Fragrance Junkie Central

[Mochapj]

I know there are a few of us on BT that are fragrance addicts, so I thought it would be nice to have a dedicated place where we can share our thoughts.

This is not to take away from the lovely What Are You Wearing Today, Fragrance Edition thread, but more a place to post longer reviews, chat about new brands or releases, and just shoot the breeze on anything good and smelly 🙂

For me, I recently acquired 2 new decants that I've been anxiously awaiting.  Ever since Lachaton mentioned that MMM was releasing a new scent called By The Fireplace I've been itching to get my hands on it.  My decant arrived yesterday, so I'm looking forward to marinating in it this weekend.  Secondly, I recently picked up a tiny sample of Shiseido Nombre Noir.  Supposedly it is one of the most expensive failures in perfume history - made by Serge Lutens for Shiseido back in the 80s.  Of course, with a backstory like that, I was dying to get a sniff 😄

What's new on your scent radar?  Do tell!

 

[Mochapj]

A fragrance brand I own a few bottles from (Olfactive studio) is running a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the manufacture of some new bottles

they sent out an email on Friday about it and it's pretty cool.  Thought I'd post it for any who are interested 

[lipstick4soul]

Does anyone know why surrender to chance and perfumed court stopped carrying Chanel les exclusifs line? I went to check and see if either had gotten the new Boy fragrance and noticed they didn't have any of them. I know they are inconsistent but they had some really nice scents and several I was hoping to get around to trying some time. 

Any other suggested sources?

[ChristalM]

Sadly chanel went the way of Bond and demanded they be pulled and not be allowed to sell decant.

[Mochapj]

Ooh, I got a sample of the new CdG Grace Coddington in my recent perfume order.

I wasn't going to order it to sample, but I'm still excited to try it out 🙂

[TriesToBoClassy]

Here are my first impressions on the Jo Malone Rare Tea collection. I listed them in order of trial, which was from the lightest to the darkest colored juice. Tagging @lipstick4soul and @vegchililover78

Siver Needle I really like the opening. I get bergamot & saffron, some mimosa. Not a lot of rose. There is some musk and smoky tea in the background. The drydown is mostly fruity (melon?).
Darjeeling Initially very citrusy, with a a little bit of nondescript white flowers. It is mostly soapy after the initial blast of citrus, then the soapiness goes and it's a light white flower drydown. This one is disappointing, and closest to a 'generic perfume'.
Jade Leaf lots of pomelo throughout. It opens with a blast of citrus and pine(?), and a bit of matcha fumes. Then it becomes all toasty and oriental medicine-y. I think this is the first perfume where i might actually smell the sesame notes. It simultaneously reminded me of Japan and Thailand. The drydown is mostly pomelo.
Oolong woodsy, smoky, sweet, a small bit of tonka. yes this is definitely reminiscent of oolong. it's almost creamy. There isn't much of anything in the drydown, but that's probably because i tried it on the back of my hand, where scents tend to evaporate really quickly. I liked the opening, I should retry on my wrist soon.
Midnight Black Lots of vanilla, amber, and oud. A little smoky. The opening is very gourmand, but it becomes drier and more oud-centric in the drydown.
Golden Needle creamy sandalwood, leather. This reminds me of a lot Santal Blush, but simpler, lighter, and a little spicier. I can't say for sure that i get any tea from it, but i really like it.

Notes according to The Perfumed Court:

Spoiler

Silver Needle Tea - white tea, bergamot and rose
Darjeeling Tea - black tea, jasmine, freesia and davana
Jade Leaf Tea - sencha tea, sesame seeds, pomelo and frankincense
Oolong Tea - oolong, bitter cocoa, tobacco leaf and tonka bean
Midnight Black Tea - pu-erh tea, vanilla, labdanum and guaiac wood
Golden Needle Tea - Yunnan tea buds, leather, spices, sandalwood and benzoin

* Fragrantica has more notes. Jo Malone's website has remarks on fragrance inspiration, characteristics etc.

[Anonymous]

Ooh, I was just thinking about doing a STC order for these. Thanks @TriesToBoClassy

[TriesToBoClassy]

I am having a lot of fun with these 😄 please share what you think when you try them!

[vegchililover78]

These are great descriptions TTBC! So far I've tried Darjeeling and Oolong. I agree with you 100% on Darjeeling. Oolong smells very clean on me once it dries down. Neither really smell like tea. I suppose I can detect tea slightly when smelling Oolong in the atomizer.  

[TriesToBoClassy]

There is a back of the throat scratchiness to most of the scents that remind me of brewed tea, though it's probably the weakest in Darjeeling. Oolong has a roasty thing going on, similar to roasted tea leaves. I tried Oolong again and the dry down is indeed clean, almost nonexistent. None of the Rare Teas seem to have good longevity 😞 Please share what you think of the rest!

[lipstick4soul]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I ordered oolong, jade leaf and darjeeling based on jo malone's descriptions and they havent arrived yet. I wish now I had gotten the others. 

[TriesToBoClassy]

I find Jade Leaf interesting enough to warrant a bigger decant, and Oolong very enjoyable. I hope your skin chemistry will work better with Darjeeling than it did for me! Excited to hear what you think 🙂

[lipstick4soul]

I agree with you @TriesToBoClassy on both Darjeeling and Oolong!  Darjeeling didn't smell citrusy to me but lighter and fairly generic. Oolong was a bit more complex and did smell a bit like smoked tea and definitely slightly creamy as you mentioned. I quite liked it. I am going to try it again tomorrow and also jade leaf. 

[TriesToBoClassy]

Skin chemistry is weird. I could have done without the citrus in Darjeeling 🙂

I wonder whether drinking tea while testing would make the scents more or less pleasant.. 

[lipstick4soul]

My decants actually arrived yesterday. Took forever! I will try this weekend 🙂

[ChristalM]

Ohhh thanks. Midnight Black sounds nice!

[TriesToBoClassy]

It's really nice! It's more of a cold weather scent imo 😄

[Mochapj]

Agree - very interested in Midnight Black 😮

[Mochapj]

Leaving this here for @lachaton @ExquisiteGypsy and  @ChristalM

Am wearing the Citron d'Erable scent today.  I'd wanted to hold out until they offered the sample mini just in case I didn't like it (I hate returning used things) but I couldn't wait any longer.

To recap: 

Notes: lemon, mandarin, Szechuan pepper, maple, eucalyptus, blackcurrant, maple wood, sequoia, cedar 

I haven't been wearing it for long yet, so I will come back and update my impressions throughout the day.  

So far, I'm not hating on it.

The opening is definitely citrusy; it is not so much lemon as lemon blossom, and there is a large juicy mandarin orange presence.  I hate orange and its derivatives in fragrance usually, but the white floral aspect is softening it a lot.  I get a bit of blackcurrant as well, and it almost makes it smell saccharine, like something you'd get at B&BW.

I've been to maple sugar shacks before and so far I can say this is nothing like them.  But, I haven't gotten any of the maple, pepper or woodsy notes just yet.

When I was googling last night to see if I could find any more reviews/details I did come across a french blog with a post from 2011 stating that Atelier had been working on a maple scent, so apparently this has been a long time coming 😉

[ExquisiteGypsy]

Well @Mochapj & @ChristalM, I gave Citron d'Erable a good test run this week and I am sad to report that the results were not good on me, either. 

The opening was very citrusy and sweet, but within 5-10 minutes it turned quite woody. But not necessarily a pleasant, I-want-to-smell-like-this-all-day woody. There was another note in there somewhere that conjured up a memory scent - that of the entryway of our neighbour's house on the farm in Saskatchewan. Our neighbours have livestock and the boots in their entryway always had the faint scent of dirt and hay - that's what this perfume reminds me of after 10 minutes. Sadly it doesn't work with my chemistry either, so it's probably going to have to go back...

[ChristalM]

@ExquisiteGypsythanks so much for the review! Looks like it will be a pass for me as well. I wish that sample code would go live so I could snag a bit of it anyway 😞 

[ExquisiteGypsy]

Awesome! Thank you for such a detailed review, @Mochapj. I impulsively placed an order for this on Monday so I hope to have the bottle in a few days (just in time for when I get back home). I'm usually not a huge fan of florals but I do love my citrus & sweeter scents, so I'm looking forward to trying this one!