Review: Chanel No.22 (1922)

Review: Chanel No.22 (1922)

Mum's refillable case from the 1980's

Chanel No.22 is one of my favourite scents, very "Chanel-esque" and super classy. It is also one my mother's signature scent, if No.5 is a mature classy lady - No.22 would be that same woman in her younger years. No.22 was composed by Ernest Beaux in the year 1922 for Mademoiselle Chanel, hence the name 22. Chanel herself adored the simplicity, clarity, and modernity of this scent. Beaux is the same man who composed some of most archetypal Chanel fragrances, No.5, Cuir De Russie, and Bois Des Iles.

Parfum Bottle

EDT Bottle

Presentation:

Currently No.22 is part of the Chanel Les Exclusifs line, available only at Chanel and Chanel cosmetic boutiques. Elegantly presented in Chanel's signature rectangular bottle with a magnetic cap, comes in 75ml or 200ml EDT. Pure parfum version also available in 15ml sizes. Refillable cases (Main picture above) and Eau de cologne version had been discontinued.

The Scent:

Serpent-like mist of Aldehyde

The scent it-self, in my opinion, is one of the finest aldehyde ever composed....Guerlain knows their vanilla and Chanel sure knows their aldehyde! Opens with a sparkling clean aldehyde top with faint pulses of powdery floral notes. Some may find this opening a little strong and "mature", I can tell you one thing....this doesn't make me picture a mature woman at all...I had always pictured No.22 as a "young woman's aldehyde". The opening is a little reminiscent of Estee Lauder's - White Linen and Robert Piguet's Baghari....but warmer with more vanilla.

Misty Garden - A.Sisley

Becomes less squaky clean and sharp about 30 minutes into the wearing as your body heat warms up the fragrance, it becomes the most elegantly immaculate interfusion of powdery flowers (ylang-ylang, jasmine, lily of the valley, neroli, and tuberose), vanilla and aldehydes I have ever smelt. A serpent-like mist of aldehyde slithers amongst a flower garden engulfing and smothering the scent out of each blossom of that she happens to glide pass and selfishly making it her own. Like a genie, No.22 is now captured in a bottle waiting for women who wants to be effortlessly noticed to release her slowly spray by spray. The mid and the dry down base stays quite linear and does not change much.

Deux femmes dans une loge, 1881-82

Here is a little review I wrote on fragrantica which I really love and will re-use here.....It pretty much sums up my perception of this scent. . . In a prestigious function hall filled with chaos and other glammed up women trying their best to draw the attention of rich gentlemen attending the costly event. No.22 is the polite and enigmatic young woman in the corner of the room dressed in a plain but classy beige Chanel dress, she the one that gets instantaneous attention without having to do a thing, or say a word....everyone notices her and wants to be up close to her. Gentlemen are drawn to her elegance, beauty and grace, other ladies with caked-up faces and over the top, avant-garde gowns gazed at her with jealousy... She doesn't even want attention but gets it effortlessly. Notice the men staring at the lady in white on the right side of the picture?

This scent is pure sophistication, a gentle and polite powdery aldehydic fragrance. It's soft....yet it has excellent silage and longevity. In EDT concentration, it lasts over 8 hours on my skin and for about a week on my clothes. Smells very unique and not very widely used these days, I can assure you will smell unique with this one. One of the scents from the Chanel Exclusifs line worthy of investing in!

Review: Signature Fragrances (Niche/Indie house)

Signature Fragrance:

After finally finishing my university exams, I am now back to reviewing! Today I will be reviewing some scents from the newly established niche/indie perfume house based in London - "Signature Fragrances". The owner and nose of the brand Solomon had been kind enough to send me some samples of his creation "Deja Vu", "Oud Memlaki", and "Woody Conjure". All these are perfume oils and are quite concentrated.

From the words stated on my sample, "Signature fragrances are hip, diverse, and tenaciously pungent. Our aim is to bring back purpose to perfume". I would say that the quality is definitely there, the scents lasts a good while on the skin and for weeks on your clothing. I might also add that the samples I had received are very Arabian inspired and has the middle eastern vibe to it.

You can contact Solomon on his website http://www.signaturefragrances.co.uk 
or directly on his Instagram account http://instagram.com/signaturefragrances

Fragrance Review:

Woody Conjure: 

This is probably my favourite scent out of the 3 received. Very calming and serene, I can detect a lot of oak moss, woods, incense and some flowers that I can't exactly identify accurately. There's not really any official notes list out for any of these scents yet, so I will try my best to accurately describe and guess the notes. This scent makes me imagine being in wood cabin inside a lush, green and damp forest. Inside the cabin there is a fireplace with an assortment of woods burning inside, especially pine wood, giving off the most wonderful smoky and woody aroma. Occasionally the essence of the  forest that you are in would sneak through the gaps between the wooden walls of the cabin. You lay there in front of the fireplace enjoying the unusual combination of both warm and smoky wood as well as the wintry pristine aroma of a misty green forest. Woody Conjure is definitely woody and highly recommended for wood lovers, such as myself!

Oud Memlaki:

What a tough name to pronounce...! Most of the time if you tried oud based fragrance before you would expect something deep, thick, and very cloying....well at least from my experience. Oud Memlaki is surprisingly clean smelling and not the typical rich,cloying oud fragrance that is out there. I do detect oud, not the typical sweet oud, but a medicinal band-aid type of oud, and some animalics. Very different from anything I have ever experienced before, a metallic, medicinal non-sweet oud with a gentle animalic undertone slithering about. Makes me imagine a hospital and the chemicals used to sterilize equipments...As you can tell I am not quite a fan of this one....yet.

Deja Vu:

Yummy! that's my first impression of this fragrance. A mouthwatering and delectable aggregation of treats we love chocolate, honey, coconut, jaffas, and caramel. This is so delicious, it's like being a kid and discovering the candy store for the first time ever in your life, you are basically captivated and mesmerized by the walls of sweets towering over your petite body, you honestly do not care if you die right there....THAT....is your "happy place", so happy your could die... Gourmand lovers, coconut lovers this one is for you, you will be guaranteed to crave desserts and sweets after sniffing this scent, I might even say that you might be tempted to lick your own wrists.....it just smells so realistic and absolutely delicious.

Guest Review By Lily : Imaginary Authors - L'orchidee Terrible (2012)

Imaginary Authors -  L'orchidee Terrible (2012):

Image from Lily's Instagram page linked below

This is a guest review by my wonderful friend and fellow fragrance lover who I met on Instagram, Lily. She regularly reviews fragrances on her Instagram account http://instagram.com/redlily10, please check it out and follow her, you can also contact her directly on there. When I first read her reviews I just though there are very insightful, detailed and should be shared to a wider range of audiences other than just a personal Instagram account, plus it is a great way for my readers to experience reviews other than my own (a change of wording and structure perhaps) + scents that I do not own nor yet thought of ever reviewing. Full credits to Lily for sharing her reviews here.

L'orchidee Terrible was released in 2012 by the niche perfume house "Imaginary Authors", it is an aldehydic floral fragrance with strong emphasis on aldehydes, musk and orchids. The nose behind this fragrance is Josh Meyer.

The name for starters is a juxtaposition in that when you think of an orchid the words delicate and fragile come to mind, certainly not terrible or awful. For me, this perfume is delicately formidable.
fine powdery, effervescent aldehyic, fresh musk and shear honey perfume. Normally aldehydes role in a perfume is as accents, generally in the top notes but with this fragrance they seem to have a more dominant role. An ostentatious orchid is the main inspiration of the scent, I find this perfume to be mostly linear, that is I don't positively identify a 'beginning and end' the notes stay consistent throughout.

Aldehydes, in my opinion, provide innocence and pure class to a perfume, as with Chanel No.5, I sense faultless finesse. L'orchidee Terrible is truly a tribute to the art of fine french perfumery. I also believe the satin note adds texture by inference so that you can 'feel' as well as smell the perfume story. The honey is there but doesn't detract from the orchid or aldehydes, the musk adds brightness and a soft feeling as well.

An original and unapologetic fragrance, recommended for wear when you want to appear to be a little vulnerable and slightly naive, although you are the complete opposite. I would agree that L'orchidee Terrible is unisex as the floral notes are synergistic with the musk and honey. I have already received several compliments with this perfume therefore I rate the sillage as great and considering this intense scent stayed on my skin from morning through to evening, the longevity is superb lasting 8+ hrs. Thank you again to @fragrancereviews for my sample, highly appreciated as this scent has been on my wants list for awhile now.

Review: Amouage Gold Pour Homme (1998)

Amouage - Gold Pour Homme (1998):

My bottle of Vintage Amouage Gold Pour Homme

As you may have notice I have not been writing as frequently lately, if you are a university student or are a parent to one you will understand that it is currently our exam study period. So I thought I'll write a review before I go off to exam study for a week or two. The scent I will be reviewing today is Gold Pour Homme by Amouage.

The house of Amouage a perfume house created by the sultan of Oman in 1983, by his Highness Sayyid Hamad bin Hamound al bu, who had a dream to restore the great Arabian art of perfumery to the region.

Guy Robert

Amouage perfumes are known to be luxurious, of very high quality, and with immense dosage of perfume oil concentrations in their creations, as well as the scary price tag that comes with it. Amouage utilizes traditional Middle Eastern ingredients in their perfumes, unusual to the Western world previously, such as agarwood (oud), incense, musk, spices, and colossal amounts of florals.



The first Amouage fragrance is Gold Pour Femme, the Pour Homme version that I am reviewing came 10 years after the female version. It was composed by Guy Robert, who had also worked for Dior, Rochas, and Hermes previously. This is a very unique scent with colossal amounts of animalics and foral notes with a woody base.

Presentation:

Current Presentation

Originally presented in a very luxurious, avant-garde and traditional Arabic styled bottle that looks some what like the handle of a dagger (see picture above). Now it is presented in a more conservative rectangular gold bottle with the same style of lid.

The imagery that I get from this scent overall would be an Arabic king, like the Sultan of Oman him self. An opulent and undiluted combination of dirty animalics and flamboyant florals, something that you would picture a powerful Arabian smelling like.

The Scent:

Initially looking at the liquid in the bottle, it is so thick!, doesn't even look like water/alcohol!, looks more like oil..... and this is the vintage EDT that I have here....you will never have to worry about the quality that you pay for when you buy Amouage.

Arabian Feast

Upon spraying I get an overload of musky floral notes which composed of a very dominant combination of rose hip and jasmine waltzing away, with lily of the valley in the background sitting by her self waiting for a partner. The animalics which includes civet and musk are not as strong here yet but can still be detected. Just imagine it as a celebratory feast inside a smoky room inside the palace of an Arabian sultan, smogs of warm musky incense swirled across the interior of the room along with the intense aura of florals radiating from the perfume of women entertaining the kings.

Musky Incense

Arabian Dancer

The animalic component radiating from the body heat of guests, dancers, the fur and leather trimmings from their elaborate costumers. Hundreds of spices and woods diffused their fumes, and joining the others scents in a great Arabian dance ball of aromas, an invisible party of their own, only observable through he nose.

About 45 minutes in, the scent doesn't change much except for the fact that it gets more animalic, the civet and musk really amplifies here. It just makes me imagine the dirty, sweaty female dancers of the party getting up close and personal next to the sultan, and of course he is enjoying it. Floral, musky and animalic, a very intensely unique combo.

Painting: Hans Zatzka

The perfume lasts on me over 10 hours, and even after a shower I can still smell the civet (pee like smell) on me. The scent pretty much doesn't evolve much from the mid notes, it just gets more and more animalic and less floral as time goes by. I am not sure about the modern version using synthetic animalics, if it will be this animalic or last this long or not. However mine is the vintage and I am sure that they still used real animal ingredients in this one.......one time while wearing this, I went to play with my neighbor's dog who is normally very friendly towards me, this time he growled at me..............So I figured...It must be the civet in the Amouage Gold on my wrists!

I would say this is not an every day scent, I rarely wear it, it's a special occasion scent for me especially for the price tag. If you do not like unorthodox scents, animialic scents, or very strong perfumes, I would not recommend this to you. This is a very very strong and unorthodox perfume, I might even attempt to say that it is more floral than your average male perfume and not every guy can pull this off. I love Amouage Gold Pour Homme very much and will definitely be buying more of their scents in the future, the quality is undeniable.

My Lucky Perfume/Scent: Robert Piguet - Bandit (1944)

Robert Piguet - Bandit (1944):

My lucky bottle of Bandit!

Germaine Cellier

Mid of last year I started to become very interested in the more "Classical" type of fragrances, such as No.19, Silences, Arpege, etc. . . and after doing my research and buying a few I stumbled upon Robert Piguet - Bandit. It has almost all of my favourite notes in it, oak moss, leather, aldehyde, galbanum, civet, jasmine, neroli, just to name a few. So I thought I definitely have to check this one out . . . and i'm so glad I did. I was fortunate enough to receive my bottle from my wonderful friend Dimitri, you can check out his amazing blog - http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com.au/ .

Bandit was composed by Germaine Cellier, a famous perfumer whose creation also included iconic scents such as Fracas, Vent Vert and Jolie Madame. It is a daring perfume released first in 1944 then discontinued around the 1970's, after 25 years in 1999 Bandit was released again...Thank god for that! It is considered the "most daring" in the whole like of perfumes for women with a strong and bold personality, those who dared to outrageously smoke in public with no shame....eg: Cuir De Russie and Tabac Blonde. Bandit was said to be inspired by romantic sea voyages and pirates.

Presentation:

Current bottle

Bandit is currently presented in a simplistic and completely black, rectangular glass bottle, a signature of the Robert Piguet line.
In the past it was presented in a rectangular glass bottle also however it was clear glass.

Lucky scent:

As you all might be wondering why I am calling Bandit my "lucky" perfume, I have a few stories to tell, I don't wear Bandit often but when I do I almost always seem to get lucky! The first day I received it I thought "Oh my god this scent smells SCARY and super strong", I didn't like it, but then eventually I fell in love with it, the dry down is divine. On my first ever wearing of this scent to work, I received a compliment straight away, something that I don't get very often!

Current Robert Piguet Collection

On  my second wearing to work at a restaurant again, I received a $20 tip!, In Australia, unlike over in the America, it is not expected of the customers to leave any tips. I wore Bandit for the third time for a job interview for a position of a very successful global company, I was feeling hopeless and a little bit depressed, having applied for 100+ other job ads and having been unsuccessful at their interviews. Surprisingly I got the position, and it was for the biggest company out of all the ones that I applied for.

The latest time that I wore Bandit was to my first shift of work at my new job (I cannot say where as it is in the company's policy), after such an amazing shift, I was sitting at the train station waiting for my train, just as I was thinking about money ......a $20 and a $5 bill waltzed passed my feet. I was the only one there and no owner was in sight, I wonder how it got there.
Maybe my "Bandit" stole it !

The Scent:

Bandit is a leather-chypre scent, with  notes of oak moss, leather, galbanum, civet, vetiver, and aldehydes, jasmine, neroli, and carnation.

Lost in the woods?

Black Panther

This scent opens with a very aggressive and threatening combo of leather, civet, aldehyde, vetiver and galbanum. Like you're lost in a lush verdant jungle, you can hear and smell starving predatory beings around you, terrifying howls from a distant, sweat poured down your body, hair on the back of your neck fully raised like a frightened cat. You tried to contain your self and tried not to breathe yet your heart raced, almost popping out of your chest. The leathery and animalic scent of the black panther waiting to pounce on you filled your nostrils along with the undergrowth of damp, green, and slightly floral aroma of the forest floor. Your teeth chattered in fear and your legs wobbled like jelly as you turned around slowly and spotted a pair of bright yellow eyes ferociously focused on you.

A different type of woodland

45 minutes into the wearing, Bandit turned more floral and powdery ,but still green, as leather, civet and vetiver settled down, and the florals (Jasmine, neroli, carnation) and aldehyde becomes more dominant. A whole different scenario to the opening, this is more of a peaceful forest, the one which you would imagine in Snow White, before the wicked queen came along. Flowers all around, trees growling freely in the damp soil protecting the foliage , woodland creatures that talks to you and understand you. No threat here!

Towards the end of this perfume's life, the scent does not evolve much from the serene floral-green mid except the animalics and leather notes becomes more noticeable as the florals fades slightly, now it is a beautiful and perfectly balanced concoction of animalics and flowers. Peaceful yet danger lurking deep within, floral and green yet there's animalic remnants down under.

She dares to smoke in public!

Fast becoming one of my favourite scent and I am actually craving it more than my signature...SO maybe this could potentially become a new signature for me. Lasts over 8 hours with strong silage, a true product of quality, highly recommended. What your pay for is the quality that you get, so don't be put off by the higher than average price tag. Bandit might also even being you luck, like it did for me!

Review : Chanel - Gardenia (1925)

Chanel - Gardenia (1925):

My mother's bottle of Gardenia bought in the U.S, 1980's

Ernest Beaux

Chanel Gardenia is a transparent white floral perfume with leading sheer notes of gardenia, tuburose, and jasmine. It was released in 1925, originally, and was re-released again in the 1980's as part of the Chanel Les Exclusifs line. Gardenia was composed by the legendary Ernest Beaux, whose creation also included some of Chanel's most iconic fragrances No.5, No.22, Cuir De Russie, and Bois Des Iles.

Camellia, a Chanel Emblem

Mademoiselle Chanel loved Camellias, one of her emblem, yet the Camellia has no scent. So the idea of this perfume came when Chanel saw that Gardenia resembles the appearance of Camellia but also has a sensual and well-defined aroma. Gardenia was traditionally used to scent tea in countries such as China and India, and also symbolizes harmony, love, sensuality, and grace.

Dried Gardenia Fruit used in Chinese Medicine

If you ever have a Gardenia tree in your garden you will notice how fragile it's blossoms are, even just a gentle touch from the human hand can bruise their plump velvety white petals. Countless attempts had been made to extract the natural essential oils of the Gardenia, however none had been successful. Chanel and Beaux created this scent using synthetic compounds, considered very modern and advanced in the 1920's, as well as natural oils of orange blossom, jasmine, and tuberose (Compounded together to resemble the scent of Gardenia).
 
The modern and vintage version of Gardenia can be considered quite similar due to the restrictions of raw materials hardly affecting the ingredients of this scent. I have both the vintage and modern Eau De Toilette and I can confirm that the differences are very subtle. Main difference would be longevity, vintage lasts a lot longer and also seems more concentrated (perhaps the reason for the yellow juice).

Presentation:

Parfum Version

Currently available as an Eau De Toilette (75ml & 200ml) and Parfum (15ml), as part of the boutique only Chanel Les Exclusifs line. Presented in the Chanel elongated bottle with a magnetic cap for the EDT, while the Parfum comes in a beautiful classic square Chanel bottle with a crystal dabber. The vintage version that I own comes in the regular elongated Chanel bottle with a screw cap.


The Scent:

Scorching day ahead.

First of all I would like to say that Chanel Gardenia is a very feminine scent, I find it super hard to imagine a man pulling this off. It opens with a very transparent and crystalline, crisp, clear, refreshing note of Gardenia. Imagine sitting on your porch on a scorching summer day, no clouds in the sky, not even a gentle breeze can be felt, the world seemed to have stood still. You are surrounded by shrubs of Gardenia, their aromas are uplifted by the heat, soon you are surrounded by the hazy and ghostly miasma of their essences. A beautiful smell indeed, very different from sniffing the Gardenia right from it's bloom, where it can get quite thick and nauseating.

Creamy, Velvety, Suede-like Gardenia

Within only 15 minutes the initial euphoria that you are experiencing from the opening notes becomes disrupted as it vanishes leaving behind .....well almost nothing. I have to really put my nose right up against my skin to smell anything now, and yet I still have a difficult time detecting the scent. The vintage version at this point still stayed strong and turns really creamy and delicious, with Coconut and Jasmine now exposing themselves from underneath a curtain of Gardenia. This is when you are now enjoying your morning tea, iced jasmine and gardenia tea, with coconut macarons. Creamy, delicious, and simply divine.

Chinese Gardenia Tea

I honestly cannot give a review on the closing of this fragrance except the fact that it gets more musky over time but still a transparent fragrance. The reason is, it never lasted long enough for me to test it out, it seems to disappear not long after the creamy mid.

It is a beautiful scent, especially if you like white flowers but find that most perfumes that are white florals are usually too strong for you. This would be the perfect choice. The longeivity and silage are quite poor, which is a shame for such an expensive perfume.

Would I buy it? No, I am sampling the modern EDT from a 4ml mini, while the vintage belongs to my mother. I find that for it's price it needs way better longevity and there are many other fragrances that smells similar that you can get for only a smell fraction of the cost of this one. Try Kim Kardasian by Kim Kardashian for example, or Elizabeth Arden's Gardenia.....both are similar yet costs WAY WAY less.

Review: Fidji by Guy Laroche (1966)

Fidji - Guy Laroche (1966):

My beautiful bottle of Fidji + flower from my garden :)

Today, I had the pleasure of finding this perfume at a chemist store I walked pass while in the city for an affordable price.....I grabbed it of course! Being only $45 while the cheapest 100ml on the internet was over $70 not including postage yet.

Ad of Fidji

Prior to that I have only smelt Fidji once, from my mum's old bottle that accidentally squirted into my mouth and left me with VERY flowery breath for hours. I also read about Fidji online and in perfume books having only heard good things about it, I am glad I finally get the chance to review it.

Fidji to me is a green-woody perfume with a powdery and mildly sweet floral undertone. The scent was composed by Josephine Catapano in 1966, the name Fidji stands for island country "Fiji", where one of the managers of Guy Laroche had a vacation, which was the main inspiration for this scent. Notably, this is the first ever and also one of the most successful fragrance that the house of Guy Laroche released.

Presentation/Imagery:

The Island of Fiji

Fidji, A far away, tropical, and pristine island, sun shining bright, you lay flat on the sand, relaxed as ever, as currents of warm sea breeze carrying scents of tropical woods and flowers surrounds you. Comes presented in a minimalistic, classy, and simple clear glass bottle with a black lid. The packaging had not been updated and remains the same since it's release.

The Scent:

Fijian Sunrise

Opens with a bright green combo, reminiscent of an island sun rise, the first fresh breath of air you inhale when you wake up that morning. It's that morning after landing from that exhausting and extremely long flight the night before. The new-found scenery is not what you are used to back home, where it's currently winter --- gloomy, dark, wet and freezing. You feel like you are in another dimension filled with happiness, endless horizon of oceans and cloudless sky, warm pristine air, and a sun that seems to shine on for eternity, "Fiji is indeed, heaven on Earth", you whispered. Galbanum, lemon and bergamot gives this perfume an intoxicatingly sparkling opening while hyacinth gives this fresh opening a deep, oily, floral tint.

Hyacinth, a dominant flower note. Painting: L.McCoy

About 35 minutes of wearing this perfume I began to be able to sniff out the heart notes. A spicy and warm floral compound of rose, jasmine, iris, ylang-ylang and some bitter oak moss in the back ground. Looks like it is now mid-day, the sun is scorching and right up in the sky, radiating it's warmth and joy to the world. Your morning island air has just gotten more radiantly hot.

A cheerful Sunset.

Towards the end of this perfume's life, about 7 hours, the scent gets woodier, as the floral essences fades and the warm woody base of sandalwood, amber, orris root, and clove take over. This is the type of feeling of warmth where you are comfortable as well. . . . Think of warm fireplaces and a comfy sofa, Christmas family gatherings , a feast maybe, just very warm and comfortable. Perhaps this is when you are sitting at a Fijian BBQ party, the sun is on it's way down but the beach is still as warm as ever. The scent of sizzling spices radiates deliciously in the air, mixing with the aroma of scented woods used to heat up the BBQ and the occasional whiffs of florals being carried by the wind that traveled through the woods nearby.

Sun rise, Sun set

I think it is fitting to compare this scent to the 3 stages of the sun - rise, noon, set, because the scent really does seem to behave in this fashion while I was wearing it. I think this classic perfume is very impressive. Lasts 7 hours + on my skin for an Eau de Toilette, green and refreshing as well as being woody and floral, perfect for all seasons. I also find that when my skin is warm (Summer perhaps), the florals - creamy jasmine in particular can be noticed a lot more easily and gives this scent an exotic and feminine touch. While when my skin is cold (As in Winter), the woodiness shines a bit more, giving this scent a slightly more masculine edge. I would say it is unisex either way, just like some other similar scents such as Silences, No.19, and Vent Vert, marketed for women but also just as suitable if worn by a man.

I would love to visit Fiji!