Friday, October 23, 2009

Fairchild & Moondance by Anya’s Garden : Perfume Reviews

Seasoned perfume lovers will already have a pretty good idea of what to expect from an all-natural perfume, but even they are set to be surprised by Anya McCoy’s creations - and that’s a promise. Anya is a pioneer who daringly reaches new frontiers by using the most unusual notes: rutting billy-goat hair will grant her creations a strong touch of cruelty free animalic musk, while toasted seashells beautifully render the scent of the ocean spray sans calone. With seven perfumes produced under the brand name Anya’s Garden, Anya truly has something there for everyone. Last week she was kind enough to send me tiny samples of her precious perfumes to test. Today, I present to you my two favorite ones.

Fairchild: Fairchild opens with a strange animalic potency that is quickly overtaken by a bracing, beautifully awakening blast of citrus. I personally find this strong opening incredible as it feels like a powerful jolt of energy that fills me with a positive outlook. Definitely something I’d love to start my day with. After a while this almost superlative burst calms and the perfume transforms into a smooth lemon note enfolded in gorgeous sweetness spiced with accents of pepper. I can’t help but reiterate my feeling that this is the perfect morning scent: Fairchild feels to me as though it produces light. As the heart notes bloom on the skin, the gorgeous sweetness intensifies with the beautiful scent of white florals: jasmine and lemon blossoms are the ones most perceptible to me. Despite their indolic nature, here they both project an image of brilliant white purity - like a wedding bouquet. Sweet ylang ylang gives this perfume a perfectly light expression of tropical bliss. Slowly but surely the base notes begin to emerge bringing the full animalic glory of this perfume to the fore. Gorgeous ambergris bathes the skin in its softly sweet animalic glow, while sun-baked seaweed adds extra naughtiness. The scent of toasted seashells in turn brings with it the calming sound of rolling waves. This is a beautiful animalic citrus-chypre, very much in the same vein as the original Philtre d’Amour by Guerlain, but beautifully suffused with intense light. Some time ago Anya and I had a conversation about whether all-natural perfumes can render light in the same way that synthetics can. With this, a last note: Congratulations, Anya. You’ve created light.

Moondance: If you love violet, then you must try Moondance, as it opens with one of the most interesting and fabulous violet notes I’ve had the pleasure to smell. Lightly sweet, pastel in color and velvety textured like the skin of a ripe peach, the violet in this scent sings with melodious clarity. At first its scent is accompanied by an almost fougère herbal feel, as though it’s underscored by lavender, but after a while that impression subsides as the violet intensifies and deepens. The texture too changes, from velvety to buttery and the sweetness intensifies. An almost fruity, vaguely apple-scented note emerges, perfectly balancing the otherworldly, beautiful melancholy of the violet with its childishly innocent cheer. Two more complementary notes emerge: The buttery character of the violet is beautifully complimented by hints of carrot seed, while the sweetness of the light apple scent is amplified by orange blossom water. At the heart of this fragrance we find the most ethereal whisper of tuberose. Light and diaphanous (and no, I never expected to used these words to describe tuberose either), the infamously sensual blossom manages to retain all of its femininity and guile while shedding all of the qualities that tend to be perceived as overbearing and demanding by many. The base is a sweet symphony of mellow amber and sandalwood, peculiarly lanced through by a slightly bitter resinous vein. Glorious!

Images: via Flickr by alexdecarvalho and Memotions


6 comments:

Ines said...

Anya's fragrances have been on my list of things I have to try. Now, I'll just have to try them sooner than later. :)

Brigitte Smith said...

Fairchild sounds heavenly. You have me intrigued that it really evokes light. I will have to try it soon. I've loved Autumn and Winter my whole life, but the past few years I've started to be affected by seasonal affective disorder in the Winter.

As a budding perfumista I'm begining to wonder if I should turn to citrus perfumes to help alleviate my winter frumps. But finding some that aren't boring simplistic summer scents seems difficult.

I love Fendi Theorema, but it's so low sillage I feel like I have to drown myself in it and the intial fresh, real orange/vanilla/nutmeg stage that I love doesn't last long enough to warrant trying to stockpile a lifetime's supply given it's discontinued.

And my old love White Flower Lei's rei.Kii(juicy tangerine & mango/ incense/ jasmine)verges on being discontinued, it's from a small line of hand made fragrances that's gone under and came back up a couple of times now.

waftbyCarol said...

Hello D
lovely reviews as always . Anya sent me a sample set and I am looking forward to reviewing these two along with others .
A discreet tuberose sounds wonderful !

anyasgarden said...

Dear Divina, thank you for the lovely reviews :-) We've known each other for such a long time in the virtual world, I'm glad I finally had a chance to connect with you scentually.

I had to respond to Brigitte - yes, go for the citruses! I started creating perfumes in the early 90's on South Beach, and I had many customers and also private custom perfume clients from northern Europe, and they all craved citruses, and I know it was to fight the SAD from their short days. In the summer, they were all Orientals, but Citrus the rest of the year.

chayaruchama said...

I found these amazingly, hauntingly beautiful.

So happy dear friends share the appreciation !
Dikke kus, my dear.

Anonymous said...

I prefer www.lifethreads.com but the images here are a lot like theres