Binxcat's Purrfect Fragrance

Maison Francis Kurkdjian - Oud Silk Mood EDP Oud Silk Mood (“Mood”) is a 2018 launch from Maison Francis Kurkdjian (“MFK”).   It was a fragrance I was anxious to try since oud can often be a challenging note for many people.   In the traditional use of oud in fragrance, the note is often paired with rose.   We see such a pairing in Mood but we also see much more which takes the oud to a place that becomes more wearable for a larger audience. This is not your traditionalist’s take on oud.   Instead, oud is met here with delicate floral accompaniments and becomes an approachable note that retains its inherent sensual nature.   Mood opens with a lush floral bouquet that is decidedly rose-intense.   The rose is rich, deep, and elegant.   There is a lightness from a soft bergamot and chamomile that elevates the rose with an airiness and smoothness.   The notes are blended with an oud that is present, yet still in the background, and have a fe...

Twisted Wonderland Perfumery - What’s In The Hookah I enjoy supporting Indie and Niche brands of fragrance.   When I first heard about Twisted Wonderland Perfumery I felt an immediate connection to the brand name.   For me, and many others, fragrance is a means of expression.   It’s a way to express a moment, a mood, a personality.   It’s a way to transport yourself to a different place and time.   The brand name alone speaks to the child in us – full of excitement and wonder.   I took the advantage of placing an order for several samples.   What’s In The Hookah (“Hookah”) is the first I’ll be reviewing. Tobacco is a favorite note of mine and Hookah is all about the tobacco.   The fragrance opens with a glorious woody pipe tobacco.   It is so deep and full of life you can almost feel it swirling around you.   If you love the smell of pipe tobacco, this is one you will want to keep inhaling…slowly and deliberately.   As Hoo...

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...

Perfumology – Grange Grange is the follow-up fragrance to Perfumology’s first release, Blyss.   Grange is not a flanker to Blyss, which was created as a love letter to the creator’s wife, but instead embodies something entirely different; that of fragrance as memory. This citrus wood scent is named and inspired by childhood near the Grange Estate.   (You can read more about the Estate here:   http://bit.ly/2F8EX8R ).   The Estate sits on a hillside just above Cobbs Creek in Havertown, Pennsylvania.   It is here that the childhood memories were first created. Grange opens with a zesty lime and juicy orange.   These notes are almost effervescent.   There is a sense of movement that I get from the sparkling quality.   The opening seems to emulate the trickling of the water in Cobb’s Creek over the creek bed on it’s way to pass through the Heinz National Wildlife       Refuge to it’s destination in the Delaware River Water...

Solstice Scents - Jack & The Devil EDP Jack & The Devil is described as an amber/tobacco/earthy/spicy on the Solstice Scents website.  It’s much more than that.  This is my first purchase from the company and they’re off to a great start. This fragrance opens with THE scent of Fall – pumpkin spice.  In a single inhale, you get the perfect replication of pumpkin spice.  The note is bolstered by vanilla which adds a touch of sweetness.  I get a beautiful tobacco (yes tobacco can read as beautiful) just behind the pumpkin spice accord.  Oakmoss, amber, and a clean patchouli help to round out this fragrance and give it body.  There is a decadent richness to this scent.  The drydown is absolutely stunning as the beautiful spice is retained and the oakmoss comes a bit more to the forefront. I applied this scent at 3 pm in an afternoon and was still able to smell it, ever so lightly, the next morning.  Notes: Vanilla, tobacco,...

Dua Fragrances - Delectable Temptation It’s Fall.  You’ve gone for a weekend away in Vermont.  The sun begins to rise as you head down for breakfast in that lovely B&B you’re staying at.  The proprietor brings you a cup of steaming hot coffee…and fresh pancakes.  Warm, fluffy, steaming pancakes topped with decadent, plump, juicy blueberries and that perfect dollop of fresh, creamy whipped cream.  You take a sip of your coffee and you reach for that beautiful golden amber elixir of maple syrup.  As you pour some over your pancakes, the heat of your food carries the maple scent upward…you breathe it in deeply.  You begin to eat your breakfast and start taking in more of your surroundings.  You notice the delicate scent of the honey jar sitting on the shelf adjacent to you.  The proprietor tells you that the cedar table you’re sitting at has been in her family for generations. You realize you’ve just had the perfect start to a perfect day...

Gallagher Fragrances: Tobacco Silk Tonight I am transported to a tobacco farm in Southern Maryland. The heat of the day has slipped away and I can smell the tobacco drying in the barns around me. As I walk through the fields, I get a musky, woody whiff from the treeline just ahead. Tobacco Silk is a lovely composition with a clean tobacco and a light musk wood to carry the main note. This easily makes a nice stand alone fragrance for someone looking for "the perfect" clean tobacco juice. It would be equally as nice adding it as a layer of complexity to another in the Series or a fragrance already in your collection. "The Silk Series is made up of ten fragrances with one “featured note” in addition to a blend of woody base notes. Each featured note is the main focus of the fragrance and the woody notes serve as a graceful, yet bold dry-down. The ten featured notes within The Silk Series are Bergamot, Black Currant, Jasmine, Lavender, Mandarin, Orange Blossom, Sanda...

Etat Libre d'Orange: Secretions Magnifiques Anyone who knows me, especially those that know me well, know I have an insatiable curiosity. I'm also the girl that if told "you can't do that" is going to dang well do it. So with all the hate and drama directed at this juice, I HAD to test it. As perspective, in previous work I've worked in what many would consider pretty gruesome situations. I've photographed a child in the morgue, killed by a car and covered with tire tracks. I've worked fatal accident scenes with vehicles on fire and dead bodies strewn around the road. I've handled accidents with decapitations and dismemberments. So, in my mind, my curiosity was - Is this fragrance going to bring back any or all of the smells from these situations? On me, Secretions starts out with a very sharp metal twang. It is in fact reminiscent of the metal morgue tables and the smell of car metal being cut away. Then I get a sweaty musk. The kind of sme...