Perfume Pen Pals: M. Micallef Royal Muska, Tauer Perfumes L'Air du Desert Marocain and Parfums de Nicolai (various)


Katie,

Have you tried any of the Parfums de Nicolai? Turin is a big supporter of Patricia Nicolai, who's the granddaughter of Guerlain. The ones I've tried are on that old French continuum: very feminine and complex, almost too much perfume for me. I just applied Sacrebleu, which you might like. There's definitely some amber in there, but it's not Tom Ford amber, it's more background amber, which adds just a touch of warmth and sweetness. The rest of it is more of a traditional peach-jasmine, a little too formal and loud and ladylike for coffee with friends. I prefer Odalisque, which is quieter and very sexy. Though I'm uncomfortable using "sexy" for things with no direct correlation to sex. Cars, for example, are never sexy. But Odalisque somehow is. It's a subtle floral that wears closer than Sacrebleu and kind of quietly envelops your skin.

Disregard that paragraph because I just thought of something I bet you'd really enjoy: M. Micallef Royal Muska. I've liked everything I've tried from this line (and I'm buying Note Vanillée next week, I swear) but Royal Muska is gorgeous. Again, on the sweet and pretty side of woody incense but not nearly as formal as Sacrebleu. It's a classy summery feminine woody rose.

Dan


Dan,

Re Odalisque with its lily of the valley: Coty Muguet des Bois was my "sexy" scent when I was 15. I always associate the smell of lily of the valley with older men trying to get in my knickers. Probably does the same for you.

OK, Royal Muska. Very familiar with this one, and you're right, on paper it seems like the kind of thing I'd dig. But I don't. It bugs me. Seems a little rank, like the inside of my friend from 6th grade’s not-very-clean house.

Katie


Katie,

In the short time we've known each other, I've almost exhausted my limited knowledge. I've only seriously bought/read about perfumes for a few years. So once I'm recommending the Parfums de Nicolai, know that I'm nearly at the end of my rope. Although I keep discovering more, so six months from now I could be twice as smart as I am today.

Dan


Dan,

Wondering if you have Serge Lutens Chergui, Heeley Cuir Pleine Fleur, Montale White Aoud or Washington Tremlett Black Tie in your collection? Which, if any, Serge Lutens do you like?

White Aoud and Black Tie are part of my recent discovery of the marvel of rose and saffron together. Hence my fascination with Rosine Rose Kashmirie, which is more ladylike than the Montale or Washington Tremlett. Trying to figure out if I should get the Rosine, which is a limited edition.

Do you have favorites among the Frédéric Malle line?

Katie


Katie,

In order of appearance...

Serge Lutens Chergui: no. And I have no Serge Lutens. Not because of any prejudice against the line. I sampled a whole bunch of them a long time ago, liked some (that jasmine, À La Nuit, is a real kick in the rear), thought others were a little "thick", for lack of a better descriptive, but I never pulled the trigger. And, as you know, if you don't pull the trigger right away, you might as well just put your gun back into your holster. Though I did just pull out a sample of Five O'Clock Au Gingembre the other morning. And I felt like a tasty little cookie just out of the oven. (I don't like feeling like a tasty little cookie just out of the oven.)

Heeley Cuir Pleine Fleur: soon. I have a sample not more than ten feet from me. But I haven't tried it yet. I've liked several of the Heeleys, they're all kind of light and pleasing and tasteful, nothing over which to dance pirouettes, but good. I've been trying several leathers lately because I don't think I have any in my collection. (Though I'm considering Etat Libre d’Orange Rien, which is a leather/incense/rose, but mostly just has that weird high-pitched synthetic-y Etat Libre smell.)

Montale White Aoud: yes. And I wasn't crazy for it. Though I agree with you that it goes down MUCH easier than either Black Aoud or Aoud Lime. And, with a gun to my head, if I had to pick one Montale Aoud (and you're going to need a gun to get me to do it), I'd pick White Aoud. Or maybe Red Aoud. Though that one was a little sweet and cookie-ish, too.

Washington Tremlett Black Tie: huh? I don't think I've ever heard of this one.

Rose Kashmirie: seen some Rosine scents but haven't heard of this one.

I have no reliable taste and I'm just feeling my way through everything like any other bum off the street. For example, I don't typically like rose scents. They seem simple, they remind me of my mother, and they just don't appeal to me. Except two of my favorite perfumes, By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses and Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose, are indeed rose scents. And very different from each other. I'm not trustworthy, Katie.

Re Frédéric Malle: the only ones I've tried are Musc Ravageur, Vetiver Extraordinaire and Outrageous. And I only liked the latter, though I suspect it's unlike anything else in the line. It's a lot like Comme des Garçons Soda, except instead of smelling like 7-Up, it smells like apple-flavored 7-Up. (I know, no such thing exists.)

Have you tried Comme des Garçons 8 88? It's not a saffron-rose, but it's a serious saffron. With some spices and amber. And, because it's by Antoine Lie, it has that pitchy Etat Libre d’Orange accord. I like it a lot.

I'm not helping at all, am I?

Dan


Dan,

Black Tie is another rose saffron number. Maybe more geranium than rose. Never really thought rose was for me, either, until my very very first commenter on my YouTube channel asked me enthusiastic questions about my favorite rose scents. And I didn't really have any, so I had to go out and find them. And now I like a whole mess o' them.

I agree with your assessment of Serge stuff as being "thick". I'd add "busy".

I found Paestum Rose too dusty (cough) for me to enjoy. Was all vibed up to try it after Chandler Burr’s plaudits, but it wasn't for me.

Katie


Katie,

I know what you mean about Paestum Rose being dry and dusty. And I don't typically like those characteristics either. (Tauer's overpraised L'Air du Desert blah blah bullshit bullshit definitely falls into that category for me.) But for some reason, it wears well, I'm almost always glad I decided to wear it. Though, because it's so dry, I don't decide to wear it all that often.

I hope you don't love L'Air du Desert whatever. Maybe I should delete the bullshits. Oh, what the hell. If Paestum Rose is too dry for you, there's no way you've fallen for Tauer. I'm going to leave the bullshits.

Dan


Dan,

As for dry cough Moroccan Desert Air, I do find it immediately compelling when I put it on - it's so "surround sound of smell", but then it just hits a wall and stays samey forever, until it thins out to Coca-Cola. I often go in for a hit of it when I'm in Scent Bar, thinking, "this time I'm gonna buy it", but the reality is, it's better as a fun thing to smell than a fragrance to actually wear. I hear Sarah-Jessica Parker goes through bottles and bottles of L'air du Cough.

Also pretty cough-y is this Creed Angelique Encens I'm hankering after, but I don't care. Until I finally get to wear it for a full day and my internal organs desiccate as a result.

Katie


Katie,

Oh, but back to L'Air du Desert, don't you find that lots of these tiny one-person perfume houses create scents that don't develop? Because you're right, L'Air du Desert (and all of Tauer's scents that I've tried) just sits there. Same with CB I Hate Perfume. Same with all of those sickly sweet Neil Morris fragrances. It's like one dude in his house can't pull off a legitimate multi-dimensional scent. No matter how good it smells at first.

I am going to send you some deep ambers from Neil Morris. They're not terribly complex. But they're heavy. (If only the second made up for the first, John Candy would've been revered as an actor.) And Morris loves the amber. I can't wear most of them. I feel like I'm under assault. I feel like the fragrance is wearing me.

Dan

6 comments:

  1. I have a confession: none of the Tauer fragrances appeal to me either. I very much wanted to like them, as Andy Tauer seems to be The Nicest Man in Perfume. However, when sampling them I have found that each starts with a strong chemical topnote that does not go away on me. I got neither rose nor chypre out of Une Rose Chypree, just that chemical. And L'Air du Desert and Lonestar Memories did nothing for me, no real development, just a succession of loud notes.

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  2. Right, Patty? And agreed on Andy T being such a nice bloke: accessible, interested, involved.

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  3. I feel the same way about LADDM and most of the Neil Morris scents. They "just sit there" and last forever (LADDM more than 24 hours on me, ugh, can barely wash it off). It makes me fear when people say something has great lasting power because my mind always goes to LADDM as the ultimate example of how that can be a bad thing.

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  4. It is odd, ahsu, how not long ago all small perfumers made these evanescent little all-natural scents. But now it seems like several have something to prove, that they're not gonna be pushed around anymore. Call them wimpy and they'll slap something on your skin that requires a chemical peel to remove.

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  5. Dan was right about L'air du desert. It is so dry. I am going to look next time and see if dust comes out of the atomizer. I keep getting this image of tumbleweeds blowing across main street at high noon. I kind of like the scent but I wonder why I would want to smell like it. I must do some testing and see if anyone responds to it.

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    Replies
    1. Be careful with that one Darin; it has coriander in it, and if people don't respond well to Coriander, it isn't great for them: despite the poetry of desert and outback people to use to commonly describe this perfume, to me it smells like washing up liquid.

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