Budget Picks

Holiday Giving For Him 2018

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Holiday Giving for HIM. Here are 3 great gift ideas which look fabulous and all are under 40 euro. They are: Bentley Intense For Men, Guerlain Habit Rouge L’Eau and Zara Home Nordic Leather Fragrance Cards. 

Holiday Giving: Bentley Intense For MEN

Don’t let the rather flashy bottle put you off. Honestly I had some second thoughts when it arrived.  BUT this fragrance is absolutely amazing for its price. Some perfume lovers (or perfumista’s) say it smells like the niche fragrance Lubin Idole. Bentley Intense For Him was created by perfumer Nathalie Lorson in 2013. It’s notes are black pepper, incense, geranium, clary sage, labdanum, leather, cedar wood, patchouli and sandalwood.

Longevity is fabulous. You can still smell a boozy vanillic dry down after 12 hours! A very festive gift for a loved one 🎄 I gave one to my partner earlier this year and he wears it daily at the moment. As a few sprays are enough. This bottle will last him a long very time. Available at the moment online for 30 euro for a 100 ml bottle. Smaller 50 ml bottles are sold as well which might be a good choice as it lasts such a long time and is a rather heavy bottle. 

Holiday Giving: Guerlain Habit Rouge L’eau

Guerlain Habit Rouge L’Eau is a great gift for someone looking for an uncomplicated and office friendly fragrance. It is a very good introduction to more complex Guerlain fragrances like the original Shalimar or Habit Rouge. 

Notes are jasmine, patchouli, vanille, bitter orange, hazelnut and green notes. You can find Habit Rouge L’Eau easily online for very reasonable prices. I found a bottle this week for 40 euro for a 100 ml bottle. You might find it cheaper in old packaging. 

 

 Holiday Giving: Zara Home Nordic Leather Fragrance Cards

Nordic Leather is a very warming woody fragrance with sandalwood, incense and spices. This is not a perfume but a home fragrance with additional fragrance cards which make your clothes smell as if you are wearing a perfume. The cards can be overwhelming at first so it’s best to keep them in a close cupboard in the beginning. These cards work like a modern version of lavender sachets and are made of plastic impregnated with fragrance.

The cards are available online and at Zara Home shops. They cost 12 euro for 3 and last about 6 months. The sachets are available in other home fragrances as well like Sicilian fig, Cedar wood and White jasmine. I have Sicilian Fig as well but don’t like it as much for clothes as Nordic Leather. 

Bottom line: Bentley Intense For Him, Guerlain Habit Rouge L’Eau and Zara Home Nordic Fragrance Cards are fabulous affordable gifts for the upcoming holidays for him. All are available online. 

Have you tried any of the fragrances or the Zara fragrance cards? What do you think of them? Or Bentley Intense For Him? 

Link to my previous post:  Guerlain Habit Rouge L’Eau , 

Disclosure: all products were bought by me, all photographs made by Esperessence 

Budget Pick of the Month: Paul Smith Rose Eau de Parfum

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Paul Smith Rose is an elegant, sofisticated, natural smelling rose scent. If this rose had a color it would be light pink. This flower would have been picked in a classic English garden like the rose on the photograph. The photograph was taken in the famous Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent. Sissinghurst Castle Garden was created by the writer Vita Sackville-West and her husband. Vita Sackville-West is generally known as well for her relationship with writer Virginia Woolf.

There is not really an interesting story to Paul Smith Rose in contrast to the life story of Vita Sackville-West. Virginia Woolf was inspired by Vita’s life to write the novel Orlando, made into a movie in 1992 with Tilda Swinton as Orlando. Paul Smith presumably had Rose created for his wife.

Paul Smith Rose is a very natural uncomplicated quite linear scent. On my skin it smells in the beginning like rose lemonade. Giving the impression of a fresh, light pink rose with some dew on its petals. On paper I clearly smelled the tea note in the beginning but I could not smell this on my skin at all. After a few minutes Rose develops on my skin into a slightly warmer red velvet rose.

I have been testing different natural rose oils lately and interestingly some of them do not smell the way you would expect a rose to scent. But this Rose eau de parfum really smells like a natural rose. It is best used sprayed lavishly.

Paul Smith Rose is not an Eau de Parfum I would recommend to anyone who does not like the scent of rose. But I have found reviews online from people who did not like rose scents in general and like this Paul Smith Rose scent.

Do not be put off by its boring name or uninterestng bottle as the fragrance Paul Smith Rose is really worth a try. It would make an excellent gift to a lover of rose scents and for its price it is an absolute bargain.

Notes: top green tea, violet heart rose, violet, magnolia base cedarwood (according to basenotes)

Perfumer: Antoine Maisondieu

Date of introduction: 2007 (In 2006 it was introduced at the Chelsea Flower Show)

Olfactory family: Floral/Soliflor

Disclosure: I bought my bottle online at the Dutch discount webstore Parfumdeo and paid 22 euro for a 100 ml tester bottle.

More information about Sissinghurst Castle Garden (link embedded)

Did you try Paul Smith Rose? What do you think of the bottle or story (lack of it)? Does this influence you when deciding to buy or try a scent?