Un Matin d’Orange is the newest fragrance from Annick Goutal created by Isablle Doyen. It’s important to note the name is “d’Orage” and not “d’Orange” and it has very little to do with orange or citrus.
Un Matin d'Orage loosely translates to "a stormy morning" in English and thus is the way the fragrance is described by the house of Annick Goutal.
A gardenia soliflore this is not. Un Matin d’Orage opens with a beautifully lush, dewy and green gardenia accord but this phase is short lived (this is somewhat sad as this initial stage is gorgeous). After a mere 10 minutes or so, the obviousness of the gardenia recedes unto the background, or I should say very near oblivion. What presents itself is described by Annick Goutal as “flowers after a storm.” I must admit to finding this a lovely and romanticized idea but this is not what the fragrance smells like to me. There’s a strong similarity to Hermes Apres La Mousson, sans the melon note. The similarity with Apres La Mousson is a watery vetiver scent, while not listed among the notes, I find myself smelling a mild vetiver rather intensely. Un Matin d’Orange is an atmospheric fragrance, recalling wet stones and leaves in a realistically natural landscape of earthy wetness, damp green vegetation atop a musky herbal quality.
The house of Annick Goutal has created many beautiful soliflores and fragrances that can be characterized quite simply as “pretty.” Un Matin d’Orage is gorgeous, but it is not just a pretty thing – it is rather edgy, raw, emotional and unusual; closer to something you’d expect from Les Nez (thinking Manoumalia and Turtle Vetiver) or Andy Tauer and it’s also easily a unisex fragrance.
I personally love almost everything from Annick Goutal, and Un Matin d’Orage is no exception. I’m actually surprised and heartened by the edgy earthiness of d’Orage and feel proud that Isabelle Doyen isn’t afraid to take the house in a potentially new direction or at the very least branch out from the simplicity of the soliflores and feminine florals. Another nice aspect of d’Orage is that it’s more potent that most Annick Goutal fragrances and the longevity is very good.
Notes are listed as: Sicilian lemon, ginger, gardenia, shiso leaves (also known as perilla leaves), magnolia, champaca flowers, jasmine from Indonesia and sandalwood.
You've made this sound very intriguing; I'm really wanting to try it now! After falling so hard for Apres L'Ondee, I am attracted to anything that has a wet-flowers-and-pavement vibe. I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear the connection to Apres La Mousson, though, because Ellena's perfumes put me in a boredom coma. Oddly, there is another perfume I've recently read about that is described similarly: Strange Invisible Perfume's Urban Lily. Have you tried that yet? Now I wanna try both, darnnit. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteOops, by Urban Lily being similar I meant I've heard it has the flowers-and-pavement thing going on...
ReplyDeleteI also noticed a light vetiver underlying everything, I'm glad you noticed it too. I expected this to be pretty, but not something I'd want to own, but it surprised me. I will have to try it again. Thanks for a great review.
ReplyDeleteHi Aimee,
ReplyDeleteNice to see you!
I tried Apres La Mousson very late, after many months of reading the awful "watery melon" reviews and I was pleasantly surprised. To me, JCE had made a tribute to watery vetiver with Apres La Mousson and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected.
I think you might like AG's Un Matin d'Orage even if you disliked JCE's creation. The first moments of UMdO are luminous - I wish the prominent gardenia would have stayed throughout - although I really do enjoy the earthy/herbal/wet stone/pavement thing, too, so that's definitely why I enjoyed it. I think there's a possibility here for you - just maybe... You must have also liked CdG Stephen Jones, yes? Major pavement/meteorite (!!) note there.
I haven't tried SIP's Urban Lily yet. I've tried Black Rosette and a few others but Urban Lily is a new one to me.
Hi Ahsu,
I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing this vetiver aroma - it was so obviously vetiver to me - yet it's not listed in the notes - and I don't think I've seen other reviewers mentioning it...so one can never be sure what it is. The shiso/perilla leaves might have a vetiver-esque scent but I've never experienced that note before so have no idea.
Yeah, it's a very intriguing AG so I'm glad for that, much more than simply pretty, for sure.
I got the small size of this at the Sniffa (came with a hefty Ambre Fetiche sample) and enjoying it immensely. I agree, the 10 minute gardenia, followed by wet flowers on pavement. Very subtle and soft. Thank you for giving it words.
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