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aperfumeblog by Blacknall Allen by Blacknall Allen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Not Tonight, The King Has a Headache
As noted in a previous post, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Case in point, Louis XIV, the Sun King, one of the great over-indulgers of history. This is the same man who built Versailles, and … Continue reading
Posted in Bruce Ware Allen, People, Perfume
Tagged "La Voisin", Abbé Étienne Guibourg, Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, Filles de Saint-Joseph, Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Françoise d'Aubigné, Gabriel-Nicolas de la Reynie, Louis the XIV, Magdelaine de La Grange, Marquise de Maintenon, Marquise of Montespan, Martial, the Sun King
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The Salty Chypre
In musing over the reasons why chypres are no longer in fashion, I’ve come up with an argument predicated on taste-buds. If the oriental is all about the sweet and the resinous, maybe the chypre is all about the salt … Continue reading
Posted in Perfume
Tagged Idylle, Lanvin, Rumeur, Shalimar Parfum Initial, Thierry Wasser
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Some Tame Antilope
Everybody talks about the disappeared genre of chypres these days, but quite frankly they’re not the only type of perfume that’s gone AWOL in the last decade or so. There’s also the aldehydic floral. Those perfume bloggers and critics who … Continue reading
Posted in Perfume
Tagged Aromatics Elixir, Chypre, Weil Antilope, Yohji Yamamoto Pour Femme, Zibeline
2 Comments
Under the Wind
There can seldom have been such a poetic name for a fragrance can there? I’m referring to the Limited Edition Guerlain Sous le Vent of which the title here is a loose translation. And yes, this is another in the … Continue reading
Posted in People, Perfume, Plants
Tagged Caline, Chypre, Coty, Guerlain, Jean Patou, Mayotte, Mitsouko, Sous le vent, ylang-ylang
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Doubling Down
Sometimes plant hybridizers go for broke. They’re going to do everything, the color, the size, the heat resistance, the double blooms. In the mad race to twirl around those chromosomes faster than you can say Watson and Crick and select … Continue reading
Posted in Plants
Tagged Antique Fantasy Mixed, Antonia Bellanca, Bicolour Mixed, Caron, Floret, Fragrant for Cutting, Fragrantissima, Heirloom Mixed, Hi Scent, Lolita Lempicka, Lytton Strachey, Painted Lady, Pois de Senteur, Si Lolita, Sweet dreams, Sweet Peas, Thompson and Morgan, Watson and Crick
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The Green Green Grass of Guerlain
Sometime around 1959, Guerlain found themselves staring at a new trend, exemplified by the consumers’ love of a particularly green and herbaceous note: vetiver. The vetiver of choice back then was Carven’s Vetiver (1957). Dry, resinous, as chartreuse as a … Continue reading
Beer on a Champagne Budget
“After you’ve been having steak for a long time, Beans, beans taste fine. And after you’ve been drinking champagne and brandy, You’re gonna settle for wine.” He said, “the world is funny, and people are strange And man is creature … Continue reading
Posted in Perfume
Tagged Boyfriend, Calvin Klein Euphoria, Estée Lauder, Kate Walsh, Roja Dove, Sensuous Noir, Sephora
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Five By Five
There are so many perfumes that are nearly No 5, but not quite. This is what happens when you are the cool girl at your school, everyone wants to be you, and the melancholy truth is, that some variations of … Continue reading
Posted in Perfume
Tagged Arpege, Balenciaga’s Le Dix, Chanel, Estee Lauder’s White Linen, Guerlain’s Liu, Mme Rochas, No 5, Pavilion Celadon, Robert Piquet’s Baghari, Vega
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