La Bague d'O

(gifted) while pouring over my newly aqcuired sample set, i hastened and chose to test out la bague d'o first, due to my intrigue in the metallic note, referred to as a steel chain on this fragrance's description. the top notes are interesting, not unpleasant, and the metallic note is conveyed in a manner i can only describe as cold. upon first spray, i did begin to picture a steel chain, though on my skin it veered near blood-like, which i have no complaints about! la bague d'o felt slightly eerie, like a forbidden love (or lust.) typically i am not fond of rose, though for me, i did not detect that familiar, cloying soapy scent rose usually creates. there was a sweet, slightly soapy floral aspect for sure, but more or less blanketed by the powerful animalic note which settled and soothed itself in the contrasting nature of flowers and metal, and i found that complimentary and refreshing in comparison to most floral-dominant fragrances. i would advise to sample first since animalic notes are not always enjoyable for everyone, and the best way i can describe it is musky & a little dirty in a good way. the base notes of patchouli, amber, and musk generate a lightly spicy, herbal, neat finish and while i wouldn't personally wear this everyday, it makes for an interesting, sensual scent. longetivity is agreeable as well – not eternal, but it will get you through an evening spent sharing a bottle of wine with someone you want but can't have, staring at merlot stained lips you'll never kiss. it's enrapturing; the more i smell it the more i appreciate it. la bague d'o paints a picture of a fantasized rendezvous and feels like deliciously agonizing cat-and-mouse foreplay; primal, playful, and hungry. tldr; hypnotic, sensual, best worn with not-so-guilty longing

💌 Within this round, this crimson hued, this frozen lake of thine with those three burning dancers treading amidst thy misty stillness, the dove’s blood perchance was shed upon me. Searing blades from mine ankles pend bound with burgundy satin ribands, sudden they twine round my limbs, constricting the vein, pillars of roseate lime my stature grows and a waxen bed, all afire, melting in the far- off gloam. Sudden I recall the art of whirl and ceaseless, in my solitude, the rime I begin to harvest poised betwixt the piercing of the deep or to be flung afar, a golden spindle, three burning dancers spin in dizzying haste around me cleaving the saltless plain, within their gaze the dove’s blood dwells, they cast their smiles upon me and they rive my frozen field asunder, rive my frozen field, rive my fro, rive my fro, rive, rive, rive, rive, rive, rive, rive, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, rv, like unto three golden fire flies, by Aphrodite’s hand despatched to try me, if in very truth I have e'er been loved, with their flaming blades, the frost they do undo. (It’s 23:10 May 21st in Athens, Greece)

Please don’t let the reference to The Story of O put you off this exquisite rose scent. La Bague d’O is not a strident animalic S&M fragrance - look to something like Lust by Lush for that. Instead it’s a beautiful, juicy, alluring floriental - for me this is happy, passionate sex, not pain. The rose, orange and geranium are so well blended that it’s hard to tell which note is which, and that touch of metal adds a depth to the patchouli which feels romantic rather than overpowering. It reminds me of a warmer, more playful La Fille de Berlin by Serge Lutens, which has the same geranium/ metallic tang. (If you want to try a truly metallic/ blood soaked perfume then L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Deliria does the job, but it ain’t pretty). La Bague D’O has taken it’s place alongside Portrait of a Lady and Eau Capitale as one of my favourite rose fragrances. This is a brunette beauty, feasting on red wine and sweet meats and pomegranates, before seducing her lover in a moonlit garden. If anyone is in metal chains, it’s him. A sensual, vintage inspired scent that has the potential to become a modern classic.

I was pleasantly surprised with this, and it took me two wears to decide that I love this. Patchouli is never something I like to wear because I just don’t think it suits me, but in this it wears very vintage and reminds me a lot of Paloma Picasso’s perfume from the 80s (which my mom wore so very nostalgic to me) The patchouli is bright and strong in the opening, and then it softens a lot and yields to the rose. This is my favourite part as the rose is jammy but powdery at the same time, it just feels like a beautiful, strong, classic vintage perfume that is not overbearing or cloying. I love it, I feel sexy and feminine and multifaceted.

This is such a vintage smell, sprayed it and immediately went back to my mother’s old miniature collection, in the best way possible. It has a kind of old dame / Chanel feel to it, in a good way. It makes me want to wear my satin robe and call my lover from a land phone, feeling sorry already for his poor poor heart. At the same time I am contemplating on wearing it on my wedding day, avoiding obvious solutions like Dama Bianca or Blanche Bete. This is so classic, old Hollywood.