Binxcat's Purrfect Fragrance

Dreaming Tree Soapworks - Once Upon a Dream Mystic Mists (Black Cat) No better time than Halloween to share my review of the oriental body mist Black Cat.  Black Cat is a creation from an independent cruelty free company – Dreaming Tree Soapworks.  Black Cat is my first purchase from this brand.  I honestly wasn’t certain what to expect as the quality from independents can often be pretty hit or miss.  This fragrance was also offered in other forms (note – the brand creates soaps, candles, oils, and other body care products) but I went with the Mystic Mist as it seemed the safest bet for a first try. Black Cat opens with a beautifully spiced plumy jasmine.  The spices have a distinctly Fall-like feel to them without becoming gourmand.  The rich, juicy dark plum tempers the jasmine so the fragrance does not become a floral.  A bit into wear an exotic wood enters and envelops the notes like a night fog in the forest.  The spiced plummy jasmine woods wear with a delicate wispines

Ex Nihilo - Fleur Narcotique EDP Fleur Narcotique (“Fleur”) is a fruity floral.  It bursts open with juicy notes of litchi and peach and a blossoming bergamot and a bold jasmine.  The florals are quite intense.  The fruity notes serve to create florals that feel much like candied flowers on a beautifully decorated cake.  The twist is decidedly sweet.  As Fleur wears, a rich peony and delicate orange blossom appear.  The peony is strong while the orange blossom is mild.  Woody and moss notes both ground and lift the peony – orange blossom blend.  I get the feel of both earth and sky.  A delicate musk rounds out the fragrance. Fleur wears on me as a sweet, fruity, strong peony and white floral for roughly 9 – 10 hours with heavy to moderate projection. Notes: bergamot, litchi, peach, jasmine, peony, orange blossom, woody notes, moss, musk Created by Quentin Bisch Cruelty Free

Wildfox - Wildfox EDP What happens when an American brand known for hipster and vintage-styled fashion creates its first fragrance?  You get an oriental floral with the brand’s namesake that feels very much like the brand vibe. Wildfox is a fun, free-spirited, youthful scent.  It’s got a light and playful fruity floral feel with a sweetened musk base.  Delicate notes of jasmine, honeysuckle, and camellia bring the floral to the party.  The jasmine and honeysuckle are more predominant than the camellia.  Absinthe, not detectable as an individual note, adds a sort of an airy feel to the opening.  There is a ripe, juicy apricot that blends seamlessly with the florals.  A subtle honey and ambrox sweeten the florals.  The honey is mildly detectable and the duo bring the juice to a fairly sweet but cozy place.  An underlying musk, reminiscent of 80’s high school musks, balances the fragrance and helps to add a bit of interest and warmth.  Wildfox wears on me for roughly 3 – 4 hours wi

kai* - kai* rose perfume oil In their October 2017 issue, Glamour magazine named kai* (“kai”) rose perfume oil as a “Best Fragrance for Fall 2017” for Virgos.  They describe kai as “that familiar rose scent but with a woody twist”.  Since I am a Virgo, I thought it was coincidental that I had a sample from Beautyhabit to try. kai is a floral fragrance; rose lovers take note.  It opens with a stunning rose accord that is reminiscent of an intense blooming rose.  The note is singular and simply soars.  Very subtlety I begin to get notes of gardenia and white florals supporting the rose.  It feels much like a spring bouquet.  Glamour mentioned a woody twist and while there are no woody notes listed, there is a woody quality about the drydown.  By no means does this become a woody fragrance but instead there is a richness and complexity that surpasses that of a simple floral. kai has an exceptional wear time of 10 hours on me with moderate to light projection. Notes: rose

Houbigant Parfums Paris - Cologne Intense “The transportative Cologne Intense fragrance honors the alluring originator composed in 1709 by Jean Marie Farina, an impeccable Italian perfumer who'd settled in Cologne and founded a proprietary perfume factory the same year. Named in veneration of his western German city of adoption, his aqua mirabilis masterpiece became an international paragon coveted by titled European nobility, royals and courtesans. The "Water of Cologne" was ferried into France's regal courts by Louis XV's royal French soldiers and officers stationed in Cologne during the Seven Years' War.” Cologne Intense is labeled as a citrus aromatic.  As such, I was expecting a traditional citrus aromatic.  The opening is supposed to be “Evocative of a clean, fresh, sunny spring morning after a passing shower”.  I did not find this to be true.  Instead, while I do detect notes of bergamot, neroli, and petigrain, these notes do not appear until l

Dame Perfumery - Dark Horse Have you ever sampled a fragrance and thought to yourself, “What in the world has taken me so long to try this, it’s fantastic?”  Well, that was literally my very first thought the moment I got my first whiff of Dark Horse.  Webster’s Dictionary define dark horse as “a usually little known contender (such as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing”.  In the case of this fragrance, the name fits perfectly for me. Dark Horse is a floral woody musk, which for me tends to be a category of fragrance I tend to enjoy.  It opens with a cinnamon spiced bergamot with a light lemon twist.  The spice is tempered so it brings out the very best in the other two notes; the bergamot is the more predominant.  In the development of this juice the floral notes are enhanced with jasmine, carnation, and rose.  The jasmine seems to take a front seat for me with the carnation and rose being more subtle.  A gorgeous clove meets the cinnamon adding to the spici

Prada - La Femme Prada EDP La Femme Prada (La Femme) is an oriental floral that launched in 2016.  At the time of the release, it launched with an accompanying make fragrance, L’Homme Prada.  La Femme is a contemporary spin on floral and takes floral to a less than innocent place. Prada’s La Femme opens with a lush, juicy, somewhat gardenia-like frangipani.  The frangipani is amplified by a slight spice and honeyed vanilla.  The juice sweet but not overly sweet.  La Femme feels warm, confident, yet intimate.  As the juice wears, I get hints of tuberose and vetiver.  The tuberose is soft and lovely; it contains none of the harshness often found in tuberose laden fragrances.  The vetiver adds a lovely clean, balsamic woodiness to the base.  It feel quite feminine or unisex rather than a typical masculine vetiver.  La Femme reminds me of the perfect scent for sitting in a small, lovely garden on a warm day with the sun shining down waiting for a liaison with someone special. 

Alaïa Paris - Alaïa Eau de Parfum Blanche In 2015, the fragrance world welcomed couture designer Azzedine Alaïa with his launch of Alaïa (created by perfumer Marie Salamagne ) .  Last year, Alaïa was joined by a flanker – Alaïa EDP Blanche (“Blanche”).  The original fragrance was a leather whereas Blanche is a floral woody musk.  I was drawn to test Blanche as Alaïa’s couture aesthetic of celebrating the female form, while simultaneously making a woman feel powerful, is very much in line with my own ethos. Traditionally, fragrances are described as having top/head notes, middle/heart notes, and bottom/base notes.  We see a deviation from these descriptives as with Blanche, the notes are further described as impressions.  With the wearing of Blanche it becomes clear that “impressions” could not be more accurate. Like the extolled female form, Blanche feels very curved to me.  The opening is a confident vanilla tinged almond that has a floral feel to it.  It’s bold and at th

Christian Louboutin  - Trouble in Heaven Parfum Louboutin’s foray into the perfume world includes a trilogy of scents intended to reflect varied aspects of a woman’s personality.  Trouble in Heaven (“Trouble”), one of those fragrances, is an oriental floral. Trouble opens with an intense aquatic bergamot.  We get the aquatic feel due to the use of the synthetic, cascalone.  The initial spray is incredibly strong to my nose.  For me, Trouble does not have a traditional fragrance development after the initial note.  Instead, I get the entry of the florals – rose and iris – with the iris being more predominant through the fragrance wear.  The “base” notes also come in within the first fifteen minutes.  I get a rich, resinous amber touched with a clean patchouli and tonka bean.  In this fragrance, the tonka bean seems to lean heavily almond.  There is little to no change for me in note perception during the remainder of the wear.  Trouble wear of me with intense to moderate pr

Creed - White Amber (Les Royales Exclusives Collection) One of the first pieces of “real” jewelry I owned was an amber necklace bought for me by my parents when I was a teenager.  I remember being fascinating by the stone which seemed to glow from within.  When I began actively buying fragrance, I was drawn to scents with amber in the notes.  So began what has been a lifelong love of amber.  When Creed released White Amber, I knew it was a fragrance I had to try. With White Amber, Creed elevates amber by alternately combing the resinous note with fruits and florals.  It is interesting to note here that Creed classifies this fragrance as a fruity floral.  White Amber opens with a delicately sweetened, lightly fruited amber.  The fruit is akin to a mixed fruit salad and is not citric.  The amber is rich, warm, and somewhat woody. As White Amber develops, light white florals punctuated by a stunning jasmine appear.  The addition of sandalwood adds a creaminess to the floral a

Mugler - Alien Eau Sublime Some of the Mugler fragrances seem to be quite polarizing in the fragrance community at large.  It seems that many have very strong opinions one way or another about each release, myself included.  When I had the opportunity to try this new Alien flanker, I was cautiously optimistic. Eau Sublime (“Sublime”) takes the classic Alien jasmine jammy heaviness and lightens it with solar notes.  The perfumer has significantly softened the opening with this flanker.  Sublime opens as a light, fresh, lemony citrus touched with a soft jasmine and tiare flower.  There is a bright airiness to Sublime that is not present in the original.  As the juice wears, the heliotrope lends a floral vanilla powderiness to the fruity floral.  The heliotrope adds a slight sweetness without coming near the sweetness of Eau Sucree. The drydown mimics the base notes of the original giving us the cashmeran wood and amber.  The florals are balanced by the woody vetiver.  There

Acqua di Parma - Peonia Nobile Peonia Nobile (“Peonia”) is characterized as a floral.  Right off the bat, I want to say that to my nose this fragrance wears more as a fruity floral on my skin.  That said, Peonia opens with a fresh, tart, rose-tinged peony dipped in a succulent sweet raspberry.  Acqua di Parma characterizes the opening as one with a vibrant black pepper accent with soft raspberry; on me it’s quite the opposite.  The initial few hours of wear feel decidedly “pink” and luminous.  There is an authenticity to the raspberry note; there are no artificial leanings at all.  While certainly I get nuances of black pepper, the opening is all about the decadently rich fruity floral. This juice wears as the same fruity floral for roughly 3 hours when I begin to get a boost of brightness from the geranium.  The geranium, and in fact the heart of this juice, seems quite short-lived as by the 4 hour mark, the moodier base notes seem to rise. Without losing the fruity f

January Scent Project – Vaporocindro The notion that art imitates life is as old as Aristotle (the notion of an inherent memetic nature) and yet it has been conversely proffered that life imitates art.  With Vaporocindro, I would argue that that the perfumer, John Biebel (an artist himself) has managed to demonstrate that both art and life are inextricably bound together. Vaporocindro opens with a gorgeous, airy lilac laid over a fresh green leaf.  I sense much of the same soaring upward green that he gave us in his juice Eiderantler.  There is a crispness to the lilac/green that I can only assume comes from the apple; although the apple is not detectable as an individual note to my nose.  There is a delicately handed hint of turmeric and black pepper spice that serves to warm the juice without becoming overbearing; though you know you smell spices.  With the opening, I get the beginning hints of a warm, rich, old mahogany with teases with a touch of leatherness.  The opening seem