HS3

Here’s a series of Armani Vetiver Babyone. They have really great packaging – the inner box that holds the bottle is extremely sturdy. It’s coated in a high-quality stock, with a magnetically sealing closure and the box can open fully to lay flat and display the bottle. They wrap the box within the foldable box shown, then tie a stone wrapped in leather around the box.

I think the Les Eaux series actually has better packaging than the wooden EdP line. There’s a certain heft to these that feels good in the hand along with a wooden cap (as opposed to the plastic ,”real” stone caps of the EdP line). The other two vials in the pictures are handmade samples of Ambre Soie and Cuir Améthyste that the SA made for me.

Olivier Durbano Jade – This opens as dusty mint laden tea leaves. It’s a very lush, earthy mint – not like the smell of common mint flavoring, but rather the smell of the mixture of the soil with the moist mint that grew in the woods behind the house I grew up in. It seems to follow the pattern of Durbano’s previous releases and shares a number of qualities. There’s something about them that actually does bring the image of rock to mind – gritty, dust covered rock. This particular one seems to sit very close and keep its projection at bay. It stays dry and austere with classic notes of vetiver, patchouli and herbs that linger long after the initial mint and tea trip.

Omnia Granato – I’ve read a few places that this is supposed to have some dirty, animalic notes to it. I personally didn’t get much of that on the first few tries. I was pretty excited to try it in anticipation of those animalic notes, but luckily I still like the result quite a bit. What I do get is an initial blast of sweetened musks and vanilla, followed by a smattering of spices and smokey cedar and vanilla. I get a considerable semblance to Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale, but seemingly not quite as complex and a bit sweeter in its drydown. As it settles, a few notes creep out that may be construed as “dirty,” but one might assume much of that claim was included in a PR brief. Either way, it works well.

I think a great way to kick off this blog and test out some of the functions will be to do a photo post.

I love photos of great bottles… the excitement of opening a box with a long anticipated bottle inside. I’ll periodically take some close-up photos of bottles, as well as occasionally do a series of unpacking photos (a la Apple fanatics).

I’ll start with Frederic Malle’s Outrageous! that I purchased last summer during a Barney’s Bag Event (thus the bag full of extras and goodies).