don’t like:

Guerlain Shalimar.  Oh, I’m sure I’ve said I love Shalimar a hundred times.  I even wrote a post about how great it is on this blog.  But you know what?  I think it smells like vomit.  On me at least.  And I don’t like it. 

Histoires de Parfums Tubereuse 3 L’Animale: is another one I think smells waxy and also fatty.  I hate it.  This is beginning to feel cathartic.

Hermes Caleche:  Caleche’s sharp aldehydes shriek at such a high pitch on me it almost always gives me a headache.   I’ve worn an entire bottle in my lifetime.  No more.

Serge Lutens Chergui:  another one I’ve worn an entire bottle’s worth and sung its praises.  It’s been awhile now since I’ve worn it and there’s a reason for that; it makes me nauseous.  It’s too sweet and contains that honey note I don’t enjoy. 

So there, I’ve done it, I’ve listed five perfumes I’ve forced myself to like for a long time.  But I don’t like them, and I won’t wear them ever again.   Do you have any fragrances which you’ve openly said you liked, perhaps favorably reviewed or worn many times, only to finally admit to yourself that you just don’t like the stuff?

Histoires de Parfums: Tubereuse 3 L'Animale

After a few days of writing reviews for fragrances I found disappointing I decided to highlight one that I adore. I love the idea of Histoires de Parfums, and, as a line they’ve received some nice praise from the Turin/Sanchez camp but so far I haven’t been blown away by any HdP fragrances. Sure, I’ve liked a few, but none have been “oh my goodness I must have a bottle” love. I am quite curious to try the other 2 Tubereuse fragrances as well as Moulin Rouge, though.

But like any curious scent junkie I never give up on a line just because I so far haven’t fallen for one of their offerings, because case in point: Tubereuse L’Animale (TL’A) is full bottle love. Well, I should say “half bottle” love because Brian and I split one. I’ve put off writing about TL’A for quite some time because it’s an unusual scent and I wasn’t sure I could put words to it. After mulling it over, I can tell you that it reminds me of a few different perfumes in style. To give you a point of reference, but by no means am I suggesting TL’A smells similar to these perfumes, I find there to be a similar vibe with: Bond No. 9 Chinatown, Annick Goutal Sables, Bond No. 9 Success is a Job in New York and also Bond No. 9 Lexington Avenue. With these comparisons, you could generalize and call TL’A a floral oriental with gourmand leanings. Not edible gourmand leanings, but that sort of Chinatown/Sables gourmandishness. There’s a lot of depth and character in TL’A, and I imagine it could smell different on each individual, so if any of these ramblings intrigue you I encourage you to try it for yourself.

Tubereuse 3 L’Animale is listed as a floral leather with notes of kumquat, bergamot, neroli, plum, herbs, dry grasses, hay, jasmine, tuberose, blond tobacco, immortelle, woods and labdanum. I haven’t a clue what kumquat smells like but TL’A does have a fruity start that reminds me of figs. Really figgy figs – overripe figs that you must put on your cereal tomorrow morning otherwise they’ll go bad. Other notes that are prominent for me are the herbs, dry grasses, tobacco and immortelle. Obviously TL’A reminds me a little of Annick Goutal Sables because of the immortelle note. Sables is all about immortelle and TL’A sings an anthem to Immortelle Nation, too. If you don’t already know Sables or immortelle specifically it smells a bit like maple syrup. An herbal sort of maple syrup mixed with some myrrh. There is so much going on in TL’A that the word cornucopia often pops into my head when I’m wearing it. I don’t detect tuberose specifically here, but there is a strong floral element binding the composition together. It just isn’t a floral that I find identifiable or nature-specific.

As I mentioned, Brian and I split a bottle of Tubereuse L’Animale. In his first note to me after receiving his bottle he remarked that he loved the fact that the juice was green – swamp green, he said. I love that too, that the color of the jus is swampy, makes it seem like a magical elixir from the bayou. To me, TL’A is a fabulous swampy cornucopia – voodoo juice - and that’s actually meant as high praise.

Bond No 9 Lexington Avenue: A Review

Lexington Avenue is the third fragrance created by Bond No 9 in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation.

Judging by the first two and now the third in this series I’m not so sure Andy Warhol himself would like any of the fragrances that Bond No 9 has created in his namesake. I’m just guessing this because he was buried with a bottle of Estee Lauder Beautiful. If Andy Warhol loved Beautiful so much perhaps his tastes would lean towards Broadway Nite or Chelsea Flowers but I digress. The second fragrance in this series, Silver Factory, is one of my favorite Bond’s, so I was eager to try Lexington Avenue.

Lexington Avenue is so named because Andy Warhol lived in several apartments on Lexington Avenue, specifically in Murray Hill, in the early 1950’s. At this time Mr. Warhol was working as an illustrator at a shoe company called I. Miller. Hence the design on the bottle of seductive heels and boots. For lovers of perfume and shoes, the bottle alone might be something worth owning, it’s rather whimsical and charming.

Bond describes this scent as a floral woody chypre. Claude Dir is the perfumer and the list of notes are as follows: blue cypress, fennel, cardamom, pink peony, iris, crème brûlée, pimento berry, patchouli and sandalwood.

Yes, I too, was a bit perplexed by the list of notes. I couldn’t imagine what it would smell like. Especially with the crème brûlée note, I worried it would be a sickly sweet confection.

Lexington Avenue opens rather softly. I ended up applying quite a lot because I really wanted to be able to smell it ‘clearly.’ Turns out, it starts off quietly but in a matter of 10 minutes it began to warm up on my skin and become much more obvious. After about 30 minutes, I wasn’t completely able to describe the fragrance yet, and knew I needed to wait at least 3-4 hours to form an opinion but I already knew I LOVED it.

Overall it *is* a floral woody chypre with a twist. The cypress, fennel and cardamom are most noticeable in the beginning, with a slight “anise / licorice” scent and while it is a lovely start, this all morphs into the final gorgeously blended perfume which I can only describe as slightly reminiscent of Chinatown but much much better. Once dried down the sandalwood is apparent and it’s just altogether smooooooth. I think the crème brûlée note serves to add a creamy deliciousness, not overly sweet and not in the gourmand category in the least. This is a floral woody chypre just peeking through a keyhole into the gourmand category. I also get an overall impression of the spicy notes, the cypress, fennel, cardamom and pepper being draped over an evergreen forest. It’s a very calm, comforting and peaceful aroma. I imagine it being an absolute joy to wear in the crisp fall weather and most definitely in the winter. There is a ‘sweetness’ to Lexington Avenue, it is not a very dry spicy scent, but I would think that anyone who likes Chinatown and Nuits de Noho, really ought to try Lexington Avenue. I’m going out on a limb here, but in a way, Lexington Avenue reminds me of a very subdued, sophisticated, always decadent Aunt to Angel by Thierry Mugler. I am most definitely ordering myself a bottle and am so looking forward to the fall when I can start wearing this gorgeous fragrance.

Lasting power is average, on me, about 4-5 hours.

Sillage (aka scent trail) is small to medium, which means a person standing right next to you can probably smell it, but it doesn’t project more than it ought to.