Une Nuit a Doha Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

Another city inspired fragrance and this time it’s all about sweet hookah tobacco and Doha nights.

Doha at night

If you ever buy or order hookah, the tobacco leaves come very wet compared to other forms of tobacco. It’s typically infused with flavored syrups and packaged in either resealable bags or jars to keep it from drying out. Most hookah tobacco is dyed bright red for aesthetics. Flavors often resemble those you would find in a candy store from fruity to minty to chocolaty or even actual candy flavors like gummy bears.

Nuit a Doha focuses on immortelle, tobacco, and vanilla and it’s very sweet. Immortelle is somewhat difficult to describe but it smells fruity, with nuances of hay, and maple syrup. In this fragrance, I pick up hints of ripe peaches, mango, and sweet cream as well as buttery caramel, and a tiny bit of licorice. Ginger and vetiver are listed but I don’t pick up on either of them.

Tobacco can be very loud and offensive in any form and setting, but as a perfume note in this fragrance it’s very subtle and polite. It’s unburnt and adds robustness and depth to the composition.

Rolling cigars at Dona Elba in Granada, Nicaragua

On a trip to Nicaragua a few years back with my beautiful Canadian friend, we stopped at Doña Elba’s cigar shop in Granada to learn how to make hand rolled cigars. It’s located in a Spanish Colonial house, with an open air center courtyard that featured a garden with parrots. The cigar rolling station was on the courtyard patio and the materials and equipment used were all traditional, which included dried tobacco leaves, agave gum to seal the cigar, and a wooden press, to compact and form the cigars. The smell of the dried tobacco leaves wafted all around on the warm tropic breeze and I could still smell the sweet tobacco on my hands after we left. Before burning, tobacco can be a very pleasant scent but most associate tobacco with cigarettes, and that’s not at all what this perfume is about. This perfume is sweet, warm, and ambery with no smoke.

Dona Elbas

While this frag certainly sounds like it would be very unique, especially since immortelle and tobacco are mostly niche frag notes not commonly found in mainstream perfumes, I get an overall generic feel from this fragrance. There’s nothing really unforgettable about it. Dont get me wrong though, it’s a beautiful fragrance with a lot of depth made with materials that are clearly of great quality and I do really like it, but I’m not compelled to own a full bottle though I’m glad I’m got to try it.

Worlds most expensive golden hookah

The projection is moderate to high as it’s potent juice and the longevity is fantastic. It’s a beautiful fragrance that will certainly not offend anyone nor challenge the wearer. And if you enjoy immortelle and or tobacco, you should definitely check this one out!

Season: Works well year round

Top: Fennel, mandarin orange, ginger

Heart: Immortelle, tobacco

Base: Vanilla, vetiver

2022 Generation Femme Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

I’ve been on such a roll going through these Stephane Humbert Lucas samples, I’m determined now to finish reviewing the rest of the set now haha. So 2022 Generation is the name of this fragrance though I’m not completely savvy to its name or meaning. Perhaps it is in reference to the 2022 FIFA that is scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar? Lucas names most of his frags thus far in reference to places in the Middle East and the only thing I see relevant to 2022 is FIFA. I’m just guessing here but I must say the use of galbanum along side an almond and heliotrope accord in the top is most unusual. Galbanum is an incredibly potent green note while heliotrope is typically the main player in powdery fragrances along with iris and violet. With it’s cherry-almond facets that are quasi-gourmand in nature, heliotrope is a sweet fruity floral note while galbanum is an aggressive, musky gum-resin containing terpenes and even sulfur that is quite disagreeable on it’s own. And I know this from personal experience after spilling a beaker with about 15mls of galbanum tincture on my bathroom counter. The grout between the tiles soaked it up and my bathroom reeked of galbanum for weeks lol. Needless to say, these are two notes that are not usually coupled together. But Lucas has clearly worked some type of sorcery allowing these two conflicting notes to play well together.

Galbanum plant

The galbanum doesn’t last very long though since it’s a top note. Within 10 minutes or so it’s completely dissipated and I’m left with a bright sweet heliotrope, cherry-almond, and tonka accord that becomes increasingly sweet moving into the heart. This is quite enjoyable and anyone that loves heliotrope should certainly give this one a try. It’s a very modern, fruity floral. And though the heart is a familiar play on heliotrope and almonds, the galbanum opening alongside these notes make for a very unique opening.

Potted heliotrope

Apricot is listed though I don’t pick up on it much nor the white tea. But it’s still a very fruity scent from the cherry-almond of the heliotrope. The projection is moderate to high. I dabbed a small bit on my left hand and I can smell it from almost a meter away so this is some potent juice! It lasts a very long time too, which for me is a major plus since most heliotrope frags I have are low projection skinscents that fade into the base after a few hours.

A few of my favorite heliotrope perfumes, Guerlain Meteorites center

I still detect heliotrope all the way through to the base but now it’s alongside sandalwood and tonka. Though I am not a fan of cherry notes I actually adore heliotrope and this perfume does the note more than fair justice. It’s sweet but not cloying though I imagine a heavy hand could really amp up this juice since it’s so potent. I love that this frag really brings out the cherry-almond nuances of heliotrope rather than suppress it to crush it into a powdery fragrance. Because this perfume isn’t very powdery at all though my nose tries to convince me that it is since my associations of heliotrope have all been with powdery fragrances. But nope, no powder. Just heady heliotrope in all it’s glory and just LOVE it. Will be buying a bottle of this!!!

Season: Spring/ Summer but works well year round

Top: Nectarine, neroli, almond, galbanum

Heart: White tea, heliotrope, cherry-almond

Base: Sandalwood, tonka, jasmine

Rose de Petra Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

When I think of Petra, I think dry dusty, and ancient. Of course the first image that comes to mind is of the great temple of Al-Khazneh, that’s carved into the side of the pink sandstone canyon wall. Al-khazneh, known as “The Treasury”, was thought to contain hidden treasures and pirate loot and is one of the most popular tourist attractions, if not the most popular attraction, in Jordan.

Rose de Petra is not a dry dusty rose however so it’s difficult for me to abstractly connect this fragrance with the location. To me, this fragrace is a humid, dewy, sweet, and boozy deep burgandy rose, growing in the proximity of an open air spice market.

Rose de Petra opens with a sugary candied rose, sweetened by litchi and pomegranate. It’s also very spicy with pepper and cardamom. It’s in the same vein as a rose/oud though oud is not listed as a note. But it definitely feels like there’s a small amount in the composition along with patchouli, though both are very much in the background. And even though cumin is listed, I detect none.

While I generally dislike overly ripened fruit notes, the litchi and pomegranate are perfectly ripe and are used here in the best way, supporting and enhancing the rose without ever becoming too dominate or cloying. Think sweetened rosewater, which is a very inexpensive luxury to have especially during the hot summer months. I keep an atomizer of rosewater in my bag to refresh and cool myself during the grueling summer days on the go.

My go-to rosewater spray

For a spicy rose perfume, this one is very tame compared to others in this group. It seems to come and go throughout the course of the day, playing a bit of hide and seek. I almost concluded it had poor longevity then I would catch another waft of this intoxicatingly beautiful fragrance.

Though rose-centric perfumes are not in short supply, I think this one is different enough to stand on it’s own. The use of juicy sweet notes along with the dry spicy notes give this rose a unique feel and very modern, Western twist to the long held Middle Eastern tradition of spicy roses.

Season: All

Top: Litchi, pomegranate, Rose

Heart: Deep Bulgarian rose

Base: Pepper, cardamom, cumin

Oumma Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

Oumma was created during the peak of the Western oud bandwagon and is a very standard, dare I say generic, rose/oud perfume even if it IS incredibly well blended and very smooth, non-abrasive. Oud can be very aggressive and even fecal, hence the phrase “barnyard oud”, but not here. Oumma takes that raw agarwood and sands it down and down further with very fine grit sandpaper until it’s smooth as glass. For what is normally a dirty note, the oud in this composition is about as clean as it gets.

Oumma opens with a synthetic top that’s almost plastic-y but this phase rapidly gives way to a very refined, polished woody oud and heady rose in full bloom. Jasmine adds a sweetness to the mix, while the balsams add the feel of incense. There’s nothing really new about the combination of these notes here. Nothing unique, nothing original. But the fragrance is pretty nonetheless. To me it’s a very gothic/ noir scent, better suited for cooler evenings.

The sillage and projection are fairly low surprisingly. Most oud-centric frags are serious powerhouses, monsters even. But Oumma settles into a skinscent within a few minutes of spraying on. That can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. It also doesn’t seem to last as long as the others I’ve tried from this house, which is actually pretty odd since oud basenotes are known to last a very long time. Which leaves me to conclude that this is most likely synthetic oud but I have no way of knowing for sure.

Fragrant agarwood beads

Overall, I enjoy the fragrance. It reminds me of Midnight Oud and even Rose Anonyme, though out of the three, I think I’d actually prefer Oumma for its smooth and clean qualites. But for the price and lack of longevity, there really are better rose/ouds available, value-wise. I’m still glad I got to test this one though. I love trying and comparing rose/ouds and though I wished it lasted longer, Oumma is very nice while it lasts.

Season: Fall/Winter

Top: Rose, jasmine

Heart: Peru balsam, tolu balsam

Base: oud, cedar, cyperus

O Hira Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

Though Fragrantica has this listed as straight up ambergris, this is really a labdanum and resin bomb. My last post was somewhat of a rant over these two notes inspired by finding the note pyramid for this fragrance on Fragrantica, what a joke lol.

So it’s all about amber here, but ambergris? I think not. I don’t really get any of that salty marine aroma though I’m sure it must be in there. It HAS to be, because this is incredibly expensive juice. A 50 ml bottle retails over $700 USD!!! Labdanum in itself is not a very expensive nor rare material at all so my only guess is that the price reflects the materials but this is just an assumption. Mr. Lucas could actually be pulling our leg here, bluffing the ambergris note since the actual notes were not divulged. I was actually surprised LuckyScent added it in as a free sample with my purchase to be honest since it costs so much lol.

What I detect most is honeyed labdanum, which is a balsam from the cistus plant, commonly called rock rose. This is dreamy labdanum though as the turpinoids and tar like qualities have been greatly smoothed out and sweetened. I pick up lots of benzoin which adds spicy cinnamon and vanilla nuances to the composition. There’s actually enough cinnamon that it could be its own note here.

This fragrance has a very leathery overall feel to it. It’s dirty but not cumin or civet dirty, but sweaty birch tar dirty. Brand new leather. It’s also a little boozy from honey. It smells like it should be sticky after being sprayed on skin, as concentrated labdanum tincture can be as well as honey. As a side note, at least honey can be washed off with water. Labdanum is not water soluble and if the absolute gets on skin it has to be dissolved with alcohol or some type of spirit but that’s the nature of resins and most balsams.

While I absolutely adore labdanum and this fragrance masterfully showcases the note as there’s no denying its beauty, there’s no way I could justify buying a full bottle since to me, it’s just a labdanum “soliflore” and I could easily mix one up myself from my collection of EOs and absolutes. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I could recreate this fragrance because I can’t or that my little tincture would be as nice as O’ Hira becauseit wouldn’t be. I don’t have all those materials readily available. I’m nota trained perfumer and I’m not THAT arrogant haha. What I AM saying though, is that I could very easily and cheaply tincture some cistus absolute that would satisfy any urge to wear a labdanum soliflore should one arise lol. And I’d still have my $700. Bottom line: yes it’s nice and the bottle is awesome but it’s not worth the asking price IMO. Next.

Season: Fall/Winter
Notes: Who really knows but definitely labdanum lol

Soleil de Jeddah Stephane Humbert Lucas 777

Judging solely on the notes listed on Fragrantica, this isn’t a fragrance I would have fervently sprung for even though I am a huge osmanthus fan. Combining osmanthus with a leather note raised a red flag, because leather notes can be very dirty. But I received samples with my purchase from LuckyScent and man this stuff is GOOD! I will definitely be ordering a full bottle!

Soleil de Jeddah opens with a sweet candied lemon, osmanthus, and ironically intense chamomile accord. I say ironically because chamomile isn’t typically a note that comes to mind when thinking about intense perfume notes, like oud for example. After drydown, the lemon gives way to a delicious vanilla note alongside the osmanthus, and chamomile. Vetiver isn’t listed in the notes but my nose picks it up here nonetheless. It’s a very light vetiver though and gives the composition a very subdued masculine feel, making this frag very unisex, though overall it DOES lean more feminine. The heart is sharply sweet from the osmanthus and vanilla, with moderate projection, so even though it’s sweet, it’s not all in your face. And it’s not sweet so much in the gourmand sort of way but more floral sweet. This stage lasts a long time, but it does seem to me that SHL fragrances have some serious lasting power, which makes it a more justifiable purchase since frags from this house do not come cheap. The base is a softer version of the heart. I never really detect the leather or the ambergris.

Osmanthus bush

Here in the southern US osmanthus, or commonly known here as “tea olive”, is a fairly popular evergreen landscaping shrub. While the flowers are in no way showy or even particularly attractive, the fragrance is incredibly intoxicating. They are potent in the same way that gardenias are, where even a gentle breeze can carry their fragrance on the wind. And even though the plant itself looks like a plain, generic green bush, they are anything but and make beautifully fragrant additions to any garden or landscape. And Soleil de Jeddah is one fragrance that really does justice to this incredibly gorgeous smelling flower. It really amps up the chamomile and gives it a much more heady aroma.

This fragrance is very unique but not completely alien to my nose since I can pick out some of the notes. But it’s surely something you won’t smell on everyone since these notes are not so commonly used like rose and jasmine are, for example.

Jeddah

I’ve never been to Saudi so I cannot really understand the connection between this perfume and the city of Jeddah. My associations are all based on my experience with the notes themselves. But I do know that Jeddah is a huge business hub and basically the gateway to Mecca, so I imagine the people do their best to keep it nice. And if this is what Jeddah sunshine smells like, count me in! Because it gorgeous!

Season: Spring/Summer
Top: Lemon, chamomile, osmanthus
Heart: Iris, ambergris
Base: Vanilla, leather, iris

Royal Extract Guerlain

Royal Extract falls into a small group of anomalous perfumes Guerlain has released in limited productions over the years. Vol de Nuit Evasion, Attrape Cœur, Guet Apens, Royal Extract, and a few others too. They all have different names and different packaging but they are all essentially the exact same fragrance.

Among Guerlain collectors, it’s more of a third tier collection piece. Top tier being the über rare, $25k collection piece flacons, like Shalimar Indes & Merveilles or the L’Abeilles flacons, which are practically museum worthy pieces. Second tier being the Lalique or Baccarat crystal pieces and even the porcelain Mitsouko flacons, for example. But for regular folks like myself, THIS is top shelf stuff.

Photo from my personal collection: VdN Evasion, Guet Apens, & Attrape Cœur.

I’ve had the pleasure of hunting down and owning three versions of this fragrance in Vol de Nuit Evasion in the traditional Cœur cap “L’heure bleue” bottle, Attrape Cœur in the Persiennes bee bottle, and Guet Apens in the cobalt blue lantern bottle. Royal Extract took several years to be able to test though because it’s such a limited exclusive and was only released to Harrods in London, so testers in the US are few and far between, much less full bottles. I was lucky to come across a decent size decant for swap on Fragrantica and I swapped my partial bottle of current formula Mitsouko EdP for it (which I’ve since replaced with a vintage full of oakmoss). To me, it was a great score because I’ve been dying to test it out and compare it to the others.

Guerlain is known for often releasing previously discontinued fragrances. But the re-releases more often than not come with some tweaking of the juice, meaning of course, reformulations. And this frag was tweaked every time it was released. It’s very obvious not only in the color of the juices, but in side by side comparisons. The scent itself, Royal Extract, is much more refined, cleaner, brighter and even sweeter than Guet Apens but it’s still that same fragrance I’ve come to love so much. Over the past 3 years, this perfume has become my most favorite fragrance to date. And not because of the “thrill of the chase” with it being such a rare, discontinued unicorn, but the scent itself is so incredibly gorgeous, it sends me into bliss. I could drown myself in this juice, figuratively speaking of course, ha. To me, it’s the most beautiful ambered vanilla I’ve ever had. And Guerlain is well known as the master of vanilla perfumes. From their iconic and historical flagship fragrance Shalimar to their coveted exclusives like Spiriteuse Double Vanille, Cuir Beluga, and Mon Precieux Nectar, which are considered some of the creme de la creme of exclusive vanilla perfumes and I own them all and truly love them all, but I love this one the most. I just really can’t get enough.

Screenshot of Notes listed on Fragrantica

Though these are Orientals, Guet Apens and to a lesser degree, Evasion, are heavy with labdanum, giving them a woody chypre undercurrent, faint but detectable. Royal Extract on the other hand, leaves out this “dirty” bit and focuses more on the vanilla and peach. To my nose, it’s very similar to Mon Precieux Nectar in that they both carry the same sweet honey viscosity (not literally, in the thickness of the juice itself, but rather how it is perceived). They are about the same level of sweetness, brightness, though MPN features a prominent almond note, Royal Extract being peach. I would dare say they share the same base.

Though many perfumistas couldn’t care less about this relatively obscure little group of discontinued perfumes, much less this one incarnation of it, die-hard Guerlainophiles go nuts over this stuff and clearly I am in that latter group haha. Why is it that Guerlain continues to seduce and tease with these limited releases? Why change the name, the bottle, and presentation of this fragrance every time? Though I have no idea, I can say definitively that it lends an air of mystery and evasiveness even, to the entire “hoopla” surrounding this fragrance and its history. And it gives us Guerlainophiles sort of a scavenger hunt if you will, that adds notches to the perfumista belt of experience. Because the truth is, not many perfumistas will ever get a chance to try even one version of this fragrance, much less four versions of it. And yes, I am proud of this little accomplishment, truth be told haha.

In every case of collecting items, whatever they may be, there are always coveted pieces that are rare and highly sought after. From stamps to train sets, to art and even cars, perfume collecting is no different. So I feel very lucky and very grateful to that super Fragrantican that afforded me the opportunity to try out this rare and gorgeous fragrance. And even though I practically already knew what it was going to smell like before I even received it, I’m still super thrilled that I got to experience Royal Extract and its subtle differences for myself. ❤

Photo credit to Monsieur Guerlain

* Fragrantica has this currently listed incorrectly as “Royal Extrait” instead of Royal Extract.

Lazy Sunday Morning Maison Martin Margiela

Lazy Sunday Morning is a super clean, unisex summer fragrance. It’s light and airy with just a touch of sweetness. Think clean laundry, snuggled up in a warm blanket just out of the dryer. This is the epitome of the “clean linens drying in the sun while the summer breeze carries the fragrance of flowers in full bloom” fantasy. It’s soapy clean with just a hint of florals.

The main notes I detect while wearing are clean white musk/ambroxan slightly sweetened by pear and orange blossoms with a hint of lily of the valley and roses. And though patchouli is listed as a base note I really don’t detect it at all. The dried down base, to me smells very much like Juliette Has a Gun “Anyway” and “Not a Perfume”, if you’ve ever tried them before. 

I get a solid 6 hours of wear, which is pretty good for an eau de toilette. And though the projection is relatively low, staying close to the skin, the sillage is incredibly beautiful. I would love to have the candle version of this!

Lazy Sunday Morning is very easy to wear and completely non-offensive so it would work well as an office friendly/close quarters type fragrance. It’s squeaky clean and oh so cozy. A fragrance for when you don’t want to wear a fragrance as it wears as if it were a second skin or a better smelling version of yourself lol. If you love soapy clean fragrances without the super synthetic detergent vibe, this is a beautiful one to check out! 

Season: Spring/Summer

Top: Aldehydes, Pear, Lily of the Valley

Heart: Rose, Iris, Orange Blossom

Base: White Musk, Patchouli, Ambrette

Love Don’t Be Shy By Kilian

Calice Becker is a very well known “nose” in the fragrance world and the creator behind several perfumes I really love like Tom Fords Velvet Orchid, Christian Diors J’ Adore, and Vera Wang’s Rock Princess. She’s also the nose behind Liaisons Dangereuses By Kilian, one of my very fave’s, so I was super excited to try another one of her creations for this house.

An undaunted powerhouse of syrupy saccharine gourmand goodness, Love Don’t be Shy is fit for the Gods and isn’t shy at all. She is confident and self assured. Deliciously ambrosial. This has got to be the sweetest perfume I’ve ever smelled lol. 

The main notes are vanilla, caramel, and sugar and while I don’t get very much caramel at all, I DO get lots of sweet vanilla and sugar. This is vanilla ice cream sweet. Not the pale yellow homemade style where the vanilla is spicy and obvious but super white softserve; refined and a bit more abstract. 

 
It’s garnished great reviews but I can’t get past how overly sweet it is.  I am a fan of sweet frags don’t get me wrong, and based on the notes I should love it, but this one was just a bit too much for me. A bit cloying. And the longer it sits the sweeter it gets because the initial spray isn’t as sweet as it eventually becomes in the heart notes.

The sillage is great though and the longetivity is outstanding as it should be for a fragrance of this caliber. It really only needs one or two sprays to really project and last through out the day.

If you are a sweet gourmand lover this one is worth giving a try though there really are other sugared vanilla frags out there for a much better value. By Kilians retail around $290 though I’ve seen testers on eBay as low as $80. But if you like sugar sweet, this is probably the creme de la creme of sugared vanillas.❤

Season: Winter

Top: Neroli, Bergamot, Pink pepper, Coriander

Heart: Iris, Rose, Jasmine, Honey suckle, Orange blossom

Base: Musk, Vanilla, Civet, Caramel, Sugar, Labdandum

Love in Black Creed

The first time I tried Love in Black I was on a trip in Playa del Carmen and my first thought was “Meteorites”, only sharper.  I loved the powdery volet and iris accord and ended up buying a bottle.  I couldn’t wait to test them side by side when I got home.

Although they are very different fragrances when comparing side by side, they are also very similar in that they share the powdery violet/iris, makeup vibe.  It smells like a very high-end fragranced compact.

It takes a while to get to that soft stage though. Love in Black is extremely shrill and metallic on opening and takes a bit to really settle. On my skin, this takes about 30 minutes.  The black currant battles the violets for center stage during the heart but once it dries and settles, it becomes a very soft, fluffy, powder.

I think it’s a very delicate, sweet perfume after dry down, although the black currant never really settles quite as much as I’d like it to.  It’s not overpoweringly sweet though.

It never grows cloying on me either but sometimes it is a bit much in the opening.  Thankfully this one only gets softer and better over time. The final base notes are incredibly beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of Lipstick Rose with the violet and rose.

LiB has incredible longetivity for such a dainty perfume and leaves a gorgeous sillage. The projection starts out rather robust but gradually tapers off into an amazing skinscent that was still very present long after the Metrorites faded away completely.

To me, this perfume is all about make up and powder but it’s powerful enough to be a great evening prrfume, though I find it wears well during the day and year round at that, which is an acomplishment in itself.  

My first impressions of Creed was that the juice was understated and the house overhyped. But this frag is what really brought me around. This is my second purchase from the house after VIW and, though I wasn’t fully convinced of houses quality the first few times I tested their fragrances, LiB completely changed my mind. It’s a beautiful fragrance; strong but delicate and very long lasting. 

Season: All

Top notes: Italian Violet, Virginia Cedar, Wildflowers

Heart notes: Iris, Cloves, Musk

Base notes: Black Currant, Bulgarian Rose