According to my local weather forecast, it is currently "46°F Feels Like 39°F". I can vouch for the "feels like" part — it is darned cold and dreary for May. I considered just staying in bed, but instead I thought I'd spray on a bit of the tropics today...
First up, Floral Solaire (or Golden Floral), the fourth release from niche line Filles des Iles. Filles des Iles is the latest venture from the same team that brought us the strikingly unconventional fragrance Dinner by Bobo — remember that one? It was once described, somewhere (sorry I can't remember where), as meat served by a sweaty waiter. This time around, they're doing rather conventional tropical florals, which presumably have more widespread appeal. Floral Solaire, developed by perfumer Celine Ellena, is described as "an expressive, teasing and fascinating scent", and features notes of cedrat, star fruit, tropical breeze, passion fruit, lily, tiara, orchid, flamboyant, amber, benzoin, soft sand, musk and vanilla.
Tropical floral is probably not my favorite category to begin with; Floral Solaire is sweet and has a big "fresh" note in the opening, a combination that pretty much dooms it to a big "no" in my book. The top notes are citrusy and fruity, the heart is tropical florals over a warm, ambery-woody-musky base. There is plenty of vanilla, and as promised, a noticeable "warm sand" accord in the dry down. It has that beachy, almost-suntan-oil feel that I like only in very small and quiet doses, as in Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess (formerly Azuree Soleil). If you're looking for something louder and sweeter than Bronze Goddess, but not quite so loud and sweet as say, Coty's Sand & Sable, Floral Solaire might be just what you need. In 50 ml Eau de Toilette (and reasonably priced at $48). For buying information, see the listing for Filles des Iles under Perfume Houses.
Eau Turquoise is the latest from Parfums de Nicolaï, and joins the line's Eau Fraîche collection. I've mentioned more than once that her Eau Exotique was my "most reached for" fragrance last summer. Eau Exotique might be my perfect fruity floral: tart, juicy mango sprinkled with lime and layered over jasmine and some earthy-woody notes, nothing that smells like candy or soda or children's Tylenol.
The notes for Eau Turquoise sounded equally lovely: mango, apricot, osmanthus, key lime, Turkish rose, pepper, cardamom and Texas cedar. It starts out very like Eau Exotique, with the same tart, juicy mango sprinkled with lime, but it softens quickly. The apricot and osmanthus are very subtle, as are the pepper and cardamom — it is described as a spicy fruity floral, but I found it less fruity than Eau Exotique, and the spices are too quiet to add much of a kick. The florals are sheer and rose-y; the base is musky-cedary and pale. It is a pretty scent, but it just hasn't got the oomph of the Eau Exotique, and while I'd wear it, I can't make myself adore it. I should note that Marina at Perfume Smellin' Things liked it more than I did. In 30 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette (the 100 ml is $65; the 30 ml does not appear to have arrived in the US as of yet). For buying information, see the listing for Parfums de Nicolaï under Perfume Houses.
I should have stayed in bed, right? Do comment and tell me about your favorite tropical scent.
Do JLo Live and Kylie Showtime count? They're the nearest I can muster to tropical in my collection. I think I'll have to investigate the Eau Exotique to get some tropics in my fume drawer.
And yes you should've stayed in bed. I was going to say the weather where I am (a mountainy bit in the mid-North England) doesn't justify tropical scents, then I did a F to C conversion and realised it was warmer here, by quite a bit.
Monyette Paris, and how that happened I'm not certain, because I don't much care for gardenia (or tuberose) as main players in a scent, and tropical floral has to be my least favorite scent category. Yet I wore MP just yesterday (cold rain here) and I just love the way it smells. The tropicalness is tempered by the incense just enough, but I know it's not one you care for, so not much help here on new tropical scents, I'm afraid.
Pity about the PdN. I'm not thrilled with the Eau Fraiche collection in general, as they tend to disappear on me. Fig Tea would be the one I like the most, but I dug out my decant and tried it out again recently, and it's just too wimpy for a fb, imo, whereas I'm planning to purchase a fb of Vanille Tonka while beautyhabit has a sale on. I like PdN's *fuller* scents the best.
Get back in bed! It's that weird place here, where it's actually colder in the house than outside, which works well in July and stinks in May. I would LOVE to go back to bed but fear my customers would converge upon it and drag me out;-p
I don't do much trop either but I did like Paparadischa's Ipanema, though I can't imagine ever having a need for a full bottle. The closest I come to tropical tend towards a sharp citrus which, I guess, isn't 'tropical' in the sense one normally considers.
I am wearing a fleece sweatshirt, which is pathetic for May! Ugh.
I have not smelled the Kylie (still hasn't launched here, and don't know if it will). J Lo Live– barely, although Miami Glow would qualify. Do try Eau Exotique, if you like mango and you like other PdNs, I think you'll like it.
Funny — I love tuberose & gardenia, but most of my favorites don't strike me as “tropical”, really. MP is a tad too sweet for me, but I haven't tried it in years and should give it another shot.
You're so right that Fig Tea is too wimpy for a fig. I didn't love it until I stopped thinking of it as a fig scent at all — but I do love it now. Eau Exotique lasts hours on me, don't know why, and the mango makes it right through to the end. Very cheerful today, and I needed something cheerful!
I might actually have a different set of criteria for “tropical” than everyone else. I wouldn't include citrus myself, but hey, whatever takes you to the tropics, right? I think my other favorites that I think of as tropical are L'Artisan Ananas Fizz & MPG Bahiana.
No, I'm thinking your version is the accepted one – it's what I would define as tropical, myself. As I tend to not wear coconut or rum-based scents, I was thinking more about what I would wear IN the tropics, I think, which is a different topic altogether
xo
I am going to show just how far I've come in the last year by being totally ego-less and fearless and devil-may-care, and declare without any embarrassment whatsoever that my favourite summer, beachy scent, bar none — and I've got Azuree Soleil and a few of the usual niche suspects — is. . .
JLo's Miami Glow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmm. I do feel a little embarrassed, actually. But, gosh darn it, it's fabulously fun and people seem to love it on me, so what the dilly. . .and it's cheap like borscht (although I'm not sure how easy it is to find these days). . .
To wear a perfume in the tropics does not seem like a good idea to me for you don't want to know how many insects will be surrounding you zooming, biting and stinging.
I like tropical fruits and coconuts but not so much in a perfume better just to eat.
Robin that is so nice for why would we have to wear niche scents all the time or any time ! 😀
Hanae Mori…. Don't know if they are technically considered tropicals, but that's the impression they leave on me. I don't care for HM's feminine scents – even Magical Moon gets too sweet on me, but I fell for the men's. Go figure.
favorite Tropical Flagrance …
ah ah … provocation 🙂
– L'artisan Ananas Fizz
– CSP Coeur de Vahiné
Sincerely “Coeur de Vahiné” is a superb fresh fruity flagrance (nothing in common with my Vanilla CSP addiction)
I would say Michael Kors Island collection! I love all of them Hawaii, Fiji, Capri and even the original Island. I know that Hawaii and Fiji were limited editions but I did see that Sephora has brought Hawaii back. Something about the Islands feels so tropical!
Going tropical for me means the much-reviled Guerlain Mahora — frangipani flowers with a coconutty facet — or the defunct Patou Colony, with its witty pineapple head note. I must say I quite liked the whiff I got from Bronze Goddess, but at the time I was with family in Montreal and there was 10 feet of snow, which didn't inspire me to get it just then… But now it's hot in Paris, so I might go have a sniff at it.
Bronze Goddess, pretty much. Although Robin is reminding me that I should add Miami Glow to my mile-long list of Cheap Scents I Should Just Up And Buy Already At Some Online Discounter.
It's not tropical, really, but OJ Champaca always makes me feel I am someplace warmer, as does Sampaquita. I think you are very partial to either Osmanthus or Frangipani?
I would take the biting insects over the weather we're having here today, in a heartbeat 🙂
I liked Miami Glow, and think it is far better than your average celeb scent. It is a shame it was LE. Nothing to be ashamed of!
It wasn't discontinued in the regular sense, since it was LE to begin with — but I'm surprised they didn't add it to the regular line given how often I see people raving about it.
Ah, yes it is, and a happier topic, perhaps 🙂
We agree on Ananas Fizz, I love it! Haven't tried that particular CSP though.
I might be wrong, but I think they maybe brought both Hawaii & Fiji back? So perhaps this will turn into a seasonal collection & they'll bring them back every year, who knows.
I broke out my Divine Bergamot today, I just needed that little bit of sunshine. It's been miserably drippy here, which I suppose is a blessing for gardeners. My car outside thermometer read 43 this morning! I got a little cute box of Bond No. 9 candy and just by chance I cracked opened Saks Fifth Ave. for Her. Normally this stuff is just not for me, I don't like tuberose & gardenia that packs a wallop like this. I put some on tissue paper and stuffed it in the trunk of my car (you can't live with this IN the car) and now it's all balmy and tropical. The sillage for this has the half-life of uranium isotopes, BTW. I gardened and sweated and showered and cooked and washed my hands and there's still a bit left. 🙂
Songes, maybe? I don't dislike tropical scents, but I rarely think of wearing them or like one enough to buy it. When I'm cold I go for wood or leather or tobacco!
It's not easy to find in stores. I know because I've been on the lookout for it ever since I read about it on Basenotes ; )
I like Bronze Goddess more than it deserves maybe…it's just a slight little thing, but it was so perfect to wear last August when it was too hot for almost everything else but citrus.
It's been 76°F here in the southern UK for the past week – astonishing for May. I've noticed that many of my current favourites simply disappear within minutes of application, so I've been happily testing all those reserve-for-summer samples I got over the winter. Azuree Soleil is about the closest I've got to a tropical scent, but it's not one I reach for often. I don't think I have the happiest memories of childhood beach holidays! One that might count as summer-fruity-spicy is my newest love, Stephanie de St. Aignan Berberiades, which is refreshing in the heat. I just wish it lasted longer. The PdNs I've tried have always had half-lives of about a week, so perhaps I should give one of the Eaux a go? (Ozago – I like that!) (Clearly the heat is getting to me…)
I don't own any tropical scents yet – must try the Eau Exotique 🙂
Hey, nice to read all the thumbs-up for Miami Glow. My slight case of embarrassment has magically disappeared!
Sampaquita is probably her closest to a “tropical”, but it's also my least favorite. Adore Champaca, Osmanthus & Frangipani though — all 3! and Frangipani maybe verges on tropical.
Songes is great stuff!
Ozago! Most people complain that the Eau Fraiche scents don't last long enough, so perhaps they'd be just right for you. And hey, sounds like you stole our weather!
Absolutely head back to bed; or even better, come join me. . .I was in the pool under a 96 degree sun, and my hair is a surprising shade of ummm, orange. Gotta watch that pool water on “enhanced” hair.
I like Annanas Fizz, Creed's Virgin Island Water, and my go-to summer scent, Mandragore. Annick Goutal makes that linden-floral-musk thing that i thought I liked for exactly long enough to hike two miles to the Barney's in Chicago for (while on a business trip) and purchase a full bottle and spritz on, then had the linden and musk bare their teeth and chase me through the Chicago streets begging for mercy.
When I want to feel really tropical I bust out the Plumeria Lei Floral Water by the Island Soap Company. It is a light body mist that makes you feel like you are THERE. Not exactly high-end, and pretty low-key. Most of the tropical fragrances I like are actually tropical flower scents, like Terra Nova Pikake and a little island brand called Aloha Essence that makes a wonderful Puakenikeni. Closer to home is a lotion sold by Bubbles of Laguna (but only in the Laguna Beach store) called Aloha Lei that I adore.
Hi, I don't want to make everyone TOO jealous but here in Australia, we are going into winter and it is currently around the 75 F point here! It is times like this I am glad I live here! I almost makes up for the difficulty in getting niche perfumes! The scent that reminds me most of the tropics is Maelin and Goetz's Rum Tonic. It isn't a traditional tropical but I just can't seem to stop thinking of Jamaica when I smell this. Must be the whole rum thing, huh?
I love Songes, but the juice is red!! (think I mentioned that before). I'm hoping a bottle with regular juice comes in – I'm afraid of staining my clothes.
re. Filles des Iles – I have the Sparkling Floral, and would consider that a fave tropical scent, but the lasting power is about 20 minutes on me.
You can't hurt me so much today as we're expecting blue skies & 70…way better than yesterday! Rum Tonic is a fun scent 🙂
96! The pool! Very glad I didn't read this until today when the weather here has improved.
I need a bottle of Mandragore, it is so perfect for summer. But what AG linden-floral-musk? Are you sure you don't mean the L'Artisan?
Something is wrong with that shipment, I'm sure of it! It isn't red anywhere else.
Too bad about the Sparkling Floral 🙁
Tama, Your comment reminds me of Kai, which is probably my other “go-to” summer tropical floral. The Terra Nova is the same sort of thing, but maybe a wee bit sweeter & less green.
None of these two fragrances sound like something I'd wear.
Currently I have three tropical fragrances:
1. Azuree Soleil – I stocked up so much I still have one big bottle sealed and waiting so no Bronze Goddess as of yet
2. Lancome Tropiques – I need a certain mood to wear it, and even then only as a “filler”. This fragrance was an airport mistake.
3. Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise Blue – another airport mistake. First notes are lovely, then it becomes close to an air freshener. I used it lavishly last year in Tunisia, because Azuree was so weak in the hot and humid air. Seriously, Azuree Soleil is a fragrance you wear in the city to remind you on the beach. IF you go to the beach, wear something else. At least that was my experience.
I was going to suggest you try Mahora. As an aquatic-lover, the fresh green resin top note really appealed to me BUT the heart of frangipani reminded me of $8 bottles of cologne sold in Waikiki drug stores. It's unfortunate that previous associations in life prejudice us to fragrance choices. The extract bottle was magnificent. I think that using tropicals right now is a great idea as we are going to skip spring this year and go right into summer. Why not start with a summer fragrance? The spring flowers are about 2 months behind here in Vancouver, B.C. Hard to believe the globe is warming. Highs around 7 C.
I still haven't tried the Lancome Tropiques…that bottle was pretty though! I wore AS a good deal at the beach last summer & found it perfect for that, but it was an East Coast US beach, not a tropical beach.
Just realized I don't remember what the Mahora bottle looked like at all…will have to google. Not a favorite scent of mine, though.
Kai!!!! What a great, great tropical vibe that BEAST of a beachy scent has. Brings out my inner Keira Knightley; I hear that all the slebs wear it. I put it on my hand before I hit the hay and inhale it as I'm drifting off, hoping for visions of scantily-clad bronzed gods cavorting in the Carib. Sigh. It's POURING rain and FREEZING in Vancouver, dontcha know. . .
If I really wanted to be transported to tropics or the beach, I'd probably just slather on a bit of cheap coconutty Banana Boat suntan oil.
Actually, I kind of like my dc'd Crabtree & Evelyn “Essence of West Indian & Sicilian Lime”, but that's as tropical as my collection gets.
I was gifted a sample of Eau Exotique the other day and the dab I tried didn't wow me; I'm wondering if it's turned. I'll need to try it again. I'd much rather get my blast of mango from Jardin sur le Nil. I have been SUPER curious about Eau Turquoise, though your review cooled me back down a notch. I've also been curious about several of the CSP tropical scents to have on hand during hot weather blasts (not that we get many of those here).
I do think it is more impressive sprayed, like so many things (Sur Le Nil too). But perhaps it won't wow you in any case 🙂
LOL — I hope I don't have an inner Keira Knightley, but who knows?
The EDP & EDT bottles were totem-like good luck charms. They had an amber top. The beaten metal label had the name engraved so that it could be seen through the glass from the other side. The extrait came in the unusual size of 12 ml and was round and lay down. It was a golden talisman with a clear centre revealing the glass dauber which ended in an amber cabochon said to have protective powers.
Someday I will break down and actually get some Kai, but it disappears pretty fast on my skin. It is luscious, though, and definitely tropical.
Betcha do!! 😀
My first reaction to this post was 'I don't like any tropical fragrances'. But then I thought 'oh wait – of course! my adored Virgin Island Water!' And then I those 2 bottles of Mahora I've got, and that's tropical – especially the edp with its richer, bigger bouquet of white flowers – and of course my Hei Poa Frangipani, and those CSPs, not to mention the monoii oil I buy every summer… sometime around then I realised that in fact I really really like tropical fragrances and have lots of them. Helluva thing.
Thanks for the great description! Easily found pictures of the EdT/EdP, will have to keep looking for the extrait.
HA — then by all means, let her out 😉
You know, I have a zillion samples, mostly received as swap extras — so doubt I'll ever have to buy it. I did buy the Body Glow stuff but wasn't at all happy with it.
There you go…it's practically your favorite category!
Oopsy daisy. It wasn't Kai, actually. I just checked, and the fragrance I was thinking of is Monyette Coquette Tropique!!!
It is over-the-top tropical, just insanely beachy, crammed with plumeria and hibiscus and other waft-y things.
I must try Kai. . .
For a long time, both Kai & MP were big at MakeupAlley, and it always seemed like you either liked one or the other, you know? So maybe you'll hate Kai 🙂
My favorite tropical frags are by Bond no. 9, Coney Island, with Margarita mix, melon, guava, cinnamon, chocolate, caramel (yum!). And the other is Hermes Un Jardin en Mediterranee, with the fig notes.
Lately, I seem to really focus on foodie frags! 😀
ps-An off-topic comment, but has anyone visited the Hermes site to see the animinated un Jardin apres la Mousson ad? It's fabulous!
Yes, I saw it! Hermes does a great job with their website, agree!