Perfume Reviews by Ratfink
Aura by Thierry Mugler
Like wearing a nice pudding. Pleasant, but not exactly challenging. Bring back Womanity, at least that was interesting.
Habanita by Molinard
I really wanted to like this, but after several attempts to get on with it I'm giving up and giving away my sample. On me this smells like furniture polish, with a very slight hint of a tobacco if I sniff my arm really intently. Meh.
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Wild Berry Blossom by Illuminum
Smells incredibly synthetic. Also smells of fish.
Narcisse Noir by Caron
I get orange and incense, and no 'noir' at all. It gets a thumbs up, as it is lovely, but once again, I'm a bit disappointed that it's not the ballsy fragrance I expected, and would love to try the original.
Tabac Blond by Caron
I get a beautiful floral, with a hint of herbal tablets thrown in. There's *no* 'tabac' that I can identify, and I've tried it three times now. It's still lovely, but it's not what I expected at all.
Very Irrésistible Eau de Toilette by Givenchy
I was given this perfume as a gift - I'm not sure that I would have chosen it for myself - but it's grown on me a lot, despite being much sweeter and altogether 'pinker' than I would normally like. It also has to be one of the least convincing rose scents I've ever come across. It's a sweet and slightly peppery fragrance; pink with a kick. I wear it in the Winter, when I need cheering up.
Gris Clair by Serge Lutens
Starts off wonderfully smoky and dry; a very masculine take on lavender. It soon softens and sweetens, however, and develops a slightly minty character. I want to love this but, sadly, as it dries down, it gets just a little too sweet for my tastes.
Paul Smith Extreme Women by Paul Smith
The first blast of this smells like a cheap plastic toy that's been left out in the sun too long. After a while it redeems itself a little, becoming merely uninteresting. I've tried repeatedly to get on with this fragrance, but the opening is so thoroughly nasty that I'm now officially giving up on it.
Chance Eau Tendre Eau de Toilette by Chanel
Fruity floral, which is overly sweet, cloying and girly. Reminds me of rice pudding with added fruit jam, but not in a good way. Thirteen year olds will love it.
Fahrenheit by Christian Dior
Lighter fuel, shortly followed by gun oil, then dries down to a classically masculine, warm and spicy scent. I like.
A*Men / Angel Men by Thierry Mugler
A weird combination of very strong, sweet coffee, combined with soft licorice and bleach. Interesting, but overly synthetic and possibly only bearable in small doses. What starts off as a bang ends up a whimper - it dries down to a weak, sweet chocolate scent after a couple of hours.
Angel Garden of Stars : Violet Angel by Thierry Mugler
This is a funny one. Bought as a blind buy, because I love Angel and I love violets; seeing as it was discontinued, when I found a bottle available online, I pounced. It's sweeter than the original Angel, more obviously 'gourmand' - and it's as though the elements which make Angel interesting are missing. Someone has commented that it smells like 'a deep fryer' - to me it's what a deep-fried Mars bar would smell like, only with added violets. Bizarrely, I still like it....
Womanity by Thierry Mugler
Okay, let's get the bad stuff out of the way first: I hate the bottle, I really hate the colour and I really, really hate the stupid meaningless name. The scent itself is not so bad! There's not a lot to it as far as I can tell - figs and caviar pretty much cover it, but hats off for doing something different and maybe even a bit daring. Plus, once I got over the initial reaction of this is weird', I realised that I do actually like it. It remains to be seen whether it turns out to be something I'd rather eat than wear.
L'Heure Bleue Eau de Parfum by Guerlain
Powdery and smooth, with a lovely soft violet centre. Reminds me of the equally fabulous Après L'Ondée. Utter, dreamy gorgeousness.
Magie Noire by Lancôme
On first application, this smells (to me) like a ballsy version of Coco', but a couple of minutes in and Magie Noire starts to show its real personality - that of a dark, bitter chypre which, for the first half hour or so, comes dangerously close to being too harsh. However, just as I start to think it's not one for me, it warms up and all the components start to sing. It took me a while to love this stuff, but now I think it's a bit of a masterpiece. I completely agree that it would make a great masculine - and the body cream is luscious.
Ange ou Démon by Givenchy
The first time I tried this it seemed mediocre, but pleasant enough. The second time I tried it, it started to grate on me, big time. I still have some of my sample left and am wondering if I can be bothered to be annoyed by this fragrance for yet another day. It's loud, sickly sweet, cloying and frankly, downright irritating. It honestly reminds me of the toilet freshener used at my local, which has all the subtlety of an olfactory mallet. Not great.
Play for Her by Givenchy
I'm sorry, but this is a: 'why, oh why, oh why' fragrance.What's the point? Seriously! WHY are all the perfume houses repeatedly churning out this generic, sugary, infantile crap? It's not completely hideous, but it sure as hell isn't great, or even good. It's just like 1001 other perfumes flooding the market at the moment and I'm sooooo bored with it now.It seems to me that the perfume industry is hell bent on drowning itself in a vat of syrup - someone throw it a life belt, for God's sake.
My Insolence by Guerlain
Smells like really strong and fruity herbal tablets; I've smelt worse, but it's just a bit bizarre. After several hours it dries down to a slightly too sweet Insolence-type scent. Not exactly a Guerlain classic.
No Debate by Body Shop
Immediately smelt like sweet sherry, which was suddenly overwhelmed by a strong, creamy vanilla. One for Christmas? Pleasant, possibly a little too sweet and one-dimensional, but a nice enough scent.(For men? Seriously?)
DKNY Be Delicious by Donna Karan
A green floral which is more for daytime than night (and possibly more for summer than winter). The apple smells quite fresh and sweet, not sharp - then after a while you get the cucumber, which comes on pretty strong. It's quite loud, whilst simultaneously not being especially long-lasting. I understand the criticisms about it being generic and a bit average really, but I still like it.