Prada Candy by Prada

So, if you are a regular reader of our blog posts (and of course you all are!) you'll know that our perfume Thursday review features a fragrance which contains our chosen aroma of the week.  This week our chosen aroma is caramel, a deliciously sweet and mouth watering aroma which has been wafting around our heads at PFHQ for a few days.  As the days have gone by we were wondering if we would get to Thursday and find this week's fragrance a little (or a lot) on the sickly sweet side..... smelling caramel all day every day we can assure you our cravings for all things gooey had been well and truly satisfied!

So here we are at Thursday - we spray and we sniff....... and we like it.  Hoorah! It's not sickly sweet, more of a warm sweet and vivacious, not cloying or overpowering,  With other aromas such as vanilla and benzoin we are quite surprised at how un-sickly-sweet it is, if you could see the relief/happiness on our faces!

The aroma doesn't change much as it dries down, keeping the warm sweetness all the way through. In our opinion it's a simple fragrance - and a little simplicity is very welcome in today's chaotic world.

Chanel No. 5 L'Eau

Today Chanel launched their new No. 5 flanker - Chanel No. 5 L'Eau and I'm wearing it.

This is a reworked, modern interpretation of the original and is aimed at the younger market.

The scent is fresh and has lashings of citrus and of course No. 5's infamous layer of aldehyde. The flowers remain true to the original with rose, ylang ylang and jasmine but they seem fresher, perkier and lively. The dry down is laced with cedarwood and musk and the overall effect is very pleasant.

I do enjoy wearing both the original No. 5 and it's first flanker Eau Premiere, but the younger me (the one without wrinkles and the odd grey hair) would enjoy L'Eau just as happily.

Noix de Tubereuse by Miller Harris

Today I am wearing Noix de Tubereuse by Miller Harris. Created in 2003, the nose behind this oriental floral is Lynn Harris.

The average price is £65 and described on their website as 'Mysterious, bold and glamorous'.

This first review has proved to be a challenge as I have struggled to compliment the fragrance (who am I to criticise when the perfumer has put her heart and soul into creating it). However, I found this to be very much a 'marmite' perfume and I think many people would agree with me! The opening top notes of mimosa and violet (with the violet being the most identifiable of the two) reminds me of sweet plastic.

The middle notes of tuberose and clover come through fairly quickly. The tuberose never disappears but fades away occasionally to allow the lovely spiciness of the clover to surface.

The dry down eventually appears some 2 hours later and is surprisingly good, a very appealing blend of tonka bean, orris and amber. It's just a shame that it takes such a long time to get there. I really don't know who would want to wear this perfume (Hinge & Brackett spring to mind) - the tuberose dominates and being heavy and sweet almost instigates a headache.

One bonus for those who adore this heady aroma is that the perfume is economical as one spray lasts for hours! Some reviews claim that it has an aphrodisiac quality - 'Am I missing something here?' So I asked my husband for his opinion 'Toilets..... hotel toilets...... posh hotel toilets....' I won't wear it to bed then.....

Floral Veil by Grossmith

As always, we have an aroma of the week which features as an aromatic component in our perfume of the week.  This week we have amber as the aroma and Floral Veil by Grossmith as the perfume.

Floral Veil is a pretty, gentle, easy-on-the-skin perfume.  It morphs from a fresh citrus/green opening to a floral, powdery sweet dry down all in the space of about five minutes.

Cool yet warm, fresh yet lingering, soft yet punchy, casual yet sophisticated - this is a perfume of contrasts that seems to sit well on everyone who has shared it with us this week.

Tango by Aftelier Perfumes

I’ve been looking forward to this week’s perfume of the week as I covet Mandy Aftel’s perfumes.  In fact I hide them and only bring them out for special occasions so having the office smell of Aftel’s Tango this week has been like a guilty pleasure.

Tango – quite different to anything we usually spray.  It is smoky, spicy with hints of citrus.  It is dirty, leathery with a big shy floral.

It can be worn day time, night time, any time and with cosy autumnal jumpers, ball gown or bikini, it just seems perfect and indigenous every occasion and mode.

It features champaca (our aroma of the week) but it isn’t overly floral whatsoever.  The more apparent aromas are the ginger, choya (a species of frankincense), coffee, tobacco and tonka.  If I had to sum it up I’d say it’s smoky-dirty-pretty …and quite frankly I adore it.

I love Mandy’s description that she wanted to convey the naughty eroticism of a night of drinking, dancing and smoking – and in our opinion that is exactly what she has achieved with Tango.

Sweet Morphine by Ex Nihilo

This week we have been wearing Sweet Morphine by Ex Nihilo.

Whilst we have all enjoyed wearing it, we did keep thinking we could smell a mixture of medicine and flowers.  Imagine Calpol bottle hidden in a bouquet and you’ll have Sweet Morphine to a T.

With hefty floral notes of lilac, iris, mimosa (our aroma of the week), heliotrope and rose the floral is strong and obvious, unlike the bergamot that gets a nano-second of enjoyment as the perfume is sprayed.

The perfume settles nicely and the floral Calpol is softened by vanilla, vetiver and patchouli giving it an almost creamy woody flourish as it fades.

If you like lilac, then this is definitely one you should try.  If you don’t like lilac but enjoy other florals then try this one too.  It is silky and well-mannered sitting on the skin in an attentive fashion without trying to steal the limelight.

Poison Girl by Christian Dior

The original Poison fragrance from Dior launched over 30 years ago (oh that makes us feel positively ancient!) has become legendary and a fragrance that you either loved or loathed!  So when Poison Girl appeared on the radar we were very keen to discover how it related to the original and more importantly would we all like it......

Our first encounter is a sweet floral aroma courtesy of vanilla, tonka bean (our aroma of the week) and a floral note that isn't quite identifiable but we are assured that rose, orange blossom and heliotrope are there.  This is quite a powerful aroma, as was the iconic original, so a little goes a       v-e-r-y long way.... too much of this would become cloying, a bit over whelming and probably annoy your colleagues if constantly applied throughout the day.  

As for the comparison to the original, (if you've never experienced it you really must!) we can detect elements that made the first version so unmistakably identifiable to all that came within sniffing distance but in a lighter and juicier combination.  Although not immediately noticeable lemon and bitter orange cut through the sweet notes, resulting in a perfume that we are all happy to wear. Hoorah!

If you ask anyone over a certain age if they like Poison perfume you will get a very definitive and immediate answer one way or the other, but Poison Girl we think will have a much wider appeal and we are happy to give it space on our dressing tables.