Unexpected delight: L'Erbolario 3 Rosa profuma roll-on gel

I don't like Rose scents (except in fresh roses) as a rule. But I love this one...

Perhaps it's the mix of pink pepper in the fragrance and the fresh green notes they wove in - that make it smell like you're in a rose garden on a frosty bright day.

It's a very ladylike fragrance, but but in anyway old lady. It isn't heady or powdery. It's sweet, fresh, with a rose note and a peppery bite.

It's also inspired by.... Pink. Which is another surprising thing for me, I really don't do pink except in makeup. The name 3 Pinks comes from the use of Cabbage Roses, Hollyhocks and Pink Pepper.

The perfume oil-gel is another revelation. It's not too strong but it lasts and lasts with a quiet endurance - perfect. I rather wish I had the spray too though... so I could spray my clothes and have them smell like it.

L'Erbolario is the Italian verison of L'Occitane and, in my opinion, classier and comes with far more heritage. It's in Malaysia in Bangsar Shopping Centre (I spotted it before I left for HK), so check it out.

This was a gift but the only site retails it at 12 Euros. Worth it I say!

Review: Hugo Boss Orange Sunset

With Sienna Miller as the face of Hugo Boss Orange I suppose I should have guessed I wouldn't like it. I'm not much a bohemian, sure I can appreciate the lifestyle but let's face it when push comes to shove my taste tends towards prim. 

But what I really dislike about this fragrance is that it can't make up its mind. It's like they took every single popular note on the market, threw it into a bottle in equal proportions and shook it. 

Vanilla? Check!

Floral? Check!

Musk? Check!

Candy? Check!

Citrus (Candy Mandarin actually)? Check!

Woodsy? Check!

You name it they included it. And it's strong, no matter where I spritzed it, my wrist, my hair, my dress (never again), my back, my knees... it annoyed me and gave me a headache. 

Rainy Days and Fragrance

Confession: One of my favourite things to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon is to curl up in bed with a slice of chocolate cake or something equally indulgent (Hot Horlicks doesn't cut it) and read about perfume.

I am not a perfume person in the sense where I have a lot of perfume and wear a lot of it. Heck, I don't even know what notes I am smelling half the time! But I do wear a spritz or two on an almost daily basis and have a few perfumes to pick from -- not a large collection, only 3 bottles and a few samples -- but it's enough to keep me from getting bored.

And enough to make me think about buying more.

Etude House Minime Stick Perfume in Ms Hot

I just had to share this great birthday pressie with you girls! Not only is it crazy adorable, it's grapefruit scented. And not JUST grapefruit scented, it smells BANG on like the now discontinued Pink Grapefruit range from The Body Shop - fresh citrus, grapefruit floral scent. 

My colleague knows me well. =)

As a stick perfume, it's not as emollient as many and unfortunately the scent doesn't last very long nor is it very strong. The grapefruit fades first leaving the floral a gentle whisper on the skin. The stick format though makes it ultra-portable, great for touch ups on the go. 

This range comes with a perfumed mist - I can't wait to check it out!

Because it's a gift, I don't know how much it costs, but Etude House products are generally very reasonably priced so we can forgive it for mimicking LAMB's Harajuku perfume bottles and TBS's Pink Grapefruit scents. =P

Edit: I checked and each perfume stick is a surprisingly pricey RM55.90! The lemon scented one is calling me now though, it's remarkably like an old The Body Shop scent - lemon tea. 

Anna Sui Flight of Fancy

The most arresting thing about the fragrance is its bottle - at least in the product shots. As soon as you get it out of the box what you're faced with is...

Disappointment. The cheap, light plastic peacock in particular could have been so much better. While I agree a glass topper would have been asking for trouble, at least a more solid, perspex number would have been prettier and weightier. 

The promise of the fragrance, like its advertisements, is also... well, fanciful:

Flight of Fancy invited the Anna Sui girl to find out who she was through the enchantment of discovery. Night of Fancy was about her exploring mischievous fantasies and the journey of mystery. Now, Anna Sui wants her to break free… Escape the bonds holding her back and do the things she never thought she could.

Well, alright. But what about the fragrance itself?

Fragrance review: Gucci Guilty

I am extremely fussy about fragrances and seldom buy blended perfumes - preferring simple single-note fragrances or natural essential oil blends - as aldehydes (synthetic fragrance notes) tend to give me a blinding headache. Too sweet scents make me nauseous as do gourmand scents. Plus I hate oriental perfumes. So when approached to try this vanilla-based floriental I initially turned down the offer - until I found out it's inspired by Barbara Streisand's song "Guilty". I LOVE Barbara Streisand. Even so, I was really really surprised to find I really quite like this scent  - even if I have to be careful where I spritz it as too near my nose results in the inevitable headache. *sighs*

Guest Review: Hugo Boss Bottled NIght

A male fragrance needs a man to review it. So meet Kenwick ladies. He's roadtested the cologne for a few weeks and here's what he thinks of it:

Sexy.

Invigorating.

Confident.

These are the words that came to mind when I spritzed on Hugo Boss Bottled Night before an outing one evening.

My first impression; I liked it. The pleasant, not overpowering aroma made me feel energised and my confidence level did go up a notch. The fragrance has a mild musky scent, which I attribute to the louro amarelo wood ingredient, making it an ideal night scent for the casual night about town.

After I left home and met up with my friends, I noticed the scent took on a warm subtle tone having been warmed by my body temperature.. However, it didn’t linger all night and could only be faintly picked up if the nose was very near to the skin.

Like lemon cookies: Maggie, by Wiggle Perfume

It has been pointed out to me that because it's so hard for me to find a perfume my nose agrees with, I am a wee bit fragrance obsessed. Having given up on commercial designer perfumed I find myself sniffing my way hopefully through handcrafted perfumes and that's how I came across the delightful Nani and her Etsy store - Wiggle Perfumes - and a perfume that makes me smell like warm lemon cookies.

I adore the Wiggle Perfume name and philosophy:
"The wiggle is about pushing back against the notion that all our parts are meant to be hard and flat and angular. It's about realizing how much power there is to be found in the curvy jiggly bits. It's about spending less time in the gym and more time in the bedroom. It's about relaxing and letting the good outweigh the bad. Rock what ya got!"

Who doesn't want the wiggle in her walk? And isn't her photography wonderful? I want to frame some of them up!

I bought 4 samples off Nani at US$1 each - 101, Valdosta, Verbena & Maggie - and got one, Geneva, free (she's wonderful that way). Now scents are very personal, and what I dislike another may love, so I'll only say that I didn't take to any except Maggie.

Scent
Wiggle Description:
"My first official bakery scent, this one, like my others, has a grown-up twist. Layered into the lemon cookie sweetness are touches of cinnamon, sandalwood, egyptian musk, and soft yellow rose."

That I like Maggie so much surprises me. I've always thought that I'm about clean fresh scents and foody perfumes always annoy or distract me. But the warm cinnamon and slightly baked scent rounds out the bright and tart lemon making me smell fresh, yet snuggly. Like a warm kitchen with the tang of a cool breeze, Maggie makes me feel delicious, but not too sugary. I may on a nice day be a lemon cookie, but I am never candy.

As proof of it's yumminess - I had to put off wearing it until after Ramadhan as it made my poor fasting colleague too hungry!

Formula
Approach Wiggle perfume oils with caution as they are very strong. The tiniest drop gives you a longlasting waft of fragrance about you. A larger drop and poof you're a room fragrance. No matter how yummy the perfume, aim for the tiny drop. Please.

Conclusion
When this sample runs out (and it's taking awhile) I'll be buying a 5ml rollerball vial of Maggie. Considering how long it lasts, that will be $US11 well spent! I've already ordered samples of Clementine Spice Tea, Speakeasy Vanilla (more for friends than me - I've never liked vanilla) and Martine. From reviews I gather Nani's strengths may lie in slightly heavier, foodier perfumes. I can't wait to sniff these out!