Perfume Review: Jasmin & Bergamote (L'Occitane Collection De Grasse)

Target Gender: Female; Price Bracket (Aus): Medium (up to AU$100. Category: White Floral. L'Occitane is an independent brand.

I have a strong love-hate relationship with the Collection De Grasse scents from L'Occitane....love because the scents are absolutely gorgeous, and show mastery of perfumery by the creators. I'll come to the not-so-loved part later.

The entire lineup has the nose of Karine Dubreuil behind it. She has a few other scents of note, but the most prominent would probably be YSL's Vice Versa to her credit before this collection.

Jasmine & Bergamote was one of the first 4 scents launched in this collection (there's a fair few more now)...If the name wasn't enough of a giveaway, the packaging has enough white and yellow to give away the perfume's profile.

As the name would imply, the 2 dominant notes are Bergamot and Jasmine. It starts with a splash of citrus, the bergamot supported by what seems to be to be a more sour citrus...bergamot is a bitter citrus to me, so the sour citrus could be valencia orange probably...or maybe mandarin, as it isn't sweet like navel or valencia oranges.

And then...jasmine. That's that. Maybe a little powdery, oily wood at the very bottom, but jasmine is by far the most dominant note.

Now back to the love-hate I was talking about...the "hate" part of the relationship is because even though the perfumers at L'Occitane are good at creating these scents, the chemists at the company don't seem to be able to deliver when it comes to making the scents last. And this is the biggest issue with the scent...it just falls off a cliff, barely managing to make it to 3 hours on my wrist, and that is without facing any harsh soaps.

It isn't the only white floral to be like this, but even among white florals, it has weaker lasting power than the likes of J'Adore (Dior), or Jasmin Noir and Mon Jasmin Noir (both from Bvlgari). Note that I'm not penalising it for lack of projection here; white florals don't normally project far away from the wearer. The difference is, compared to its peers in white florals, Jasmin & Bergamote doesn't last as long either.

Ratings:
3.5/5...Subtle, neutral, unobtrusive, versatile. Decently priced, but lasting power could be better.

Prices:
RRP: AU$85 for 75ml (only size sold)

UVP: 75ml $1.13/ml
Click for more information on UVP

Stockists: L'Occitane stores, L'Occitane website, L'Occitane concession counters inside major department stores (not all).

Perfume Review: Spicebomb (Viktor & Rolf)

Target Gender: Male; Price Bracket (Aus): Medium (up to AU$125, $150 for special size). Category: Spicy. Viktor & Rolf is a brand of L'Oreal.

This review is applicable to both Spicebomb and Spicebomb Titanium Edition, as they are just different packages for the same product. Review based on wrist and card samples and owned retail bottle. Not applicable to Spicebomb Extreme and Spicebomb Eau Fraiche.

Flowerbomb is one of the most ubiquitous female floral scents around. So it's no surprise there's a male analogue from the makers. Viktor & Rolf seem to gravitate towards a quality rather than quantity mantra for their perfume lineup. So far I've seen in Australia the much-praised Flowerbomb in EDP and EDT, along with a couple of limited editions, plus Bonbon and Eau Mega. For men, after the demise of Antidote, there's Spicebomb and a couple of flankers (Spicebomb Extreme and Spicebomb Eau Fraiche).

The nose behind this scent is Olivier Polge, who is the mind/nose behind a long line of excellent perfumes. The bottle is quite attention-grabbing; Much like flowerbomb, the bottle is made to look like a hand grenade. Unlike Flowerbomb, which has a small cap on the pump, this scent has a locking collar that clips on to the neck of the pump.

Now for the notes...the top is citrusy with slight bitterness, and a bit of pungency. The sourness is very characteristic bergamot, and the bitterness might be grapefruit or pomelo.The pungent sharpness underneath is pepper to my nose. Not quite the pink pepper from YSL's Elle, but similar in character.

The middle is predominantly cinnamon with a hint of tobacco and overlapping pepper from the top. The sweet, earthy heat of cinnamon is unmistakeable. The bottom is tobacco. It's not as sweet as the tobacco in Armani Code, but the cinnamon from the middle hangs around to tame it.

This scent is particularly well suited to winter, although it wont be out of place in summer either. It might be a little too warm for the days it gets very hot though...it's not cumbersome, but it's not a scent that would tone down the feeling of heat on a scorching day.

As such, it is quite a strong scent. It has substantial projection, and a moderately complex note profile. Lasting power is very good; it generally sticks around for 6-odd hours on my wrists. For the note profile, lasting power and price, I think this scent is very good value. Get the 150ml bottle if you can, as it's priced exceptionally well.

Ratings:
4/5...Versatile, Long-lasting, well priced. Go easy on the pump though.

Prices:

RRP: AU$95 / AU$125 / AU$150 for 50ml / 90ml / 150ml

UVP: 50ml $1.9/ml, 90ml $1.39/ml, 150ml $1/ml

Click for more information on UVP

Stockists: Myer, David Jones, Priceline, Major chemists

The Australia Tax Part V: Putting it all together

In the final article in this series, I'll put together all the information looked at thus far.

In the first article, I used a few case-in-point examples to opine that we do pay substantial price premiums in Australia for a number of products.

In the second article, I looked at exchange rates. It is obvious (though that data is a bit out of date now; the Australian dollar has retreated substantially of late) that the Australian Dollar is a very volatile currency, and retailers may try to build a worst-case scenario into their pricing to avoid having to adjust prices repeatedly.

Then there's the issue of wages. A key issue here is that wages in Australia are high even by developed-country standards, and that they always need to be paid in local currency. So the high cost of labour for Australian-based staff (especially relevant to department stores) will always add a premium to the price. And this premium will be in Australian dollars regardless of how the imported cost of a product changes. This can severely limit the margins by which retailers can adjust their pricing.

Next, I looked at real estate. Using data from CBRE in that article, it is easy to conclude that rents in Australia are very high. 

Lastly, the issue of whether the Australian consumer can actually pay more. In most cases, and having some knowledge of economics (being a qualified accountant myself), this can be a key issue in determining pricing for local markets for a number of products. 

There's a couple of key measures used for the 'average' income. The median income is a good one (I'm not going into the technicalities of why and how). Australian Bureau of Statistics in this publication has the average income at $58,817 per year (scaled from $1128 per week by a factor of 52.143). 

Median income is harder to come by, but this article in ABC RadioNational says it's about $55,000 or thereabouts. They peg the mean average at AU$75,000.

Whichever way we look at it, it's obvious that Australians earn quite a fair bit. According to NATSEM, the average Australian household has a median disposable income of $43,100 in US Dollar equalised terms. More extensive comparison of household incomes is very difficult because of the differences in exchange rates and purchase parity.

Which essentially means this in laymen's terms: we earn a substantial amount of money.

So all-in-all, a volatile exchange rate, high wages, high rents, and the consumer having more disposable income make for a recipe where we end up with more load on out credit cards when buying things. But more income means we don't necessarily have trouble keeping up with it.

Does this mean I endorse or condone high pricing beyond what can be reasonably explained by all these factors? No. And a lot of products are still priced at levels where even all these factors combined dont account for the entire difference in price.

Perfume Review: Parisienne L'Essentiel (Yves Saint Laurent)

Target Gender: Female; Price Bracket (Aus): High ($150/50ml). Category: Vinylic/Leathery Floral. YvesSaintLaurent (YSL) is a brand of L'Oreal.

This is not a review for Parisienne (EDP), Parisienne EDT, Parisienne L'Eau, Parisienne A L'Extreme or Parisienne Edition Singuliere. Review based on wrist and card samples.

Disclosure: No affiliation with any brand or store. 

The 50ml bottle.
The cap is golden in colour.

There is hardly any perfume with a more confusing name lineup in its sub-range (J'Adore from Dior comes to mind). Parisienne, which was itself the younger spawn of the venerable Paris, has itself spawned no less than 5 flankers, and a number of them don't smell anywhere like its siblings. Parisienne L'Essentiel happens to be one of them; YSL could have called this something else and it would have made practically no difference.

This is a mixed floral scent; it has both jasmine and rose, plus iris . The key note for this scent is the "vinylic" accord though. It's not quite a leather note, but does give feelings of plush luggage...it feels almost like what the scent of a highly polished vinylic-leather wallet or bag would be. It's quite a pleasantly different scent from the hordes of purely flowery ones. The base does have a leather note, but it's quite a dry one. It almost feels like smelling what Parisienne would be like, sprayed on top of a fresh-off-the-shelf Oroton handbag, minus the rose.

The top is berries and pink pepper (not anywhere near the sharpness of Elle though), as the berries sweeten and cut through the pepper. The middle is where the vinyl shows up, along with rose and iris. By the time it reaches the base, you'll be getting the scent of rose/iris mixed with dry leather, and vinyl. The leather and vinyl combine to give you a very handbag-esque note; almost like walking into a footwear/luggage store and sniffing their merchandise(!).

While the bottle says "Essence De Parfum", it is more of an "EDP Intense". Lasting power is very high; on my wrist it was detectable after about 9 hours. When not having to survive against dishwashing fluid and soap several times, it would go on for another couple of hours easily. Do be mindful though, that this one has very strong projection. It is not a skin-hugger, and unless you're moderate on the pump, it will leave you quite noticeable.

Ratings:
3.75/5...Strong lasting power, a very different scent, and a very chic one. 

Prices:

RRP: AU$150 for 50ml (original at launch; last seen at around $95 for residual stock, sometimes as low as $52)

UVP: 50ml $3/ml at RRP, as low as $1.04/ml for residual stock

Click for more information on UVP

Stockists: Only seen at David Jones since 2013. Most likely not stocked any more except for clearance, as it was a limited edition in Australia.

Perfume Review: Christian Dior J'Adore (Eau De Parfum)

Target Gender: Female; Price Bracket (Aus): Medium-High (up to AU$180). Category: White Floral. Christian Dior is a subsidiary brand of LVMH.

This is not a review for J'Adore L'Or, J'Adore L'Absolu, J'Adore Voile De Parfum or J'Adore Eau De Toilette. Review based on wrist and card samples.

Disclosure: No affiliation with any brand or store. Bottle in pictures purchased at retail price.

J'Adore belongs to the family of scents that inevitably get thrown into the comparison and get thought about when their categories are spoken of. Much like Opium (YSL) is to orientals, Chanel No.5 is to aldehydic scents, J'Adore is to white florals. This is one of the gold-standard scents for white florals (Chanel Gardenia being the other one in my opinion).

J'Adore was first launched in 1999 (The EdP version). Since then, Dior/LVMH have released enough flankers to make J'Adore a designer house in itself (there's no less than five variations of this perfume after deletion of a few). The nose behind the scent is Calice Becker, her other notable works being Tommy Girl (Tommy Hilfiger), Lola (Marc Jacobs), DKNY Energy, and Beyond Paradise (Estee Lauder).

You could be forgiven for thinking for the first few minutes after spraying on this scent that it is a single-note jasmine soliflore (soliflores are fragrances based on only one major note). However, there's no mistaking this one for something like Essence Jasmine (Donna Karan) or Jasmin Rouge (Tom Ford). This is a white floral multi-note scent, and has a very proper 3-layer profile.

The top is pear and magnolia to my nose, pear in particular is very easy to pick. But right from the start, hints of jasmine are evident. The middle notes are where its reputation comes from: almost entirely white flowers. Jasmine (easily picked) and tuberose (I got to know what that is after YSL Manifesto) are the dominant notes, and go all the way down to the end of the scent. Dior say it has rose and freesia, but the jasmine tends to hide them. Not that it's a bad thing at all.

The base is slightly musky, but at its heart and soul, this scent is about jasmine, and the base still smells like a jasmine scent.

This is a subdued, elegant and very versatile scent. It's almost stereotypically feminine, and is one of the quintessential scents if you like white flowers, especially jasmine. It is not loud enough to distract others, and at least in my perception, doesn't have much of an intimate vibe. It might be a very "mature" scent if you compare it to Dior Addict or the younger ones from the Poison family, but nowhere even close to the likes of Opium EDP. It is a proper all-weather, all-occasion scent.

It doesn't project very far, as is quite expected from white florals (most wont go too far away from you), but it does last a fair while. Longevity on my wrist clocked in at about 5-8 hours, which is quite good. Generally, white florals are not as potent as red florals or spices, so I think it does well.

The bottle is gorgeous; I think the shape is a bit odd-looking though (it is based on the ancient Greek "amphora" vessels). The tall cap with a crystalline acetate top does look very pretty on a dresser. The squat glass bottle is weighted significantly towards its bottom to keep it stable.

It is a pricey perfume, and to top it, Dior generally dont participate in the seasonal discounting for perfumes. Some chemists do sell it at 20% or so less than Myer/DJs, but make sure you get it from a chain of good repute though.

Ratings:
3.9/5...Soft, versatile, long-lasting. Unobtrusive, but might be a bit too "mature" for some.

Prices:

RRP: AU$120/ AU$180 for 50ml / 100ml

UVP: 50ml $2.4/ml, 100ml $1.8/ml

Click for more information on UVP

This is a pricey scent. Shop around but make sure you buy from a reputed retailer. Expect to pay at least AU$150 for the 100ml at the minimum.

Stockists: Myer, David Jones, some pharmacies and chemists. 

Perfume Review: Flowerbomb (EDP) by Viktor and Rolf

Target Gender: Female; Price Bracket (Aus): High (up to AU$200+). Category: Sweet Floral. Viktor & Rolf is a brand of L'Oreal.

This is not a review for Flowerbomb Extreme (purple bottle), or Flowerbomb Rose Explosion. Review based on wrist and card samples.

Disclosure: No compensation or endorsement involved. Review based on wrist samples from department stores. I have no affiliation with any brand/store/label whatsoever.

100ml Retail bottle. 

Viktor & Rolf is perhaps not as well known among fashion houses as the Italians and French would be (V&R is Dutch). However, I am well familiar with some of their perfumes (Antidote and Spicebomb are both very good perfumes for men). While I havent had an opportunity to try the very new "Bonbon" as yet, Flowerbomb is a staple name for many females...and for good reason.

Flowerbomb is one of the key milestones for Oliver Polge (son of the the Chanel head perfumer Jacques Polge), and in this scent he partnered with the very talented Carlos Benaim and Domitille Berthier. Both Polge and Benaim are very talented perfumers with impressive portfolios, and here they haven't disappointed.

Flowerbomb is predominantly true to its name; it is a floral scent, but quite a sweet one. It has a varied and wide note profile, but it stays fairly pyramidal and doesn't have a huge deal of complexity to it. The "bomb" word in the name would imply something intensely floral, but here the name relates to its longevity and projection more than anything.

The top of the perfume is a sweetish citrus, very much like bergamot orange. Patchouli is faintly evident at the top too. Shortly afterwards, it becomes a sweet, intensely floral scent. Rose and Freesia are easy to pick up, and so is jasmine. There's also orchid, but being a relatively mild flower, it doesnt really power above the rest of the notes. Patchouli starts getting intense around the middle, and the base is a strong patchouli note with flowers still prominent. The patchouli isn't very cold like Elle (YSL) or Midnight Poison (Dior), probably toned and moderated with musk.

This isn't a very intimate scent, because of its potency and projection. That said, it is pleasant, and if you go easy on the trigger, it is not a bad choice for a night out. The EDT version is a fair bit softer but also smells quite different. I haven't really tried it much, so can't comment on it beyond the fact it's just softer.

Longevity is not an issue with this one. Two independent wrist samples from different bottles on different days both lasted over 9-11 hours. Another forearm sample lasted about 13 hours, so it's safe enough to say you'll get good longevity from this.

The bottle is shaped like an item usually associated with military ordnance (hence the b-word in the name), made of precision-cut glass. It's not as prominent as Elle (YSL)'s bottle would be, but it would look good on a dresser nonetheless.

Flowerbomb is priced high no matter where I looked. It is quite pricey (up to $3.3/ml, and the 100ml bottle is over AU$200), and discounts are not very easily found (although the independent chemists are a bit more flexible).

Ratings:
3.8/5...Potent, flowery, sweet, long-lasting, but pricey.

Prices:

RRP: 30ml AU$99, 50ml AU$159, 100ml AU$205

UVP: 30ml $3.3/ml, 50ml $3.18/ml, 100ml $2.05/ml

Click for more information on UVP

Pricey as it is, get the 100ml bottle if you can stretch to it. The smaller bottles are not good value at full price.

Stockists: Myer, David Jones, some pharmacies and chemists.

The Australia Tax Part IV: Real Estate (Rents and Prices)

So far, in my "Australia Tax" series of articles, I've covered a few things. Starting with the fact that we pay sizeable price premiums on skincare, cosmetics and fragrances (among a whole lot of other products; this phenomenon is replicated across almost every category, and some software companies such as Adobe would get a gold medal on the wall of shame). I have had a look at exchange rates, and wages. And while exchange rates do little to explain our price gaps post-2006, the wages part was a bit of an eye-opener.

So what other components factor in when it comes to retail? After costs of inventory and wages, the next most important point is overheads. And the biggest component of overheads can often be rent.

It can be quite difficult to get accurate data on retail rents, because large retailers can often negotiate deals that are not made public. However, this article in SMH, using data from this publication from Colliers provides some interesting information. According to Global Retail 2013 (Colliers), "Rents along prime CBD mall locations in Australia consistently rank among the highest in the world".

Information from CBRE, published in another SMH article also points to retail rents in both Melbourne and Sydney being high enough to give other large cities a good run for their money. Concrete data for rents paid by large department stores has evaded me so far.

I think even with the relatively small number of articles pointing in that direction, it is not an unreasonable conclusion to draw that Australian rents are very high. They are high enough to compete with the prime locations of New York, London and Shanghai, which is saying something.

So we pay the highest minimum wages in the world, have high rents that retailers pay (and eventually pass on to the consumer), have a potential issue with volatility of the Australian dollar, and in general, the relatively high purchase power of the Australian consumer also adds to the mix. So far so good? Perhaps. But there still remains one key question...

After paying high wages and high rents, high freight costs and what not, does the Australian retailer keep the same in his pocket as a comparable retailer in the UK or USA? That is something for the next article.