DasCroe

Ascension Day, beautiful weather, the sun attracts what feels like trillions of racing bike enthusiasts squeezed into tight bodysuits and tights onto the road. Somewhere in between, a moderately awake Croe who has been persuaded by her husband to "Let's go for a ride and see a castle/castle". 18-22°C, beautiful May weather.

A little late, hubby is already standing in the hallway in his hat and coat, pawing at his hooves, so I quickly reach for the "nothing can go colossally wrong" testers, briefly wavered but since I liked the fruity-fresh "Orange Crush | Fugazzi" so much the other day, I reach for Fugazzi.
Think about it for a moment, no risk no fun, in the worst case Cashmeran will annoy you for the next 2 hours, what the heck.

Hubby makes a positive comment in the car (oops, sunstroke already?) about the cloud of scent next to him. Well, at least he doesn't say I stink. My husband is a master at making anti-compliments. Asked briefly about his opinion: "Body lotion with a bit of ginger and spicy". He found it - on my(!) skin - 'sporty'. I translate: for him, that means unisex, so not too masculine.

"Angel Dust (Eau de Parfum) | Fugazzi" is more of an Angel Breeze, the fragrance is super linear, fresh, clean thanks to spicy pepper and tangy bergamot and wonderfully unsweet. I find it more creamy than powdery, nothing dusty here. A nice clean fragrance for the summer. I'm a little surprised that 'fresh' didn't make it into the fragrance directions. The bottle could have been light green or mint, it would have been a good fit.

H/S is so semi-strong (aka suitable for the office), I think this can be explained by the fact that for a change, the "so that it lasts" three-ingredient combination of musk/some wood has been dispensed with. AAAABUT I don't think that's a bad thing! Because I also like to wear perfumes that do their job for a limited time X - let's say during the day - and then don't work overtime so over-motivatedly but finish work at 4pm at the latest. If your evening plans call for something completely different, you don't have to scrub your arms or create scented mud because you bring together what should never come together. I can still find it on my shirt after 8 hours, on my skin it was gone after about 4 hours (although trudging through a park in the sun, dressed a little too warmly, is not the ideal test condition).
The only thing I criticize it for is its average performance, the balance is not right.

A fragrance with vanilla in the base and I - vanilla hater no. 1 before the Lord - think it's good! Sappalot and gosh, how could that happen...hell freezes over. Maybe it could be because the terrible pod doesn't make its mark fragrance-wise, even though it's listed?

But let's start from the beginning. After my recent love-at-first-sniff experience with "Celadon | Miller Harris", I remembered that I have four other samples from the company lying around. And my -positive- experience with Sisley has shown that when brands manage to create 1-2 really good unisex fragrances, the rest are often quite usable. No pressure :)

Design victim that I am, I liked the bottle (simple, elegant, minimalist) and the scents were neither the dreaded "sweet" nor "fruity", so the chances were good. "Hydra Figue | Miller Harris" is a little overwhelming with its extensive "there's something for everyone" fragrance pyramid.
My currently somewhat hay fever-ridden nose couldn't really tell the difference between the top and heart notes. Citrus, yes - tending towards bergamot/ginger and the successful duo of cardamom/sage is also right at the start. And now to the fig - I smell fig, but not the fruit but rather fig leaf or green, young figs. No ripe, sweet fig flesh/juice. The scent remains wonderfully unsweet, is even slightly tart/spicy (due to the salt?) and reminds me strongly of "Ichnusa | Profumum Roma" or "Wood Sage & Sea Salt (Cologne) | Jo Malone" + fig green. On my skin, the florality is also absent and it transitions rather seamlessly into creamy-woody. Ambroxan is not too annoying for a change and my pet hate, vanilla, is conspicuous by its absence. Yay!

Fans of creamy green should get their money's worth here. Don't ask me why, but fig+wood+musk always reminds me of the Palmolive olive+milk products. Definitely, fresh & clean and also good for summer aka warmer temperatures.

I think it can be worn well by both genders if you like softer scents. The 2/3 versus 1/3 split here reflects this quite well. If I had to complain, it would only be about the longevity, which could be a little better (it's fine on clothes, but I don't like it that much). Not a silage monster and that's a good thing. Effective range of good body lotion freshly applied.

Yes, nice - now I'm afraid to test the other three, if I like them just as much I'll have to sell body parts again. Menno...

Just recently, the question was posed succinctly on the main page as to whether the classic division into men's and women's fragrances is still up to date. Sure, it certainly helps with "rough" orientation, just like the choice of color for the fragrance bottle or general marketing. If I identify myself as part of the target group in advertising, the chances of finding a match are somewhat greater, e.g. "pink/ glittery/ cute/ candy store" and I will most likely never be successful together.

Yes, and then there are the candidates where this categorization is misleading and - if it's not for chance or the courage to test - you unfortunately let great fragrances simply slip under the radar. This was the case with "Imagination | Louis Vuitton" and me. I am a big fan of green and white tea fragrances and also love "Armani Privé - Thé Yulong | Giorgio Armani", which is often mentioned as being very similar (but in my opinion a little softer and less fresh). But since Imagination is marketed as a pure men's fragrance, it was on the 2nd priority watch list for a very long time, simply because you often run the risk of ending up with barbershop/Axe/aftershave vibes. These are the fragrances that I find really good - but often more on Y-chromosome carriers and not on me (it also often seems as if you've been offended by your partner's perfume cabinet)...

In my opinion, Imagination should be categorized as unisex, because - at least on my skin - it has nothing tart or aftershave. I find it wonderfully fresh and sparkling, perfectly balanced with the teen note and certainly fantastic in warm temperatures. There's nothing scratchy, nothing reminiscent of bathroom cleaner or refreshing wipes, it's just great. For me, Imagination is a little sportier and more dynamic than its Armani tea brother and it lasts a little longer in direct comparison. Basically, I think the longevity is very good for a green-aquatic tea fragrance!

I just find it annoying that there are no smaller bottle sizes of this beautiful fragrance, 100ml is always such an investment. Knowing that the price is in the "I'm going to sell a kidney" league, I'll probably have to enjoy bottlings for a while yet, but dear gentlemen, I'm sorry, you no longer have it exclusively for yourselves.

Isn't everyone here looking for THE fragrance?

The kind that makes you go "zoooom" and somehow strikes a chord inside you?

One where the want-to-have-devil doesn't even have to roundhouse kick the want-to-have-your-finances angel off his shoulder because the angel voluntarily pulls the cord?

"Shut up and take my money (even if I have to go into debt for it)"?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce: Celadon!

I've been sitting here for hours and can't think of anything clever to say because I'd like to completely inhale my skin. I would NEVER have thought that this would be my "love at 1st sight" candidate. Joah, new introduction, Miller Harris I basically like one or the other, let me test... and now this sample has been lying on my table for days and is shamefully ignored because Madame had "better" things to test. In a RomCom, the female protagonist would be pining over her handsome neighbor at this point, while the nice colleague who has a crush on her continues to starve on her long arm.

Then I read the two very positive statements from two perfumers I hold in high esteem and grabbed the sample from the to-be-tested pile. Left , right uffn Arm... the sky tore open, heavenly choirs let out their hallelujah... well, something like that! But in any case, it must have been more than just one synapse that went crazy, because since then I've been sitting in front of the computer REALLY alternately sniffing and muttering "boah it's great great great great".

And with ZERO expectations, the fragrance pyramid offered something for every taste and also some things that I normally think "oh no" (I don't really need tuberose, moss is Russian roulette, smoky notes can completely backfire... and who actually categorized it as "fruity"???). In this jumble of dozens of notes, no one can claim "ah yes, it's clearly the magnolia, not the rose, it was the magnolia..." But just as Clark Kent takes off his glasses, unbuttons his shirt and becomes Superman, while Lois Lane gets little hearts in her eyes, it is precisely this muddle that instantly creates a fantastic, unsweet(!), white-green tea-skin-clean-cream structure for me. Elegant (but not powdery!) femininity - I have finally found my "Grace Kelly". It's also an incredibly pleasing green-black tea blend, completely without bitterness, and fortunately there's nothing smoky here either - at most the black number on my account is smoky ... speaking of smoke - as with most tea fragrances, the silage is pleasant and rather close to the body, but gently wafts around you as you move. It won't get on anyone's nerves, but it is pleasantly perceptible and, above all, doesn't fade immediately after 10 minutes.

Our RomCom protagonist is tempted to have a coffee with her initially unassuming colleague, who is British and only drinks tea. He captivates her more and more with his subtle charm and fine sense of humor. And he doesn't actually look that bad in his soft avocado green suit with the discreet gold watch. Somehow modern and yet classy, has style... square glasses... like Clark Kent...

Spoiler: the proposal takes place at sunset on the cliffs by the sea, of course she says yes and they live happily ever after in a small cottage on the coast and drink their afternoon tea together every afternoon - she green, he black - in the garden where lots of white flowers bloom.... THE END

I'm off to saddle up my rainbow unicorn, I've activated a new quest - I have to give a treasure er scent a new home.

I really like the Les Fraîcheurs range from Molinard, I like iris and now Molinard has come out with a new iris fragrance as part of the Les Éléments range. Bingo! The pyramid read wonderfully trouble-free, let's start sharing!

Iris is my component of choice when the mood of the day calls for MONDAY. The balancing act is always to NOT smell like the dusty fur coat with leftover perfume in grandma's closet. This danger definitely does not exist with "Iris | Molinard", at least on my skin. The fragrance starts VERY delicately (okaay), no lipstick vibes (plus point). There is nothing peppery here. Then, after 10 minutes, something softly floral (rose? Okay, not very dominant) is added...
I had sprayed myself with it quite generously by my standards, because the Molinards I know are not all silage monsters, but Iris very quickly becomes VERY close to the body. With the additional florals, the whole thing looks quite youthful, innocent but also not yet fully mature.
I'm not giving up hope quite yet and pray that wood/musk will come to the rescue. Musk hears the call but makes things worse: I smell a bit like the scented ponies in the early 1990s from "My little Pony", an indefinable mixture of plasticizer plastic with artificial flowers! Mhh nope, I'm somehow too old for that. I wanted a nice iris-white-musk-wood fluff, not kindergarten body lotion.

It doesn't help that I think the Les Éléments bottles are all very simple, chic and grown-up if the contents are still a bit of a mess. The shelf life also needs to be improved, as it is not outstanding either. Too bad, Heidi would say I don't have a photo for you today.