Perfumes

Fortunately, my wife (Libertad Green) is a nano-influencer, so she occasionally receives samples of perfumes we would probably never buy. Usually, these are in the form of tiny spray bottles, which only contain several milliliters (ml), or less than half of one tenth of one fluid ounce (fl. oz.). However, someone sent her a bottle with approximately 50 ml (1.7 fl. oz.) of Tom Ford's OMBRÉ LEATHER. Fortunately, this is one of my favorite scents. 

Since March of 2022, I have been sniff testing all of the perfume samples that my wife has given me (see the list below). The first four are in order of my personal preference; the rest are in no particular order:

1. Ombré Leather eau de parfum by Tom Ford smells like leather.
2. Black Opium eau de parfum illicit green by Yves Saint Laurent smells addictive.
3. Oud Wood eau de parfum by Tom Ford smells like wood.
4. Spice Bomb Night Vision eau de parfum by Victor & Rolf smells spicy.
5. Bad Boy eau de toilette by Carolina Herrera smells like a grandmother.
6. Eternity for Men cologne/eau de toilette by Calvin Klein smells like a church.
7. Acqua di Gio Pour Homme eau de toilette by Giorgio Armani smells like a mall.
8. Le Male Le Parfum eau de parfum intense by Jean Paul Gaultier smells like a bakery.
9. Aqua Vitae cologne forte eau de parfum by Francis Kurkdjian smells like flowers.
10. Polo:  Deep Blue parfum by Ralph Lauren smells like a pool.
    
11. Defy eau de toilette by Calvin Klein defies description.
    
12. The Most Wanted eau de parfum intense by Azzaro smells like a bakery.
13. Legend eau de toilette by Mont Blanc smells like hand sanitizer.
14. Light Blue eau de toilette by Dolce & Gabbana smells like ________________    
    
15. Gentleman eau de parfum boisée by Givenchy smells like ________________
16. Glossier you. eau de parfum by Glossier smells like ________________
17. A Rose for... eau de parfum by _________________  
18. Tygar by Bvlgari eau de parfum by _________________
19. Pure Grace eau de parfum by Philosophy 

MORE TO FOLLOW!

About Perfume

According to PerfumeSociety.org, the following types of perfume are expected to contain the following percentages of whatever it is that makes perfume smell like whatever it smells like:

1. Extract/extrait/solid perfume  – 20-30% [used to make perfume]
2.                  Parfum/Perfume – 15-25%
3.             Eau de Parfum (EDP) – 8-15%
4.           Eau de Toilette (EDT) – 4-8%
5. Eau de Cologne or Cologne (EDC) – 2-4%
   

GLOSSARY:

boisé, boisée - French for "wooded" or "woody"

eau de parfum - French for "water of perfume" or "perfume water"

eau de toilette - French for "water of toilet" or "toilet water"

extrait - French for "extract"

cologne - French for "colony." According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it is "a distilled spirit blended with certain essential oils so as to give off a fragrant scent." This is "short for Cologne water (1814)," a "loan-translation of French eau de Cologne (which also was used in English), literally" [meaning] "'water from Cologne,' from the city in Germany (German Köln, from Latin Colonia Agrippina) where it was made, first by Italian chemist Johann Maria Farina, who had settled there in 1709."

ombré - French for "shadow" 

oud - a lute or mandolin-like musical instrument played principally in Arab countries  

parfum - French for "perfume" 

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Post by William Mortensen Vaughan

Taste Test: The Green Fairy

[At left, the Green Fairy by Albert Maignan]
 

I've enjoyed the taste of licorice since I was a child. Licorice, as well as Root Beer and Bubble Gum, were my favorite flavors of ice cream, which I almost invariably ordered whenever I went to Farr Better Ice Cream in my home town of Ogden, Utah. As an adult, in the U.S. Army, I traveled to Crete and I soon discovered ouzo, which also tastes like licorice, but, although I heard about absinthe while serving in West Germany when the Berlin Wall fell, I didn't taste it until I was serving on Temporary Duty, in Brownsville, Texas, circa 2010. My boss invited me to go with him to a liqueur store to get a bottle and an absinthe spoon. Later, at my apartment, he showed me how to drink it with fire, water, and sugar. I've been drinking it ever since, and was lucky enough to enjoy a wide variety of absinthes in Texas and California. 

Unfortunately, it's hard to find absinthe where I currently reside, in southern Virginia. Where I can find it, there are only two brands:  Absente, and the State's own Mt. Defiance. Fortunately, I've had the privilege of residing in California and Texas, which had larger selections, so I've tasted all of the following absinthes:

 

Absente

 Grande Absente

 

Kubler

 

Le Torment Vert

 

Lucid 

Mansinthe

 

Mount Defiance

 

Pernod

 

St. George

Perhaps the most important thing I've learned about drinking absinthe, is to cut it. The first time I tasted it, a fellow U.S. Army Staff Sergeant took me to a liquor store in Brownsville, Texas, where we each purchased a bottle of absinthe. If I remember correctly, he bought a bottle of Lucid, and encouraged me to buy the gift set by Absente, which came with an absinthe glass and a sieve spoon, so that, when we arrived at my apartment, he could show me how to place the spoon across the mouth of the glass, stack sugar cubes on it, pour absinthe on them, light it on fire, douse it with cold water, and watch the louching in the bowl of the glass, between the stem and the mouth.

That was so good that, despite his warning, after he left, I tried some absinthe on the rocks. I began hallucinating. I never did that again!

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Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan