With the niche experiment winding down I’m hitting the second of three by Kilian Hennessy, Cruel Intentions, and this one was recommended explicitly for me out of not only the Kilian line but all of perfumery, by the Basenotes crew. Well, how am I supposed to not sample it when you get a recommendation like that?

Now, I’ve been wearing these fragrances to work, all of them, even the sugary-sweet concoction known as A Taste of Heaven. I wore Cruel Intentions two days ago on Sunday, hoping to see why it was recommended so highly. Still in high spirits from the job situation I elaborated on a few days ago, I entered work with a level of confidence and high spirits that I haven’t had in weeks (months?). I was more relaxed, smiling more, taking a deeper interest in customer issues. And Cruel Intentions was almost transparent, and this is where it’s gonna get hard to explain. I definitely smell it, a sort of refreshing mint gourmand that I’ve gotta describe as the olfactory equivalent of having a word on the tip of your tongue. It was so familiar to me, but yet so fleeting. That Sunday ended up being the busiest Sunday I think I’ve ever worked with the possible exception of the weekend after Christmas. I mean absolutely slammed to the point that even taking a lunch break was entirely out of the question.

But there was something strange; anything I tried to sell, the customer was buying. They just would not say no and I racked up sales (and commissions) all day long. By the end of the day I exceeded my typical commission payout by a mind-blowing 1,000%. I did better in one day than I typically do in the course of an entire … (More) “Cruel Intentions – Cologne to $$$ to.”

I’m gonna be honest, I won’t be wearing this one again. Had the same oud opening as Black Aoud, just a touch sweeter, and for the next 4 or 5 hours after that I had a headache from the stuff. Then it changed into this sweet figgy fruity thing and more or less faded away. Won’t be revisiting it. Probably the shortest review you’ll ever see me do.… (More) “Montale Attar”

In my initial ratings just smelling the vials, my commentary on Cereus No. 7 was “I got a big old whiff of Green Irish Tweed right off the bat.” I was so confident today that I’d hit on something that I skipped the solo wearing and wore it side-by-side with the Creed offering. Today’s an important day too, I’m in the middle of possibly making a job change and wore the fragrances in hopes of putting my best foot forward with my possible new boss.

More news on the job hunt to come but let me say that as rarely as I make correct predictions…I was spot on with the comparison to GIT. Before the Creed fanbois start sending me hate mail, read on.

Cereus No. 7 starts out with a very familiar soapy opening, the same one I smelled just off of the dipper from the vial. Surface appearances, however, are only a little bit of what No. 7 offers. It takes a little while for No. 7 and Green Irish Tweed to start differentiating, about an hour. While Green Irish Tweed stays fairly linear, Cereus No. 7 adds a pepper note that, in my opinion, does wonders for the masculinity of the fragrance. Let’s face it, GIT is a linear soap-inspired scent evoking cleanliness and a gentle demeanor. Cereus No. 7 is a more roguish creature; while GIT might be the well-to-do businessman on the black-tie date, Cereus No. 7 is the well-dressed young romeo with an adventurous side. It’s more contemporary, it’s just slightly dirty and it does a fantastic job of setting itself apart from Green Irish Tweed by a minor adjustment that appeals to a whole different clientele.

There’s another issue, one I make frequent mention of on here and that’s price. As niche goes, … (More) “Cereus No. 7 – BFFs”

Wrapping up the L’Artisan reviews today with Méchant Loup, French for Bad Wolf (think like the Big Bad Wolf). Reviews for this one have always been promising, hazelnut and honey on smoky incense. The nose is Bertrand Duchafour, who I’m starting to respect more and more as a gifted artist. The nut and honey are again reminiscent of another creation of his, Jubilation XXV. However, that’s the extent of the similarities. One thing that doesn’t seem to get touched on with this fragrance is the fact that it has a clean side too, the smell of camphorous leaves is faint but detectable and provides a good contrast to the dark, “dirty” tones of smoke, honey and leather.

In many respects it’s quite excellent, it’s a quality composition, it doesn’t take a very refined nose to appreciate it, and sillage is quite good. The only issue with it is longevity, which is to say it was just average. In niche perfumery I would call that a major transgression as everything else I’ve tried thus far has lasted and lasted. I got about 6 hours with it which is my personal dividing line; I’m not very likely at all to purchase a fragrance that doesn’t at least last that long (the Hermessence comes to mind immediately).

Out of the niche fragrances I’ve tried thus far this would be one of the best ones. L’Artisan has plenty of offerings though, and they cover the whole spectrum, so it’s looking promising for future experiments with this house.… (More) “Méchant Loup – Unafraid”

I was amazed it took so long for the random number generator to land on one of the By Kilian fragrances; after all a full quarter of them were Kilian Hennessey creations (Straight to Heaven and Cruel Intentions reviews forthcoming), so A Taste of Heaven gets it’s turn in the barrel today.

The opening blast is sweet, and I say that in the “sugary loaded wtf” sense moreso than the “super amazing awesome” sense. It’s probably the sweetest fragrance I’ve ever encountered, knocking off such contenders as A*Men, The One for Men, Ambré Narguile, Rochas Man, Blue Sugar, anything I can think of this thing has beat. The main player is cinnamon, to the point that I was instantly reminded of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch I used to eat as a kid. While I’m wearing this in 95 degree weather it should be absolutely godawful stifling, but it managed to toe the line and be bearable even when exercising.

There is a redeeming quality to it, one that I can’t readily identify but there is a masculine tinge to it that saves it from being too effeminate. It’s actually rather pleasant in a sweet tooth sort of way.

I could see this as being useful for a party situation, where you want to project that sort of thing on unsuspecting girls but that’s about it. It’s really sweet and I don’t know it I can recommend it as anything other than an excellent example of a sugary-sweet gourmand. It’s loud, it’s sweet to the point of being over the top, and it’s a bona fide sillage monster. I personally won’t be buying a bottle, it’s pleasant but not outstanding enough to justify the price tag. $245 for a 50mL bottle? No thanks, I’d take the outstanding Herméssence Ambré Narguile far … (More) “A Taste of Heaven – How Much Is Too Much?”

I think it’s safe to say that no new release this year has been more hyped on Basenotes than the collaborative effort between Comme des Garçons and Monocle, known as Scent One: Hinoki. The project has been lauded as a huge success, and the next project with Stephen Jones is on the way, the nose being Antoine Maisondieu, who created Hinoki along with several Burberry fragrances like the excellent Burberry London.

Hinoki is a japanese cypress, and that is of course a major part of the composition, though other woods such as pine and cedar make appearances as well. The opening blast is similar to what you’d find in a woods-heavy fragrance such as Gucci Pour Homme, but only for a moment. It takes on a personality all it’s own, unique from any other woody scent I’ve tried. It gives a mental image of a misty Japanese morning as you walk through the forest, the smell of pine greeting you with it’s distant, therapeutic smell that clings to your skin as the mist collects on you. It does have a “cold” element to it, and I think in the winter this could be a truly phenomenal scent and I absolutely plan on trying it then to see if it balances my mood as well as I think it will.

The scent is fairly linear but when it’s this good that’s hardly a problem. Sillage appears to be good, longevity was great at a bit over 12 hours. My love affair with woody fragrances continues and gets a little pricier with Hinoki, but rest assured that the hype is well worth it.… (More) “Hinoki – The Forest And The Trees”

My main experience with that mysterious wood known as oud, aoud, agarwood, agar, whatever you want to call it, is the unique Yves Saint Laurent offering, M7. M7 was one of the first fragrances I sampled and suffice it to say that it’s an acquired taste. One of the most common analogies is the smell of cherry cough syrup. Pretty damn good analogy really. Robitussin aside M7 really is a pretty good representative of oud, and Montale takes the concept to what can only be described as another plane of existence. Pierre Montale may not make universally loved stuff but it is nearly universally respected and Black Aoud is on top of the heap there.

If you are a fan of the smell of oud, the opening blast may be the best you’ll ever find in a fragrance. If you’re not as big a fan, you may come very close, as I did, to washing the stuff off. It is a mindblowingly realistic recreation, and stays as such for a full hour. No progression, no pretenses, just black oud. The closest thing I can compare it to would be citronella bug spray. Appetizing right?

Now, despite that, my designated smeller said that she really, really liked it. Needless to say I was a little surprised as I was still pretty displeased with my choice of a work fragrance. But we discovered something; it’s great from a distance, but when I invited her to get in close and smell it on my wrist, she agreed that it wasn’t nearly as good. So that’s the rub; it’s a great fragrance with monster sillage, but you may personally not like it.

At least, not at first. After a couple of hours either I began to get acclimated to the smell or, more likely, … (More) “Montale Black Aoud – Revolution”

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 … (More) “L’air du Désert Marocain – A Tauering Accomplishment”