Montale Sandflowers, A Review

Once Upon A Time…..back in 2001, Pierre Montale relocated to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia Mr. Montale created perfumes for kings, queens, sultans and princesses, using eastern influences, precious woods, resins, florals, sweet gourmand delights and exotic spices. This is how Montale parfums began.

My first Montale experience is Sandflowers. The name seems impossible to me. Sand and flowers? Flowers growing out of dry sand? I honestly didn’t know what to expect. So, I spritzed and sniffed. At first it’s a big resinous, cinnamony, sandy, sweet cloud. You’ve got to give this one some time to settle. Once it begins to settle, perhaps 5 minutes later, the vision begins to emerge, I felt I could smell what Sandflowers was meant to evoke ~ an oasis in the middle of the desert. A small ocean paradise in the midst of a vast dry sandy blowing wasteland. A Salvador Dali painting perhaps? The ocean and the desert are equal partners both playing their roles in a friendly supportive manner. Sandflowers is just so odd, so unusual, I just have to sniff and sniff to try to figure out what sort of aromatic painting Pierre Montale created.

Once in the dry down phase I began to smell a big wide expansive openness, a breezy, slightly sand-pitted wind wafting over me as I sit next to the oasis, which is definitely salt water, with some seaweed and algae pushing up to the shore. The waves ebb and flow and the warm sun high above shines down on my skin and warms me. I am so comfortable in Sandflowers, it warms and relaxes me. I feel like I could close my eyes and soak up the sunshine, listen to the waves and smell the salty water and sand around me. This is gorgeous dry weather. I am such a hater of humidity that to smell Sandflowers and imagine this most beautiful sunny dry day is an olfactory delight. To call this a beachy scent would give you the wrong impression, especially if you think beach scents smell like coconut, pineapples and lush tropical fruits. But Sandflowers is a beachy scent, in the truest sense of what a beach smells like, minus the people wearing sun tan lotion. Actually minus any people, it’s just you, with a book, on the most gorgeous day, soaking up the sun, sand and salty water. I hesitate to use the word marine, since this doesn’t remind me of any other marine-type scents I’ve tried. Sandflowers is joyous. It smells like freedom and peace and relaxation and nature. I love it.

This is all I could find as far as a list of notes:
notes from the ocean combined with the coolness of juniper berries on a base of sandalwood and oakmoss.

PS: Montale parfums are potent, 2-3 spritzes are plenty, and the lasting power is amazing, at least 6 hours if not more.