Katie's Perfume Collection: Part 4




It’s the penultimate episode of my 5-part perfume collection series, which is cause for celebration, if only because I get to use the word “penultimate” in a sentence.

The pen-pen-pen-pen-penultimate perfume in this video is Creed Angelique Encens, a powdery, herbal-flavored Play-Doh incense that marked a turning point in my tolerance for powdery scents. Actually, my powder keg was originally lit by Tann Rokka Aki, a ridiculously powdery -- and peppery -- oriental that I don’t mind coughing through to get to the patchouli and fur on the other end.

But back to Angelique Encens. I’m assuming the herbiness comes from angelica, an aromatic plant whose aroma Ayala Sender on SmellyBlog characterizes as “musky and smoky...living on the borderline between herbaceous and bizarrely sweet.”

Turns out that the odor varies, depending on which part of the angelica plant is used. In Angelique Encens, it registers on the spicy-green-sweet end of the scale, and is puffed up into a lovely coughety-cough cloud with amber, vanilla, and non-ecclesiastical frankincense.

I nabbed my tester bottle of AE on eBay last year, just as Creed yanked it from its regular line to add it to the “Creed Classic” range. So the good news is, it’s not discontinued. The bad news is, Creed Classics will only reappear as a limited edition once every ten years. Same timetable as the corpse flower. But with better results at parties.

Here are the fragrances discussed in this video:

1. Agent Provocateur

2. Agent Provocateur Diamond Dust

3. Parfumerie Generale L’Ombre Fauve

4. Byredo Gypsy Water

5. Creed Angelique Encens

6. Les Parfums de Rosine Secrets de Rose

7. Les Parfums de Rosine Rose Kashmirie

8. Guerlain Habit Rouge

9. Keiko Mecheri Oliban

10. Molinard Habanita


Click on the fragrance names for more information.

Smell along with Katie: Perfume Collection Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 5

18 comments:

  1. i am waiting for KATIE THE MOVIE :) you started off my day right. do you think a guy could pull off Molinard Habanita? and now you have me waiting some Parfumerie Generale. I think someone would be smart to launch you as their fragrace face.

    xo Michael and Mirabelle

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  2. Ah, so you finally tracked down some DD! How fruity is fruity though (bearing in mind my skin chemistry noms up all fruit before anyone can smell it)?

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  3. Love this, Katie. You know last summer I wanted to start making videos about some of the beautifully designed fragrance bottles that we carry-- some of the stuff is discontinued, or discontinued in the concentration we carry, so there are no photos that do it justice. Then I got all self conscious and kept putting it off until "I look better." --- or, I guess, felt like I looked good enough-- and of course, that hasn't happened yet. In my opinion, not even my hands look good enough to do a 'hands only' video. Whatever. I know it sounds lame.

    Now if I do it, it will look like I'm copying you. And you are a hard act to follow.

    I'm really, mostly kidding around, in this thinly veiled compliment wrapped lovingly with my neurosis. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the ease with which you do this is cool & inspiring.

    ps. onesmalldog- lots of men wear Habanita, in edt or extrait. don't let gender get in your way of something you could love.

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  4. Do you like Strip? I picked up a bottle at TJ Maxx for $10. It's not earth-shattering, but it's a nice amber.

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  5. dea, I'll take your compliment, no matter how scantily-clad. Your putting things off until you "look better" made me laugh - if I did that, it would be a guarantee that nothing would ever get done. But I relate to the sentiment.

    This whole perfume video game may now be a trickle, but it's soon to become a flood, so you may as well jump in now. Especially since you have such a fabulous perfume store!

    Which reminds me, Michael (and doggie Mirabelle), you can check out dea's shop ReiRien online and nab yourself a decant of Habanita extrait and take it from there. It is powdery, but I think its vegetal vetiver skews it towards the "masculine" side of smells.

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  6. Sarah, it's really overstating the fruitiness of AP DD for me to call it "fruity". I was really trying to express the fullness, the juiciness, of the DD's rose. So it's not fruit punch or Frankenberry or anything like that. It's simply a full, rich rose accord.

    occhineri, it's been a while since I tried Strip, and can't remember it. But ten bucks at TJ Maxx? That's a score. I always hear these great tales of folks finding Armani Privés and Annick Goutals there. But whenever I go, it's nothing but Liz Claiborne Curve as far as the eye can see.

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  7. I must go home and try my sample of Rose Kashmirie!

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  8. I will mourn your last fragrance collection video like I will mourn the last shuttle launch. (If you knew what a science nerd I am you would see that this is a serious compliment). Both are imminent and the countdown is killing me! You go girl, you are the Queen of Sheba, the Cat's Meow, the Bee's Knees and anything else Cole Porter can dream up.

    That's the great thing about fragrances, they can transform and transport us into new and remarkable places, even if we're just doing the dishes or soaking in the tub.

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  9. Thanks for your scientific compliment, Scott! And your musical one, too.

    Yes, fragrances can transport us - and they're also a force-field of protection.

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  10. These are my faaaavorite!

    Buy more perfume so they will never end!

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  11. I'm loving this video series Katie.

    I'm going to go off track a little and ask a selfish question (ie, only loosely related to the video -- the rosine roses reminded me). What's your take on Kurkdjian's Lumiere Noir pour Homme? I saw Dan's bit on Aqua Univeralis, with which I agree, and so far most of the MFK line has smelled great on paper/bad on me -- my skin musks eat them alive, leaving bad cheap drydowns. But I accidentally tested the Lumiere pr Homme -- all those minimalist btls look the same, you know -- and only realized it when four hours later there was all this spiced rose goodness coming my way. Have you tried?

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  12. Oh oh oh! L'Ombre Fauve!! I love that. Am drooling at the sight of your full bottle...in a good way, of course. Not like I'm a big cat, and you're wearing Anglique Encens. Well, than again... ;)

    For some reason, it took me a while to spray my Habanita...got a bottle really cheap--erm, inexpensively--and waited to try it, thinking it would be...something else. Vanilla! Now, gosh darn it, I didn't imagine flavoring cigarettes with that. VetVan; I do like it.

    So there you go; fan mail that is essentially me waving my hands around saying "ooh, ooh, I like that one too!" It's like cat people sharing stories. Or parents being proud of things about their kids that have absolutely nothing to do with their parenting skills. I think. Somehow. Right? I mean, why don't I get as excited when I run across someone who also likes coffee ice cream with toffee bits? Maybe I do. I dunno. Am I rambling?

    Just wait until the technology allows people to easily send you video comments...oh, dear... ;)

    (Throws in a wave at Dea! Hey, Dea! Good to see you outside of the store!! :) )

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  13. Because of this vid, Kate, I bought AP without having pre-sniffed. I'm happy to say I have no buyer's remorse. Thanks!

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  14. Bloody Frida, nothing else really hits the spot Agent Provocateur does, and it's a good buy for anyone looking for a raunchy rose.

    ScentSelf - (waves hands around) I like coffee ice cream with toffee bits too! Yeah, that L'Ombre Fauve is so weird and borderline too much and pretty great. And now that you mention it, that is definitely not one to wear on a hike in mountain lion country. Too furry animal-ish.

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  15. N, I've not tried Lumiere Noir pour Homme, but I did just apply my samp of LN pour Femme to get in the general vibe. That one is spicy rose nutrition right off the bat. It has one leg in Agent Provocateur's camp, one in Stella McCartney Stella's camp, and one in Le Labo Rose 31's camp.

    I'll bet you never knew perfume had 3 legs and a camp, but it's my blog, so we play by my rules.

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