As a Now Smell This reader, you likely view top notes differently from the average perfume consumer. A perfumista like you has learned to appreciate design in fragrance and to heap scorn on the scent that snares with a few fleeting bits of flash. You are shocked and dismayed when, mere moments after the sales assistant hands over a blotter, a time-crunched husband or brand-loyal shopaholic announces: "Wrap it up!" You would like to warn this impulsive stranger. You know this purchase can only end in heartache, a heartache wreathed in a pale floral laundry musk. You are a specialist, though, and you understand your message is complicated. Perhaps you should draw a fragrance pyramid on the back of this napkin you found in your pocket, or scribble down a quick glossary? Suddenly, you are assailed by the memory of that time a friend mentioned wearing Marc Jacob Daisy — "Is that a good perfume?" — and you forgot yourself somehow and ended up giving a short lecture on strawberry doll-head accords and the volatility of certain esters.1 ("I like the bottle," your baffled friend replied.) Okay, so you're probably not going to make much headway here.
The flip side of our suspicion of a great top note is... well, everyone likes a great top note. Many of us fragrance fans carry about atomizers or sample vials, so we can reapply and get that glorious hit of green/citrus/spice/fruit/skank again. ("Didn't you just put that on an hour ago?" your baffled friend asks.) As a group, we're taught to praise holistic engineering, the perfume with all its gears meshed and rotating, a fragrant astronomical clock. But who is immune to that first peal of bells? For me, a breathtaking beginning is always worth smelling, even if that initial promise is frustratingly unfulfilled over the next few hours. Please find below five brief thrills, and feel free to fill me in on your favorites.
Amouage Memoir Woman: This starts with one of the most mouth-watering accords ever, a vivid bloom of mandarin orange, pepper, cardamom and lambskin leather, syrupy yet oddly delicate, like the love child of Fendi Theorema Parfum and Hermès Osmanthe Yunnan. Unfortunately, as in many of the mid-period Amouages — the Interludes and the first handful of Library Collection perfumes come to mind — the thread of the thing eventually gets lost, and instead of symphonic richness, you get improvisational jazz played through stadium speakers. Incense smoke! Fenugreek! Now, a rockrose solo with distortion! Those first ten minutes were what deserved elaboration.
Dior New Look 1947: Part of La Collection Privée Christian Dior, New Look 1947 begins with a beautiful caress of white petals, tuberose and jasmine mostly, both on their most ladylike behavior. Kissed with raspberry, peach and violet notes and set against a soothing, cold cream touch of ylang-ylang, this bouquet is perfect and tender. Very shortly after, though, you are left with a powdery vanilla murmur. Oh well. Rewind.
Hermès Elixir des Merveilles: At the risk of alienating most of you, I will admit I never quite caught the brilliance of Hermès Eau des Merveilles. The orange opening sparkles better on paper, in my opinion, and the salted skin scent dry down is too fugitive for me. Wearing the original, sniffing around, I feel a bit foolish. Aha! There is the ambergris. No wait, that's... me. Oh, and this sweet bit over here is my Aveeno hand lotion. Hmm. The Elixir flanker, on the other hand, starts with a glorious burst of sunny orange, a opening hook for the compulsively spray-happy. The intensity soon fades, of course, and the dry down is a caramel-colored vaguely amber thing. But that orange!
Chanel Bel Respiro: Other than Bel Respiro, there are relatively few contemporary perfumes that start with a fortepiano. The Different Company Bois d'Iris is comparable: a big earthy chord of iris root, immediately followed by some delicate violet shading. (Bois d'Iris shares an interesting, honey-like late dry down with the Chanel, too.) Such fragrances probably require a good dose of natural floral materials. I always thought Chanel should do a Parfum version of Bel Respiro to highlight both the greenery and the rosy glow of the top notes, but then again, an Extrait might be less gentle and affecting.
Donna Karan DKNY Be Delicious: I don't own a bottle, but every time I go by the green apple bottle of the original Be Delicious at the mall, I have to spritz a juicy cloud into the air.
1. Not that this has ever happened to me, but I'm guessing you shouldn't bring up how you once researched the commercial uses of methyl-cinnamate. It's the kind of thing that gives you a reputation around the office.
Note: top image is Blodappelsin [cropped] by cyclonebill at flickr; some rights reserved.
One of my favourite openings ever is that of Gucci Rush. It’s like standing next to a jet taking off; the first time I smelt it in a packed department store, I let out an audible gasp at that first sniff. No wonder it apparently only took Tom Ford two seconds to approve of when he was at Gucci! One of those moments that reminds me why I love perfumery.
I love Rush, both for how great it is and for the fact that it was one of the first fragrances that brought me to perfume as a hobby. It’s like the top notes *shouldn’t* smell good, they’re so odd — but they do. It’s still my favorite Tom Ford-approved fragrance.
I just recently tried Slumberhouse Ore, the peppery whiskey-chocolate. It’s dark and very spicy in the beginning, super smooth, and when the pepper faded the woods were surprisingly clean and sweet. I felt cheated out of the danger and drama I’d been promised. But… the top is still so good!
I understand the top-notes of Ore were inspired by Carmex lip balm! Puts a whole new light on either whiskey-chocolate, or lip balm, I can’t tell which. I am almost this one last spring. Ended up with Pear + Olive instead, but I’d still be tempted by Ore, if I saw one of the new, flashy bottles. Interested in sampling the recently launched Sadanne, too.
Argh, “I almost bought this one last spring”. Sorry, melissa, time for my afternoon cuppa.
Pear + Olive is wonderful! I’m not exactly sure what my internal price line is, but Slumberhouse’s bottles are above it. If they were a bit lower Pear + Olive and Ore might both be on my buy list, and if they did minis I bet I’d have impulsively purchased both after the first sniffs. As it is, I’d want to drain a couple of samples first.
I had a significant discount code at the time, and had gone through a few samples first, which is why I bit the bullet. (I’m trying to keep myself to a half-dozen bottles or less per year now.) I’d be at the front of the line with you for Ore minis, though!
I love Bel Respiro- I went through a huge decant of this great stuff awhile ago. Huge fan of the exclusifs collection-my other favs are Beige, Eau de Cologne and Bois de iles
For the fall-Coromandel
For my wedding this year I wore Beige-so beautiful
Funny, I’ve almost gone through a huge decant of Bel Respiro, too, which was given to me by a good friend. Although I didn’t reconize it at the time, the 2007 Exclusif launches have turned out to be quite significant for me. I’ve always loved and owned Bois des Iles, but I now own bottles of No. 18, 31 Rue Cambon and the Eau de Cologne, in addition to Sycamore (2008). You’re not alone in thinking Beige beautiful, either; I’ve often heard it’s the best-selling of the Exclusifs.
I love Bel Respiro, too–in fact, I even deemed it FBW. If it’s cold out and I need a blast of green, or if I’m tired in the morning, or if I just can’t decide what to wear, and I don’t want to spritz an oriental (my fave), or if all my “experimental” decants seem too sweet, Bel Respiro it is.
Sorry, I should have said, if all my “experimental” decants smell too sweet or too floral. I also love Les Exclusifs, too. I wear Bois des Iles so much, it is almost my “signature” fragrance. Haven’t tried Beige, but I just got a decant of Sycamore, which I like, and I love 28 La Pausa, even though it doesn’t last.
Yes, I think La Pausa probably had the most perfumista votes for a Parfum concentration.
I have troubles with La Pausa – maybe this is my great opening choice – it has that magnificent amazing iris, and then 5 minutes later I’m faced with the same high end grappa kind of herbal thing that happens to me with No 18. I regret that development in both b/c every year I retest both of these in the hopes that there will be a eureka moment, but no. I *almost* got there with No 18 this summer, but it just didn’t happen. If I could get La Pausa to hold on to that wonderful iris a little longer, I’d probably get a bottle…. and then just keep reapplying all day!
I had the same type of thing with Chanel’s 1932. I saw the advert with the diamond star brooch, and sniffed the EDT and FELT the shooting stars/diamonds in the fragrance. It was breathtaking for me! About 10 minutes later it faded into this musky mess that was so nondescript and boring. What a lost opportunity. The opening is brilliant ( in smell as well as execution) but no follow-through.
The last perfume that blew me away with the top notes was Rosabotanica — they are so so weird for a mainstream perfume! Kind of a milky-sour herbal funk. Unfortunately after about 5 minutes it fell flat.
I found Florabotanica pretty unpleasant (but loved the bottle), so was relieved to find Rosebotanica more interesting and less functional-sharp. I’ll have to try it again at some point, maybe on a ribbon/fabric blotter, to suss out those first five minutes.
Florabotanica was the only fragrance in the history of fragrance that gave me a SCREAMING, SPLITTING Headache upon first smell.. and never changed up til this day. Cannot Stand it!
Blech! My experience wasn’t that bad, but I really did dislike it. I got a mini of it at an event, and had to give it to my daughter (who likes bottles) and make her promise never to open it.
That was my experience too! I really liked the top of Rosabotanica, but the rest was so disappointing.
The perfume I immediately thought of upon reading your post was Sonoma Scent Studio “To Dream.” When I first spray it on it smells like heaven to me, it seems to release the scents of everything I’ve ever loved all at once. It simply makes me swoon. But alas, it does not last for long on me, just quickly fades out to nothing.
Just want to add that this is strange, because I own and love quite a number of SSS fragrances and the others all have good lasting power.
A beautiful name, anyway, for something that materializes like a swoony apparition (if only to disappear the same way). Although the Hamlet connection is a bit odd. The notes look lovely.
Oh, I adored the first few minutes of To Dream as well! Smells like turpentine to me, and reminds me of my china-painting grandmother. After that it becomes VERY quiet, to the point that I keep having to check that I have any on.
Wonderful to have something that reminds you of an artistic gran, even if fleetingly.
I actually like Memoir Woman all the way through. It doesn’t seem to go all incoherent on me. But I do find it a bit syrupy, and as such, it’s hard to wear it in all but cold weather.
I do too. I mean, I love the entire thing, although it’s so freaky that it took at least a dozen wearings to fall for it. The opening reminds me a great deal of Serge Noire – after which it is largely white floral followed by smoky leather. No experimental jazz (I *hate* noodly jazz. just *hate* it) or confusion, but so many people did find it confused and disjointed that I can only assume that my experience with it is unusual.
Serge Noire – now you’re talking freaky.
I went to see Kurt Elling recently, and I know he’s one of the best vocalists in the world, and yes, he’s got an amazing instrument, but he spent, like, 15 minutes making this didgeridoo noise out of his throat and it drove me INSANE. Everybody else seemed to enjoy it, though. Clearly, I’m just a Philistine, I accept it.
If it *stayed* Serge Noire it would probably annoy me. As it is, I get about five minutes of weird.
Oh, I liked Serge Noire, too! (And Memoir was my first Amouage purchase.) I *almost* bought SN, but ended up deciding it wasn’t unique enough–maybe because I already had that bottle of Memoir?
Despite the cacophony of the heart notes, I’d take the Memoir every time! Congratulations on that investment. One of these days, I’m going to buy some Ubar.
I hear you. I don’t like experimental jazz either. I haven’t tried Serge Noire but now I’m curious.
I hear you. I don’t like experimental jazz either. I haven’t tried Serge Noire but now I’m curious to see how it compares to Memoir.
People do seem to fall into two camps on it. (Epic Woman, too – how do you feel about that one?) I’m glad it’s rich but legible for you in the chilly weather.
I haven’t tried Epic Woman yet. I’ve really only tried a few Amouages. I think Epic is on my to-try list though
It’s another “no” for me, but I’ve never given it enough of a shot, I think. I know lots of FT friends who love it. On the woman’s side, I covet the oldest and early new stage Amouages – Gold & Ubar and Jubilation 25 & Lyric – and then the most recent one, Fate.
I like Memoir a lot. For some reason it just really works for me from top to bottom. I will agree that it only goes with the coldest of weather, and it takes so much of my brain power to wear that I cannot put it on a day I think will be stressful. It needs a lot of space.
Lots of Memoir fans today! I’m pleased it has fans, and wish it worked overall for me.
Amouage are tough – Lyric does not sing on my skin and Ubar won’t budge an inch! Memoir was the first one that really clicked for me. It’s also one of the few smokes and leathers that I really like. I do like Beloved, but I haven’t tried them all.
I like Daisy. (shrug)
Personally, I really really despise the fortepiano effect, where the fragrance starts out big and then shrinks down. (Love that phrase, Erin, it’s perfect.) That makes it nearly impossible to dose. I finally divested myself of the starts-out-wonderful, tails-down-too-fast Guerlain Terracotta Voile d’Ete because it annoyed me so much to be WILDLY scented for half an hour and then only smellable within an inch of skin for the next three. Gah.
Hey, I like Daisy too. If I was inclined to lecture random co-workers on perfumery topics – ahem – I would definitely gravitate to areas of interest. And NST is one of the few places where people might understand that strawberry doll-head accords can be an area of interest.
I think there is a clove/carnation note that I’m hyposmic to. Terracotta Voile d’Ete smells of many things to me, at least up-front… but not particularly cloves. I’ve nearly drained a decant of Aedes Oeillet Bengale already (thanks, dear Daisy!) searching desperately for the heat: clove or pepper. Butterflies and small birds are probably dropping in my wake, but I just mostly get big fuzzy benzoin, and I can’t get the dosing right.
Erin, you describe my exact experiences of Memoir, Bel Respiro and Elixir dM (haven’t smelled the Dior and don’t remember DKNY), it’s almost uncanny! Of these three, Bel Respiro is the one I wanted to love, but after the first ten minutes it just leaves me cold. Thank you for a fun and inspired post!
Great to think I’m not just nutty, thanks! I think we often live in own little sampling bubbles, and it’s always nice to come here and feel so many scented experiences I’ve had are shared with many of you.
Bel Respiro is the one here I’m probably closest to loving and wanting to own.
Thank’s for this fun and original post, Erin. I live in the rain forest and hate when all my perfume evaporates in a couple minutes. Totally agree with you about Eau des Merveilles. I so wanted to love it, the entire idea seems so chic, but I wear perfume for myself and, in this case, I feel nothing after about three minutes. Ambergris? Salt? Does salt have a smell, anyway? Another one that is all top notes for me is Roses de Chloé. Starts out just like wonderful Rose Splendide, but when I tried it over Shalimar, the drydown was a complete mess, and when I tried it on its own, the dry down was so flat that I kind of missed the mess!
Yes, you hear quite frequently hear adverbs/adjectives like Robin’s about Eau de Merveilles – “understated elegance”. Well, I’m many things, but elegant is probably not one of them, and I’m okay with that, I guess.
Laughing about you missing the mess! Kind of surprised your perfume evaporates in a humid environment – I always find perfumes wear me down with their presence when it’s muggy. Is it just the intense heat that causes the scents to be fleeting?
Yes, I think it’s just the heat, which results in this problem, too much sillage at first, followed by a quick fade. I’m ok with a huge beginning, but I want my perfume to last. And yeah, I guess I’m more baroque than understated elegant, more into Mohur than Rose Ikebana…
My favorite part of Azemour les Orangers is its opening. The juicy orange so prominent in the opening is much too quickly dimmed by the dry herbal mossiness that follows.
I’m so glad you mentioned Azemour. I love that juicy orange opening.
Yeah, I agree, too. I normally like moss of any kind, but the orange is nice up top… and there’s a perfume with a definite nice salty note in the opening, whatever material accounts for it.
I agree with you on DKNY Be Delicious. The top notes are amazing. One of my favorite fruity scents.
Oh, I’m glad to see another fan! Maurice Roucel has a number of great fruity openings in his perfumes, but I sometimes think people have forgotten about this one because of all the hideously sweet flankers DKNY has put out.
There are a few for me, I think a lot of them may have to do with musk anosmia, but there must be other reasons as well. I get a big crash out of La Pausa and No 19, as I mentioned above. The same with Bel Respiro and 1932 which quickly flatten on me (too bad!). I had a major flop with the Aerin Lauder Evening Rose – 5 minutes of heaven and then nothing at all. The biggest one I can think of is Caron Montaigne. I think that opening is just the most glamorous, major opening, but then after a while it just got like some sort of humming wood that never changed for about 7 hours. Another is Guerlain Atrape Coeur. It starts out so lush and romantic, but quickly turns into a kind of quick-sand made of sickeningly sweet sugar.
If I’m just thinking of frags I love so much to resmell over and over their gorgeous openings (and like the rest of it), top of my list is No 19; AG Heure Exquise and Mandragore Pourpre; Hermes Un Jardin sur le Nil; Cartier Baiser Vole; Diptyque Eau Duelle; Shalimar.
Forgot how much I love the opening of 1932.
1932 was another fugitive on me. I haven’t tried the Parfum, but it definitely needs it. No. 19, however, is like pure golden light – some glorious early moments there. I love No. 18 too, and all the way through the dry down. Sorry the heart of that one doesn’t work for you!
Even though it’s so potent I’ve found myself re-spritzing Songes after a couple of hours for that delicious jasmine in the opening.
I also top-up Jour d’Hermes, Atelier Orange Sanguine, Yvresse, AG Les Nuits de Hadrian..
I can see Songes! Have you tried the new Jour d’Hermes Absolu? Glorious top notes on first sniff, but they wear on me after a few minutes. AG Les Nuits has fennel or some other anise note, right? Or caraway? I love fennel and another top note favourite of mine is Gorilla Perfumes B-Scent – grapefruit, lemon, fennel and rose. (I also love caraway. Wish it were in more perfumes.)
I haven’t tried the Absolu, nor the parfum. Maybe the less I know the better off I’ll be 😉
I find the same thing with Orange Sanguine – the first hit is like the spray when you start peeling an orange. I also find with some delicate perfumes I simply love the frst hit – Verte Violette – and then as it becomes softer I wish for more of that.
First scent that came to mind for me was Mary Greenwell Plum. LOVE that bright fruit+aldehydes top and then, meh. Fades fast enough that I haven’t purchased even a decant, as I’d have to spray every 15 minutes to enjoy the experience!
I like the top notes on Plum, too, but I’ve never been tempted to buy it. Maybe my experience is the same as yours? Huh. Haven’t tried it in a while, will have to dig up my sample.
For me, CdG Series 2: Red Carnation opens with a blast of carnation and bubble gum for the first 10 minutes and then fades and fades and fades until minute 30 when it just goes POUFF!
Yes!
Well, I’m not even going to re-try that one, because (as above), I think I can’t smell some clove/carnation notes very well. There’s one from the CdG Red series that smells EXACTLY like apple juice for the first five minutes, it’s uncanny – think it’s Sequoia.
Several in this category for me: Diptyque Eau Moheli, Chanel No. 18, SL Tubereuse Criminelle. I want to spritz over and over again just to relive the first 15 minutes.
Oh, and I love Memoir too. 🙂
Tubereuse Criminelle – brave! Actually, over the years, the swamp gas opening has grown on me, too.
Diptyque has some great top notes. There were a few I thought about for this post, including L’Eau de Tarocco, but I can’t remember even trying Moheli. More sampling ahead for me…
I like several Bulgari perfumes but they have over – flankered the Omnia line past the point of no return. Omnia Amethyst has this great sappy opening but whole thing is gone in less than a half hour. What I really came to comment on is how much I enjoyed this post! The line “You know this purchase can only end in heartache, a heartache wreathed in a pale floral laundry musk” is especially fitting and hilarious 🙂
Awww, thanks 🙂
I love the original Omnia and a few top notes with the flankers, too. (Sap notes are hard to sustain, I think. Can’t think of too many scents where there’s a great, lasting sap note except the discontinued, insanely expensive Gobin Daude Robin is wearing today.) Bulgari seems to have a problem with sustaining good openings, really. The start of both their Thé Rouge & Thé Blanc scents are also good, but descend quickly into quiet, muddled heart notes and dry downs.
I don’t usually pay much attention to top notes because they are too fleeting to seem very important. Nonetheless, I have noticed that many Duchaufour perfumes have lovely top notes, e.g., L’AP Nuit de Tubereuse.
I am wearing Traversée du Bosphore today, and am inclined to agree. I like TdB all the way through, really, and Nuit de Tubereuse wasn’t my favourite of his but I do remember enjoying the top notes. Another one where I loved the opening, if not the dry down, is Dzongkha – love the (unlisted) celery note it has.
The one that immediately sprang to mind is Orange Sanguine. I adore the top note. After about 20 minutes all I get is a spiky and unpleasant amber. I really regret that one as I love the opening so much and as I love citrus perfumes.
The EDP of Baiser Volé is another one that to me has this lovely opening but not so pleasant drydown. I love the Eau de Toilette of BV however.
Tom Ford Black Orchid and TF Private Blend Champaca Absolute… OH MY GOD… The first time I smelled Black Orchid… I knew that this is what A Brothel in Heaven Must smell like, It just was So Divine! Still is! 🙂 And Champaca Absolute is one of my personal Favorites OF ALL time. And the drydown is Fabulous too, at least on my skin! 😀
Eau Sauvage always gets rapturous approval, but it lasts just 10 minutes on me after its great opening. And you can’t keep spraying that often.