Binxcat's Purrfect Fragrance

DedCool – MILK Fragrance Enhancer + Layering Fragrance Oil New in the DedCool line-up is MILK; a fragrance enhancing layering oil.   If you follow me, you know DedCool is one of my favorite fragrance brands so, while I am not really a fragrance laying kind of person, I still wanted to try out this new release. MILK is a fragrance oil and comes in a roll on.   For the purposes of this product, I think a roll on makes sense.   I tested MILK on its own but of course you can feel free to use it to enhance any fragrance you like. MILK is very much a what you smell is what you get scent.   It is a lovely, slightly sweet, partly resinous white musk* with a hint of bergamot.   The bergamot adds a very light spicy citrusy-floral while the amber adds enough interest without being too resinous.   There is a light earthiness to the scent.   This is a fragrance oil that can easily be worn on its own merits. MILK wears on me for roughly 10 hours wi...

Mugler Cologne: Come Together EDT Come Together is an aromatic green and is one of the new releases in the Mugler Collection.   It is “The original unifying cult cologne by Mugler boasts the same scandalously addictive sensual trail.”   Like the original, it opens with a green petitgrain.   The initial opening is distinctly green and fresh.   Quickly, the initial strength of the green backs off a bit and is joined by a glorious clean musk.   There is a slight sweetness to the fragrance and I detect a leafy white floral accord.   Through the remainder of wear, Come Together retains its olfactory qualities.   It is fresh, clean, and enticing with its white musk.   It is an approachable fragrance which wears well alone or, for those who like to pair, would go nicely with a variety of other fragrances. Come Together wears on me for roughly 5 – 6 hours with soft projection. CRUELTY FREE Photo Credit: Nordstrom

Diptyque - Do Son EDT Do Son is a floral fragrance released by Diptyque in 2005.   For me, this fragrance is all about the tuberose. Do Son opens with a tempered tuberose.   Where the flower can often be loud and screechy, Do Son restrains it and it blossoms as a bright joyful slightly creamy note.   As Do Son wears, I get the addition of the other florals – most prominently rose and orange flower.   The rose and orange flower compliment the tuberose and add to its bouquet.   there is a “wetness” to the fragrance that feels almost tangible.   I also get a tiny bit of greenness and a floral echo that reads on me as a light jasmine.   Toward the very end of wear, I get hints of musk.   Combined with the florals, the musk adds more of a humid, tropical climate feel to the drydown. Do Son wears on me with soft projection for roughly 6 hours. Notes: Top: Tuberose Middle: Orange Tree Leaves, Roses, Benzoin and Iris Base: White Mu...

Berdous - Péng Lái EDP Péng Lái (“Peng”) is an oriental floral fragrance from Berdous.   The fragrance also has hallmarks of being a lightly spicy fruity floral.   The inspiration behind Peng is one of Chinese legend.   It is said that, “The tale of Peng Lai, tells of the island of longevity where the Goddess of Flowers, He Xiangu, sojourned. This grand cru invites you to daydream, clear your mind, and recharge your batteries at the heart of the Middle Kingdom as you admire the singular beauty of this region of the world.” Peng opens with a soft osmanthus and bergamot blended with an equally light, bright citrus.   The notes project with a delicate intimacy.   There is also a gentle sweetness.   Very quickly, I get a juicy peach and a somewhat jammy rose.   Neither of these two notes take this fragrance to a place where it becomes cloying.   At roughly the one hour mark, benzoin adds it’s usual tones and the fragrance begins to round...

Montale Parfums Paris - Intense Café EDP Intense Café is an oriental vanilla fragrance that released in 2013.   A number of my friends in the fragrance community have spoken highly of this fragrance and, being a coffee fiend (both the note and the beverage) I wanted to try it.   I ordered a sample from Luckyscent and… I don’t even know where to begin with this.   It’s rare that I draw a complete blank when writing a review.   I should say here that I tested this fragrance for four days in a row.   And I am lost.   What I mean here is that I was anticipating a glorious coffee fragrance.   What I experienced on each of my trials was not a coffee fragrance in any way. When I take in the very opening of Intense Café, I get a strong, bitter, somewhat spicy or medicinal floral.   It is not identifiable as a specific flower.   The floral intensity softens after about an hour and in comes a rose.   The rose is mixed with a resinous...

Mirus Fine Fragrance - Ceremony Parfum Extrait If you love oud, or just want to try a good oud-based fragrance, Ceremony is a great place to start.   Nominated for an Art & Olfaction Award in the Artisan category (2017), this woody aromatic hits all the right notes (pun intended).   Oud can be a challenging note for Westerners but I find the blending of notes in this scent to be divine. When Ceremony opens there is no doubt you are going to be experiencing an oud fragrance.   The oud is deep and rich.   There is almost a plushness to it.   It is soon joined by a refreshing light fruity magnolia.   The magnolia adds a clean, lightness to the otherwise very heavy wood note.   As the fragrance wears, swirls of dripping tobacco add complexity.   The tobacco is much like a dried leaf tobacco and there is an air of sweetness to it. At roughly four hours of wear, the complexity of Ceremony is advanced with a soft jasmine that gently waf...

Olibere Parfums - L`Etoile Noire Launched in 2016, L’Etoile Noire (“Noire”) is a study of light and dark; the opposites that we each carry with us.   The notes classify this as an oriental fragrance, however, in my opinion, it is also very much a woody one. Noire opens on me with a contrast.   On the one hand I get an intense bergamot and sharp lemon and on the other I get an achingly intense peppery spice.   There is a heavy smokiness from the gaiac.   As Noire continues to wear I get more and more tones of wood.   I do not identify the wood as specifically being oud, as iterated in the Notes of this fragrance, but rather a general deep, dark woody accord.   At roughly 3 – 4 hours into wear, Noire takes on a powdery aspect.   There is still an echo of citrus, moderate spice, woods, and smoke but in comes a softened rose and what seems like patchouli.   There is a dried tobacco leaf as well as a very soft dried rose petal. In the...

Acqua di Parma - Colonia Pura Launched in 2017, Colognia Pura (“Pura”) is a floral woody musk.   Pura opens with what I consider to be the classic bergamot – orange opening we get from many of the brand’s fragrances.   The citrus is bright and crisp.   The opening riff does not linger long before it is joined by an almost barbershop detergent soapiness and a sharp coriander.   I get a sense of aldehydes although there are none listed in the notes. As Pura wears, the often heady jasmine sambac and narcissus appear.   Instead of their typical bold entry, they seem softened and somewhat green.   The soapiness continues with a bit of a metallic turn to the composition.   Rounding out Pura is a light woody musk with only background hints of patchouli.   These notes warm the fragrance and carry it through the dry down. Pura wears on me with moderate projection for roughly 8 hours. Notes: bergamot, orange, jasmine sambac, narcissus,...

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...

Mancera Paris - Choco Violette EDP Choco Violette (“CV”) is an oriental vanilla offering released in 2016 from Montale.  With its wear on me, it easily slips into the gourmand category. CV opens with a puff of cocoa powder and candy.  The cocoa powder is rich and intense and I can almost feel it on my tongue.  It’s very much as if you’ve opened a jar of a gourmet powder to create a luscious hot cocoa.  The candy note is very reminiscent of a candy necklace or parma violet candies so popular in the UK. After the first initial opening impressions, the cocoa powder note seems to fade back.  In comes an equally delicious orange-bergamot blend.  The floral is stronger than the citrus; which lays back and seems to simply add more sweetness to the perfume.  Underneath this note, I get a hint of hazelnut.  The buttery nut note adds richness to the fragrance.  About an hour and a half into wear, I get a creamy vanilla.  Again, the va...

Diptyque - Tam Dao EDP Tam Dao is an older floral woody musk offering from Diptyque.  Before I begin my review, I do want to share that this fragrance wears more like a slightly spicy, creamy, woody fragrance on me. In the opening, Tam Dao exudes a creamy, slightly spicy woody feel.  I get a deep cedar lightened by a creamy sandalwood.  The cedar and sandalwood are both moderate in intensity.  There is a slight spice that lays against a lush cypress.  Said to evoke “memories of Asia”, you can clearly sense the jungle vibe to the notes. As the fragrance continues to develop, a resinous amber in softer tones comes forward as does a clean, light, warm musk.  These notes add a feel of sunny warmth shining into the density of the jungle growth.  Finally, in the drydown, rosewood intensifies the woodiness of the fragrance.  There is an earthiness to the rosewood and subtle hints of floral (not distinguishable as a specific floral note). ...

Comme de Garcons - Amazingreen EDP Whenever possible, I’m an outside of the box – color outside the lines – person.  So picking Amazingreen, an aromatic green fragrance, to test on some of the coldest days of Winter makes sense to me.  Why not break the “rules” and add a lush greenness to the darkest days?! Amazingreen opens as you would expect.  There is a bold, fresh grassy greenness filled with all the richness of green leaves.  I get a blend of green leaves where the palm tree, jungle, and ivy leaves are not individually identifiable but instead combine to create a more complex “green” leafy note.  I also get a dampness to the leaves.  It’s as if you’ve entered a dense rainforest just after a downpour.  It’s that singular scent you smell as the rain melds with the verdant leaves.  I sense the promise of fertile life. And just when you’re sure that you’re simply on a jungle exploration, in comes a blast of bright spice mixed with a...

Carthusia - Corallium EDP Corallium has a tag line of “a refreshing essence born of the sea, made to enchant”.  In my opinion this tag line belies the true nature of this juice which is by notes and by experience a woody aromatic. Corallium opens with a mandarin-bergamot blend.  On first sniff, it is bright, clean, soft, and lightly orange-citrusy.  Almost immediately notes of myrrh, bay, and sage make their presence known along with a soft musk.  The fragrance takes on an herbal quality with a hint of spice.  The notes feel like a familiar barbershop accord.  About an hour into wear I get a dry cedar and a barely detectable patchouli.  The woody notes play background to the aromatics.  There is a soft, peppery undertone that I can only assume comes from the tree goldmoss stonecrop.  As the juice begins its drydown there is a refresh of the woody character of the fragrance by emerging woody notes.  Unlike the initial introdu...

L’Artisan Parfumeur - Natura Fabularis Collection: Mirabilis EDP Mirabilis is an oriental woody fragrance which is part of L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Natura Fabularis Collection.  With the fragrance, the perfumer melds nature and science with the use of created notes and traditional “mystical” ones.  According to the House, it is a “reconciliation of reason and belief”. Before even spraying to test, the first thing I noticed is the surprising color of the juice.  Unlike what one would expect from an oriental woody fragrance, Mirabilis glows like a light neon blue beacon.  The shade is intriguing and inviting.  The presentation of a fragrance with this shade also starts the wearer on the path of questioning…What is Man? Mirabilis opens with a creamy spicy vanilla-tipped musk.  The vanilla does not pull gourmand.  The ambroxan adds a sweetness that walks the line between natural and synthetic.  About thirty minutes into wear the spice, franki...

Dua Fragrances - Taboo Taboo is an original creation from Dua Fragrances.  It’s classified as an oriental gourmand.  Taboo was a blind buy for me.  Admittedly, I was drawn in by not only multiple fragrance notes that tend to be in my “loves” but also the awesome label design for the bottle.  Taboo is not shy.  It opens with a gorgeous clean patchouli and moody incense tempered with a semi-sweet white chocolate.  It’s bold but not offensive.  As the fragrance develops I get a spicy soft leather sprinkled with a light cocoa.  Neither the patchouli nor the incense have disappeared and these notes, along with the suede leather, prevent the juice from becoming full on gourmand.  There’s just enough sweetness to this to give it interest without becoming cloying.  The notes are gently cradled in a creamy vanilla and amber light musk base.  The base notes give the already intriguing scent a feel of intimacy.  For me, it become...

Jo Malone London - English Oak & Redcurrant English Oak & Redcurrant (referred to as “Redcurrant” for the rest of my review) is my second review of the English Oak release from Jo Malone.  Whereas English Oak & Hazelnut is a woody spicy fragrance, Redcurrant is meant to transform the roasted oak into a floral fruity one. Redcurrant opens with a bright, tart redcurrant and mandarin note.  The note is reminiscent of a sunrise in that if the scent were color, it would be bright yellow and orange.  Within about 15 minutes the fruit notes are joined by rose.  The rose is a freshly picked, slightly sprinkled with dew rose scent.  The rose pairs nicely with the fruit which has already begun to soften.  There is a light dusting of musk which begins to create additional depth to this fragrance.  The musk is present enough to hold back the rose from overtaking the fragrance.  There is a slight spiciness to the fragrance at about an hour...

Solstice Scents - Violet Mallow (Perfume Oil) Some time ago, I was lucky enough to have some friends in the UK send me several rolls of Parma Violet candies.  Being in the US, I was enthralled and intrigued by the notion of the little violet confections that I’d never seen on this side of the pond.  The fond memories of those candies, made me want to try the Solstice Scents gourmand rift on violet – Violet Mallow. Violet Mallow opens with a bold, powdery (Parma candy-like) violet note layered on top of a sweet, puffy marshmallow.  The sweetness of the marshmallow tames the boldness of the violet and creates a delectable, almost creamy violet note.  About 2 hours into wear, the violet softens.  Vanilla bean and musk begin to appear.  The vanilla and musk are mild but present enough that you know they’re there.  Through the course of the 7 hour wear, the violet remains present throughout.  The moderate projection softens to a light one and ...