Italian perfumer Laura Tonatto has been creating fragrances since the early 1980s. In addition to the scents marketed under her own name, she has developed fragrances for Carthusia and Kerastase, among others. Her own line, which includes Plaisir, has recently been streamlined and repackaged. The notes for Plaisir are orange, pink grapefruit, rose, cinnamon, patchouli, vanilla, amber and musk.
The first few minutes of Plaisir are dominated by sharp citrus notes. After that it smells like vanilla pudding accented with citrus and a light dusting of spice. It stays sweet through the dry down, but loses all of the citrus and most of the spice; what remains is a vanilla skin musk, no longer particularly dessert-like, with just enough amber and patchouli to provide some warmth.
I have been vacillating about Plaisir since I first tried the perfume oil over a year ago. At that time, I thought it was a nice vanilla-based comfort scent. Later I tried the Eau de Parfum version and decided it was probably too sweet for me. Since then, I've tried the oil and the Eau de Parfum again, and I still can't make up my mind about it. It is nicely done, and if you love sweet vanilla musks, you will probably adore it. My lack of enthusiasm is probably due to the fact that I just don't want to wear a sweet vanilla musk very often.
On those rare occasions when I do, I am more likely to reach for Pearl by Sage Machado, a simple blend of vanilla, musk and sandalwood. It is sweet, but less so than the Plaisir, and it is extremely light. Even in the Eau de Toilette form (it also comes in a perfume oil), it has virtually no sillage — it is one of those perfumes that you can pull off even in situations where you shouldn't, strictly speaking, be wearing perfume at all. You could probably even get away with it in Halifax. It is my first choice to wear to the movies, where the choices made by other people sometimes make me sympathize with the anti-perfume contingent in Nova Scotia. I saw Shopgirl this weekend, and someone else seated in my row was wearing a few sprays too many of something unfortunate.
Plaisir is available as Eau de Parfum, perfume oil, body oil, body cream, and as a room fragrance. For buying information, see the listing for Laura Tonatto under Perfume Houses or the listing for the Sage Machado line.
Many thanks to Perfume Gods for not letting Plaisir have any sharp citrus notes on my skin
I am truly grateful for that. I love love and love Plaisir and now that lusciouscargo has it , I am afraid I will be buying a bottle any day now. Any hour rather. 
M, I like a little sharp citrus myself…if the citrus notes had lasted longer, this would probably be a favorite of mine. Congrats on your new bottle anyway! Have you tried the body oil?
Haven't bought it yet, but I can feel I am weakening…:-)
I have tried the oil and I like the smell just as much as in EDP, but I just don't like oils as such, all this rubbing in, etc. Spray and go, that is my motto
M, I usually prefer alcohol-based to oil myself, but I hear the body oil (not the perfume oil) is lovely.
R, a better similar fragrance to Plaisir is 1000 Kisses Deep (I love that name!) from the london boutiqe bnever2busytobebeautiful. It's deeper and sexier, and the bergamot/amber combination really blends well together.
I like Ma'mo better. The pear/mint combination is totally original. The only problem is that it does not have very good staying power.
Have you tried LT's newest creation? I understand it may be her best.
I wore Cristalle EdT to see Capote this weekend, love whatever sillage it has, and don't care if anyone's olfactory senses are offended. LOL!
Hugs!
R, is that the saffron one? Haven't tried it, but want to!
Cristalle EdT couldn't possibly offend anybody. How was Capote? Guessing it was better than Shopgirl.
Will try to review 1000 Kisses this week…agree it is sexier, deeper, but actually it doesn't remind me of Plaisir at all. I don't think…will have to put them on together.
Hey R! Great review. I tried this a while ago – while it is nice I never wanted a full bottle.
Yay that you will be reviewing 1000 kisses deep this week.
Well of course Capote was better than Shopgirl. LOL! My money is on Phillip Seymour-Hoffman in this year's Oscar race. And, the young man who played murderer Perry Smith should be nominated, too, in the best supporting actor category. The film was fairly bleak, dark and to-the-point, but like I said, the acting was amazing.
I will be interested in your comparison of Plaisir and 100 Kisses Deep. I swear the latter reminds me of the former. I look forward to reading your post.
The new LT has violet, vanilla and amber in it?? I can't remember. You may wish to check chattykathy's recent (?) post on MUA.
Hugs!
I mean 1000, not 100, Kisses Deep, duh!!! 100 is not nearly as passionate. :):)
R, I don´t know Plaisir, but your description sounds interesting! I think I may like it.
Especially in winter I like to wear vanilla scents. Can you compare it to La Perla Eclix?
I wonder if I really got a sample of Sage Pearl, because when I tested my sample (about a year ago), I found it to be overwhelming, very strong & longlasting, almost sharp. I didn´t like it one bit!
R, I am looking forward to seeing it…but will have to wait for it to get to Netflix. Next movie worth a sitter is no doubt Harry Potter
Will have to go look up that new LT!
N, Yes, that is it: nice but don't need a full bottle
S, way less floral than Eclix, also sweeter, warmer. I like Eclix better myself.
Very surprised about the Pearl: I find it really, really soft & unobtrusive.
I'm suprised too. I love Pearl because it's my “skin. but better” fragrance and I only wear it when I don't really feel like wearing perfume or when I'm going to be around a lot of people I don't know.
Nice Review R! I haven't tried any of the Laura Tonatto perfumes, but some of them sound very nice. They are also reasonably priced.
Out of curiosity, do you know what the new bottles look like? I can't say I was ever enthralled with the old ones – they look just like shampoo bottles to me.
P.S. I also saw Capote recently and agree with mreenymo's Oscar picks!
Haven't tried this one, but I'm cracking up over your “Halifax” line. Heh.
I vacillate on Plaisir–on the one hand, it reminds me of a cake my mom used to make, yet, on another, I do not want to smell of cake. It is a tad too sweet, at any rate.
Exactly — S, I think you got the wrong sample!
Why did we see Shopgirl??? Obviously a huge mistake.
You can see the new bottles on LT's website:
http://www.lauratonatto.com/
I don't love them, but they are an improvement.
K, we seem to live in parallel fragrance universes of some kind, it is simply amazing how rarely what we try intersects.
V, funny, it doesn't smell like cake to me at all. iPF Vaniglia smells like cake, this smells like pudding
Thanks for the Dama sample, Robin!! Now I am eager to try all the Tonnatos at Barneys very soon.
P, so glad you like it!
I think I'm the only one that thinks Plaisir is the gourmand cousin of Nanadebary Bronze. They share these common notes: cinnamon, citrus, vanilla, musk, and amber. Plaisir is much sweeter, and I find both of them very comforting.
I like Sage Pearl oil also. It's on my rotation of bedtime scents. It's also great as a base layer under Chanel Bois des Iles, not that this gorgeous scent needs any tweaking. Pearl sweetens Bois while pumping up the sandalwood in the later stages.
And I might be the only one who has never tried the Nanadebary Bronze. Is it as sweet as the Plaisir, I?
Wow, hate to mess with Bois des Iles but will have to try that. I am sure Ernest Beaux will be turning over in his grave, LOL!
R, I do feel guilty for messing with Bois des Iles! It is perfection itself.
Nanadebary Bronze is not at all sweet. It is spicy in a snuggly way. If you like the cinnamon/vanilla/amber combo but find Plaisir too gourmand and sweet, Bronze might do it for you.
I, thanks, will have to try the Bronze, although I don't adore the “classic pink” Nanadebary.
I bought Plaisir unsniffed today. I was at Kuhl-Linscomb and they had several Tonattos in the clearance section at half price. There wasn’t a tester open for that one, but I tried the ones that did have one (Iss, M’amo and Santalo per Teti). M’amo was too fruity for me but the pear/mint combination was definitely interesting. I liked Iss but it was more citrusy than I want right now. It also made me think of Jo Malone 154 but if it were made in a stronger concentration with the citrus amped up. And I already own 154 so I didn’t feel like I really needed it. So I decided to take a chance. I think the gamble was good. So far I like it. The citrus in the opening wasn’t overly sharp to me.. I’d like more of the spice and for it to last longer. After a few minutes it’s basically vanilla and musk, and that’s fine with me. I have some on the back of my hand that I sprayed several hours ago, and basically the vanilla is all that’s left now. It smells like I rubbed a vanilla bean on my skin. It’s nice, and since it smells like a natural vanilla bean scent, it doesn’t seem cloyingly sweet. It would be fun to experiment with layering. I wouldn’t have paid full price for this, but at half price it’s a good deal.