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April 30, 2012 | 4160 Tuesdays Urura's Tokyo CaféUrura's Tokyo Café photographed against cherry blossom by The Scent Critic The Scent Critic has never been to a real speakeasy – but (in the nicest possibly way), I’m still in recovery after a perfumed version, hosted by the knowledgeable and highly entertaining Odette Toilette as the latest in her series of Scratch+Sniff evenings. Think: fragrances [...]  February 29, 2012 | Roja Dove DangerRoja Dove Danger photographed by Jo Fairley against a vintage silk sari The Scent Critic doesn’t quite know how Roja Dove has secured some of the raciest fragrance names ever for his signature creations, but Danger is the latest in a line of brilliant light-the-blue-touch-paper-and-retire titles emblazoned across his naughty purple labels. First came Reckless, [...] February 20, 2012 | Carita Eau de ParfumSkin. Warm skin. Warm, sexy skin. Warm, sexy, kissable skin. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we’d all like a fragrance to smell like…? And of course, they all do, after a while: blood-warmed, after the dry-down, our own natural, signature body aroma emerges through its veil of perfume elements. But a [...] November 3, 2011 | Clinique Aromatics Elixir Perfumer's ReserveThe Scent Critic always wanted to be older than she was. (Until recently, anyway: that ambition’s definitely lost its allure.) So, looking back, my fragrance choices were ludicrously sophisticated for a teenager. While my friends were swathing themselves in Avon Honeysuckle, my tastes were distinctly more mature – and that’s where Clinique Aromatics Elixir, currently [...] October 13, 2011 | Estée Lauder Sensuous NudeThis latest in a trio of aptly-named Sensuous fragrances from Estée Lauder has rather tickled The Scent Critic’s fancy. And her nostrils. Really and truly tickled her nostrils. Because at first spritz, this is like putting your nose inside a bag of sherbet-y sweets. Flying saucers, maybe. Or the head-rush of poking your face [...] September 11, 2011 | Chanel No. 19 PoudréThe Scent Critic has experienced one of life’s little detours, and hereby apologises profoundly for a prolonged absence. The pulse-point on my right wrist, you see – not to mention the rest of the wrist itself – has for some weeks been encased in plaster, my ‘scent-trigger’ finger rendered weak and useless, too, all because [...] June 21, 2011 | Christian Dior VétiverIt’s downright weird how one fragrance can lead you to another, like a sort of olfactory tennis-elbow-foot game. The Scent Critic would have put money on Dior’s Vétiver – the second in the Collection Privée that I’ll be reviewing – taking me in the direction of, say, Guerlain’s legendary Vétiver, or maybe the bestselling Grey [...] June 20, 2011 | Christian Dior Milly-la-ForetHave you ever lost your scent mojo? Then if this has happened to you, lately, I would like to suggest – if you live within striking distance of Oxford Street – that you might like to head towards the Dior Maison de Parfums, in Selfridges. (It’s catty-corner from the Chanel fragrance boutique, which may mean [...] March 17, 2011 | Jo Malone Sweet Milk CologneAnd now for something completely and utterly different. At first cosy sniff, Sweet Milk – the last in the Jo Malone Tea Collection – is exactly as it sounds. Sweet. And Milky. Think: condensed milk. Think: that smell you get when milk has almost boiled over on the stove: a tiny bit burned (in a [...] 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 [...] |
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