Terry de Gunzburg

I was at Hoopers today, which as regular readers may know, is one of two local department stores in my town, which has a very good fragrance department and some friendly and knowledgeable SAs.

I was interested to see that they now have the entire Terry de Gunzburg perfume line. I had never heard of Terry de Gunzburg, if I'm being perfectly honest. I've been informed that she is a French makeup artist, who created the Touche Eclat makeup range for YSL. I am no makeup expert I'm afraid, so I can't comment on that, but I do know that the perfume bottles are very stylish, as can be seen below. 

There's something about these bottles that reminds me of the Armani Prive bottles. I think its the flattened cap.

Anyway, while all the fragrances are listed as being for women, I didn't really think this was the case. The two I tried on skin are Ombre Mercure, pictured above, and Lumiere d'Epices. Ombre Mercure has notes of violet leaf, jasmine, rose, iris, ylang-ylang, patchouli, sandalwood, benzoin and vanilla. Lumiere d'Epices has citrus top notes of bergamot, grapefruit and blood orange, a floral heart of orange blossom, jasmine and rose, and a base of cedar, nutmeg and clove. I thought for an initial wearing, both impressed. Lumiere d'Epices's main note for me is orange blossom, quite spring-like. The spices aren't particularly prominent and the cedar wood is subtle. Well done though. Ombre Mercure is a more oriental fragrance. The violet and iris aren't that prominent to me, but in the dry down the presence of a smooth sandalwood note is unmistakeable and welcome.

Others in the line include:

Flagrant Delice, which on paper smelled mostly of fig, first a bit milky, then sweetening to a more gooey fruity accord.

Reve Opulent, which to my nose, again on paper, is a fruity floral.

Parti Pris, which again is quite oriental, with tuberose and balsams, a hint of tobacco and other florals. 

So, quite an interesting line then, and I think well worth exploring.