Don't tell my husband ~ I'm in love with FRANK

FRANK - A name that salutes both heritage and forthrightness. Upfront, distinct and cutting-edge, FRANK/Los Angeles is a boutique fragrance house that keeps with the time honored tradition of artisan, small batch perfume making, smart, minimalist packaging and bold essence combinations. FRANK’s hand-crafted creations are a salute to men (and women) of this age. Okay...I'll admit that I really like this collection of 'guy juice'.

Frank: Notes - grapefruit, ginger root, green tea, bergamot, cassis, angelic seed, clove, sandalwood. The verdict: Masculine, but not to a fault. Woodsy, green, clean and just sweet enough so you won't need to add sugar thanks to the yummy, fruity cassis.

Frank 2: Notes - bergamot, white lavender, coriander, crushed plum leaves, cognac, plum, fir balsam, coffee bean essence, red maplewood, teakwood, white musk.
The verdict: Stronger, sexier and more sophisticated than the original. Way more sillage...reminds me of Christmas incense, although don't look for Santa to be wearing this when he pays you a visit this December!

Frank 3: Notes - cucumber, casaba melon, citrus, lavender, basil, clary sage, oak moss, suede, musk, patchouli. The verdict: This is the perfect fragrance for the 'tween' season of summer to autumn with a jasmine note that makes me weak in the knees followed by the earthiness of fallen leaves in a deep forest.

Available from our friends at Lucky Scent

Satellite of Paris ~ Technicolor fragrance

Satellite of Paris - niche perfume collection has many fragrances for your many moods.

Sandrine Dulon's owner of Satellite of Paris has unique and diversified jewelry creations which are always original. Taking a personal and stylish mix of juvenile imagination, ethological spirit and recollections from her various travels around the world, Sandrine's talent in the fashion and fragrance world is drawing attention. Her quest for a collection of perfect fragrances draws upon her experience as a traveler to exotic destinations replicating the scent of secret gardens from around the world.

The highlight of sampling these fragrances was unquestionably Padparadscha, named for the the extremely rare glowing pink and orange sapphires of Burma. Opening with an earthy blast of black pepper, this fragrance meanders and takes several detours before it gets down to business and lets the sandalwood and musk bask in the limelight. Elusive to describe it's easier to tell you it's like a walk in a deep Evergreen forest as pine needles snap under foot releasing a resinous cedar/incense aroma. Longevity wise it was about six hours for me and I would recommend Padparadscha while wearing a silk dressing gown and sharing a glass of Shiraz as prelude to a very romantic encounter. Definitely not for the office unless you are a confident power-broker type who loves throwing caution to the wind.

Available at Lucky Scent.

Andy Tauer's Bottle on a Journey ~ Hyacinths and a Mechanic

Andy Tauer is on a mission and his newest fragrance (in testing) Hyacinths and a Mechanic is on a journey around the world to perfumistas who will provide input on this complex and contradictory scent!

While this photo was not my initial vision of Hyacinths and a Mechanic it clearly demonstrates that opposing fragrance notes can be a delightful surprise! According to Andy, "It is a floral scent, a bouquet of powdery lilacs, green hyacinths and gentle lily of the valley. A bouquet of May flowers in the hand of a mechanic with an undertone of oily skin."

Having read the earlier reviews of this perfume, I knew it would not be prudent to spritz Hyacinths and a Mechanic with abandonment, so I tenderly rubbed the residue from Raphaella's test spray onto my wrists. This was at precisely 7:20 pm. I thought, "Oh no, this could be a migraine just waiting to happen." The 'oil' note was quite pronounced and just about caused me to run to the sink and grab the lemon scented Joy dish washing detergent, but I thought I should be fair to Andy, whom I adore.

After waited the obligatory 8-10 minutes before I sniffed again, the powerfully strong oil note was still definitely present, but the florals were beginning to debut. At about 7:45, there was an incredible soft, powdery floral bouquet that emerged as totally hypnotic and captivatingly sensual and was taking over the party. Nose to wrist; nose to wrist, over and over! I had become a slave to the Bottle Journey adventure!

The oil note clung with a fierce tenacity and took a good hour to dry down to the creamy mature Hyacinth and her little Lilac sister. Checking again at 9:00 the oil note for me was returning??? How could this be? Now this took me by surprise but then, we're dealing with Andy Tauer and he is a genius at creating complex fragrances, right? What I'll now share is the honest truth: at 6:00 am the next morning....I'm still feeling the love of the perfume, so that would mean that this fragrance could last almost 12 hours with a single drop. Andy, this is some mighty strong stuff.

The Verdict: This is a wonderfully complex fragrance that does become more 'wearable' as the hours go by, but I'm unsure of owning a perfume that I could not spray with abandonment. This is one of those scents, that if I choose to wear it, I'd have to get up an hour earlier than normal to begin my routine so the oily note could have dissipated enough that my peers wouldn't think I just completed an oil change on my Nissan. Now Andy, if you could just make a version sans oil? I'd be your raving fan for life!

Visit Andy Tauer to learn more about the bottle journey of Hyacinths and a Mechanic.

Photo courtesy of Raphaella Brescia and Kathy Patterson of Sniffapalooza Magazine.

Because life has no boundaries

you'll need your VISA. Relaunched, rebalanced and released with a modern radiance and a retro glamor. Originally launched in 1945, Robert Piguet's classic oriental fragrance re introduced in the signature sleek black glass flacon is richly accented in gold.

A blend of spices, flowers and fruits from different areas of the globe, Visa Robert Piguet is perfume lovers passport to an exotic encounter. Visa opens with lush notes of white vineyard peach, pear, violet leaves and Italian bergamot and yellow mandarin essences. Mid notes include rich ylang essence mingled with rose, orange flower absolutes and immortelle. Osmoz.com says “essence of immortelle gives chypre, floral and amber compositions a particular charisma” and characterizes the smell as “red fruit, syrupy, nut, honey-flavored, tobacco.” Indonesian Patchouli and sandalwood, vetiver, moss, vanilla beans, benzoin and a gourmand leathery accord compose the drydown.

Describing the redesigned Visa, the peachy-floral impression that unfolds for a while is a high point of the perfume that is unmistakingly sophisticated and reminds new users of the cosmopolitan world traveler theme.

The press release reminds new users of the original cosmopolitan travel theme for the perfume.

"A sophisticated woman travels the world but never gets lost in the crowd. Her signature fragrance is reminiscent of all the places she visits and sights she sees."

Visa is scheduled to be launched in October and will be sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Le Bon Marché in Paris and at Harvey Nichols in London.

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