Perfume Reviews by Vanilla

No. 18 Eau de Toilette by Chanel

To me, this is the best perfume from Chanel.

There's nothing smell like it in the market. So it's not like your everyday perfume, it's a little weird, but very warm and lovely. I suppose it's mainly because of the ambrette seed?

Oddly, on my skin, the top is very soft, but it gets stronger and stronger in time. So have to be careful when applying.
Very good sillage and lasts forever.

Néroli Outrenoir by Guerlain

This is growing on me.
I've been using this for a while, at first, I liked it a lot, it smelled great, and it's one of my beloved ‘L'Art er la Matière'.
Recently, I've noticed that I'm in love with this one. I'm wearing this today, and I just love it, and love how good I smell with it.

It starts fresh and green, then the tea came in, it's some green tea and some smoked tea. Then the sweet fresh neroli gets in, and this tea with neroli lasts for quite a while, after some hours finally the base notes unfolds, and all became a mysteriously beautiful scent.

On me, both longevity and sillage are quite good. Lasts more than 8 hours, and I can always smell it in the air around me.

Hermèssence Osmanthe Yunnan by Hermès

I love osmanthus, and this is one of the best. It's elegant and not too sweet, while still get the essence of the real flower.

Since osmanthus is an autumn flower, I always apply this in autumn, but recently I realized it projects better in warm weather. So this is going to be my late summer fragrance.

Amalia Gourmand by Fueguia 1833

I went to their shop hoping to love and bring back the chocolate one ‘Xocoatl', but instead fell in love with this one.

It starts with a very delicate and fresh Jasmine, pleasant and innocent, I was about to decide this to be a lovely fragrance when it suddenly took a dramatic turn to somewhat dark and mysterious, I can't put it in any particular note, but it has some sweetness and creamyness, which I suppose is the vanilla and caramel. But there's a lot more in it.

It's like a lovely girl, wearing a white sundress and dancing in sunshine, and when the sun went down and the moon came up, she changed into a sexy shiny black evening dress standing mysteriously in the moonlight.

Sillage and longevity both very good.

Sonnet by Parfum Satori

Sweet opening and very realistic Osmanthus.
Moderate projection, but longevity is kind of weak.

Osmanthus by Keiko Mecheri

This perfume doesn't reflect its name “Osmanthus”. I can detect the osmanthus note somewhere in it, but it doesn't stand out, instead, the Datura note kind of grab all the glory of this exotic fragrance.

So my thumbs up is not about osmanthus, but about Datura blended with osmanthus and tuberose.
It has some similarity with Serge Lutens' Datura Noir.

Longevity is quite good, and projection is pretty strong.

Un Jardin Sur Le Toit by Hermès

My favorite of the Jardin collection. Maybe it's because I prefer sweet scents over spicy ones. This is sweet, but freshly sweet, which makes it suitable for summertime.

I get the fruit notes and the magnolia, and strangely in the dry down, I get some kind of leather vibe, reminds me a little of Kelly Caleche. And actually this is the vibe i feel in most of Hermes perfume, maybe it's kind of the Hermes signature scent like Guerlain's Gerlinade. Still it's nice.

Hyouge / Oribe by Parfum Satori

Very green.

I get green tea, and green grass in the rain, and newly installed Tatami kind of green vibe. I don't get much floral scent here.

Suitable for this season, in the humid heat.

Longevity and sillage are both moderate. Never can be offensive in any way. But it lasts quite long on my skin, and near my skin.

I like to wear heavy scent in autumn and winter, but in summer, light scent is much pleasant to wear.

Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia by Guerlain

Casablanca Lily and ylang-ylang, my nose gets these two note in a very beautiful mixture.

I love casablanca lily, but unfortunately many lily-scented perfumes out there tend to go on the fresh side instead of this warm sweet casablanca scent, except Serge Lutens' Un Lys. When I heard Guerlain would do a lily scent, I was half hopeful and half worried. Hoped my beloved Guerlain would satisfy me with a real Casablanca lily.

And happily, my hope was rewarded on the first spray. This is warm and sweet, but not too warm for this season, and not too sweet to be offensive. and the ylang-ylang really is the perfect match for this lily.