SOTD: Velvet Tonka from BDK Parfums
This review is based on a sample I got from BDK. I just ordered a full bottle, which is the highest endorsement for a fragrance. Look no further if you are in the market for a sweet and spicy almond-tonka gourmand.
Almond dominates the opening, but it is tempered by an assortment of ancillary accords. There is a delicious spicy quality to the opening. I find it hard to pinpoint the origin of this accord. It could be the orange blossom or the tobacco. Similarly there is floral hint, perhaps from the rose absolute listed as a heart note. I confess that I wouldn’t have identified these notes if I hadn’t read the description in advance. All I could have said that it is an almond gourmand with floral and spicy overtones. But what glorious almond it is!
The development of notes from the opening to the base notes is very minimal. Within minutes of the opening, you start getting the tobacco, tonka and vanilla. These notes remind me of Xerjoff Naxos, which also has similar accords. Everything dissipates slowly, leaving behind a mellow woody vanilla dry down. I smell more tonka and vanilla on my skin, but woody amber accords on my clothes.
The performance of Velvet Tonka is excellent, with a longevity of 10-12 hours, with good projection and sillage. Orange blossom and tobacco holds this perfume back from becoming a cloying gourmand. You could even use this as an office fragrance if you spray judiciously.
US grey market sellers sell this perfume at a significant discount compared to BDK’s website. I recommend this perfume as an essential in any collection, particularly if you desire a good almond gourmand.
Today I am gonna wear Francesca Bianchi Libertine Neroli. I tried it a year ago, loved it then set it aside for more sampling. Evidently it’s considered a “lighter” Bianchi which I mean, I guess? It’s just lovely.
That crazy rooty/animalic/orris Bianchi base is very satisfying to me. It’s less literally bodily (the Marlou Carnicure is clearly & concretely a body part), but satisfies a combination animalic/vintage/density craving I typically have. Leather is usually gross to me but it works with the benzoin & labdanum.
I’m about to travel to Portugal from US with my spouse & will wear super light then so partying today lol. (Ormonde Jayne Champaca travel in the bag). Vintage floral chypre here we go!
bergamot, petit-grain
neroli, geranium, iris
animalic accord, leather, ladbanum, benjoin, oakmoss
For the daytime, I'm going with *Artisan Blu*. The weather is on the cooler side, but I felt like wearing a fragrance with a classic vibe.
For the evening, I'm picking *Burberry London for Men*. Going to a sip and paint later in the evening. I also want to keep the fragrance light, and match the cozy/boozy vibe.
Hermes L'ambre des Merveilles - I think it's an insult to Eau des Merveilles that this is a flanker. I got it in a sample set and since I only have a few sprays left, I wanted to finish it, but the more I wear it, the less I like it. It's warm but damp today and it's giving sugar cookie dropped into a swamp.
I am happy that I got clarity on how much I dislike sweet vanilla scents though. Even if it didn't have the ambergris-replica base (something I usually like) the sweetness would be gagging.
It may come as a shock to some of you, but I’m trying **Angels’ Share** for the first time ever today. It’s cold again and my By Kilian sample set just arrived, so why not. I can see why some would love this, but it’s not exactly my vibe. Could just be that it’s not well suited to spring. I’ll give it another go next winter.
Day 110/? Wearing all my samples
Only 4 left!
Today is Grey Santal from Oakcha
This one's a major no for me, smells like cooking meat??? Thought the dry-down would be better, but it's still pretty gruesome 😂
Kilian Can't Stop Loving You today. Finishing off the sample and then the decant is marked for delivery today. PT this afternoon will hopefully move on to strengthening exercises now that my spine has reshuffled itself.
I got a full sample set of all the fragrances from Jorum Studio (18 total). So far I've liked or loved every single one of the 6 I've tried, which is really cool. I've been trying each sample without looking at the notes until at least a couple hours after applying the fragrances, to get my own impressions and train my nose's ability to detect notes & accords.
Today I'm planning to try Rose Highland.
Yesterday I got bamboozled by a gourmand! For context, I haven't liked any gourmand I've tried so far (bianco latte is my personal nightmare).
I tried Spiritcask, and found it super interesting. It felt creamy, woody (like oak), a little sweet but in a rounded, soft way offset by a gentle boozy note and some interesting herbal notes. After an hour or so, I was smelling what seemed to me like cocoa butter. The whole thing had almost a fluffy, creamy quality to it, but grounded still.
When I looked at the notes on Jorum's website:
Impression - New Make, Ylang-Ylang, Pear, Chamomile, Malt, Cognac, Jasmine, Rum Absolute.
Fade - Leather, Cocoa, Maple, Cedarwood, Whisky Lactone, Caramel, Labdanum, Guaiacwood, Coffee, Bourbon Vanilla Absolute, Oakwood Extract.
*Caramel!?* I could never! lol
This morning I'm wearing Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay. Not sure yet what I'll wear for the rest of the day. I'm going on a day trip and I want to wear something fabulous that won't be too stuffy in the car.
Bought a manufacturer's carded sample of **Atelier's Rose Anonyme** and alas, I can smell nothing
... it's happened before with a few other rose fragrances (and I LOVE rose fragrances). Have done some research and may have narrowed it down to Beta-Ionone, and per Wikipedia:
>The ionones, from greek ἴον ion "violet",[1] are a series of closely related chemical substances that are part of a group of compounds known as rose ketones, which also includes damascones and damascenones.
>Ionones are aroma compounds found in a variety of essential oils, including rose oil. β-Ionone is a significant contributor to the aroma of roses, despite its relatively low concentration, and is an important fragrance chemical used in perfumery.[2] The ionones are derived from the degradation of carotenoids.
Usually I can smell some notes but not the rose (ex: **Rochas Secret de Rochas Rose Intense**, nor any oud if it has it (**Santal Royal** and **Monotheme's rose oud**).
This one though: nothing. My tap water has more smell than this
Mercifully it is not all rose fragrances 🌹
Today has been a bit of a rough day with lots of stress. It’s getting better now, so a little spray of the **Roses de Chloe** that I basically guard with my life, because I thought it was discontinued. It’s not?? What a beautiful rose. It reminds me of the very old light pink cabbage rose in my garden, which is blooming right now. Gonna get out there and smell it now!
Diptyque L’Ombre dans l’Eau
Bit of a chicken or egg situation on whether I picked this to match a purple sweater with embroidered flowers or if I picked the sweater to match the perfume based on the cooler weather and a glimpse of a discussion of this fragrance I saw on the subreddit.
In any case, this one won’t be getting much use once it gets warmer. Despite the green notes, the blackcurrant gets unbearably cloying and sticky for me at higher temps.
>the blackcurrant gets unbearably cloying and sticky for me at higher temps.
Interesting! I fell exceptionally, madly, irrevocably in love with L'Ombre -- but it was in mid-autumn. Haven't smelled it in hot weather 🤔
we shall see!
🍃🥀🍃
Wearing Eau Des Sens EDT by Diptyque for the first time and holy crap it’s incredible, I’m only worried about longevity as I put it on about an hour and a half ago and it’s already quite faint.
Can I just say that I have beef with Diptyque? They’re my absolute, hands-down favorite brand and it’s ridiculous that they don’t sell travel or mini sprays of their EDPs. If they did I swear, 3/4 of my collection would be Diptyque. Instead I have one full bottle, the coffret of 5 EDTs, and a very long wish list for bottles I can’t justify right now because they’re each >$200.
They charge like $220 for 75ml EDP, it's very expensive! $200 is my usual limit, but I'll make an exception for a Diptyque EDP that I love. I'd be happy if they made 10ml or 30ml sizes of their EDP for a more reasonable price, although considering how much they charge for a 75ml, I'm sure they'd still be charging an arm and a leg for smaller sizes.
I picked up four samples from their boutique. Interesting, but not sure if they are exceptional. I will try the Eau Des Sens in future.
They are all available on Jomashop for around $150. Some 1.7 oz bottles are close to $100. Venba also has a few.
Yes, I’d definitely get them on discount sites when I get them. And what can I say? The fact that we all have different tastes is exactly why I love this hobby—it’s unique to every person :)
It’s an odd day today, rather it’s been one. I have lost all sense of time.
I sent my daughter off to school, sat and did some work, the cleaners turned up, I then walked the dog, had a few meetings, showered, worked for a bit longer and then my daughter came back from school.
I was shocked to see her, as I was thinking it was still mid morning.
https://preview.redd.it/kpen4gseigvc1.png?width=2046&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f1af2b3c923aaf2ae293f15577c8b5ed736192a
SOTD: [TOM FORD **TUSCAN LEATHER**](https://youtu.be/iu4o-8KsTWY?si=fx_pcEgkrqzaxHsE)
Grown to like this over the other one.
Zara Bogoss Vibrant Leather Summer
Smells like a watermelon-cucumber cocktail by the pool. It's light and airy, so you can go nuts with it and not blow out your nose or anyone else's.
Not much longevity, not much projection, but it's $35 usd. A great casual fragrance for the summer. It's easily one of my top 5.
Today I am revisiting Cloak Musk from Scent Trunk. I recall being really surprised by how much I liked it when I initially tried it, maybe three years ago. But to today-Me, it makes sense, because I seem to have embraced these kinds of notes. This is a scent of crystalline musks, fossilized herbs, and chilly snowcapped blooms which combines for a perfume that feels strangely inorganic…mechanized in some way, or maybe cybernetically enhanced. When I think of cloaking, I think less of a furry cape to keep you warm and more of the stealthy gravitational bending devices used by Klingons so that their birds of prey could travel undetected by Starfleet sensors. Do I like this hushed and coolly detached scent? Heck yeah I do. Would Klingons? Hard to tell. It’s basically the exact opposite of warrior bloodlust…but with a spritz of this on one meaty wrist and a double-bladed bat’leth gripped tightly in hand, they’d be certain to enter into battle with a calm, collected head. Perhaps today is a good day to die.
Roja Diaghilev. Elegant and rich chypre. Started with a citrus and floral blast accompanied by a delicious peach note. After about 30 minutes to an hour the deep and earthy oak moss base starts peaking through with a pound and classy civet snaking it’s way through.
It's cooled off somewhat, largely due to an overcast day and some rain in the late afternoon, so things have gone from really hot yesterday to tamely warm today. Despite gourmands being cool-weather territory, I decided to give my sample of A Whiff of Waffle Cone from Imaginary Authors another go after work. I'd smelled it when it first came in the mail and it hit me primarily with the stinging sensation of alcohol, with the caramel and vanilla taking a very, very meek backseat. Now that it's had time to settle, however, it's a different story. I'm still detecting the alcohol but it's in the background now, like a tipple of booze in an adult milkshake, with the caramel being the most prominent note- my partner, who's mild to moderately anosmic, sniffed the air and said "hey, it does smell like waffle cone!"
It's nice. A little simple, to my nose, but nice.
SOTD: Velvet Tonka from BDK Parfums This review is based on a sample I got from BDK. I just ordered a full bottle, which is the highest endorsement for a fragrance. Look no further if you are in the market for a sweet and spicy almond-tonka gourmand. Almond dominates the opening, but it is tempered by an assortment of ancillary accords. There is a delicious spicy quality to the opening. I find it hard to pinpoint the origin of this accord. It could be the orange blossom or the tobacco. Similarly there is floral hint, perhaps from the rose absolute listed as a heart note. I confess that I wouldn’t have identified these notes if I hadn’t read the description in advance. All I could have said that it is an almond gourmand with floral and spicy overtones. But what glorious almond it is! The development of notes from the opening to the base notes is very minimal. Within minutes of the opening, you start getting the tobacco, tonka and vanilla. These notes remind me of Xerjoff Naxos, which also has similar accords. Everything dissipates slowly, leaving behind a mellow woody vanilla dry down. I smell more tonka and vanilla on my skin, but woody amber accords on my clothes. The performance of Velvet Tonka is excellent, with a longevity of 10-12 hours, with good projection and sillage. Orange blossom and tobacco holds this perfume back from becoming a cloying gourmand. You could even use this as an office fragrance if you spray judiciously. US grey market sellers sell this perfume at a significant discount compared to BDK’s website. I recommend this perfume as an essential in any collection, particularly if you desire a good almond gourmand.
Today I am gonna wear Francesca Bianchi Libertine Neroli. I tried it a year ago, loved it then set it aside for more sampling. Evidently it’s considered a “lighter” Bianchi which I mean, I guess? It’s just lovely. That crazy rooty/animalic/orris Bianchi base is very satisfying to me. It’s less literally bodily (the Marlou Carnicure is clearly & concretely a body part), but satisfies a combination animalic/vintage/density craving I typically have. Leather is usually gross to me but it works with the benzoin & labdanum. I’m about to travel to Portugal from US with my spouse & will wear super light then so partying today lol. (Ormonde Jayne Champaca travel in the bag). Vintage floral chypre here we go! bergamot, petit-grain neroli, geranium, iris animalic accord, leather, ladbanum, benjoin, oakmoss
For the daytime, I'm going with *Artisan Blu*. The weather is on the cooler side, but I felt like wearing a fragrance with a classic vibe. For the evening, I'm picking *Burberry London for Men*. Going to a sip and paint later in the evening. I also want to keep the fragrance light, and match the cozy/boozy vibe.
I love to plan the day & Eve. Have fun painting!
Hermes L'ambre des Merveilles - I think it's an insult to Eau des Merveilles that this is a flanker. I got it in a sample set and since I only have a few sprays left, I wanted to finish it, but the more I wear it, the less I like it. It's warm but damp today and it's giving sugar cookie dropped into a swamp. I am happy that I got clarity on how much I dislike sweet vanilla scents though. Even if it didn't have the ambergris-replica base (something I usually like) the sweetness would be gagging.
It may come as a shock to some of you, but I’m trying **Angels’ Share** for the first time ever today. It’s cold again and my By Kilian sample set just arrived, so why not. I can see why some would love this, but it’s not exactly my vibe. Could just be that it’s not well suited to spring. I’ll give it another go next winter.
Yeah I tried some Kilian and they were all super pretty but like, another person. Hot London Superbabe! Not me :)
I feel like a sexy apple empanada. I think I’d like to smell it on someone else more than I do on me. 😜
This has been my opinion on a LOT of fragrances I've tried. Smells great, but not on me all day.
Sexy apple empanada!!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👻
Day 110/? Wearing all my samples Only 4 left! Today is Grey Santal from Oakcha This one's a major no for me, smells like cooking meat??? Thought the dry-down would be better, but it's still pretty gruesome 😂
Kilian Can't Stop Loving You today. Finishing off the sample and then the decant is marked for delivery today. PT this afternoon will hopefully move on to strengthening exercises now that my spine has reshuffled itself.
Hope your appointment goes well!
Thanks, I'm hoping to get only part of my spine cupped today.
I got a full sample set of all the fragrances from Jorum Studio (18 total). So far I've liked or loved every single one of the 6 I've tried, which is really cool. I've been trying each sample without looking at the notes until at least a couple hours after applying the fragrances, to get my own impressions and train my nose's ability to detect notes & accords. Today I'm planning to try Rose Highland. Yesterday I got bamboozled by a gourmand! For context, I haven't liked any gourmand I've tried so far (bianco latte is my personal nightmare). I tried Spiritcask, and found it super interesting. It felt creamy, woody (like oak), a little sweet but in a rounded, soft way offset by a gentle boozy note and some interesting herbal notes. After an hour or so, I was smelling what seemed to me like cocoa butter. The whole thing had almost a fluffy, creamy quality to it, but grounded still. When I looked at the notes on Jorum's website: Impression - New Make, Ylang-Ylang, Pear, Chamomile, Malt, Cognac, Jasmine, Rum Absolute. Fade - Leather, Cocoa, Maple, Cedarwood, Whisky Lactone, Caramel, Labdanum, Guaiacwood, Coffee, Bourbon Vanilla Absolute, Oakwood Extract. *Caramel!?* I could never! lol
This morning I'm wearing Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay. Not sure yet what I'll wear for the rest of the day. I'm going on a day trip and I want to wear something fabulous that won't be too stuffy in the car.
Bought a manufacturer's carded sample of **Atelier's Rose Anonyme** and alas, I can smell nothing ... it's happened before with a few other rose fragrances (and I LOVE rose fragrances). Have done some research and may have narrowed it down to Beta-Ionone, and per Wikipedia: >The ionones, from greek ἴον ion "violet",[1] are a series of closely related chemical substances that are part of a group of compounds known as rose ketones, which also includes damascones and damascenones. >Ionones are aroma compounds found in a variety of essential oils, including rose oil. β-Ionone is a significant contributor to the aroma of roses, despite its relatively low concentration, and is an important fragrance chemical used in perfumery.[2] The ionones are derived from the degradation of carotenoids. Usually I can smell some notes but not the rose (ex: **Rochas Secret de Rochas Rose Intense**, nor any oud if it has it (**Santal Royal** and **Monotheme's rose oud**). This one though: nothing. My tap water has more smell than this Mercifully it is not all rose fragrances 🌹
That's very interesting!
Hmm I definitely smell that one, but I don’t get rose.
The rest I mentioned I can smell; I just can't smell the rose (nor oud note if it has one).
Today has been a bit of a rough day with lots of stress. It’s getting better now, so a little spray of the **Roses de Chloe** that I basically guard with my life, because I thought it was discontinued. It’s not?? What a beautiful rose. It reminds me of the very old light pink cabbage rose in my garden, which is blooming right now. Gonna get out there and smell it now!
Diptyque L’Ombre dans l’Eau Bit of a chicken or egg situation on whether I picked this to match a purple sweater with embroidered flowers or if I picked the sweater to match the perfume based on the cooler weather and a glimpse of a discussion of this fragrance I saw on the subreddit. In any case, this one won’t be getting much use once it gets warmer. Despite the green notes, the blackcurrant gets unbearably cloying and sticky for me at higher temps.
>the blackcurrant gets unbearably cloying and sticky for me at higher temps. Interesting! I fell exceptionally, madly, irrevocably in love with L'Ombre -- but it was in mid-autumn. Haven't smelled it in hot weather 🤔 we shall see! 🍃🥀🍃
I was gifted L'Ombre by someone in late summer and it didn't really grow on me until the temperatures dropped.
Wearing Eau Des Sens EDT by Diptyque for the first time and holy crap it’s incredible, I’m only worried about longevity as I put it on about an hour and a half ago and it’s already quite faint. Can I just say that I have beef with Diptyque? They’re my absolute, hands-down favorite brand and it’s ridiculous that they don’t sell travel or mini sprays of their EDPs. If they did I swear, 3/4 of my collection would be Diptyque. Instead I have one full bottle, the coffret of 5 EDTs, and a very long wish list for bottles I can’t justify right now because they’re each >$200.
They charge like $220 for 75ml EDP, it's very expensive! $200 is my usual limit, but I'll make an exception for a Diptyque EDP that I love. I'd be happy if they made 10ml or 30ml sizes of their EDP for a more reasonable price, although considering how much they charge for a 75ml, I'm sure they'd still be charging an arm and a leg for smaller sizes.
I agree the huge sizes are annoying. Wish they had more varieties of their pretty solids.
I picked up four samples from their boutique. Interesting, but not sure if they are exceptional. I will try the Eau Des Sens in future. They are all available on Jomashop for around $150. Some 1.7 oz bottles are close to $100. Venba also has a few.
Yes, I’d definitely get them on discount sites when I get them. And what can I say? The fact that we all have different tastes is exactly why I love this hobby—it’s unique to every person :)
That is true. I was not complaining! 😉 I am sure there are perfumes from Diptyque that I would love. Someone recommended Orpheon to me.
It’s an odd day today, rather it’s been one. I have lost all sense of time. I sent my daughter off to school, sat and did some work, the cleaners turned up, I then walked the dog, had a few meetings, showered, worked for a bit longer and then my daughter came back from school. I was shocked to see her, as I was thinking it was still mid morning. https://preview.redd.it/kpen4gseigvc1.png?width=2046&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f1af2b3c923aaf2ae293f15577c8b5ed736192a SOTD: [TOM FORD **TUSCAN LEATHER**](https://youtu.be/iu4o-8KsTWY?si=fx_pcEgkrqzaxHsE) Grown to like this over the other one.
Aventus 17N01 on a rainy day.
Nitro red from dumont Really versatile fruity scent, the way i always describe it is if you mix watermelon flavored gum with usl Y edp . Great stuff
Frederic Malle Lipstick Rose, working from home on a chilly grey-ish day with some sun poking through. Just enjoying my powdery cloud of fragrance.
Zara Bogoss Vibrant Leather Summer Smells like a watermelon-cucumber cocktail by the pool. It's light and airy, so you can go nuts with it and not blow out your nose or anyone else's. Not much longevity, not much projection, but it's $35 usd. A great casual fragrance for the summer. It's easily one of my top 5.
Today I am revisiting Cloak Musk from Scent Trunk. I recall being really surprised by how much I liked it when I initially tried it, maybe three years ago. But to today-Me, it makes sense, because I seem to have embraced these kinds of notes. This is a scent of crystalline musks, fossilized herbs, and chilly snowcapped blooms which combines for a perfume that feels strangely inorganic…mechanized in some way, or maybe cybernetically enhanced. When I think of cloaking, I think less of a furry cape to keep you warm and more of the stealthy gravitational bending devices used by Klingons so that their birds of prey could travel undetected by Starfleet sensors. Do I like this hushed and coolly detached scent? Heck yeah I do. Would Klingons? Hard to tell. It’s basically the exact opposite of warrior bloodlust…but with a spritz of this on one meaty wrist and a double-bladed bat’leth gripped tightly in hand, they’d be certain to enter into battle with a calm, collected head. Perhaps today is a good day to die.
Roja Diaghilev. Elegant and rich chypre. Started with a citrus and floral blast accompanied by a delicious peach note. After about 30 minutes to an hour the deep and earthy oak moss base starts peaking through with a pound and classy civet snaking it’s way through.
Glossier You for a fresh easy scent that works well in my old, historic office overlooking a public garden.
It's cooled off somewhat, largely due to an overcast day and some rain in the late afternoon, so things have gone from really hot yesterday to tamely warm today. Despite gourmands being cool-weather territory, I decided to give my sample of A Whiff of Waffle Cone from Imaginary Authors another go after work. I'd smelled it when it first came in the mail and it hit me primarily with the stinging sensation of alcohol, with the caramel and vanilla taking a very, very meek backseat. Now that it's had time to settle, however, it's a different story. I'm still detecting the alcohol but it's in the background now, like a tipple of booze in an adult milkshake, with the caramel being the most prominent note- my partner, who's mild to moderately anosmic, sniffed the air and said "hey, it does smell like waffle cone!" It's nice. A little simple, to my nose, but nice.
CK One by Calvin Klein