Kenzo Amour (EDP)

Reason eleventy seven why Sephora isn't doing a great service even for the brands sold there: I've tried Kenzo Amour countless of times at the store and all I got was cherry syrup. All the more subtle notes and nuances got lost in the Pink Sugar-Kim Kardashian saturated air.

The opening of Kenzo Amour is, indeed, very sweet (and that's coming from me, wearer of vanilla, immortelle and most honey perfumes known to men), but doesn't stay this way for too long, and things improve considerably, especially if one bothers giving it a generous spritz on actual skin and lives with it for a while. It becomes clear that there's a mellow wood note there, some delicate and quite sheer flowers- cherry blossom and frangipani, which aren't always my thing but in this case they're really appropriate and never become carnivorous (am I showing my pretty-flower phobia yet?).

The dry-down is all rice pudding. It's not as far out there as Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant, which explains why Amour eau de parfum is a popular fragrance while the poor Elephant has only a cult of rabid fans. On the plus side, Amour is hardly ever inappropriate and doesn't require planning ahead to wearing it. Yes, it's a gourmand, a comfort scent (the rice steam note is gorgeous) and vanilla-haters will not change teams upon testing this perfume. But it's not as low-brow as so many others in this genre and price level and above all, Kenzo Amour is pretty and friendly, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The success of the original  spawned a sequel, Kenzo Amour Indian Holi, an extrait version- Kenzo Amour Le Parfum and a flanker, Kenzo Amour Florale. I haven't tried any of them, but now I sort of suspect I should give the first two a fair chance.

Kenzo Amour ($56, 1oz EDP) is available from Sephora and many department stores.

2006 ad: masalachai.web.surftown.se

The Lost Perfumes: Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant and Le Tigre

This review takes us back to a time when mainstream perfumes still could have an edge that wouldn't pass a focus group's approval. Back then you could fine some weird juice even on Sephora's shelves, and know that it wasn't created with the thought of outselling Pink Sugar. The old days I'm talking about are the mid-late 90s. Can you believe it?

Fashion designer Kenzo Takada launched his first perfume (Kenzo de Kenzo) in 1988. He sold the house carrying his name to LVMH in 1993 but stayed there until 1999 (where have we heard this story before?). You're free to make the correlation between the scents coming from this house and the timeline.

The Jungle perfumes for women, L'Elephant and Le Tigre, were created in 1996 and 1997. The former is still in production and is even offered in a lotion and deodorant, but no longer sold officially in the US (some etailers still have it in stock, but the prices are creeping up). Le Tigre confirmed as discontinued, which is a bit surprising considering it's the more conventional of the two.

Months ago, March from Perfume Posse wrote a mini review of L'Elephant that caused several people to buy unsniffed. If I remember correctly, not everyone has ended up with their vanilla holy grail, because it's hard to be prepared for the stuff that comes out of the pretty bottle. You've smelled spices, vanilla and patchouli before, but this composition is so strong and unique that no matter how much I'm going to warn you here, it'll surprise you.

You spray, and the first thing you notice is that you didn't have to spray that much. It's very strong. The innocent mandarine part in the opening is a blink-and-miss. It's almost instantly replaced by a creamy vanilla and spice cloud. It's sweet, dark and Licoricey and feels like you're wearing a concentrated and maybe not so fresh chai. When I overspray the heliotrope becomes more dominant and makes the scent feel dusty. Supposedly, there's also mango somewhere in the middle notes, but, thankfully, my nose skips it. I guess it's supposed to add some Indian dessert vibe, but the chai is more than enough as far as I'm concerned. While it does somewhat settles into an ambery vanilla patchouli base that is a little less sweet and actually feels woody (the dusty element doesn't go away), the clove and cardamon tend to reappear and hit you unexpectedly. Have I mentioned how strong and long-lasting this elephant is?

It's also fascinating, oddly comforting and has gorgeous moments. I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to wear it in public.

Official Notes (verified through the Kenzo site):

Top note :
Mandarin, Cardamom, Cumin, Clove
Middle note :
Ylang-Ylang, Licorice, Mango, Heliotrope
Base note :
Patchouli, Vanilla, Amber, Cashmeran (an animalic amber)

Compared to the uncivilized Elephant, Le Tigre starts out very conventionally. A sweet citrus blast in all the fruity glory, but with something sharp and edgy (probably the grassy Davana) that makes it different from Fendi Theorema (and not as pretty). It remains fruity-floral for quite a while, until the cinnamon shows its face and saves the day. Sweet orange and cinnamon are quite irresistible, though had it been up to me, I'd make it much spicier. As a matter of fact, some of the elephant's cardamon could have made this perfume a lot more interesting. The dry-down is utterly gorgeous, though, with its Massoïa wood and a hint of sweet vanilla.

Notes from OsMoz:

Top note :
Bergamot, Kumquat, Davana
Middle note :
Osmanthus, Ylang-Ylang
Base note :
Massoïa wood, Cinnamon

The bottles are beautiful. Both the tiger and the elephant on the cap make me wish they were detachable so I could wear them as a pendant or a brooch.

Kenzo ads: Okadi.com

Fragrance Notes

A few short notes about perfumes I tried and/or retried recently:

• L'Artisan Parfumeur-La Chasse Aux Papillons extreme
  This whole extreme and absolu thing is bothering me. It seems that first, the companies are releasing mild, wimpy versions with no staying power of their scents. The fragrance might be nice enough, customers are buying, and then buying again once the extreme version is out. In many of the cases I tried, the extreme version still doesn't have the best staying power. This is one of them. Floral, nice, but quickly disappears. I wore it for two days (had to reapply several times) trying to remember what it reminded me of. I knew it was something from my long lost youth, probably even something my sister used to wear. After two days it finally came to me: An old Max Factor fragrance called La Jardin. I haven't smelled it in 20 years, so I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's very similar.
• Kenzo Summer
  I was taken aback at the first whiff, because the top notes smelled to me like a cheap, powdery handcream. After a minute or two it settled into a pleasant, powdery floral. It's not my thing, but I can see how it would smell very nice on others. It also faded quickly. I need more warmth, spice and lasting power.
• Apparition by Emanuel Ungaro
  Apparently, there's a lack of fruity floral fragrances. This is why every designer and cosmetic company feel the need to come up with a fragrance or two or three that smell like berry jelly. Seriously, this was nothing but raspberry on my skin and stayed for hours and hours. Until I could take it no longer and washed it off. The only surprise here is the level of unoriginality.
• Roberto Cavalli (the original one by the designer)
  I tried it before and wasn't impressed. Its top and heart notes still reminds me too much of another fragrance that I can't recall. This time I didn't wash it after an hour and let it do its thing. The fruity note is still too strong for me and too disticnt in the sillage. I like the part that's close to the skin- definitely more wood and amber, and quite pleasant- very similar to V Absolu. It has an incredible staying power- I'm at 10 hours and still counting. If only it didn't have this disturbing fruit note...
• Idole by Lubin
  I love this one, probably because it smells very much like Donna Karan's Black Cashmere. It has the same boozy opening of rum, and the dry down is a similar combination of spice and wood. Black Cashmere seems to have a better staying power on my skin.