MADISON

Congratulations for opening such a great store and for your wonderful selection of products! Not sure whether I should reply in English or Romanian by the way Parfumerie Generale is a great addition, I’ve tested almost all of them and liked quite a few I would also love to see the Tom Ford fragrances in your store, not his mainstream scents like Black Orchid, but his Private Blend Collection, they are gorgeous !

I can proudly say that I already made my first purchase from Madison, with the help of a friend who was in Bucharest for a couple of days and bought a fragrance for me. I cannot wait to visit your store in person when I come to Bucharest !

No Bois Blond then …

@Datura Noir: not my fault… the fragrance is not in the line-up anymore…

@Gia: how nice to hear.
I spoke with TF, but they barly can handle what’s going on with their existing locations in terms of production and distribution. In the future, however, who knows…

Where outside Bucharest are you?

@ Gia: …and… what did you get at Madison?

I know, I know. But it’s been such a hit.
I might want the iris and the leather ones, they sound dreamy.
PS. Didnt have a chance to congratulate you for the Goutal event. Loved your dress. Manoush?

You were there and didn’t say hello????

Yes, Manoush, from La Clara! I paid 1,00ron for it; later on I saw it at Baneasa Shopping City at the Manoush store for… 1,687ron! Can you believe?

I have the “discovery kit” from PG at the store, so you can pass by anytime to test the fragrances, before they are available.

Nono, I wasn’t there, but I saw the pics.
And, unbelievably, I noticed the same thing about Manoush dresses. Outrageous! Bucharest, heh…
Saw a gorgeous one (in a nice, if loud, indigo shade) that I SO wanted, but the nice people there didnt have my size. Lovely place, La Clara, I discovered more lovely dresses in there than in the rest of the city put together (no overstatement, too, just the naked truth)

speaking of north of Bucharest, I am looking for a second location, Dorobanti/Herastrau. Anything, you hear/think, please let me know.
50-60sqm.

Straight into big fish territory, I see your rationale there. Will keep eyes open for you.
Re: Tom Ford. How do you feel about his collection? I’ve passed by it two times, in Milan and in Harrod’s, but I only brought myself to try his Gardenia (which I found dusty & suffocating… not surprising, come to think of it, since it included ‘Velvet’ in its name…).
Should I test the others as well?
I did like two of his mainstream creations, YSL Nu and M7, but not what he did for Estee or Black Orchid.

@ Madeleine : I am in Iasi and my purchase was Costume National Scent Sheer….for starters I plan on making other purchases, so you can count on me. I am addicted to perfume, I admit I think you also deliver by mail, right?

@ Datura Noir : I am huge Ford fan, glad to hear you liked his work for YSL. What about his Gucci scents ?

Nu is one of my fave mainstream scents, along with Gucci EDP I .

I have tested all the fragrances from the Tom Ford Private Blend Collection so if you want small descriptions of each, I’d be glad to help, just say the word or let me know what are the notes that usually work for you

I’d love to hear Madeleine’s opinion as well.

I liked Black Orchid, but didn’t love it.
What I do own, hoever, is Black Violt which simply makes me melt, Oud Wood (which is masculine, very M7-like because of the oud) and my boyfriend uses, but I just love to wear it or smell it), and Neroli Portofino. Neroli Portofino has that impeccable eau de cologne feel to it, althout from an expert point of view (Octavian said), the fragrance is mediocre.

I also loved Nu, but you know it’s discontinued; it didn’t do well at all.

The rest of them I must admit I don’t remember very well. I plan a trip in August, so they’re up there on my list.

Today I presold some PG fragrances!! I always feel a little insecure when I select the scent to sell because it’s hard to be objective. And… of course I can never please everyone (wink, wink Datura Noir).

I own Black Violet too ! And Tobacco Vanille which I adore ! It has a masculine appeal because of the tobacco note, but I absolutely love it.

I do like Oud Wood too and I agree with the M7 comparison, I also like Tuscan Leather (smells exactly like a very fine, high quality leather/suede) , Noir de Noir is an interesting saffron, woods, rose, a modern chypre with a hint of vanilla in the dry down, and I am going to stop here, because I can go on about TF scents for hours

Montale also has some great oud scents, since we’re on that topic.

Congrats on the PG’s !! Yes, I know exactly what you mean about being objective Coze is one of my favorite PG’s, although my bf wears it more than I do, Cadjmere is a lovely gourmand, reminds me of Christmas and Iris Taizo is one of the most interesting iris scents I have ever smelled

and no Musc Maori? hmmm…

@Gia: so when I’m ready to open a Madison in Iasi, I know who to go to!
Girl, you’re really in the know.
I continue to be surprised at how much some of the people I come in contact with know. Aside from Datura and some other people who write from the website, you should see who walks into the store! I am constantly amazed and encouraged to cater to these aficionados.

About PG: I also love Cadjmere. I think that we also covered the modern men scents with PG, more specifically with Coze, Cuir Venenum and Harmatan Noir.

Iris Taizo is the first and only Iris centered scent I have at Madison, which Thank God finally happened. There are so many, including my personal favorite (the fragrance of my life, nonetheless, Iris Poudre by Pierre Bourdon), but I didn’t yet manage to bring one, until PG.
Yuzu Ab Irato is a very interesting fres/citrus and were it not for its original take on the fragrance family, I would have never chosen it, the reason being that I have this category more than well-covered already.

Ilang Ivohibe I love as an abstract floral, from the Songes and happy holiday air…

Last, but not least, for the fig lovers and to widen the selection from Io Capri and Figue Amere, Jardins de Kerylos is great!

@Marius: I’m so sorry… but I just couldn’t! That sweet cake/candy/pastry shop smell? Yes, it’s nice to smell, but who would wear it? I didn’t think I’d have a client for it. Are you that client?

Well I could be The only problem is that it’s not very long lasting but anyway……I find it quite addictive. Do you know Profumum - Acqua e Zucchero I could drink that thing but anyway summer is coming and gourmande scents may not be the best choice. I’ll have to stick to Ilang Ivohibe (not masculine at all I know but I like it). One more thing…are you connected in any way with Beautik? I’ve seen that they also carry Costume National and Etat Libre and…..I was quite disappointed as I don’t think that niche perfumes should be sooooo accessible they are sold in a mall…. There’s that special feeling that one has when going to Madison then to going at the mall.

I don’t know the Profumum fragrance, but I also have a fetish for Sugar, a scent made by Fresh. It smells like the sweetest, most concentrated lemonade. You should try Les Nuits d’Hadrien; when my Sugar is missing, Les Nuits makes up for it.

I know about Beautik; sometimes brands make these decision for reasons I don’t always understand. They either don’t know what they get themselves into, or making volumes is more important than maintaining exclusivity. Which, to be honest, I think is an illusion because I can’t imagine how they would sell volumes. Those stores are empty and sad every time I pass by. But time will tell.

The client is the one who chooses where to experience the fragrance and where to shop, so these occurrences highlight how different the retailers are.

@ Madeleine. Yeah, I know Nu is a sad story. He should re-market it as one of his own scents, give it a proper name instead of the embarrasing current one, and I’m sure it’ be a hit. It’s too introvert & subtle to be sold at Sephora, for god’s sake! Metallic, musky incense - what’s next, sell Messe de Minuit under the Coty brand?

@ Gia: the amber, the neroli and the leather one sound intriguing to me. And I wish he’d do an iris, because it is just the kind of scent he might do well. Please do share your impressions on them, I could “listen” for hours :)…
Oh, and I LOVED Gucci pour homme.

@ Madeleine : Thank you for saying that ! I have been a perfumista for years now and have learned a lot by testing lots of fragrances, doing lots of research, reading, keeping up with what’s new out there. Please, don’t ask me how many bottles I’ve come to own, I myself have lost count, not to mention the samples I also find it very interesting to follow the work of a certain *nose* and test his or her creations.

When you’re ready to open a Madison in Iasi let me know !

@ Datura Noir : I adore Gucci pour Homme! One of the best male frags out there.

Ok, I admit I am not the most objective person when it comes to Tom Ford creations, because I love them so much, but I’ll try to be objective in my descriptions for the scents you mentioned :

Amber Absolute is a smoky, dense, opulent amber and definitely not for the shy. But then again, Tom Ford is never about the shy If you like big amber scents, this is worth testing. It might be better dabbed than sprayed, if you find it too strong. Notes include frankincense, amber, woods, labdanum, vanilla. It starts off with the incense note, then the woods get noticeable and dries down sweeter to a honeyed amber with a bit of vanilla. It’s a complex scent, Tom Ford described it as the “purest form of amber”. Very good staying power, as is the case with all TF scents.

Neroli Portofino : Portofino is a village and resort on the Italian riviera, located in the province of Genoa, so it might give you some idea about the inspiration for this scent. It makes me think of sunshine, Mediterranean breeze, orange trees, I find it delicious and uplifting. Again, a very well balanced scent, the citrus note is not sharp at all, but rather smooth, luminous and relaxing, especially as it approaches the dry down where it’s toned down by amber. Also includes a delicate floral note.

Tuscan Leather is definitely a leather scent, there are no two ways about it. Leather is the big player here and nothing gets in its way. Leather can be a difficult note for some people, and you have to really like it in order to enjoy this fragrance. Notes for this one include: saffron, raspberry, thyme, olibanum, jasmine, leather, black suede, wood, amber. However this is a warm & smooth scent. It’s a great rendition of leather/suede, one of the best I have ever smelled. Might be used for layering too.
Tuscan Leather is very true to the scent of really good quality, fine, soft leather/suede. There’s a raspberry note in there (which is quite an unusual combination and very successful in this case) but I only get it briefly and it is not fruity at all, it’s just a supporting note, one may get this note better when sprayed, but when dabbed I wouldn’t even know it was there if I didn’t read the notes beforehand. This is nothing like Cuir Ottoman or Daim Blond if you’ve tried those.

Let me add that if you like tobacco, then Tobacco Vanille is a must try. It’s one of the best sellers of the line, in fact it’s THE best seller of the line if I am not mistaken. This one is amazingly done. It smells like an exquisite pipe tobacco, but more sophisticated than that, it is very well blended, not too much vanilla, not too much tobacco, just perfect.
It is not foody/candy or cloying at all. The spicy notes are detectable as well, I get clove & cinnamon. I find it sexy and gorgeous, warm, comforting, with a very good lasting power. It is suitable for cooler weather.
Notes include : tobacco leaf, spices, tonka bean, tobacco flower, vanilla, cocoa, dry fruits and wood sap. It’s also different when sprayed versus dabbed. When dabbing, you get mostly tobacco and vanilla. Spraying makes the top notes more noticeable and there’s also a *green* aspect in the opening due to the tobacco leaf and tobacco flower. The dry down is a bit smoky with the tonka bean.

I hope this helps and I do hope they work for you, I’d love to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to try them.

And since you were mentioning iris, you could try the Gucci Eau de Parfum I fragrance that Ford did for Gucci, if you haven’t already. It’s the one in the heavy square, see-through bottle with the brown juice. It is not primarily an iris scent, but it does have iris in it. I think it’s unique & original for a mass market scent. Other notes are orange blossoms, heliotrope, cedar, amber, vanilla, musk.

Thank you so much for the descriptions.
I’ve known Gucci edp since it first came out, I was anxiously waiting for it to be amazing, but sadly, in my eyes, it was not… Too common, compared to the male version. None of the ethereal poetry there, for me.
Since you mention it, how would you compare Tuscan Leather to Daim Blond? Or Chanel’s Cuir de Russie?
Will try the TFs this July. And I will actually pas by Portofino (or Camogli, which is close enough), so I’ll certainly be influenced by the scenery (& smells) in my judgement of the neroli frag. Not sure if this is a good thing or not…

PS. In Tobacco Vanille, you might just have discovered, by the sound of it, my husband’s new fragrance

Wow, great thread you guys!

Also, on June 13th Pretul Luxului by Ziarul Financiar comes out; in it there’s an ample piece on vintage bottles and an interview with Octavian Coifan.

Gia, if you like the creative lifetime path of a perfumer, you should read Chandler Burr’s book, The Perfect Scent.

@ Madeleine: it’s not quite so improbable, you know.
Victoria Frolova (from boisdejasmin) used to post about perfume on makeupalley a few years ago (that’s when I got to know her), then set up a fragrance-related blog, then got a job inside one of the big scent-developing companies.
Well, it did help that she was really well-connected, rich, and lived in the US, but still… It proves that all you need is passion and thorough knowledge of perfume.

@ Madeleine: I’ve seen on boisdejasmin some great reviews for Ambre Fetiche, Encens Flamboyant and Myrrhe Ardente (Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes) hope you will get them soon

@Datura: it works the other way around, too, where you come from “the field”, so-to-speak, and then you discover the perfume blogging world.

@marius: I have the testers for the 3 Orientalistes, as teasers for when they’ll be available next fall.
I’m curious how they’ll be received. In my opinion, they’re not easy to grasp and some of the ingredients are not big favorites with our audience (myrrh and incense). Because of the religious connotation, people run away from anything that reminds them of the church smell.
France is close and, admittedly or not, fascinated with Le Monde Arabe, but here things are a bit different. We’ll see.

Ha. I’m part of your audience, and I *adore* incense in fragrance.
I find it spectacular, really - it challenges you, it’s velvety and poignant at the same time, voluptuous and dry altogether. It might help that it has no religious connotation for me whatsoever… My husband loves it too - he’s actually pondering whether to get Avignon.
I find this attitudine of reducing it to a ‘church smell’ as totally lacking openness and feeling. It’s like refusing basil in food, because it’s used in Orthodox funerals (I’ve met countless people saying that).

Never underestimate the power of local culture.
I was never a big church person, and maybe that’s the reason I’m free of the preconceived idea about it. I find incense mysterious, spiritual, fascinating, transporting. Perverse or not, blasphemous or not, I also find it sexy.
And I was smiling when I read that Sara Jessica Parker uses a mixture of Avignon and a musky alloy. Imagine that!

I think Avignon is the best from the Incense Series, but before jumping to it, he should try CDG 2Man, don’t you think?

Speaking of CDG 2Man don’t you think that it’s like a “colder” version of Gucci pour homme? but not as cold as Zagorsk of course though to me it smells like pine trees and wet earth.

But he’s been wearing that for quite a few months now!
It was my first buy from Madison.
And he also wore Messe de Minuit, which is truly hardcore, and SL Arabie and Ambre Sultan (which are both heavily touched with incense)so he’s not shy at all with fragrance.

@marius: yes, now that you say it, I think so.
Ceder, vetiver and leather notes in both.
I think Zagorsk is very different and, to me, because I keep smelling/imagining some cumin/clove notes, it just belongs to a different class.
Have you tried Nasomatto-Hindu Grass? It’s quite interesting.

@Datura:Arabie and Ambre Sultan? I’ve only smelt them on a woman’s skin. Wow, that’s daring! Not familiar with Messe de Minuit; the range is sooooo large that it’s easy to miss some good ones.

Oh yes. He brings out fantastic facets of Arabie, which on him smells somewhat bitter/metallic/spicy in a rough way, whereas on me it’s much sweeter and tame.
And that’s NOT the most daring - his latest love is SL Rousse, or an unexpected story of how a man’s skin (and attitude) can make cinnamon feel like champagne: sparkling and transparent.
I don’t know many Etro scents either, but MdM is exquisite, very artistic - incense is laced with orange peel and honey. The result is dustier and and a bit more exotic than Avignon, and also more… ample, somehow.

Then he’s going to be a fan of Les Orientalistes, Emcems Flamboyant especially.

Please tell me. If my (lady) friend loves & wears Hadrian and Jo Malone orange blossom-something, so she’s into airy, fizzy citrus, what might she like from the PG line? Or might she be better off with Creed Neroli Sauvage? Or Bois du Portugal?

Airy, fizzy citrus, but also floral aromatic.
From PG Yuzu Ab Irato is the closest, although it’s much greener. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus, very invigorating and airy, but because of the bamboo note and magnolia, it becomes creamier, not so sparkling.

Creed is very good at doing citrusy, so try Citrus Bigarade, Zeste Mandarine, even Royal Water (which I’ve been wearing without ever getting bored for over 10 years).

Also, Citron Citron and Tangerine Vert from Miller Harris are not to be missed.

Mediterraneo and Via Camerelle from Carthusia, too!

Oh, and Ineke C!!! This a wonderful citrus/white flower combo.

Bois du Portugal is definitely NOT in the category your friend is, much less a woman’s fragrance.
I will forever die for it, however, and it’s my personal mission to find men who like this scent. It’s heavy, woody, smoky, leathery, softened with lavender, vetiver and a touch of lemon peel.

Nobody bought it at Madison for a while, until one day I saw that 2 were missing. I knew who bought it, so when she returned, I asked her who the lucky man was who she got it for.
She smiled and said: “you’re looking at her”. And that was the day when I started wearing it, although it has to be a wintery or late fall day to do it.

She knows both the Miller Harris scents, but I’ll certainly try the other ones you sugested. If only I could find the time to come by…
Re: Portugal. I also try to find the right man to offer this to, I bought a gift for a male friend from Madison, but he wasn’t interesting enough for this, unfortunately…
I would wear it, at any time of the year, honestly, but you’re right, I’m not sure she would. Sometimes I forget that I have very thin boundaries (sometimes none at all) when it comes to fragrance, and imagine that all others are the same…

Hi, there….I just wonder why you guys are all writing in english, but…well….ok. madeleine, what about puredistance? please advise…I shall visit you this week, for I can not wait to get an answer from you

I have just found out about your store and I am fascinated….

Hello Virginia. and welcome to the club!

Puredistance is a fragrance for the floral addicts. To quote Annie Buzantian, its creator: “the perfume opens as top note with a fresh, ozone-tangerine blossom blend with a hint of cassis, complemented with neroli bigarade and crisp water nuances. The heart of the fragrance warms to a sophisticated, modern blend of magnolia, rose wardia and jasmine; parmenthis of natural mimosa, before finally settling softly into the rich classical notes of amber, vetiver and white musk”.