Review – Atelier Cologne Miniature Discovery Collection

First impressions are important when it comes to fragrances – perfumes smell different from person to person and may even change on an individual person throughout the day. I am far from a trained professional – I cannot identify top, heart or base notes in a scent. I can only reliably identify a few perfumes at first sniff and most fragrances give me a headache. Even so, here I am…reviewing perfume.

My memory is like a sieve (I blame the 90s), so I realized that the best way to capture my first impressions of a fragrance is to quickly jot down notes on the package with a Sharpie. Here are my “first impression” reviews of the Atelier Cologne Miniature Discovery Collection ($50, Sephora), ranked from best to last [later thoughts in brackets]:

1. Cedrat Enivrant – My favorite – like lime & cedar – drinking a Cuba Libre on the deck of a pirate ship; The one that started it all…

2. Rose Anonyme – The inside of a long forgotten perfume atomizer; a love long dead, but not forgotten; Classic, a note of decay [It also reminded me of a months old bouquet of roses – I LOVE that smell]

3. Orange Sanguine – That first spray of citrus when you peel off the skin…Sharp

4. Vetiver Fatal – Most masculine; Hot sex on the forest floor – in a pile of pine needles

5. Vanille Insensee – Like a stripper, but a french, classy one; Burlesque [Later that day, I felt like I smelled like I applied Vanilla Extract to my pulse points]

These fragrances ALL lasted all day on me, which is rare. The Sephoras here do not carry in store and I’m too lazy to drive an hour to sample more of their scents at Neiman Marcus. Another option I may try is to order sample vials from their website – you can get all 17 for $25.