Few things in life inspire loyalty in me like the Parfums de Nicolaï line. No doubt the packaging is plain — but surely this can be overlooked when the contents are so beautiful and yet so affordable? Many of the newer niche brands charge a lot more for an equally ugly bottle. Yes, the products seem to be more expensive in North America than in Europe — but it feels churlish to complain when even the inflated USD or CAD price is a bargain. Besides, the dysfunctional website for the line urges you to "Buy Now" without giving the cost of anything in Euros or any other currency — I'm serious, go check it out: the price column reads zero for all products in every size — so North Americans are never going to know what deals they're missing anyway.¹ Furthermore, the sight of each squat 30 ml bottle of Maharadjah or Sacrebleu warms my heart: may every other perfume company see the light and start providing smaller, reasonably priced packaging across the board!
True, it is often difficult to determine when or whether a Nicolaï fragrance has been discontinued, renamed or reformulated under the same name, and there are clearly some problems with the North American distribution, as many products seem to be on perpetual "backorder" — but even this commercial ineptitude sparks a foolish fondness in me. In this age of the hard sell, it is heartening — if nerve-wracking! — to see fragrances survive simply because they smell darn good.
Three years ago, I visited the Nicolaï store on the rue de Richelieu in Paris and I remember the sales assistant responding to a question I asked in English with the universal gesture for lack of fluency in someone else's language: a kind of one-handed shrug that starts at the chin and mimes something pointless coming out of the mouth. My attempt at the question in French would have been worse than pointless, so I gestured back and then we politely ignored each other until I had sniffed everything in the store. I made my purchases, she gave me a smile and a generous handful of samples and I set off to find some macarons. Coming as it did after the scented chamois ritual at the J.A.R. boutique, the laboratory order and chill of the Frédéric Malle Mont Thabor shop and a visit to the hushed purple cave of the Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, the experience of shopping at Nicolaï seemed refreshingly focused and free from pretense.
It is time to admit that my loyalty to the line was tested a little in recent years. The last Nicolaï release I purchased was Maharanih, in early 2007. Unlike Robin, I preferred 2008's Eau Turquoise to Nicolaï's original mango spritzer, Eau Exotique. Since the former's launch, though, I've twice found bottles of this milky-green eau fraîche at a great price, and I've passed them up, which I couldn't imagine doing with bottles of other, earlier Nicolaï gems... so the turquoise waters must not have called to me as I thought they would. None of the new scents from the Les Magnifiques collection wowed: Rose Intense (2008) competes with the limited edition Week-end à Deauville (2009) for the title of my least favorite Nicolaï scent ever; the best thing about Vanille Intense (2009) was how its trashy, good-fun heart of Malibu pineapple rum reminded me of March (of Perfume Posse) commenting that the ad copy for this collection sounded "porny"; and I found Patchouli Homme/Patchouli Intense (2009) to be a well-executed but not particularly interesting addition to the suddenly crowded genre of presentable patchoulis. Violette in Love (2009) was just nice.
Now, with L'Eau Mixte, my faith is restored. Released in May, this complex cologne includes bergamot and lemon from Calabria, peppermint, grapefruit, blackcurrant bud, Damask rose, jasmine, spices, vetiver, oakmoss and a "cocktail of muscs". Many will be relieved to learn that the pervasive sweetness of much of the line is not to be found here: L'Eau Mixte opens on a sharp, pucker-worthy mix of citrus. On the other hand, those of you who are made wary by the grapefruit and blackcurrant bud should know that this start is indeed a little reminiscent of Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune. L'Eau Mixte is not as intense or saturated as the Guerlain, mind you, and the ammoniac character of the grapefruit and cassis is tempered by a beautiful, breezy fresh mint note – but if you thought Pamplelune's two-word description in Perfumes: The Guide should have read "cat urine", well then, consider yourself warned.
The spiced floral heart of L'Eau Mixte is gorgeous. The structure and style remind me of Eau D'Été (1997), still my favorite summer splash from Nicolaï. The rose note is citrus-bright yet lush, the jasmine is caressing, and the spices, surely including cinnamon, add enough warmth for this capital-X, "mixed" (cross-gendered) fragrance to work credibly on any man who could carry off the more rakishly elegant eighties masculines, like Le 3me Homme de Caron or Chanel's Bois Noir/Egoïste. (Please note that L'Eau Mixte is much quieter than either of these monsters, though.) A note of dry vetiver is present from the middle stages, but it is quite soft.
Some Nicolaï naysayers detect a brand "base" that they find off-putting. I have never noticed the sort of family resemblance in the Nicolaï drydowns that I encounter in, say, the Ormonde Jayne scents, Tauer Perfumes or the Donna Karan Collection fragrances, so I can't comment on its presence or absence here — but I can say that I find the "cocktail of musks" to have a subtle, buttermilk-like effect that is quite lovely. The lasting power is good for an Eau de Toilette, but after the first few minutes, L'Eau Mixte wears close to the skin. Still, I think it could serve in the colder weather if sprayed liberally. In this case, I recommend Nicolaï's 100 ml bottle.
In short — "Too late!" "Too late!" they cry — I think this is one of the best releases of the year so far.
L'Eau Mixte Eau de Toilette is available in 30 and 100 ml. For information on where to buy it, see Parfums de Nicolaï under Perfume Houses.
¹ The perfume world is full of hopeless websites, but I find this one particularly baffling. Many scents still for sale at the Nicolaï stores or through online retailers are missing or miscategorized, fragrance names are sometimes attached to the wrong note lists, and whole different groupings appear on various parts of the site (i.e. the Eaux Fraîches link on the sidebar brings up Eau Turquoise, but the Special Offers section includes Eau Exotique instead - and if you try to access the description of the latter, the site takes you to an Eaux Fraîches page that includes both). The Nicolaï press releases and promotion materials must be similarly wonky, because the confusion extends to the websites of niche retailers. For example, Luckyscent does not list my favorite, Nicolaï Pour Homme, on their pages for the brand, but you can find and order it from them if you enter the name in the "Search" field. Nicolaï Pour Homme is mentioned nowhere on the company site itself, where L'Eau Mixte (misnamed "New York" on its description page) is classed as a masculine scent, even though many reliable sources describe it as the first explicitly unisex Nicolaï fragrance.
Re: Scents not listed on Luckyscent:
You have to choose “Men” at the top menu, Then find Parfums de Nicolai in the drop down menu. You will now see Nicolai Pour Homme listed, but all the women’s scents are gone. It’s not a good way of separating the products. Women under “fragrances”, the men’s offering under “men” and no option to see everything from a particular brand.
Thanks for the correction, bjorn! It didn’t do this previously, though – when I ordered my bottle in April of this year, Nicolai Pour Homme did not appear in the ‘Men’ section, either (with the other masculine fragrances). It was also on backorder again at Beautyhabit. I agree with you about the web design, too – though I find Luckyscent very easy to navigate otherwise.
I love Nicolai too! I love the quality, the creativity and the fine materials, and I adore the smaller bottle size. My favourites are the Maharanih and Le Temps d’un Fete. You’re right, the web site is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I feel like volunteering to clean it up for them. But my prize for most annoying site has got to be Serge Lutens. All the javascript drives me crazy.
There are many relatively linear and/or abstract synthetic fragrances I enjoy and they have a wit and creativity of their own – but it’s hard to match true classical perfumery, with its emphasis on development and lush, complex naturals. There’s just so much *story* to the Nicolaïs.
On volunteering to clean up the website: better you than me! As much as I notice design issues and info gaps, I’d probably be terrible at maintaining and troubleshooting a website. Thank heavens I have Robin to edit my posts, find and crop images, etc. – she keeps this place so accurate, easy to navigate and spiffy looking…
true – this website is beautifully done. Thanks Robin!
It’s so true! I would probably come here even if the site didn’t look so nice, but I love the deft balance, order and esthetic. It is calming to look at, as well as very functional. Cheers for Robin!
The website is truly dire, but that seems to be a feature of many French websites. It’s as if they’re using 19th Century internet.
Ha! But you know, I’m annoyed by the high concept ones with all their Flash player stuff I find so hard to navigate, too. I’m very hard to please! 🙂
HATE HATE HATE flash. So glad Apple won’t use it for the iPad, and hope it eventually makes all the designers stop using it.
And do excuse my little off-topic rant!
No excusing needed – agreed!
Hi Erin – yes, I hate super high concept websites that are so annoying and actually prevent good shopping. Let me get to what I want!!! All those moving images give me a headache!!
Correct info and a functional checkout system – that’s all we really need.
Glad to see a review of this. I wholeheartedly agree how refreshing it is when people make a great product and just don’t really seem to care about the PR stuff. (PR in my head is invariably linked to AbFab).
Their site works fine from Holland with internet explorer, it doesn’t work well with either Safari or Firefox. ( you can’t place an order with either of those)
I love the Nicolaï and I truly don’t mind the bottles. They don’t leak, and they spray well. What else is needed. I got a sample of this with my latest order from the Nicolaï. I tried it once, liked it but can’t really remember it.
Unfortunately Nicolaï pour Homme is discontinued. It’s my 2nd favourite of her masculines.
I haven’t tried any of the Intenses, or the W à D. My favourites so far are Sacrebleu and New York.
Well, I’m not a bottle hound so I tend to agree with you about the plain functionality aspect. I do know two retailers who simply will not carry the line, though, because they believe their customers will not buy that packaging. Hate to think of the line image limiting their distribution….
This is what I mean about the information problems: *is* Nicolai PH discontinued? I know its not on the Nicolai site. I got nervous in the spring and bought a backup bottle – the only backup I’ve ever purchased of anything! – because I couldn’t imagine living without this scent. Since then, three online retailers seem to have received new shipments of it. Baffling…
I tend to order strait from the Paris stores, and they told me they had only a few bottles left. ( of the pour Homme) I have ordered one backup bottle. They did not mention specifically that it had been discontinued. Eau Turquoise has.
A lot of online retailers seem to have lots of old stock. Eclipse for instance. And Aus-Liebe-Zum-Duft still has Balkis and Cococabana.
NOOOoooo! *sobs* Nicolai PH is my most reached-for fragrance and, if I’m honest with myself, probably my favorite scent in terms of sheer emotional attachment. As I said, I was in some ways prepared for discontinuation, but this still comes as a very big blow to me. Thank God I’ve got about 140 ml or so of it.
That sounds like a cry from the heart! There is still time to stock up though.
The fragrance I am most attached to is Paris, YSL. I couldn’t even say whether it’s good or not, I have worn it for over 20 years and always cheers me up. They have messed with that one, unfortunately.
I am crushed – but considering I have a 100+ bottle collection, I should be able to get over it eventually. *sigh* Sometimes I think this hobby has made me a little nutty. So sorry about Paris – I don’t remember the old formulation, but I sympathize. In some ways, it’s worse when they reformulate (rather than discontinue) because there are all those imposters out there to confuse the hunt for vintage bottles…
I haven’t loved any of the de Nicolai Eaux – seems that unisex and cologne-structured is just most definitely not for me. I found nearly all of those light summery things too masculine for my personal (very girly) taste. I think at one point I had 13 PdN samples, and after trying each one carefully on skin, over a period of two weeks, I didn’t notice a common base. If there is one, I didn’t notice it.
I liked Maharanih except for the dirty-jockstrap note I get out of the drydown – yeah, yeah, I KNOW, I’m the only person who gets it – and liked Balkis, Fig Tea, Number One, Sacrebleu and Odalisque, but not enough to buy them. The ones I love, I really love and wouldn’t want to be without them: Le Temps d’une Fete and Vanille Tonka. I’m still considering a small bottle of Just une Reve.
And yeah, the website is extremely annoying. ( Is Balkis gone? I didn’t see it just now.)
Mals – You’re not the only one with a problem with Maharanih. I don’t know what a dirty jockstrap note smells like, but what I get is the worst kind of sour perspiration note, so maybe they’re the same?
Could it be the geranium? One of the spice notes? I sometimes get “subway tunnel accord” (stale pee) out of black pepper…
Well, someone over on the Posse suggested it was the civet. Which I thought was total insanity – I like civet in small doses, i.e., Ubar, Parfum Sacre, Climat , and usually can pick it up right from the top. As in, “Oh, there’s civet in here!” with a knowing wink. I don’t get the, um, tighty-whities note until way into the drydown. It is startlingly lifelike.
It’s really funny – Joe is a big Maharanih fan, and doesn’t get any naughtiness out of it, but does find Amaranthine juuuuuust this side of raunchy, while I think Amaranthine is relaxed but proper. In fact, I wear it to church.
Perceptions, I guess.
And then I was reading something somewhere (yeah, THAT’s helpful) that stated that synthetic civet is made up of a couple of different aromachems, and some people might find Raw Mat A objectionable while enjoying B through F – and other people would hate Raw Mat C but enjoy A, and so on. So I don’t really know.
Yes, I love Maharanih… in her dirty jockstrap and all. I should put the bottle next to Joy parfum and let them get busy together while I’m out all day at work… 😉 Really, though, I mostly just get spicy orange goodness.
I thought it could be the civet too, but as you say, Ubar has loads of civet and that doesn’t bother you. I seem to detect a hint of cumin and pepper, and maybe mixed with the sharp notes of geranium it creates sort of a Perfect Storm of Hoo-Hah.
I’m now possessed with the need to identify my own Perfect Storm of Hoo Hah: Oud 27 maybe? Vintage Bal a Versailles parfum?
Wait. Black pepper sometimes smells like stale urine to you?
Whoa.
I *think* it is black pepper. It could be a combo / Perfect Storm effect. Black pepper does not bother me in, say, Eau de Patou. But Poivre Samarcande? Ooooh boy.
Well, I won’t go so far as to say we’re EFTs, but unisex frags and the cologne style is certainly “me”. I do dig some girlier scents, though, – including Balkis. (Ack! You’re right, it’s not there on the home site. *sigh*) Maharanih contains some “synthetic civet” – there’s definitely something animalic there for me, too – so perhaps this is responsible for your dirty jockstrap accord.
Oh Mals – dirty jockstrap – you are so explicit!! LOL! I’ve not smelled this one, but now you have just put a funk descriptor in my mind that I will never forget.
To be honest, jockstrap was a euphemism… which rather calls my state of mind into question. Ahem. Anyway, I did call The CEO into the bedroom to check for verisimilitude, and it was dead on.
details, details, details. 😉
Mals, you get 10 bonus points for using two great vocabulary words in one post! verisimilitude and euphemism!! Way to go! A bit off point, but people just don’t have the grand vocabulary they used to. People like Abe Lincoln, John Adams.. some of them had very eloquent vocabularies…. now the only time you hear such great words is usually if someone is trying to sell you something.. But I digress…. I have to say, I do love New York, but it is a bit too masculine for me to wear comfortably….but Odalisque and Le Temps d’Une Fete… so wonderful…. and since you have given praise to Vanille Tonka… it is now on my to sample list. Thanks!
I think it’s true that people don’t use the wide range of vocabulary that’s available to us English-speakers. I blame (what else?) TV, where the average TV script – whether sitcom, drama, news, whatever – is written at an 8th grade reading level. I haven’t seen any data for reality type shows, but I’d bet it would come out at about a 5th grade reading level.
I had a high school friend who used to call me “Dictionary Mouth.” (I took it as a badge of honor.)
I once described chlorine as having a, well, *spunk* smell in a short story. Sorry… talk about explicit. My (male) fellow workshoppers disagreed with me – but one of them later admitted he had been having trouble using swimming pools ever after.
A friend of mine once described a Brie as smelling like you-know-what, and on that particular day and with that particular cheese she was absolutely right. Never quite looked at Brie the same way again.
Argh! I’m not sure I could forgive a friend who ruined a type of cheese for me. I’m a turophile. (Looks like I’m a Dictionary Mouth, too, today.)
HA!! My MOTHER (of all people) ruined blooming Bradford Pears trees for me in the exact same way… she made remark about them smelling of the same stuff… and then preceeded to call them C$! Trees. I was only about 19 years old too! Scarred for life…
Hmm…we’ve got some of those, and they’re blossoming right now…To sniff or not to sniff, that is the question…Will it hurt, will there be any scarring?
Oh, y’all are killing me! My coworkers are looking at me funny because coffee just shot out my nose…
I should never read this blog before I leave work.
My parents didn’t even use “hell” very much when I was growing up. I remember my dad ripped a good pair of pants on a nail when I was 18 and he yelled: “C@$#sucker!” I remember being totally blown away that he knew how to swear. It was like finding out about Santa Claus or something. Scarring indeed.
Bradford Pear trees smell terrible when they are blooming! There was a whole street lined with them near my house growing up, but never thought about what exactly it smelled like. And a word like that would never come out of my mom’s mouth – she would only curse in front of us in German!
Hi Erin! Oh gosh, I hope no one is put off by the comparison to “Cat Pee”/Pamplelune! I don’t like Pamplelune at all after the first ten minutes, but I really like Mixte!
I’m also a PdN fan and it seems like I’ve acquired many of them recently: swapped for a half-30ml bottle of Exotique, bought (and split) Balkis & Maharanih, and got a large, almost full bottle of Fig Tea on *bay for a steal.
I really enjoy the line, and it’s nice to see your review. I think Mixte is very worth sampling, though it feels like more of a warm-weather scent.
Very glad to see another fan of Mixte! Yeah, I hope I don’t put anyone off with the Pamplelune, either. See, I LOVE Pamplelune – I think it’s the most forthrightly cheerful frag I own. I just don’t get whatever is coming through for all the people it horrifies. So I feel obliged to warn people, because I’m not sure I’d pick up on anything potentially scary in other grapefruit scents.
Oh, and by the way, on the topic of cheerful: I love PdN Mimosaique. I’m pretty sure that one *is* discontinued, but you can still get it a few places.
Yes, I’ve heard Mimosaique is definitely discontinued, though many people have written such great things about it. Not sure what’s up with Balkis, but at least Beautyhabit still has it on the website.
Luckily I don’t need Pamplelune because I have a grapefruit that works well on me and it’s also a PdN: Balle de Match.
Well, at least BdM doesn’t look like it’s on the chopping block: it’s on the website! I wonder what “fusing and fizzy, citrus” means – did they really mean to reference fusion? (I picture Partricia de Nicolai cackling as she pours lemon and grapefruit into a reactor…)
Erin – PdN does come across like the best type of old-fashioned mom & pop business. It’s too bad about the Rose Intense – one of my biggest disappointments. I really love Odalisque, Number One, Van Intense, Sacre Bleu, and Van Tonka. This one sounds very promising, too. Thanks for the review.
On the Mom & Pop aspect: It’s comfortingly small-town, and yet terrifying. I keep waiting for Wal-Mart to show up. Looks like we share many loves.
Hi Erin – I am hit or miss with the PdN line. I find the Rose Pivoine a delightfully prim and fresh rose. I really like Sacre bleue when I can actually smell it! I must have an anosmia issue with it – sometimes I can only smell it for about 15 glorious minutes and it goes away and sometimes it comes roaring back in about an hour…. I do like eau d’ete very much and have almost bought it a few times. …. I’ll be interested to test this new one.
Great description of Rose Piovine. I’m surprised they haven’t axed that one, though, it doesn’t seem like it would be a great seller (I am NOT cursing it, btw. Knocking on all the wood handy.) If you like Eau d’Ete, I would not be at all surprised if Mixte really worked for you – they really are quite similar in structure.
Thanks for this insight in PN! I’m going to Paris in two weeks and one of my ‘things to visit’ is the PN boutique there. I have to admit, I haven’t smelled any of those (shame on me, I know).
Lucky you, Zara, have fun! I should say that I hope I didn’t discourage you from checking out J.A.R, Frederic Malle and Serge Lutens, as well, of course. They’re all worthwhile experiences, just with different vibes. Hope you find a Nicolai to love…
Timely review, since I am deliciously coated in Balkis today. This sounds interesting, if not completely up my alley. I have a few of her other frags in sample form but don’t remember any of them besides Balkis wowing me. Need to revisit and maybe get some other samples.
I owe my love of Balkis (and Balkis Light!) to Robin. I sort of thought Rose Intense would be a Balkis Extreme, but sadly, no. If you like Balkis, maybe best to start with the re-released Jardin Secret? Or wait for the heliotrope gourmand Kiss Me Tender (shudder at the name) to be released in September? Hmm, I can’t think of another PdN that’s creamy in the middle like Balkis…
Thanks for the suggestions! Kiss Me Tender is a little bit weird for a name. I get a feeling that crosses between Elvis and murder.
LOL! That’s exactly what it sounds like….
hi everybody. Erin, a very nice review. I’m a kind of newly minted perfume fan by way of Chandler Burr’s bio of Luca Turin, shared with me by some biologist friends, then The Guide. I don’t have one tenth the knowledge or experience of many of you, but it has been interesting to learn how big the difference is between good and bad in the fragrance world, and how fantastically good the good can be.
Anyway, I had 2 hours to myself on a trip to Paris last month and I had deduced that the PdN store might be approachable for a novice like me. This turned out to be true. I visited the store you mention in Rue de Richelieu, and I’d like to say it was a really friendly and fun experience. The SA had serviceable English but was also very game and helped me sniff just about everything in the store. I came away with Vetyver and Patchouli Homme, but more because I wanted to come away with something-time would not permit me to sleep on my decision. I’m sure I’ll enjoy them both. Nicolai pour Homme was not in the store, as far as I could tell, which I regretted, because I would have liked to sample it.
I agree-everything they do is beautiful-some are to my taste, some are not, but I feel I can appreciate every one of their fragrances as a beautiful construct made with a great deal of -I don’t know-purity? finesse? I guess quality always shows.
Welcome Donnie! Don’t you worry… I think Luca has many of us on here beat with pure scientific knowledge of scent and perfume… which is also why we often just outright disagree with his ratings in The Guide.. I think he gives high praise to a lot of perfumes for technical, or artistic reasons..that may be warranted, but that don’t mean I want to walk around smelling like it… (Theo Fennell, Scent… I’m talking to you!)
Hey, poor Theo Fennell Scent! I love that one! Seriously, it was my most recent purchase. Okay, so it smells kind of like armpit…. but armpit with artistic merit! 🙂
Hi Donnie, and welcome! Great comment – it sounds as if your journey to interest in this topic was very similar to mine. I was working as a librarian and ran across a blurb on Jo Malone (I think it was). I becmae interested in the chemistry-side of perfume-making – I’d never thought of perfumes as compositions before -and when I was looking for books on the subject, I ran across The Emperor of Scent. Like many others here, it took me a while to build up an appreciation for classically structured perfumes, so you sound like you’re fast-tracking! Very glad you had fun at the boutique and came away with some nice purchases. Nicolai’s men’s line is a little limited right now. I hope I like whatever she adds to the masculine side as much as Nicolai PH, or L’Eau Mixte, for that matter.
Thanks for the review Erin. I really like alot of the PdN line….Patch Homme, Vanilla Tonka, NY, etc. I wasn’t wowed by Violette in Love though. 😉
Glad Patch Homme is finding some fans, even if it’s not my fave. I maybe sold it short by testing it against Patchouli Noir from HdP, which is my favorite of the recent smoother patchoulis.
I only have a little experience with the PdN line, and that is a mixed lot. The only men’s scent I have smelled is New York, and I like that one a lot. Every time my husband wears it, I think how nice he smells. I didn’t like Sacrebleu–I thought it smelled like marshmallows. I liked Maharanih from the samples I tried, but when I bought a bottle, I suddenly didn’t like it anymore. I don’t know if it is an application issue; I probably tend to use more per application when I have a FB than when I am eking out a tiny sample vial. I just find it too sharp, and it never does turn into anything really pleasant. As far as the bottles are concerned, I am fine withe the bottles for the men’s frags, but the bottles for the women’s are U-G-L-Y.
Luca Turin’s review for Vie de Chateau says something like somedays he likes it, sometimes it seems way too loud for no particular reason. I feel this way about Maharanih (which he calls *quiet*! God, it doesn’t smell quiet to me. The idea of Nicolai selling Maharnih Intense stuns me.) You’re right, it could be an application issue.
Feeling kind of queasy thinking about marshmallows that smell like Sacrebleu! SB smells delicious to me, but not edible, if you know what I mean. But I remember thinking Andy Tauer’s beloved LE scent Orris smelled like Easter candies to me, so I get the idea…
There is a shrub named Tecoma Stans, commonly known as esperanza or Yellow Bells, that produces big spikes of yellow flowers that smell like Easter candy to me. I wonder if anyone has ever used it in perfumery?
Sacrebleu has such an intensely sweet smell that I kept thinking of marshmallows. Luca Turin had compared it to Vol de Nuit, but I didn’t get that at all. Oh well, it could be worse. The Unicorn Spell smells like enchilada sauce to my nose.
Enchilada sauce! That’s funny. I very much get the “raw green beans” effect in the first twenty minutes of TUS, but I like that.
Very interesting about the esperanza! And laughing at the enchilada sauce – wondering if anybody’s used *that* in a perfume before? To my mind, Angela has very accurately suggested that Sacrebleu is Nicolai’s riff on L’heure Bleue (also very sweet, of course).
I like the bottles very much: clean, elegant, dignified and refreshingly understated. Gives you confidence that what is inside will have integrity and quality; that it doesn’t feel the need to shout and carry on such is its quiet confidence. No hoodwinking going on and no resorting to hideous vomit-inducing tasteless try-hard bling.
Better go and take my medication now.
I’ll have whatever you’re taking.. 😉 I totally agree, I rather admire the minimalist bottles… let the juice do the talking… no need to bedazzle it with fake ornamentation like the most recent Britney Spears bottle…
LOL – it’s hard not to rant when they provoke us so!
This really made me laugh, Seraph! You know, I don’t mind the bottles too terribly either, especially the men’s. (Like the Annick Goutal men’s bottles better, too.) I don’t think the distiller logo is great, though.
Amen.
Hi Erin, thanks for the review–glad to see this one get some love. I received a healthy sample in a swap, in spite of my protestations (no, no, that’s OK, I don’t need another citrus) and was so glad my generous swapmate didn’t listen to me.
I’m a fan of Pamplelune, but don’t find any resemblance here. The opening is nearly a dead ringer for the opening of Rose Ikebana, though. Also similar to Yuzu Rouge. And I wonder how it compares to Pamplemousse Rouge, which I haven’t tried.
The similarities end once the drydown arrives, though. Very nice.
I think Denyse at Grain de Musc commented that the grapefruit-rose was very JC Ellena territory and cited similarities to Pamplemousse Rose (which I can very much see) and In Love Again. I don’t get a lot of similarity with Rose Ikebana, but I haven’t smelled that one in a while – which is really too bad, because I remember really liking it, particulary the rhubarb note. It didn’t always get a lot of love from the bloggers and LT/TS, but I thought it was truly lovely.
P.S. Love the idea of 19th Century internet! It’s like they don’t really want it to work. I can hear the exchange now: “Well if we MUST have a website I suppose we must. But it’s not going to work, I’m telling you.” (And then they make sure they’re right… 😉 )
Very funny!!
I don’t know the line at all (apart from their Mimosaïque, which I’m afraid I didn’t like much), but I thought I might get to get to try a few of the scents on a recent trip to Paris, when I discovered they had a boutique very near where I spent the first 14 years of my life (Rue des Archives) – unfortunately, they were closed for lunch, of course, and I didn’t have time to stick around…
I was very amused to see that Etat Libre d’Orange also had a boutique Rue des Archives (even closer to my old home). When I was a child, that area of the Marais was dark and very ‘real’: there were certainly no upmarket perfume ’boutiques’.
I can see you not liking Mimosaïque, Bela – it’s a bit airheaded, as mimosas tend to be. It’s so cheerful, though, I like it rather against my better judgment, like being fond of beagles. Hope you get another shot at the Nicolai boutique, as I can see you enjoying some of the orientals in the line.
I learned of Nicolai through this site. Only recently, have I’ve tried their perfumes. I’m pleased with the unsiffed purchases I made of the smaller bottles, Temps d’un Fete, Vanille Intense and Carre d’As. I’m really enjoying the Vanille Intense but I find with Temps, a bit of the urine smell. This became noticable when I sprayed near my watch I was wearing – a metal one. It really took me by surprise as I’ve never experienced this with a perfume. Just on skin, there is a slight hint – or it could be that the memory of it is still near. I think I’ll stick to spraying an area of clothing because I do like the beginning and I don’t want to give up on it just yet. The other two botlles I’m very happy with. Vanille Intense will be in solid rotation this Winter.
I have to agree that their website is not at all user friendly. I’m so grateful for a resource like NST – you guys have been a tremendous help in navigating my sampling and fb purchases. Thanks so much for the post!
Thanks for your comment and so glad you’ve found PdN scents to love. And you’ve given me another reason not to wear a watch! (I always arrive at boring work meetings by announcing: “Sorry, I lost track of time” while tapping my empty wrist.) Good luck with the Temps…
I’ve never posted on here before but had to when I saw this PdN article. I bought Le Temps d’Une Fete many years ago from a London stockist & received many compliments when I wore it. Two years ago I visited the PdN London store & smelt it again – same name, totally different fragrance – the SA said it was a new fragrance, then I read on The Scented Salamander that my suspicions were correct – new fragrance under an old name. Scary when I know more than the (French) SA! I bought it & loved it – but it is completely different from the old one!
I’ve heard this a few times: the two versions are completely different. A commenter on another site speculated they’d already paid/applied for the copyright on the name, so they decided to re-use it. Interesting theory, anyway. And I know quite a few SAs that will swear up and down that their scents have never been reformulated – the Dior people I find particularly comical in this regard – so you are not alone in your knowledgable suspicions.