Monday, December 17, 2012

Perfume Review - DarlingClandestine Part 2



Okay, so a few of weeks ago I recieved a wonderfully generous package of perfumes and samples from DarlingClandestine. I did a review for three of the scents a while ago (you can find that review here) but three of the scents I din´t feel familiar enough with yet to sufficiently describe. You could say I had not gotten to know them yet or decided what my relationship was with them. I sometimes need prolonged contact with a perfume before I can decide if I love it or not. But as long as a scent works well on my skin it is mostly only a matter of time and adjustment before I fall in love with it!

I am normally drawn to scents that are of a wood/spice/gourmand variety so a few of the scents I recieved were a bit out of my comfort zone. Vardogr, reviewed in part one, was described as a "dark, damp, herbal fragrance" and that was close enough to my tastes that I felt compelled to try it. Dark, damp, mossy I can handle, even like, maybe even adore, though I haven´t quite reached that state yet. Gram Negative was fresh green, dark floral and damp moss, not something I would expect to enjoy. Most florals fit somewhere on a scale between abhor and dislike for me, the only notable exception being iris, that I adore! Green or fresh in a scent description is also something that will usually turn me off. But there was that moss, and it showed in the scent as well, it wasn´t at all as frightening as it sounded... Of the scents I recieved, only one was really definitely true to my normal tastes. That was Big Top Train, spicy, loud, creamy and just gorgeous!

Out of the remaning three scents, one was a love at first sight that has since waned a little bit. The other two had elements I liked and elements I disliked... Of those one is still not quite a scent I love, while the other has grown substantially in my regard.

Aragon is a mystery for me, the description says lavender, sea salt, wine, leather, caramel and chocolate... on me it is SAFFRON (where did that one come from?) with some lavender and a drydown that is a comforting sweet gourmande, that might be the caramel and chocolate. From the description I also got a rather masculine vibe (not that I really care much about perfume gender, I much prefer unisex and masculine scents to feminine florals) the leather, the wine, the sea salt... but as I don´t smell any of those notes... um... Well let´s just say that I feel as if Evonne of DarlingClandestine describes one scent to me, but the one I smell is another altogether. I like this scent a lot, saffron is definitely among my favorite notes! But lavender has never really worked on my skin, and turns just slightly soapy. And however much I love the powerful saffron there is still something that I feel I´m missing about this scent... I feel like I don´t quite "get it"... It is sweet, comfortning, perfect for Christmas, but somehow I don´t think that was how it was intended to be. It also fails to develop on my skin, there are no curious complexities, no changes, and it fades after just a couple of hours. I´m blaiming my chemistry for this failiure, there must just be something in this that disagrees with my skin...

Another type of perfume I have a problem with are oceanic scents. They tend to be very sharply fresh, almost metallic, on my skin. Step Right Up is described as "a clean, oceanic, very unisex fragrance with notes of wood and spice". That sounds like a precarious balance to me, the clean and the oceanic on one side and the woody and spicy on the other. On my skin it IS a precarious balance, because my skin does dislike the clean sharp sea in this scent. On first application it is harsh, salty and slightly acidic (citrus in here somewhere or is that just an olfactory hallucination?). The middle of this scent is nice and the drydown is beautiful, woods and lovely spices. The oceanic nature fades quite fast, so I really just have to get trough that and then I can enjoy the rest of this scent. But as I can´t really appreciate the oceanic element much of the complexity of this scent is lost for me. The parts I can appreciate are nice and lovely, but not very complex. Again, I´m blaiming this on my chemistry, I know that it doesn´t handle clean and oceanic very well.

The last perfume in my package, Fisticuffs, has really made a stunning recovery after it made some really quite bad first impresions on me. My first thought was "ughh... fresh... soapy..." and then I moved on and rather forgot about this scent for a week or so. This scent is described as "wine and honey and hot blood and concrete, with the green rush of the thrill of the fight", so maybe it is supposed to give a rather harsh first impression, like a punch in the face. But the thrill of the fight did catch up with me! This scent is so unique and fast turning into somewhat of a signature scent! Where gourmand scents make me feel relaxed this scent empowers me! All the notes mingle so beautifully, and the complexity is stunning! This is a scent that really changes a lot during the time it lasts (which on me is 12 hours or more), sometimes it is wine at the forefront, sometimes the sweetness of honey, at times it is sharp and green (but in a way that works on my skin, just like with Gram Negative)... I don´t know quite how blood or concrete smells in a perfume so I cannot quite tell you if this smells of either, but this perfume would probably not smell this unique with just honey, wine and something green, so I guess they are there somewhere, hiding and adding something sinister and unsettling. Something I love with this perfume, that I lack with the other two, is the images and associations that come to mind. The complex story that unfolds! I´m glad I got a whole bottle of this gorgeous stuff, now I can try some layering, this stuff probably works wonders with anything slightly booring!


Do any of you have specific types of pefume that you love and any surprising crushes on scents that are really not your type?

10 comments:

  1. Fistcuffs has now been on my skin for more than twelve hours, straight trough a night, and it is still there! That´s longevity for you!

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  2. I always hated any perfume with a leather note, but then I tried TMTM's Horseman and fell in love. And ever since I've come full circle and love a ton of perfumes with a leather note in them. So weird - I put it down to maturing. Just as I used to adore anything that was sweet and smelled like lollies and now I can't stand those kinds of scents.

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    1. Thanks for the comment!! (Makes me happy!) I had´nt heard of Horseman before but it sounds fab! "Horseman: Fiery jack-o-lanterns, black leather boots, temple incense, and the edge of a dark Autumn wood. Opens sweet, almost caramel-foody, but after only a few minutes on the skin, it darkens dramatically, almost changing into a different scent altogether" I´m very sad that I missed out on The Morbid The Merrier, sounds like they had some awesome scents!!

      I know what you mean about maturing... I became really interested in perfume about a year ago!! And man has my tastes changed trough this olfactory journey! I was a vanilla/coconut kind of gal, now I´m decidedly not! I want my perfumes darker and more complex now...

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  3. I love it when perfumes go dramatically different from first sniff to totally something else later on! DC scents do that to me. Firstcuffs sounds great :) My favourite of DC is Whitefall (basmati rice pudding!)
    I second Dee about Horseman, it has such good leather note. Shame TMTM is no more :(

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    1. Basmati rice pudding sounds really weird in a fabulous way! I do want to try that one! I like weird and or freaky perfumes! (I did try Bal a Versailles just because someone said it smelled horribly of sweat and sex... Turned out it was really beautiful but rather disappointingly ordinary...) Any freaky scents to recommend?

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    2. Haha I have heard about Bal A Versailles but not tried. Oh, I like some freaky too! If you are into that stuff, try Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL). The descriptions and perfumes are unusual and enticing :) There are 100's of perfume oils to choose from, it can be overwhelming. Also try samples first to get an idea of what the perfumes are like. They can be hit or miss depending on your taste (and expectation!) If you want suggestions, email me (sdr.aus@gmail.com) I'll see if I have any samples to send to you that you might like :) x

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    3. I bought a good vintage (EdC) Bal a Versailles decant from here http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChiChiPerfumes , along with some other vintage scents... Bal a Versailles is quite animalistic, heavy on the musk and civet, truly awesome if you like that kind of scent!
      I´ve been working my way trough scent descriptions on BPAL's site for a while, but I do find it owerwhelming... and many of the scents that I´d love to sample aren´t available as imps (the Neil Gaiman collection for example)... So I guess BPAL frustrates me a bit... I do think I´ll mail you later for some recommendations!

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  5. I found your blog while searching for perfume reviews some time ago. Decided I should stop lurking like a creeper and make a comment. I'm very surprised that you thought Fisticuffs was fresh and soapy! I have a bottle of that too (it's one of my faves. It would be my signature if I weren't such a perfume addict. Haha!), and when I first opened it, I got smacked in the face with overripe, nearly fermented boozy fruit (I guess the wine?), salty sweat and heat. And on my skin it's quite the same as from the bottle. I love it!

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    1. Thanks for your comment! Now that I have gotten used to the green note that I get from Fisticuffs I am in love with it! But it is still more fresh than decay on me... It is very elegant (green, wine, honey) with just a salty hint of something sinister... I love the concept of it and I do love the scent!

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