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June 24, 2011 | Christian Dior Ambre NuitAnd so we come to the end of what’s turned into ‘Christian Dior Week’ on The Scent Critic. After today, I still have seven more of the Collection Privée to work my way through (and they are all worthy of review, without exception – which isn’t something you can say of many scent ranges). But [...]  April 26, 2011 | Nez à Nez Atelier d'un ArtisteOnce upon a time, in her slightly misspent youth, The Scent Critic was an artist’s muse. (She is now slightly at that oh-heck-I’d-better-buy-up-all-those-nudes stage in life, but since the artist went on to become rather collectible, that’s not really an option.) What I’m leading up to is that I know only too well what the inside [...] March 11, 2011 | Jo Malone Sweet Lemon CologneIt’s a while since those of us in Beautyland got to preview Jo Malone’s Tea Collection, and I had forgotten my absolute instinctive reaction to Sweet Lemon – the fourth I’ll be reviewing, out of this quintet. It is my grandmother, in a bottle. Not my warm-and-cosy, capaciously-bosomed, rock-cake-baking granny (it’s the smell of geranium [...] March 9, 2011 | Jo Malone Earl Grey & Cucumber CologneAlthough Earl Grey is The Scent Critic’s least favourite kind of brewed tea (and just about the only one I’ve ever been known to decline), this third in the series of Jo Malone’s limited edition Tea Collection is absolutely my favourite yet. In truth, I don’t really get Earl grey or cucumber, when I initially [...] March 7, 2011 | Jo Malone Fresh Mint CologneIn theory, fresh mint could be tricky, in a cologne. The danger is it could go all ‘toothpaste-y’. But I don’t find anything Colgate-ring-of-confidence about this second in the sequence of the Jo Malone Tea Collection that The Scent Critic is refreshing herself with over the next few postings: it’s genuinely ‘mint tea’ – that [...] February 24, 2011 | Memoire Liquide Encens LiquideChoice, as we all know, is a tyranny. Too many of anything to decide between, and we tend to turn on our heels. (A study once showed that if a food store samples out 26 different jams, that converts into fewer sales than putting out six for customers’ delectation.) So being faced with a carousel of [...] February 22, 2011 | Hervé Leger FemmeThe Scent Critic is still having a thrifty phase. (Please note: this is because I am poised to review a £12,000 scent, so am trying to introduce a bit of yin-and-yang balance on the pricing front.) At £20, Hervé Leger Femme is around half the price of many fragrances out there, and about a fifth [...] December 19, 2010 | The 12 Scents of Christmas No. 11: Ormonde Jayne Orris NoirOf all the fragrances from British ‘nose’ Linda Pilkington (whose ‘nom de parfum‘ is Ormonde Jayne), this is the one I’d choose for Christmas. Not a Christmas party, perhaps, but that time when you’ve undone the top button of your skirt, have collapsed on the sofa and are watching the annual re-run of Love, Actually, [...] August 18, 2010 | Honoré des Prés Chaman's PartyPhotographed against the cover of Hippie by Barry Miles Vetiver-lovers, get ready to party. This is a corker of a vetiver. And, to paraphrase the title of one of my favourite movies this year, It’s Not Complicated – because this is pretty much vetiver, pure and simple, from the first whoosh right through till the [...] July 1, 2010 | Le Maroc Pour ElleTauer Perfumes are a revelation to me. To stumble upon an entirely new perfume marque I didn’t know about – and fall in love with several in this small portfolio of fragrances, created by a self-taught perfumer – has been a highlight in a week of multiple less-than-stellar fragrance mega-launches, which have been (by contrast) [...] |
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