Landshark321

Pomme Trempee is one of my favorite early Dua inspired expressions from 2016, its inspiration coming from By Kilian Apple Brandy, the New York City exclusive that nonetheless was historically fairly widely available online and has since been reincarnated in different variations since. The note listing is a simple group of green apple, vanilla, cedar, and brandy. To my nose, it also has some vague spiciness (cinnamon), but the spiciness is more a part of Apple Brandy whereas the apple is more front-and-center in Pomme Trempee, which creates a fun variation that’s sweet and satisfying and, while conjuring autumn here in the US, is a really pleasant option year-round. This is probably the best early example of me opting to sell an inspiration in favor of the inspired expression. Apple Brandy is excellent, but so is Pomme Trempee. Lastly, it performs well, and like most Dua inspired expressions, is a lot more affordable than the inspiration, at $60 for 30ml (with further discounts always available) vs. $300 or so for 50ml.

8 out of 10

First wearing of one of Pineward Perfumes’ most recent releases, Lima Cola, and it’s a bold, light-meets-dark sort of cola blend, mixing in fresh, effervescent lime with cola, rum, and sugar, playing against a hearty underpinning of ginger root, spices, and what almost smells like oud. The brighter, lighter elements feel very much harmony with the heavier, darker elements, and there’s this interesting balance throughout that makes the perfume feel complete and thoroughly considered, a real testament to Nicholas Nilsson’s skill as perfumer/owner of the brand. It’s frankly an instant favorite from the line, and somewhat unique within the current catalogue. I enjoy cola both as a beverage and in perfumery and revel whenever a perfumer attempts to capture a different side of it, and in Lima Cola, something special as achieved, as this sort lime/ginger/resin expression is a different twist form other perfumes that emphasize the caramelization, effervescence, or other qualities. This lands for me as rum-cola-sugar meets ginger-oud-spices, elegantly put together.

I’m not certain of its concentration but I imagine it’s EDP or extrait, with pricing that largely matches most of the catalogue, albeit with slight tweaks to bottle sizes from the last time I looked $130/80/20/6 for 52/32/4/2ml, so a nice variety and reasonable pricing for high-performing, high-quality juice.

I’m long overdue to buy some bottles from this brand, which was launched in 2020, and I’m confident that Lime Cola is one of the first bottles I should buy.

8 out of 10

Sampling Dame Perfumery – Pineapple Musk, a 2022 release from this Arizona-based house, a well-named freshie that indeed smells like a fresh, pineapple-rich, musky blend that captures both the sweet and tart aspects of the fruit. The more complete note breakdown includes jasmine, apple, rose, lemon, patchouli, amber, and musk, and in a very general sense, that the fragrance is well-rounded and sophisticated lends credence the notion that there are other supporting notes, particularly in its restrained tartness and sweetness in the opening. It smells a bit more naturally calm in the dry down, quite beautifully. I’m really quite impressed by this. Though the overall performance is not as robust as Pinyon Pine Man Cologne that I recently tried, but it’s still quite good, especially considering the unusual pricing in the current market.

Pineapple Musk is EDT concentration, priced very reasonably at $75 for 100ml, and sold in the US via the house website and the boutique Olfactif. I think it’s a great deal, as is pretty much everything from this house.

8 out of 10

Sampling Dame Perfumery Strawberry Fool, an unusual, fresh, green, sharp, semi-floral, strawberry-infused scent that frankly confuses me a bit. One on the one hand, it’s a bit of a pleasant potpourri of varied fresh elements; on the other, it seems to insist on some the more biting aspects, like (to me, bitter) orange oil, and a floral medley of lily of the valley, jasmine, and rose that doesn’t land very well for me. Certainly an interesting and perhaps innovative rendition of a blended fresh fragrance, but one that does not work for me very well, its apex perhaps being, at times, some pleasant background scent in a room, but not one that I would seek out.

Still, it performs pretty well. Like most of the unisex fragrances in the line, this is EDT concentration and is priced very modestly at $75 for 100ml, sold in the US via the house website and boutiques like Olfactif.

5 out of 10

Sampling Dame Perfumery – Pinyon Pine Man Cologne, a 2022 release that is a piney cologne with supporting notes of lavender, juniper, clary sage, mint, geranium, and of course pine and citruses. It’s immediately splendid and achieves what I hoped it would, sort of a cousin to Creed’s discontinued Epicea but with a bit more spice and less sharpness. Overall, it has a sort of blended floral, spicy, fresh, sharp aroma that is not beholden to the pine solely but I’d still argue that the pineyness is its main feature. It conjures the outdoors while being sophisticated and aromatic.

Pine Pine Man Cologne is EDC concentration and priced at $65 for 100ml, very reasonable, sold in the US via the house website and via some boutiques like Olfactif. It performs quite strongly, though, not at all what I would typically expect of something with EDC concentration or described as a cologne, and as I recall, that’s generally been true of the cologne releases from Dame, but perhaps not quite to this extent. So it’s a really impressive value.

8 out of 10