Eilish: Baking Cookies Before Leaving to Party?

Eilish by Billie Eilish
Amber Vanilla
Steve DeMercado

We cannot talk about Eilish’s first fragrance without mentioning the bottle. It represents a sleek female silhouette of the upper body in an amber metallic colour. It is quite an art piece that you can use as decor in your living room without actually touching the perfume. In press coverage, she reveals that the bottle design celebrates human beings. It shows her favourite part of her body and her favourite shade of colour. She highlights repeatedly that the juice inside does not have a gender. It is for everyone who enjoys it. Ok, that was an intro to the design, let’s get to the actual scent.

It is a cozy interesting vanilla smell, gourmand without being sticky sweet. I can picture myself wearing Eilish during fall and winter staying home watching TV. Relax and rewind. Exactly what I strive for right now. Spices, wood and vanilla.

Sometimes it simply smells like cookies in an oven, other times I feel strange unspoken sophistication. Intriguing. I am undecided right now. Would you wear Eilish only at home or would you go clubbing with it? Let me know. I think it is a likeable scent with a hint of sex appeal too. Eilish is a fragrance at least worth checking out. Her number 2 is on my wishlist.

Café Cabanel: Sweet Dessert With a Cup of Espresso

Café Cabanel by Teo Cabanel
Oriental Gourmand
Cecile Zarokian

Cafe Cabanel is a solid coffee scent, strong and long-lasting. It has a very complex juice, there are many dominants within the fragrance. It is like when you visit London, Rome Paris or New York for the first time and you don’t know where to go first because the place offers so many exciting sights. Coffee, cinnamon, milk, butter, caramel and vanilla fight for attention rather than blend in together. To my nose, coffee is still the most prominent particle but it is noticeably accompanied by a thick and headache-inducing sweetness.

I recommend using only small doses day or night. Winter is the best season to pull this off; however, wearing Cafe Cabanel during the holidays may be still too much as the perfume can overpower the natural scent of Christmas and all the lovely food around.

You also have to like powerful gourmand fragrances to enjoy Cafe Cabanel. When it comes to dark gourmand scents, I prefer my oldie but a goodie Black Orchid by Tom Ford. Cafe Cabanel is too heavy for me; nonetheless, I must admit that the dry-down is pretty magical. You guessed it right, Cafe Cabanel is indeed very polarising, the same way Black Orchid is. It is either intoxicating or unbearable. It brings a voluptuous cloud of spices and sweets. An Arabic sickly sweet dessert with a cup of espresso.

Reveal CK: Mysterious Fluorescent Cashmeran

Reveal Calvin Klein
Floral Woody Musk
Bruno Jovanovic and Jean-Marc Chaillan

Reveal is a woody fragrance from 2014 marketed towards women but smells like a promising guy’s cologne.

There is a huge dose of pepper, ambergris, cashmeran and sandalwood. It is almost 10 years old but still nose-catching with an interesting twist. What a timeless hit! Plus, you cannot beat the price.

Sadly, Reveal has been discontinued but it is still available at some discount stores. Maybe I should snitch a couple of bottles before it disappears completely.

Anyway, I tend to like perfumes for women that men can wear too. Calvin Klein does particularly well on the unisex market compared to their sweet girly fragrances for women.

Reveal is meant to be similar to Bleu Turquoise by Armani Prive. I love that fragrance. But when Reveal is a strong like, Bleu Turquoise is a love. It is still a better choice by far. Nevertheless, if you cannot splash the cash, Reveal is a solid matter of comfort.

Ça Boum: A Seaside Festival Adventure

Ça Boum by Teo Cabanel
Solar Vanilla
Patrice Revillard

Ça Boum? How is it going? What’s up? Ça Boum is a salty urban floral with a ton of vanilla. Not necessarily for a luxury holiday resort but rather a fun day or night in town during summer.

The floral opening of sand lily is strong and interesting. Something new to the table. I do not get much saltiness but rather flowers dived in vanilla. It is pretty sweet and strong on vanilla. I like it but I am not completely blown away. There are so many scents in this category and apart from the sand lily note, it is an average sunny side up salty floral summer-time vanilla. An easy-going chic girl.

Sauvage: Swagger Without Style

Sauvage Eau de Parfum by Dior
Aromatic Fougere
Francois Demachy

Yes, finally the famous Johnny Depp Sauvage by Dior. The frag was launched in 2015 as a modern fresh formal scent for men. I can confirm that it is a beast when it comes to lasting and projection. The aromatic aspects of the aroma are enhanced with ambroxan which helps with sillage and longevity.

Ambroxan is a musky synthetic compound. The reason I am saying this is because you get the molecular feeling out of this fragrance. I am sure it guarantees you many compliments from people who are not into perfumes. They will smell you and think he smells damn good. I personally don’t appreciate the chemical feel. I would rather have a fragrance with less power and wear some natural and raw materials.

On top of that, when you say Sauvage I picture a swagger character not in a good way, a bit arrogant and big-headed. And not because I don’t like Johnny Depp! 🙂 I also think Sauvage can be a bit too much for some women. I am not sure if they really appreciate it on a guy. To my nose, it can get almost repulsive. I gave to test it to my dad (70) and husband (35) to see if they like it or not. Neither of them enjoyed it. What a relief I am not going to smell Sauvage around 🙂 They thought it had a typical male fresh smell and they were looking for something more sophisticated and edgy.

A La Rose: Wears Wonderfully with a Fluffy Pink Tutu

A La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian
Floral
Francis Kurkdjian

A La Rose is a fresh citrusy romantic rose aroma reminiscent of a bouquet of beautiful youthful pink roses. The ultimate wedding scent for a young bride but be prepared to top up during your special day. A La Rose does not have the stamina to last and project all day. Expect cologne-like concentration.

Simplistic and linear yet absolutely stunning. It is a naturally-smelling rose. If you like roses the same way Dior does them, you are going to like this rose too. Femenine gentle clean rose but do not be fooled. You can clearly tell that there is rose absolute. The queen of flowers is dominant and pure.

Simplistic and linear yet absolutely stunning. It is a naturally-smelling rose. If you like roses the same way Dior does them, you are going to like this rose too. Femenine gentle clean rose but do not be fooled. You can clearly tell that there is rose absolute. The queen of flowers is dominant and pure.

If you like fresh modern roses in your fragrance, you are going to love this. Would I pay a retail price for this? Probably not. It is a beautiful rose but a flanker has come out. Let’s wait for a discount.

Miss Dior 2021: Doll-like Iris and Vanilla

Miss Dior Eau de Parfum (2021) by Dior
Amber Floral
Francois Demachy

I have been a fan of Miss Dior fragrances since I don’t know when. Miss Dior Cherie with the popcorn note was great. I also liked Miss Dior 2017 and its flanker Absolutely Blooming. It has always been an orange-rose-patchouli composition, timeless and elegant for all ages. The perfumes projected and lasted and were highly recognisable. You knew that someone wore Miss Dior.

Of course, I was curious about the new 2021 formulation. The scent is meant to be accustomed to Southeast Asian women where the climate is very different to the European. A rebranding also played a role. Long story short I dislike the new formula. It is an entirely different fragrance. Nothing I know or remember about Miss Dior.

The punchy citrus and patchouli are gone. We have iris instead which brings a lot of powderiness, an indifferent heart – a weird mixture of fruits and flowers and a ton of vanilla in the heart. Light powdery vanilla with some florals if I have to classify it. Not unpleasant but totally uninteresting with no kick. I felt pretty dull when I made this a scent of the day.

I thought I was going to be different and would not enter the wagon full of haters but as you can see I joined the critique discourse of Miss Dior 2021. I am sorry, this blog is about sharing my experience with fragrances which of course can be subjective but with Miss Dior, it is what it is. I really wanted to like it.

Mandorlo di Sicilia: Adorable Sugar-coated Almonds

Mandorlo di Sicilia by Acqua di Parma
Amber Floral

Acqua di Parma makes fragrances and scented products since 1916, all of them being made in Italy. Mandorlo di Sicilia is an intimate almond scent enhanced with ylang-ylang, vanilla and tolu balsam. Sugar-coated almonds in a small sachet with a cute ribbon on it. Simplistic yet adorable! That is the image of the fragrance I have in mind. Seduction in a subtle way.

It is marketed as unisex but I see it lays more on the feminine side. So similar to Dragee by Reminiscence. But! Drier in the sense it does not smell milky or lotion alike. Yummier and gourmand in an unassuming manner. Sophisticated and timeless yet cute and pretty. I picture Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s swimming in Mandorlo di Sicilia.

The scent stays close to your skin but performs well when it comes to longevity. If you want to impress someone, just do more sprays than usual. This technique normally makes EDTs more profound. Anyway, you can clearly see that I adore it and looking for a way to make it work for everybody. Will you make it work?

Très French: Unapologetically Floral

Très French by Teo Cabanel
Floral Woody Musk
Marie Schnirer

According to the name, Tres French is a traditional French perfumery. It is indeed a classic scent; however, it reminds me more of a traditional English countryside rather than a very French composition. It is a sharp green floral scent, right in your face. Cuts through the heat. You cannot miss it in the air. Lily-of-the-valley is the main note.

I see a similarity with Miu Miu OG or Jasmin Kusamono by Armani Prive. Jasmin by Armani is of course a jasmin-dominant perfume; nonetheless, they both have this piercing cold quality about them. It is sort of if you like that you would like this. I have Miu Miu in my collection, I sold Kusamono, and quite frankly I prefer my Miu Miu to this Teo Cabanel.

Tres French smells like a fresh bouquet of lilacs although there is no lilac listed. I like lilacs, it represents a great scent memory from my childhood; nevertheless, because lilac is so piercing and undeniably floral, we need to have something to balance it off with. White musk, solar notes or pear do not seem strong enough to do it justice.

With that being said, do not be discouraged by my ramblings. If you like green florals, grab a sample, give it a go. It might be the one for you if you are a fan of this scent category.

Fame PR: An Easy-Going Tropical Drink

Fame by Paco Rabanne
Floral Woody Musk
Alberto Morillas, Dora Baghriche, Fabrice Pellegrin and Marie Salamagne

Paco Rabanne is famous for its sweet “voluptuous” fragrances for women which I have not been swayed by so far. Fame is the newest release from 2022, a tropical vanilla scent with a lovely velvety mango accord.

It smells like pina colada or any creamy fruit cocktail you would sip on a beach bar. It is gorgeous and feminine. Likeable and free-spirited. You can spray a ton of product on your holiday, let it sink to your sun-kissed skin and be happy. It is not as obnoxious as Olympéa but far more laid back and safe.

Some frag community members think that the bottle is a joke, I think it is cool and different; moreover, it reflects the juice inside.

The pressing question is “Do we need Fame”? As much as I think it is a wonderful aroma, I do not feel pressured to purchase a full bottle. Fame did not wow me so to speak. I do not wake up and want to put it on my skin or clothes. But that is my side of the story. If you are a Paco Rabanne collector or looking for a smooth tropical perfume, you are going to be pleased for life.