Vea91

First of all, I only recently discovered BDK as a brand for myself. I always walked past Breuni without the urge to sniff. Other brands were more pompous and colorful, so I always missed the opportunity to smell BDK. It all started with "Vanille Leather | bdk Parfums," when a sample from a swap game caught my attention, and now I’m in a BDK fever.

Many scents from this house were hits for me, so I decided to get to know the extraits as well. Since I already know "Pas Ce Soir (Eau de Parfum) | bdk Parfums," I thought it would be just the same, only stronger. Wrong thought, because the extrait had a surprise in store for me.

What started as a story similar to the original Pas Ce Soir, with pear-scented chocolate patchouli on a flower bed, suddenly knocked me off my socks and showered me with memories from all my favorite designers at once: I suddenly smelled a potion mixed from "Angel (Eau de Parfum) | Mugler," "Valentina (2011) | Valentino," "Valentino Donna (2015) (Eau de Parfum) | Valentino," and "Addictive Vibration | Initio," which I recently received as a sample. Wow!!! Just amazing, I used to love Angel but got headaches from it. Here I smelled everything I loved, deeper, darker, louder, more clinking, more seductive, and completely without migraines. I have the scent as a sample for now, but wow - it has the potential to become a 10.. Of course, it needs to be worn longer, but I’m already looking forward to autumn to wear it out.

Unlike Gris Extrait or Rouge Smoking Extrait, I don’t perceive it as unisex. It leans much more towards the feminine, so sweet, heavy flowers, finest quince nuances on pear, while constantly having this cocoa and, of course, the most sensual chocolate patchouli. The best part is the base, made of amber and ambroxan, which provides balance; it’s not as exhausting as Angel was, but it flattens out while remaining very durable and deliciously clinging to me.

All in all, a beautiful scent. Very well imaginable for date night or going out in the evening.

In my family, there were quite a few interesting characters; my father had a hobby of mushroom picking, my mother spent summers in the garden with her bushes and plants, one uncle had his pigeon breeding, and another had a small piece of forest. What the second uncle did in his little forest remained a mystery to me until one day my father brought home a huge glass jar of honey. As a sweet tooth, I immediately became curious, hmm honey not from the store, where does that come from?

My dad, as self-assured as he was, didn’t explain much but just knew everything and showed. Behind his back, he pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to me. I understood and opened it. There, sweet, intensely fragrant, sticky, and sloppily cut were huge honeycombs. The honey flowed out of them, everything was sticky, but that didn’t deter me. I wanted to taste this delicacy. With a nod of approval from my father, I broke off a piece and popped it into my mouth.

I experienced a true explosion of flavor. The honey, so sweet, intense, slightly spicy tasting of wildflowers, the wax comb had a peculiar texture and couldn’t be chewed like gum but was pushed back and forth in my mouth. The whole combination of unknown yet equally addictive components, that’s what my uncle was doing in his little forest.

Of course, the snacking was quickly over; my dad took the bag from my hand and said "later." I thought stingy and sulked.

This exact memory comes to mind with the scent. I can even taste the honeycomb in my mouth, that waxy texture. At first, the honey is fully present, amber-colored, thick, and sweet in my mouth. Then the wax remains; I chew on it and try to squeeze out more flavor, tasting the herbs, the ginger that must have grown in the forest. After that, it becomes slightly smoky, the scent transforms, woods emerge, here and there a bit of tonka or maybe heliotrope? Doesn’t matter, just delicious. And then something happens, and the scent envelops you and smells of honey again like the first spray, only this time with vanilla. Wow, simply delicious and very authentic.

Nevertheless, this scent is different from the gourmands I know. It doesn’t slip into the edible. It remains a perfume from start to finish, and you can tell by its progression. Very finely woven, now I understand the hype behind the brand.

My journey with the Bond fragrances continues. As one might expect, it didn't stop at just one gourmand from this house. In the meantime, I have fallen shockingly in love with another scent from beautiful New York. And here too, I was struck by flashes of inspiration and memories of a very specific series that holds a big place in my heart - 2 Broke Girls.

2 Broke Girls, one of the most brilliant and funniest series for me personally, is a modern story about a rich heiress named Caroline who loses her entire fortune and ends up working as a waitress in a diner in the poorest neighborhood of Brooklyn out of necessity. She finds herself working alongside her colleague Max, who turns out to be an incredibly talented muffin baker, and thus Caroline sees her chance to return to the world of the wealthy - she wants to start a cupcake business with Max. The combination of the all-rounder Max and the business-savvy Caroline not only provides numerous laughs, but it is filled with so much heart that one can't help but love the two. And the entire supporting cast is simply the best, whether it's the lecherous Oleg, the sexy Sophie, or the coolest Earl, there is so much to learn about failures and how to deal with them.

This fragrance transported me exactly there. It smells partly of authentic banana milkshake or banana frosting and of the most exquisite beautiful white flowers that I don't get to smell too often. That's how I imagine both girls smell, the banana frosting-smeared Max, and Caroline from the upper class with the most elegant white and expensive floral perfume she could still keep, with her huge pearls hanging around her neck like a caricature, yet never losing her pride. That's how the two smell to me right in the middle of Brooklyn.

The fragrance, as mentioned, starts with the most delicious banana milkshake or banana frosting note I have ever smelled! Bananas have always been tricky; sometimes you get a rotten one like from ThoO, sometimes one that smells totally artificial or overly sweet like from various gourmands, sometimes the vanilla overpowers, but I have never smelled it this delicious. Just like with the first Bond I tested, here too you have to give the fragrances their time. The Bonds change and play depending on the weather or even skin chemistry. I finished a 2 ml sample and still haven't explored the fragrance to the end. Anyone who thinks they are linear is mistaken or hasn't tested extensively.

The fragrance was tested over 2 weeks, and when I sprayed it for the third time, I was surprised at how moody it is; instead of bananas, the most exquisite white flowers came to me, I smelled the buttery gardenia, which I have smelled similarly in Amouage, but more buttery and sweet. Sometimes jasmine flowers came to me with caramel, but the bananas kept coming back. Rarely, but it has happened, coffee beans also made an appearance. It never gets boring, yet the first impression of bananas always returned.

For me, it is a wonderful fragrance. I am already curious how it will develop in autumn, will it become more gourmand? In any case, it will most likely move in with me at some point, just like the 2 Broke Girls who never gave up and in the end *spoiler* even get a happy ending, I won't be able to give up this fragrance so quickly.

Bond No 9 was a brand that passed me by all those years. Seen here and there in perfumeries but I didn’t understand it and was rather afraid of the price tag. Years went by, the niche grew, became more and more expensive, and at some point, my collection also grew. Boundaries blurred, one wanted to learn more and more, and so I found myself in the middle of the wishlist game. Since you constantly have to add to your collection in one of those, one of the Bond fragrances eventually made it onto my wishlist. I then received samples of this scent and a few others from an incredibly lovely perfumer.

Unbeknownst to me, I tested the fragrance and it washed over me. Again a picture, a memory, a déjà vu.

But first things first. One thing upfront, I didn’t grow up with the series F.r.i.e.n.d.s., I was actually a baby when it started. Still, when the series came to Netflix, I felt a pull, something told me I wanted to watch it. From the first inconsequential episode, it became two, then again and again, and before I knew it, I had binge-watched all the seasons. Even though much seemed from another world, the bulky mobile phones, the huge and clunky computers and laptops, pagers? Somehow, the problems, stories, and everything else felt very contemporary. I sank into the world of Rachel, Monica, and the whole gang and enjoyed every episode of it. The clumsy spoiled Rachel, who had to wait tables due to certain circumstances, who never managed to bring coffee properly, sometimes not at all, the crazy and funny songs by Phoebe, the café in the middle of Manhattan. I was there for every event, right in the middle.

And now to the fragrance, this very scent pulled me back in. Just this combination of coffee and caramel aroma, refined with chestnut and cocoa. At first, it is peppery, giving the fragrance a certain pep, like a rainy day in Manhattan. Over time, it becomes softer, more vanilla-like, I smell chocolate patchouli in the base, the scent pulses beautifully warm on the skin. As if you’ve entered the café, warming up and, of course, waiting for your order. It smells to me like there in the series, like all those warm scents - the cozy sofa, the stories, the atmosphere of best friends. That’s how I imagine the scent of the café and the treats there. I would just as easily wait forever for my order because Rachel will mess it up again. So the scent will feel a little distant. Amazing, it’s a simple fragrance, simple progression, but the emotions behind it are wonderful. The scent also somehow reminds me of "Salt Caramel | Shay & Blue," which I had to get rid of earlier because it smelled so disgustingly artificial of salty caramel that it made me feel sick. Here, however, everything is perfect, nothing clashes, nothing disturbs, just a fine warm gourmand that gives you exactly what it should, positive emotions and joy.

All in all, the brand has made me curious, I will test more fragrances from it and am already looking forward to more flashbacks to distant New York.

In my childhood, there were many beautiful moments, but the most beautiful were always those times when I got to watch adult films. My mother was a huge fan of all those romantic movies like "Gone with the Wind," "To Kill a Mockingbird," or one of her absolute favorites, "Angélique, Marquise of the Angels." The Angelique was watched over and over, and I was always there.

I can still remember how beautiful she was, this Angelique. Forced into marriage with a disfigured count, first wild, rebellious, and proud with her fiery red hair, then deeply in love and loyal, she was an incredible woman. The dream of all men, strong defying fate and so gentle and loving to her count. If she had a fragrance on her nightstand, it would be "Angélique Noire | Guerlain."

This scent radiates just like that, first rebellious through the greenish notes of angelica seeds. Then incredibly seductive through vanilla and still wild through the pepper, strong, sensual, gentle, all at once, and in the end simply pure femininity and warmth, just like her beautiful fiery red hair.

A beautiful fragrance that I now cannot do without.