Daniel Tharp :: Blog

First off I apologize to the readers for having to endure the terrible Andy Tauer pun. I couldn’t help it, and as reparation I will be wearing Acqua di Gio today. Okay, that’s actually a lie, I’m wearing Mechant Loup which will be reviewed tomorrow.

ANYway, L’air du Désert Marocain was one of the fragrances I was most excited about sampling in this experiment, it’s consistently been a favorite among Basenoters and the composition has always sounded top-notch. It is with a smiley face that I can say it didn’t disappoint at all.

The opening blast is dark and mysterious with an incense note dominating along with a somewhat bitter note that might just be tar. As it progresses the incense backs off a little bit and you’re greeted with a sweet frankincense note and the rest of the composition starts coming out of the woodwork. This is one of a very few scents that have conjured up a vision of what the perfumer was going for. The opening is the dark right before dawn, cold and bleak, and as the sun lazily rises and warms the desert sand, the desert starts taking on a life of it’s own. There are exotic spices reminiscent of spice merchants selling their wares, and a warm accord that truly reminded me of hot sand.

Needless to say I’m rather impressed with the creation. It actually reminded me of Jubilation XXV by Amouage when it was at it’s sweetest, they’re apples and oranges though. Given that it’s about a third of the price of the Amouage creation, though, I may find myself enjoying LdDM enough in its own right to spring for a bottle. I will eventually be doing a side-by-side test of these two and will report my findings then.

The bottom line is this is a magnificent creation, one that anyone that sees this as an art owes it to themself to try; I’m certainly wiser for the experience.

As an aside, there’s also a new link to Andy Tauer’s blog in the blogroll.

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L’Artisan Parfumeur has a reputation for being daring, innovative, and completely unique. I’d heard enough good about Tea For Two and Mechant Loup (review forthcoming) that I selected both of them for sampling from Luckyscent.

In short, the scent lives up to the name. The opening is smoky and mildly sweet, like tea steeping. In this phase it’s rather interesting, and a somewhat rustic scent in an unusual use of the description. The scent is fairly linear, the base is pleasant and warm, in fact you get that warm vibe all the way through it.

But it still needs to be asked. Do I really want to smell like a hot cup of tea? I don’t drink all that much tea (lazy etc.) but it certainly conjures up those images. That’s not me at all. In fact, when do I wear this? Can’t wear it in a social setting or I’m Buzz Killington.

See?

Jokes aside, it’s unique, it’s warm and inviting, and it’s almost exactly like you made a mess and spilled hot tea on yourself. I respect it for what it is but it’s just not for me.

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The experiment had to start somewhere really. The package from Luckyscent arrived and all 14 samples were nice and intact. Not knowing where to start, and not wanting to contaminate the thought process by favoring one right off the bat, I’ve been using a random number generator to decide my fragrances for me out of the samples. The very first one? Santal Noble by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier. This one was initially picked completely on a whim. I remembered hearing something about it, but I couldn’t tell you what it was.

To work, then. Initially applying it I could definitely get the sandalwood, but there was a definite…funk to it. Not in the good sense either. It took two days before I realized what it was I was smelling: Coffee beans. It’s a semi-sweet, pungent yet extremely dry opening that left me terribly uncertain about what to expect with it.

It’s something I may have to chalk up to one of two things. One, I’m not quite far enough progressed in this hobby to appreciate Santal Noble. Two, my skin chemistry doesn’t do it justice. Okay, three things. Three, I’m wearing during the wrong time of year (it was just under 100 degrees on the day of wearing). It’s very disconcerting that I really actively disliked it, because it’s one of the most highly rated fragrances on Basenotes that I’ve ever seen, some members going as far as to call it…

“Arguably the best Niche fragrance ever made.”
“This is probably the best woody fragrance ever created.”
“The richest, deepest wood there is.”
“The nectar of the gods, this is sandalwood par excellence.”
“It took me a very long time to appreciate this fragrance, but now that I’ve come to terms with it, I consider it one of perfumery’s towering masterpieces.”

Yeah it’s got a nearly perfect review history. So why am I bashing it? Because something in there just does not play nice, there is a discordant note in there that’s throwing the whole composition off and this time it just killed it for me.

However, I’ve got enough for two or three more days with it. I’m putting it down and will wear it again in the winter, and hopefully I’ll be able to decide on it once and for all. Because, while I’m not a slave to popular opinion (especially in this field), I see that many glowing reviews for something, I’m going to give it another shot, especially if I have the sample just laying around.

Thumbs down, for now. Will revisit this one in a few months.

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Chris: Hey, look, Dad! They have 12-packs of kidneys!

Peter: Yeah, but you got to buy the cooler, too. That’s how they get you.

So I realized today that I’ve been sitting on the opportunity to get a free domain name through my host and have gone about three months without actually taking advantage of it. What sucks is I have a few projects I’m thinking about, but nothing I would call domain name worthy at the moment. I don’t really need one for fragrance because I have nothing to really contribute aside from reviews which I’d just as soon do on here. Speaking of, I’ve got about a dozen mini-reviews coming over the next week or so as I experiment with my niche samples, these in particular:

MPG - Santal Noble
Tauer - L’Air du desert marocain
Montale - Black Aoud
Monocle x CdG: Scent One - Hinoki
Amouage - Jubilation XXV
By Kilian - Cruel Intentions
By Kilian - A Taste of Heaven
By Kilian - Straight to Heaven
L’Artisan - Tea For Two
L’Artisan - Mechant Loup
CdG Series 3: Incense - Kyoto
Montale - Attar
Cereus - No. 7

The ones in bold have already been sampled and I’m gonna try and review all of them before bed tonight. If anyone has ideas for a new domain let me know. ;\

Tags: Fragrance, General, Nerd Stuff by Daniel
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It’s a bit scary to realize that at this point I’ve only been a fragrance enthusiast for about six months, and my collection has amassed to 34 bottles.  And probably that many samples.  How it started was simple, I ran out of my usual cologne (Polo Blue) and was looking for something new to try.  Being the good boy I am, I got on Amazon and looked at best-sellers and took down a list of the top 20 or so bestsellers and took off to Paducah with list in hand.  Unfortunately, Paducah offers precious little in the way of couture, so a lot of it was stuff I was pretty much not going to find.  One that I did find, however, was Unforgivable by Sean John.  This was pretty late in my testing and I was surprised and a little irritated to find that I actually quite liked it; after all, I don’t really see Sean John as a good representation of my typical life (i.e., being a nerd).

I don’t know what exactly I liked about it.  It’s classy without being pretentious, clean without being soapy, and masculine enough to wear pretty much any time.  Even now it’s still one of my favorite all-around fragrances.  It wasn’t exactly random either in retrospect, as it has three of my favorite notes in the base (sandalwood, tonka bean, and amber) and it really is a very well put-together fragrance.

There is, however, that connection.  Basenoters know what I’m talking about, the connection between Unforgivable and Millesime Imperial by Creed.  “Dead ringer” is a good term to use.  They’re as similar as any two fragrances I’ve ever tried.  The issue is further compounded when you realize that Diddy’s signature scent prior to making Unforgivable was…yup.  Millesime Imperial.

Creed purists will maintain that MI is the better of the two, that the botanicals are of a higher quality and the scent is longer-lasting.  I would contend that Unforgivable is the better of the two because it smells nearly identical and is half the price.  But, as with MI, sillage and longevity aren’t great with it.  You have to put on quite a bit to get any sort of projection, and longevity is average at 5 to 6 hours.

I realize it sounds like I’m bashing one of my favorite fragrances.  It is a great scent, but it has it’s faults.  For some people it’s enough to turn them off of Unforgivable.  For most, it’s not enough to keep them from enjoying one of the better 2005 offerings (I would put Dior Homme up there with it and Un Jardin Sur Le Nil close but slightly below).

Even now as I’m starting to explore niche houses my bottle of Unforgivable isn’t going anywhere any time soon.  Very highly recommended.

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The first result of Aramis Havana in Google is my review, hosted on Basenotes.net.  And that’s pretty sweet considering how long it’s been up (not very).

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Ah, Caesars Man.  You were almost my first online purchase, almost.  Especially at $11 for a big ol’ 4.0 oz bottle.  And in your immediate defense, you don’t sound all that bad, with notes of Lime, Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Amber, and Musk.  Imagine my joy when I spot you at the local TJ Maxx.  $9.99 for the same 4.0 oz bottle!  I’m sold!

And that’s where it all went wrong.

Of course, I can’t be too much of a prick about this, at $2.50 an ounce it’s the cheapest cologne in my wardrobe.  The initial burst is even rather pleasant!  Nice crisp citrus with the edges slightly rounded by the sandalwood base.  And I love sandalwood fragrances.  Give it about 30 minutes though, and you start to see another side.  That citrus note gets a little too sweet, almost rotten, and it starts picking up a new note, which to me smells like fir or mint or pine.  Something in that area.  And then the base vanishes.  So you’re left with rotten oranges and pine (rotten orange pine-sol?), and this will be the state of affairs for the next, oh, 15 hours.  On two sprays.  And I’d really rather not project this stuff, so of course it’s one of the great sillage monsters of my wardrobe.

Or it was, anyway.  I gave the bottle to my Dad as I knew I honestly would never wear the stuff again.  He took it with him on a vacation to Florida.  When he returned a week later, he took his shaving bag and tossed it up on the counter.  About a minute later I started smelling something, and something not particularly good either.  With a lurching suspicion, I approach the bag and the scent grows stronger.  I open the zipper and see a puddle of Caesars Man in the bottom of the bag.

By the way, just so you know, it’s a screw-top.  And apparently it can work itself loose of it’s own volition.

Our bathroom smelled like Caesars man for every bit of two weeks or more.  I would choke on this scent every time I went into the bathroom.  After a while it’d literally make me sick to my stomach.  I don’t really ever want to smell it again.

Bottom line:  Friends don’t let friends wear Caesars Man.

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One of the great leaders of fragrance (along with fashion and design), Yves Saint Laurent is gone at the age of 71.  He will be missed by the fragrance community.

Wearing Kouros today in honor of the man.

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One of the bigger enablers for a perfume enthusiast is the semi-ghetto establishment known as TJ Maxx.  Unfortunately for me (and my wallet), for the past year I’ve worked next door to one.  Normally it’s a bunch of crap inside, Colors, Wings, Adidas Rehash 7,652.  The usual bargain bin stuff.  But ours gets some more exotic stuff in every now and then, from YSL to Thierry Mugler to some of the more popular Kenneth Cole products (always for women sadly, I’m snapping up the first KC Reaction for Men I see there).

So I wasn’t terribly surprised when they received about six 100mL bottles of Tommy Bahama Set Sail St. Barts (hereafter abbreviated to SSSB).  Having no idea what to expect I whip out the iPhone and get on Basenotes to research it a bit, and I find top notes of citrus, tequila and lime, a midsection of guava nectar and more tequila, and a base of crushed greens, “salty sea spray” accord, palm wood, and musk.  Tequila gets mentioned twice?  I immediately recall my limited experience with Le Boise, a rather obscure perfume from the Ginestet winery of Bordeaux, France.  It was pretty much wine, and at $110 for a 100mL bottle I could pretty much splash cheap wine on my body and get much the same olfactory response (though quite messier).  It was so bad my dad told me “You smell like an alcoholic,” which I am not and thus don’t want to wear it as that would incorrectly portray me.

One of the “party fouls” of TJ Maxx is opening up a box and spraying some on you, but I was damned sure not going to buy it blind, even semi-blind.  So I spray a little bit on and go on my way back to work.  Two hours later I went back and bought it, for the not-awful price of 20 bucks.

The opening burst was a bit too chemical for me, but once it settled down it was a very vibrant lime note, and you can definitely get the “sipping margaritas on the beach” vibe almost immediately.  There is a progression to it, the lime starts to fall away and you’re left with a zesty citrus, salty and sweet all at once, not an easy thing to do and something I commend them for managing to pull off successfully.  From there it progresses to just the base of salt/sugar and maybe some wood, I never find the musk to make that much of an appearance here.  Projection is poor to fair, longevity is decent at about 6 hours for the whole progression.

But it’s leaving me, despite getting mostly a good review.  The stuff is not unpleasant, by any means, but it has been completely outclassed.  My new love affair in this warm-weather, tropical party type scent is Creed’s Virgin Island Water, the baby Creed, still their most recent release (at least for a little while longer until Love In Black actually starts hitting shelves).  It takes the SSSB concept and elevates it to another plane.  It loses some of the zest and instead offers a host of soft woods, and adds a coconut element that I do not detect in SSSB.  There’s really a lot going on in VIW, and it will get it’s own review later on.

What I’m getting at, though, is for $20 Set Sail St. Barts is a fantastic alternative to Virgin Island Water.  Even splitting a 250mL flacon of the Creed I was still out $55 for 50mL.  They each have wonderful things going for them, and should you see it chilling at your local TJ Maxx, don’t hesitate to give it a try.  I think you’ll rather like it.

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Happy was one of the initial three fragrances that started me on this journey (along with Unforgivable and Armani Code). Happy and Code were on the Amazon Top 20 in men’s fragrance and me, not knowing where else to start, took that list and started hitting up stores and crossing fragrances off the list.

My thought process at the time was that Happy was unlike anything else I’d tested; that is, it was much more subtle. The orange juice gives you a clue of what to expect inside, and I’ve written previously on Basenotes that it captures the image of a ripe orange better than an actual orange does, and this is coming from a Miami native. The name makes me laugh, because it was the first time I came to the realization that I may be a homo. Happy For Men? Really? I’m not all that happy for men.

Iga Province, 1596. Fuma Kotaro dozed in the aft end of the ship. His goal was clear; he would kill the greatest ninja that ever lived. He felt the man’s presence before hearing him and awoke instantly, his hand reaching for his nihonto. It was one of his subordinates.

“We have fifteen minutes.”

Kotaro nodded his assent and started searching through his bag, making preparations.

According to Basenotes, Happy features top notes of Kaffir Lime, Kalamanzi Fruit, Mandarin, and Yuzu, with assorted green notes in the middle, set on a base of Cypress, Cedar, and Guiacwood. However, the composition is a little too tight to pinpoint any note in particular. In a word, happy is light. The base isn’t particularly prominent, and so the whole thing has a sort of ethereal quality.

Kotaro and his band of ninja pore over the map, quietly discussing the plan for the evening. Assignments and marks were given, and the rendezvous point was set; meet on shore within an hour.

“Give the command,” he muttered to the tall, bearded man standing to his right. The man nodded and went below decks. The rest of the band of ninja went above, to the deck, watching the Tokugawa-owned ship that they had been pursuing slow and gradually come to a stop in the inland sea.

Below decks the bearded man lit the fuse and quickly headed for the deck on the aft end of the ship. When the fuse hit the explosives, the belly of the ship was ripped open and they began to sink into the tranquil, but ravenous, sea. Patrols on the enemy ship watched with alarm. As the water reached the deck and spilled over, the ninja calmly donned masks and snorkels, allowing the sea to take them under.

To call the scent ethereal, however, is to maybe mask the main issue with it. This scent has no projection. It has no lasting power. It’s great for a scent to be inoffensive, but there’s a point where you can probably just do without it altogether. To be honest, I haven’t worn it as anything other than a layering agent, which it does rather well (I typically layered it with Calvin Klein Euphoria). But it’s otherwise just a kiss, a whiff of orange, and then it’s gone.

Kotaro silently scaled the side of the ship. His target was finally trapped, with no way out. Hattori Hanzo, the legend in the flesh. He peeked over the side of the ship and spotted a sentry on the opposite side, his patrol taking him out of sight. Fuma Kotaro reached down, his hands grasping a shuriken. With a grunt, he loosed the weapon at an angle, the four-pointed shuriken whistling and suddenly making a bank to the right. He heard it connect with a muffled thunk and the man let out a surprised yell, flailing wildly and falling over the side. Fuma raised an eyebrow and lifted himself over the side, taking cover in the shadows of the deck. The confusion raised by the drowning man would present the perfect opportunity. There was one ritual to complete before the death, though. Kotaro reached into his robe and pulled out a small bottle of Clinique Happy For Men. He tilted his head back and poured fully half of the bottle over his body, allowing the liquid to coat him from head to toe. He opened his eyes and crept below-decks while the pandemonium on the other end of the ship distracted the guards.

Maybe I’m wrong, and there is some other, redeeming quality to the stuff. But inoffensive has it’s limits and when all is said and done, I’m not all that happy.

Kotaro unsheathed his katana, his prey now within striking distance. Where subterfuge and surprise had failed before, there was only one option. He knocked. The door slowly opened, and Hattori Hanzo and Fuma Kotaro locked eyes for the first and last time. Kotaro exploded forward, the katana taking Hanzo through the chest.

As Hanzo died, he never even smelled the oranges.

Tags: Fragrance, Nerd Stuff by Daniel
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