Summer

How To Pick The Perfect Summer Scent

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With summer in its way other fragrances might be more appropriate than the ones you having been wearing during wintertime. It can be a good moment to start wearing other more suited summer fragrances like tropical florals, refreshing citrus or beach fragrances.

Try exotic flowers

Try fragrances with exotic flowers like ylang ylang, tiare, tuberose or fragrances with milky coconut undertones. The combination of tuberose and coconut can be found in Killian Beyond Love. Another more creamy tuberose is the budget friendly but discontinued Madonna Truth or Dare. The recently released Dusita Le Douceur de Siam is a beautiful tropical creamy rose ylang ylang fragrance and very well suited for summer. Tiare and coconut can be found in the recently discontinued but still available Guerlain Terracotta Le Parfum, Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess and Nicolai Createur Juste Un Reve.

Freshen up with citrus 

Another good choice is to freshen up on hotter days with fragrances which contain lemon, neroli or bergamot.  Heeley Oranges and Lemons Say The Bells of St. Clements, the natural and organic April Aromatics Ray of Light or the longer lasting Le Galion Whip are excellent choices if you like lemon in a fragrance. The refreshing Annick Goutal Neroli Cologne or Yves Rocher Secrets d’Essences Neroli are good choices when you are looking for a neroli scent. The zesty green Martin Marghiela Untitled L’Eau is my personal favorite for those very hot days with notes of lemon, mint and mandarin.

Go to the beach

Salty fragrances like Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina give the impression of being at the seaside which can be very suited on those warmer days. If you like the scent of sun lotion you can choose Nicolai Createur Musc Monoi which was inspired by the scent of Ambre Solaire sunscreen lotion.

Do you have favorite summer fragrances? Which one is your favorite?

Further reading: read my reviews of Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina, Madonna Truth or Dare.

Disclaimer: all fragrances mentioned in this article were my own acquisition, all photographs made by Esperessence

Do you have favorite summer fragrances? Which one is your favorite?

Madonna Truth or Dare Budget Beauty Pick Perfume Review

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In bed with Rubio

Madonna Truth or Dare* Eau de Parfum is surprisingly better than you would think for a celebrity fragrance. I would not call it a masterpiece but well worth a try if you like creamy tuberose or gardenia fragrances. Coty has discontinued Truth or Dare. It is sold now at ridiciously low prices. My back up bottle was € 8,59.

Truth or Dare was the first fragrance Madonna launched.* It was inspired by the 1948 Piguet classic Fracas. Fracas was said to be worn by Madonna’s mother. I do not find Truth or Dare to be very daring as it is neither indolic nor carnal. To some it is a gourmand floral due to the lush creamy vanilla and caramel amber base. The so called addiction accord.

Truth or Dare behaves quite decently on my skin starting with a fruity delicious ripe juicy pear note to continue as a creamy tuberose and gardenia, then moving quite quickly into a slightly but not overly sweet vanilla and carameled amber to end as a barely notice able soapy scent. Reading bloggers’ reviews I did not find others who scented the ripe pear note in the beginning. Some smelled white lily at the heart which luckily, I did not get. Truth or Dare wears quite close to the skin and can only be scented for a few hours. The trick to really enjoy it, is to reapply during the day and spray luxuriously. I like to wear Truth or Dare on warmer summer days.

Portrait of Guus Preitinger wife of Kees van Dongen, Kees van Dongen 1910, van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

What image do I get: a glamorous fur coat and a string of pearls like the lady (and wife of) on this Kees van Dongen painting.

What does it do? Makes me feel glamorous, outgoing, mature and centered.

Given its price and quality I would recommend Truth or Dare to those who like creamy tuberose, white florals or are new to the smell of tuberose and want to experience its lushness before moving on to other more expensive and classic tuberose fragrances like Fracas.

Try Truth or Dare for this bargain price!

Truth or Dare

Notes: (as off Fragrantica website) The scent is both a light and dark, opening with notes of gardenia, creamy tuberose and neroli. The heart consists of jasmine, benzoin and white lily, based on vanilla absolute, caramelized amber and sensual musk.

Launched: 2012

Perfumer: Stephen Nilsen (Givaudan)

Perfume Family: Floral /  Floral Oriental

Try if you like: Nicolai Juste Un Reve, Isabey Gardenia, MDCI Peche Cardinal, Miller Harris Noix de Tubereuse

Status: discontinued

Produced by: Coty

Origin of Sample: my own bottles

Price: € 8,59 for a 75 ml tester spray bottle at a Dutch online discount store

Painting: Portrait of Guus Preitinger by Kees van Dongen, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Photographs: made by me, model Rubio

*The Truth or Dare (In Bed with Madonna in Europe) movie was introduced 25 years ago. Read more about the anniversary this year and the original movie.

*Read this interesting interview with the perfumer Stephen Nilsen about creating Truth or Dare and working with Madonna, which was quite challenging.

Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina

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Salina
Laboratoria Olfattivo (LO) is a not very well known Italian brand which deserves much more attention. It was founded in 2009. Many of its fragrances are worth a try. It’s price (30 ml/40 euro and 100 ml/100 euro) are quite reasonable compared to prices from other perfume houses and some of its scents are fabulous. I also like the modern design of their bottles and packaging. My personal favorites are Kashnoir, Decou-Vert and Salina. Perfumers Cecile Zarokian and Pierre Guillaume have made fragrances for LO. Last year LO introduced 30 mls spray bottles, which can only be applauded.

Salina is a small Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, north of Sicily. The word salina means salt lake. Salt lakes were used on the island for the production of salt by evaporating sea water salt was produced. In certain parts in the world salt is still produced this way. The island was the inspiration for the eau de parfum.

Salina Eau de Parfum evokes the scent of salty skin after a dip in the sea at a secluded warm sandy beach. The herbaceous wormwood and lavender giving the impression of a natural beach with low bushes where one can retreat in the shadow under some pine trees. It is a fairly modern and invigorating scent. At times it is almost as if I get a whiff of chlorine, which adds a contemporary and clean touch to the fragrance.

image

Reviews on fragantica, basenotes and from some bloggers are very mixed. Some found Salina horrible and too intrusive. I like Salina and own a 100 mls full bottle. But I can imagine people finding it too  aggresive especially its chlorine note. Personally Salina reminds me of visits with my parents and their friends to a solitary Mediterranean natural beach in Southern Spain. A beautiful quiet place to swim and sun. I only use Salina when I crave for the beach on a very warm day and I am not able to go. It cleanses me like sea salt and water do. In other days it can be too intrusive for me as well. I would recommend to sample before you buy.

Have you tried fragrances from Laboratorio Olfattivo? If so, which one is your favorite?

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Notes: (according to official website)
Top: Lemon Peel, Marine Salt, Pine Needles
Heart: Hot Sand, Myrtle, Wormwood, Marine Spurts, Lavender
Base: Vanilla, White Musk, Cedar

Release: 2013

Perfumer: David Maruitte ( who also made Heeley Menthe Fraiche, the re edition of Le Galion Whip and Especially for Gentleman)

Family: Marine/Aquatic

Origin of bottle/sample: own acquisition

All photographs were made by me.

 

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