A few perfumes I've loved this spring

Parfums DelRae Debut
Having first met Amoureuse, I didn’t think I was a fan of DelRae’s florals. Then I met Debut and realized Amoureuse and I weren’t meant to be friends but Debut and I are BFF’s.

Debut is an early spring scent. Debut begins all sharp and citrus (lime, bergamot) but then unfolds into an obvious note of lily of the valley (and hyacinth which isn’t listed in the notes) with a wet white floral/clean musk dry down. I find Debut to be delicate and a little green. Debut can be a heady scent with similarities to Diorissimo, Penhaligon’s Bluebell and il Profumo Blanche Jacinthe. I can’t wear Diorissimo or Bluebell but I love Blanche Jacinthe mostly for its fresh, delicate wetness. The fragrance Debut most reminds me of is Fracas. Debut doesn’t smell like Fracas, there’s no tuberose in sight and Debut is far less indolic, however, both fragrances are classic heady white florals, which somehow share a classy instead of brassy style.

Etro Dianthus
I meant to write a full review on Dianthus alone but never got the words together. I’m still a little shaky on what exactly this fragrance does for me. In summary, I have been wearing Dianthus a lot the past 6 weeks, so it’s fair to say I love it. The problem is that it smells so different at various times throughout the day that I’ve become stumped on how to describe it. If I tell you it’s both cool and warm, wouldn’t that just confuse you? If I tell you it’s powdery and spicy but not powdery in the traditional sense wouldn’t that also just serve to confuse? If I tell you it’s both subtle yet tenacious wouldn’t it begin to seem like this fragrance is a vortex of opposites? Well, maybe that’s just the point. Etro Dianthus is a bunch of seemingly opposite attributes all rolled up into one scent. This is precisely how the season of spring feels to me. Spring can be warm and cool, wet and dry, light and dark, dull, dreary and suddenly bright and blooming. Dianthus contains all these opposite attributes and keeps me interested all throughout the day. When I first smelled Dianthus, I didn’t realize it was based on carnation (dianthus being the Latin name for carnation). It took me a few wearings and a bit of poking around online to quite suddenly smell the carnation note. Once I did it loomed so obvious, but I initially didn’t find it to be a heavily carnation laden scent.

Etro Dianthus reminds me of the character played by Polly Walker in the film Enchanted April.

Annick Goutal Un Matin d’Orage
Un Matin d’Orage has become one of my favorite fragrances. It conjures a feeling, an emotion, and a dark spring thunderstorm. It smells like the lifting of a bad mood, to reveal peaceful contentment which had been stuck beneath a dreary bad day. I’m buying this for myself in the butterfly bottle. I must have it. And I don’t even like gardenia, not usually, but UMdO makes me love this floral note.

Guerlain Chamade
I’m always sportin’ Chamade at some point in the spring. I finally rewarded myself with the pure parfum and it is To-Die-For. The deep green galbanum note is more potent in parfum, I’d go so far as to say the parfum version of Chamade is more fierce than expected. Usually parfum concentrations wear closer to the skin and are smoother, but Chamade in parfum seems aggressive to me. I adore it.

Bond No. 9 Broadway Nite
I’ve been obsessed with this ever since wearing Sonoma Scent Studio To Dream a few weeks ago. To Dream reminded me of Broadway Nite and FM Lipstick Rose in its basic rose-violet personality.

I scanned the reviews of Broadway Nite and came away feeling insulted. Many reviewers say it’s far too overpowering; it’s loud, aldehydic and just plain awful. On me, it’s one of the most complimented fragrances I have ever worn. As far as the potency issue goes; I mean, really, you can’t just apply two spritzes of a powerful perfume and find it just right? I suppose you must love the scent first and then you would adjust the application to make it work for you. If you immediately hate the scent, the fact that it’s potent is only going to make you hate it more when it lingers on you for 6+ hours appearing to become stronger and stronger. I have, of course, experienced that "please-get-this-stuff-off-me" episodes a few times; once I tried Guerlain Insolence (in edt not edp) and initially thought I liked it until a few hours later when I would have paid $250 to be able to shower it off. This has also happened with Vivienne Westwood Boudoir; I was nauseous wearing that one. But me and Broadway Nite are tight... if my plane crash-landed onto an undiscovered island (and I lived to tell of it), I’d be happy to have a bottle of Broadway Nite with me until the rescue crews arrived. I have no issues with its potency; two sprays are perfect, delightfully perfect.

Maurice Roucel created Broadway Nite which seems fitting because I enjoy many of his other creations; such as Bond No. 9 New Haarlem, Gucci Envy, Le Labo Jasmin 17, Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur, Hermes 24 Faubourg and Guerlain Insolence (edp only). Aside from Gucci Envy, most of these fragrances ain’t no shrinking violets; suffice it to say I enjoy Roucel’s style in general and amongst all his creations, Broadway Nite is my favorite.

Annick Goutal Un Matin d'Orage: Revisted

This kicks off my week-long tribute to the House of Annick Goutal ~ DAY 1

I already reviewed Un Matin d’Orage (UMdO) last year but this was back when I’d worn it only about 3 times (3 full days). Now a year has passed and I’ve worn UMdO several more times and I must say it’s a glorious fragrance.

I had it right in my first review, that UMdO is about wetness and warmth rising from soil. I find it odd that people can take away dryer sheets from this but our perspectives are so different. To me, this is the exact opposite of anything synthetic and reminiscent of dryer sheets. It’s so real, natural, clean (yes, soil can smell clean) and pristine. I absolutely adore the effect of damp soil and stones. And, just like the marketing copy suggests, this is a Japanese garden, it’s minimalist, delicate and perfectly balanced. Unlike the marketing copy I don’t think UMdO smells of heat and humidity but more along the lines of a temperate day; a cool morning with a slightly warm, breezy and comfortable day ahead.

Doyen does a marvelous job capturing the sweetness of gardenia but she avoids over-the-top sweetness with the addition of magnolia and champaca. There is a crisp freshness to this gardenia accord and it is divine. Un Matin d’Orage is aquatic but this is “just after the thunderstorm” aquatic and not merely the suggestion of water. I can scarcely think of another fragrance where the aquatic nature is rendered so beautifully. Hermes Apres La Mousson has an aquatic nature but here it is blended with swampy vetiver and fruits. Un Matin d’Orage showcases a garden of dewy gardenia, jasmine and magnolia against a backdrop of wet stones and soil. Stunning.

I don’t often like fragrances which evoke melancholy or somber moods but UMdO gives me a wistful feeling that I quite like. There’s something reflective, quiet, solitary and thoughtful about UMdO and for a change I enjoy this quality.

Un Matin d’Orage is one of Annick Goutals more unusual, edgy and certainly not-for-mainstream-tastes fragrances. I looked around at other reviews and noticed reactions differ a great deal.

For reference, here’s the marketing copy from Annick Goutal:

Imagine yourself in a Japanese garden – a family garden, surrounded by dozens of delicate trees, grapefruit and hundreds of bushes of gardenias. It’s early morning, the day after a thunderstorm. Imagine the drops of the rain on the leaves with the sun breaking through the cloud. The scent of the white gardenia is strong. With the humidity and heat, the scent emanates from the ground.

PS: While I'm becoming a collector of Annick Goutal Limited Edition bottles, there is something about this butterfly bottle I just don't like. I don't think the frosted white color is as lovely as others I've seen. But I still like all the AG butterfly bottles in general, I just don't need this one ;)

Annick Goutal Un Matin d’Orage: A Review

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.