måndag 26 juni 2017

Eau D'Italie - Rosa Greta

Picture: The imagined colour of Rosa Greta
Photo: Parfumista (c)
Rosa Greta is a tribute to the timelessy beautiful Greta Garbo, created by perfumer Fabrice Pellegrain for italian stylish nichehouse Eau D'Italie. Eau D'Italie describes the inspiration of the fragrance as "In 1938 Greta Garbo suddenly vanished from Hollywood.  Later the paparazzi discovered her secret hideaway: a stunning villa in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, overlooking the blue of the Mediterranean, its gardens fragrant with blooming clusters of the famous Ravello Rose.  The divine Garbo shone again all her light, having lived moments of secret happiness with her new lover.  To this tale of love and life we have dedicated Rosa Greta."

Rosa Greta starts true rosy combined with slight herbal tea notes similar to example Bvlgari Eau Parfumeé au Thé Blanc. This accord creates an almost ozonic, outdoor, by the sea accord and I can imagine bright, light red, crispy roses in an elegant Amalficostgarden. The litchi is not apperant as a detectable note by itself, probably it is there to balance the harsh aspect of the teanote and to highlight the fruity notes of the rose. The rose is very clean an natural (as Garbo herself) and it's present in that shape during the whole drydown of Rosa Greta. Somewhere in the first part of the fragrance, I can smell an element one of my favorite Eau D'Italie Un Bateau pour Capri, an element that somehow reminds me of the mediterranean air and sea from a distance, not the smell directly on the beach. The cedarnote is also bright and clean, underscored by the ambrox which gives Rosa Greta a bright radiance and a longevity for more than a day even if its a light, daytime rose in style. It's a uncomplicated, contemporary rose, very versatile and enjoyable to wear, especially for summertime. It's the counterpart rose to the dark, complicated, mysterious Eau D'Italie Pasteum Rose another favourite from the line. Rosa Greta appears a bit different in different wearings. Mostly i appears as the clean, sea-air-ish rose as described here, but in some wearings the airish notes becomes sparkling, fizzy somewhere in the middlenotes. This sparkling, fizzy apperance reminds me of Ramon Monegal Kiss My Name and Lovely Day but without the slight peppery note apperant in those. As the two mentioned Monegals, Rosa Greta is a happy fragrance.
Picture: Rosa Greta
Photo: PR Eau D'Italie (c)
Rosa Greta is a beautiful, versatile, daytime rosefragrance, with good longevity and medium silage. Suitable both for casual and at work especiall in summer. A fragrance that couldn't disturb anyone and not as intriguing as it's  muse. To me both Pasteum Rose and Un Bateau pour Capri is more Greta, but as the inspiration for Rosa Greta is the image of Greta Garbo in the context of the Ravello Garden and Gretas clean, blonde, classic look, I can see the connction.

Rating: 4

Notes: litchi, white tea, rose bud, damascus rose, ambrox, cedarwood

fredag 23 juni 2017

Midsummer

Picture: Midsummerrose
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Midsummer again, or just passed. The summer solstice here in the north is celebrated the weekend after the occurrence with Friday as a national holiday. This year the weather (always a big question in Sweden) is quite good, mostly sunny and warm. For exemple two years ago it was almost as cold as on Christmas Eve (which was warm) with only 8 C daytime and rain.

For Midsummer one should (?) of course, if warm weather anyway, wear florals to match the occasion. I couldn't think of any flowery fragrance that I wan't to wear today, strangely I crave for spices today, and yeserday too to be honset, So I'm smelling as an oriental spicemarket of Les Néréides Oriental Lumpur which is a robust, dry, warm, spicy, patchoulileaves fragrance, in the higher ocataves of the fragrance notescale. If it had a color it is a light green/grey nuance. There also a dry, grassy element, here there is actually a connection to a swedish meadow when the grass is dry in the late summer. But overall Oriental Lumpur is dry spices, contrasted by the fresh earthy patchoulileaves. A good niche fragrance to the fraction of the price of others in the dry spicy segement such as Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain, Frederic Malle Noir Epices and Tom Ford Sahara Noir. A strong fragrance with distinct silage which should be applied in small doses. My vesion of  Oriental Lumpur is from the old anglesbottle.

måndag 12 juni 2017

Busy days...

Picture: Bird-cherry tree
Photo: Parfumista (c)
There are so much going on in the early summer and as my storage of edited pre-written reviews is empty there has been a shortage of blog posts lately. When (if :-), everything calms down reviews will appears about new releases from two favorite brands: Eau d'Italie and Carner Barcelona. Maybe also something inspired from the post about Zlatan and a Midsummerpost of course. Until then: Have a nice summer!

tisdag 23 maj 2017

Once again...

Picture: Vase with pink roses (1890)
by Vincent van Gogh
Wikipedia commons
It's so extremely saddened, the horrible, evil terrorattack murdering so many innocent children and teenagers visiting the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester yesterday.  I'm missing words.....

måndag 22 maj 2017

Impressions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic Myth Wood & Myth Bloom

Picture: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and
perfumer Olivier Pescheux sniffing their new releases
Myth Wood and Myth Bloom
Photo: PR Zlatan Ibrahimovic/Anna Malmberg (c)
Yesterday, visiting the local mall, there was a table exposing Zlatan Ibrahimovic's just launched fragrances Myth Wood and Myth Bloom and for once I stopped and sniffed.It's very rare I sniff a celebrity fragrance even if I'm claiming I'm not a perfumesnob. When it comes to Zlatan, he is of course not "just another celebrity" for a swede, he's after all the greatest footbollplayer this country has produced so far. And his partner Helena (who was an entrepeneaur and businesswomen long before she met Zlatan) has a great taste for fashion...

The Myth fragrances, according to the marketingbuzz, are inspired from the nature and myths of Sweden. Zlatan wanted to capture the scents from where he feel most at home, in the swedish nature where he gets peace and quiet. Perfumer Olivier Pescheaux was visitning Sweden around Midsummer 2016 to collect scents from the nature, the forests, meadows and from the archipelago with it's barren woods and vegetation. Then (I guess) headspace technology was used to transform the scents into the perfumers palette. My impressions comes from sniffing scentstripes with Myth Wood and Myth Bloom + two squeezes on skin of the female Myth Bloom.

Myth Wood starts quite common like a contemproary light, bright aromatic woody fragrance with a tangy fresh element, probably the grapefruit. Later some pine and blond woody notes steps forward to my nose also a note of beewax is fully evident even if not mentioned in the notelist. The lavander is not that evident but acting as a contrast to the woodyness. I can't smell the moss as a separate ingredient but the forestinspiered aura of the  fragrance contains a fresh, moisty, mossy element. Myth Wood is much more interesting in what's left on the scentstripe after almost a day than the more ordinary opening. A fragrance that comes to my mind when sniffing Myth Wood is Maria Candida Gentile Gershwin but without the incensenote in the latter. The aura and woody brightness, the calmness of the fragrance, also have something in common with Lankaran Forest from the same house.

Myth Bloom is a bright, pink rose with different companions than the usual example from the genre. The shamrock and especially the appleblossom are clearly detectable, contributing to the wild rose in a partly different direction. There is also an almost peachy note apperant, probably the result of the mix of the flowers. The woods are Scandinavian blond and bright, cedar balances the woody mix just right,   it doesn't becomes sharp or smelling like pencilshavings. There are also elements of hay and hints of the pleasant beewaxnote in Myth Wood. When sniffing Myth Bloom one of my first impressons was that this is amost UNUM Rosa Nigra and as logical result of that I also smell a connection to Burberry Body.

My findings from this brief evalution is that I like both fragrances very much. When it comes to Myth Wood the next step is to test it on my own skin as I think it's unisex from sniffing the scentstripe. When it comes to Myth Bloom I'm tempted to go for a bottle. And at last: Does the fragrances capture the scents of Sweden? Yes in some ways, it captures the spirit (in a chemical way of course) of the nature in summer, Bloom gives me associations to a Midsummer meadow and Wood has elements of the archipelago. Somehow I also come to think of Russia when smelling Wood. Maybe it's the beewaxnote and something that is similar to the olfactory picture of gentle incense in a wooden church in northen Russia, a picture I also experiences when smelling Commes de Garcons Zagorsk even if the fragrances smells different as a whole.

måndag 15 maj 2017

5 fragrances for a cold May

May, the month of spring has been very cold so far with tempratures beyond zero in the morning an and just some + degrees Celsius during the days. The crave for sheer and delicate fragrances which normally appears in spring hasn't arrived yet. As my longing for flowers remains unchanged my choices of fragrances are from the stronger and heavier cathegory this May.
Picture: Tubereuse Indiana
Photo: PR Creed (c)
Tubereuse Indiana (Creed): My boss nailed it when entering the room where I was working: "Oh here is the scent of the fine world". That´s Tubereuse Indiana in a nutshell, smooth, velvety, elegant tubereuse and mostly white flowers over the signature Creed ambergrisbase. Retrostyled, yet timeless elegance.
Picture: Honour Woman
Photo: PR Amouage (c)
Honour Woman (Amouage): Another beautiful white floral, this one is on the chillier side, accompanied with watery flowers. Elegant, versatile and comforting, contemporary yet timeless in style. In my book a runner up among the Amouages, it has grown to be one of my top favourites from this house.

Picture: Rose Ishtar
Photo: PR Rania J. (c)
Rose Ishtar (Rania J.): A cold, very dark and dry rose with a herbal/spicy contrast. Gives almost ancient vibes and it's androgynous, sometimes it leans to the masculine side and then suddenly it's strangely feminine. Maybe more of a autumnfragrance but anyway perfect for the moment.

Picture: Marni
Photo: PR Marni (c)
Marni (Marni): Another cold rose, but this time pink and bright with contrasting woody (cedar) and slight peppery notes, just perfect for accompaning a cold, frosty spring like this years. 

Picture: Graine de Joie
Picture: PR Eau d'Italie (c)
Graine de Joie (Eau d'Italie): A lush, fruity, berry floral which has become better the more I have tested it. Nothing chemical or sickenly sweet, just a warm red juicy nectar, giving hope of a coming summer after all. Delicious!

måndag 8 maj 2017

Carner Barcelona - Costarela

Picture: The Golden Beaches of Santa Susanna,
Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain
Photo: vincentdesjardins (cc) 
Costarela is a citrus woody spicy Edp created for Carner Barcelona by Shyamala Maisondieu.

Costarela is built around a partly unusual accord, tart, light citrus combined with a subdued saffron. I can also smell something similar to fresh cardamon, maybe a nuance of the saffron blend. There is also a dry paper note present and the overall impression is fresh, windy, salty,  yellow sun and sand, dry driftwood on the shores. Later in the dry down, Costarela deepens a bit when the ambery - woody notes are added to the "day at the seaside" accord described above.

Costarela is a discrete and versatile contemporary citrus aromatic fragrance which is suitable to wear both for work and casual, especially in spring and summer. It's a quiet fragrance which is quite close to the skin with a calming effect  The fragrances is unisex, leaning slightly to the masculine side. Longevity  is for almost a day even if Costarela in its later stages is very discrete and gentle, sometimes almost undetectable but when one think it has disappeared, then it's suddenly appears again as a gentle wisper. It's like returning waves of seasideinspired accords. Wearing Costarela creates the image of the beach a sunny and windy day with the monotonous sounds of the waves rolling in, bringing driftwood, algae, seaweed, shells and the smells from the ocean with them.
Picture: Costarela
Photo: PR Carner Barcelona (c)
Other fragrances I come to think of (not smelling the same but with a similar impression) when testing Costarela are fragrances from different interpretations of the salty, woody or citrus theme: Maria Candida Gentile Finisterre and Lankaran Forest, Hermès Epice Marine and Dior Homme Cologne

Rating: 4

Notes: Bergamot, saffron, marine and sand notes, cedar, ambroxan, amber