Scentzilla!

Four Scents by Compagnia Delle Indie:

Compagina Delle Indie is an Italian company which amongst other things, also offers its own fragrance line. I have tried four of them.

Of the four I’ve smelled, my favorite is their I Ragazzi Della Compagnia Delle Indie Donna, or just “Donna” for short. Guessing at the meaning of the name, I’d say it’s colloquially approximate to us saying “the gang,” or “boys club,” in English. It literally means in Italian “The Boys of the India Company,” referring presumably to the to Venice’s past industry of ship building, merchant, and sailor employment for the British West India Company. Please, if you are well versed in Italian, do point out where I may be perceiving this incorrectly (or correctly, too - I’d love to know that I might have guessed it okay!)

Donna’s notes seem delicate, nearly freshly crushed. There’s a marine note which isn’t strongly “marine” at all, and in fact quite light and even just a bit soapy - smells exactly like the John Freida Kelp Help conditioner I adore. At the heart of this is a floral-woody aroma. The floral bouquet is not one I can personallly tear apart by notes - it’s just a flowery bundle that seems composed of many different flowers. They are soft, slightly sweet, like flowers justthisclose to wilting, but not over the top. This has little-to-no throw, but I have gotten more compliments and questions about what I’m wearing from men and women alike after a goodbye hug. This fragrance provides a particularly fantastic summer scent for me. It’s feminine, romantic, and completely refreshes and soothes me while being perfect for day wear, yet pretty enough to spray on at night. I’d particularly recommend Donna for social occasions where you want to wear something special, but nothing that would conceivably offend others around you. (This layers fantastically with the Benefit Touch Me… cream, by the way.) The bottle is nice, shaped like a flag fluttering in the wind turned vertical. It’s a nice complimentary match to the company name. I love it, and I feel a little self-conscious in proclaiming that, because I know of no one else who shares the unadulterated adoration for it that I possess, but… well, I happen to love it, and there’s nothing to be done for it. I racked my brain for an image it reminds me of, but all I can come up with instead is Betchadupa’s song Life Will Be the Same. The slow careful tread of it creeps up on my brain, and when I listen, I only dimly realize that I’ve slowed down my thinking in order to absorb it. The quietness it belies sounds deceptively suble, but melodic and undeniably beautiful (click below to listen to a clip):

Another scent is their Sandalo. GAWD is it AWFUL. Really. You know the guy at the bar, who seems nice enough at first glance, but then you realize after you’ve said hello back to him and entirely too late that he is REALLY CREEPY, and you can’t get rid of him? And how you can say you are married/have a boyfriend and it doesn’t mattter to him, because “Hey, where are you going? Come talk to me!” GAH! Sandalo is the fragrance THAT GUY wears. You know the type. We all know the type. (There is an exact female equivalent, she just smells different.) No one should wear this. Ever. Unless you are THAT GUY, in which case, please continue wearing it, because it makes it easier to spot you in a crowd. It’s a totally cheap and inconsequential sandalwood-ish scent, which while not terrible, smells mostly of a pronounced “ugh, grease-coiffed weirdo-loser” character.

Then there is their Colonia, which I feel is not bad for the price, but nothing I’d go out of my way to buy. My friend Marlen had the occasion to remark it seemed “chalky” to him once, and now I can’t get that word out of my head when I want to describe it. If it makes any difference, I kind of like its chalkiness, but he did not seem so keen on it at the time. A soft mix of citrus draws over the chalk, with only the teensy-weensiest bit of musk at the base. It’s quite light, and I think I’m going to keep it in the refrigerator as a refresher scent when the hot waves of July and August come rolling in this summer.

Finally, there is Patchouly. I think for a while I really underestimated it. While I still feel that it’s nothing major, I have come to appreciate it. Obviously patchouli is the predominate note, but it’s done in a very light, almost golden manner, with soft traces of citrus, lavender, and an earthy chord at the base that reminds me, of all things, Cumming. There’s something rather peat-like and slightly leathery upon the dry down on my skin that I can’t even deny I don’t like. Not a bad scent, and in all honesty, kind of a bargain for the price if you shop for it at the discount etailers.

Contest:

So, speaking of Patchouly, I somehow have acquired an extra bottle. I do not know how this happened. Frankly, it’s embarassing that I have a big enough collection that any repeats would escape my attention. Yet there it is, uselessly staring at me. I don’t need two bottles of it for crying out loud! I don’t! And so… a contest. This contest is open to anyone in the United States (so sorry to my non-American readers, I want to keep shipping cost down!) who leaves a comment under this post only, by 3 PM Pacific Standard Time on Sunday. Winners will be announced and notified by Monday 6 PM Pacific Standard Time. Basically, leave a comment for this post, and you will be entered in the contest, but… please let me know you would like to be eligible for the drawing by either typing or copying and pasting the following text:

“I would like to enter the drawing - please contact me via the email address I have provided when making this post if I have won.”

Sorry to be so anal, but I feel super weird contacting anybody with those email addys I make you fill out (it’s to avoid spam comments, and really I am sorry about that, too) without your explicit permission! Those who do not copy and paste the text above will not be disqualified, but I sure would appeciate it. Either way, just let me know if you want to try to win it.

I *think* I can make quick 15 second movies with my craptastic digital camera, so I will try to “film” me drawing the winning comment poster’s email out a fishbowl if I can. I gotta go play with the thing first and make sure though.

Books You Ought to Read:

The Chemistry of Fragrances, compiled by David Pybus and Charles Sell ought to be considered manditory reading for any perfume enthusiast. While I cannot pretend to understand the more technical aspects of the book that delve into specific molecules and scientific explanations, there is much for anyone novice or trained to take away from reading it. For example, after reading this, I finally feel like I have a decent handle on what headspace technology really involves. The brief essay on the history of perfumery is invaluable knowledge. I… you know? There is just so much in this 250+ page book that I can’t really list it all. If you buy any one book on perfumery, even if you are not scientifically minded, this is the best one I’ve encountered on the subject. Period. I can’t think of a single one I’ve found that’s as easily readable and informative. The price is a little shocking to a certain extent - fifty bucks for a paperback. Worth it. I promise. ISBN# 0854045287

Another excellent book that found its way to me is Kodo: The Way of Incense with Other, also by David Pybus. While the descriptions and history of the incense tradition were excellent, and deeply fascinating, I have to admit I most appreciated the section towards the end listing excellent, truly excellent, descriptions of the various raw and natural materials used for incense the most. Kodo is a most concise and well written book, and it can currently be had for a virtual steal at Powell’s Books. ISBN# 0804832862

One More Thing:

Lastly, while not perfume related, in my dreamhouse I want THIS for my perfume collection. (Link via 50Books.)

*The song “Life Will Be the Same” is off Betchadupa’s album Alphabetchadupa, which is currently available in the States as an import only, and can be ordered via Tower Records or Amazon. You can also listen to more by Betchadupa by going directly to their site, or by dropping in on their MySpace account.

I stumbled across this photo on Flickr, and cannot stop giggling. It’s an eau de toilette for dogs, which is not the funny part. When you see it, you’ll understand. (Photo by Flickr member voux)

And not quite as funny, but still amusing, please check out this display for one gift shop’s perfume. (Photo by Flickr member Datsun Z)

L’Artisan’s L’Eau d’Ambre is perhaps one of the easiest amber themed fragrances to wear. It’s clean for an amber, almost soapy even, with vanilla tucked into the amber for a softening but not sugary effect. Light green touches, presumably from geranium listed on L’Artisan’s site, provide a delicate impression of spice. Something about its sophisticated simplicity speaks of elegance to me. L’Eau d’Ambre feels light but not unsubstantial, which makes it a great choice for oriental fragrance lovers in the spring. I think it fares rather well in the warming weather of the season.

Molinard’s Les Scenteurs Ambre would seem upon a glance of the notes to be heavy, with opoponax, vanilla, musk, and patchouli at the base of the scent. However, the top citrus and lavender notes keep the composition bright and refreshing. The aroma itself falls deeply into the darker elements while never turning thick and overpowering. I even wore this fragrance during the dog days of August and it worked remarkably for me. In fact, it works better for me the warmer the weather is - I don’t even care for this one in winter! The staying power, even with these notes that usually stick to me like glue, is not great, however the bottle is well sized for frequent reapplication, and it’s not unreasonably priced for that.

I Profumi di Firenze’s Ambra del Nepal demonstrates how something quite basic in concept can attain greatness when it’s done flawlessly. Ambra del Nepal is a concoction of vanilla and amber that carries as effortlessly on the skin as a dandelion seed in the breeze. I am frequently told by those who catch a whiff of my sillage that they smell cedar, too. Staying power for any of the IPdF’s I’ve tried is not long, sadly, but this one is better than their others. I adore it, and even people who normally shy away from amber perfumes have found themselves falling in love with this fragrance when I insisted they needed to try it on. If you only try one amber out of these three, this is the one to spoil your nose rotten with. It’s worth every last penny.

These are just a few of the ambers I thought of that would be appropriate for the warm days of spring, and I am sure there are a ton of others. Please, if you will, share some of your favorite amber or oriental fragrances for the season!

Wickle is a small business out of the UK selling a range of adorable items, from greeting cards to toiletries. Their designs touch upon old-fashioned patterns, but with modern sensibilities that, and I have to repeat myself here, are completely adorable, such as those in the collage at left. (I wish they offered some of those card designs on baby doll tees!) Wickle also carries a line of eau de parfums, two of which bored me, and two of which delighted me.

Let’s get the two I didn’t personally care for out of the way first: Muskmallow and Periwinkle. Muskmallow, aside from bearing a really great name for a scent, is not something I’d choose normally for myself. It’s a perfectly pleasant and unremarkable tea rose scent that is not particularly musky at all. Very tastefully done, but I don’t find it anything special. Periwinkle has an equally fun name, and is a bright hyancinth based scent. While I think this one might hold appeal for folks who want to find a long lasting hyancinth scent, I’m not sure this is a scent that I couldn’t just stumble across in any old drugstore’s toiletry section amongst the soaps and powders.

Scented Tea Leaf smells on me like the way a glass of sun tea with lemon slices tastes - refreshing! I am dying to try it out later this summer when the temperature climbs too high for anything complex. The scent has no off-notes, it’s only a simple truthful tea fragrance in there. Those who like complexities in their tea themed perfumes won’t be too impressed, but I know there’s a ton of you guys who are looking for a unfussy straight ahead tea perfume and this nicely fits the bill on that count.

The scent I was most looking forward to, and the one I did indeed enjoy the most was their Chestnut & Vetiver. It smells of toasty roasty nuts, with the vetiver adding a touch of dark shadows to the base. Ahhhh. It’s delicious. I will definitely be repurchasing this one once my minature bottle is depleted. It sounds really simple, and it is, which to me is neither here nor there since the scent works for me. I don’t own anything else like it in my collection, so it was a happy discovery for me. I’m disappointed to see no candle version of it available on the website right now, but I’m glad to at least have found the eau de parfum.

All the scents are slightly strong, and all have excellent staying power, though the Periwinkle does most notably (it’s an apply once and it lasts all day scent.) If you wish to try all the scents at once, navigate to the “Gifts” section, where you will find a small set of all four Wickle offerings in roll-on bottles. Or extremely reasonably priced minis of the scents can be purchased as well, without having to worry about committing to a full size bottle without having tried it first. I found their customer service to be excellent, and the charge for shipping from the UK to the US seemed perfectly reasonable to me. Their payment system is via Paypal, so if you don’t already have a Paypal account you will need to start one (don’t worry, it takes only a few minutes and they are reliable.)

Image is a collage of a few of Wickle’s excellent designs! My thanks to Annie at Blogdorf Goodman who brought this company to my attention, which she in turn found via the wonderful Oh Joy!. You can find Wickle by either clicking the hyperlink at the top of the post, or by typing http://ticklemywickle.com/ into your browser window.

Hermès’ newest fragrance, Terre d’Hermès, is categorized for men, but I would like to dismiss that notion right off the bat. Like so many of the best fragrances, assigning gender seems a superflous gesture. Socially and culturally, the industry and conusmers feel compelled to segregate perfume enjoyment, but I find genderization a triviality assigned out of easy habit rather than a naturally arising fact. Terre d’Hermès works beautifully on the skin, period, be you male or female. Keeping strict guard over social rules of little consequence are for people who have some small corner inside that is fearful of the world and fearful of judgement.

In trying to describe it, a line from the Crowded House song “Nails in My Feet,” keeps popping into my head. “Your skin is like water on a burning beach.” Terre d’Hermès manges to be refreshing while giving nothing away but woody and sandy dryness, and yes, even smoke is intoned at the very bottom of it all.

Atlas cedar forms its centerpiece. The outdoorsy rush that atlas cedar feeds into the composition pulls my mind to Andy Tauer’s L’Air du Désert Marocain. However, where L’Air allusively takes me back into cherished memory, Terre suggests that now is the best and only moment. Yet there’s no frothy urgency to it - the calm suggestion is spoken in an even and clear voice.

This sort of relaxed strength speaks to me of a particular sort of dignity, the sort that for me is personalized by one of my favorite (and unequivocally one of the greatest) actors, William Powell. The type of roles he played could vary, but he never played his parts stupid, even if his character was a less than ideal person. The crisp clarity of his voice, the sharp timing, and a gameness for play with which he’d imbue his characters was, of course, most notably brought to life in the form of Nick Charles from The Thin Man series. Even when Nick Charles was drunk (Powell in real life rarely drank alcohol) Powell never let his character slip away from him into some cheesy caricature. The character was always himself, and had dignity as a person, even while silly and intoxicated. Watch his performance and then compare it to the “drunks” you generally see on TV and in movies from any time period. Mastering moments like that, when the temptation to devolve into a hot buttered mess is omnipresent, impresses me with his confidence as an actor.

Terre d’Hermès impressess me with Jean Claude Ellena’s mastery and confidence as a perfumer. It would be easy to decorate the scent with a little flourish of this, and wee dab of that, but he holds back. The scent is pared down to a smartly fashioned core, and that which is distracting and extraneous to the message does not get used. In short, go seek it out.

Notes include (via WWD as transcribed by Basenotes member cedriceccentric):

woody notes, including Atlas cedar, grapefruit, effervescent orange, gunflint, silex, pepper, baies roses, geranium leaves, patchouli, vetiver and balm of benzoin.

Note: A big THANK YOU to Patty, for being so thoughtful and sharing this scent with me!

Scentzilla! scored a mention in the NY Times. The NY freaking Times. I can’t tell you how tickled I was to discover that today! It sounds cheesy but that just made my day, and I’ve been wearing a perma-grin since this morning as a result. That is TOO neat!

There’s also an online article if you can’t see the picture from my crudly camera.

I also want to say congrats to my blogging e-migas at Blogdorf Goodman and beauty addict.

The trick with trying describe Shalimar is that ultimately the only thing Shalimar smells like is Shalimar. Released back in 1925, Jacques Guerlain’s creation remains modern and unique, even to this day. The notes include bergamot, lemon, orris, jasmine, opopanax, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla, musk, sandalwood, castoerum and ambergris. If I were really forced to sum up its character, I’d say it was like gazing into vanilla through smoke-streaked glass.

There are a number of concentrations available, and I heartily recommmend that if you purchase any of those to seek out the older bottles instead of the newer ones, since use of the smooth bottles seems to be tied to when a more recent change in formulation occured.

My favorite concentrations lie at extreme opposites, the strongest and weakest versions, which I like layered and individually. The parfum is the superior form of Shalimar. The notes in the parfum curl around each other edgelessly, smoothly wrapping the wearer in its charms. I also enjoy the body mist, a light spray that wears as a bit buttery, and I like wearing it most by itself in summer, though layering it over the parfum is delicious during the colder seasons. I must admit that I cannot really carry off any of the concentrations at all - Shalimar is a poor fit for me. But I do enjoy it, and wear it anyhow.

The eau de parfum would probably be considered the closest approximation to the parfum, however I feel like it’s rougher in texture. The notes are slightly jagged in comparison to the gliding ease of the parfum. But, if the parfum is far too far out of your budget, I think the eau de parfum should prove to be the next best thing for most people. Sadly for me, the eau de parfum wears intensely WRONG on my skin, as I get a distinct and overbearing motor oil note from it. But this is not something everyone experiences, so don’t let that scare you off.

The eau de cologne and eau de toilette are versions that unfortunately escape my understanding. They seem Shalimar-esque rather than like Shalimar itself. The eau de cologne strikes me as comparatively brackish, though on some folks this wears as slightly leathery, so perhaps therein lies the appeal. The eau de toilette seems unbalanced to me, with an undue emphasis on the citrus notes, specifically the bergamot to start with. The dry down does retain an almost creamy lemon and vanillic aroma, but the overall life of the edt is shallow and thin.

If you’ve only vague memories of Shalimar, or have never really given it study, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of perfume history. There is nothing else like it, and you will be glad you took the time to sniff.

Image top by Frederick Sommer: Samothrace, smoke on glass negative, second state, 1964. Second image of Shalimar from 99perfume.com.

EDIT: Sorry about the technical difficulites - I’m having an image problem - so to speak.

Inspired by March and Patty, I thought it was nigh on time to reacquaint myself with some fragrance selections from the drugstore. Also, I’m a secret fiend for Target (Bulk toilet paper! On sale! Whoo!), so it was as good of an excuse as any to go wandering through their aisles.

The first thing I did was take a peek at the Sonia Kashuk sections, because it’s a favorite low end cosmetic brand, and I wanted to see if they had anything new.

The only thing that had changed was that the Sonia Kashuk No. 3 Freesia appears to have been dropped from the line, or at least it was at my Target. Not a heartbreaker. The Freesia was nice but pointless, and smelled like any old no-name freesia body spray. Good-bye and good riddance.

The No. 2 Tuberose was still there, however, which surprised me, since it’s awful. It’s so candy-ass sweet you hold your jaw protectively against tooth decay.

No. 4 Bergamot Waterlotus is a scent that just will not work on me, but I can see how it might hold interest for others. It’s certainly the most complex of any of the Kashuk scents, though not particularly complicated. Bergamot Waterlotus smells mostly of its eponymous notes, with a sweet touch of orange juice. The reason it doesn’t work on me lies in the fact that I also get an unwanted “someone needs to go over to Grandma’s house and clean her refrigerator for her” note, and I can only guess this must be a musk note gone astray. It’s rather unfortunate. The home spray version of the scent does differ a little from the cologne and eau de toilette, but the gist of it carries through, and I think would be an inexpensive pleasure for those sick of the other room sprays found at the drugstore, like the noxious Glades, et al.

My favorite from the line is No. 1 Gardenia. A pepper shaker briefly passes by this cool green gardenia, lending it just a touch of spice without overwhelming the balance of the fragrance. I particularly enjoy wearing Gardenia during the evenings in the dog days of summer. This is the only Kashuk scent that not only have I bought before, but I’ve repurchased it because it’s such a cheap treat.

My eyes travelled down the aisle and landed on something labelled simply Skin Musk, by Parfums de Coeur/Prince Matchabelli. The cologne seemed downright corrosive, and whoever it is who is still buying this stuff, PLEASE STOP. The oil verison of it was not quite so acidic, but I still smelled a weird little corner in that wasn’t pleasing me. This can’t really be a drugstore favorite can it? My mind is reeling if so.

The scent I really intended to seek out, having asked for it for a Christmas stocking stuffer but not receiving, was Coty’s Exclamation.Of perfumer Sophia Grojsman’s many scents, Exclamation is the one that means the most to me personally. I loved this scent when I was a young teen. Adored it. Yet I hadn’t revisited it in years and years and years. Luckily I spotted a set of four different 1/3 oz. bottles of various Coty scents on clearance for ten bucks. Into the cart it went so I could try them out at home. Exclamation was precisely how I’d remembered it. Soft sweet powdery musk fell over my skin, wrapping me in a warm nostalgiac blanket. (Note to self: never, ever, run out of Exclamation.) Put aside any old memories of it being a chokingly harsh fragrance - that was not the fault of the scent, but the fault of young girls overeagerly applying it with the same lack of economy they applied eyeliner in middle school. With tasteful application, Exclaimation wears as a sexy comfort scent appropriate for all ages.

In the coffret I also received Shania, released by Coty’s subdivision Stetson. You know how when you go to the dentist’s office, and while waiting you pick up a magazine to leaf through from the coffee table? And how inevitably folks have already pulled open all of the adhesive scent strips? That’s Shania. It smells like a stale two week old magazine. There’s no real notes. It’s just… whatever. Shania won’t offend anyone by virtue of the fact that no one will remember what you wore.

Then there was Rimmel London London Glam. It smells like stripper. Which I say only because I’ve had friends who were strippers, and I am telling you it is precisely the sort of scent they would choose because this kind of thin composition smells pleasant when you’re sweaty and grinding the dollars out of marks (aka customers.) It’s mostly a watery freesia, not unlike a body spray, but only watery-er. The only other note I could detect was “fruit.” I don’t know what kind of fruit, since it’s not distinct. It’s “fruit.” It reminds me in a way of a less tenacious Paris Hilton Just Me, minus the woody base.

Finally we come to the fourth scent in the coffret, Jovan Pink Musk. What a lovely surprise. Pink Musk is composed with a surprisingly accurate peony note, and while no masterpiece, I have come to enjoy it the more I wear it. If you’re seeking for a nice scent for under ten dollars, this is where I’d start looking. Fresh and spring-like, the floral notes spread across a delicate musk, with subtle green grass shoots sprouting underneath. Pink Musk should not be overlooked as an enjoyable scent to wear by casual perfume consumers or my fellow perfume-nuts.

No review today - but I thought it might be fun to share an old ad. For those who think this celebrity fragrance thing is getting out of hand, just remember all the laughs we’ll have over it later, like with this one. Swing!

Jimmy Belasco was the brain behind Er’go Candles, a line featuring a lovely range of fragrance choices. Er’go appears to have been discontinued in favor of his newest line, the eponymous Jimmy Belasco Soy Candles.

Both lines feature simple glass containers and uncolored wax. “I don’t want to decorate someone’s home,” Belasco says. “That’s why I’ve never added color. I don’t want to match someone’s sofa or their drapes. I really want to be what is fragrancing the home.” (via CNN article.)

Food grade soy wax is used in his hand poured candles. Reportedly, he once decided to prove this fact by eating chicken fried in the wax, and served it to his friends and family as well. Yikes. I have no reason to doubt that happened, but the idea of candle eating sends a small shiver down my spine. A couple of months ago I watched a documentary about the siege layed upon Londonderry by James II. The siege lasted 105 days, and amongst other brutalities of war suffered by the townfolk, a blockade induced starvation was so severe that they took to eating their candles. So basically, the eating of candle wax really doesn’t spell out quality to me, but rather keen desperation. And probably for you too, now that I’ve mentioned it.

Absinthe is reputedly his most popular item, and I can see why. I need say right up front that it does not at all smell of absinthe: there is not even a smidge of anise to be found. (I was hoping for one.) However, once I got over my disappointment, I found I enjoyed the delicate aroma the candle spreads through the air. Absinthe features a blend of lime peel, patchouli, amber, lavender and sandalwood, and the initial impression I always get of it is that somehow he’d managed to take half the aroma of linden blossoms and fuse it to half the aroma of bubbly lime water to make a whole. As it burns on for a several more minutes the more tenacious notes of patchouli and wood begin to appear and fill out the more tender notes.

This is one of those candles that do not fill a room until they are lit, and they do indeed burn VERY cleanly and well. After roughly 30/45 minutes I put the lid on the glass and let the flame extinguish, since that’s all it takes to really fill my living room, the hallway and the kitchen usually. The throw of scent from this candle is wonderful. Yet this fragrance is not something I’d call strong - it never overwhelms. I’d feel very comfortable giving Absinthe as a gift even for someone whose taste I might not understand too well. I’m sure it must be a bit of a crowd pleaser.

There’s a list of online retailers (but no brick and mortar yet, and I hope that list will be added soon) on the official site. I can personally vouch for Nooks and Niches. I ordered a few different candles for them, and thought the shipping charge was very reasonable considering how heavy a bunch of candles in glass jars can get. As a bonus they threw in a lovely little drawstring pouch filled with a few samples of products from some of the other lines they carry, which was a nice surprise. I should also mention that it appears they have a nice clearance discount on Er’go candles, too.