The 4th “lady” in the edgy Juliette Has A Gun family is Calamity J., a slightly masculine but feminine amber fragrance inspired by American Wild West badass, Calamity Jane. Calamity J. is the “masculine” fragrance from the luxury perfume house. Oh, I love Calamity J. This is a powdery, woods perfume that is rough around the edges but completely glamorous.
I fell in love with Calamity J. at first spritz. I got rich patchouli and buttery ambergris. Calamity J. is animalic, buttery with leather and lots of amber. I get a slightly plastic oud in all of this, have no idea where that is coming from. This is the “roughness”, I suppose. Oh, how I love Calamity J! There’s peppery bergamot on top of all of these wondrous notes. No top notes are listed in Calamity J. but I would say that this spicy bergamot is it. It fades very quickly. I do get the iris. It’s very dry, powdery, and earthy. This iris is what makes Calamity J “feminine”. What you’re most likely to get from Calamity J. is a “clean” patchouli, musk, and a sweetened vanilla-amber. This is how it wears on me 90% of the time. It’s creamy, woodsy, musky, and sweet. It wears like this on me for hours and hours, until I wash it off.
Calamity J. is simple, a powdery amber, but I like it. I like it in the way that I like Tom Ford Oud Wood. Calamity J. gives me a certain confidence because it is sexy and easy for me to wear. Here’s another fragrance that I get compliments on. It’s one that must really be “me”. Personally, I think the real Calamity Jane would of endorsed something much more rugged and less feminine.
Notes listed include patchouli, iris, amber, musk, and vanilla infusion. No top notes are listed.
Give Juliette Has A Gun Calamity J. a try if you like woodsy amber fragrances or powdery amber fragrances or perfumes like Tom Ford White Patchouli, Trish McEvoy Precious Oud, Prada L’Eau Ambrée, Michael Marcus Indulge, Chanel Allure, Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche, and/or Michele Bergman Black Amber. I really do see Calamity Jane as unisex, but leaning closer to the feminine end of the spectrum. My husband complains that it is too “powdery” for his tastes but he loves it on me.
Calamity J retails for $105 for the 1.7 oz. and $135 for the 3.4 oz. Juliette Has A Gun perfumes are available at Beautyhabit. Samples are also available for purchase. And sometimes you can find it at discounters like FragranceX.com.
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This sounds amazing! I’m such a sucker for powdery scents, and amber and vanilla. Your blog makes me wish that there was an Interwebs version of Smell-O-Vision.
Principessa Grassa recently posted..None More Black
Interwebs Smell-O-Vision, that’s my fantasy!
This is a powdery amber-vanilla so you should like this one 😉
I neer would have picked a sample of this up, because I’m not big on patchouli, but I love your description. Maybe they have some down the street I could try…
kjanicki recently posted..Serge Lutens – Ambre Sultan
There’s patchouli in this but the “cleaned” up kind that is patchouli but doesn’t actually resemble patchouli. If you like amber, then maybe you’ll like this one. It’s worth trying. I just wouldn’t spray on and go back to work, it’s a bit strong.
Gee, this sounds like it was really tailor made for you! I wish I’d had even of a smidgen of the success you have with the scent. I’ve come to realize that even though I want to do powdery, I shouldn’t. And of course, that includes a lot of ambers. The best scents for me are unisex or masculine, and my skin creates sweetness out of thin air, so it balances out.
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I could see how this could be bad for someone if their skin intensifies sweet. I would imagine it would turn into a sweet, powdery mess.
I’m finding JHaG hit or miss but worth trying. I really did not like Citizen Queen because it wore as a sweet, powdery mess on me! But, it has worked for other people. That’s the world of perfume…
Hello from Seattle (also!) – I like your blog.
I am gonna bet you tried this at knows perfume in W. Seattle as well? I believe I got a sample with the “knows loves these” set a few weeks back.
anyhow, it took several tries to decide it’s not for me, but it’s definitely an unusual composition. It seems like it’s trying to be incense with no incense notes in it. It definitely has a bit of a “raspy” quality to it and it does last forever.
so ultimately I decided that if I wanted an incense-based frag I’d buy something with incense in it, and if I wanted a good iris I’d buy something with iris…
anyhow, my $0.02.
Yeah! More Seattle fumeheads! Thank you for commenting.
I did get this in “Knows loves these” packet 🙂 JHaG sent me a sample in the summer, but I wise not to write my review of this in August. It was much too heavy for me to even appreciate at that time (and it wouldn’t wash off!) I tried it again in Dec. in the Knows pack and really like it.
Like you, I keep getting smoky incense but it isn’t listed and a strange chemical-oud (not listed either). I like Calamity J. and I have thought about buying a bottle because Knows is having 25% off this weekend. After wearing it for a few more days, I like it but I don’t know. I feel that I have other things like it already in my collection. Amber is what drove me to the niche world, so my collection is filled with every amber imaginable. And I don’t know if I can justify another incense either! It’s good but is it $100 good even on sale? I’ll have to think about that.
Hmm…have you tried Prada Infusuion d’Iris EDP? It’s both iris and incense 🙂
i’ve tried a bunch of the Pradas; not sure I’ve tried the Iris EdP though.
I sorta like the Infusion Masculine EdT, I really like the regular Prada amber-based one (I don’t remember what the specific name of it is – Prada seems to have made this confusing; even the rep at EPCOT* couldn’t quite figure it out.) But as for Irises I prefer things like Dior Homme – not sure it could be improved with incense. 🙂
* – oddly I do as much perfume shopping in Florida as I do in Seattle. i.e. the Guerlain store in EPCOT…
I finally tried Prada Iris a few months ago after avoiding it forever. I hated their confusing bombardment of (in my mind) low-quality infusions in GINORMOUS flankers. Finally, I tried, well was forced to try, Iris and loved it. The other Infusions . I love the original Prada (marketed towards women). That Prada is as close as I come to a “signature”.
Dior Homme is still my #1 iris.
Guerlain stores are breathtaking! I love to go on fragrance shopping trips 🙂 I’m still learning about shopping in Seattle for fragrance, online shopping is my friend. Any good Seattle suggestions other than Barneys, Nordstrom, and Knows?
Wow, I like the original Prada a lot but signature? 😉 I guess it is pretty good.
I’ve only been bitten hard by the perfume bug about two years ago – The Perfume House in PDX really catalyzed it for me (I was on my way though) – you HAVE to go there if you haven’t already been.
I hear Nasreen’s down in the Alexis Hotel is good but haven’t been. Also hear some good things about that place in Fremont whose name escapes me at the moment…
There is a place called Parfumerie (not Perfumania) in Southcenter Mall I found that has some older, obscure stuff. I found a bottle of Chamade Parfum (I think either 1/4oz or 1/2oz) for like $100 – about the same on eBay – and while I really appreciate Chamade I dunno if I can shell out that much for it 🙂 I really want to find a “reasonably priced vintage Mitsouko edp or parfum”.
(maybe we should e-mail offline for a bit? 😉
I said, closest to a signature! I could never do the signature scent thing, too boring.
Calamity J never worked for me, alas, for all that I love iris and do not care for the Prada version at all. I kept trying, and all I got was…Elnett hairspray. So, instead, I’ll stick to my favorite JHAG, Lady Vengeance, and my favorite irises…Dior Homme and Chanel no. 19. If anyone has any other suggestions for irises to try, let me know! 😉
Tarleisio recently posted..Black No 1
Hmm..where can I find Elnett hairspray? I may like it 🙂
Today on Euro #fumechat Olfactoria asked about good irises. Many were brought up, Dior Homme is still me favorite. I know Xerjoff was mentioned, a few Guerlains, and many that I haven’t tried. I’m always on the look out for a good iris too!
This it great. Always good to know about Juliette Has a Gun scents. Thanks.!
Vintage Lady recently posted..Natalie Portman Miss Dior Chérie
And I thought this was a line I was safe from! But your review makes this interesting to try! Argh, there has to be an end to the madness…
Olfactoria recently posted..Olfactoria In Dreamland – Why I wear Perfume To Bed
I can not keep up with the brands! There are so many brands that I haven’t tried…yet. It will never end!
Sounds really pretty. I like amber scents.
Oh, I need to try this one!
[…] Juliette Has A Gun Calamity J EDP Perfume Review | EauMG Review of Juliette Has A Gun Calamity J. A long-wearing masculine-feminine woodsy amber perfume. This is one that I get compliments on. […]
Sexy perfume. I love it!
I have never been big on patchouli but wow – took a sniff of this today while window shopping and bought it on the spot. Totally feel in love with it!
I ended up purchasing a bottle. I kept getting compliments on it from friends and strangers. AND I love it. It wears so beautifully on the skin.
Congrats on your new purchase! It’s a beauty.