Lemon poppy-seed salad dressing.
Sweet and moist with a few random peppercorns.
Might be nice on lettuce, but I wouldn’t want to sit next to it on a trans-Atlantic flight.
More Dylan blues–an extra sweet cover by Magnet & Gemma Hayes.
Another enjoyable and unpretentious 4711 Acqua Colonia that lasts only minutes–as it’s meant to.
A vodka splash opening that immediately warms up with the saffron, then eases into a flowery-herbal tonic water.
There’s earthy powdery feel at the bottom that I would enjoy on a guy, too.
I went looking for the “I’m just mad about Saffron” song by Donovan, and stumbled onto this little gem.
I got a sample set of 4711 Acqua Colonia and I’m having so much fun with these clever and quick little splashes–I grew up on the original.
This one is bright–a soap-bubble pop of herbal cleansing that finishes with brisk citrus.
The basil sticks pleasantly to cotton for several hours after the orange is long gone.
More Blood Orange pleasant herbal-pop cleverness–
Opens feminine, ylang-ylang sweet prom corsage, then nutmeg and carnation bouquets–
–but after an hour it turns masculine. Pepper and cloves dirty up the soapy pinks and give it bite, close to the skin, for another hour.
It’s suave and sporty, in a summer afternoon crisp linen shirt kind of way.
I love this wistful summery afternoon song– this February has been dull and gray here.
Orange pith and herbs, and quick.
Opens sharp and citrusy with woody ginger. Softens with some jasmine and a breath of amber, then vetiver lingers on the bottom for a few seconds.
Definitely a cologne–it’s gone in a hot second and for the cost, 4711’s Acqua Colonias might be a better deal.
Here’s some more oranges.
Opens with a big splash of blood orange juice that softens down to ginger-ale zing, then settles to soft wet musk on the skin for a few hours.
There’s a slight note of feet on the bottom that wants to be warm woods, but doesn’t have the right balance.
This one teeters between nice and meh for me–a sportsball guy could pull this off better than I could.
You can’t beat the original, but this cover of Sade’s Paradise roughs it up on the edges in a good way.
In the summer it’s eye-watering: all the hot sauces at the taqueria–tabasco, nopales salsa verde, pico jalapeño–uncorked and spilled over the table.
In the winter it cools down, becomes herbal, sweet bell peppers with a touch of rose on a base of cedar and metallic musk, but it’s no less potent.
Xeryus Rouge came out in in the mid nineties, along with this sweet spicy tune from Cuba.
Ginger and peppercorns that sweeten to ground spices, powdered cardamom and nutmeg, drier than dry toast, to the point that it makes me thirsty–almost itchy.
Half an hour in, the almonds warm up, and it gets creamier. A bit of floral musk makes it more palatable, and then the dry down is lovely, sandalwood with a hint of sweetness.
Stays politely in personal space for most of the day. Pair with a two liter drinking bottle.
The same lemon and white musk, but all the sharp herbs and incense smoke make it oversexed.
The glory of the female version, and why it’s such a powerhouse, is the ace quality that strips away any overt gendered invitation.
So by omitting all the sweet notes, the masculine edition just becomes another passive aggressive drink garnish at the patio bar.
Kanye West put out Stronger the same year. It was both as synthetic and popular.
Nice for a guy who wants people to believe he just bathed.
Opens with a bit of watery citrus, then the spice-bush kicks in, smoky sweet and earthy–kind of nutmeg-ish with frothy lime flowers–and then ends with ginger tub cleanser.
I bought this one in my quest for calycanthus scents–here the sweet-shrub is overpowered by the bergamot notes and comes across soapy.
It’s nicer on clothes.
This cute song also came out of Italy in 2012.
kira a. gold 