NEZ A NEZ PARFUMS PARIS ATELIER D’ARTISTE: Nez a Nez has the daring (or gall, I can’t decide which) to take vetiver, tobacco, patchouli, raspberry, coffee and vanilla and throw it all in the same pot, resulting in an extraordinarily odd fruity-patchouli.
Totally recherché (i.e. “overrefined; forced”), but the type of woman who would wear Atelier d’Artiste isn’t going to be thrown by simple definitions of class and sophistication. She’s the queen of her own world and it’s goodbye, retro glamor and hello, retro wtf?!
If you feel you really, desperately need a fruity patchouli in your collection (though I can assure you, there is no genuine need), then the rich, plummy patchouli of Indult Isvaraya would be a much better choice. A lot more expensive, yes, but can you really put a price on preventing a stampede of small children screaming for the exits every time you walk through the door? I think not.
COSTUME NATIONAL 21: Another fruity-spicy-herbal-vanilla-patchouli, but this one is just slightly less out-there than Atelier d’Artiste. Still, if you put a gun to my head and said, “Wear it or die” . . . I’d have to think about it.
The fragrance is named 21 because it allegedly contains the 21 favorite scent notes of Costume National designer Ennio Capasa: bergamot, milk, orange blossoms, saffron, cumin, pepper, cashmere wood, royal jelly, moss, clary sage, patchouli, olibanum, amber, sandalwood, oudh wood, cedar, vetiver, labdanum, tonka bean, vanilla and musk.
If you think that sounds like clash of the titans in a bottle, you’d be more than half right.
OFF TOPIC:
Octavian at 1000 Fragrances offers a terrific (and detailed!) description of the upcoming Annick Goutal Un Matin d’Orage: “This is not just a new perfume! It’s a fabulous fragrance of an uncompromising quality and natural beauty. Definitely a new direction for Annick Goutal, it floats in a new universe.” Go read the whole thing.
The Scented Salamander publishes the official ad imagery.
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Fruit + patch is really hitting the screen now, isn’t it?
I had read Octavian’s description of the new Goutal; of course, I am more than intrigued. A bit curious about his own offering, too…
I could really do without the fruit-patch trend. It’s not my favorite scent combo.
And yes, I’m really intrigued by Octavian’s own upcoming perfume release, as well. I mean, he’s been writing about fragrances for years, so it should be fascinating to smell what he comes up with.
I’m betting on something Roja Dove-ish. What do you think?
Fruity patchouli? (runs screaming to the hills)
As for Un Matin d’Orage, I got to sniff it last week when Carmencanada shared a vial of it with me in Montreal, and I didn’t care for it at all. I can’t even remember what it smelled like now, but it didn’t do a thing for me.
I did receive my vial of Reve en Cuir and like you, while I appreciated its quality, I was not moved to purchase.
Yes, running screaming for the hills is an appropriate reaction. I applaud your instincts.
Re: Un Matin d’Orage — I’m disappointed to hear that you were very much not into it, since your impressions are generally pretty spot-on as far as I’m concerned. Octavian gave it such a glowing review that I was tempted, for just a minute, to think a pretty little floral might be something gorgeous, but apparently not. I’ll stick to my twigs and dirt, thanks.
And I kind of figured that would be your response to Reve en Cuir. I don’t know what I would have told the Lucky Scent people to have done differently, because it’s a very nice piece of work, it just seems . . . superfluous. Unnecessary. They’re creating this niche piece of art for die-hard fanatics who have already smelled most everything under the sun and it’s simply not striking enough to incite rhapsody.
But, maybe that’s just how I feel about the Indult line as a whole. I can appreciate the work and I think the materials they use are terrific, but I have yet to purchase a bottle.
I agree on your assessment of Indult as a whole – all great quality stuff, but not original/distinctive enough to warrant a $250 purchase. Now, for $150, I might be more interested. But with 500+ bottles of fume already, it takes more than “hm, that smells nice” to induce me to spend that much money.
As for Matin d’Orage, I have to confess gardenia is not my most favorite note, so maybe that’s why it failed to impress me, but it wasn’t even what I like in a gardenia (that would be Kai), so it just totally missed the mark for me. YMMV but I don’t think it’s going to wow you.
I don’t think I’ve met a gardenia that really speaks to me, either. Roses and tuberose, yes, but gardenia doesn’t generally hit the spot. I’ll give it a sniff when it comes out, but if you’re not feeling it, it’s likely going to sail over my head.
You’ll have to do a video tour of your perfume collection someday and post it on the net. It might have to be a three hour tour, but totally worth it!
It would take a lot of room to spread it out to the point where you could even see everything… lots of it is crammed into dark corners of the closet. I know where everything is, but it’s not exactly filmable… I think you should just pop over for a drink and a perusal one of these days.
I swear I’m going to take you up on that one of these days. I’ll tell you what — I’ll come visit and bring a video camera and we’ll make a documentary of the two of us gearing up for a major spelunk through your collection.
There have to be at least three to five other people on the planet who would find it utterly fascinating.
ROTFL… yes, I think we could get a few takers on POL.
My thoughts, exactly!