HS3

Pure Oud by By Kilian. It’s expensive. The bottle’s gorgeous. I have no idea the cost of the actual formula. I want it.
It’s fabulous – it is the most natural, smoothest oud centric scent I’ve tried. I don’t know if that means it is any more or less authentic than other oud scents, but I do know that it’s wonderful. It has magnificent staying power as well. Just a few swipes on my hand and 7 hours later, it’s still going strong. It’s a silky smooth oud trip with touches of scratchy spice here and there to help out. I doubt I’ll buy it in its standard packaging, but the much better $/ml of the 100ml refill is much more appealing. Check out Pure Oud at Luckyscent.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Passage d’Enfer. Passage from Hell. It’s one of my top 5 or 6 Artisans. It’s loaded with a light, shimmering white incense and a great, dry frankincense, all smoothed with just a bit a clean musk. Does it have a slight touch of what seems like bug spray? Sure. It might. That part is not totally unlike the same experience you’ll get with Kyoto by Comme des Garcons. It’s a good bit “lighter” and vastly easier to wear though. When the GF wears it, it’s so unique on her that I sometimes don’t even recognize it and have to ask what she’s wearing. I’d recommend trying this one, but it needs to be sprayed fully rather than just dabbed to get the whole experience. This is also one of the few incense based scents that’s great in all temperatures (and also great to people new to incense scents).

Oh, and I buckled. I ordered the great pyramid Comme des Garcons LUXE Patchouli bottle from Luckyscent. I really need to buy a new digital camera so I can start putting more pics on here (and the GF’s cybershot doesn’t quite cut it ).

Ok, I’ve given Back to Black another chance – I applied it again, and more this time. I’m no longer getting the disagreeable honey note that reminded me of Miel de Bois (thankfully!) and the top and heart is carrying through much better. I think it’s going to deserve some more attention from me – it’s only begun its courtship.

I got the email from LuckyScent saying they had Back to Black in stock and within minutes, I was on the site to order a sample. I had high hopes for it – I wanted to like it. I’d enjoyed Calice Becker’s previous work with By Kilian, so I was set. I got the samples I’d ordered a few days later and dumped them all out on the table, excited to try all the new goodies.

I sniffed the Back to Black directly from the stick and immediately thought “wow, this is going to be good.” I put a bit on the back of my hand and looked forward to what would come of it. It opened with a jammy berry note, almost so tart and pungent that it could tingle your glands. It then transitioned into a wonderful almond woody note, sweetened by vanilla and honey with a touch of warm patchouli. All seemed to be going well. A good while later into the dry down, the honey started to come out a bit more than I was hoping. It was similar to the honey note in the base of Miel de Bois by Serge Lutens. Not good. Hours later, all that was left was the pulsing honey note, all too close to the smell of a well-used port-a-potty on a hot day. Honey isn’t listed as one of the notes and the Kilian website isn’t updated yet, but it seems like a number of people are getting a big honeyed tobacco note pretty strongly.

I’m going to revisit it in hopes that it was a fluke – perhaps applying it by swiping didn’t let it develop the way it needed to.

Longevity and projection are both huge – just from the bit I had on my hand, I was getting wafts of it all afternoon. Also, from that same little bit on my hand, I could still smell it the next morning and still traces after showering.

I’ll try again soon.

Notes from Luckyscent:
Bergamot, raspberry, blue chamomile, cardamom, coriander, saffron, cedarwood, vanilla, almond, vetiver, cistus labdanum, patchouli, oakmoss.