The creamy gardenia, lily, vanilla and Nag Champa fragrance of Monyette Paris has become a favorite of both floral and non-floral lovers alike, making Style Magazines's illustrious 5 Great Cult Perfumes list and even winning the hearts of Hollywood stars from Oprah to Cameron Diaz and Gwen Stefani. It's the only gardenia scent I can bring myself to wear (besides Chanel Gardenia, which I maintain is a jasmine fragrance in disguise): normally I find white florals too sharp and angular on me, but Monyette is a pleasantly "round" floral, lush and creamy to the extreme.
Nonetheless, I rarely reach for Monyette, because not only is it a perfume oil roll-on (frankly, I find that spraying is an intrinsic, enjoyable part of the perfume experience and any bottle in my collection without an atomizer usually ends up collecting dust) but because the scent is so lush and rich that after a few hours of wear it starts to practically choke me with its creaminess. Monyette Cashmere Mist, the scent's dry-oil spray, is the perfect solution to my problems. It not only provides a sheer layer of moisture perfect for the bare arms and legs of summertime, but also works as the perfect perfume substitute when applied lightly along the arms, wrists and neck.
The fragrance is the same lush tropical gardenia of the oil, and it has the same intensity and strength for the first few hours as well. It does drift away after around three hours or so (a little sooner than the oil), but that is just long enough for me to be able to wear the scent without getting sick of it.
Monyette Paris Cashmere Body Mist is $28 for 120 ml. For buying information, see the listing for Monyette Paris under Perfume Houses.
Hello, Anjali!
I don't like perfume oils, either (with the exception of that amazing Italian perfume oil that we tested at Sniffa). So, this is good to know since I love to spritz, spritz, spritz!
Hugs!
Well R, those were pretty divine!
But yes, if you do like Monyette, than this is definitely the best way to experience it for oil haters like us!
That lasting power actually is a huge selling point for me. I hate things to last too long, preventing me from switching out to something else. But had to laugh about your comment that you only like sprays.
I'm SO the opposite. I hate having to spray anything – usually because it means I'll have sillage and I'm completely sillage phobic. Really hate for anyone else to be able to smell what I'm wearing. This sounds like it could be low sillage, though, if sprayed carefully. Will definitely have to check it out if summer ever gets here.
But…you can't wear Isabey? Sighs deeply, walks away shaking head in puzzlement.
I love Monyette, despite the horrible bottle (I can deal with oils, but this particular one is hard to handle) and its extreme floralness. The body products have been a big pick-me-up for me this winter.
LOL, we *are* kind of opposites. I remember you saying how you decant all of your perfumes that are too strong sprayed into tiny bottles so you can dab them on, and the concept left me befuddled
Oh, and you totally caught me, re: Isabey. That is one gardenia I would happily wear forever, even without an atomizer =) (Because of course, not having an atomizer would mean I owned that gorgeous pearl LE flacon of course.)
The scent IS nice for taking you out of the freezing cold of winter and transporting you to some sort of tropical paradise, no?
I actually wear it during winter pretty much exclusively because its a bit too heavy for summer! (Never noticed anything wrong, or at least, uniquely wrong w/ the roll-on bottle though — are you talking about that, or the old hand-painted bottles?)