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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Perfume Review: Potter & Moore Fragrances

I have not heard about Potter & Moore until BeautyHabit began carrying their line of fragrances, candles and bath and body products, and yet the company has supposedly been in business since 1749! John Potter and William Moore started as "physic gardeners" cultivating herbs and flowers, with lavender as their speciality. The recently launched new English Classics range was meant to celebrate Potter and Moore's "tradition of natural fragrance blending" and to represent "the romance and charm of British cottage industry".

The company invites the wearer to establish his or her own "daily signature scent ritual":
Light a Potter and Moore Candle ($36.00/200g) in your favourite scent and indulge yourself with a softly scented bath with Potter and Moore Bathing Milk ($36.00/175ml) with aloe vera to smooth your skin.

Gently whisk away dry skin with the Cane Sugar Body Exfoliator ($45.00/150g) with shea butter and cocoa butter to nourish your body, then wash with a Fine Triple Milled Soap ($27.00/2x100g) which contains 25 per cent moisturising cream to prevent dryness. Follow with the Luxury Body Creme ($45.00/150ml) with pure honey and cocoa and shea butters to leave your skin perfectly smooth and softly scented.

Finally spritz on your signature Eau De Toilette ($63.00/100ml) and leave the house knowing that the scent of true elegance will follow your every move.
Today I am reviewing the Eaux de Toilette.

Bergamot & Green Ginger. "A fragrance to give you confidence and poise." Bergamot & Green Ginger is a fragrance that appears to be refreshingly simple, a harmonious, straightforward, smooth composition with bergamot in the leading role. It starts with the lively, bright bergamot note spiced up by ginger, and that core accord will last troughout the scent's development, however, at various stages of the fragrance's progress on my skin, I smell flowers: a little bit of lilac in the beginning, quite a lot of jasmine in the middle and plenty of delicate roses. The rose note is particularly strong, a gently-sweet, juicy rose that should make this scent very atractive to the fans of such perfumes are Rosine Une Zest de Rose, Flowerbelle Rouse and Parfums 06130 Yuzu Rouge. Pretty, fresh, very summery, Bergamot & Green Ginger should be delightful in hot weather.

Lavender & Italian Lemon. "A fragrance to add to the charm of life." Lavender & Italian Lemon seems to me to be a take on a traditional Eau de Cologne theme, with a spiky, herbal twist of lavender. Lavender greets the wearer in the beginning of the scent, it is a cool, airy note, bracing but not harsh. After a while, lemon and neroli become apparent, and lavender not so much disappears - no, it stays perceptible till the very end- as loses some of its bright edge and becomes softer. The three notes are more or less all I smell in the fragrance. Lavender & Italian Lemon is very pleasant, soothing and refreshing. Because of the abundance of citrus and citrus-floral notes, it would perhaps be more attractive for the lovers of eau de cologne genre rather than the connoisseurs of lavender.

Orange Flower & Amber. "A fragrance to heighten your natural radiance." Not the most exciting orange blossom scent I have ever encountered, Orange Flower & Amber is an understated, soft, gauzy fragrance, in which the amber note, though vaguely present, doesn't seem to contribute much to the blend, not adding to the orange blossom either warmth, or depth, or complexity. The perfume is perfectly wearable and very pleasant but rather dull.

Spiced Tuberose & Orchid. "A fragrance to captivate your natural bloom." The strongest and the most complex of the five scents, Spiced Tuberose & Orchid is my favorite in the collection. It smells like a less sweet, spicier version of Shiseido's Message from Orchids, and at the same time something about its creamy, vaguely fruity, slightly earthy blossoms reminds me of Ford's Black Orchid. It is much less interesting than either of those two scents, but it has an attractive exotic vibe and floral richness, which I find very attractive. It is velvety, honeyed, languid and overall quite appealing.

Tea Rose & Sage. "A fragrance to enhance your enduring loveliness." Tea Rose & sage is a green take on rose, herbal, minty, even a little earthy. Sage and other grassy, leafy notes are very prominent in the beginning. At that point, the fragrance makes me think of smelling not roses themselves but the damp soil, grass and fallen leaves and petals under the rose bushes. Unfortunately, about ten minutes into the development, a bothersome watery, cucumber-like note appears on my skin. After it disappears, the greenness in general starts to subside leaving behind a sweet rose fragrance with a soapy and at the same time strangely waxy undertone. I will pass.

All five scents and the accompanying products are available at BeautyHabit, $63.00 for 100ml.

21 Comments:

Blogger tmp00 said...

While I like the idea a coordinated products, there is kind of a point where it becomes overkill: this line kind of skirts that edge. It just lacks dental floss and ambient car spray to go over it.

10:19 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was getting ready to take the plunge and buy a full bottle of Yuzu Rouge for summer, but maybe I should check out Bergamot & Green Ginger first. I love Un Zest and Rouse, too, so this sounds right up my alley! Does the ginger note stay fairly prominent?

11:30 PM EDT  
Blogger lilybp said...

Well, I kinda agree with Tom about all the products. Also, nothing here really moves old, jaded me. The Bergamot and Green Ginger sounds nice, but. . . I think I would prefer it as a tea.

6:32 AM EDT  
Blogger elle said...

I got samples of all of these because the price point is certainly right and I love the history of the company. However, I've reached a point where unless something registers as at least a 7.4 on my perfume richter scale, I just can't be bothered to buy it and these were pleasant enough, but none registered more than a gentle 3.1 (that was the tuberose one).

7:24 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Tom,
I absolutely agree. :-)

8:09 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Amy,
I think it would be great for summer. Ginger is not screaming loud, but fairly prominent.

8:09 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Judith,
Nothing moves me too. but then lately hardly anything does. Jaded is a good word :-)

8:11 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

L,
The tuberose was 3-ish on my scale too. Bergamot maybe 2-ish. For the rest the earth didn't move at all :-)

8:12 AM EDT  
Blogger marchlion said...

Soapy! Waxy! Let's add those to Scentzilla's tee shirt list of words we don't want in our perfume descriptions ... although I guess I'd put up with waxy related to tuberose. Or wax. ;-) And I thought I'd never get tired of orange blossom, and I wuz wrong.

8:30 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Tuberose & Orchid, along with Bergamot & Green Ginger sound the most appealing to me. Although from the name, I would have thought Orange Flower & Amber would have been the most appealing, your tepid review says otherwise.

8:33 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

March,
I got tired and bored of orange blossom scents a while ago. The note is too ubiquitous. An orange blossom perfume has to have an incredible oomph or a twist to it for me to love it. Lutens's is one such scent.

8:36 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Minsun,
Those two appealed the most to me too. Not enough to buy them, but still.

8:37 AM EDT  
Blogger NowSmellThis said...

Bergamot & Green Ginger is the only one that sounds appealing, and even that one doesn't sound like something I *need*.

11:14 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

R,
I too don't think you'll need, those you'll probably like it.

12:06 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The cure for perfume jadedness is exploring the classics. I've recently acquired a bunch of samples--some vintage, some currently produced. Every day is exciting. Of course, you guys are way ahead of me. You've been there and done that. Today, for the first time I'll try the Diorissimo parfum. I blush with embarassment at my gap in knowledge--and with excitement.

12:13 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Maria,
Oh, Diorissimo! Please share you impressions!!

12:32 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,
Coincidentally, Victoria and I got to sniff this line the other day. The only one I liked was the Bergamot and Green Ginger. The only reason I didn't buy it,was because I recently purchased Nandebary Green and I didn't want 2 similar scents. It's a nice fresh scent though and great for summer.

Vic liked the Orange Flower and Amber the best.

Have a great day!

Dawn

2:22 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Dawn,
You had a mini-sniffa? How fun!

2:26 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi again.

Yep, it was a mini-sniffa. There's a resort in Laguna Beach called The Montage and they have a little parfumerie. They carry L'Artisan, Creed, Neal Harris, TDC, Tocca, Potter&Moore, SMN, Serge Lutens, etc.

Most of them we had sniffed before but there were some we hadn't. They had Molinard on display that day, so I got to finally sniff Habanita, Iles des Or, etc. In the Molinard line I actually like the Gardenia de Molinard. It was a nice watery Gardenia scent.

We had a really nice time and I ended up purchasing Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan. I adore it.

Hope you're move went well and you are settling in. :)

Dawn

6:05 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Dawn,
Sounds fantastic! Congratulations of Ambre Sultan!

7:45 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is the first scent that I have had noticed...it smells clean and fresh. There are some subtle notes but it is simply a enhancement and not a perfume "SHIELD".

6:06 PM EST  

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