Quick Sniffs: Ineke Field Notes From Paris and Balmy Days & Sundays

I ran into an Ineke display last night, much to my delight. Sadly, I had about three minutes to decide what to spray on my arms. I went with Field Notes From Paris based on a vague memory of very positive reviews, and Balmy Days & Sundays because, well, the name was pretty.

Field Notes From Paris confused me for several minutes - it was a tumble of different things, none of them eager to please, and I couldn't decide if I liked it all. But half an hour in I was loving it - a mix of spices with something like cloves dominating, and while I couldn't pick out tobacco or wood, they were grounding the whole complicated creation and keeping it from being purely "spicy". I need more of this.

Balmy Days & Sundays didn't work as well - while I very much liked some moments, I more strongly disliked others. At first, it was dominated by a melony aquatic that I didn't like. Then it turned into a quite nice melon that I did like, in spite of myself. And Himself liked it too, which is a rarity.

That transitioned in a nice seamless magic-trick way into pure floral - high-pitched, but very nice, and I expect that it would be even nicer in the summer. Another magic trick turned that into  a freshly-cut lawn dotted with flowers. If it had stopped here, I would have been sold in spite of the wet melon beginning.

Problem is, the melon came back. Less than three hours after application, the scent was rather like eating a salted honeydew while sitting next to a well-chlorined swimming pool. I'm going to try it again, in the hope that the melon moments are shorter, but I suspect I won't be buying this one.

But all the same, I'm highly impressed with the Ineke scents. I need to try them all, and I suspect that there are bottle-sized purchases in my future. (I'll be purchasing the sample set in the very near future.)

Review Roundup for Field Notes From Paris: Now Smell This and Pink Sith and Perfume Shrine and Fragrantica and Nathan Branch and Legerdenez and Product Girl and Basenotes and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Perfume Nerd and SplendidCity and Bonjour Paris and ozMoz and MakeupAlley and SmellyBlog and IndiePerfumes and Feminine Things and Perfume Patter.

Review Roundup for Balmy Days & Sundays: IndiePerfumes and Feminine Things and Perfume Posse (quick mention) and Fragrantica and Basenotes and Sakecat and Legerdenez.

And a side note on the Roundup: If you ever notice that a Review Roundup is missing a review that seems to belong there, feel more than free to email me. I generally don't include reviews from retailers who are selling that particular perfume, because I don't want to get into deciding what's ad copy and what's a genuine review. And I may or may not include short mentions. But otherwise, there's a good chance that the absence of a review is an oversight - especially if I've ever included a review from the site in question in any Roundup.

Photo: By Thesupermat. Wikimedia Commons.