So my load today is hefty. It's Lacoste Essential, an overrated, overpopular designer fragrance that I must attempt to like.
The box is shiny and bright green, already a turnoff. When opened, packaged snugly is a nice clear bottle of translucent jade-colored liquid, capturing your attention with its subtle cleverness before turning it to face Lacoste's ever-ubiquitous crocodile. The bottle is textured smoothly, with an odd curve scheme that's vertically curved on one side and horizontally so on the other. Very well done.
Upon first smell it reminds me of fresh Old Spice. Slowly it turns into a more synthetic smell, but (if at all possible) more in the good way. It's decidedly masculine, with very few to no florals. Definitely one for the daytime, as it's not nearly strong enough for nighttime loving.
Once again we turn to Basenotes for the notes.
Top notes: Tangerine, Bergamot, Tomato Leaves, Cassis.
Middle notes: Black Pepper, Rose.
Base notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Woody Notes.
Tomato leaves and Cassis are what strike me as interesting. Many of us have smelled tomato leaves (if you haven't, don't bother) and found the sensation utterly displeasing. Amazing how Lacoste and IFF could make that into a great scent.
It opens very nicely, lasts quite a while on my body, and has given me many compliments. It's powerful, masculine, and gives a good first impression as not being too flirty. Suggested for spring and summer, in the daytime.
Packaging: 8/10- What the box lacks, the bottle makes up for. Its unique, clean, and simple design is simply beautiful.
Scent: 7/10- Not a god-among-men of scents, and has some unpleasant notes that wrinkle the nose slightly, but is in a whole an excellent scent.
Longevity: 7/10- It lasts. Quite long. Even after a shower.
I must say my impression of Lacoste Essential is excellent, even though it's not nearly my first. It's an enjoyable and impressive scent in the workplace, but will find you scorn at the hands of esoterics.
-Soren.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Musings: Coolwater, Electric Heat, etc.
It's Monday again.
Last Friday went without the review of my intended scent. That'll have to wait until next Friday.
In the meantime, Junior Prom happened this last Friday, a decent reason for me not posting to this blog. It was interesting, fun. I wore Chanel's Antaeus, with my flanking friends on Coolwater and another scent I've yet to discover.
I've been meaning to check out Coolwater's new Cool Summer scent for 2009, as well as YSL's Opium and Drakkar Noir.
Joop!'s Electric Heat for men was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. Don't try it. As was Perry Ellis 360 classic.
That's it for this Monday. My review of Lacoste Essential comes this Friday.
Last Friday went without the review of my intended scent. That'll have to wait until next Friday.
In the meantime, Junior Prom happened this last Friday, a decent reason for me not posting to this blog. It was interesting, fun. I wore Chanel's Antaeus, with my flanking friends on Coolwater and another scent I've yet to discover.
I've been meaning to check out Coolwater's new Cool Summer scent for 2009, as well as YSL's Opium and Drakkar Noir.
Joop!'s Electric Heat for men was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. Don't try it. As was Perry Ellis 360 classic.
That's it for this Monday. My review of Lacoste Essential comes this Friday.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Musings: Coty, Wolfgang.
Happy Monday.
It's been quite a nice week, both in perfumery and my normal life. I shall start with the former.
If you've bought any fragrances in the past forty years one can assume you've seen the "Coty" mark on the boxes of certain scents. That's because Coty, the massive fragrance company, owns everything from Coolwater to Calvin Klein to Joop! to Chopard.
Anyway, Coty just got a new president. Renato Semerari will be managing Coty's Beauty Division. The man's worked with Shalimar and Sephora, so he's bound to put some class into Coty's Beauty division.
In other realms of my life I must say I'm doing well. Just got my fingers on a new Wolfgang Gartner track called Push & Rise, which isn't quite as good as his past material, but neither were Yin and Yang. Fortunately I do have other things to entertain myself with.
And that's about it for today's post. Join me again Friday when I review a modern daytime powerhouse.
It's been quite a nice week, both in perfumery and my normal life. I shall start with the former.
If you've bought any fragrances in the past forty years one can assume you've seen the "Coty" mark on the boxes of certain scents. That's because Coty, the massive fragrance company, owns everything from Coolwater to Calvin Klein to Joop! to Chopard.
Anyway, Coty just got a new president. Renato Semerari will be managing Coty's Beauty Division. The man's worked with Shalimar and Sephora, so he's bound to put some class into Coty's Beauty division.
In other realms of my life I must say I'm doing well. Just got my fingers on a new Wolfgang Gartner track called Push & Rise, which isn't quite as good as his past material, but neither were Yin and Yang. Fortunately I do have other things to entertain myself with.
And that's about it for today's post. Join me again Friday when I review a modern daytime powerhouse.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Review: Versace Blue Jeans
Happy Friday. Welcome to the first review post of Vetiver en Paradiso.
Had you not read the first two posts, my name is Soren and I will be reviewing one of my old favorites on the board today, a young hipster fashionable cologne by the name of Versace Blue Jeans.
The packaging for this one is very odd. No cardboard boxes to be found anywhere in sight. The bottle itself comes in a hard metal case similar in shape to but harder than a 16oz Energy Drink can. The tin is decorated with a denim texture, and pictures of men in overalls at work and play, advocating a "jeans" lifestyle.
The bottle inside is somewhat small and understated, a decanter-shaped bottle with a plastic imitation lacquer top with the Versace lion embossed on top.
The fragrance itself starts out spicy, sweet, and friendly. It later opens up full-on with masculine woody and flowery scents, and finally lays itself to rest amid notes of sandalwood and musk.
It seems to make me approachable, and lends me many compliments at the hands of the ladies. Quite a good fougere, this one is.
According to Basenotes...
Top Notes: Citrus Cocktail, Galbanum.
Middle Notes: Juniper, Lavender, Jasmine, Violet, Nutmeg.
Base Notes: Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Musk.
In terms of longevity it does not last as well on my body as it does on those of others. I've heard of it lasting up to ten hours on other people in the past, but on my own body it doesn't seem to elapse four hours before retreating to a light sandalwood tone.
Packaging: 7/10- Personal Preference. I seem to like the bottle and its outside cylinder.
Scent: 8.5/10- I enjoy it, and it garners compliments.
Longevity: 4/10- Alas it doesn't seem to last on my body.
Had you not read the first two posts, my name is Soren and I will be reviewing one of my old favorites on the board today, a young hipster fashionable cologne by the name of Versace Blue Jeans.
The packaging for this one is very odd. No cardboard boxes to be found anywhere in sight. The bottle itself comes in a hard metal case similar in shape to but harder than a 16oz Energy Drink can. The tin is decorated with a denim texture, and pictures of men in overalls at work and play, advocating a "jeans" lifestyle.
The bottle inside is somewhat small and understated, a decanter-shaped bottle with a plastic imitation lacquer top with the Versace lion embossed on top.
The fragrance itself starts out spicy, sweet, and friendly. It later opens up full-on with masculine woody and flowery scents, and finally lays itself to rest amid notes of sandalwood and musk.
It seems to make me approachable, and lends me many compliments at the hands of the ladies. Quite a good fougere, this one is.
According to Basenotes...
Top Notes: Citrus Cocktail, Galbanum.
Middle Notes: Juniper, Lavender, Jasmine, Violet, Nutmeg.
Base Notes: Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Musk.
In terms of longevity it does not last as well on my body as it does on those of others. I've heard of it lasting up to ten hours on other people in the past, but on my own body it doesn't seem to elapse four hours before retreating to a light sandalwood tone.
Packaging: 7/10- Personal Preference. I seem to like the bottle and its outside cylinder.
Scent: 8.5/10- I enjoy it, and it garners compliments.
Longevity: 4/10- Alas it doesn't seem to last on my body.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Musings: The beginning.
The format of this blog will be as follows.
I will update Mondays and Fridays, and odd updates will likely occur in between.
Monday's updates will consist of odd musings and ramblings, news in the industry, news about me, and news about music. Things an esoteric such as yours truly would enjoy.
Friday's updates will consist of reviews. Each Friday I will take care to review a perfume or cologne, either male or female. I will assign it a ranking in personal enjoyment out of ten, and a ranking of longevity out of five.
This is a Monday update, so as mentioned two paragraphs above it will outline my musings in cologne and perfume, to my own enjoyment.
Recently I saw a new addition to Yves Saint Laurent's website on the men's section. There is a variation of the future classic L'Homme scent, titled La Nuit de L'Homme. I find myself very intrigued by its darker bottle and its promising status as an alternative to the original L'Homme, which I very much enjoyed.
I am currently returning from a trip to Boston and New York, where I enjoyed a broken iPod hard drive causing my music library to go unheard. Instead I resorted to an old CD I found in my car, consisting of trashy psy-trance and subpar Röyksopp remixes.
My current testlist consists of a few powerful 80's "man-juices" deemed the "Holy Triumvirate" by the geeks over at Basenotes, a site I very much enjoy visiting. The trio consists of Chanel's Antaeus, Yves Saint Laurent's (hereby known as YSL) Rive Gauche, and also its Kouros. These three powerhouse night-time scents made the 80's what they were in cologne. Not quite as elegant as the 90's or 00's, but with an edge of "I'm a male" found almost nowhere else.
So ends today's musing. Join me Friday when I review one of my favorite young and hip scents, Versace's very own Blue Jeans.
-Soren
I will update Mondays and Fridays, and odd updates will likely occur in between.
Monday's updates will consist of odd musings and ramblings, news in the industry, news about me, and news about music. Things an esoteric such as yours truly would enjoy.
Friday's updates will consist of reviews. Each Friday I will take care to review a perfume or cologne, either male or female. I will assign it a ranking in personal enjoyment out of ten, and a ranking of longevity out of five.
This is a Monday update, so as mentioned two paragraphs above it will outline my musings in cologne and perfume, to my own enjoyment.
Recently I saw a new addition to Yves Saint Laurent's website on the men's section. There is a variation of the future classic L'Homme scent, titled La Nuit de L'Homme. I find myself very intrigued by its darker bottle and its promising status as an alternative to the original L'Homme, which I very much enjoyed.
I am currently returning from a trip to Boston and New York, where I enjoyed a broken iPod hard drive causing my music library to go unheard. Instead I resorted to an old CD I found in my car, consisting of trashy psy-trance and subpar Röyksopp remixes.
My current testlist consists of a few powerful 80's "man-juices" deemed the "Holy Triumvirate" by the geeks over at Basenotes, a site I very much enjoy visiting. The trio consists of Chanel's Antaeus, Yves Saint Laurent's (hereby known as YSL) Rive Gauche, and also its Kouros. These three powerhouse night-time scents made the 80's what they were in cologne. Not quite as elegant as the 90's or 00's, but with an edge of "I'm a male" found almost nowhere else.
So ends today's musing. Join me Friday when I review one of my favorite young and hip scents, Versace's very own Blue Jeans.
-Soren
Saturday, April 11, 2009
This is the beginning.
This is the beginning of a critique.
No, not a large one by any means.
We bloggers exist to calm the storm. We exist to point fingers and to propose solutions that will never come to be. We are the Demosthenes, the orators, of our generation. Yet we are also the sick, twisted, humorous critics.
This blog will not be such a thing. It will not be a vehicle to attack an industry or to condemn a people.
Instead it is a reminder to us that class must still exist. Class not as in the attendance of a group of scholarly individuals to a room where learning is done. Class as in class.
This blog will concern itself with real class. In its powerful, controversial, elegant, sensuous, and sometimes downright sexy self. But not in the stuffy way. This blog will concern itself with one aspect of class alone. Scent.
No, you will not find glowing reviews of Axe body spray or Right Guard's newest deodorant stick here. By scent I mean perfume and cologne. Scents of class. We will review ambergris, vetiver, bergamot, mandarin, tonka bean, and other notes. We will immerse ourselves in the art of refined smell.
My name is Soren and I will be guiding you. I will be reviewing scent, critiquing it, and playing with its intricate notes as I do my words. You need only sit back, relax, and purchase a sample of something once in a while.
Enjoy yourselves.
No, not a large one by any means.
We bloggers exist to calm the storm. We exist to point fingers and to propose solutions that will never come to be. We are the Demosthenes, the orators, of our generation. Yet we are also the sick, twisted, humorous critics.
This blog will not be such a thing. It will not be a vehicle to attack an industry or to condemn a people.
Instead it is a reminder to us that class must still exist. Class not as in the attendance of a group of scholarly individuals to a room where learning is done. Class as in class.
This blog will concern itself with real class. In its powerful, controversial, elegant, sensuous, and sometimes downright sexy self. But not in the stuffy way. This blog will concern itself with one aspect of class alone. Scent.
No, you will not find glowing reviews of Axe body spray or Right Guard's newest deodorant stick here. By scent I mean perfume and cologne. Scents of class. We will review ambergris, vetiver, bergamot, mandarin, tonka bean, and other notes. We will immerse ourselves in the art of refined smell.
My name is Soren and I will be guiding you. I will be reviewing scent, critiquing it, and playing with its intricate notes as I do my words. You need only sit back, relax, and purchase a sample of something once in a while.
Enjoy yourselves.
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