Osmanthe Yunnan has finally arrived at Hermès in the United States. Do I dare order it unsniffed? I have sworn never to buy unsniffed again, but how bad can a fragrance by Jean Claude Ellena be? Taking votes. Polls now closed.
By the way, Frederic Malle Carnal Flower has arrived at Barneys in New York. But they didn't get many bottles, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is already sold out. An unnamed source tells me it is fabulous.
R, in case my email attempt fails again (and I'm a rotten typist), I'll add in my thoughts here. OY is lovely, but on me it is a dead-ringer for TDC Divine Bergamote, which does of course makes sense – same nose and all. It has that Hermessence 'softness' – in my mind I see them all as pastel colours – and it's very definitely a black tea scent, but this morning I dabbed it on, then got out my DB – and the similarity was stunning! It's not sweet, and I think it has the same beautiful transparency as Rose Ikebana (which I smelled for the first time yesterday, so may be a wrong impression), and it is a perfect summer scent.
The SA said, one minute he loves OY, then the next minute he's not so sure…so perhaps it's one of those chamelions, like POTL.
I'd be interested to know if others get the same resemblance.
N, a sensible person would say “I'd better wait and see if it is different enough from Divine Bergamote to justify a purchase” but I am thinking “Well, if I love Divine Bergamote I'm sure to love this”. LOL, I am hopeless!
Ooh, you know what this means. I've got to hie myself to Hermès. I'll check if they have a sample I can send you.
Gosh, R, if we were sensible, we wouldn't be perfume-lovers! We'd be passionately interested in car-maintenance or something. I think you'll love OY, personally – it's got all the elements you like. Put it this way – even if it's pretty close to DB (and that may just be my take), that gives you two bottles of a loved scent!
T, do wish the smaller Hermes boutiques (like mine) would start carrying the darn Hermessences! Have a feeling I will cave before you get there, but do come back & comment & tell me how it is.
True enough N — LOL at car maintenance! Not that, please.
VanillaGirl, you crack me up! It's so true, why couldn't I be obsessed with something more practical?
Well, it ain't gonna happen, especially if I keep reading this blog!
nowsmellthis introduced me to my (now) beloved Hiris & osmanthus has long been a favorite essence of mine.
I can't wait to try OY!
My vote is you're going to do it no matter who votes what. Of course, I thought Kerry was going to win last time, so you can't go by me. Still, I predict a OY landslide up there in PA.
Signed,
Ms Zogbee
Hi Robin,
I attended the Malle event at Barney's last night, and totally agree with your unnamed source that Carnal Flower is fabulous. It is not as sweet as SL Cedre, and not as pungent as the SL TC opening. It changes quite a bit from a very green, leafy opening to a rubbery tuberose, to a soapy smell (possibly the coconut. This is not as fruity as some of the ingredients might suggest. Tuberose is not my favorite note, but Carnal Flower is my favorite Tuberose fragrance at the moment.
Regards, John
LOL – R dear! I can almost bet that you will be getting OY unsniffed.
Thanks John (above) for the great review of Carnal Floweres – it will be released in Paris next week. I will be heading to test then.
R, sounds like you are very close to purchasing.
Not sure if my opinion will sway you one way or another.
Oh my goodness! R, I am hyperventilating!
Do you know if the SF Hermes has it? Why am I asking you? I will give them a call, because two of my closest MUA friends will be up there this weekend.
Whoopee!!
Hugs and love!
Well, I would wait a bit since it's more of a spring-summer frag anyway; but the notes don't move me as much as they do you, and I am on the verge of purchasing Carnal Flower unsniffed (particularly after the brief review above), so I should just keep my big mouth closed! Re car maintenance: it's not completely a joke; I stopped getting my car regularly washed when I started buying countless bottles of fragrance. . .
C, true, I wish I could get as obsessed with weight lifting as I am with perfume. But perfume is so much nicer!
True enough, Ms Z. Haven't caved yet, but its only 2 pm.
J, thanks so much for commenting, I am dying to try it, and the only reason that the OY will probably get ordered first is that I have a sample of the CF coming in the mail. I was a bit worried by the reference Frederic Malle gave in W Magazine about being inspired by Juicy Fruit gum, but it doesn't sound like that is obvious from the scent itself.
N, do you mean to tell me that it was launched in the United States before Paris? I am astounded!! Can't wait to hear what you think of it.
Nobody here has much faith in me, V — and probably rightly so
R, glad to know someone else is as obsessed as I am!!
Washing cars just uses up the earth's precious water resources anyway, LOL! Of course, I am not even going to consider the environmental consequences of perfume.
Yes, it does sound more spring-summer, especially if it is similar to Divine Bergamote. Not sure that will stop me.
According to the SAs in Paris – the Barney's event was meant to be for the press. LOL – many MUA members have now turned to journalism? huh?? ;D
N, I think it was an invitation-only event, but certainly not press only, although I did have my own correspondent on the scene. HA!
Dang! Wouldn't you know it…I just called the SF Hermes, and they will not get OY in until the beginning of December.
So, I call Hermes NYC, and of course the fragrance department is NOT picking up the phone. I was forced to leave a message.
Dang it! Those SA's in that store never pick up the phone. It makes me so irritated. They better call me back…
Rant over…afterall, it's just another friggin' perfume.
R — it takes til December to ship it to San Fran?? That is crazy.
LOL! I am sure that SA had no clue what FM was upto in NY! Maybe trying to keep Parisian customers happy? Who knows.
Rumour has it that FM may be moving to live in NYC!! My journalist reports ;D
N, I'll have my correspondent call your correspondent and they can compare notes
Frederic Malle, himself, said yesterday that he is moving to New York, si I assume that includes a boutique. He did not say when, but it seems like he is looking now.
Regarding the journalism, I did meet an MUA member, and she said that there were other members of a fragrance club at the event.
The reference to juicy fruit gum seems a little odd, since Frederic spoke more about making a fragrance that is true to the nature of tuberose. Maybe he and Dominique can smell juicy fruit in Carnal Flower. Come to think of it, it did smell a bit sweet on one women, but definitely not sweet on me.
What are the notes in OY? Can anyone describe them to me?
I have become more intrigued with Hermes lately after sampling Hiris and Orange Verte.
J, I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but it was something about smelling a child chewing Juicy Fruit…Jean Claude Ellena also said in an interview once that he smelled jasmine in bubble gum, or maybe it was vice versa.
The notes are tea, freesia, orange, osmanthus and apricot. The SA I spoke to said it was very light and summery and that it smelled like apricot and pear — hoping the pear part isn't true!
For years I have thought I might be crazy because I've sworn there is a similar element to both jasmine ans bubblegum. In fact, the smells of jasmine, gardenia, tuberose, ylang ylang, pink bubblegum, grape bubblegum, stephanotis, and cinnamon are all related to each other in my mind (if that makes any sense whatsoever). Tuberose scents often have a whiff of sweet grape in them, ylang ylang is like tuberose and grape cough syrup, which is bubblegummy, stephanotis smells like bubblegum, bubblegum has some sort of cinnamony quality to it, etc. Oh dear, I'm not doing a very good job of explaining what I mean…But I'm so relieved to hear that maybe JCE and FM understand!
Ah, you have a much better nose than I! You need to go into perfumery, A.
I'd love to! But all my scents would smell like night blooming white flowers…i.e. the same. My nose is only good when it comes to those scents; I'm sure yours has far more range!
I once blended some oils together just for fun, a couple years ago, and I wasn't very happy with the result – too sweet and candylike I thought. Then recently I sniffed SL Fleurs de Citronnier and it smelled EXACTLY like what I'd accidentally come up with…so strange.