IrinaSpalko

Imagine if Versace's Dylan Blue pour femme arrived at the beauty counters of the 1950's? It would be the smartphone to their rotary phone, the Velcro to their metal hook and eye closures, the plastic to their Bakelite. That world was not yet ready. This is a perfume of THE FUTURE. Rocket ships in space meant those of our day living on the moon or mars. We aren't doing that, but we are doing the next closest thing, and that is wearing Versace's Dylan Blue pour femme. Like nothing that came before it, a time traveling person could stand out by this scent alone if joining a vintage crowd.

This is an accelerated elixir involving not one but THREE super modern synthetics: Shisolia®, Rosyfolia® and Petalia®, while refreshing fruits such as apple and black currant provide familiarity. To my nose, the currant takes center stage and grants a mostly blackberry aroma to this otherwise aquatic floral grounded in slightly musky space dust. An orchard planted in the synthesized soil of a space colony, surrounded by a sparkling moat of ozonated water.

The opening is the best part, followed by a musky synthetic dry down. It fades within the hour into an obscure shadow of itself. My urge is to revive it with a citrus, which satisfies. I recommend reviving/combining this one with anything that features Mandarin as a primary note.

Years ago, when I wasn't really into collecting and comparing perfumes, I smelled Narciso Rodriguez Narciso in the white bottle at Macy's and found it so very interesting and unique. Weird and artistic even. A sort of lactonic gardenia. I never forgot it after all this time, even after it has long disappeared from the department store shelves. So it entered my decant list to try almost 10 years later.

My husband and I did a comparison paper test of 16 random scents and it came out as my number 6 choice. His one word summary was it is "soapy, similar to "Tubéreuse Nue | Tom Ford"". Upon wearing it, I realized this isn't so unique. It is pleasant but nothing mind blowing. Perhaps in 2014. But it reminds me of something I would wear to the bank. If I had to pick one example of a typical "perfume" to share with an alien species, it would be Narciso Rodriguez Narciso. The most normal perfume in the world.

A friend introduced this gem to me via the hand sanitizer. Another time, I applied some body spray in the store and not even an hour later, could not bear it. This is because the brand-wide Bath and Body works liquid base formula of their body sprays is very disagreeable to me. So the best way to experience the delicious scent of Strawberry Pound Cake is by the hand cream. This is the thick lotion coming in the small metal tubes, looking like paint tubes. It is also very affordable when it is on sale and I got one for under $3 in the USA!

Why do I love it? first of all the strawberry is not fake or cloying, the strawberry is red, sweet, and glazed like a real dessert. The better part to me is the actual cake portion - the pound cake. This cake is yellow, a little bit crumbly, a little bit salty, (yes, I can smell the saltiness) with some butter and toasted wheat.

I don't particularly want to smell like this, but I want to smell IT. I've worn it to bed using the affordable but potent cream on my hands and arms. Not sure this would layer or combine well with any other scents but is a satisfying experience all on it's own.

My first encounter with Slowdive was on paper, and it did not do very well on paper alone. The heavy sweetness of the opening and the dry down was sickening, it smelled like the concentration of some honey wheat cereal (Similar to Commodity Velvet+). I felt smothered and my head ached. However, knowing this one is a cult classic, and that paper is not always a reliable judge, I continued.

For the skin test, the opening was still a bit disagreeable to me, with the strange cereal scent. This could be the scent of the alcohol clashing with the actual aroma, but who cares, it fades quickly. The dry down mellows into delicious pure honey! And, on myself at least, a mild honey at that. On my second wearing I went beast mode and wore it during a workout, I wanted to know what my skin would do to it at maximum capacity. And, it was lovely experience. The scent did not become annoying nor reduced to anything disgusting. It simply faded into a baby shampoo-like skin scent.

In summary, Slowdive is honey, a cosmetic honey such like Johnson's Baby Shampoo. I enjoy that it is cosmetic and (thankfully!) NOT the animalic "butthole" or "throat sneeze" honey that actual organic honey smells like. To me there are no other notes detectable in this one besides the strange sugared wheat-like aroma during the opening.

Because this one is so linear Slowdive warrants experiments with layering. In fact, I plan to keep this one in my arsenal for that purpose. I fathom that any compatible scent would become a honey version of itself when combined with Slowdive as a base. So far I have layered it with "Shalimar (Eau de Parfum) | Guerlain", and the resulting effect was amazing.

Here is the isolated element that will make people in the same room with you feel a little bit nauseous. The last remaining vapor of a cheap fresh air bathroom spray. The heaviness of something that is trying to be nothing. This is everything I don't like about a perfume with all of the interesting parts removed. The signal to freshly wash ones clothing and take a shower.