Lostmarc'h Laan-Ael, Aod, Atao and Iroaz

By Tom For this week, cats and kiddies, I am afraid that we're going to have what amounts to reviewlets from me, since A) it's hot, B) it's month end bill-paying at home and at work and C) I'm lazy. I was happy to get notice that Laan Ael had arrived at LuckyScent with three siblings, since I had gone through about three decants from the Perfumed Court. I was also thrilled to see the price: $75 for 100 mls. I suggest stocking up before they realise their mistake. Laan-Ael, as you all know is written of as buckwheat, milk and honey. I get Froot Loops and milk. Normally after having typed that sentence, you would think that I would write that I scrubbed my arm with a dremel tool and iced borax, but no: it's literally the most comforting thing you could possible smell and I am in hopeless thrall to it. It does become more than just the special effect of breakfast in footie pajamas; there's something pixelated to it that isn't quite musk, but less homogenized than the milky cereal opening would lead you to believe. But never, ever sly or winking. I can imagine that after (or during) a difficult day that a spritz of two of this would be better that an rum and atavan smoothie. Aod apparently means "Seashore" and I can't say that it smells exactly like any seashore that I've been near. No bad thing: there's a whisper of grapefruit, a scintilla of gardenia, a bare hint of that clean sheet/sea spray accord that we've all smelled about a bazillion times. There's also the rounded smell of coconut. I wore this today while at my friends house in Pasadena while wiping her work MacBook Pro in preparation for it's return, doing laundry and feeding her cats while she's in Texas: in the wilting heat this was joyously refreshing. Just enough of each ingredient to be refreshing without being overwhelming and for once the "sea" part of it isn't amped up to 11. Did I mention that it's $75? PS: if the seashore really smells like this in Brittany, I'm moving... Atao starts with rosemary, and lots of it. Those of you who have made something with rosemary know that it's only fault in cooking is that too much of it makes a soapy taste. The first sniff of this frankly goes there, and just when it does, the bergamot and lemon jump in to wrestle the whole thing to the ground. LuckyScent lists orange and mandarin in there, but I don't get those two distinctly, I do get a nice spicy wood. I can see this being a lovely, no-fault, no-brainer that you grab when you don't want to think about it, don't want to smell challenging or weird or perhaps have to meet with a prospective boss. Or are applying for a loan. Or are being sentenced. It reads "dependable, well-travelled, well-bred, (and on a guy) and smart enough to know that I should smell good but not in a way that's in your face". On a girl it would make that Jennifer O'Neill in jeans and a boys button-down statement- and yes, that is sexy as all get-out. Iroaz was quite frankly the only miss for me: I understand the idea of roses at the seashore and the juxtaposition of the creamy rose and the salty marine notes but the whole seemed muddled: I am not going to cast aspersions on the quality of the ingredients, but the rose versus marine in this one seemed to me to each make the other seem, well, kind of cheap smelling. Having typed that, it's $75.00 so if it shows up in a Christmas stocking I'd happily spray the curtains with it. It's refreshing; I just like my roses more threatening than these. So there you have it: three big hits and one near miss. I REALLY hope that both Lostmarc'h and Luckyscent are making a comfortable profit at this price point: I am so thrilled that there's something out there that is this good for under a Benjamin I could plotz! Now where are the soaps and candles? So far, only at their website. The rest are at LuckyScent, (for $75.00, I mentioned that, right?) including the Lann-Ael body milk and shower gel. Image source, maion.com.