Review of Emilio Pucci's SABBIA167

This fragrance company describes its scent as "a powdery floral fragrance, an escape to warm sandy shores." But it does not smell like warm sandy shores and does not really smell floral. This smells almost exactly like one of Bvlgari's signature female scents (I think it's called Crystalline or Omnia), except lacking some aspect. It has that baby powder scent laced in with a hint of delicate floral iris, but the floral scent is so light it's hard to detect. It lists as having tangerine as a contained scent also, but I smelled absolutely nothing citrusy in it. It also lists as having sandalwood (the base musk), which is one of my favorite scents ever, but I could not detect it in this fragrance, at least in my bottle. It smells like a watered down version of baby powder, and if you like very delicate scents, you may like this, and I do admit that it is my favorite of the Emilio Pucci trio of scents I've tried thus far (SOLE149 and ACQUA330 being the two others).

Review of Emilio Pucci's SOLE149

Why is this marketed as a women's fragrance? It's described by the company as "an aromatic floral, an escapade to sun-drenched island landscapes." However, it must be noted that there is an overbearing scent of vetiver which is used in this concotion. Vetiver is primarily used as a man's scent and is reminiscent of men's cologne or aftershave. If used as a women's scent, it needs to be paired carefully with the right scents, otherwise it will come out smelling awkward. This smell turns me off very much, because it evokes the image of a muscle man donning a yellow biker's suit and heavily drenched in grandma's musty floral perfume. Sorry, but I will not be wearing this perfume again. At least Emilio Pucci's other scent, ACQUA330, smells very freshly masculine, but this one is a blend between the two (masculine/feminine) which just does not seem to work for my nose.

Review of Stella McCartney, Stella

Flowers, flowers, flowers. This is such a soft scent, but do not expect to smell citrusy or "fresh" while wearing this. Even though it supposedly contains mandarin (a type of orange) scent, I did not detect this at all. If you want to smell feminine, soft and graceful, while running the risk of smelling quasi-mature, then you may want to try this one out. In my opinion, the rose and amber are the strongest scents in this one.

This is probably because they also used rose absolute in this formula. I wish they had mixed some aquatic water scents in with the rose, because then you would likely not smell like wilting roses but rather *fresh* roses after the scent mixes in with your body chemistry over time.

Maybe it is because they also have peony flower along with the rose. Keep it simple, guys -- it's all about getting the right combination of complementing scents. I don't think the peony flower complements the rose very well, but that's just my opinion. The peony lends a very "green" yet slightly stagnant smell to the rose, and adds a dimension which I don't favor. It's considered to be somewhat of a green note, and I think they were aiming to add freshness to the rose smell by mixing in the peony, but it just doesn't seem to work well, in my opinion.

If you have a very fresh, clean-scented perfume with strong aquatic notes, you may want to layer it on top of Stella, just make sure that your own scent doesn't have stong clashing flower scents in it like honey-suckle or magnolia, or any strong musks. The rose should be the dominant scent for this one. Examples of aquatic notes would be perfumes containing water lily, hosta, and/or osmanthus, sort of like how some Lacoste perfumes smell.

Review of Issey Miyake, L'eau d'Issey

Upon first smelling this on myself, I was not that enthusiastic. I pictured stuffy cottages and a woman rocking on a chair knitting by the seaside. Not a horrible mental image, but not very exhilirating either. It smelled a bit powdery, with more of a mild aquatic scent at first, rather than the florals which I was expecting. I almost thought it was too "mature" of a scent for my age.

Yet after 30 minutes and during the rest of the day, it began to surprise me.... much like the nerd in the back of the class, who eventually evolves into a hunk by the end of the school year. Sort of. Basically, the floral scents began to unveil themselves more visibly, and the scent morphed into a pleasant, relatively cool floral. (How does this happen? Simple, the alcohol/oils begin to mix with your body chemistry, producing a different smell over time, and the upper notes of the perfume gradually fade off, revealing the middle notes (normally florals) and eventually, at the very end of the day, the lowest notes (normally musks/ambers/"heavier" oils).

Not a warm scent, but still managed to smell inviting, uplifting and fresh without smelling too "icy cold" or too masculine (i.e., overpowering musks). This is quite an accomplishment, in comparison to the other perfumes I've experienced in my lifetime thus far. This is a very tranquil, subtly cool scent with constant reminders of water-based flowers like lotus in the picture. It is invigorating without projecting any in-your-face citrus scents.

Ok, so WHY is it still so pleasant without having any apparent warm vanilla? This was a sincere puzzle to me. I found out. It has this amazing oil chemically derived from whale intestines. It's a musk that basically floats on top of the sea ocean after the whale dies. Yes, that's right. Whale intestine musk. It's in Chanel and other top brands. Was very expensive for a while, but then this dude figured out how to make a chemical synthetic version of it, so then it got cheaper because people could mass produce it. It smells absolutely delightful. Light, musky, feminine... cool without being too warm.


Thank you, Whale, but we will not need your intestine musk anymore. Although dead whales never did have the capacity to sign wills permitting usage of their intestinal musk. I got this photo of you for free, too.

Some of the qualities which really hooked me about this scent:

(1) The cool white florals last throughout the entire duration of the scent. I felt like I could smell the freesia and lotus continuing on and on, over the course of several hours. Ok, I love the lotus. I feel like I'm in an exotic Asian garden right after a fresh rain. This is quite a valuable perfume quality, considering the other perfumes I've tried usually melt off into either a stale vanilla or too-masculine musk (or at worst, an acrid, stale scent) as the hours pass on.

(2) It is a very calming scent without smelling too much like puff powders and the stuffy kind of florals. It actually smells very spiritually awakening and uplifting. Throughout the course of wearing this perfume, I feel like I'm meditating by a pond at dawn, smelling the dew and lotus right next to me, the sun warming my back. Why do I compare this perfume to meditation in particular? Because meditation is both uplifting and calming when done properly, and those are two of the significant traits I love about this scent.

Note: I think this is a scent that wouldn't overpower boyfriend and knock him off his feet. It's very inviting and calm. It relaxes me, so it would probably relax boyfriend. Hopefully not to the point of falling asleep, but it's a laid-back yet feminine and graceful kind of scent. There are barely any heavy musks in here, no acrid vanillas to the best of my knowledge, so fear not... you should NOT emerge smelling like a bathroom air freshener. It's one of my most favorite scents. There is something so catchy and different about the special mix of scents. It's sensually interesting, rather than just "cute" or "sexy."

Review of Demeter Essential Oils, Patchouli

So the perfume/beauty shop near my place just started carrying the Demeter Essential Oils collection. These things run for around $70 a piece, even though they're just oils. There's a difference between the oils and mainstream perfumes you should know, if you don't want to end up wasting your money.... the sales-lady apparently did not know this Me: "Do you sell essential oils?" Her: "Hm....Is that a brand?" Me:(in my head) "No, get re-trained, but your eye makeup is lovely" Me:(actually) "No..." (I had to control my over-active tongue). So back to the point, the mainstream perfumes usually are a variety of diluted oils in an allcohol-base. Meaning they don't last very long, and that's why Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely" is a number 1 seller on Amazon, most of the time. Why? Because it keeps running out, imho. Also why? Because maybe it smells nice, too. But I find more evidence in peoples' comments "Oh this smells so nice, but it runs out sooo fast!"

Just because a perfume sells very well does not mean it's necessarily very good. It's probably partially because it's very diluted in alcohol. So don't use Amazon best-seller lists on perfume to make a judgment on what smells good. So back to the main point.... I was a little shocked and mildly amused that they were charging so much for an essential oil. "Limited time only!" as if that is supposed to make me want to buy it more (it did, sort of). But I resisted... mainly because I know that The Body Shop carries a wholeeeee line of essential oils, for much cheaper...... 16 bucks a shot..... very nice. Plus their profits help benefit third-world farmers, I heard? Yay for contributing to good causes.

Why do I like oils over perfumes? Because it's unhealthy to spray yourself with the kind of alcohol and all the other chemicals which companies commonly use in perfumes. Oils also have better staying power, meaning you just need to dab a bit on your pulse points (neck, wrists, chest) in order to have basically the same effect. With alcohol-based perfumes, you're often spraying yourself throughout the day and night. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to have to remind my sweetheart every 30 minutes that I *need* something else in order to smell good. Him leaning in for a kiss... me spritzing myself beforehand... "Ok now we can kiss".... Him leaning over for a hug.... "Wait I need to spritz again, the scent's fading away".... I mean, come on. I need a fragrance which will last.... and obviously I want him to believe that I naturally emit the smell of fresh flowers, citrus and amber musk.

Point established that Demeter Essential Oils in Patchouli made me smell like a hippie emerging from a moss-covered cave, who had been living off organic mens' aftershave for a few weeks. But after a few hours, it started smelling very warm and vanilla-ish on my skin, which is a huge surprise to me. Patchouli usually reminds me of incense and outdoors huts, and musky men sitting next to overgrown fern by an Amazonian waterfall... but this one actually turned out smelling quite feminine, nice and pleasant on my skin after a few hours. Keyword: after a few hours....

Review of Danielle Steel, Danielle Eau de Parfum

Here I shall discuss my affair with the Danielle Steel's Eau de Parfum. I never thought I'd be reviewing or even wearing such a brand. I've passed by her romance novels in the bookstore... yeah. Enough said. No offense if you like her books.... I just think it's not really a title that you'd proudly and openly mention as a "favorite" to your friends.... sort of like a cheap one-night stand (may all of us never have to experience that).

So how did this perfume walk into my life? Well, my former room mate is a huge perfume fanatic. She would constantly have new ones on display, and I'd be smelling like a garden gone wild, whenever she returned from her shopping trips. One day she came back with Paris Hilton, Ralph Lauren Rocks, a few others with fancy shiny bottles, and Danielle Steel. I really liked the Danielle Steel because it smelled so feminine, and not as fruity or bubble-gummy as the Paris Hilton. She mulled this over for a while, then generously gave it to me.

My first experience wearing this was for a winter date to the movies. I didn't know him that well at the time, and hence didn't really know his taste. I spritzed some on -- very liberally, unfortunately -- and smelled like an orange clad in amber musk, emerging from a bamboo pool. Ok, unique, but sort of heavy. It's supposed to be a floral oriental, and let's just say, it smells like freshly cut greens and sharp fruity-florals at first, but VERY musky. Like, manly musky, in my opinion. Like a man's musky aftershave.

Technically, it's supposed to contain Mediterranean mandarin (a type of orange I suppose), jasmine, orchid and hydroponic rose. The heavier scents (base notes) are white amber, cashmere musk and blue vetiver. The vetiver, which is supposedly a very manly kind of scent, must have been a bit too heavy in my opinion. I guess when I first smelled this, I thought it was feminine because of the floral and fruit notes I detected. But as this perfume gets older, it seems the florals and especially the fruity notes fade away.

I was surprised because as the night went on, to my mild horror, it smelled muskier and muskier, rather than fading away. Now, with most perfumes, this is a good thing, because you want the smell to last. BUT not to last, smelling like a masculine musk. Yes, this fragrance which I once perceived as so feminine, turned out to be overbearingly manly, over time. At least on my skin. If it had some more vetiver (a kind of masculine-ish floral) and cold aquatic oils added, it would TOTALLY smelll 100% masculine, in my opinion.

It was a bit embarrassing, because I smelled more manly than him, as the date progressed. Uh..... can we say "awkward." He never mentioned anything like, "Oh, you smell good," hence I sort of will take that as a neutral to negative sign. So why haven't I chucked this perfume? Well, for some odd reason, I still like smelling it, maybe because I'm a girl and I like the smell of a man. Ha. It smells musky, but I have a scent that's ALL cherry blossom/floral-y, so I'd probably just layer the two.... or just stay on the safe side, and only wear it for myself.... at home. In summary, a nice scent, but smells way too musky and heavy on my skin after a while.

A review of Carol's Daughter, Pearls

My initial impression of this scent was neutral. Mainly because it smelled too mature and "old." It smelled very floral vanilla, with mostly undetectable citrus, even though it does supposedly contain bergamot. It smelled very powdery flowery, and reminded me of what I'd find at the drugstore. But as the hours wore on, the vanilla and musky amber like smells began to show through, while still retaining the pleasant warm floral scent, in a unique way. I was delighted.

Smelling this was very comforting, especially later on, as the scent really began to mix with my body chemistry. It reminded me of summer evenings safely rocking in a mother's arms, right after drinking a warm honey vanilla cinnamon chai, underneath a magnolia tree, next to a warm bowl of basmati rice sprinkled with saffron. Although I don't believe there's any saffron in this perfume, it does have anise I believe, which is also a warm spice. I absolutely love this scent, it's very warm and inviting, and very lovey-dovey, but I really don't like the fact it has bergamot in it.

Especially with summer blossoming now, and more ladies venturing out for long periods in the sun... I feel it's important to divulge more on this fragrant note, bergamot:

Bergamot is a fresh scent cultivated originally from a hybrid of lemon and bitter orange. Its oil is often used as a top citrusy note in many expensive European designer scents, but most bergamot oils make your skin photosensitive, meaning when you're in sunlight, your skin cells can experience phototoxicity and cellular damage. SOME bergamot oils are manufactured to be safe, but oftentimes you need to check with the manufacturer about this. Basically, in order for bergamot oil to be safe to use on the skin, it should have been properly vacuum distilled so that it no longer contains terpen or bergapten. The resulting oil would then be safe (not photo toxic) to use on the skin.

I believe sandalwood essential oils cause skin light-sensitivity, too. There is a whole list of these light-sensitizing (photo-sensitizing) oils, which I plan to share in another post. So be careful to just use these ones as evening wear, or at least with a good sunscreen during the daytime.

On another note, I'm interested to know what other people think about her line's Ecstasy Shea Souffle; has anyone tried it?

A review of Nina Ricci, Love

The reason I was initially interested in this item, is because it got such good reviews by so many of you fellow femmes out there. So, being the naturally wary yet curious individual that I am, I decided to make an opinion for myself. Upon first spritzing this on my wrist, my nose was awakened and delighted. If you could smell sparkles and happiness, this would be it. I almost smiled, and salivated a bit. It was just launched earlier this year, and is a limited edition. It smells like granny apples (like the bottle itself) mixed with cherry blossoms. The exotic scent of frangipani mixed with granny apples and almonds smells deliciously wonderful. It definitely has a unique initial smell...

Ok, by the way, if you're wondering what frangipani smells like, it smells sort of like honeysuckle with a tropical Hawaiian twist.... sort of like the smell that would waver up your nostrils while eating a pineapple, sitting next to a cluster of honeysuckle branches and greenery.

However, after 15 minutes onward, the frangipani and flower smells seem to disappear, leaving a rank rancid citrusy sickly sweet smell mixed with a pleading vanilla or creamy kind of scent. This is definitely not a soft scent. It began to remind me cloying teenage girls with cheap fruity lipgloss smelling of plastic and stale milkshake, lingering in front of a candy shop at a mall. Just the image and smells that came to mind. The classic Nina seems to sell a lot better... the apple bottle is red instead of green. Keep in mind everyone's body chemistry may be slightly different, so what smells great or horrible on my skin after 15 minutes may end up smelling different on your skin.

Keep in mind this is not the same as her other fragrance, "Love in Paris", which is below:

A review of Emilio Pucci, Acqua 330

So, Emilio Pucci released this floral aquatic fragrance earlier this 2009. I heard about the hype, saw the bottle (which resembles a pop-art painted glass mushroom like something out of Alice in Wonderland) and I was definitely intrigued. Hence, I ventured to try it out. And was ultimately disappointed.

Although the scent was fresh, like smelling violets budding next to a cold spring, I was a bit turned off because it reminded me exactly of a cheap perfume I had in middle school -- something that was $15 or so, from Target. I think it was called "Pure Waters" or "Clean Water" or something like that. I used to wear that perfume but eventually quit because there was no real hint of feminine grace to it, and it smelled to chemical and "cold."

Ok, so Emilio Pucci's Acqua 330 isn't as chemical and cold-ish as that cheap perfume, but it certainly reminded me a bit of it. Basically, frozen flowers mixed with a strange scent of formaldehyde. I know that aldehydes are quite commonly used in fragrances, such as the infamous Chanel No. 5, but I am personally not such a huge fan.

If you're the kind of person who likes the squeaky clean unisex scent, with just a HINT of mild floral, or if you tend towards the aldehyde scents, then maybe you'll like this, but it just wasn't feminine enough for me.... even though it claims to have the scents of violet leaves, frangipani and jasmine. Now, if the jasmine was paired with a nice tuberose, then maybe I'd reconsider this, but they need to oomph up the florals just a tad, in my opinion. Too unisex for me. But as far as cute eyecandy, no doubt about the blue streaked mushroom bottle.