Perfume Reviews by rogalal

E Cashmere Musk by Clive Christian

This is just a disappointment. I liked the Original E for Men, even though I didn't think it was worth buying, and replacing it with this is kind of questionable.

On first spray, I smell really nice citrus with woods underneath. Unfortunately, this is just toploading as everything else is a bit lame. After the citrus quickly dies, I'm left with what smells like cashmeran (dusty, oaky, smokey artificial wood with a sharp green undertone) and just a pinch of that aquatic "woody amber" base. So it's a bit cheap-smelling, which isn't helped by the extremely weak concentration and crap longevity.

I'm not a Clive Christian hater, by any means, but this is both unremarkable and weak. The old E was feeling a bit dated, but this is no improvement.

Cedar Violet by Aerin

On application, I smell a shock of alcoholic vodka and rich butter. The butter is very much the star, though behind it, I can smell some 00's-style cedar and clove, paired up with a sawdusty wood note. Given time, the butter remains prominent, but it's joined by that coconutty Australian sandalwood popularized by Santal 33.

Chemically speaking, I think there's something here that doesn't quite register, possibly a side effect of that alcoholic blast on top. I have to work hard to smell anything other than the butter, but this somehow also feels really rich, like there's a chemical here that's knocking out my nose and keeping me from smelling everything. This is an effect I don't like in perfumes, so I'm just voting Neutral.

As a side note, I really enjoy buttery wood perfumes but would suggest Costume National Homme or Tom Ford's Ebene Fume instead.

Coromandel Eau de Parfum by Chanel

Gorgeous, but not particularly unique.

I had a rocky relationship with the former EDT version of Coromandel, which was a traditional amber , but sparking with terpine leather and sour, green sharpness. I hated that bitter sharpness and wished they could have incorporated the petrol-esque leather better. It disagreed with me, but I understood why it was clever, interesting, and a perfumista favorite.

For the newer EDP version, they've taken away the gas-fume leather and sour green spikes, leaving a beautiful, old fashioned amber perfume, lightly powdery with benzoin and a tiny bit animalic, in the most proper French way possible.

So that's what we have now: Coromandel EDT is basically a perfect amber perfume. Masterfully blended, warm and inviting, and flawlessly pretty. It doesn't leave any real room for complaint, though I wish they could have kept the leather note somehow, which would have helped Coromandel remain a stand-out. As of now, it's great, but there are a lot of great old fashioned ambers. This may arguably be the best, but I wish it had kept just a touch of its old character. But of course, it's still a hearty thumbs up!

1957 by Chanel

On me, this starts with big, billowy Chanel aldehydes combined with heavy talcum powder and white soap. Under all that, I can smell a bit of citrus and dusty clove. Any flowers in there are only making it smell more "Chanel" but aren't very literal.

This feels like what you'd get if you took Caron's Poivre (powdery, dusty, old fashioned clove) and made it a Chanel with subtle tweaking of the aldehydes and floral additions. This is a combination of two of my favorite pefume tropes, so I'm definitely a fan. That being said, this falls into the same trap as some of the other classic Carons, where the overwhelming powder makes it hard to smell much else, unless you wear only the smallest drop or a huge splash.

As such, I'm waiting to see if Chanel makes a parfum version of 1957, which I assume (based on the other parfum versions of their Exclusifs that they've released) would amplify the base and add in extra iris and jasmine, at which point I think 1957 would go from great to practically perfect. But as is, in this EDP version, it's still an enthusiastic thumbs up!

New Look by Christian Dior

A refreshing bit of unexpected weirdness from the Dior exclusives, which usually tend to err on the side of crowd pleasing more than artistry or uniqueness.

I smell a lot of clove, the dusty old-fashioned kind reminiscent of Caron, paired up with frankincense. But this is reigned over by a seaside smell that reminds me of walking along the tidepools of the Oregon coast, very salty and a more than a little bit funky and fishy. It's the smell of the ocean, but rocky and cold as opposed to "beachy".

So yeah... salty ocean, dusty clove, and frankincense. I can't imagine that the fashion girls sniffing Dior's fruity floral exclusives will like this at all, but it's certainly interesting. I like that it tries to modernize the incense perfume by leaving out the 00's smoke that generally defines the genre, and I like that this uses ocean smells without being stereotypically "marine" or "aquatic", so I'm voting thumbs up, though I personally don't think it smells very good on me...

No. 22 Eau de Toilette by Chanel

My old review:
In my non-perfume life, I'm a music producer and studio engineer, so I'm kind of a nerd about how music sounds (stick with me, this will be about perfume eventually...) In the 70's and 80's, music was generally mixed with a lot of midrange, with the highs and bass quieter in the mix. Now, years later, tastes have changed and music is released with loud highs and bass, with the midrange turned down. So, in order to fit with current tastes, old music is often "Digitally Remastered", which basically means that they turn down the midrange and turn up the bass and highs. When done poorly, this can make old songs sound shrieky and shrill and weirdly loud but still kind of hollow.

So, back to No. 22 EDT. It reminds me of a "Digital Remaster" of No. 5. It's got the same basic ingredients as No. 5, but with the highs turned up, so the powdery aldehydes are amplified into a loud blast while the flowers and wonderful No. 5 base get kind of lost in the shrill powder.

All that being said, even a weirdly remixed version of No. 5 is better than 95% of the perfumes out there, so I still feel like I owe No. 22 a thumbs up, but I'd never buy a bottle of this when I could just wear No. 5 extrait...

New notes from 2024:
I'm eating my words a bit here, but I just bought a little bottle of No 22 parfum, because it brought back the richness I though the EDT was missing. And yes, it still smells a lot like No 5, but I don't care any more and am happy with both!

Eau de Rochas Homme by Rochas

As the 66th reviewer of Eau De Rochas Homme, I don't have much to add. It starts off like lemon/bergamot citrus cologne (albeit with a synthetic, aldehydic "freshness"), but has a chypre base. There's a combination of lemon lollipops and green herbs that's quite old fashioned, though the chemicals on top are a nod to the 90's when this came out. Given time, the citrus fades, leaving the green herbs as the star of the show, and further in, I'm left with a sweet, mossy smudge.

Really, my biggest issue with Eau De Rochas Homme is that it's fairly weak on my skin. I've applied enough that I should be able to enjoy the base and everything, but I'm not getting any of the creative myrrh everyone else is writing about, so I'm a bit disappointed. Meh.

Cittá di Kyoto by Santa Maria Novella

Imagine a modern abstract painting that's just cloudy swirls of various shades of beige. It's called Kyoto and it's left to the observer to decide what it all means. Is it smoke? fog? the earth under the city? or something more abstract like the ideas and creativity swirling over an active locale?

This is what Cittá di Kyoto is to me. Is it impressionist, in that it's swirls are supposed to resemble flowers and incense? That seems to be what most reviewers are looking for and frustrated by. Or is it fully abstract, where it just represents an idea or a concept without any actual resemblance? I love this as an idea, and it really pushes the idea of perfume as art. Thought about this way, I find its insistent vagueness charming and quite intellectual, though I understand how people who prefer their perfumes more exact would find this frustrating or just stupid, the same way that art aficionados who love still lives and royal portraits scoff at a Jackson Pollock.

So what does it actually smell like? Well, as stated by everyone else, that's really hard to say. It's got a tinge of vinegar on top, it's kind of sweet, and has the fuzziness of suede without smelling particularly leathery. I'm reminded of peach aldehydes, which just smell kind of brown and don't actually smell like peach. But yeah, "beige clouds" is the best I can really come up with. But I don't think that's a bad thing...

Rume by Slumberhouse

Yay, finally I'm sampling a Slumberhouse! I'm fascinated by this brand because I've never seen any other independent perfumer/brand attract this same level of fanboi devotion and interest. i get the fascination - their perfumes are strong, interesting, clever, and unique in a sea of smellalike, feminine-leaning dreck. And, thanks to their packaging and concentration strength, they have a macho swagger that's completely different from most beauty brands.

So what does Rume smell like? Others here have fully dissected it, so I'll just say that it smells like hot mulled apple juice and candle wax, with bay or clary sage becoming more prominent as the apple fades. It smells good, and much more crowdpleasing than I'd expect from, the brand.

My issue is with the concentration, and the waxy smell. I'm not sure if the wax smell is added and intentional, or a side effect of the high essential oil concentration, but much like the perfumes of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Rume crosses a line where the high concentration stops smelling luxurious and starts to smell amateurish. And I don't mean "amateurish" as a putdown, but just in the literal sense that I can't imagine a classically trained perfumer working in the system of one of the big scent houses being allowed to release a perfume as concentrated as this, due to both tradition and IFRA regulations. So, to me, that leaves Rume in a weird space usually reserved for swap meet and street fair candle vendors - a pleasant, holiday-ready, waxy fruity clove and spice bomb (pun intended). Again, I don't intend this as a classist put-down, but a statement of my opinion: This smells like a good, inexpensive, home-made Christmas candle, as opposed to haute perfumery, so I just can't go above a neutral rating.

Royall Mandarin by Royall Lyme of Bermuda

To me, this smells like it's mostly mandarin aldehyde, which smells briefly like artificial but pleasant citrus, but quickly gets plasticky, and ends up with that raw frothy-egg-white aldehyde base. There seems to be a tiny amount of something green in there as well, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's hedione or some other chemical adding brightness, but the mandarin aldehyde notes account for almost all that I'm smelling here.

This leaves me unsure when it comes to writing an objective review. I've said many times that sometimes letting an individual ingredient sing, only lightly adorned, can be great. A simple rose attar can be blissful. Orange blossom perfumes get better the less they mess with the actual orange blossom. Even the slightly suspect Molecule brand works for me because they choose perfume ingredients that smell great on their own. But I just don't think Mandarin Aldehyde smells that good. Plasticky, eggy, and artificial - while this is definitely a personal preference, I don't want to smell like it, so I'm ultimately voting thumbs down.

Entre Naranjos by Ramon Monegal

A nice, traditional citrus cologne. There are a lot of these, but it's because it's a recipe that works, and can be personalized with a slight tweaking of the recipe.

So what does it actually smell like? There's the traditional topnotes - bergamot and orange, with a pinch of mint for lift and lavender for grit. There's a notable green herbal heart, most obviously basil and taragon, with orange blossom and petitgrain to give continuity to the topnotes by extending the citrus smell.

These classic citrus colognes usually don't have much of a base (usually just a smudge of soap, if that), because they're intended to fade quickly and be reapplied throughout the day. Monegal modernizes Naranjos a bit with the inclusion of an ambrox base, but it's thin enough that reapplying is still fun.

As for what separates this from the rest of its similar scents, I think the prominent basil goes a long way to make Naranjos feel more masculine than the usual citrus cologne. Thumbs up!

Tamboti Wood by Susanne Lang

Nice! This is an old-fashioned woody chypre, with the usual bergamot over mossy greens as its backbone. There's prominent sawdusty sandalwood, and a bit of a dusty, oily wood note that I've seen referred as rosewood before. But the real star is a honeyed wood note on top (I'm guessing maybe acacia with a pinch of imoretelle) which makes this whole thing smell like cypress.

As far as comparisons go, this reminds me of Tom Ford's Italian Cypress and Acqua Di Parma's excellent Cipresso di Toscana, which are quite similar. But the strong sandalwood over a traditional chypre also reminds me of Creed's Bois Du Portugal. I think fans of any of those, or just about any traditional 80's style woody chypres, would enjoy this.

Stella Rose Absolute by Stella McCartney

An oddly thin rose. It's like the rose smell is there, but I just don't smell it, for some reason. I know there's a lavender-based chemical that does this, but this is the first time I've noticed it with rose. Instead, I smell everything surrounding the rose - honey, a pinch of citrus on top, and a vague leafy green quality. Then, within an hour, I'm left with an unfocused amber skin smell. Meanwhile, I can smell the "idea" of roses, but not the actual rose.

I'm not sure what kind of weird science is happening here, but it's mostly just left me uninspired. Meh.

Cristalle Eau de Toilette by Chanel

I love an unapologetic 70's green chypre, the kind that smell masculine to the modern nose, but were considered feminine at the time. Cristalle EDT lives halfway between my two benchmarks of the genre, Chanel No 19 (galbanum and vetiver) and Sisley's Eau De Campagne (green tomato leaf over a citric chypre), combining elements of both.

I don't really smell any fruit except for the lemon/bergamot topnotes, and, while this smells quite "plant-y", I smell moist, cut leaves and hints of wood much more than any flowers. As such, this comes off as quite austere compared to the sunniness of Eau de Campagne, and less rich than No 19, which is thickened by its iris heart. If that makes Cristalle sound unnecessary or lacking, it isn't. Instead, to me, its topnote focus makes it fun to respray throughout the day, as one would a traditional cologne. Thumbs up!

Gucci Flora : Gorgeous Magnolia by Gucci

This combines a lot of elements I don't like, but in a way that's so clever that I have to begrudgingly admit that I've enjoyed getting to know it.

So what does it smell like? First, there's a floral smell, waxy and milky and even a touch bleachy. I assume this is the magnolia. Then, there's a standard pink pepper/patchouli designer base, sweetened with vanilla and enriched with a soapy white musk.

Then, there's something else. Imagine the thick smell of a Yankee Candle store at Christmas time - clove, berries, wood, cinnamon, mulling spices, and hot wax. This complicated miasma exists as dust that hovers over the magnolia and base, lending depth and spice to everything else. As such, there's a lot of unexpected complexity to Gorgeous Magnolia which has made it enjoyable to pick apart, even if I don't like Christmas candle smells, bleachy florals, or pink pepper bases, so it deserves a thumbs up for craftsmanship in addition to a thumbs down for the actual smell. So I'm voting neutral.

Fame by Paco Rabanne

Ew, yuck.... The pleasant artificial mango tropical punch topnotes are ruined by a misplaced redcurrant, whose cat pee undertone adds a truly gross darkness to what would otherwise be a crowdpleasing smell. The filthy old urine smell males the fruits smell like a cheap cleaner that's losing a battle with the fowl stench of an ancient, piss-soaked bathroom.

For some reason, it's minty, too. And eventually gets coconutty as the tropical punch wears off, and there's a subtle pink pepper fuzziness underneath everything. There's just nothing happening here that I really like, just a bunch of mass market perfume cliches tied together by that pee smell.

Devotion by Dolce & Gabbana

I expected an orange creamsicle, but the "citrus" on top is so artificial that it barely registers as a food smell. I don't smell the orange blossom, so I mostly smell vanilla, but it's a weird vanilla. As ClaireV points out, there's an artificial butter note mixed with the vanilla, which gives it a strange spoiled-milk vibe. I'll give Devotion credit for not being the immature nightmare I expected, but I don't like what it is instead, so it's a no for me....

Black Opium Over Red by Yves Saint Laurent

The snob in me really wants to hate the cotton candy topnotes presented here, but they're just so fun and literal that I can't. However, everything falls apart within a few minutes, leaving a dilapidated mess of conflicting smears, and at that point I can confidently say that I don't like it any more. It's hard to place what exactly I'm smelling - the cotten candy is still there, but soured with a burnt nut smell and supported by a powdery pink pepper base. Meanwhile, there's also a minty green haze, and a soapy fruity floral there as well.

It feels like, at this lever of flanker ridiculousness, this wants to be 3 or 4 different perfumes and instead of even really trying any more, they're just throwing shit together and giving it a limited edition release. This wants to be a Pink Sugar-esque candy gourmand, a mint-topped Florabotanica fruity floral, a Burberry-inspired pink pepper "oriental", and also a burnt coffee perfume, but it's all way too much. With extremely careful formulation and deft blending, I'm sure a great perfumer could make these elements work together, but that's not the case here.

Sì Eau de Parfum Intense by Giorgio Armani

That peach that's in just about every generic fruity floral on top of that pink pepper drydown that's in just about every generic mall perfume. Two commonplace elements combined to create something hyper-generic.

Patchouli Elixir by Réminiscence

Nice, strong, patchouli. It's grassy, but feels more like dry, brown grass than the fresh, green, mossy grass I usually get from patchouli. It's quite boozy on top, much like a nice whisky fused with the dried patchouli. It's slightly clovey with a hint of chocolate, but smells more like a barnyard than a kitchen. I suspect there may be some tobacco absolute or something in there that's actually doing some of the heavy lifting that I'm crediting to the patchouli. Given time, it takes on a sweet, spiced quality, like brown sugar and nutmeg, as well as just a tiny pinch of cherry candy, which make for a really interesting combination with the dry, brown patchouli.

I'm used to patchouli perfumes being either sour, green, and mossy, or modern and smoky. This is neither, being sweet, dry, and spiced, so I really like the creativity. And it smells great, too, so this is a winner!

Lovely Day by Ramon Monegal

Bubblegummy jasmine with a general red "froot" note and clove-heavy pink pepper. There's also a plasticky strawberry that smells like cheap shampoo. All together it smells like sort of like candy or gum, but also like children's shampoo. Given time, this proves to have just enough elements of Burberry Brit for Her to make it "perfumey" (it's that mix of clove and pink pepper). I can also smell how ionones, with their candied-violet-over-leather smell, are doing a lot of the work here.

In all, this contains a few of my least favorite cheap perfume stereotypes combined in a way that I haven't smelled before, so I kind of hate it, but respect that it's at least being clever. But it's still a thumbs down for me.

Cherry Musk by Ramon Monegal

Cherry lollipop and that artificial strawberry that's in every fruity floral, over a clever mix of musks that's sort of effusive and soapy, but also just a bit funky in a leathery way. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and in a way that's simultaneously quite wearable and not scary to less daring perfume consumers, but also just unique and weird enough to keep us snobs entertained.

It's hard to review this without a comparison to L'Artisan's Mure Et Musc Extreme, which really is the definitive fruit-over-musk perfume. Ramon's cherry is a bit common-smelling compared to L'Artisan's signature blackberry, though Monegal's mix of musks is arguably more pleasant (or at least more likeable) than L'Artisan's strong rubbery musk base. So I guess that puts Cherry Musk at the mildly daring end of the mainstream spectrum, but also in position to be a guilty pleasure for artsy snobs. Thumbs up, despite that strawberry note, for just being fun and interesting.

Agar Musk by Ramon Monegal

I've quite enjoyed getting to know Agar Musk. It belongs in the same pie-spiced-oud-drying-down-to-woods genre as M7, Tom Frd's Oud Wood, and Oud For Greatness.

It starts with a burst of sharp, alcoholic fruit and acetone, which quickly makes way for a bit of rubbery oud to well up from the nail polish remover smell. Given a moment to warm up, the pie spices start to shine. It's a lovely combination of cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, mace, and chickory that blends perfectly with the woody elements. Hours in, as the spices lose prominence, I'm left with a peppery frankincense sharpened with vetiver. This stage is also very nice (if a little pale), but Agar Musk's real payoff if the long, complex slide from spices to incense, which creates some wonderful combinations of smells over the course of the day. Thumbs way up - this is absolutely my favorite of the Monegals I've tried.

Ralph Rocks by Ralph Lauren

To my nose, this is surprisingly specific:

She enters the pool area, walking slowly with her brightly colored sarong wrapped lazily around herself. Aware that everybody's watching, but nonchalant, she removes her sarong and lays down on a chaise wearing her matching, brightly colored bikini. This all takes place in slow motion, because she's the star and everybody wants to be her and this is what she smells like...

And it smells like tropical fruit cocktail, kiwi candy and that banana/coconut vibe that comes from synthetic ylang. It's kind of creamy but not rich, fun but fleeting. It doesn't seem to have anything but topnotes, as this just spends a few hours dying down without any progression, making it the perfect perfume to wear for a few minutes in the sun before you jump in a pool. And yes, like my description, it's a bit of a cliche, but it works.