Continuing my Chanel resampling odyssey, I arrive at Bel respiro and I like it, but I'm underwhelmed to be honest. In the pantheon of green perfumes Bel respiro just doesn't quite make the cut for me. It's no trope cis 3 hexenal grassy but ultimately unsatisfying perfume, nor is it a big traditional, galbanic, green bomb, (although it leans more in that direction) the airy accord which comes from bel respiro is to be breathed in deeply and savoured. I don't feel it though. I don't connect with Bel respiro and as a relentlessly tedious, fact based guy in a perfume world of woo, things like connections and speaking to my soul, seems wooly and out of character for the acerbic, molecule naming style I've become known for. Truth is though, jus ne sais quoi, heart, soul, all that soppy bullshit, truly IS what makes a perfume special, to deny that would be doing the whole art form a disservice. What's interesting about bel respiro is that there's a warmer base to it but it's so light and subtle it's barely there, smells almost like vanillic/tonka/orris and musks, perhaps that's what constitutes the 'leather' accord listed in this? It's barely in the realms of existence though so as to barely make a difference to talk about.

Just going back and familiarizing myself with the peerless Les Exclusifs collection from Chanel. It's one of those lines that I know is just quality across the board but there's not much in there to truly excite in terms of cutting edge perfumery or whatever. But hey you reach a certain age where you go pffft! who needs cutting edge? I want old stuff done really, really bloody well, and actually to be fair there's quite a few in the collection which are not tropes and don't necessarily have an easily traceable ancestry, although perhaps a Chanel one. So Misia is a perfect example of this, the ultimate powder puff fragrance, delivering, customary Chanel sparkle in the opening, and somewhat raspberry rose juice, to butter smooth, cosmetic powder in the midsection. Some of these Ionone/Irone rich fragrances tend to lean in certain directions but here I get a lovely blend of fleshy, vegetal orris and fresh, but powdery, make up, iris but with that heavy violet tinged bias, which I love. I get that leather sensation of a cuir de russie, it's elegant, lovely, pretty all those things. For me personally I have to be in the mood for this kind of fragrance it doesn't quite have the versatility of a cuir de russie but that doesn't make it any less special. Comparisions to Frederic Malle's Lipstick Rose are valid, I can completely get the comparison. However, tonally they are different. Misia is much more in the pastel tone of chanel as apposed to the more high contrast, out there, 'fun' rosier, fruitier, Ralf Schweiger effort for Frederic Malle. I love both.

What I like most about it is the listed 'snow' note. Fun Fact: Musc de Koublai Khan has a yellow snow note. LOL So I'm not going to moan about what a safe first release this is and what a featureless landscape it depicts, not gonna slag off the perfumers, because it was clearly their brief. If I was being mean I'd say Moncler went super safe on the commercial appeal of these perfumes this smelling like a boring, vanillic, pink, powder puff girl-burp, of unicorns and rainbows n all that shit! and the Men's one, a kind of post Santal 33 clone, a modern wasteland of bits and pieces of non committal spicy/wood eggshell fragments, but strong as an MF'r yeah???? But I'm not moaning or being mean remember. So I won't be saying that. Truth is, I quite like both these perfumes, even though the branding is a bit vulgar and the price, quite high. So yeah this is a vanillic, powdery perfume with a fresh opening of citrus and mild, musky undertone. Never going to set the world alight and I'm not an expert on perfumes like this but I'd wager that it's better than some real cheap rubbish you could get in the same genre. I physically couldn't wear this because of the vanillic, sweet nature but more power to you if you can.

So I'm only familiar with Moncler as atrociously gaudy and expensive, ski wear type shite, puffa coats and the like. This is their first foray into fragrances, let's see how they get on shall we? Not too bad. They've managed to make a variant twist on Santal 33, but they've actually made it way more palatable to the point I can actually wear it without coughing up a lung from disgust and olfactive fatigue, or hanging round vegan eateries with my macbook, pretentious clothes and coffee, talking in cliches and up-speak, blissfully unaware of my own twattery. Textile street yeah??? So hats off to them for that, because the opening of Homme is peppery to the max I mean a real hit of the stuff and it's prolonged, reminiscent of Marc Jacobs Bang. Then as it settles more of the listed clary sage here and green effects to freshen with that black pepper. Then the heart is pure growing sandalwood and trendy vetiver, but somehow rounded and creamy but with that green, spicy incense effect of the characteristic papyrus accord (or nagamotha/cypriol) which would usually have me tapping out but something about the futurist way this is blended negates that, as mentioned above. All in all, I really liked it, a very powerful and tenacious perfume too, which could be dangerous in the wrong hands, a real club blaster, it will get you smelled at least. The reason I want it is because of that preposterous bottle and the dot matrix thing on it. If the fragrance was utter dogshit, Fragranticans please believe me I would tell you not to waste your money, but to me this is a fragrance collectors piece, that I kinda have to have. First from a brand, silly gimmick, actually pretty good jus, without being too derivative or trying to do too much. Okay so it is a little bit on the expensive side and if you want to go and get a Santal 33 clone then maybe do that, but clearly they set the price point for the name of the brand (high street designers are getting cheekier) and the fact the flacon is a big fuck off thing, it's weighty and more substantial than I was expecting (me freely admitting here that the only reason I would entertain buying this is that it's not shit smelling and I've been suckered in like a child by the quirky, programmable screen) actually mean that me.....tight ol' me would probably pay the £170 asking price and perhaps hardly wear the fucking thing. Who knows? If it's in a bargain bucket sometime I might entertain it.

So of the three I've tried, Derviche was my favourite. I love the leathery, tobacco and what I perceived as castoreum (but is apparently civet according to this?) with a sweet, boozy, animalic richness. Now perhaps I could be critical and say this is a modified formula of some vintage perfume I'm not aware of but I'm a bit too fond of being unfair to Manuel Cross like that, he's fulfilling a demand for this type of fragrance and his audience love it, so fair enough. Again this is quite heavenly in the opening an less exciting/acomplished in the base which is quite backwards for my personal experience of artisan fragrances. There's a smoothness and complexity to them at first, which gives a good first impression and then unravels a bit later on. I like this, but I still have an issue with marketing as anti IFRA, it's difficult for me to get around that. I shall give it a proper wear and report back here with an update soon enough.

I found this one to be very disappointing considering all the hype. I mean it opens well, very appealing, fresh, masculine vibes but for all it's seeming cohesion in the opening, it falls apart shortly after, becoming an amateurish, clunky work. I mean you can get Fougere formulas (although this doesn't quite adhere to a classic fougere) online and knock something up, it won't smell as seamless as Houbigant or Invasion Barbare or Beau de jour. It has herbal elements, soapiness, moss with DHM and linalool, it's a bit flat for me as it dries down. Not particularly enamored. (Disclaimer: I'd only sampled it on a strip at that point) Trying on my skin is a different ballgame, forget what I said about the opening it's horrific, not fresh at all, smells astringent like marker pens but without at least a hint of the dizzying 'high'. However after that it's much more appealing the mossiness and grainy textured musk, loads of coumarinic warmth and even bordering on tobacco. It actually reminds me a little of another perfumer I think is pretty crude, Arron Terrence Hughes Boss Bastard but credit where credit is due, what both of these perfumes lack in finesse, they make up for in niche appeal and raw power. I think the soapy DHM comes out more on the strip and in actual fact is way better once you wear it. I still am not going to concede that this is a good perfume, it's okay, I'm somewhat enjoying the wear and I felt a bit bad for posting something fairly inaccurate up top there but that was my initial reaction and I stick to it in some sense.

I'm left scratching my head about the 'reminds me of' section here, but that's why it's an opinion and it's also not called 'smells like' because to it's credit I don't think this directly smells like anything else. However, that's not to say it's good because I'm more than disappointed with it, I'm pretty mortified if the truth be told. While the composition itself has unique nuances, it comes from a genre I like to call, '...loud shouty incense, smashed together with vanilla and or tonka.' The opening is quite nice, sweet, spicy smoked, resinous but that vanillic aspect starts to grow and the whole thing just grates on me, personally. I can take good things from it, I do like these kind of modern resin perfumes but I just can't seem to wear them without being fatigued and this hits a really sore, pitchy note, almost immediately. The tenacity is INSANE!!! Especially for a Penhaligons and they do take some stick for this line being a bit weak in that department. The caps and packaging generally on these are cool, and if the brand can maintain it's sales to Joe Bloggs through releasing in this signature line then fine, but perfume lovers (certainly me and others I talk to) want and expect a bit more. I think the classic/legacy fragrances from Penhaligon's are much better, but that's not to say there aren't a couple of creative ones in this collection.

This has been a long time coming. I've finally tried Rogue perfumes after being reasonably 'outspoken' (I understand what IFRA does and crucially what it doesn't do) about the tactic of using non compliance with IFRA as a sales tool and even the whole name of the line being 'Rogue' not sitting with me well at all. In the interests of a broader, less stuffy view of perfumery, I was obviously willing to give these fragrances a try, and I have to say...they're rubbish. hahah No they're not. No disrespect to Cross who I remember being in BN DIY forum once upon a time. I guess the problem I have here is that if your passion is old, discontinued vibes, you're not really looking to be hugely creative (might be being unfair as I've only sampled 3 of them) you're more likely to adapt a old Mitsouko or Coty Chypre formula that is knocking around among hobbyists on the internet, and there's nothing wrong with that. I don't think it's misrepresented, people buying artisan, punk, or 'Rogue' perfume from an Etsy shop are expecting this. Frankly I want more though. It's like competently recreating a recipe at home and adding your own 'twist' it's all fine but it's never going to be anything more elevated than good, home cooking of a slightly hackneyed dish. In this case the dish is a kind of powdery Chypre, which don't get me wrong I massively enjoyed. The opening 5 minutes or so are an absolute treat, fresh citrus and peachy lactones, powdery but dry and retrained floral musk, and a little more animalic perhaps than modern chypres iterations. I mean it's nice after that too, but it starts to come apart somewhat and that's where the amateurish nature of the formula and likely the quality of materials used starts to show it up a bit. It smells like a vision of Mitsouko but made in someone's garage, and with not nearly enough elongation or transition between accords. There's no twinkle or anything that makes it stand out. I feel mean saying this, I don't mean to be, honestly if I made this I'd think it was a decent well rounded perfume.

I know nothing about Rimbaud the man, but I like to think I know a little about fragrance, (although that's debatable) this is a very fine lavender. How ever that is conjured, maintained, sustained, created or circumstances leading to the curation of fine lavender material, whatever is going on here the lavender note itself is superior. I would say I don't like a lavender centric perfume and yet it's the basis of fougere's and other predominantly masuline fragrances which I love. Also two which spring to mind, and I find to be clever lavender's are Eau noire and Frederic Malle's Music for a while, two perfumes you wouldn't imagine a non lavender lover would hold in such high regard, but the instant I smelled Rimbaud I left the lavender possessed a certain inimitable quality. Then the softening of the top notes, a fresh bergamot or something? and the pominent lavender dying back into a creamy, white floral wax. It's no where near as cologne, neroli/petitgrain or perhaps big jasmine as you might think, Rimbaud mainly leans on the lovely materials of Nightclubbing namely Orris butter and musk. Now if this was some indy sticking orris in everything as some sort of opulent, signature, calling card, I might cry...'Cheat!' that's cheating everyone loves orris butter, a quick way to phone in luxury, appeal and general thickness. However, here in Celine it appears to be done with great skill and subtlety, masking itself from view and having real development, I haven't checked but I'm assuming they all contain this lovely, creamy thread? Not a bad signature and reminiscent of the arts and materials line from Guerlain and the perpetual custard vanilla. Rimbaud is not quite on par with the lightness of Chanel's Boy or the creativity of Music for a while, however it's more interesting than the reference in this genre, Caron Homme, which is a really lovely vibe between vanilla and lavender. It's nice. I mean is nice good enough at this price? That's upto you, but if you crave those uncluttered aesthetics, and a bit of luxury without the bells and whistles, gold shit and baubles then Celine is a good option for you.

I recall trying this one when it came out and liking it so I figured I'd wack it on today and give it a proper review. This brand, I mean, I don't know why I have such a resistance to leaning right into them because they possess those rare perfumery qualities of being both creative and artisan but ACTUALLY balanced and wearable, acceptable, palatable fragrances and I still don't own a one of them. Cape heartache is kinda crude too. That opening is spicy, woody, sappy tree bark, covered in salty sea spray, it's very evocative and just a lovely thing, not merely an outdoorsy smell, but an olfactory shapshot. Let me just reiterate the opening 20 mins of this perfume is brilliant and I love it. Then this building sweetness of a natural feeling maltol edge, with that fruity strawberry approximate accord, sitting atop hollow, hazy modern woody, it sounds nightmarish to me and something I'd scoff at immediately as amateur hour. Unless of course my snobbery mode had been activated, (lets say it was a perfumer for Fredric Malle) then I'd be saying ' this juxtaposition is clever and tantamount to genius' or some pretentious, bias, bollocks like that. haha Well I wouldn't necessarily because as cohesive as it comes together, it does feel very shallow now, like dry, sugar paper and ethyl maltol, but I'm kinda at peace and enjoying it. Yeah, whether this perfume has just caught me on a good day or what I don't know? but it's alright by me. Love the opening, like the contrast lateron.