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January 27, 2011 | Strange Invisible Perfumes L'InvisibleLet me start by paying homage: the Strange Invisible Perfumes store on too-cool-to-live Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Ca., is almost worth a 6,000 mile (carbon-offset) trip in itself. Indeed, The Scent Critic was so keen to visit this botanical perfumery that when a business trip to Los Angeles was on the cards, a hotel [...]  January 11, 2011 | Sahara (make: unknown)The Scent Critic is not seriously going to suggest that you trek all the way to Tunisia to pick up a bottle of Sahara, weaving your way through the labyrinth of Sousse’s souk. (This small bottle: 3.5 dinars, or around £1.75, FYI.) For sure, this scent is never going to rival Chanel No. 5. But [...] December 17, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 10: Estée Lauder Youth DewSo: yesterday’s Scent Critic posting talked about how fragrance can turn you from a would-be couch potato into a party animal, with a waft of its magic wand. But today, I’m going to marvel at its equal power to transport you through time and space. Dr. Who, you can keep your Tardis. We all have [...] December 13, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 8: Carthusia Ligea 'La SirenaFor a fragrance confected by monks – yes, monks – Ligea is pretty darned sexy. Airy and sugary all at once: all baby powder, mandarin orange, bergamot and an iced Limoncello on the side, wrapped up into one crisp-yet-marshmallow-ish confection. And yes, this is another one that Shalimar-lovers could have an affair on the side [...] December 12, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 7: Hermes 24 FaubourgI suspect that if you blindfolded 1,000 people, wafted a 24, Faubourg-drenched spill under their noses and asked them to tell you where this honeyed floral fusion hailed from, they’d chorus: ‘Paris’. This 1995 classic, to me, has always seemed one of the quintessential French perfumes: a sophisticated, heel-clicking, smart-suited grande dame of a fragrance, [...] December 10, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 6: Serge Lutens Ambre SultanI once described Ambre Sultan as sex-in-a-bottle in a major Sunday supplement and caused a stampede to the counters. (Which probably says something about the state of the nation’s amorous life.) Retrieving it from the back of my dressing table – which can sometimes be a little like one of those amusement arcade penny games, [...] December 6, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 4: Miller Harris Fleur OrientalLight, airy, whispery, uplifting: those are all (flattering) words I associate with Miller Harris, the fragrance house created by talented British ‘nose’ Lyn Harris. But warm…? With the exception of the enchanting fairy-juice that is L’Aire de Rien, and Un Petit Rient (inspired by Jane Birkin and reviewed here by The Scent Critic), that’s not [...] December 5, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 3: Etro PatchoulyThe Scent Critic’s husband is probably partly to thank for this earthy Etro creation. Once upon a time, long, long ago, he was the first person to import patchouli oil into the UK, catering to the hippies who all but drenched themselves in it – probably to disguise the aromas wafting from their Afghan coats, [...] October 13, 2010 | Plum by Mary GreenwellTell me: what lengths have you gone to, to get your hands on a fragrance…? Continents scoured…? Begging letters sent…? Pilgrimages made…? Well, so consumed was The Scent Critic with the desire for Plum by Mary Greenwell – the debut fragrance from one of the world’s top make-up pros – that yesterday, she left behind [...] September 5, 2010 | Fresh Love (from Eat, Pray, Love fragrance collection)One day, once Steve Jobs figures out how, you’ll almost certainly be able to smell perfume reviews. (It may take till 2050, but hey.) If you could smell this review, you would also smell a background note of paint drying – because by declaring this Eat, Pray, Love fragrance week, The Scent Critic has slightly [...] |
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