Video: SMELLYTHOUGHTS’ Best Fragrances of 2012

Pretty much the same as my Best of 2012 blog post but thought I’d post it here anyway
Oh and I forgot to mention M/Mink in the video Silly me!

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SMELLYTHOUGHTS Back Home… What Did I Get? + A Giveaway!

The REVEAL!
So after my two-week fragrant tour around Europe (which went swimmingly!) – I managed to pick up some goodies on the way (of course).
Here are my somewhat unusual choices if I do say so myself…

Bosque by Humiecki & Graef

I love Bosque. I always have. I got thinking about how people say it is the easiest to wear and the most “generic” of the H&G line – I completely disagree, but maybe that’s my mindset. I’ve planned this big friggin’ essay on Bosque that I’ve been working on and am looking forward to posting, it might be a bit ridiculous for most people to read but it’ll be there anyway
Bosque is a dried grassy/floral with really bizarre floral notes I might add… it dries down to this bizarrely salty/milky/spermy? accord undercut with vetiver, it’s extremely unusual, absolutely beautiful and I’m thrilled to finally have it.

M/Mink by Byredo

I had tried this one before but only on paper. I thought it was absolutely disgusting. However, as soon as it hit my skin in the store in Germany, I got this blast of animalic musk and an intensely synthetic aldehyde combo that still, turned my stomach a bit. But as it dried down and the bitter, set honey, dark incense and unsettling inky notes came in, I found it completely captivating. I’m not sure whether I’ll wear M/Mink much, but I knew it had to be in my collection – it fits an empty spot. It’s both intimate and completely soul-less – brilliant!

Miriam by Tableau de Parfums

Miriam is an incredible fragrance, a modern vintage classic that carries a true Andy Tauer signature. It’s such an emotional fragrance, beautiful, elegant and timeless – full of interesting twists and turns that take it in unexpected directions. It evokes such strong memories and emotions with me and is a real “homely” fragrance – it is pure bliss. I have written my big review on this so I don’t need to write much more, but I feel like I can sigh relief with a smile now I have it.

Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens

I knew I was going to get this one – it’s the most perfect iris (soliflore?) fragrance I’ve smelt. Full of carrots, powder, clove, earth and blahhhhhh it’s just great. A cold, calming, haunting perfume that has been on “the list” for far too long now. I needed it!

Rahat Loukhoum by Serge Lutens

Now here’s a weird one ey? Well… after my deep exploration of the exclusives line both outside of the Palais Royal and during my visit, I decided to pick up this one again for a quick sniff – having reviewed it many months ago after I had a slight obsession with it before smelling it. I loved it all over again – cherry, marzipan cakey goodness. But before, I was disappointed with the drydown – it lost the cherries, it lost the sweetness – it became a subtle skin scent that just hovered on my skin in a light, slightly powdered layer of vanilla, rose, musk and almond. The thing is, right now – this part appeals to me just as much. It is the ultimate comfort scent and I’d love to fall asleep to it. But also, It is the perfect fragrance to wear when you don’t know what to wear – something that will just within an hour or two melt into your skin in a delicate sweet layer that smells like a part of you – just a little more yummy. Thoughtless, elegant, edible? but necessary! I had to buy it. It alters my mind completely on first sniff – a complete joy.

Rubj by Vero Profumo

Rubj is one of the greatest florals created… in my opinion of course. As Judas as it is to say, I love the EDP more than the extrait… now, I adore the extrait, it’s beautiful – but the crisp green quality and the tart passionfruit in the EDP just tips the scale for me and could literally make me faint in adoration of this fragrance. An overwhelmingly gorgeous perfume that I almost feel is too good for me to wear, but when I wear it I feel incredible – and that’s what a real perfume should do! A necessity.

Leva by O’Driu

I have always wanted an O’Driu - but thought I didn’t like any of them enough to own – and the price is indeed terrifying. Leva always gets put down a bit in the lineup as being too sweet, too light, and too unlike the other O’Driu’s - I can’t disagree with that enough. Leva is a powerhouse on me, holding a typical O’Driu signature up top with THE MOST intense lemongrass and green olive combo which smells like a dense, pungent almost vinegar-laden oil on the skin. But the thing that captivates me the most is its perfect development (using only naturals I believe). The olives burn off after half an hour or so, the pungent lemongrass undercut by the greatest vanilla I have smelt. I struggle with vanilla so this is a big deal for me. Difficult to wear, but a real piece of art work.

Fracas by Robert Piguet

Ok I’m lying a bit here, this was a gift from the Robert Piguet house, but I came back to it from my holiday so I’m including it After all, it is a new bottle. I do love Fracas – a playful ditsy tuberose that I can splash on in abandon and roll around smelling of candies and cream – all buttered up in creamy white florals! Of course, there’s more to it than that, but I’ll be sure to write something a little more mature about it soon

So yes! There you have it. What do you guys think? Did I do good?

THE GIVEAWAY – NOW CLOSED!!!
(the real reason you’re reading this)

So one lucky reader can win a 1ml sample of each of my new goodies!
All you have to do is subscribe/follow (if you haven’t already!), let me know which one takes your fancy the most, AND – LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM!!
I love feedback, negative and all, don’t be afraid to tell me you hate something that’s part of the fun But it sucks to send people stuff and never hear from them again – just saying
I’ll announce the winner next Sunday: 23/12/2012 so make sure you come back and check because people keep forgetting to collect their goodies

Winner announced here!

Thanks for the support everyone

Freddie <3

Vero Profumo – Rubj EDP, Rubj Parfum

The final Vero fragrance reviews here. I have lived with them a little longer than those in my previous reviews, but still feel incomplete in my thorough understanding of them. So as always, here’s where I learn everything else…

Rubj EDP opens with a beautiful citrus with Vero’s creamy, passion fruit note instantly recognizable.
This quickly tumbles into an intense orange blossom aroma, with a bizarre anise providing a 10 second flicker. The openings to the Vero Profumo Eau De Parfum’s are so much to take in at once that my fingers can’t keep up with my writing.

So back to the opening whilst I remember… The citrus burst is both floral, and acidic. The creamy passion fruit signature (that has a urinal resemblance as mentioned in my other Vero reviews) ties Rubj together with both Onda and Kiki. The orange blossom merges with a full, voluptuous tuberose - rubbery and thoroughly narcotic. The florals are in balance with neither dominating, but both thrown out in full force. Bizarrely, the narcotic qualities of these florals paired with whatever else is going on in the base, give off an almost fruity-berry like aroma. This de-sweetened acidic fruit note ties Rubj to its name with a scarlet colour. The subtle yet unusual transformation reminds me of how the orange blossom in Parfumerie Generale’s Cuir Venenum turns into grape soda (only in a much more obvious manner).

Cutting under the white floral bouquet is a deep green oakmoss and a sharp wood (cedar I assume), that is almost as potent as the florals, making this an instantly recognizable chypre (something that I normally struggle detecting). The bitter greenery underneath is something that I’m not all that used to and am never sure whether I thoroughly enjoy it or not. Having said that, it is a wonderful change to my usual familiarity with tuberose in which it is always layered over something enhancing it’s thick, creaminess - coconut, musk, benzoin, sandalwood etc. Here the green chypre base of patchouli and oakmoss really balance out the sweetness and add an almost astringent quality to Rubj.

The passion fruit signature remains ever-present for a long time, imparting its familiar almost industrial aroma which seemed exaggerated in Onda. However, here, paired with the narcotic florals and bitter oakmoss greenery, everything seems to fall into a perfect harmony that feels both desperately modern, and so classical it becomes familiar. As a chypre, the base never fully tumbles into the depths of the greenery thanks to this neoteric passion fruit, verging on an almost overtly synthetic feel that keeps Rubj bright and electric – I have learnt to love this sharp and daring signature.

Rubj is clear and collected, defying expectations of accords and fragrant families with perfect execution.

Rubj Parfum (extrait) pushes forward with the narcotics even further with an immediate opening of hugely indolic jasmine. The magic mystery ingredient yet again produces a subtle berry aroma, and a tuberose I’m sure hides in the heart only much more restrained.

Here in the heart, the jasmine settles down and the orange blossom pushes forward until yet again, they are on par. Neither the jasmine or the rich orange blossom take the lead, but instead they become slightly sweeter than the EDP, yet more restrained without the uplift of the passion fruit (even though I still somehow get the feel of it).

A musk joins the rich florals and seems to provide this decadent, dirty and dusty angle. However, the scrubbed up florals and the signature Vero astringency, balance everything out into a composition that sways in and out of indolic, animalic excessiveness, and soapy, clean clarity. The result is something that becomes, thankfully, restrained and comfortable - more apparently as the heart fades into the drydown. A now streamlined fragrance settles - a green edge similar to that in the EDP is present here, along with the almost medicated berry accord still tying together the top notes with the base.

The jasmine and orange blossom tame greatly and the fragrance never falls to the darkness of say, the Onda extrait, but similarly has the greater depth and warmth. Whilst the Rubj Parfum isn’t my favourite of the trio, it is something that I feel is completely new to me, and thoroughly enjoyable for that. As with the other Vero extraits, this feels considerably more simplified than the EDP, but somehow so perfectly harmonized that it becomes just as complex. The notes work so well on their own in these extraits - allowing every aspect of them to shine and be enhanced by each other, that the complexity is something that comes only from smelling, and understanding them.

I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Vero Profumo fragrances and can’t wait to get my nose into the new release

Rubj Parfum Extrait 7.5ml Vero Profumo – $195 luckyscent.com
Rubj EDP 50ml Vero Profumo – $195 luckyscent.com