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| My view on the way out to work this week, inspiring my Friday choice... |
Monday: Ave Luxe No. 23 - Notes: unique blend of Sandalwood, Hawthorn blossoms, Acacia, Rose, Himalayan Geranium, Lavender, and Musk
Right from the beginning, the musk is evident. Despite the sandalwood and rose, it's not overly sweet, the bulk of the floral notes coming from the geranium and lavender. Pretty quickly No. 23 moves into the incense and wood category, but those geranium/lavender notes are still hiding underneath there. The overall effect is not overly powdery. I threw it up against Comme des Garcons x Artek because I was feeling like they were similar from my week old memory. This is sweeter and more feminine where CdG x Artek feels strong and cold. While CdG x Artek is tall and angular and full of sunshine like glass and steel architecture, No. 23 is soft and cozy, like a fleece blanket or your favorite worn t-shirt, soft and stretchy from one hundred washes. While the wood is at the forefront in Artek, with sandalwood is at the fore in No. 23. I like it. 3.5 of 5.
Tuesday: Prada L'Eau Ambree - What a nice, light amber! L'Eau Ambree is not overly sweet, but instead tempers the traditional sticky sweetness you expect from an amber with a lemony citrus note. It keeps the whole thing very fresh and summery, which I don't find in a lot of ambers. It's not overly feminine, either. I feel like you could easily convince a mildly metrosexual guy to wear this one (say, as a gift?).
Like so many Prada scents, it has good staying power while still being a light scent. I put it on eight hours ago and I can still detect a nice mild waft. Sometimes I think that's the genius of the Prada model. Make it nice and not overly powerful or assertive but long-lasting, then sell it in ginormous volumes for not much money so people will apply liberally. If you're trying to become someone's department store-grade signature scent, this is a good approach, in my opinion.
And while we are on the topic of Prada: Why is it that Prada is so good at doing a moderate to high quality scent unlike so many other comparable lines? Whatever they've got going in their labs, other department store lines should take the hint. I own three different Prada scents (Infusion d'Iris, Infusion de Tubereuse, and Prada Pour Homme) and I like this one enough that if I found it for a reasonable sale price (which isn't unusual for Prada scents), I'd take it. It's not a scent that's going to change the world or stop someone dead in their tracks, but it is going to make the person sitting next to you think, "Hmm, that's a nice smell." 3 of 5.
Wednesday: Bond No. 9 Riverside Drive - Indie-style maleness, with a hint of Hudson River clearwater sloops. A woody-mossy masculine classic, updated with contemporary aqua accords and a hint of exotic fruit for cool crispness. Notes: Basil, pineapple, sandalwood
I'm pretty upfront on my lack of love for aquatics generally, which means I find over half the men's scent market boring at best and kind of offensive at worst. I don't hate them; I even like some on occasion, even enough to own. But generally, it's not a good basic structure for me to start with.
Riverside Drive is your stereotypical masculine aquatic that comes off ho-hum at first but gets interesting because of the inclusion of some sweet fruity middle notes that leave too soon, and then fades back into the stereotype. Because the sweet middle is nice, the overall effect ends up feeling like a missed opportunity.
Eight hours later... Damn. Eight hours later and I have to come back and revise -- the damn thing grew on me, like a fungus.FN2 I caught a whiff f it much later and thought, wow, that's nice, what is that? Then realized it was me. The slightly sweet part appears to have returned! Still not super unique, but nice enough to make me notice when I wasn't paying attention, and that's something, I suppose. For what I'm pretty sure is the first time, I grant thee an UPGRADE: from a 2 to a solid 3 of 5.
Thursday: Andrea Maack Craft - Notes: aldehydes, elemi, cold metal, ice, cedarwood and patchouli."FN1 How to describe Craft....well first off, I'm definitely getting the aldehydes, and in that way it's like Chanel No. 5, which anchors the smell of aldehydes in my mind, and by which all over aldehyde scents shall be measured. It's most like the No. 5 EdT because the floral notes are weakest in the EdT in my opinion, and this isn't floral at all. It's also not warm in any way, so I can see the "cold metal" part of the description, but I wouldn't think of it as a summer scent at all. It's cold for cold; austere. While marble; an impersonal interaction with an frigid hostess at a five star restaurant. It's a nice experience, though, so just like that hostess, the coldness is worth getting over so you can get to the meat of the experience, which is enjoyable. Craft is pretty uniform through out, from application to dry down, but it has decent staying power and interesting enough that it will keep you sniffing at it even without a lot of movement. 3.5 of 5.
Friday: Guerlain L'Heure Bleue - Pass day. Because I was feeling bleue, I guess. Go here for my full review.
"I've flown around the world in a plane.
I've settled revolutions in Spain.
The North Pole I have charted,
but can't get started with you..."
~ "I Can't Get Started With You," Ira Gershwin
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FN1 I am informed elemi is "a resin with scent of spicy citrus." Thanks Annelie.
FN2 This is not an insult. I know a girl whose whole life is dedicated to fungus, and I adore her. When she showed up at my house on Halloween dressed as a mushroom, throwing flour at people to spore them, the costume made her so happy she cried. I liked people who are so open to joy moving them, they cry. She's good people; and I like fungi better for knowing her.
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