Binxcat's Purrfect Fragrance

Apothescary Scents - Annabel Lee Perfume Oil As a fragrance blogger with the curiosity of a cat, I’m always searching for the new and unusual.   I stumbled across this brand while shopping for completely unrelated items.   “What is this?!”   A fragrance brand I had not yet heard of with fragrances that spoke to my love of Poe and other literary greats?   I browsed through the offerings and selected two to try in order to satiate my curiosity and perhaps discover a new love.   Annabel Lee is the first of the two I will be reviewing. Being familiar with, and loving, Annabel Lee by Poe (copied below), I had a preconceived idea about this fragrance before I tested it.   I wanted and expected it to transport me into the poem itself.   Spoilers – Annabel Lee did not disappoint. This fragrance opens with an air of mystery.   There is a mossy green base blurred with a rolling fog of salt air and driftwood.   You get an immediate sense o...

Diptyque - Eau Lente Eau Lente is an “oldie but goodie”.   Released in 1986 by Diptyque, it is an oriental fragrance which is said to make the wearer “give in to the spell of calm”. The fragrance opens with a potpourri of spice.   I get heaping portions of cinnamon.   The cinnamon has a dry quality to its intensity which reads as a cinnamon powder.   There is a note of clove which lays with the cinnamon in a soft incense-like waft.   There is a comfortable warmth to the opening. As Eau Lente wears, I get what reads as a light peppery note.   The fragrance continues to have a spiced-incense vibe.   Hints of a vanilla come into the fragrance and lend a semi-sweet touch to the spices.   The vanilla transforms the boldly spiced fragrance.   Eau Lente begins to feel more like a delicate shawl in Winter; it feels cozy.   In the drydown I also get what feels like an ambery resin.   The depth of the resinous note seems to roun...

M. Micallef - The Art Collection Vanille:  Vanille Marine In 2012, M. Micallef launched the special edition – The Art Collection Vanille.  The collection is comprised of 4 fragrances each pairing sweet vanilla with another specific note.  Vanille Marine (“Vanille”) pairs vanilla with the aquatic fragrance family and creates an aromatic aquatic that shows the “watery” side of vanilla. Vanille opens with fresh, minerally, fruity floral notes paired with a delicately sweet vanilla.  The fruits are bright and sunny in feel.  The often sharp lemon is tempered with a rich juicy blackberry.  The white flowers are sweetened with a slightly boozy vanilla.  The white florals and vanilla are more present than the fruits.  There is a creaminess to the opening that exists despite the light airiness.  As Vanille wears, there is a beachy feel to the notes.  You can almost feel the salty ocean breeze and the sun shining down.  Ther...

House of Matriarch - Coco Blanc I was gifted a sample of this oriental vanilla fragrance from a very good friend of mine.   I had been interested in testing it for some time and had simply not gotten around to it.   Sometimes, you need that little push from a friend!   In this case, I’m so happy I got that push. While on the surface, the main notes in this fragrance read as gourmand, let me stop you there – this fragrance does not wear as a traditional sweet gourmand.   Instead, like all of the House of Matriarch fragrances I’ve had the chance to try, this one is intensely complex.   Coco Blanc opens on me as a creamy white chocolate, chai spiced, walk in the woods.   There is almost a warm floral quality to it.   The fragrance does not feel weighted down but instead has a lightness to it.   Hints of coconut peek through enveloped in an accord that reads on me as a smoky leather.   I get a lightly resinous warmth.   Coming ...

DUA Fragrances - Wood & Cognac Wood and Cognac.   The two words together bring to mind a pensive gentleman in his study.   The image is old world.   It’s an image of cultured elegance. With Wood & Cognac, DUA Fragrances brings us a refined woody fragrance.   The opening is a complex, deep, boozy wood.   As you breathe in, the wood panels of the study come alive.   There is a light, green rose that drifts through the composition intricately mingled with the wood and cognac.   As this fragrance wears, it takes on additional complexity; a touch of dark cocoa, a warm creamy sandalwood – all the while the boozy wood remains in the forefront.   The perfumer gives us additional notes to create interest and complexity with this fragrance, but at no point do they surpass the boozy woody notes.   Wood & Cognac is about its namesake throughout the wear.   Wood & Cognac wears on me for roughly 11 hours with heavy moving...

Ellis Brooklyn - Myth EDP I received a sample of Myth with a cosmetics order.   Late last year, I had the opportunity to sample another Ellis Brooklyn fragrance, Sci Fi (you can read my review on this blog), so Myth makes my second Ellis Brooklyn testing.   Unlike Sci Fi, Myth is a floral woody musk.   Released in 2016, Myth is a creation that finds a way to elevate the more traditional fragrance genre. In the opening, I get a light an airy bergamot and a slightly sweet cassis.   There is a sunny and bright feel that is amplified by a beautiful orchid and jasmine.   Jasmine can go wrong in a fragrance if it is overdone.   Here, both the orchid and jasmine are handled with a delicate touch.   There is a lightness to the floral accord.   Roughly three hours into wear, I get a light white musk and very soft cedar.   If they can be described as such, I’d describe the musk and cedar as having the feel of cashmere; there is a soft war...

Jo Malone London - English Pear & Freesia With hints of Spring finally coming to the East Coast, it seemed fitting to test and review this Jo Malone from 2010.   English Pear & Freesia (“English Pear”) is a chypre fruity fragrance that, while initially released in the Fall, has many of the hallmarks of Spring to me. English Pear opens with a beautiful juicy, ripened pear.   There is a crispness to the note that reads very much like biting into a pear just picked from the orchard.   And, not to dwell too much on this opening, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I find this singular pear note to be one of the most authentic representations of pear in fragrance. After the very first whiff of pear, in comes a honey sweet quince, a beautiful white freesia, and a lush wild rose.   The florals blending with the fruits is quite heady but also lovely.   At roughly two hours into wear, the florals seem to recede slightly and coming forward I get a sof...