April22Bee

Right from the start, Nerolia Vetiver kicks off extremely splashy.
To my nose, the opening is very intense and green-citrusy. A comparison with 4711, which I have heard from some, cannot be ruled out.

The neroli essence dominates in the first minutes and refreshes massively. Zesty, almost sour, which is known to make things fun is the motto of this fragrance.
Especially good in the height of summer.

After 10 minutes, you can smell fig + basil, which gives the fragrance a rounded green-woody base that is not sweet and certainly not sugary. Those looking for a fig scent where the fig dominates and carries a ripe sweetness will certainly not find the fig fragrance they seek in Nerolia Vetiver.

The scent is primarily green-fresh, moderately milky, and with its vetiver base slightly balsamic-earthy-woody. The fragrance is so rounded that no note stands out, but rather creates a wonderful interplay.

I find the scent really great. Absolutely unisex.

I layered it once with Orange Soleia and once with Pera Granita, as I own these varieties myself.

Both layered versions give the fragrance a fantastic scent profile. With Orange Soleia, it becomes really lively and fruity. Just wonderful.
With Pera Granita, it is sweetly fresh. Also beautiful.

Nerolia Vetiver fits wonderfully with the other Allegorias and has found a suitable home with me.

I must confess that I made this purchase blindly and it was quite a risk, as lavender and I are not always the best of friends.
For as much as I love the scent of lavender in nature, it often ruins my enjoyment of it in fragrances (with a few exceptions).

This is my first natural perfume and I was very curious about what the impressions would be like.

First of all, it must be said that the first spray is quite intense, as the alcohol is massive and completely overpowers the lavender. Only moderately can one guess where the journey might lead.

It’s almost as if you are standing somewhere on the wild coast of France, the spray is whipping around you and a storm is approaching the shore. Or you might be in the middle of the Alps and suddenly see a large storm brewing, knowing you don’t have much time and need to find shelter to avoid getting caught in the storm...

Only when the storm has passed does a beautiful lavender field reveal itself behind a hill.
According to the manufacturer, the lavender comes from the French sea Alps at an altitude of 1800 meters... the high-altitude air has certainly done it good. The 'wild lavender' is hand-harvested up there and radiates a scent presence that is said to be among the most beautiful lavender fragrances...

Because after the alcohol has completely evaporated, you smell wild lavender in its purest and most beautiful form, so authentic that I immediately press my nose back to my wrist because it smells so soothingly beautiful and I feel as if I am standing in the midst of this enchanting lavender field....

A wild lavender, slightly herbaceous and spicy, becomes softer and more endearing over time, and I notice how strongly it calms me. At the same time, it is so present that I hope it never goes away... ah... the initial alcohol is completely forgotten.

Unfortunately, it is a fragrance that receives real deductions in terms of longevity. For me, it will be a scent that I will enjoy spraying in the evening, perhaps after showering or just before going to bed, so that the gentle veil of lavender I am wrapped in lets me fall asleep peacefully. It will surely be helpful to have this lavender with me during exams or when I want to consciously relax.

As it also states on the bottle: for refreshment and relaxation. :)
I feel wonderfully relaxed and will spray another round right away.

Conclusion: Those looking for a fragrance that lasts several hours will certainly not find the right one here. However, if you love and seek authentic lavender and don’t mind spraying more often or can accept that the magic fades after 2 hours, you can surely find joy in this maienfelser.

I am satisfied and will spray another round right away.

Thank you for sticking with me and reading.

Today I would like to introduce one of my absolute favorite fragrances, a scent that many have already talked about here on parfumo...
Angélique Noire from the house of Guerlain (2005)

Fragrance Notes
Top note: Angelica seeds, pear, pink pepper
Heart note: Arabian jasmine, cumin
Base note: Angelica root, vanilla, cedarwood

Fragrance family: oriental, in my opinion also slightly sweet-spicy...

Categorically, it is a rather heavy fragrance, very intense yet moderate. An interesting combination.....

When a silent flower enchants ... So it says on the Guerlain website about this fragrance, and what can I say, it's true.

Most Guerlain fragrances are - as we know - not for absolute beginners; just think of Mitsouko, Shalimar, or L'Heure Bleue. I would also categorize Angélique Noire in this group, as it demands - in my opinion - a lot from its wearer.

It should be said upfront that, in my eyes, it is not an everyday fragrance that can be sprayed on every day; it is definitely made for special occasions and appearances.
Basically, it is created for the cooler seasons and is personally only sprayed by me in autumn and winter.

INTERPRETATION AND DESCRIPTION:
It may sound strange when I say this about a perfume, but this scent is majestic. It radiates without being intrusive; I don't mean this in terms of sillage or projection - because that is truly outstanding. This fragrance radiates so intensely; it is independent and stands above things, like a queen who lovingly and protectively wraps her arms around her people, radiating pure warmth and trust while never losing a moment of her strength and power. She invites her wearer to rule alongside her but expects you to be her equal and to bear that power.

THE fragrance seduces, draws me in, and I feel like it speaks to me.
Since I applied the fragrance, I feel completely comfortable, as I connect with it, feeling strong, carefree, seductive, and absolutely elevated.

At the same time, I suddenly feel uncomfortable because I only wear Angélique Noire with jeans and a shirt, and the fragrance demands that I wear something more appropriate for it.... this may sound totally crazy to some, but that’s really what the fragrance does to me. And because I usually go around in jeans and sneakers, the bottle is still not particularly empty, even though I love the fragrance, but I also love my sneakers...

But because I truly believe that this fragrance must be worn appropriately; it is grown-up, it stands in life, it does not seek, but it is there and it has an effect. Well, that’s why I only wear it when I can show it properly, because Angélique deserves that. It must be shown.

FRAGRANCE DEVELOPMENT:
The start of Angélique is very herbal + spicy on me personally. The fragrance shows little fruit; instead, angelica + pink pepper duel.... which is more like a show fight... After 5 minutes, Angélique Noire reveals a slightly sweet side, and you sense that the fragrance will take some unpredictable turns. After half an hour, the fragrance develops so beautifully that you perceive pure and real (not synthetic) vanilla pod on the skin. The scent of vanilla is so soft and warm - moderately sweet, but all the more aromatic. A slight spiciness comes through, the cumin gently caresses the skin.
The fragrance drives me crazy because it has an incredible depth and still retains its intensity hours later.

Why do I love wearing this fragrance:
When I bought it in a perfumery three years ago, that was when it happened, why I never want to miss it. I confess, I do love a bit of luxury. It was right in the middle of December. My Finnish aunt was visiting Berlin, and we secretly arranged to surprise my mom. I had agreed with my mom that we would go shopping, and - she didn’t know we had to kill time - we made a stop at a perfumery on Kudamm. When I had the fragrance sprayed on me in the store, I initially thought it was not for me at all because I usually wear fresh-floral scents like Chloe EDT. But after just 10 minutes, while we were already at the checkout to buy L'Heure Bleue for my mother, I smelled my wrist again... I was magnetically glued to it with my nose, and the fragrance literally pulled me back towards the lady who had sprayed it on me earlier with the words: "I see, the fragrance was made for you."
You can imagine that I had smiled at her 10 minutes earlier..... while I stayed at the checkout with my mom, I asked my better half to get the fragrance for me instead. He came back smiling and said the lady had said she knew it from the very beginning. She doesn’t spray it on just anyone....
I found that a bit silly because, of course, I would say that as a salesperson too, but I was inwardly pleased, took the bottle, and we paid. As we left the store, I kept smelling my wrist again and again, overjoyed about this new, expensive investment.
We then made our way to the secret meeting point where my mom was supposed to meet her sister. We crossed Kurfürstendamm. On a median strip, the traffic light had just turned red again when suddenly two ladies ran up to me and said: "We followed your fragrance. We were already on the other side of the street, but we had to come back. We need to know what you are wearing. We want to smell just like you."
I was completely perplexed; this had only happened to me before with the old EDT from Chloe.
Of course, I confidently directed the ladies to the store along with the fragrance. Whether they had it sprayed on, who knows....

Since then, I wear and love it, though not every day. A true signature.

Due to the extremely high price, one should definitely test it beforehand. I have not regretted the purchase and hope it remains on the market because it simply makes me happy. For every luxury fragrance lover looking for a special scent and a "advanced" fragrance that is unisex but can still not be worn by everyone - because I believe you either love it or hate it - Angélique Noire can become a truly loyal companion and make the wearer happy. The price-performance ratio is absolutely justified in my eyes.

Thank you to everyone who has made it this far. But since this fragrance is so dear to my heart, I wanted to present it properly.

P.S. By the way, my mom was very happy to see her sister. She hadn’t even realized that she was suddenly there, and it was touching how overjoyed they fell into each other's arms. My dad was also moved when we later waited for my aunt in the restaurant.
A completely successful day that I always like to remember when I spray Angélique... I believe that is what makes certain fragrances so special and what Thierry Wasser said in the masterclass - fragrances are there to create your own special memories....
How right he is.....

Thank you for your attention.

Dear ones. Today I would like to introduce you to another Serge Lutens fragrance that I was able to test, namely the scent "Féminité du bois" by Serge Lutens from the year 2009.

It is considered the successor to the Shiseido fragrance, which was also called féminité du bois and dates back to 1992, by the same perfumers, Serge Lutens and Christopher Sheldrake.

Now let's talk about the SL edition from 2009. This oriental-woody fragrance conjured images in me that are worthy of additional commentary. For me, this type of perfume, which evokes images, emotions, etc., is an expression of high perfumery art.
And that is also what makes Serge Lutens' fragrances so unique:
The true art of a Serge Lutens perfume lies not in the mere blending of individual ingredients, but in the olfactory capturing of an experience or feeling.
Whether the fragrance is ultimately liked or not is a matter of personal taste. However, I find it wonderful when I can grasp the idea behind a scent while smelling it, when the idea becomes tangible and it suddenly makes sense why it smells the way it does....you know what I mean....that is exactly what makes a good perfume for me and something that makes it personally very interesting.
So it is here as well....

In this one, the fragrance notes are:

Beeswax, clove, honey, cardamom, musk, orange blossom, peach, plum, rose, vanilla, violet, ylang-ylang, cedar, cinnamon

incorporated.

At first sniff, I was a bit confused because I didn't quite know which direction the fragrance would take, even though I already knew that wood awaited me....

The dominant note is cedarwood, which is found throughout the entire fragrance journey in such incredibly beautiful company that one wants to hide from Serge Lutens. The so-called homage to cedarwood, in my eyes, is embraced by clove, beeswax + honey.
According to research, the fragrance is based on a 60 percent wood note. This is definitely detectable.

The wood note is dominant throughout, but after 10 minutes, pleasantly warm honey and beeswax notes set in, reminding me again of my vacation in Morocco or a day trip to Berlin's Oriental Garden in the Gardens of the World.

The carpentries in Morocco exude exactly this typical scent when processing cedarwood, which the perfume by Serge Lutens emits, so I inevitably see myself standing in a room paneled with cedarwood. With these images in mind, the fragrance becomes almost tactile...

Anyone who has been in cedar-paneled rooms knows this special scent and understands how the perfume smells. The honey and beeswax notes embrace and do not disturb. Vanilla notes accompany and add a slight sweetness.

As the fragrance develops, additional notes alternate, so that it sometimes smells of plum, vanilla, or cinnamon; otherwise, the scent remains largely unchanged, which I find quite pleasant, as there are no big surprises waiting for me.

The fragrance is rather close to the body, but lasts on me for several hours consistently.

Anyone who likes woody-oriental scents or the scent of cedarwood will find this one completely satisfying and should give it a sniff.

In my opinion, the fragrance is absolutely unisex wearable.

Even though I find the fragrance incredibly interesting, I still don't know if it really belongs to me. Ambre Sultan, on the other hand, quickly made itself at home with me.
Either way, this Serge Lutens is also a true work of art, that much is certain.

Thank you for reading.

"Jicky"... Who are you, I thought to myself when I was able to participate in a Guerlain masterclass last year.

The fragrance from 1889, which has been continuously produced since then, divides opinions and, in my view, is more suited for the most hardcore Guerlain fans. "Jicky" was marketed as the world's first "modern perfume," combining complex aromas that captivated both women and men alike.
In the Guerlain masterclass training, I learned that for the first time in the world of perfumes, a synthetic molecule-namely the so-called "vanillin"-was used.

The fragrance was immediately embraced by men, while women were initially more surprised before they could also become enthusiastic about the scent. However, that took a while.
I believe I belong to the circle of ladies from 1889, as Jicky also seems like a challenging candidate to me... but I still like it because it is refreshingly different.

JICKY, as promising as the name is, has a story behind the fragrance, namely that Aimé Guerlain, or so the story goes, was inspired by a hopeless love from his student days. The name is owed to the lady who remained in Aimé's memory. Coincidentally, Jicky was also the name of his nephew Jaques, who was affectionately called that.

Jicky is a fragrance of contrasts, which I find rather unpleasant in the first half hour. I don't really smell the citrus top notes of bergamot, mandarin, lemon, and rosemary at all, at least not at the beginning... because the scent builds up for me in reverse order. It starts with the base and ends with the top note... very strange for me and at the same time fascinating. The heart note is very spicy, but it doesn't unfold much on me due to the strong base. Opulent are leather, balsamic notes, incense, and civet.

After three-quarters of an hour, the citrusy, warm, vanillic accord pushes forward, and the fragrance becomes rounder and more harmonious.
The scent is truly rich in contrasts. Due to the different components, the fragrance unfolds differently on everyone; at least I could observe this because I sprayed it on various people.
It is fascinating how seemingly so different and contradictory notes can unite into one fragrance. Aimé Guerlain's mysterious love must have been a versatile woman, as the scent is truly diverse: sensual, animalistic, sweet, fresh, and a bit mysterious and magical.

Sillage and projection are good. I would describe the longevity as above average.
So hats off to over 100 years of perfume history. A test is definitely worthwhile.

Thank you for reading.