Birthday Perfume: Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Henna

April
Life’s been busy but this year I bought myself birthday perfume. This used to be a tradition that I had for myself for a long time, and then it got lost somewhere along the way. At one point, I thought I had enough perfume so I couldn’t justify buying more.

I took out Cinabre to wear on my birthday and realized that I would miss it when my travel size was gone, so I got online and bought a nice big bottle and I’m sure it will last me the year. I already have amazing scent memories with it. I took it on vacation with me last summer and wore it after swimming in the lake. I went to bed wearing it, listening to the whirr of the ceiling fan, exhausted after a day in the sun.

Maria Candida Gentile is hand-made perfume. The bottles are gorgeous with embossed labels and beveled edges. They spray a nice diffused mist.

Cinabre opens with a spicy sweet crystallized ginger, morphing into a rose and settling with a natural incense. It’s very unusual and not a safe blind-buy, which makes owning and wearing it a bit of a coup.

A triumph, which is what a birthday should be.

Do you buy yourself birthday perfume? What did you get?

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Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath Gloss

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Henna

Someone asked me about Charlotte Tilbury glosses and this is the only one I have. Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath Gloss in the colour Pillow Talk. This is a mini size that I got in a Christmas gift set, and the actual gloss is larger in size. This gloss is one of those tingly minty glosses that freshens your breath and makes your lips look plump. There’s not a ton of colour, and you can see that the applicator is nice and large so it’s easy to apply. The Sephora reviews said that the larger size of the applicator made this difficult to apply but you can see that I had no problem.

Apparently, I need to try the Rare Beauty glosses next.

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My Diptyque Collection

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Henna

Smelly water via Diptyque. I have to admit, pulling out matching bottles brings out the collector in me, because they look so good sitting together on a shelf. Alas, most of the time, they’re hidden away in a drawer, but I brought them out for a class picture.

Philosykos is basically empty, and it’s a fig done by Olivia Giacobetti.

Do Son is a tuberose, neroli, jasmine that’s better for the summer, because it’s a little green and has a savoury coconut in it.

Finally, Eau de Sens hair mist, which is the most recent addition to my collection. This one is more of a green floral scent, aromatic and almost bitter, but actually lovely to wear in my hair.

And I love the bottle design. I know that we love unique bottles but the art they have on the backs of these ones is so lovely and they are a collector’s dream. Tell me your favourite Diptyque.

You can watch me talk about these on Youtube:

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Burberry Her Review

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Henna

How about this: this Mother’s Day, ask Mom what she wants and get it for her!

April

That’s what a friend of mine did for Christmas. When she found out that I liked perfume, she had to tell me about the most fabulous perfume in the world that she once smelled in a crystal store… She never got it because it was $500 and there is no way she will spend that much on perfume. What was it called???

Yep, the one and only.

After my first suggestion was shot down for being too juvenile, I told her to go smell Burberry Her. Same perfumer, Francis Kurkdjian, and sort of that same vibe. Bright, sparkling, sweet… no filter… wait, back to the perfume. She liked it and put it on her Christmas list, and I’m glad to smell this person because she smells amazing. Tarte berries, musk, very sweet, and slightly medicinal in some ways too. There’s something on it I can’t put my finger on and by the time I do, it’s gone and morphed into something else. It’s quite bewitching.

Great from afar… this is a perfume that sticks to your clothes and fingers and doesn’t seem to die, so it’s one that I can’t wear myself because I like to experience something new daily. It would be perfect for someone who wanted a signature and was ready to commit.

Burberry Her eau de parfum is $186 for 100ml.

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Cerave Exfoliating Night Treatment Review

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Henna

I end the night with easy skincare and fell into bed. No many-stepped routine because I’ve been using this new Cerave Exfoliating Night Treatment because it actually has a bit of lactic and glycolic acid in it but also the moisturizing that we’ve come to expect from Cerave. If you have skin that’s more on the sensitive side but want to deal with texture, then this might be a good one to try.

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Perfume Club Meeting

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Henna

Well, we had a great time. It’s crazy how when we started these little smell-a-thons, we would be fatigued after 20 samples, and now we just run out of time.

We started with the Zoologist and let me tell you, if you want to do this, then starting with Zoologist is really fun. We guess the notes and try to match the scent to the animal. This time we started a completely subjective rating system and we all agreed that T-Rex came out on top. It’s the end of the world and this is what it smells like smoke, rubber, cigarettes, tires, and then there are also some more traditional perfume accords. We love it and none of us need to own it, but keep in mind that we’ve bought and sold bottles of Bee and Camel between the three of us.

We also decided to smell a Box Au Parfum from Nez La Revue which was interesting. And smelled all the ambrette-centric perfumes we could find. Glossier You, Chanel 1957, Diptyque Fleur de Peau. They were all there, so there was something for everyone.

Finally, Le Labo The Noir 29 stole the show. Maybe because the gentle blend of fig and tea kind of felt cleansing. We all put it on our wishlist, and are looking for a travel size.

We love a good travel size, although I’m slowly going over to the go big or go home crew. Do you have times like these? Get all the samples out and smell smell smell?

See anything you like?

 

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Bon Parfumeur 302 Perfume Review

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Henna

You can’t wear amber perfumes in a crop top, it’s an unspoken perfume rule, and most certainly not in white linen, so maybe this is the last time for the next little bit that I’ll talk about an amber perfume.

302 by Bon Parfumeur.

The text on the bottle says Ambre, Iris, Santal so hints and what we might be smelling.

This is a lovely herbal spicy amber perfume that starts off a bit sweet with vanilla, but then turns a bit bitter thanks to an unlisted oregano note. Easy to wear and easy to like. If you like Amber Sultan by Serge Lutens, you might like this. Everything is dusty, maybe because of the Iris and then there some woods, not quite sandalwood, but more of a generic ambery base.

It’s seems to be a trend for smaller “niche” brands to buy this base and build on top or around it – Nishane Ani and Jovoy Psychedelique come to mind off the top of my head. Once you smell them, you smell them everywhere and I suppose for the price point, it’s to be expected. For me, it’s a complete turn-off, and my nose perceives them as an annoying hum that I can’t un-smell. It’s something I wish more fragrance reviewers talked about because surely if you’ve got all these perfumes in your collection, you can smell the similarity between them all.

Anyway, I like this and I’ll keep wearing it, and if you’re looking for an affordable amber, this one is great. I won’t be adding any more from this line to my collection but never say never. I’d still like to smell them all in person and the cute 30ml bottles would look so good all together.

Now it’s time to put the ambers away for a bit and look for something else.

You can watch my video review here.

https://youtu.be/M2iYVGxR0Lg

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Attar Affair Rose and Mogra Attars

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Henna

April
I got some unexpected news today and people that know me, know that I like to withdraw, think, regroup, and then come back. It’s fine.

The Mogra attar from Attar Affair is distracting me, in a good way, because I smell like damp jasmine flowers and I layered it with Diptyque Do Son, so I’m just surrounded by white florals today.

The rose attar is a sweet jammy rose, very similar to the rose you’d get when you drink Rooh Afza, so I really enjoyed wearing it and getting whiffs of its sweetness throughout the day. I’m probably going to reapply this one later in the day.

Attars are essentially perfume oils and are traditionally found in India and some Middle Eastern countries. They’re very concentrated and often solinotes. Growing up, my mom and grandmother (who both loved perfume) always had attars around the house – sometimes mint for their headaches, or floral ones as perfumes to wear for nights out.

Have you tried any attars and do you have a favourite?

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Kayali Invite Only Amber 23

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Henna


Kayali Invite Only Amber 23. The only Kayali and the only tobacco in my collection. Tbh, it’s like they took Serge Lutens Chergui and made it more mass-appealing for the Sephora shopper. There’s a mellow coconut and a lot of musk in the drydown but the powdery and tobacco notes are still there. The sweetness combined with the coconut is yummy but not in a gourmand way, more like in a, get over here kind of way. There’s also a bit of cherry in the opening but it’s not there very long, it’s more of a cherry wood. I get compliments on this – people are like “omg what IS that!” Instead of “oh nice perfume” which is what I sometimes get.

The bottle in the picture is my travel size, but they’ve updated these now so that they’re tall instead of squat, which I guess, is more in line with what most brands do.

In case you missed it, here’s my Youtube review of this perfume.

https://youtu.be/Plj0gYE_iVs

Have you seen Mona Kattan’s perfume room? She’s the creator of this brand and is a prolific collector. Google it, it’s worth a peek, it looks more like a store than a perfume collection. Clearly, it’s there for reference and not because she’s going to wear each and every bottle. Honestly, the more I get into perfume, the more days off a week I need so my nose doesn’t get tired, and I’m not the only one saying that. But that’s how it is for everything – anything you’re into a lot is something that you also need to take a break from and that break also revitalizes you. The perfume break actually helps me smell parts of perfumes better and I definitely need to spray less so it’s win-win.

 

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Chanel 1957 eau de parfum Review

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Henna


1957 by Chanel, part of their Les Exclusifs line. This person could wear Glossier You, but they only shop at the Chanel boutique for their scents, dahling, and plus, they want all their bottles to look the same, so 75 ml sizes only and we keep going back for more when the juice runs out.

Of course, there’s Chanelade in this too, it’s not just a musk, a skin scent, it’s interesting, refined, has some body, but so does You, so do all the other ambrettes .

Maybe we just like the one we smell first.

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