I could tell how much Neil loves creating perfumes by his gentle enthusiasm when he spoke with me. He is knowledgeable and enjoys sharing his gift with others. He speaks plainly but in layman’s terms, so that if you are just learning about perfumes you aren’t left feeling inadequate.
He told me he considers all his fragrances to be shared fragrances. They have no gender specificity. I liked his term, rather than the term unisex. Often I cannot wear unisex fragrances, because they smell too masculine, but his shared fragrances are just that: fragrances that can be shared with your significant other. You could buy it for him/her and appropriate it for yourself.
He said to me:
You are being played by the market if you think a fragrance is only for men (or women.) It is a market ploy to get heterosexual men to wear fragrances. Chanel # 5 will smell differently on a man than a woman. A woman might bring out the floral or the aldehydes. A man might bring out the spices.
Of course, he is right. I think a woman might have been more apt to wear a men’s fragrance in days past, than a man might have been to wear a woman’s. But that is changing as the market is becoming more educated. I still find here that SAs are surprised if I say I prefer the men’s version to the woman’s of a fragrance, but at least they are learning to know me, and perhaps to broaden their own ideas.
Neil went on to speak about his custom blend or bespoke fragrances. He said:
I take their happy memories and put them in a bottle for them. We talk for about an hour, before we begin to do anything else, to explore the scents that will make up their fragrance. I want their happy memories to be evoked every time they use the fragrance.
[Perfumery] is all about memories: either about an existing memory or creating a memory.
He had a couple coming to see him the next day who were having a fragrance made up for their wedding day. They were each going to wear the fragrance, then every time they wore it again, it would remind them of the happy memories their wedding day held for them.
I thought that was great! I would have loved to have done something like that, had it been available at the time.
I feel his charge is reasonable: if you visit him in person, he charges $375. If he needs to travel, then the price is adjusted by time and distance.
Meantime, some of us have heard the story behind the bespoke fragrance for Ida/Chaya (d’Ida). He surprised her with it, after having her test it, just as PDI. She was, as you can imagine, pleased and touched.
One thing I love about his fragrances is that they are so well blended that they move gently from top to bottom, they are not strident. And they are long lasting.
Here are the notes for d’Ida:
Top: Blackberry, Clove, Elemi, Aldehydes.
Middle: Geranium, Gardenia, Ylang Ylang.
Base: Oakmoss, Vetiver, Jatamansi, Myrrh, Civet, Black Agar, Russian Leather
My overall impression on me is fruity/spicy. And spicy is something I love to wear. The leather entwines through it so deeply that it melds as part of it while being balanced by all the other notes. Somehow it reminds me of all the good that is Ida: sweet and spicy, deep and spiritual.
Ida has shared her story at another blog.
Velvetsky gave her review at her blog.
Karin
Originally posted 2008-01-16 10:23:48.
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Boisé Torride is a powerhouse of a fragrance. In some ways it reminds me of Paloma or of Estee Lauder’s Knowing. It starts off with a bang and hours later ends up with a sigh or a whisper.
You have to like patchouli and cedar to love this fragrance. That is where it starts on its journey.
I do.
And this combo takes it a little bit from the sweet patchouli into a more incensy version. The overall effect is not like some of Neil Morris’ fragrances, which I also love, but unique to the vision that Guerlain was reaching for.
It also is not like the sweetness of Gucci by Gucci with the added fruits.
It is called an androgynous fragrance, designed for a woman but to me surely suitable for a man, part of Les Elixirs Charnels series, which also includes Chypre Fatale, Gourmand Coquin, and Oriental Brûlant.
It is translated
smoldering wood, a new opus for femininity
though I think torrid or scorching would be easy translations also. Perhaps it begins as scorching and ends up smoldering. Some like it hot!
Guerlain loves women and has always celebrated their sensuality. A new expression of sensuality now completes this collection of Elixirs Charnels.
To me, there are three distinct stops on this voyage. The first is the initial flare. I used a couple of drops on my wrist and arm, passed to the other wrist and arm. Frankly, I can’t imagine this one sprayed 10 times in the beginning, as at least two people I know do with some of their fragrances. You might knock someone out with the sillage.
I could see extending the 10 squirts throughout the day to refresh it back to the flare stage.
OTOH, an extremely heavy hit of this fragrance, depending on your chemistry, might soften just as nicely to a richer sigh of an ending. You’ll have to try it both ways and get back to me. You would certainly have some serious sillage, at least for that moment. And some would have to be on your legs. After all, fragrance rises.
A couple of hours later, the fragrance hits a midpoint. Patchouli is still evident, it is wafting through the trees. I catch it when I turn or move my hands quickly. It surprises me. It is softer and gentler, but still has presence.
The last stage is about 7-8 hours in, when the fragrance has settled into a sigh.
I like the presence of all three. I like that the fragrance moves and isn’t linear, though in some sense it is linear, because patchouli and cedar, less so, are evident throughout.
Now something completely silly to me and totally unnecessary is the excessive verbiage of the ad copy’s stream of consciousness of the imagined wearer. I could do without that. I’d rather have my own imagination, thank you very much, laughing here. I mean, get real! It sounds like drivel. (And this is true for the other elixirs as well.)
…I still can’t decide…Too obvious. I have to seduce him in a different way. Take him down paths still unknown to him…Why didn’t I see it sooner?…masculine outfit…nothing under the jacket… contrast…ambiguity do the talking. Androgynous? Perhaps. Terribly sexy? But of course…[2 more paragraphs similar except for telling the notes] He will…become intoxicated by my skin and my essence, strangely androgynous yet irresistibly attractive.
Are they trying to reach a young, unseasoned woman, who presumably might not be able to make up her mind? Or the mature, knows-her-mind-and-how-to-get-it woman who would be more apt to choose this fragrance. After all, it is a fragrance for grownups. It certainly is not a fruity, sweet concoction.
How many of us think this way? I sincerely hope not many.
Perhaps it reads and sounds better in French. Everything sounds better in French!
If I were a man, Boisé Torride would lose me right there, without even giving it a try. And this would be a mistake, because this would be a delectable fragrance on a man, maybe even more so than on me. Or, it could be one of those shared fragrances between two lovers, where it develops differently on each one, to be individual, yet complementary, the way life should be.
Top Notes: bergamot and tangerine with pink pepper
Heart: jasmine and orange blossom with white musk, underneath is a mallow note, not sweet like Mariah’s M
Base: cedar and patchoui
Have you tried it?
If you like
If you like any of the patchouli fragrances I’ve mentioned, you would likely like this one.
To me, there is a little bit of second-cousin-twice-removed to the fragrance Narciso Rodriquez for women.
It has some similarities, but ends up in a different place. Maybe it’s the woods and orange blossom.
It’s a good one for your repertoire. Remember you have to be a grown up. And that isn’t a bad thing.
Where to get it:
Guerlain @ Palazzo in Las Vegas. Call (702) 732-7008 or email: GuerlainPalazzo.STORE@lvmhuspc.com. Ask for Claire. Be sure to tell him that you heard it from me.
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
don’t steal my posts, you know who you are!
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