Expecting More from the Top Shelf: Xerjoff XXY and M. Micallef Red Sea

By Donna With fragrance prices heading steadily into the stratosphere in recent years, it's hard to know where to draw the line. What's the new standard of affordable? What's the new definition of snobbery pricing if heretofore moderately priced scents are hitting $200 a bottle just for the Eau de Toilette strength? One thing has not changed, or at least it shouldn't; if a perfume is going to cost the equivalent of a month's car payment or even a month's rent in some cases, it had better be really good. (Check out Tom's recent post for a new solution to high fragrance prices.) I have been testing some samples of higher end perfumes and two of them stood out as being less than deserving of their price tags: Xerjoff XXY and M. Micallef Red Sea, both marketed as unisex scents and both listed as being of the Oriental style. Red Sea is by no means the most expensive in the ultra-niche Micallef line, being $190 for 100 ml. However, the brand's reputation had led me to expect more. I was a fan of the line's first foray into the U.S. market, and it's a shame that their original offerings are discontinued. Absent for a number of years, they came back in a big way with a long list of perfumes that sound original and exciting, so I was delighted to find it among a packet of samples I received. Red Sea's list of notes is neroli, cinnamon, rose, iris, sandalwood and white musk. So why do I get synthetic marine out of it? That was the last thing I expected, despite the name. That aroma softens after awhile but something screechy is left, and I hate to think that this company would be using a woody-amber sandalwood substitute; however, that's what it smells like to me. I am not getting a whole lot of cinnamon in this so that's not it either. The white musk is a possible culprit but it does not smell very musky so I suspect it's one of those “crystal” types that do not resemble the real thing at all. The end result is that this perfume smells rather thin and cheap to me right from the start and it does not improve over time. Maybe it's just me, but I would have expected something a lot better from this house. I tried it several times in an attempt to figure out if my nose was having an off day or if the weather was a factor, etc. but it was the same each time, so it really does not work for me. It reminded me just a little of L' Artisan's Al Oudh, which I love, but it's only a faint resemblance. In this price range I would have expected that level of quality, or even something approaching a Serge Lutens or Montale product. With the field of Oriental perfumes so crowded in recent years, a new one has to be outstanding to succeed, and I don't think Red Sea has the firepower it needs. Whatever Red Sea's sins are, they pale in comparison to the hype surrounding the Xerjoff line compared to the actual delivery. XXY is also described as an Oriental style scent, and here the term is used loosely, because there is nothing rich or lush about it. It is ambery, but in a wispy sort of way, and it gets very quiet after a few minutes – and I am the champion perfume amplifier of all time! It is refined and smooth and nice, but if I were buying this I would want a lot more than just nice. Other alleged notes include black pepper, jasmine, ylang ylang and patchouli, most of which I can't discern; all I get is a softly sweet, slightly buttery amber along with a hint of the ylang ylang and an echo of wood so faint I can't even tell what it is supposed to be. Lasting power is pretty good, but it just never seems to get interesting. The fragrance is presented in a limited edition Venetian glass flask that is available in several colors, for about $1,800 for 50 ml of Eau de Parfum. Yes, that is correct; I did not add an extra zero. You can also get the plain refill version for $270, which to me is still too much. This fragrance may be the ultimate in refinement in its class, but when refinement reaches the vanishing point, perhaps a little more life needs to be left in the formula. This could have been really good had it not been formulated in washed-out pastels instead of deep jewel tones. (On the plus side, the special bottles are gorgeous.) I found XXY for sale at Parfums Raffy, and a sample vial goes for $15. Red Sea is available at Luckyscent and a sample is $4. My samples were received as part of a random grab bag of samples in a prize draw. Image credit: Xerjoff XXY Venetian glass presentation flacon in gold from parfumsraffy.com

M. Micallef La Seducteur: Perfume Review

"The ship at sea will not resemble merely a ship, but the sea itself, even to its hull and sails being composed of waves" - this is how Foucault describes one of Magritte's most puzzling paintings, La Seducteur. And I might be carrying the analogy too far, but...the greatest seducer would not resemble merely himself, but our dreams, he will be composed of our desires. We dream up into being those whom we cannot resists, and the best of them allow us not to wake from our dreams for a long time...never, if we are lucky. And when I babble so, you know that the review is going to be positive. No, Micallef's La Seducteur is not a surrealist perfume. It resembles its object, it smells obviously seductive...or what I believe IS universally seductive, a suave, sweetly-spicy, husky aroma interspersed with nerve-tingling sparkles of freshness. A surrealist seductive perfume would have to smell...I suppose, of nothing! Of nothingness full of possibilities. It would magically acquire the scent you want it to acquire the moment it hits your nose...For each person, it will be unique. To me, the ultimate seductive scent would be like Gucci Pour Homme and Comme des Garcons Man 2 infused with the cold, sly edible quality of Caron 3eme Homme, the brooding rose of Amouage Lyric Man and quite a lot of oud...and magically, the formidable mixture will be harmonious and not in the least overwhelming... In the absence of such a miraculous fit of chemistry, La Seducteur joins the ranks of the fragrances listed above as one of the most handsome and, yes, seductive masculine perfumes. The initial chilly feel of the composition, which does not completely go away, reminds me of The Third Man. The presence of galbanum, pine, leather and moss, makes the blend appear quite classic. It could have been created in the 1960s, it might be from the beginning of last century, and it is perfectly contemporary now. That is classic. But the most attractive and seductive, to me, is the surprising sweet piquancy of La Seducteur. I was looking in vain in the list of notes for ginger or cardamom, both of which have that honeyed spiciness, and only found nutmeg. Perhaps that's what it is. This is a superbly elegant, polished, impeccably structured creation that I did not expect to find in Micallef's rather uneven line. So what would be the most seductive scent like in YOUR opinion? Do share! M. Micallef La Seducteur is available at Luckyscent, $230.00 for 100ml. The image, La Seducteur by Rene Magritte, is from art.com.

Perfume Review: Micallef Vanille Aoud

I am rarely in a mood for vanilla. I am always in a mood for a fragrance that is masterfully built on an interesting contrast. In Micallef's Vanille Aoud, the contrast is announced right in the name. The sweet, milky innocence of vanilla is juxtaposed with the dry, dark sensuality of aoud. Vanilla turns aoud into a mouthwatering delicacy, while aoud turns vanilla into "the little deadly demon among the wholesome" vanillas. It is a very simple scent, all there is to it are two accords intertwining: one toffee-like, creamy and childish, the other slightly spicy, woody and the very opposite of innocent. A touch of citrus adds fresh tangyness to the blend that otherwise could have been too sweet. I would compare Vanille Aoud to a less saccharine and much lighter Matin Calin mixed with oud. It is a "not a girl not yet a woman" kind of perfume, the kind to which one feels almost ashamed to be attracted and yet can't help but be enthralled. This Dolores Haze of a scent seems to be one of the newest Micallef creations and will be available at Luckyscent in the near future. Image source is unknown, and I would be grateful if somebody could tell me who is the author of this photo of Natalya Vodyanova.

Perfume Review: Micallef Note Vanillee

Note Vanillee had to struggle against all sorts of odds to even be tested by the jaded little me. I don't like vanilla and I have been previously underwhelmed by Micallef's creations. But test it I did, and - you guessed it - loved it! Typically vanilla scents smell of mum's cooking, chidlhood memories, of cuddles and smiles and all things nice. Note Vanillee is not that innocent. In fact, she is a dirty little thing and doesn't feel sorry about it. What it smells like...it smells like Etat Libre d'Orange Jasmin et Cigarette with a generous dose of vanilla, rum and cognac added it to to make the brooding juice a lot more fun. Indolic flowers, cigarettes, booze and sweets... does it get any better? I adore the smoky, cheap-tobaccoey undertone Note Vanillee has on my skin. It smells like the morning after a very enjoyable night, the kind of night the memories of which make one blush and smile ear to ear as one struggles to get through the serious and mundane obligations of one's day... A very naughty vanilla for those who don't do vanilla. Available at First in Fragrance and soon Luckyscent.

Manly, Yes, But I like It Too: Sashka For Him

By Donna The perfume I chose to write about this week is different from my “usual” for two reasons. First, it’s a men’s fragrance, and this is the first time I have dedicated an entire piece to one of those. Second, this is for a scent from a line that has all but disappeared from our shores and is amazingly elusive to track down, so I have had to piece together what I know, and some of it may not be entirely accurate. It is Sashka For Him by Parfums M. Micallef. Martine Micallef, who had her own beauty institute in Cannes, France for 18 years and is also a well-known artist, created the Micallef line in 1997 along with her husband Geoffrey Newman. The beautiful bottles of the various Micallef fragrance collections reflect her artistry. The “Sashka” range has the simplest containers of all, egg-shaped and minimalist. As far as I can tell, this was the earliest group to be released and it is apparently no more, as their web site does not list any of them now. No North American retail outlets are listed; they are in Cannes, Paris, Dubai, London, and Germany, among other far-flung locations, and the latest news release on the site is an announcement that the boutique in Almaty, Kazakhstan (!) is doing so well they are hoping to open two more. This was in October 2007. (The web site’s English pages are oddly translated, so it is hard to tell what is merely planned for the line and what has actually happened.) There are no prices listed on the site either. Some of the custom bottles look impressively expensive, so I really don’t have to ask. I obtained mine from The Perfume House in Portland, Oregon. They carried the line when it was first released but it has been withdrawn from the U.S. I tried the entire Sashka range back in 1997 when all the men’s and women’s versions were available. (I was particularly taken with Sashka Black For Him, an “extreme” scent for men that was very sexy, and now I really wish I had bought some at the time, as it sold out.) What I have now is the one called simply “Sashka for Him,” and it is really quite good. The packaging is quite luxurious, a charcoal-gray box with the embossed signature of Mlle. Micallef on it. The bottle is a simple shape with a domed top that is a bit tricky to remove. What really struck me when I was examining the package was this slogan: “Perfume’s New Generation.” Whoa - that’s some big talkin’ there, pardner! This company must have begun as a very ambitious undertaking indeed. I can only speculate as to why these perfumes did not find a wider audience in the U.S. It’s not that they were prohibitively expensive; they were squarely mid-range in price at that time. I can only surmise that distribution was very limited and it simply did not take off in the crowded American market. From what I can tell by looking at their site, they cater to some very wealthy clients now so they must be doing fine without us. This Eau de Parfum (you can tell it’s aimed at European men since it’s not called “cologne”) is not especially daring or different, but for what it is, it does it very well indeed. It begins quite conventionally but in a well-tempered and balanced way. No over-the top aquatics or camphorated woods or overdoses of “musk” here. A nice citrus blend of lemon and mandarin starts things off. The lavender is quite apparent too, but for those who quail at the thought of lavender in perfumes it does not dominate everything, nor does it clash with anything else. It keeps its own quiet counsel in the mix, along with the welcome rosemary. Once the citrus notes have receded I smelled quite a bit of pepper – not a strong black pepper, but more like the white pepper I prefer to put on my poached eggs instead of the black. While there may be pimiento I cannot really say I could tell – it is not very aggressive if it’s in there and the “true” pepper is fairly bold. My favorite part of this scent is a rich, dry, delicious nutmeg heart that persists all through the drydown. The vetiver and patchouli in this fragrance are of excellent quality, and when tempered with the nutmeg the result is a pleasing fragrance of warmth and depth. Make no mistake, this is really meant for men, and it is plenty woody and just rugged enough; I picture it being worn by someone like Siegfried Farnon, the dashing country vet with a special affinity for horses, from James Herriot’s wonderful books about a veterinarian’s life in rural Yorkshire. It evokes a certain rustic country life for me, not rough and hard and poor, but more of an idealized scene of tweedy wools and old brick houses, well-worn paths winding through verdant pastures and stories told around the fireplace in the chilly evenings. I enjoy wearing it myself, but I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that it seems to belong to the kind of man I would like to know. I can imagine myself breathing in his scent on one of his sweaters when he’s not there, and it would smell just like this. There is a theory that puts forth the idea of women becoming more like men as they age, especially if they remain single, since they have to handle so many things on their own that women with husbands do not. Someone has even said that we become like the men we should have married. If that is so, then Sashka is my masculine self, and I am fine with that idea. If I were a man I could do a lot worse than be the one who would choose this fragrance as his own. Notes: Top notes of lemon, mandarin, lavender and rosemary. Heart notes: pepper, pimiento, and nutmeg. Base notes: vetiver and patchouli. (Believe it or not, I obtained this list from a mail-order shopping site in Hyderabad, India. It seems to be perfectly in sync with my olfactory observations, so at least that part is right.) I would be interested to know if anyone has tried other scents in this line and what your impressions are. I would especially like to hear about anyone’s experience with Sashka Black For Him, the one that got away from me. They now have an Oud-based series and other perfumes that bear no relation to the original releases. Image credits: Sashka For Him bottle from malamall.com. Photo of actor Robert Hardy as “Siegfried Farnon” in the UK television series All Creatures Great And Small from televisonheaven.co.uk