Working on my relationship with the roses

As you can probably guess from the title, I'm not really into roses when they make an appearance in a perfume. At least, I believed so. It seems that has if not changed, then changing definitely. I'm still not fascinated by them like with some other notes but I actually started appreciating them and even liking some to the wearable on me extent. Maybe it's just the learning process and I'm expanding my horizons. Whatever the case, today I'll talk about one with a rose and one that made me think more of warm sands than the Matthew Williamson did.

Did I give enough hints about who am I going to talk about? :)

I've been trying for weeks to find time to sniff Andy Tauer creations again. I realized recently that everything needs at least 2 tries before you can decide how to approach it properly. I smelled my samples some months ago (while on vacation so I couldn't write about them) and I needed to repeat the experience. Btw, the samples that Aus Liebe zum Duft sends are quite large. So, after testing them I'll have at least for 4-5 wearings. Yeey! :)

I wish I could them justice - by them I mean L'Air du désert marocain and Le Maroc pour elle. Both are so full of perfume life, for lack of a better phrase. And do they last!

L'Air du désert marocain is warm, dry, sweet and smokey? oriental that I don't think can be described as accurately as to give you the right picture. You just have to try it and see for yourself. :)

But what I got from it was a test for my nose. I though the opening was vanilly incense/smoke. Turns out there's no vanilla in it.

Notes from Andy Tauer site: coriander, cumin, petitgrain, rock rose, jasmine, cedar wood, vetiver and amber.

Don't ask me what notes I discovered. My mind simply refused tracking them, I get the whole picture and cannot delve into notes. It strangely reminded me of Timbuktu, it reached straight into my subconsciousness and expanded my world vision.

You know, if it smells like this in the desert, I think the time has come to visit one. Dry, slightly sweet, warm and somewhat smokey.

Le Maroc pour elle is a different story. I got surprised by the larger than life opening. Described by Mr. Tauer as a sunny fragrance does it justice. You get hit by all this sunny sweetness that seemed vaguely fruity to me but again, no fruit in this. Unless you consider fresh citrus but that wasn't what I thought I smelled.

What really surprised me in this one is the fact that as I was enjoying the sunny opening, I didn't realize there was a rose in it. Or lavender for that matter. It's upsetting for me how I completely cannot force my nose to smell anything else than the big picture when Tauer creations are concerned.

Notes: fresh citrus, lavender, cedar woods, oriental woods, rose at dawn, evening jasmine.

Anyway, after reading the notes, I finally found lavender in that sunny sweetness and understood that rose does not always smell like the rose I know. It obviously smells similar enough for me to recognize but this one went completely into an elaborate, oriental beautiful depiction of a rose.

One last thing about those two today. I haven't checked the description to see if they are described as masculine (L'Air) and feminine (Le Maroc pour elle). If you would want to categorize them, then yes, they would be a masculine and feminine. But I think both are wearable for both sexes. I will certainly use up both my samples.

And that is what my newly discovered rose relationship has made me realize. There are some rose scents that can be worn by guys as well. :) It feels like I'm late to some realizations, but some things need to be discovered by oneself. That's how I comfort myself. :)

Picture by: www.tauerperfumes.com

A bit more on Le Jardin Retrouvé

This line has managed to somehow grow on me. :) I find some of their fragrances unwearable but for most of them I wouldn't mind having them in my perfume wardrobe.

But before I go on to them, I realized today that I can no longer live without blogging. When I don't have the time to write something the moment I'd like, I actually get upset. It seems I need to write. Even if it's going to be short and not terribly interesting.

On to some other Mr. Gutsatz creations. I had to check the dictionary for Chevrefeuille (honeysuckle) for the Croatian equivalent. I had no idea what plant that is. Turns out I did smell it before - again evoking childhood memories. It seems I no longer spend that much time outside playing. :)

Unfortunately, this one is not for me. It's a nice fresh floral that seems to clean to me, too much fresh laundry associations to be used as a personal fragrance. It has that breezy, floral quality - like a smell wafting on clear day on a cool breeze. I thought I got some jasmine in the drydown, but can't be sure.

I liked the Jasmin, but I'm not sure yet as how much. One of the great things about these fragrances is that there is a lot of greenery there and I for one love that. This Jasmine also has a green quality to it - not exactly grassy but more like you break young green twigs. That's the best equivalent I could come up with. I also thought I got some smoky hints but am not sure about it and some fruity aspect of jasmine.

On to Le Lys (lily). I wish there weren't that many lilies around and they probably do not smell the same. Of the lily variety, I only recognize the lily of the valley kind. On my first try, I though that is what I smelled, but second time I was no longer sure, maybe I just wanted it to smell similar to something I recognize. It was a lovely floral, one I could wear much more readily than Chevrefeuille. I though I got some creamy iris in the drydown but checking the Jardin site, I realized there's no iris in this but vanilla and oakmoss in the drydown, so I guess that's it. Smells great though. :)

Today I also tried one of the masculines for the first time. Pour Homme. Funny. Interesting as well. Ok, funny might not be the right word for it, but it really brought a large smile to my face for being so different from the rest.

Notes I was able to find: lavender, rosemary, cinammon and patchouli.

I'm smiling again trying to compose this in my head. But first, do cumin and dirty patchouli smell alike? Because I was so sure there was cumin I was smelling, until I found the notes and it turned out there was no cumin in it but patchouli. So, I'm a bit confused now. How in the world am I going to be able to tell them apart without actually seeing the notes?! Different things shouldn't smell the same. Ok, they might not be the same to someone with a better trained nose, but that's not me. Anyway, I got sidetracked by the smell of dirty patchouli - it was shouting so loud I just couldn't hear the other notes. Not that I minded. I like it when something veers off the usual path. Then it subsided into a nice skin scent that still has hints of "that" patchouli" but nowhere near as strong as in the beginning. I don't think I'll be wearing this but I love it for its bravery. :)

Pic by: www.lejardinretrouve.com

Re-discovering spring... and the smells of childhood

I will talk about some of the Le Jardin Retrouvé fragrances today. If you want to know more about the house and its history, there's a lovely post by Divina from Fragrance bouquet.

I'm going to talk more about impressions today. :) It is difficult for me to talk about scents without having notes, my nose is not really that good.

But since Mr. Denis Gutsatz was so kind to send free samples for me to review, I'll try my best. One thing I realized while trying them is that it took me a second round of smelling them to actually begin appreciating them better. Or maybe it was just the fact that I had a terrible cold.

The things is, it seems there are a lot of citrusy notes in almost all of Mr. Yuri Gutsatz's creations. Most of the time they are in their right place for me - the one I actually didn't like was Citron Poivrée (smelled like lemon drops).

Anyway, none of them smelled modern to me or terribly new. Some of them reminded me of my childhood spent running around my grandmother's garden or parks where I played with other children. Some of the rose fragrances (more about them soon) reminded me of people from my childhood - especially my grandmother.

Of the four I will go through today, Verveine celeste is the one that smelled most spring-like of all the creations and most memory-inducing. And I believe I finally found my cut grass fragrance. I've been looking for it for so long and I absolutely love the fact that I can smell it in this. The only problem is that it will wait until spring for me to feel the need to wear it. But I don't mind.

And that might be one of the reasons I didn't fall straight away for the Jardin Retrouvé scents. Almost all of them evoke spring feelings for me.

I like Tubéreuse very much - it smells green and tuberose-jasmine like. Very strong - I'd say the strongest of the line and if you don't like the smell of either tuberose or jasmine, steer clear. I love it. But also in the spring. It smells exactly like I imagine tuberose and jasmine should smell.

One of the woody scents in the line, Santal is lovely if somewhat bland when compared to woody scents of Serge Lutens line for example. This one is listed under masculines but as more of a unisex. Very true. I think it now sounds like it's not good when compared to more heavy scents but actually it's quite lovely. On my first try I thought I got some fruity, herbal whiffs from it - but I seem to have missed them on my second try. And it all rests on this lovely santal woody base and sort of stays clear of either going into warm, sweet more feminine territory or the other way into more masculine territory.

The last one for today is Cuir de Russie. Interesting take on leather albeit maybe too sweet for my taste. Not as in candy too sweet, but in leather too sweet. It's a floral cuir to me. Strange and actually not bad. I'll be giving this more thought in the near future, there is definitely potential here. Lots of it.

I only had one floral on the list today, but the others in the line are included as those that provoke childhood memories.

All of these scents would in my opinion work great as ambient scents which is what Mr. Gutsatz probably thought himself since some of them come as candles as well.

And the name of the line is apt as well. It is definitely a place to go to find lost scent memories of childhood (in case you have memories of running through green places).

Picture by: http://www.lejardinretrouve.com/

P.S. The best thing of all is if you find something you love, you're not going to pay terribly much for it - the prices they offer are the ones from 1975. when the company was founded. Worth exploring. I'll be exploring their beauty oil soon. :)

It really does smell that nice

I have no better title for today's post than this. Before I get on to what I want to say, I have to admit I have a serious credit card problem. It seems I order with abandon because yesterday I got a little package from Juliet Stewart which I completely forgot I ordered. :)

And this is where the title of this post comes into play. I've been reading around how wonderful her scent Juliet is. Hence, the title. It really is that nice. I don't even know how to describe it.

Here are the notes: Amalfi lemons, basil, bergamot, Sicilian orange, mediterranean herbs, Italian jasmine, vanilla, amber, precious woods.

I wish I could do it justice. It starts sweetly floral with hints of fruit and green freshness and you can barely trace hints of something herbal but it is not really a citrusy smell (all those citrusy notes made me think in that direction). And then, you get the jasmine but not like any I've tried yet (ok, my experience is not actually extensive, but still). A sweetish, fresh, lightly citrusy jasmine. Absolutely wonderful. The combination is at the same time fresh and floral, utterly feminine and energetic. My idea of it is a vanilla jasmine rendered light by the citruses. And at the end, the smell I was left with in my mind was the picture of amber.

Btw, I think my co-workers think I'm strange. I sniff my wrists all day long. :) Ok, maybe not since we're really a good bunch so we respect each others idiosyncrasies.

What I had on my other wrist was 5 o'clock au gingembre by Serge Lutens.

Notes: bergamot, candied ginger, honey, pepper, dark cocoa, soft cookies?!, gingerbread, patchouli, vetiver.

I believe I saw somewhere that this is a masculine scent? Anyway, I'd never have said that from the start of this but in the end I could understand why would one make it lean toward that category.

I smelled it before I had the notes. Honestly, if I read the notes before, I'd have thought it was some kind of a tooth-aching sweet cookie monster. :) It's not that. It's wonderful but, is it possible that the SL/Sheldrake combo has such a strong signature? I mean, it is recognizable as theirs if you smelled more than one of their scents. But never mind that - I like almost all of them. :)

For me the start is sweet and woody. I didn't get any of the notes listed at the beginning but thought it was a blend of Feminite du bois and Santal blanc or some of those boozy woody fragrances. I loved it! :)

Once it got into drydown I found lovely patchouli-vetiver mixed with a citrusy note (that could only be bergamot) that I could understand would be termed more masculine. But I liked it. I know I have a tendency toward "masculine" scents.

Pictures by: http://www.julietstewart.com/, http://www.community.basenotes.com/

P.S. I was wearing Love By Kilian today. No review, but I only wish Love was so sweet...

WoW: Laurell K. Hamilton

If you're a fan of kick-ass heroines from vampire/werewolf stories, Anita Blake series is definitely not to be missed. It's how I got started and hooked. :) The series has progressed to some 17 books or something (I don't really bother remembering the number, I just check periodically to see if something new is coming out).

As you can probably guess that many books usually mean the quality might be questionable at some point. Well, that guess would be true. The good thing though is that it seems with this last book, Mrs Hamilton is on her way to what we came to expect from Anita Blake. The last book in the series "Skin trade" is finally back on track with some serious problems and typical Anita. Strong in her convictions, constantly questioning the rightness of her choices (which are usually one of lesser evils) and standing firm in the face of danger. But, there are many heroines which come with a sense of humor, if that's what you are looking for, forget it. Anita is not a light, humorous being. She's dark (on the outside as well) and ironic as hell. She is also constantly conflicted, due to her strong convictions and Catholic upbringing.

It's actually interesting to follow the books from the beginning and see how they progresses. If I got it right, Mrs Hamilton wasn't married at the time she started writing and several books in the beginning have no sex in them. Just some physical attraction, and that's it. At some point though, sex started appearing in all manner of situations and it almost went into porn category (the quantity and explicitness). It just deteriorated with each following book. Now, there's still sex but the book is much more story oriented. Thank God. :) And I got the feeling that the original Anita is back. With all her lovers. ;)

It's funny, there's one more series written by LKH, the Merry Gentry which revolves around Fae. And again you have there the heroine who without any wish or inclination ends up having a whole bunch of lovers. :)

Oh, I almost forgot to say, Anita is not a simple human. She's a federal marshal hunting vampires, called the Executioner by the vampires, and the strongest Necromancer in the last couple of centuries. :) I'll keep the rest of what she is to myself, if it sounds interesting give it a try. You're bound to be frustrated and angry at several points but it's still dark and interesting.



P.S. It's evident from what I wrote that I have all the books from both series, right? :)



Picture by: http://www.amazon.com/

How to wear Bulgari scents?

I'm totally baffled when it comes to Bulgari. I try them and I like the way they are done and the way they smell, but they are not me. I haven't found a single one I can fall in love with, or at least develop a friendship so we can hang together. And it's not that they incompatible with my skin chemistry, I think they develop just nicely.

I was shopping the other day in one of my used to be favorite perfumery in Zagreb, Martimex and I left (after spending a nice amount) with 3 perfume samples (I'm not counting 3 perfume cards). The SA sort of apologetically whispered that that was all they had. The same happened some 2 moths ago as well. So, I hope they fix it, otherwise I don't see they have a future among Sephora, Limoni and Douglas.

Today I wanted to talk about the sample I got, Bulgari Blv, edp II.

Notes: violet, star anise, liquorice, frosted mandarine, jasmine petals, iris, fresh lily of the water, patchouli, vetiver, ambergris, benzoin, labdanum, tonka, musk.

They went completely for the blue in every sense - all the flowers, gemstones, makeup on Laetitia Casta - everything is ranging from light/frosted blue to darker blue but not really dark blue. Then it hit me, I think one of the reasons I just don't own and wear Bulgari scents is that all of those I've tried, they all smelled cold and distanced. And those are not qualities I look for in anything (or anyone). But Bulgari makes it smell good. :)

Anyway, on to the smell itself. I had serious problems trying to discern any notes from it. It goes on fresh, cool and somewhat reminds me of aquatic (maybe beacuse of all the blue). But since I pretty much hate aquatic notes and I don't hate this, I guess it's just my imagination. What I got from the initial blast was that there is some flower in it (I didn't have the notes yet) and that there was also a hint of some fruit but I didn't think it was anything citrusy. Maybe frosted mandarin can count as something less citrusy than, you know, lemon. :)

In my standard fashion, I realized the opening reminded me terribly of something else I smelled, but of course I couldn't remember. But this time, after some 30 minutes I think I know what it reminded me of - L'eau d'Issey. But it's been quite a while since I smelled it last and I could be wrong.

So, it goes down this well blended road where I keep wondering how is it possible that they created it so seamlessly that I cannot decipher where are the individual notes? I felt totally stupid but I'll try again soon. :) I did get the opening well enough, but after that, it was - where's jasmine, iris? I don't smell iris. It says there's patchouli in this, hmmm.

Even the drydown which is supposed to have all those nice, warmish notes is a mistery to me. It keeps the cool, distant aspect through it all although you can feel the underlying well maybe not exactly warmt but, warmish breeze. If the whole scent was more like the drydown, I would probably go through my samples faster. :)

This way, I keep wondering what is it with me and Bulgari? I had such high hopes with Omnia Green Jade after realizing the drydown is great, but it takes long to get there and I just am not a patient person.

In the end, I think they are completely correct in the manner they advertise it, it is really this nice crystal, frosted, blue fragrance.

Pics by: http://www.bulgari.com/

WoW: Patricia Briggs

I barely made it - this being the last day of the week. This week's author is Patricia Briggs who is climbing my personal writer list. I've read this week the "Hunting ground" - her second book in the series Alpha and Omega. Those being the werevolves. It's interesting, I've been reading books with werevolves for quite some time, and I never came across a reference to an omega werevolf (they are quite rare and do not display the aggresive behaviour of most of werevolves nor are they submissive, that being the solution to not being a strong enough wolf so everyone bows to what you say).

The Alpha and Omega series just gets better with each book and I was sorry to read at Mrs. Briggs site that another book is not coming anytime soon, there are other books scheduled for release. The good news is that one of them is another of Mercy Thompson series - happening in the same world as the Alpha and Omega, mentioning some of the characters as well (like the Marrok - leader of all American werevolves and father to sons, one appearing as the Alpha in the A and O series, and another as a friend (used to be lover) of Mercy Thompson.

One more good thing I realized browsing through Patricia Briggs' site is that there are some fantasy books available (and I already saw some of the titles in my favourite bookstore - Algoritam). I'll buy one of them to see if I'm going to like them (I somehow don't doubt it) and let you know after how it went.

Cover picture by: www.patriciabriggs.com

Wearing Timbuktu

I was finally wearing Timbuktu today, after sort of going around it for months. Now, one would wonder why would someone buy a bottle of a scent and do one's best to avoid it as long as possible? Well... What I had in my mind of Timbuktu was both true and imagined. I remembered it as a dry incense thingy that just, you know, is, well, only ok. How wrong I was! It is incensey and dryish but there's so much more to this scent!

My untrained nose gets this smokey incense that slightly burns my nose, a bit later mixed with dry fruit (that's how I feel it) and some patchouli. This is an EdT but it lasts all day on me and is just wonderfully strange. :) I lack better words to describe it.

Notes by Luckyscent: green mango, pink pepper berries, karo-karounde flower, cardamom, smokey incense, myrrh, vetiver and patchouli.

What I actually found fascinating today is that this is a scent you have to be able to wear. It is without a doubt a masterpiece but not exactly in the perfume terms per se.

I've been really stressed out lately and frustrated and felt like my back was slowly lowering toward the ground under all the accumulated hardship. On top of it all, I have a cold. And this morning, I decided it was time to take Timbuktu out again. As soon as I sprayed it on, I felt I was breathing easier. Which is really strange because having a cold sort of limits the enjoyment of a perfume - usually the first spray makes me sneeze. What I mean is it didn't clear my nose, but it cleared my head. I felt like someone took the burden off my back and I was finally breathing easier after quite a while. And the result was that I knew what my path from now on should be. That is some good work for an edt if you ask me. :)

I believe there will always be a bottle of Timbuktu in my perfume closet/drawer/room (ok, hopefully it won't be that bad that I'll need a room). We all sometimes need someone or something to reconnects us with our unconscious self which might know the way forward but is unable to communicate it to our conscious self and now, I have a solution. For myself of course. But I suggest you give it a try. You never know what your unconsciousness might tell you...

And beware, it might not be easy or expected or something you like. But it still might be necessary.

Picture by : www.laboutiquedelartisanparfumeur.com

Finally flying

While I'm still not in the mood to write, I'll just post some photos from my Friday jaunt. We went flying in a balloon! :) It was great, albeit short (only an hour) and totally fun. It turns out you don't get cold in a balloon (we took precaution with clothes and the guy laughed at us). Turns out the hot air (gas) going into the balloon keeps everyone in the basket warm. :)

So here are some photos:

Meadow where we started from:

The balloon is up and ready:

Slowly going up:

View from the balloon:




Some more:

At 782 meters:

And slowly going down:

All the photos are mine.

WoW: Sabrina Jeffries

Finally! It took me quite long these last few days to finish a book. Any book. Because I have 3 more waiting half-read until I decide what I would like to read. I suppose it is a consequence of how I've been feeling lately - nothing seems to be able to lift my mood for a longer period of time. I'd actually rather not discuss it here, but in short, I hate politicians and the way they "run" my country. One of these days when my frustration reaches its peak, I'll talk more about the climate we live in here.

Enough of that, on to Sabrina Jeffries. You can trust Mrs Jeffries to lift your romance mood right and proper. :) What upset me on the other hand is that she also has a book series on a school for heiresses (girls) same as Mary Balogh. And I kind of got lost who wrote what and what are the characters and stories from which series. My advice is, now both series came to an end, stick to one, and then read the other. In my case that's completely unachievable since the moment I discover a new author I like, I don't wait for the series to end (unfortunately) so I kind of lose the previous stories (unless I google and somewhat refresh my memory). Anyway, I lost the thread with School for heiresses even though I have all the books and have read them (I'll just go through them again - I do find them that good). :)

Since I already mentioned Mary Balogh's school series, just to give a short comparison. I love both series but it somehow seems Balogh's series is more serious while Jeffries has more fun with her characters and the overall style of writing. I might be mistaken, it is a while since Mary Balogh's books were front in my mind, what I usually have in my head, after a month or so after, are impressions.

So, after finding my bearings, I enjoyed the book immensely, and the sexy hot scenes which abound. Ok, maybe not abound, but you don't have to wait half a book for a steamy scene (sometimes even longer) since they are interspersed all over the book. And are quite good. :)

I read 'Dont Bargain with the Devil' and now I have one more left until I reach the end of series - which is of course the book where the head mistress finds love as well. :) One with the misterious cousin Michael with whom she corresponds through all the books but doesn't know who he is. I can't wait to discover it myself! :) Ok, so, I peeked a bit at a spoiler on amazon... It couldn't be helped, I don't have time to start reading at the moment and I wanted to know. ;)

Anyway, if it isn't clear from what I wrote until now, Sabrina Jeffries is definitely one of top romance writers in my book. ;)

One whose books I buy whenever I can find them (or they come out) even though the excerpt might not sound terribly interesting.

Excerpts are often misleading.

Picture by: www.sabrinajeffries.com

Wandering around, sniffing

Lately I ask myself quite often what do I do with my time because I can certainly say there is a definite lack of it in my life. So, I didn't have time either to smell something for a proper review or even to read a book yet (that is definitely stressing me out) so I'll talk today about what I've been smelling the last few days.

Last Saturday I was at a vintage (grape harvest), and it's been a while since I actually walked through a real type of a village. You know, the one where there are farm animals and barns? It doesn't smell nice but I can tell you, I really enjoyed smelling something so different from my everyday life. :) Vintage itself is an experience I adore. Although I slept like the dead that night. :)

Now, on to my lack of time. I barely managed to try two scents this week that are on my list lately because they've started appearing on blogs. I read last week a lovely review by Divina of Boss Orange and been meaning to try it since then, but I only managed to do it yesterday and that was unsuccessful as it turned out. It seems the SA sort of missed most of my hand when spraying it on, so there was nothing to smell after some 20 minutes. I did like the fruity opening (the apple is lovely) but now I have no idea what goes on next so I'll have to repeat the experience. Oh, well, with the rate I'm going, it will be sometime next week. :)

The other thing I wanted to try was Si Lolita and although I plan on trying it again just to check, I think a bottle is coming my way. :) Though it makes me wonder how come it didn't come out before summer because I can definitely see myself wearing it through the summer with its opening of childhood memories of sunscreen (was it Coppertone that had that particular smell?). Someone mentioned on one of the blogs I follow regularly the name of that particular molecule/note but I forgot (as usual). :) Oh, well, I'll find it again sooner or later.

Picture by: www.abc.net.au

I've been thinking...

Yesterday I was at my French class and as always, had a great time. But afterwards I started thinking about stuff we discussed in the class (it's a conversation class). The thing is, the group consists of several people my age (around 30) and we have 3 older ladies (they are all retired, so my guess is they are over 65). What I was thinking yesterday is how great the group functions. We've been together in this state for years now and I realized yesterday that what I find fascinating is how much we can learn from each other. One of them is a mathematician, one was a professional dancer and the third was the equivalent of a highly sucessful business woman. They are completely different but all three have kept their interest in life and additional activities and I hope one day, my retired life looks similar (and I get to spend time with young people). :)

On to some perfume news. I'm over my fear. :) I got my package from the Posh Peasant yesterday with Coquette Tropique by Monyette (and the wonderful big candle) and I tasted summer again.

Notes: Hibiscus, Gardenia, Plumeria, French Anjou pear, Madagascar vanilla

I was looking for melon in the notes because I could have sworn I smelled it, but it's not listed. Anyway, I'm a bit angry with myself because I had a product this summer that smelled exactly like this (hair or body), and I can't recall what it was. What it did was make me happy I tried it because it transported me straight into summer. I am really looking forward to wearing it next summer. Such a lovely creamy tropical smell.

The other thing I tried today was Kinmokusei by Ayala Moriel.

Notes: Ambrette (musk) seed, Coriander, Green tea, Linden blossom, Olive tree resin, Osmanthus, Sandalwood, Tabac blond, Wild orange.

It is an osmanthus soliflore and if that's what an osmanthus smells like, I like it. It almost went overboard into too heady-sweet category but in the end, it balanced out nicely. The beginning was great though - aromatic peppery opening with wild orange. Wonderful!
I find this a lovely autumn scent I am going to wear this year. I ordered this guessingly, some time ago (there was some kind of a sale beginning of the summer I think) and I still need to try the two samples I ordered with it (Ayalita and Espionage).

Btw, Kinmokusei is the Japanese name for osmanthus.

Pic by: http://my.opera.com/lop53dethuong