PBullFriend

Woodstock has an impressive list of notes, all things I enjoy. West Third is a bargain brand, but some of their stuff is really excellent. So I had high hopes before splashing this on. It smells like sharp, random, vaguely masculine chemicals -- the very cheapest aftershave you could create -- with some extra powder in the head notes. It made me feel rather sick, and I scrubbed it off after a couple of minutes.

I like the notes listed in this one, and the bottle is so cute. And I love marzipan and heliotrope notes. Sadly, when I actually sampled it, it made me think of the worst of industrial bathroom soaps. The only note listed that I'm not fond of is orange blossom, so naturally it's the orange blossom that punches me in the nose here. A sickening experience, and I'm jealous of the nice experiences other reviewers had.

I'm surprised this gets so many negative reviews. Perhaps it just likes me. I get a pleasant coolness throughout, enhanced by a surprisingly true blackcurrant note. I've tried many scents on the basis of their blackcurrant notes and have been disappointed when the blackcurrant is either weak, hints at urine, or smells like I'm wearing blackcurrant pastilles. This goes in an entirely different direction than the original 4711 but, to my neroli-hating nose, it's a better one.

As someone who grew up near the Atlantic but now lives far inland, I love the salt-and-sand genre of perfumes and have tried many of them. When done well, they are a vacation in a bottle. Sadly, few of them reach that level. Un Air de Bretagne unfortunately does not smell realistic at all. It reminds me of a cheap body spray that I bought many years ago and wound up using as a bathroom spray. A much better Atlantic scent, to my nose, is Miller Harris Sel de Vetiver. I used to be such a fan of L'Artisan Parfumeur, but it has been a long time now since they have put out anything I find full-bottle worthy.

I don't know how I stumbled across this sadly discontinued beauty. I think of C&E as a company that generally produces solid, pleasant floral scents that appeal to mature women. This is more creative and artistic than I would expect from them, which may mean that it was discontinued because it didn't fit in with their target audience. As my review of Bulgari Red Tea notes, I like its sharp, tannic notes that cut through humidity. Himalayan Blue is a softer tannic scent, with a pronounced but unsweet creamy rose note and a hint of leather. While the Bulgari's sharpness is better for the very hottest days, the elegant Himalayan Blue is suiting me well today, when summer isn't technically over and a bit of humidity still hangs around but I'm starting to tire of the simple scents of summer.