My wife and I went there as part of a Sunday trip to the Galleria – I almost certainly would have purchased something, as I had done many times before. We were looking at the Amouage and ELdO fragrances and I mentioned to my wife that I would love to have the perfume coffee table book they had on the shelf for Christmas. She pulled out her phone to snap a picture of it so she’d be able to come back and get the right book. The brunette lady behind the counter boldly shouted at her “EXCUSE ME, what do you think you’re doing?” When my wife tried to explain, she snapped back that she couldn’t take a picture of anything without their expressed permission. When I tried to stop the lady from getting nastier to my wife, she condescendingly snapped at me that people like THEM don’t do such rude things. Really? Taking a picture so she could buy me a Christmas gift? How rude, huh? I understand that they might not want people taking pictures of their display (the lady tried to say that we could be competitors looking at display ideas), but a simple polite question would go miles further than angrily shouting across the store.

I told her that they had lost long-time customers and a considerable amount of money (I’d spent hundreds of dollars there before and certainly would have continued), then the owner chimed in with “Well, now you’ll have a picture to remember us by.” He had the chance to rectify the situation and apologize, but he just continued down the hostile road the other lady had taken and we left the store.

I am still blown away at how rude they were and how they treated us. There are plenty of other places to get the same items, but with much less hostility and pretentiousness. I’ve never encountered such nastiness from a small retail shop employee, much less the owner himself.

I’ll certainly let the owners of the small niche fragrance companies they stock know about the caliber of this shop selling their products, as it reflects poorly on their brands as well.

Sorry all! Be back before too long!

You can find a really great, in-depth narrative around the creation and background of the scent here [Behind the Scene - The Smell of the Landscape].

This is from the accompanying papers:

This perfume is the product of a search to find the essence of the Mastenbroek polder – the essential elements that Mastenbroek what it is.

Situated between Zwolle, Hasselt and Genemuiden, Mastenbroek stems from the late Middle Ages and is an archetypal Dutch polder. Straight, narrow roads dissect the low-lying countryside; irrigation ditches reflect the perpetually fluctuating sky; farms sitting atop elevated knolls unfold into the horizon.

Mastenbroek’s residents, primarily cattle farmers who have lived and worked in this polder for generations, actively partook in the Essence club and eventually determined the aromas and scents that make up L’Essence de Mastenbroek.

Located on the polder’s periphery, near the old steam pumping station, is the Essence source. It is here where the bottles are filled, and packaged and where you can refill your empty bottle.

It goes on to tell more about the steam pumping station and directions, etc. One thing I got a kick out of was the additional blurb and “ingredients” listed on a stuck-on amendment at the back of the paper:

This perfume is part of the art project L’Essence de Mastenbroek and has not been dermatologically tested.

Ingredients: Scent extracts, clouds, water, cattle, grass and earth.

Gee, I hope I’m not allergic to real bits of cattle.

Get comfortable – there are bunch of shots here.

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I’ve been trying to tidy up my collection over the past couple weeks and I realized that there were still whole boxes of samples that still hadn’t even been opened since I moved. As I’m filing things away to where they need to be, I thought I’d give away some samples, rather than just letting them sit. Nearly all of these are fragrances I loved and ended up purchasing bottles (I’ve topped them back off so you can enjoy fully), with the exception of a couple carded samples that have been tossed into purchases before.

Leave a comment before June 8th, and I’ll use random.org to pick the winner. Be sure to include your email to contact (only visible to me).

Here’s what we’ve got in the little grab bag.
Amouage – Epic Man
Amouage – Lyric Man
L’Artisan Parfumeur – Voleur de Roses
Bois 1920 – 1920 Extreme
Bond No. 9 – H.O.T. Always
Bond No. 9 – Saks Fifth Avenue for Her
By Kilian – Back to Black
Comme des Garcons – Vettiveru
Dior – Ambre Nuit
Estee Lauder – Sensuous
Etro – Raving
Floris – Santal
Jo Malone – Black Vetiver Café
Jo Malone – Orange Blossom Cologne
Kiehl’s – Original Musk
Montale – Red Aoud
Montale – Red Vetyver
Il Profumo – Chocolat
Nasomatto – Black Afghano
Versace – Bright Crystal
Versace – Versense

I think NowSmellThis summed it up perfectly:

Esprit de Cuir smells like it looks in its glass sample vial: sweet, warm, thick, and golden. Imagine motor oil laced with honey, a pinch of clove, and a few drops of birch tar, and you’ve got Esprit de Cuir once the faint hint of citron dissolves.

The bottle and packaging were actually a bit of a let down for me. While the bottle is beautiful, it’s certainly not hand painted entirely, but maybe just some details here and there. The box it came in had the quality of a box you’d get with snap cracker fireworks. While the idea of the cork is novel and romantic, it’s certainly not going to keep the bottle sealed – I tried using it for a couple days and it was actually wicking the contents out and the cork was actually wet (but never touching the liquid). I ended up opting for keeping the plastic seal it was shipped with in and that seems to work just fine. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still quite lovely and I’m more than pleased. And the contents are what matters anyways!

Here are some shots of the porcelain bottle from Auguste:

Odin 03 Century – Beautifully blended. For the initiated, you won’t think it’s anything new and certainly relatively. For what it is though, it’s really quite nice. The cypress peeks through nicely, and the musk and amber in the base sweeten it just enough. It does have some unique elements here and there, but ultimately, you’ve got a mild-mannered woody amber with a hint of patchouli to give it some punch. Century is not in-your-face, but seems to have pretty surprising longevity.

*UPDATE* Century has killer longevity – 12 hours and a shower later and I can still smell the musk aromachemicals on my hand!

Odin 01 Nomad – This one holds my interest a bit more than Century. The initial blast has a cleaning supply vibe, but not in a bad way; it’s probably the juniper in the head. That passes within a minute or two and it turns into a tart, creamy cedar. It settles quickly into another variation of the sweetened woody base, this time with tonka instead of amber. The bright tartness (perhaps the bergamot?) hangs around for a while giving a bit of interest. There’s something floral to me as well, but I might just imagining it. Nomad doesn’t have much more tenacity than Century.

Odin 02 Owari – A blast of mandarin with a realistic grapefruit right out of the gate. It’s not the kind of grapefruit I usually loathe, but like freshly torn peel and tart spray. It fades into the heart soon after and a great neroli plays center stage. It’s supported by a slightly sweet base (seems to be a trend here). I can see some resemblance at times to Diptyque’s Eau de Neroli.

Owari seems like something I’d love in warmer months, but I’ve got a stockpile of great neroli scents, so it would have to blow me away to get my wallet out. Century would be nice for someone looking for a safe, woody amber who doesn’t have any of the genre. Nomad is the only of the three that I could imagine for me – it’s nothing daring, but it’s a great, close-wearing scent with decent longevity that would be perfect for office wear. The bergamot, juniper, and sandalwood are a really pleasing combination.