Etat Libre D’Orange The Sex Pistols: Pretty Vacant

Mathilde Bijaoui was the perfumer tapped to create The Sex Pistols and she chose a different path from any of my expectations. Mme. Bijaoui does not go for realism although there is some aspect of the fragrant milieu of the Punk movement. Nor does she try to make some amazingly ground-breaking piece of fragrance although The Sex Pistols does not smell like a lot of other things out there. Those expectations of mine made me have to wear this over and over before I could effectively let go of my pre-conceptions and finally begin to assess The Sex Pistols on its own merits.

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pureDKNY: Turn On The Light

Earlier this year Donna Karan released Iris and I expected this would be similar to the line of Donna Karan Essences. In many ways Iris turned out to be one of the bigger disappointments of the early part of the year for me as it was perhaps the least interesting Donna Karan fragrance release ever. With that as backdrop I wasn’t expecting the new DKNY fragrance, pureDKNY, to be the one I would like more. In fact I had to keep wearing the preview bottle I was sent over and over to convince myself how much I liked pureDKNY.

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By Kilian Love and Tears: Still Life With Jasmine

Jasmine is one of my favorite floral notes. One of the reasons that I enjoy it and the many iterations available in perfumery is the different faces it can show.
For the latest release from By Kilian, Love and Tears; perfumer Calice Becker chose to create a jasmine soliflore.
Love and Tears attempts to use the central note to provide its own contrast as jasmine moves from the greener aspects early on to the cleanly floral aspects by the end.

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Serge Lutens Bas de Soie: Purple Floral Pas de Deux

Bas de Soie is the latest release from Serge Lutens and based on the early information it seemed as this was going to be a continuation of the recent “anti-perfume” theme. It was described as a fragrance focused on two notes that of iris and hyacinth. That pair has also had occasion to leave me cold in the past as both of those floral notes have had a distinct metallic character on my skin. I was expecting an olfactory sword fight when I tried Bas de Soie. Much to my surprise I did find that both of these central notes would do battle but of a lyrical kind akin to a balletic pas de deux. Each has time when they are the only player on stage and then they interact differently and find a lyrical poetic harmony that changes over time on my skin.

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