Jessica McClintock Perfume by Jessica McClintock...

When we speak of fragrances from the 80s, two words come to mind: flower and spice. My aunts and my mom are floral perfume addicts. My nose could detect their presence even from a distance because their fragrances literally announced themselves in the room. Their perfumes were indeed on the heady side and sometimes, it just hit me with a nasty headache. I thought, they could have bathed in pure perfume or something like that. And whenever they did, I stayed away.

There were days, however, when their perfumes really smelled nice and warm especially on moonlit evenings. When the moon cast its shadow over the horizon, they would chase me in the garden. And when they finally caught me in their embrace, I savored the heavenly aroma of their perfumes.  It was like a lush garden teeming with flowers in full bloom. That’s how I remember Jessica McClintock’s Perfume.

Jessica McClintock Perfume is the eponymous fragrance from designer Jessica McClintock. This fragrance was launched in 1988 and dubbed as a warm floral perfume. I smell a lot of lily of the valley and jasmine accords all throughout. It has a powerful sillage, a fact which I later on realized. The most beautiful part, in my opinion, is the way it transforms in the dry down. It becomes somewhat powdery-floral which I find comforting.

Years after its launch, Jessica McClintock is still a powerhouse perfume. It may not sit well with the ubiquitous fruity-floral fragrances nowadays because it lacks the contemporary element of the Britney Spears and the Paris Hiltons. It may not appeal to young crowd but those who understand the classics will appreciate its composition.

Estee Lauder Pure White Linen Pink Coral...

Estee Lauder’s White Linen fragrance collection is spring in a bottle. The lush floral notes dance in harmony to bring out a fleeting freshness that is utterly feminine. The first White Linen came out in 1978 and over the years, Estee Lauder tinkered with the formulation to add a modern feel to the original fragrance. The most recent addition to the White Linen portfolio is Pure White Linen Pink Coral. This soft, fresh floral evokes breezy afternoons by the sea. The pink floral bouquet hints subdued flowers combined with faint notes of marine-like accords.

The official fragrance notes are:

Top notes – apple blossom, clear aldehydes, waterfuits, pink peppercorns and Chinese berry mist

Middle notes – jasmine, pink peony, camellia flower, sweet pea, honeysuckle and cherry blossom

Base notes – vanilla, heliotrope and sandalwood

Even if this fragrance was designed to be delicate (read: sheer and light), sillage and longevity weren’t compromised at all. I still can smell the lingering freshness of florals after several hours. This particular flanker smells similar to its earlier versions but I don’t mind the repetition. It’s a nice skin hugging scent that I adore in soft floral perfumes. Besides, the longevity somehow compensated for the similarity with the other fragrances in the collection.

If floral-based doesn’t tickle your noses, the citrusy version, Pure White Linen Light Breeze, is a good alternative. It retains the same White Linen freshness but this time, it’s sprinkled with citrus notes to add zest to the fragrance. You wouldn’t be bothered with the sillage because it stays on the skin for hours as well.

The complete Estee Lauder White Linen collection are: White Linen, Pure White Linen, Pure White Linen Light Breeze and Pure White Linen Pink Coral. Take your pick!

Calvin Klein CK Free Cologne for Men...

Winter is not my favorite season of all. Other than the layers and layers of clothing I have to put on everyday, commuting to and from the office has become cumbersome especially when there’s snow. During these gloomy and cold days, I really long for summer. Scent-wise, I tend to wear heavy perfumes. The light and sheer ones is like wearing nothing at all – reminds me of Calvin Klein’s CK Free. The fragrance comes off as faint and sillage goes downhill after the first spritz.

I used to love Calvin Klein fragrances. But lately, their new releases have become a bit too generic. CK Free is the latest cologne for men from CK. It was designed by Givaudan and was released in August 2009. Woody and aromatic, CK Free is composed of the following: top notes are Thai star anise, jackfruit, juniper berry and absinthe; middle notes feature suede, tobacco, coffee, South African buchu; base notes are patchouli, oakwood, Texan cedarwood and Costa Rican ironwood. The bottle is very modern – a transparent block of clear glass. Initially, I was impressed by the minimalistic design and the concept of the advertising. It really looks fresh and natural. In the ad, the model drives the car in full throttle. The thrill of speed correlates to freedom. I guess the marketing team captured the essence of the fragrance but sadly, the impressive appeal ends in the ad.

I tested a sample of this cologne and what I’ve got was the signature explosion of fresh notes at the top. The initial notes are crisp, comforting with a bland floral base. The scent, on the whole, is not groundbreaking. It smells like the other CKin2u perfumes, in my opinion. With the countless CK flankers in their collection, I couldn’t even remember which CK fragrance is comparable to CK Free in regards to olfactive-experience.

CK Free is a nice casual daytime cologne. I love how summer-y it is and well, that’s about it. Longevity and sillage are not something to rave about either. If you’re looking for something exciting and impressive, explore CK’s Truth and Contradiction.  You won’t be disappointed.

Sung Perfume by Alfred Sung...

Canadian designer Alfred Sung introduced his first fragrance, Sung in 1986.  The scent is a floral extravagance of exotic flowers. Noted for its potency, Sung will take you an era where abundance is in style – the 80s. Others regard the prolific bouquet of flowers a bit excessive but to those who adore floral-based perfumes, Sung is addictive.

The notes are galbanum, peach, bergamot, coriander, green notes, orange blossom, hyacinth, muguet, rose, ylang-ylang, oris, carnation, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood, moss, amber, vanilla, tolu and musk. The scent starts out with the mingling of white floral and green accords. Suffice to say, it’s the kind of fresh-green-floral theme that greets you at first sniff. It quickly transforms into a rich musky base that pairs nicely with the overdose of flowers.  Sung might as well suit the name flower bomb – flower bomb of the 80s is more apt, in my opinion.

Since this fragrance hails from the 80s, sillage and longevity is exceptional. I got the same effect as Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium. It belongs to a time when sheer and light fragrances belong to the cologne category. Sung is long-lasting without inducing nausea to the wearer. It’s a class of its own and I wouldn’t dare compare this to any mainstream perfume because it’s not mass market-ish to being with.  Sung is a special occasion fragrance. Think weddings, anniversary dates, night outs and holidays. It’s too powerful to wear in the office. Sung is not a discrete perfume. It announces itself in the crowd that is why you don’t have to overdo the application. A little goes a long way and would stay on your skin for hours.

Other fragrances from Alfred Sung include Forever Sung, Jewel, Shi, Pure, Hei Cologne, Sung Homme and the latest release, Always Alfred Sung.

Armani Prive Eclat de Jasmin...

Jasmine-based fragrances are aplenty. I smelled a hundred or so of them in perfume counters. Whenever a fragrance house announces that they have a new scent inspired by this lovely flower, I can’t help myself but feel skeptical and indifferent because this so-called new jasmine fragrance might be another rehash of the other mainstream perfumes which unfortunately, flood the perfumery with its ubiquity. However, I do make exceptions. Before I get to smell the fragrance,  I feast myself with the aesthetic beauty of the packaging. First impressions do last but in my case, not too long until I indulge my nose with a whiff of what’s inside the bottle.

Giorgio Armani’s niche fragrance collection, Armani Prive, is an interesting perfume portfolio. Starting from the flacon, it’s made of wood and the cap is not the regular stopper but a polished stone. Since jasmine is one of my favorite perfume ingredients, I road tested the Eclat de Jasmin (2007) right away. The description in their website is what actually piqued my interest.

“Eclat de jasmin was created to represent dawn – the particular time of the day when jasmine flowers are warmed by the sun, releasing their deep rich scent.” (giogioarmanibeauty-usa.com)

The notes are rose of bulgary, lemon, lime, Egyptian jasmine, plum of damas, patchouli and amber. It’s citrusy at the beginning and the rose notes are hardly noticeable. The jasmine which flourishes in the middle transforms into a nice and well-executed dry down. The base features musky accords which sit well with the overall  appeal of the fragrance. It’s not overly creamy nor does it project a  punch-in-the-nose patchouli explosion towards the end. On the whole, Eclat de Jasmin is a wearable scent. Sillage is also potent which is good given its hefty price tag.

Eclat de Jasmin is a fine scent but I really don’t find it as groundbreaking as the other niche fragrances I’ve tested in the past. Moreover, the bottle doesn’t quite fit the theme jasmine fragrance. Jasmines belong to an elegant, transparent bottle.

Giorgio Armani Prive Eclat de Jasmin is available in 1.7oz eau de parfum. It also comes in scented candles.

Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Malt...

If you love Thierry Mugler’s Angel, then A*Men Pure Malt will certainly fire up your fancy as well. Aged in oak barrel, A*Men Pure Malt is an iteration of the original A*Men (1996). This limited edition flanker  is inspired by a cocktail of luxury spirits thus creating a unique boozy note reminiscent of Scotland’s peaty whiskeys – smoky and accentuated with woody notes.

This fragrance is rather a muted version of A*Men. The gourmand element is still distinct but the sweet, yummy scent seemed to have been quieted down. At first sniff, I picked up a boozy-woody aroma that smoothly progresses into a caramelized-toffee-malt combination. The signature patchouli arises in the dry down, as expected. I still find it creamy, just like the other Angel fragrances in Thierry Mugler’s portfolio.  The earlier flanker, Pure Coffee, on the other hand features more of the coffee and chocolate notes. In regards to potency, Pure Coffee, by far, is more intense than Pure Malt.

As for the sillage, since Pure Malt is a lighter version of its predecessors, longevity is a tad short-lived. On my skin, the boozy-toffee aroma wafts nicely in the first few hours then gradually peters out in the next three hours or so. The lingering notes are as attractive as the first encounter.

Flankers have a reputation for lacking creativity; theirs is a mere rehash of the parent fragrance. Pure Malt is a flanker alright but it comes out nicely done. The creator of this fragrance didn’t skip the signature “Angel” character. Being a fan of gourmand scents, this is good and worth sniffing, in my opinion.

A*Men Pure Malt is a men’s fragrance to begin with. I’m hoping that Thierry Mugler creates  a feminine version soon. It’ll be interesting to imagine how a boozy feminine scent would smell like.

Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Malt is available in 100ml eau de toilette.

Kenzo Power Cologne...

With Kenzo’s obsession for flowers, I regarded Kenzo Power Cologne as another masculine floral, the likes of Dior Homme and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male. Power Cologne is described as “The power of flower for men. A wild, lively, poetic tulip pencilled in black .” Created by perfumer Olivier Polge, Kenzo Power joins the ranks of the ubiquitous floral-citrusy-aquatic mainstream fragrances. Kenzo’s signature fresh notes, other than the flower component of course, (which he cannot do without with each fragrance concocted) is something that makes his scents stand out from the crowd. I know that fresh-floral is a dime a dozen nowadays but there are certain formulations that carve out its own niche in the perfumery. At first sniff, it’s not a deja vu of another similar fragrance that explores the same fragrance notes.

Kenzo Power Cologne’s notes are: bergamot, verveine, absolu geranium, tolu balm, vetiver and cedar wood. On my skin it’s a dry floral that teeters, albeit briefly, on the powdery territory. It’s highly aromatic despite being a light fragrance in composition (it’s cologne).  I also picked up a steely and somewhat edgy impression on the dry down. It could have been the tolu balm and woods combination. This pseudo-floral scent can also be mistaken as a unisex fragrance due it’s lightness. In fact, I have no qualms wearing this during summer or spring. It’ll be a nice break to wear a man’s perfume once in a while.

Power Cologne is actually a flanker of the Kenzo Power EDT which was released earlier in 2008. Other than the intensity of the formulation, the original tends to be more on the spicy/synthetic/fruity concept.  It’s warmer and more compelling. Sillage is better than the flanker but I think that the EDT is intended for cold weather thus, the more potent execution.

Kenzo Power Cologne is housed in a transparent bottle, just like the EDT. The design is simple and refined.

Power Cologne is available in 60ml and 120ml bottle.

Tom Ford Private Blend Arabian Wood...

Tom Ford’s Private Blend Collection Arabian Wood was initially exclusive to the Kuwait market and was available to that  country alone for quite some time. It’s been said that Arabian Wood was custom blended for an Arabian Sheik. The fragrance captures the Mid East’s aromatic wonders where exotic spices, rich florals and opulent woods define the Arabian tradition.

“This timeless Chypre captures the mystique of the east with modern flourishes. A lavish blend of rich Florals, Spices, precious Woods and exotic Orris entice the senses while aromatic Lavender and Galbanum add a touch of elegance. ” (tomford.com)

The fragrance notes are Bulgarian rose, freesia, orange blossom, green galbanum, bergamot, rose de mai, ylang-ylang, gardenia, rose absolute, honey, oris, patchouli, cedarwood, oakmoss, sandalwood, Tonka bean and amber. It opens up smelling like combined herbs and fougere.  My initial impression was that the scent would progress into something more medicinal given the lavish spices, green and floral accords that hover in the beginning of the fragrance. But after an hour or so, there was a notable transformation from the lush greens-floral pair to a plush floral-wood aroma. The fragrance finishes off with a luxurious trail of decadent complexity. While I don’t perceive Arabian Wood as a full-fledged Middle Eastern wood-based fragrance, I pretty much surmise that this, on the overall, is a nice fragrance to wear. I wouldn’t mind smelling this on someone especially during the cold months of winter.

Tom Ford Private Blend Arabian Wood is available in eau de parfum at 1.7oz and 8.4oz.

Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods...

Twilight Woods is a new fragrance from the Bath and Body Works Collection inspired by the “romantic walk in the enchanted woods.” Crafted to lure the senses towards the midst of beauty with layers upon layers of fruits and woods accords, this fragrance is the perfect companion for those long walks under the moonlit sky with the cool mist of the evening breeze caressing your skin. Twilight Woods marries the olfactive geniuses of perfumers Harry Fremont, Jane Konyu and Honorine Blanc. Their collaboration centers on modern femininity and the youthful luxury stemming from the finest ingredients in the perfumery.

This fragrance is complex with so many notes in it. The top notes are juicy berry, sparkling mandarin, hint of coconut; middle notes feature creamy frangipani, soft mimosa, wet honeysuckle, wild freesia and apricot nectar; base notes include oud wood, skin musk captive, vanilla milk and warm woods. At first sniff, I picked up more of the fruity notes. There were nuances of musk albeit tamed. The fruits seemed to be the dominant note. The coconuts appeared toned down as well as I didn’t get much of the creaminess factor. The dry down is the highlight of this fragrance – the light musk aroma with lingering vanilla-woody notes. It conjures a warm and comforting feel. This is a perfect wear for fall-winter days.

Ultimately, Twilight Woods is worth checking out. While it falls in the category of the trendy sensual woods type, it doesn’t end up cloyingly sweet. The sweetness element, in fact, is expertly blended to maintain its well-rounded appeal from start to finish.

Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods come in 2.5ml eau de toilette and also includes a full range of body products and home fragrances.

Prada L’eau Ambree...

Prada presented another amber fragrance with Prada L’eau Ambree. This modern version of amber is light, soft and unexpectedly neutered. It doesn’t come any close to the previous amber-inspired fragrances which is rather a surprise. In truth, I was expecting a muskier and deeper notes to arise but what I got was a soothing, almost calming fragrance which was really not that bad.

It starts off with a refreshing citrus notes that quickly dissipates as the amber and vanilla rise up and flirt with the floral accords. The vanilla in the background complements the rose in the middle. L’eau Ambree is quietly sweet and doesn’t come off as oriental despite the vanilla, woods and patchouli accords. Another notable characteristic is its resemblance with Prada’s Infusion d’Iris. The concept wasn’t that bad, it’s just that Prada could’ve been more artistic to play around with the notes and explore the essence of amber, just like what it did for its amber-based predecessors.

As for the sillage, it’s very transparent. It doesn’t seem to stay long with my skin’s chemistry, unfortunately. Despite the lack of long lasting power, I’d still give Prade L’eau Ambree a go. I love the refined and feminine take on amber. Plus, it’s a nice feminine fragrance without going overboard on the sweetness factor.

The nose behind this fragrance is Daniela Andrier. The notes are Sicilian citrus, amber, rose de mai, patchouli, opoponax and vanilla. Prada L’eau Ambree is available in 30ml, 50ml and 80ml eau de parfum and also comes with matching body care products.