Charlotte Tilbury Joyphoria Perfume Review

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Henna

April 28
What’s really surprising about this collection of Charlotte Tilbury perfumes is that there’s not a powdery scent to be found. Unlike Huda Beauty’s Baked perfume, which is meant to replicate the scent of one of her powders, the Charlotte Tilbury collection doesn’t tie into the themes from the makeup or the skincare. Most disappointingly, there’s no Pillow Talk perfume to go with the Pillow Talk lipstick and other products, but if there is one scent that does tie into the Pillow Talk collection, it could be Joyphoria. The bottle alone mimics the rose-gold packaging of some of the lipsticks and the concept for the perfume is easy, breezy, and fun.

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Akro Night

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Henna

April 28
In Milan, I finally got my nose on all the Akro perfumes and I finally got the hype. All of the scents are created for concepts that are part of people’s lives – they’re so easy to relate to. You don’t have to imagine a far-off locale or an obscure movie reference. Sometimes, the idea is as approachable as your morning cup of coffee. Akro is the brand created by perfumer Olivier Cresp, who perhaps is best known for creating Angel by Mugler. The brand’s initial concept was to create perfumes that were inspired by addictions, such as coffee, booze, and smoking. Night was part of that collection, simply referring to a night out.

This is a perfume that needs to be worn on skin to be appreciated. It gives off wafts of fresh rose which shine brighter thanks to the cumin that it’s paired with. On paper, the cumin is sweaty, almost urinous, but those qualities are subdued on skin. It’s like the cumin gives a halo effect to the rose, making it shine brighter than it would on its own. I get why Night is hard to love – rose perfumes aren’t everyone’s thing, and neither is cumin. Furthermore,

Night isn’t the only scent that pairs these two: Amouage Epic Woman and Le Labo’s Rose 31, but the rose in this is more luminous and the cumin potent and without its spicy facets. It’s pretty basic as far as rose perfumes go, but it’s still fun to wear.

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Creed Sublime Vanille Perfume Review

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Henna

I sprayed myself with Creed Sublime Vanille which is the Creed for me, the Creed I never knew existed, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have looked twice at it. Sublime Vanille has a freshness from Bergamot and a dry elegant vanilla that’s not too sweet. It reminds me of some of my other favourite perfumes, namely Coromandel and Shalimar, but without as much powder and florals. It’s more simplistic but still a joy to wear and smell.

And how pretty are the official travel atomizers? I love how unique they are.

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Chanel Les Exclusifs Perfume Collection

Posted on May 27, 2024 by Henna

April 14
Three of my favourites, and no matter what else I try, I keep coming back to them for reference: Chanel Coromandel, Boy, and Cuir de Russie. Boy is my spring and summer pick – lavender and vanilla done in a way that makes it light and fresh.

My first encounter with this perfume was a generous size decant that I used up in a week at the cottage, so this will always be a summer perfume for me. Chanel will spin a yarn about Boy being a tribute to Coco Chanel’s beau Boy Capel, but I think that Boy actually references Caron’s Pour un Homme, the lavender vanilla that came way before it. The story behind Coromandel is that it is named after the Coromandel screens that Coco Chanel had, but the Coromandel coast is in India and this is Chanel’s ode to amber – the warmth in this scent is reminiscent of other perfumes that refer to India, screens or no screens. Patchouli, benzoin, vanilla, and incense make this scent a joy to wear.

It changes with every hour and even with every wear. Cuir de Russie is the only leather perfume I have in my collection and the only leather that I can wear – because it doesn’t have that new car smell. It has birch tar to evoke the scent of leather and it always makes me think of a stable, not a barn. This scent evokes fresh soap in a stable but there’s no horse or hay in sight, just leather. I think it’s also the Les Exclusifs that’s not mentioned as much – a little slept on, but it’s still one of my favourites. This line does everything right – everything is measured just so. If you have a chance, smell them in a Chanel boutique and try them on skin, because that’s where the magic is.

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Perfume Gender Benders

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Henna

April 28
While arranging perfumes by notes or brands is interesting, other things sometimes stand out when you’re re-organizing your collection. These scents tried to give us a new way of looking at the world: Chanel Boy, Eris Mx., and Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois. Did they succeed? I hope they moved the pendulum in a direction where we enjoy perfumes for the scent and don’t worry about whether they market to us or not.

Mx. is the most recent launch of the group, as it came out in 2017, and its warm spices give way to warm woods. It beckons with its warmth and then captivates with its shapeshifting.

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Benjoin Boheme by Diptyque in a New Bottle

Posted on May 20, 2024 by Henna

April 28
Sparkly and warm, fizzy and satisfying, Diptyque Benjoin Boheme now comes in a new bottle. I never had one in the crackled glass but I don’t live in the land of FOMO. I think that this one is pretty too. The bottle lends itself to drama but I find the scent to be softer, basically becoming a skin scent before it’s even lunchtime. It’s still fun to wear, glorious in the opening, and in an eye-catching bottle.

 

 

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Fenty Beauty Demi’Glow Highlighter

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Henna


Cute packaging that looks like a shell, and inclusive shades: I like it. This was the Fenty Beauty’s Demi’Glow highlighter in Yum Rum which is a medium/light shade. It’s not frosty like old-school highlighters but it still gives a major glow with not a lot of product.

There are 9 colours in all which is a step up from the 3 (or even just 1!) shade that other brands offer, so if you’re looking for something other than the standard champagne or golden highlight, now you know where to look.

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Creed Queen of Silk Perfume Review

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Henna

April 28
It turns out that 70% of Creed’s business is masculine heavy-hitters, and they’re looking to balance out their numbers a bit, which is why after launching Carmina, they’ve now launched Queen of Silk, another perfume that’s marketed to women. This seems to be a trend right now, and it seems that brands are wanting women to come to their counters and spend their money there.

I mean, Queen of Silk got my attention and was an opportunity for me to explore some of the other scents the brand has. Queen of Silk is a fruity amber scent that wears heavy on the base notes. While there’s a fizzy peach kind of opening, it disappears within minutes and the intensity of the ambery patchouli and vanilla, with a hint of myrrh, makes itself apparent.

The sillage and lasting power are incredible – I could smell a couple of sprays from the sample bottle all day. There’s ambroxan to turn up the volume in this perfume, but it’s not overly sweet. It really just makes those base ambers heavier and longer lasting. Because of how dense the amber notes in this perfume are, it’s one that I’d wear on cooler spring days.

Queen of Silk is a pretty name, but this perfume could be called Queen of Velvet because of its weight, or leave the Queen out and stick with Velvet because at the end of the day, this isn’t really a very feminine perfume, and anyone could wear it. Creed fans say this is lacking the saltiness that the house is known for – I say let the past live in the past.

Thanks for the sample Creed and Holt Renfrew!

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New Charlotte Tilbury Perfume Collection

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Henna

April 28
Charlotte Tilbury’s new perfumes are here, they’re available for pre-order on her app, before they launch in stores on May 2. Many years ago, the brand launched one perfume, but in these times, nobody launches just one. Six perfumes form this collection and offer something for everyone – or at least most people. I like that these all fall into recognizable scent categories and they’re all thoughtfully done.

I’ll review them in detail in the upcoming weeks but here are the basics.

 

My favourite is Cosmic Power – of course it is. The notes include vanilla and frankincense which is so very me. I found out later that Dominique Ropion is the nose for this one

If you’re one for a beachy scent, Joyphoria is for you. It’s recognizably white floral, coconut, and salt. I think it’s a bit sweeter than some other offerings but I prefer it to them too.

More Sex is more of a sweet leather – it’s wearable even for people like me, who don’t like leather. It’s very feminine and the most base-note heavy. This one definitely packs more of a punch.

Love Frequency is the rose one – again, this is a sweeter take on the rose note, almost like a syrupy rose jam. It feels young and fun.

Calm Bliss is aquatic, like sitting by the ocean – I like that the bottle is blue and hints at the character of the scent inside.

Magic Energy is the most surprising of the six – it’s green and very well done.

I love it because it’s so fresh and uplifting, but I think I’m the only one who would buy a fresh green scent from Charlotte Tilbury.

The scents come in 100ml bottles or travel sprays. Gifted.

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Acne Studios by Frederic Malle Perfume Review

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Henna

April 14
Acne Studies by Frederic Malle is here, and if you want the promotional videos, Malle says that he wanted to make this perfume because Acne is one of the most relevant brands today. The perfumer, Suzy Le Helley, references the iconic oversized Acne scarf as her inspiration, and actually, yes, this does evoke that aesthetic. It’s like walking into a room of peach vape juice and dryer sheets, which is what I imagine the Acne customer smells like. Clean and boring!

Is it classy? For sure. Anyone who has money for Acne, and this perfume may not want to wear something that’s going to draw attention to themselves. If someone smells you while you’re wearing this, they’ll think you smell of starched warm laundry and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a strong perfume and one spray lasts a long time – likely because this type of musk sticks to skin for a long time, but also I live in a cold dry place, and perfume lasts a long time on me. If you get this, it’s not going to be a scent for special occasions – it’ll be a daily driver.

If you like Byredo Blanche, then this might be for you – the fizzy top notes are like those in Chanel No. 5 and might make you think of more old-school perfumes, but once they die down, you get a fruity sugar-free gum peach, and then the white laundry musk that smells like Tide soap or Bounce dryer sheets.

I realize that some of these references are specific to North America – you might not have Tide laundry detergent that smells the way it does in Canada, and you might not be bored with the smell like we are. You might relish the scent of clean clothes fresh out of the laundry! How novel! They put the scent in a bottle!

If you’re interested in something niche, I smelled Hot Cotton by Baruti Perfumes today and it smells exactly like a hot iron on a shirt – steam and starch in a perfume. Try it too – it’s a better perfume because there’s honesty in the message it delivers.

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