Goest perfumes revisited

Sometimes I think that every perfume review should be preceded by a disclaimer, saying something like “How a scent is perceived is subjective and what is one person’s love may be the next person’s hate”.  That is true not just for perfumes but for smells in general. I, for example, can’t stand the smell of bananas. Just the thought of them  makes me fell a bit queasy. I got train sick on a very hot train journey when I was quite a small child and I still remember vividly how horribly sick I felt and opposite me, another girl was eating bananas and since then the smell of this rather innocent fruit, reminds me of feeling nauseous.

I didn’t like all the perfumes I tried from Goest, but that don’t mean that they are bad perfumes. My overall view on the perfumes is that they are all interesting and well blended. They were also all very true to their description, which isn’t always the case with perfumes. Though I had read the descriptions when I purchased them, I didn’t re-read them until I had actually tried them, but I found that my impression was quite close to the descriptions.

Dauphine

Divinely innocent, incandescently pretty.

Inspired by the redolent imageries of Sophia Coppola's film 'Marie Antoinette', Dauphine is a clean, ideal, fresh skin scent, pink and cream and white all over. This scent has notes of pink, full blown rose; milky, fresh, sweet almond; and a reveille of innocent, airy musks. This scent is sweet, but not in a lurid, hard-candy-way; it's sweet like fresh, cream-filled, rosewater-scented pastries.

Innocent, but not immature; quiet, never cloying: this charming and refined scent is superlatively, incandescently, and, quite simply, very, very pretty.

Notes: Muscs, Almond, Roses, Cream

Aspects: Fresh, Gourmand, Ambrosial, Refined

Upon application I got roses and almonds at first whiff, with, yes, a hint of soap. The almond and soap disappeared quickly though, and I got roses and musk, with time the rose faded more and more, leaving just a trace with the musk. It really smells just as it is advertised, creamy, clean roses that are sweet but not cloying.

This perfume gave me the biggest surprise of all the Goest perfumes, because I don’t like perfumes smelling of roses. It’s not that I don’t like the smell, I do, and I can like rose perfumes when other people wear it, but it never feel like me, when I wear it. So I was hugely surprised when I not only liked Dauphine, but that I like it a lot. In fact, next to Silent Film, this is my favourite! There is something in it; I believe it may be the musk, which tugs at a memory and a good one too. I get a little tug in my heart every time I smell it, but I can’t for my life recall what it is I’m reminded of. Nevertheless, I love this!,

Grand Tour

Sport, spirit, and straight-out polish.

Grand Tour makes an excellent first impression, opening with a burst of traditional aromatic herbs and five delicious citrus fruits. As it wears, the excitement at the heart of this scent is revealed: fresh and pure sweet basil and a smooth, abstracted cedar note combine for a distinctive and energetic spiciness that revs at 4000 RPM. This effect is backed by a foundation of well-tanned leathers and elegant oakmoss for a long-wearing and sensual yet subtle sillage.

Although the classic structure of Grand Tour alludes to great bygone masculine fragrances, this scent's not just for the boys. On women, it's incredibly sexy - think a well-heeled, natural woman in a crisp men's white oxford shirt.

Fresh and invigorating for day, sensual and elegant for night: man or woman, Grand Tour is built to be your constant signature.

Notes: Woods, Tanned Leather, Oakmoss, Herbs, Citrus

Aspects: Vigorous, Adventuresome, Neat

Most of Goest perfumes can be worn by men and women, but this is the only one that really feels like a men’s perfume to me. The fist impression isn’t any notes in particular, but just men’s cologne. Not in a bad way at all, but just masculine. After a while I can detect the oakmoss and there is a faint citrus somewhere behind that. After several hours it is leather and herbs. I like it; it is perfectly wearable for a woman as well and feels very fresh.

Jackal

Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

Jackal opens with the scent of dry, powdered chocolate tempered with a hint of beckoning, mouthwatering vanilla. As it settles into the skin, the most darkly charismatic side of patchouli appears, cloaked in a multifaceted, sensual smokiness of many associations: the sweet, swooning scent of toasted tobacco - the bitter, magnetic smell of money - faraway fires in the woods.

This bottomless scent is the epitome of the anti-perfume. Though it has an original glamour, it is not the cosmetic powder-cloud of classic scents of fashion; and though it is natural and earthy, it has nothing of the biting, traditional terpenes of the hitchhiker's tonic. Jackal's essential effect is that of your own skin, only sexier; it is the essential effect of you, made simply more magnetic. Jackal wears very close to the skin and easily enhances other perfumes.

To all sensual men and women: where will you end, and Jackal begin?

Notes: Sweet Smoke, Dirt, Bitter Chocolate

Aspects: Earthy, Animalic, Dark, Vast

Jackal was all chocolate when I first applied it, with an interesting earthy quality. I was, however, not sure if I liked it and then J came into sniffing distance and had a very dramatic reaction on it. Now, J is interested in perfume all by his own and has a nice collection himself, so he is definitely not anti-perfume. This one he disliked intensely, though and I think it may have biased me a bit as well- I do prefer J to think I smell nice. But there is also the matter of that earthiness that soon revealed itself as patchouli. My body amps patchouli and most perfumes that have that note ends up smelling just patchouli on me. And though it isn’t a bad scent, my paternal grandmother wore a perfume where it was a prominent note. So even if I didn’t dislike Jackal, it truly wasn’t a perfume for me. If you like chocolate and patchouli, though, then I think you have a hit.

Lartigue

A little bottle of precious sun, swim, and sail.

Lartigue opens up on the skin with a bright, airy, and succulent show of abstract fruits and superfresh citrus. It progresses to reveal a green, clean, and joyous heart backed by a base of watery woods and clean earth. Inspired by the beatific and eternal Riviera portrayed in the images of 20th-century master photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, this Goest scent celebrates all in life that is liberated, enthusiastic, and on-the-spot.

Forget what you know about usual "sport" scents, those brash and metallic colognes that are the olfactory equivalent of shoulder armor, spandex, and a helmet. Lartigue, by happy contrast, is modern, clean, and elegant, and cuts a handsome figure clothed in pristine tennis whites.

(And, in the true spirit of modernity, this scent is great for both men and women.)

Notes: Woods, Peach, Citrus, Sun, Air

Aspects: Succulent, Bright, Modern, Fresh

This perfume opens up with a blast of lemon on me, and there it stays. I can’t detect anything else and it fades very quickly on me, after an hour it is gone. It’s very nice as long as it lasts, though. A very good scent for a hot day, as the feeling of it is so cool and light.

Realism

A green tableau in four dimensions: bring the outdoors in.

Realism opens with a buzzing, resinous green swell of grasses, herbs, and blossoms giving off their freshness in the heat of the sun. Supported by damp petals and black soil, the soft and expansive smell of crushed stems from a fruit tree fills the heart of this scent, breathing a sublime greenspace for hours. In the drydown, a sleepy accord of ultraprecious hay absolute and quiet cedar.

It's Realism, but more than that. Its realism isn't that of a bookplate from a botany book, but that of one of Courbet's tableaus, if it unfolded in three--actually, four--dimensions.

Unisex, and no less gorgeous for it.

Notes: A Crushed Stem, Soil, Herbs, Hay, Citrus

Aspects: Green, Sunshot, and Blooming

If Lartigue was a blast of lemon, Realism is a blast of freshly cut grass. This is truly a really green scent and it reminds me, though I have yet to smell them side by side, of vintage Vent Vert from Balmain. That is a very good thing in my book- I love Vent Vert. I get the same feeling of it as I got from Lartigue, a scent for a hot day, but Realism also have staying power. The dry down gets just drier, the grass turns into hay and you can detect the cedar. Unusual and lovely.

I am very happy that I tried Goest, I think the quality match the bottles and advertisement. I really want a bigger bottle of Silent Film, and I want more of Dauphine, Grand Tour and Realism as well. I would also try any new perfumes they may present in the future.

Goest perfumes

 I think I have found a little gem. Last week I stumbled over a picture of a perfume bottle that I felt compelled to look at a little closer. It had a nice Art Deco feel to it and when I followed the link I found this little perfume company, Goest, on Etsy. As you may remember I really love perfume and investigating the wonderful world of vintage perfume has been a joy these past years. It has also been quite expensive. So I wouldn’t mind at all finding perfume that evokes a vintage feel while being new. I think I may have found it.

This is what they say about themselves:

We're Goest Perfumes. Welcome to your new metaphysical wardrobe. Our purpose? To bring you prestige-quality fragrance that's distinctively-designed, very handmade, and whose aim is true.

We don't set any artificial bars to excellent fragrance, and work (with our very own hands) with small quantities so you can actually afford to have things like rose absolute (which you're not going to find in mainstream fragrance due to price) in the perfume you wear every day. No material is off limits, and our sources run the gamut: we've used precious flower absolutes, low-tech essential oils, hi-tech commercial syntheses, house-made herb and tea tinctures, and traditional Indian attars. Our only binding parameters are safety, excellence, fair prices, and always, great scent design.

There are a lot of fragrances out there. But between dandy, highfalutin, exclusive "branding" perfumers where you're just paying for marketing, and cheap and cheery--and terribly boring--fruity florals, there isn't a lot for the aesthete who wants to smell good. We aim to fill that niche with a vengeance.


This company is also somewhat experimental. You'll be able to get things here that you absolutely, positively, would never find anywhere else. That we don't go along with the crowd more or less entails that not everyone is going to like what we do. But if you find yourself going to Sephora and not relating to any of the cotton-candy-florals or deodorant/cleaning product scents they offer; if you feel like you put a lot of thought into your style and environment but can't seem to find a fragrance that actually fits into your world; if you just don't think perfume is that interesting: we exist for you. Welcome to your new metaphysical wardrobe. You won't smell like anyone else in the room, and before now, you've never known what a good thing that can be.


HOW WE DO IT - - - - -

Every scent we make is made with super high quality raw materials, some of which are house-made (which means you're not going to smell like the person next to you on the bus, though they might end up wishing that they smelled like you). We do everything in super small batches, testing them all rigorously (not on animals). What you get in the mail when you order your new scent is basically the result of a ton of hand-labor. We even cut and score our packaging to order. This is a couture experience that you can't get elsewhere and we're elated that we can do it for you. These aren't cheap, repackaged "fragrance oils", nor are they whole-food essential oil blends ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). They are thoughtfully, painstakingly, creatively designed, real-deal products. And you'll smell better for it.

Very seductive, if I may say so. Then there was the visual impact. Clean, nice lines with, as I said, a clear Art deco vibe. I must say that I felt instantly compelled to buy one of the large bottles just for the joy of displaying it on my vanity table. Miniature bottles, samples and general packaging are also very well designed. Someone here knows marketing- I felt prepared to buy something even before I had read the perfume descriptions. Of course, a good description is equally important- if one hasn’t had the opportunity to actually smell a perfume, you need to be made wanting to smell them.

And Goest succeed:

 

Silent Films opens with an aromatic burst of old-world lavender and mint, and settles to reveal a hypnotic and cool heart of vanilla and black spicy earth; before the night is gone, it gives way to a smoldering, powdery, and purely addictive drydown of seductive leathers, musks, and smoke.

Dark, cool, and narcotic, this animal is cast in polar absolutes: no fruit; no flowers; no noise. This perfume is not as a warm and rosy body itself, but like an uncanny image of the body, a mercurial impersonation--almost as if in a mirror, or projected on a screen…

Silent Films takes its cues from the dark and restrained drama of its namesake. Yet showy it is not. It is only the drama of significant looks exchanged from eyes rimmed with kohl; of the thrill of the unspoken; of the gestures of love which pass by silently, in the dark, on a flickering screen: where black is very black indeed, and white shines out like silver.

Totally distinctive; totally addictive; Silent Films is for bold men and bolder women.

So, it took me about ten minutes to decide I wanted to try these perfumes. As they offer a three-sample set for $11 and as they currently only have six scents, I ordered samples of all of them. Here’s my experience.

Customer service When I made my order Etsy claimed that the seller didn’t sell outside US, despite the store said otherwise. I mailed Goest and got an answer within hours that it was indeed a mistake and that they do ship internationally. I placed my order and I got a mail that my samples had been shipped the same day. It took eight days to reach me, but that is normal for packages from USA to Sweden. The samples were beautifully and well packed. I’m really pleased!

Products and price Apart from the samples, the perfumes are sold in 20 ml splash bottles for $36 or 5 ml mini-bottles for $11. There is a possibility to buy all six perfumes as a set in the mini-bottles for $50. A few of the perfumes can also be purchased in 60 ml spray bottles for $52. For perfume, that is pretty fair prices, I think. US-residents may be happy to know that samples ships free for them as I write this. Also, when purchasing a large bottle, one gets a free sample, if you request one.

And, after having waxed so lyrically over the looks and language, what do I actually think about the products? Well, I have only tried Silent Films so far and as this post is long enough as it is, here is my thoughts on that, the other five scents will be reviewed in a later post.

Notes: Vetiver, Vanilla, Leather, Smoke.

Aspects: Mysterious, Powdery, Brutal, Nostalgic.

First impression was not lavender and mint, but vanilla and smoke. Then there was vanilla and leather, with vanilla as the dominant note. Several hours into wearing it that has shifted and the leather goes more dominant. The vetiver keeps in the background, but I suspect does a lot in making this scent special.

I like this perfume a lot. I’m a former vanilla-addict, but have come to regard most vanilla-scents as too sweet and cloying. The vanilla in Silent Films is prominent, but the other notes give it a balance, depth and edge. It wraps around you like a luxurious fur coat and I have sniffed my own wrists all afternoon. I can agree on mysterious, powdery and nostalgic, though not brutal. Perhaps it would if I amped leather notes more than I do. A co-worker who sniffed me pronounced the small “warm”. Quite apt description.

 

So this first perfume has definitely delivered. I look forward to try the rest of them.

 

Habanita by Molinard

(Picture source: http://images-01.delcampe-static.net/img_large/auction/000/158/313/942_001.jpg?v=1)

I have wanted to test Habanita by Molinard for quite some time and a couple of weeks ago I got a sample of it. I got a bottle for my birthday, so now I can really indulge, because I like it a lot.

Top note: Vetiver, peach, strawberry, orange blossom
Middle note: Rose orientale, ylang-ylang, orris, lilac
Base note: Leather, vanilla, cedar wood, benzoin

Chanel No 5

I guess that there and no other perfume that has so many myths surrounding it, like Chanel No 5. Launched in 1921 it is still going strong, an eternal classic that everyone knows about. Funnily enough I have never met anyone who actually wears it. Perhaps it’s such an iconic perfume that people feel a bit afraid of it.

Top notes: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, neroli
Heart notes: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, orris, ylang-ylang
Base notes: Vetiver, sandalwood, cedar, vanilla, amber, civet, musk

A few new perfumes

Some time ago I bought some perfume samples from Yesterday’s perfume, but for some reason I haven’t got around to review them. Here are a few of them.

Arpege by Lanvin (1927)

Top notes: Bergamot, neroli, aldehydes, peach.
Heart notes: Rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang.
Base notes: Sandalwood, ambrein, vetiver, musk.

Nuit de Noel

I hope you are enjoying your holiday! Let’s have a perfum-y Christmas-post today, shall we? It seems rather suitable. I could say that I have eagerly waited to try this perfume until Christmas Eve, but that wouldn’t be quite true. I did try it before, just to make sure I liked it, but I have waited until now to talk about it. Nuit de Noel was released by Caron in 1922 and in case your French is lacking (mine is very rusty) it means Christmas night. It has a bit of a romantic story; it was created by Ernest Daltroff for his lover, who loved Christmas and its scents.

An alternative to classic perfume

Before I realized there were such a thing as vintage perfume- or rather that it was possible to actually get your mitts on them, I hadn’t used ordinary perfume for years, but solely purchased my scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, or BPAL. For some reason modern perfumes gives me headaches and I very, very often find that they have a slightly nasty smell underneath the other notes, something that most of all reminds me of water from a vase where flowers has stood too long- rancid and flowery at the same time. And though I have fallen hard for vintage perfumes, I still wear my BPAL scents when I work, so I have done a little research to see if there are any of those that evokes the same scent ideas that my vintage perfume does.

Where I shop

I love to shop- don’t we all? What I hate, though, is to actually do the physical shopping. Especially clothes. Despite loving to have clothes, I hate shopping for them with a passion and I do practically all my shopping, except for food, online. So here are a few of the places I spend my money.

Clothing and shoes
Brandos A Swedish shoe store. They don’t really sell retro shoes, but it’s there I found my reproductions rubber boots from Viking. Last time I looked they had those in two versions. I have also seen some rather 40’s looking sandals.

Flowers and leather

I’m still happily trying my way through my perfume samples. Unhappily, at least for my wallet, I find new perfumes I want to sample too, so my wish list never seems to grow shorter.
Cyprus Musc from Creed, 1948 I don’t know how I managed to buy this one, as it’s a men’s perfume. The Perfumed Court describes it as “green and musky fragrance with notes of English mint and cypress” and I think that describes it very well. It’s not overtly masculine and could easily be worn by a woman. I liked it, but my darling dismissed it as “expensive soap”.

Tabac Blond and reformulating perfumes

Tabac Blond was actually the first vintage perfume I tried and it was love at first smell. Looking at the notes it was not a perfume I expected to suit me, even if carnation and ambergris usually work well on me. Patchouli, however, usually have the dreaded “old lady” smell for me and I felt very, very unsure of the leather

Top notes: leather, linden, carnation
Heart notes: iris, vetiver, ylang ylang
Base notes: cedar, patchouli, vanilla, ambergris, musk

I’m not a smoker and I don’t like the smell of it, but tobacco does smells different from smoke. When I was a child my grandmother had an antique snuff box in silver and her brother once filled it with tobacco. Probably to tease his big sister as she was vehemently against smoking, but the tobacco stayed put and over the years it dried and the scent grow fainter. I remember opening that box and sniff at times, it smelled so nice, somehow. The first whiff of Caron’s Tabac Blond reminds me of that smell and it smells lovely. It may sound like a paradox, but it’s true. It evolves into a lovely spicy scent that is a little bit naughty- sexy, but rather quiet about it. Of the leather I detect nothing much, a mere whiff, , but when the patchouli arrives in the dry down it plays nicely and smells divine. Finally a patchouli scent I can wear! Oh, I love Tabac Blond.

Good and bad perfume surprises

A few scent surprises have come my way. First, I realized that the neat little offer from The Perfumed Court was a bit too neat- not all of the samples are perfume, but also EdT and EdP. Oh well, for that price, I shouldn’t complain, but I do wish I knew. Then I had a few surprises when it came to my assumption on which perfume that would suit me. I have always maintained that I’m not a flower girl, or for that matter very fond of cyphres, but I think I will have to modify that. I have always found them too harsh and have always assumed that is something that comes with the territory. Now I wonder if it isn’t just a modern fashion, because I find that I’m very drawn to some of the vintage florals and cyphres I have tried.

The continued perfume hunt

I took advantage of this offer at The Perfumed Court and ordered a couple of samples, plus a few others and I’m now happily testing my way through them.

The Perfumed Court

After writing my last post I set out to see which perfumes I could find. Years ago a friend recommended The Perfumed Court and though I had forgotten about it I found it again when I searched for perfumes. To quote them, they:

We specialize in offering perfume samples and perfume decants of a superlative array of fragrances. What we do is spray, pour, or use sterile pipettes to take perfume from its original large bottle and repackage it in a smaller bottle (we only use brand new sterile glass bottles) so that the consumer can try as many fragrances as they desire before buying a full bottle.

Finding the right perfume

I’m a bit of a fragrance nerd. I find it a fascinating subject and I love Luca Turin’s theory (well, he expanded it) that it isn’t a molecule’s shape that determines the scent, but its vibration, like music for your nose. Humans have actually a very good sense of smell and smelling something is a very good way to evoke a memory or a certain feeling. For me a fragrance can be a way to complete an outfit and I wear perfume every day. However, perfumes are generally alcohol-based and for some reason I find such fragrances way too strong and gives me headache. Though I love perfume, I can’t stand it when it is too strong.