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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Rica Suave: Costamor Tabacca & Sugarwood

By Tom

Today is V-day. I don't care for V-day. It seems designed to make everyone crazy. There were people making handbrake turns on Beverly Blvd. to get to the couple selling ratty bouquets and sad balloon arrangements. Which made me think about the reception the men would get upon arrival. I mean, really, ladies and gents, if your sig other was at sixes and sevens or completely skint, wouldn't you prefer a nice backrub or a (even indigestible) breakfast in bed and impeccably cleaned kitchen or candle-lit bubble bath with soft music and a glass of wine or even just a heartfelt "I love you" than some sad handful of posies that look as if they were recently snatched from Forest Lawn?

I swear, I need to write a self-help book for hetero males...

Anyhoo, I had tickets to the Renoir exhibit at LACMA with my BFF Sue, after which I took her to ScentBar. She had so far been avoiding the place if only because she would want to purchase and the idea of telling the my godchild "sorry kid, I blew the college fund on the Lutens collection" could be a result. But I needed something to write about and needed to show her that she could ask for samples...

Costamor is a house created in 2009 by Elizabeth Wright, a California native who is (according to Luckyscent) half Costa-Rican. I've never been there but have had friends who've been and kvelled over the beauty of the place. I can't comment on how well the scents describe the beauty of the area, but the scents are quite good in and of themselves.

Sugarwood is sweet and woody with an overlay of jasmine and iris. I do actually know what sugar cane pulp smells like and the opening on this is a fairly accurate simulacrum. There's sweet vanilla and fig in there but it's nicely cut by citrus. If you want to have a vanilla that's not as boozy/blowzy as say Guerlain SDV (which I adore) then this could be right up your alley.

Tabacca is on me at first all about the bright apple opening and a brief burst of freshness. The tobacco comes in later, sly but discernible as both cured and uncured. Believe it of not, Western Massachusetts is a place where when I was growing up tobacco was harvested and I remember the scent of it curing distinctly when riding my bike past the barns that ringed my college town hometown. That's not to say that i especially like this. It is for me too demure; it's like a deb who hurriedly applies a spritz of cologne and a stick of Adams Sour Apple gum to unsuccessfully mask a hurried Lucky Strike. I like my tobacco a bit more in-your-face: less demure and more Dietrich.

These aren't me but they are compelling, well blended and suave little numbers and since these are only $75 for 50ML if you're in need of a demure tobacco or a self-effacing vanilla you would do well to check them out. At Luckyscent, I believe, exclusively.

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17 Comments:

Blogger Mals86 said...

Riico... suaaaave... thanks for the earworm!

8:46 AM EST  
Blogger ScentScelf said...

Okay, I've trolled the interwebs, and it seems that the Elizabeth W perfumery of San Francisco is a completely separate operation from the Elizabeth Wright who is responsible for Costamor. (Tricky, that separation, because the Elizabeth W website credits the inspiration for the name to one Elizabeth Wrightman.)

Oy. But...matters not...nice to hear that a nice job is being done, even if it isn't to your taste. I no doubt will end up searching out a sample of the Tabacca, because I do enjoy sampling any perfume with a tabacco element. (Odd, given my vehement non-smoker-ness.)

10:06 AM EST  
Blogger Tama said...

I've sampled each of these once and enjoyed them - I will definitely keep the samples in rotation until I decide if I need one of them.

It's funny that you mentioned Lucky Strike because when I wore Tabacca I kept thinking about the smell when my Gramps would rip open a new pack Of Lucky Strike "L.S.M.F.T." I don't think I got any apple at all.

12:27 PM EST  
Blogger Anatole Lebreton said...

So now I would really have to smell those when I'll be hanging around the scent bar next week.. But for now the question is: which perfume do I pick for the trip? Paris is quite cold now, but LA! I want some sun /fun! Ok green and iris: L'homme de coeur would probably fit well. But why not: Rêverie au jardin..ahh decisions!

4:05 PM EST  
Anonymous Flora said...

No Tabacca for me, I don't get along with apple in perfume and I like my tobacco BIG, but that Sugarwood is in my wheelhouse. I love the sugar cane in Max Mara's original scent.

6:08 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Mals-

That's Marina. Blame her.

I actually thought he was cute back in the day...

7:23 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

ScentScelf-

They are nice. I was talking to the guy at ScentBar last night and he thought that should be for a young girl. Don't know about that, but they aren't me.

7:25 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Natalie-

You got it!

7:26 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Tama-

Back in the day I used to smoke those!

(what was I thinking?)

7:27 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Anatole-

I think the answer is don't bring much of anything and sample-surf at ScentBar?

Sadly next week you're going to get the rainy and cool LA and not the warm and sunny one we had this week. Sorry.

7:30 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

D-

I liked the sugarwood better surprisingly. Still not me but lovely.

7:31 PM EST  
Blogger elle said...

That slamming sound was of a door being firmly shut behind two lemmings who were just given their walking papers. I always get hopeful about tobacco scents, but this sounds like it's gone in a direction that I'm simply not interested in. Thanks for the reviews!
And, yes, you should write a book for hetero males. :-)

7:58 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

elle-

thanks!

8:45 PM EST  
Anonymous maggiecat said...

Oh please do write the book (and keep writing scent reviews too, of course). As much as I adore roses, backrubs, bubble baths, and candles are less expensive and in their own way longer lasting. But what is this "spotlessly clean kitchen" to which you refer? I've never seen such a beast, but I'm sure it's quite nice, whatever it may look like.

10:04 AM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

maggiecat-

I haven't personally experienced it (unless I hired someone to make it so); I just mean make the breakfast for her but don't leave the kitchen looking like a bomb went off for her to clean up..

6:57 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Tom!
You saved me money a bit of sample money(for a change!!!)

8:56 PM EST  
Anonymous Women Perfume said...

yah its really very nice love to read it thanks

2:02 PM EST  

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