Yin and Yang

Review by Tom I've gotten a boatload of samples in...But I'm going to cheat and write a review of two scents I have already. So sue me! Caron Royal Bain de Caron / Royal Bain de Champagne This one I had a yoof, oddly it has survived the period when others, sadly did not perhaps because at the time I did not grasp how good it was. Now called Royal Bain de Caron, (apparently some people were annoyingly sticky about the champagne thing), it was introduced in 1941, supposedly to supplant some Calfornia milionaire's champagne baths. It starts with a sparkly wine note that makes me think of a good chardonnay. Just at the point where that would become a big snooze, a wonderful musk slinks in, like a bad girl in a film noir determined to cause havok, or at least cadge a drink. Just when you think you have it pegged, powdery violet and lilac drops in to wrestle with the musk, spending a long time almost like the olfactory equivalent of a Chuck Jones cartoon, with a musky devil on one shoulder inciting you to open another magnum and a violet/lilac angel on you're other trilling that you should abstain. At the end on me, the angel wins and the musk turns all church-like and powdery, like Sadie Thompson in the second act. I find it a pleasant change from my usual quest for ever skankier and more leather-clad scents, although I had dropped a touch of CB I Hate Perfume Musk in there at the end just for the hell of it. Caron Yatagan All of you are familiar with Colombina's excellent review, if not, please click the link. I'll wait. Really! Back? Good. Adding to what Colombina wrote, I will say that this one starts out on me VERY in-your-face, smelling strongly of an ashtray. You know the one, the ashtray after a night out doing things you know that you are going to have to say a bunch of Hail Mary's over come Sunday. Oddly, it has a weird hit of celery in there as well, as if you'd chain-smoked and hit the crudite plate really hard. Also oddly, it's fabulous, this coming from a rabid ex-smoker. Earth and musk and labdanum and leather join in at various points to remind you that in the 70's people really got bisssay (what will this decades perfume legacy look like 30 years from now?). This is smells like the socially acceptable version of sex with a Tom of Finland illustration. To borrow from Kelley: Leather-Hottie-in-a-Can. Both of these are available on the internet at prices that are scandalous considering how great these are. Get 'em now before others discover them.