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Harajuku Lovers


Harajuku Lovers, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

I always get lucky when I go shopping with Tamya. Last Saturday, when after we went for our weekly swim at the YWCA, I decided to overcome my inferiority complex and go check out the new member of Les Exclusifs at the Chanel boutique next door. We were both wearing our heart-illustrated gum boots and feeling great but looking everything else but glamorous. I secretly like taking Tamya to fancy boutiques, as a test to see how nice the sales people really are. I can tell you that in both Chanel and Holt Renfrew they are very, very nice to kids and usually also to adults. This time, I scored 2 “samples” from the Les Exclusifs – Sycomore and 31 Rue Camon (they really are minis). Obviously, Tamya is my lucky charm...

We than continued to a the drugstore to check out the new doll collection htat hides perfumes inside. I saw them a couple of days earlier and could not for the life of me make up my mind about one. So I thought Tamya could help me, and after all – her Bat Mitzvah was just a few days ago so she deserves to pick a perfume for herself!

I have to say, this was difficult. The dolls are all very cute. In fact, irresistibly cute. The juices, however, are not as nose-catchy as the dolls are. There was only one that I found to be really distinct – G. But I couldn’t really decide if I like it or not. The others all smelled like something I smelled before. There was Baby with a curly black hair which smells like a fancy baby powder; Music, a brunette with a fancy hairdo reeking of a non-descript musky floral; G with an overly symmetric blonde hair and smelling oddrly of coconut and something green at the same time; Lil’ Angel, dressed as a tomboy, and smelling very pineapple-y and a very MiamiGlo kind of way; and Love, the prettiest of all dolls with an asymmetric Asian-inspired hairdo which smelled like a very pretty yet quite generic light floral with a musky base (at first I had a hard time distinguishing between Love and Music).

After spending about an hour staring at them, sniffing, making up our minds only to change again two seconds later, both Tamya and I unanimously decided to adopt Love and take her home with us. We got home and almost forgot that she even existed (she’s very well behaved). We did the perfume-box-opening ceremony and from this point on I was just immensely impressed by how accessible this perfume was. This was the first perfume that Tamya really seemed to be into, spraying, sniffing her wrists AND showing off. And I suspect it wasn’t just the doll, because when her daddy came home, and I asked her to show him her new perfume – she let him smell her wrists rather than bring the doll. Love smells lovely on Tamya, by the way. It also smelled good on my wrist (though not as good as on Tamya). It reminded me very much of Spring Flower but a little softer.



Aromatics Elixir Velvet Sheer



Herbs lady, originally uploaded by ximenacab.
In the past few days, I have been wearing mostly Aromatics Elixir in the "Velvet Sheer" formulation (by the way, I find the name "Aromatics Elixir" odd enough grammatically, so adding the "Velvet Sheer" in the end takes away even from the little sense the name had to begin with). It has a consistency of a shower jel that melts into your skin. It is not alcohol free, but has only very little alcohol in it. And unlike Aromatics Elixir in the pure perfume spray - it has none of the aggressiveness and instead has a powerful but not forceful silage. Instead of being analytical, I would prefer to be descriptive now. Chypres are designed to not give away easily the notes they are composed of. And now this is precisely what I intend to do. In fact, perfumes were not intended to be perceived as individual notes chasing each other on a scent strip or one's skin. Perfume is meant to be greater than the sum of its parts; therefore analyzing perfumes and the notes contained within them could take away from the pleasure of experiencing the perfume as a whole.

Aromatics Elixir is indeed aromatic: herbaceously dry and at first even pungent. I will not attempt to compare it to the alcohol parfum formulation as I find that formulation to strong to bear and just never managed to keep it on my skin for long. It's that overwhelming. I think the fact that I've been wearing this slimy velvet sheer liquid for a few days in a row speaks for itself. The dryness of the first few hours does soften in the end and turns into a cozy ambery chypre with obvious vetiver underlining it all.

It may not be as polished or chic as the French perfumes of that genre - it is not as seamless as, say, Miss Dior - but I find its direct crudeness to be charming and reassuring in its lack of pretense. The notes do stand out on their own occasionally, as if they didn't have quite enough time to mingle with one another before being bottled, but that just suits me fine.



Bodegón copiado, originally uploaded by xuse_22.

P.s. I have been particularly enjoying wearing Aromatics Elixir while wearing my pendant filled with Ayalitta solid perfume. The two are not that similar, but their green/aromatic chypre character helps them get along.

Visit to the Guerlain Insitute de Beaute in Montréal

The two urban highlights of my (very short) visit to Montreal were the Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture exhibit at the art museum (launched before his sudden death); and paying a visit to the Guerlain Insititue Beaute (1350 Greene Avenue 514-933-6114) accompanied by the fine lady Joann, a customer and a perfume-friend.
While the YSL exhibit had no particular odorous to report about, the Guerlain Institute is what it’s all about (unless you are there for the makeup). Time was short before closing – we only had about an our to explore some of the scents exclusive to Paris and very few other boutiques. For the first time, I have tried several scents and even though I was only able to skin-test a couple (Sous le Vent and Attrappe Coeur), I jotted down my impressions:

Sous le Vent
On the paper:
Chypre, dry, fresh, herbaceous
On the skin:
Warm, sensual, pronounced labdanum, lavender, greens
Dry, woody, citrusy, unsweet

Attrappe Couer
Peach, like Champagne (Yvresse) but deeper, and with a fair amount of labdanum (amber)
Peach, amber and musk are the main notes with a vague floral weaving its way through for good measure. This smelled bolder and more interesting on the scent strip and became very soft and a little too girly, powdery and sweet on my skin.

Philtre d’Amour
Dry citrus chypre. Base is mostly patchouli, with herbaceous and citrus notes and a hint of floral. First reminded me of my own ArbitRary, and a few hours into the drydown reminds me of a tamed and toned-down Aromatics Elixir.

Cruel Gardenia:
On paper: soapy musk with a faded gardenia note
On the skin it smells like gardenia and skin.
It did smell better on Joann, whos skin brought out the gardenia in a most realistic manner. We both agreed it had a certain soapiness to it though, which I thought of as very similar to Chanel’s No. 22.

Bois d'Armenie
This smells like a subdued Serge Lutens to me. It is more sweet than woody, with resinous hints bordering on amber territory with obvious wink towards Shalimar. A little too sweet to my taste and Shalimar is incomparably better.

I’ve also briefly re-visited what used to be called Coriolan (for the first time, the helicrysum and absinthe jumped at me, dry and recognizable); the new Guerlain Homme (pleasant and interesting with warm gourmand hints; nevertheless not exactly what I would call original – I could swear I smelled something similar to it recently; perhaps Rochas Homme?); Spirituese Double Vanille (super-charged vanilla that caught me in a dry, anti-vanilla mood but otherwise I would have considered it very wearable).

Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia


White Beauty, originally uploaded by tropicaLiving.

Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia delivers what its name promises and does it well. The execution of this grand floral is surprisingly tame and not in the least obnoxious. Although I can’t say its lacking sillage, it is definitely quieter than most of Estee Lauder fragrances not to mention many other tuberose-themed perfumes.

Tuberose Gardenia remains polished and soft like a white novak purse that’s inevitably saturated with it’s owner’s perfume. Inside the purse you’ll find very few accessories - just what’s necessary for that particular outing. In this case: tuberose and gardenia accords underlined by a woody vanilla base (which halfway through the journey brings to mind the overall impression of Songes). If Fracas is the point beyond which everything is too loud, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia marks the point on the same spectrum beyond which tuberose starts to whisper.

While Fracas makes me think of other things (disturbingly intoxicating and unrecognizable flowers at night), Tuberose Gardenia leaves me just comfortably pampered with buttery, creamy tuberose and gardenia. There is none of the greenness or complexity you can find in Fracas and which makes it so intriguing as it bounces between gasoline, white flowers, rubber and greenery until it settles down into a creamy tuberose. Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is straightforward and shows all its card right from the start: it reminds me more of tuberose floral wax than anything else, with its velvety, pampering tuberose headiness. Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia seems to give us what we need in this day and age (aside from the very long name to type over an over again - a trend that I hope would come to an end one of these days!): it brings a simple pleasure just like a much needed vacation.

Vetiver Racinettes Reviewed by Perfume Shrine + Sample Giveaway

Vetiver Racinettes is reviewed on Perfume Shrine today. Ayala Moriel offered 10 free samples of Vetiver Racinettes to Perfume Shrine readers.
- All samples are already spoken for now, but we still have more in stock for those who want to order it online via our online boutique.
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