PARFUMS DELRAE EMOTIONNELLE: Apparently, Parfums DelRae’s latest release, Emotionnelle, has become as polarizing a topic on perfume blogs as last year’s launch of Hermes’ Un Jardin Apres La Mousson — I guess you either like it or you hate it.
Reactions range from cranky distaste: “Melon is the new black. It is not the new black I was hoping for as I stuck pins in my sweet-fruity-floral voodoo doll, but there you are: be careful what you wish for” to wild admiration: “This is pure Salvador Dali! . . . The entire day I had the feeling that I was under the spell of Parfum de Thèrese where by a magic word the melon became a gigantic hybrid from another planet” — and while my own admiration isn’t wild, I do find Emotionnelle to be conceptually daring (“quirky” appears to the word of the day), and all the more intriguing because of it.
Granted, if your taste runs along the lines of flirty and girly, Emotionnelle will likely give you the heaves. This is not melon done up with a sweet, frothy bow — instead, there’s a lashing of dark clove-studded orange that crashes head-on into a ripe cantaloupe while a riot of florals (ylang-ylang, violet, jasmine, iris and rose) scramble to get out of the way.
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Okay, it’s also a bit messy and dramatic, but you can’t make an omelette without setting the foxes on fire . . . or something like that.
The current of notes that swirl beneath the fruit and flowers is rich and resinous, almost like an undertow, really — it can pull you under when you’re least expecting it and deposit you, panting for breath, five miles down the shoreline. Prune, honey, cinnamon, labdanum, vanilla, vetiver, cedarwood . . . I mean, they’re kidding, right? How’s a girl supposed to even walk in heels so high?
Well, Emotionnelle isn’t for girls, and that’s the main distinction. It’s as if the people at Parfums DelRae decided that all this disdain for fruity florals was because no one was bothering to make any for the adults in the room — so they did. Make one for the adults, I mean. And here it is, all bronzed and viscous and daring you to embrace its collision of unstoppable forces.
The usual fruity-floral suspects won’t know what hit ‘em. Fans of light, sheer minimalism will run screaming.
Emotionnelle is most definitely gender specific (female), and would work best as a summer evening fragrance to pair with cocktails on the lawn. It ends with a whimper, too — a soft, smooth sigh of vetiver and cedar.
***Note: I really (really!) wanted to say that this is a melon scent with balls, but speaking of melons and balls:
“Fresh cantaloupe!”
PROFUMI DI PANTELLERIA MAESTRALE: Maestrale is a less dramatic affair than Emotionnelle — it’s lighter, breezier, with a living, green rhubarb shot through its heart. But it’s also got rum!
It takes a stronger man than I to say no to rum.
Listed scent notes: bergamot, lavender, rhubarb, rum, jasmine, iris, cardomom, coriander, cedarwood, vetiver and ambrette seeds. The ambrette seeds (aka “musk seeds“) lend the drydown a smooth texture layered across — yet again — a soft vetiver and cedar mix.
Maestrale is somewhat light and cool — as if green and fresh on the vine, and the lavender and iris add a sheer high note that balances out the lush rum (some people might consider the sheer iris/lavender combo a “watery” note, though it’s certainly not the kind of marine infusion that’s recently fallen out of fragrance fashion).
While I admire Emotionnelle for its complexity and creativity, I’d actually consider wearing Maestrale. It’s more casual, easy and carefree (rhubarb + rum = pie at a pub). And it doesn’t smell like melons!
{ 2 comments }
The Emotionelle sounds scary… high pitched and melony? Yikes. Maestrale sounds much more appealing.
You conflated the worst qualities of the two reviews! The Emotionelle is melony, but not high-pitched — in fact, it has quite a bit of depth. The Maestrale has a high-pitch due to its use of lavender and iris, but it’s not a sharp high-pitch, it’s an airy, breezy high-pitch.