white floral

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Moon Bloom

Moon Bloom bottle test paper, decant vial, and mother-of-pearl moon brooch.

Moon Bloom is ridiculously decadent, an indulgence of white flowers with that indolic reminder that flowers are sex organs.

Opens with fresh sharp green, like the first cut of a thick plant stem, of big florid tuberose and jasmine, then gets even lusher with a hint of spice in sweet cream, and fleshy coconut.
That’s all in the first five minutes, and where it stays for two days, melting slowly down into the skin.

There’s a roughness to it, making one aware of the quality of the raw materials (the way a really good olive oil has a heady earthiness, or how heavy dupioni silk bends light) that easily justifies the top shelf cost.

I’d consider springing for a bottle, if I weren’t already cheating on Fracas with Love Tuberose.

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This whole album is is decadent–

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Springtime in a Park

Replica sample card with a pink liquid filled spray, and a really tasty Bosc pear.

Springtime in a Park is supposed to replicate Shanghai 2019, but I get Car Wash 2004.

Starts out with a blast of flower lather, and then some not-quite-shrieking neon-green pear liquid soap, then blooms with bonkers loud lily-of-the-valley suds.
Bath-time is over in an hour, drying down to clean musk on the skin.

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Donna Summer had much better spring fling flair.

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Byzance

Orange carnation tipped in rose pink, and cobalt disc shaped bottle with gold coin center medallion

I was in high school in 1987, and aldehydes were the stuff of women thirty years older, who wore Chanel and Givenchy and Estée Lauder–but that gorgeous blue bottle lured me with bohemian riches and devious secrets anyway.

The juice in my bottle has become dark and viscous, and the carnation has mellowed the soapsuds, turning them into a wonderful fizzy cola. Tuberose still takes center stage, like Ysatis but with more spice and less cat–though I think Byzance has aged better, retro rather than dated.
I’ve no idea how well this performed fresh from the factory. Mine stays nicely at arms length for a good six hours.
Pairs well with sequin tops with shoulder pads.

Snag a bottle soon if you’re into vintage icons–I see fewer and fewer of them at my usual second-hand haunts.

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Byzance is especially lovely in the winter.
This song came out the same year.

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Sotto La Luna – Tuberose

Decant vial on paper test cut-out of Tauer cobalt bottle, and scattered whole cloves.

Sweet, buttery green tuberose sharpened by spice with a serrated edge.
Turns creamy on the skin with nice projection and lasts all day, but the geranium sticks to the cuffs with a funny veggie side dish note.
Pretty, but makes me crave fried chicken.

The structure is similar to Tuberose Flash, from the Tauerville collection, which I absolutely love. so I sprayed that on my other wrist to compare. Flash’s benzoin softens the jasmine and patchouli, where the ambergris and spices in Sotto La Luna brightens them.
Of course, I went for the spice cabinet next. and hit the raw materials. The clove was obvious, the sweet bite on top, but the cinnamon was more subtle–just a dusting of warmth.
That was fun.
(I’ll stay with Flash.)

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This is so weird and unexpected–I like it.

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Mystic Pearl

Sample spray and ad of a blonde gazing into the distance with parted lips and a string of beads wrapped around her middle finger.

A “fresh luminous floral inspired by Bali… using the scent of real pearls.”
(Do they grind them up, or somehow distill them? I feel like the liquid should have a paillette effect, or some shimmery nacre going on in the bottle.)

Mystic Pearl opens with a fresh vodka note that turns oceanic, then some jasmine and coconut. Sadly, I get none of the spices listed, which might have given this more backbone and lasting power. Disappears into the skin in under an hour, though lasts half the day on cotton.

(My pearls first belonged to my grandmother–they still smell like Charles of the Ritz.)

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This funky number is also inspired by Bali–with a lot more spice.

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Fragile

Snow globe with gold glitter liquid and a black figure with Jean-Paul Gaultier’s iconic corseted silhouette.

There are few times I would ever recommend anyone not snatching up an adorable miniature vintage bottle from a brilliant costume and fashion designer, filled with tuberose and sweet smoky spice mixed by Francis Kurkdjian himself, that lasts at the most delicate arm’s length forever–

–but this mini Fragile is a pain in the ass.
The press-on tab lid on the bottom leaks, because gravity. The gold detail on the bottle on the bottle decomposes with alcohol, and since perfumer’s spirits are usually 190 proof, that happens quick. And the mouth, one of those irritating single drop orifices (orifii?) that essential oil bottles have, gets clogged up with glitter particles and has to be cleaned out with a pin.

So don’t.
Walk on by.
Keep scrolling.

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I do love me some Gaultier. His costumes in Fifth Element were amazing.

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Delight

Sample vial on a detail of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, with two spoonbills riding a goat, a porcupine floating in a dandelion, and what might be a game of mounted naked dodge-ball on the right.

Delight is quite nice, with tropical sweet flowers that settle to a good ’70’s funky green jasmine. I get a pinch of gourmand spice, though none are listed–maybe the bottom notes of the rose?–that makes it modern and feminine and fun.

A single drop fades to the skin in two hours, but lasts on fabric for days.
This might be the most mainstream fashion, blind-buy-safe blend from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab that I’ve sniffed so far. I’d rec it to anyone who loves Estée Lauder flower showers but has a reaction to the woody musk on the bottom.

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Delightful song with some retro funk and modern sweetness.

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Elephant

Wooden elephant statuette with decant vial, paper test of Zoologist bottle and green leaves.

Green grass and green tea and green coconuts and jasmine at the beginning–playful jungle notes that I like very much–but then the patchouli makes it rain, and the sweetness is lost.
Wood notes at the bottom dry it up and add some gravitas, but I wish the cocoa came through deeper, to give more weight.
There’s a lack of presence, in both scent and sillage, that I find disappointing.

The elephant in the room should fill the space, and this one doesn’t.

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This Elephant makes me happy.

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Splendida Tubereuse Mystique

Cobalt blue Bvlgari mini, and tea-leaf reading cup that sadly has no perfume bottle symbol.

Opens with an elegant brew of smoky tea, black currant and the same lemon creme I get from Teazzurra, but with an herbal bite, like it’s laced with wormwood.

The tuberose drifts in slowly, as if the sugar wasn’t stirred in and gets stronger and sweeter and prettier with each sip.
Lasts for hours, held just above the wrist with vanilla and enigmatic resin.

Perfect for modern mages and fashionable fortune tellers.

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I love this French cover of INXS’s Mystify–

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Fracas

Pink gumballs and a mini bottle of Fracas.

Big bang bubblegum, for adults only.
Drunk peach and vampy tuberose that bursts loud and proud and marvelous.
A twist of orange for zing, carnation for spice, roses to flirt, and a woody base for backbone.

This girl does what and whom she pleases, tuberoses untethered, with a wink and a pop and a smile.

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First released in 1948, Fracas was a favorite of Rita Hayworth and Brigitte Bardot. Released again in 1998, it became a signature scent of Madonna. Ray of Light came out that year, too.