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First of all, I’d like to point out that despite the fact this fragrance harks back to the era of fur tippets and flapper dresses, no chinchillas were harmed in the photography of this bottle. (The fur in my photo is entirely faux. Thanks, Restoration Hardware; the Davy Crockett hat’s come into its own in [...]
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For someone who’s never taken so much as a puff of a cigarette in her life, it’s perhaps a little odd that The Scent Critic is addicted to smokiness. Give me an open fire. A steaming pot of Lapsang Souchong (actually, give me that at 4 p.m. sharp in the afternoon and I’ll worship you [...]
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And 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 [...]
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The Scent Critic has recently been too frantic to stop and smell the roses. (Hence the lack of postings.) To be honest, I was beginning to get worried. On a crazy-busy book tour, criss-crossing the UK, I did take with me a selection of fragrances in my suitcase, in the hope of writing about them. [...]
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Choice, 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 [...]
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Of 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, [...]
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The Scent Critic honestly believes that fragrance is a magic wand. The trigger for a gazillion Cinderella moments, over the years. One minute, you’re fighting party-dread – and then a drop or a zoosh or a splash later, suddenly, you actually feel like putting on a pair of high heels, some dangly earrings, and heading [...]
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Light, 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 [...]
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This is the peak perfuming time of year. A splash behind the ears, a spritz down the décolletage, a touch behind the knees. (An old tip, but it works: the fragrance wafts beautifully up at you. Er, and whoever happens to be on their knees around you.) So the snow-bound Scent Critic will be working [...]
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A baby’s head. A lover’s neck. Heck, even smelling your own unadorned, unfragranced skin can sometimes be one of the loveliest scents in the world. Which is why, probably, there was a bit of a trend for ‘skin note’ fragrances, a few years back, epitomised by Clinique’s Simply (launched 2003, now Simply Disappeared, unless you’re [...]
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