Job Interview

Habit Rouge L’Eau Perfume Review Budget Beauty Pick

Habit Rouge L'Eau

A beautiful fragrance does not have to be expensive. One of the fragrances I recently found on my search for affordable budget friendly fragrances is Habit Rouge L’Eau.*

Habit Rouge L’Eau starts off with a fresh incredibly crisp citrus bitter orange note. Powdery iris appears after a few minutes to dissappear quickly and not return. Clean jasmine which reminds of expensive soap is to be smelled later. The longevity of the citrus is amazing as it happily lasts a whole hour on my skin. Which is one of the reasons I like to wear this fragrance. An ugly chemical off note appears which could be a side effect of the hazelnut note when this note becomes noticable. Airy luminous clean musk with a vanilla touch closely lingers on my skin for the next 4 to 5 hours to disappear and return on and off afterwards.  As a whole Habit Rouge L’Eau stays close to the skin.

If Habit Rouge L’Eau would have a colour it would be white and as texture high quality recently washed and ironed expensive high quality cotton.

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Who would wear this? And for what occasion?  Habit Rouge L’Eau leans towards masculine but can easily be worn by man and woman. All the bodily (read sex) appeal which can be so prominent in other Guerlain classic fragrances like Shalimar or Heritage has been left out of this fragrance. It is a good fragrance if you have a job interview or as office wear. Wearing it will make you feel very well dressed in an elegant finely cut business suit.

What does it do? Habit Rouge L’Eau could be a good choice if you want to concentrate and focus without any distractions to get a serious job done. I find it quite calming as well.

To me it feels like all notes are very well kept into place with incredible restraint which reflects on the fragrance making it unimaginative. Although nicely balanced and well made I find it can be a bit too lineair. But for its bargain price at discount stores it is worthwhile to try if you want an uncomplicated and office friendly fragrance.  If you are looking for a good introduction to more complex and interesting Guerlain fragrances like the original Shalimar or Habit Rouge this would be a good way to start. It would make an excellent gift for this purpose as well.

Habit Rouge EAZ

In short: Habit Rouge L’Eau is an invigorating, luminous, elegant and uncomplicated fragrance well worth a try. But at times and to some it could be too linear and feel too restrained. It can be an excellent introduction to other classic Guerlain fragrances like Shalimar and Habit Rouge.

Did you try this Habit Rouge flanker L’eau? Would you like to try it?

Notes: (from Fragantica website) jasmine, patchouli, vanille, bitter orange, hazelnut and green notes

Launched: 2011

Perfumer: Thierry Wasser

Perfume Family: Oriental

Status: still in production but bottle design is about to change (with thanks to Monsieur Guerlain for this information)

Produced by: LVMH

Origin of sample: my own bottle

Price: 35 euro for 50 ml edt at an online Dutch discount store

*I am starting a new topic on this website, the Budget Beauty Pick of the Week. My aim is to find and write about affordable budget friendly fragrances. One of the first ones is Habit Rouge L’Eau Eau de Toilette. This is obviously a flanker of the classic Guerlain Habit Rouge. I am not a fan of the original Habit Rouge as the citrus top note turns sour on my skin but I really enjoyed wearing the L’Eau version these past few weeks.

*Read more about the original Guerlain Habit Rouge and all its variations on the Monsieur Guerlain website.

Nicolaï Rose Oud Perfume Review

Photograph: Esperessence

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress/anxiety in a soft and gentle way. 

Interestingly Patricia de Nicolaï made Rose Oud as a powerful very rich deep fragrance (see video) But Rose Oud wears very close to my skin. It is more the light stroke of a rose. Caresse in French. Caresse de Rose would have been a better title for the fragrance.  I can only scent Rose Oud when I smell my wrist very closely, at less than 5 cm. Which is a pity but I reapply several times during the day. Longevity is not very good either. Very powerful rose perfumes on my skin are Guerlain Nahema edp and Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.

Although I love rose fragrances I find it hard to find rose perfumes I wear regularly.  They can either be too the linear like Jo Malone Red Roses, too uplifting like the spicy Amouage Epic or Majda Bekkali Mon Nom Est Rouge or too activating like Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.  I have found Rose Oud to be very appealing and  wore it quite often last summer. Of all my rose fragrances, this is the one I used most.

Rose Oud could give an uncomplicated impression at first sniff. But I find it an interesting modern, elegant, radiant and subtle fragrance.  You can wear it when you do not want others to smell your fragrance for example at your office or for a job interview.

What do I smell?

Personally I do not scent any oud in Rose Oud but some other male bloggers (Chemist in a Bottle and Geurengoeroe) say they do. At the beginning I get a fruity peach note probably due to the osmanthus. At the same time I get a lot of aldehydes the first few minutes adding lightness and brilliance. The aldehydes are not used in a retro vintage style like Antoine Lie in Rien Intense but in a more modern 21th century way.  What remains afterwards is an oily fragrance according to Perfume Shrine due to Nargamotha/Cypriol*. I get a sweet raspberry/rose note as well which is very similar to the Oliver and Co Santalum scented candle.

What does it do ?

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress or anxiety in a soft and gentle way. I used it a lot when my mother was in the hospital last summer. Part of this soothing effect could be a result of the usage of cypriol or to the calming effect of the rose.

Which image do I get ?

I get the image of the fur of my cat, Rubio as caressing him has a similar calming effect on me as wearing Rose Oud.

Composition: (according to the official Nicolaï website)

Top note: raspberry, davana, osmanthus

Heart note: rose, lily of the valley

Base note: agarwood, patchouli , sandalwood, musk, amber

Fragrance family: according to Patricia de Nicolaï chypre due to the rose and patchouli absolute (I would say floral chypre with fruity accents due to the raspberry or fruity chypre, Michael Edwards classifies it as a rose soliflore which makes sense)

Sillage: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

Fragrance: 4/5

Overall: 3,5/5

Origin of bottle: my own,  Nicolaï is sold in The Netherlands by The Perfume Lounge and Parfumaria, both sell samples.

* Nagarmotha/Cypriol is a plant of the Cyperaceae family belonging to the papyrus family. Cypriol essential oil is harvested through steam distillation. Lotus Garden Botanicals states on its website that its fragrance has similarities with vetiver and oud. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy and is said to have an emotionally calming effect. According to an article of Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer most of the oud in perfumes are bases often made with Cypriol.

Give away: we are giving away a 2 ml sample of Rose Oud

  1. Subscribe to our website if you already are you can skip this
  2. Leave a comment telling us what scent relaxes you or soothes your heart
  3. Draw will close september 3, at 12.00 PM Parisian Time
  4. We will contact the winner by mail, announce it on our website and on twitter, if you are the winner please check your mail and other folder
  5. Worldwide draw

 

Guerlain Apres L’Ondee Eau de Toilette Sparkle of Joy

Violets

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to swap for the classic Guerlain Apres L’Ondee eau de toilette. The eau de toilette is a recent version which can still be bought in perfumeries and department stores.   Originally Apres L’Ondee was made in 1906 by Jacques Guerlain. It means after the rainshower in French and is meant to captivate the light and fresh atmosphere after the rain in Springtime or Summer when it is a bit warmer outside.

What surprised me most about Apres L’Ondee was its radiance and youthfullness when I scented it for the first time. After about a minute, it was as if its radiance was restrained, like a child who is not allowed to walk in the rain and enjoy it fully, wanting to play with her boots in the mud.

On my skin Apres L’Ondee has a slightly medicinal scent at the beginning, I call it medicinal but others have referred to it as herbes de Provence. Dissappearing to leave a light violet scent on the skin, like it has been powdered.

The fact that Apres L’Ondee  is referred to as a real classic fragrance had deterred me a bit. Jean Claude Elenna  paid homage to the sillage of Apres L’Ondee with Frederic Malle L’Eau d’Hiver*. Maurice Roucel made Guerlain Insolence edt as a modern version of Apres L’Ondee. It had left me with the impression of an old and musty fragrance. But none of these were the case. Not only does Apres L’Ondee not give the impression that it was created more then a century ago. When I scented it I started wondering why I had been looking for a holy violet vintage grail while it was right before my eyes to be found.

What did I like about Apres L’Ondee ? It takes me to the beginning of  joy. You start to see a sparkle of light as a new era is about to start but still do not experience it fully and feel a bit restrained by your environment or circumstances.  It feels very different to the Italian fragrance Luce made by Hilde Soliani where you can experience the joy fully and openly.

Try Apres L’Ondee especially if you like violets and do not be put off by the fact it was created more than a century ago. Have you been looking for a holy grail or perfect fragrance when it was right before your eyes to be found ?

Notes according to Guerlain (read more on the website of Monsieur Guerlain ) : bergamot, lemon, anise, neroli, hawthorn, rosemary, lavender, lily, orchid, violet, rose, jasmine, heliotrope, orris, sandalwood, vanilla, musk.

Fragrance family: floral spicy amber by the French Committee of Perfume / floral oriental fresh by Michael Edwards

When to wear: at a job interview, when meeting your Mother in law for the first time, at an occasion where you want to wear a subtle and refined fragrance or when you want you start feeling joy over a new beginning of a job or new period in your life.

Painting Courtesy of Mary-Clare Cornwallis

Read more about experiencing joy while wearing a perfume in my review of Hilde Soliani Luce

* More to be read in the article New Yorker The Scent of the Nile