Tried something different today. I stayed home, so it felt like the perfect chance to experiment with Liquid Brun, the absolute gourmand hype beast, which is said to be one of the best clones of Parfums de Marly Altair. I also played around with the Mona-style spray pattern just to see how it affects projection and development. I wasn’t testing it for compliments — just wanted to see how it performs through the day in a relaxed setting. The opening was rich and warm, leaning slightly sweet, and by the dry-down it settled into this creamy amber-wood base that actually stuck around longer than I expected. Curious if anyone else here has tried Liquid Brun or Altair — how did it perform for you, and did you notice that same warm dry-down?

Well, I took a trip out of town yesterday and ended up stopping into a Zara. I bought two feminine fragrances that on retrospect were a waste. The first was Gourmand Coffee, which does smell very accurate. It's a dead ringer for a day old French roast or a bottom of the pot brew, with a bit of Nestlé Coffee Mate creamer added in. It's an interesting scent but doesn't do well as a wear. I mean it just smells like you've spilled your coffee down the front of your shirt yesterday and haven't changed. Call me petty, but I don't want people thinking I drink coffee with cream and sugar, abominable. As for the other fragrance - Cocoa Sunset, sadly isn't something I think I can pull off. Supposedly it's a delicious gourmand highly recommended by the Perfume Guy. And it does smell like a good cocoa...on paper. On skin it dries into an overly feminine floral with a cocoa powder undertone. Not for me! Makes me feel like I'm a granny wearing a Woolworths branded floral perfum while making hot chocolate from Dutch cocoa powder sweetened with 1980's Sweet N Low. Oh well, a fail is a fail.