I occasionally have a week when I just can't keep up mentally with all the new fragrance releases, or I'm running short on time and haven't ordered any samples or visited any stores lately. This was one of those weeks. However, I did share a much-needed coffee catch-up with an old friend, and she surprised me by handing me a little bag of Frédéric Malle samples that she said she longer needed (!). This serendipitous gift seemed like an opportunity for my next review topic, especially when I realized that a few fragrances in the range are still relative strangers to me.
Spritzing on some Outrageous, described as "a cocktail of clean sex appeal" with notes of bergamot, tangerine, green apple, cinnamon, musk and ambroxan, I realized that I've never really spent time with this scent before. It was developed for Malle's Editions des Parfums by perfumer Sophia Grojsman and was originally released in 2007 as an exclusive to Barneys Co-Op, the younger, edgier spin-off of upscale department store Barneys New York. It was then called Outrageous! (with exclamation point, shown above left) and had special, snazzy blue-and-orange packaging.
Why didn't I give Outrageous a serious try when I received samples as frequent gifts-with-purchases at Barneys? Well, I was already in love with Malle's Lipstick Rose, Iris Poudre, and L'Eau d'Hiver, after all. But Outrageous has come my way yet again, now wearing Editions des Parfums' standard black-and-white uniform (shown above right, without the exclamation point), and I've finally focused on it. And my timing is good: this is an ideal fragrance for a heat wave. It starts off with a sharp lime note (apparently the caipirinha cocktail was an inspiration here) that almost makes my mouth water. On my skin, this fruity component seems to fade out quickly but then returns at intervals.
The rest of Outrageous, between and beneath the citrus notes, is a very contemporary and intriguing take on sheer musk. It reminds me of fresh laundry — it smells clean but warm, with a hit of aldehydic "steam." What could be better than the suggestion of a cool lime-spiked cocktail and newly laundered sheets on a muggy afternoon when what I want most is a drink followed by a nap?
Outrageous has moderate sillage and persistence, with lots of ambroxan in its base. I like Victoria's definition (on Bois de Jasmin) of ambroxan as "a musky-ambery aroma material with a creamy, woody facet," and it definitely applies well here. Outrageous's dry down is definitely woody-musky, in a glowing, easy-to-wear (and gender-neutral) way. The fresh-laundry concept lives on in scents like Maison Martin Margiela Lazy Sunday Morning and most of the Clean line, and ambrox has showed up far and wide (Escentric Molecules' Escentric 2 is one successful example), but Outrageous did both trends early and did them well.
So why, in my years of shopping and sampling at Frédéric Malle, haven't I ever gravitated towards Outrageous(!)? I suppose it just isn't as much "my style" as some of the line's other offerings — it's not plushly classical like Iris Poudre or whimsically nostalgic like Lipstick Rose. Harder-edged and proudly synthetic, even lightly ironic, it feels like a work of olfactory Pop Art — with a name that would fit a comic-strip speech bubble (especially with its original, ebullient punctuation). But this has been an atypical week for me, in many ways (not to mention a very hot one), and Outrageous fits my current mood.
The quick poll: have you recently revisited any fragrances that didn't win you over when you first encountered them? Feel free to share in the comments!
Frédéric Malle Outrageous Eau de Parfum is available in 100 ml ($160) and in a 10 ml travel spray ($35). The special limited edition shown above center is $160 for 100 ml at Barneys.
Outrageous (!) never interested me much (even though I love F. Malle) but you make it sound pretty good! The mention of “steam” makes me wonder if it smells at all like Mugler Cologne?
Speaking of FM, En Passant left me cold last spring/summer but I’ve been enjoying it a lot this year. The cucumber/aquatic note that I didn’t care for is much less prominent – not sure if it’s my nose or if the scent changed a bit over time.
I’ve passed it over, time and time again, because I always heard that it was a “clean/fresh” fragrance and that’s not usually my thing. Trying it now, and looking back, I can see how it might have disappointed Malle fans who loved Musc Ravageur or Le Parfum de Therese! For me, however, it holds up much better than other clean/fresh scents of that moment. It has kept me coming back for more all week!
A few fragrances didn’t win me over after I first tried them:
Songes
No 19 Poudre
Shalimar
Allure
Alahiiiine
After I revisited them..it was love.
That’s a beautiful list!! Our tastes do shift and evolve…timing can be everything.
I’ve tried and retried Outrageous!, and it hasn’t grown on me. I think it smelled too much like clean laundry to me. But Eau de Magnolia is one that I bought on impulse and never really wore til this year when I retried it. I think I missed the nuance of the salted aspect which is what I love about it.
I’m going to try Eau de Magnolia soon, since there’s a sample in my little bag of treats!!
Bas de Soie was rather “eh” at first, then I liked it enough to buy a second bottle. Sadly, I might be headed back to “eh” territory.
You know, I went back and forth on that one, too… as I have with a few things from Serge Lutens. I liked it… but it wasn’t “me.”
Same for me… Bas de Soie was a hate/love thing.
I didn’t like it either when I sampled it eons ago. Sure, if I encounter a tester bottle, I’ll retry it.
When I first sampled Noir Epices by Frederic Malle I absolutely hated it. It smelled like fresh squeezed orange juice drizzled on a pile of face powder. But subsequent wearings convinced me and I ended going through a large decant fairly quickly years ago.
Orange juice drizzled on face powder sounds good to me!
There’s a sample of Noir Epices in the little bag from my friend, and I’ve never tried it!! That, and Eau de Magnolia, will be next.
Seems to me, that I liked Outrageous. It’s been awhile, so I will retry it tomorrow. I know this sounds weird, but I remember feeling bad for it because nobody seemed to be wearing it. It’s in my “special” sample hideaway, that’s why I never wear it.
hah! True, of all the Malles, it doesn’t seem to get much love among frag-o-philes. I think people were initially annoyed by the apparent mismatch between the name and the scent, and by the idea of Malle offering a “clean” fragrance at all? However, I bet it sells pretty well to the general high-end fragrance-shopping public.
Hi Jessica! Just this week, I retried Ormonde Jayne Frangipani, hoping that I would love it this time. It has so many fans, and should be right up my alley. But darn it – it still doesn’t do it for me! I think part of it is that I don’t smell anything that – to my nose – is like real frangipani blossoms. And while I admire it as a lovely white floral creation, the style is too formal/elegant to suit me.
Hello H! I’ve gone back and forth on OJ’s Ta’if for years…I’ve used up a few small samples but still don’t know how I feel about it. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I can’t wait to wash it off. Odd. I like some of her white florals (like Champaca) too, but never enough to purchase a whole bottle.
Thank you for the review. It seems timely as I bought a travel vial of Portrait of a Lady earlier this week.
POAL is one of those fragrances I could not decide If I wore it or it wore me. A small size seems appropriate.to give multiple tries w/o the tension of another large bottle sitting on my shelf. I remember liking Outrageous though not enough to buy. There are several samples laying around for me to give another chance. I appreciate your insight to this fragrance. It might be one of those perfumes that becomes appealing given time & taste changes
When I first tried Outrageous! (I think the admiration point deserves to stay) it immediately reminded me of a vacation we took with my family when I was 12 years old.
It was in a nice true 4 star hotel… and we’d never been in such a fine establishment before LOL. There was a nice game room in the underground level of the hotel, right beside the door to their industrial sized laundry. Outrageous smells to me exactly like when I was standing outside that room. Hot clean pressed laundry plus a hint of something deeper, maybe the cedar wood paneling or the freshly scrubbed and shined chrome pockets of the pool table on the adjacent playroom. It reminds me of a happy time with my family and I love it. In another later level of development it reminds me of thye orange blossom water used in middle eastern food, specially on desserts. And also of frangipani flowers.
So, I love it and hopefully will get a new bottle soon 🙂
About perfumes that flew under the radar but I ended up liking… I must say Kouros comes to mind. It can be overpowering at first, but once you give in, the magic starts and somehow the fragrance becomes, for me at least, kind of refreshing.
Loved your review. I hope more people get to appreciate the understated allure of Outrageous!
First try of Stash I wasn’t quite sure what all the fuss was about…it smelled of pickles to me in the initial blast…but I wore it for two weeks straight and when I drained the bottle it had become a love 🙂
Oh! I need to tag along next a friend is driving to a town with an Ulta!! I’ve heard good things about Stash…
Maybe if you can’t tag along she can get you a sample?
While in my L’Eau d’Hiver phase – I gave Portrait of a Lady a smell and was immediately….*Blown-Away Man* and was overwhelmed. I described it to the sale associate as…..that forte sustained final note in an crazy Aria – *she is here* type of character.
But now….the more I revisit PoaL through seasons….and after smelling it randomly in public worn by a suave man in a sharp suit…..I think Fall 2018 is the time.
I know just what you mean. When I first smelled Iris Poudre in the FM boutique, I told the SA that I thought it was beautiful but that I didn’t feel tall enough to wear it. (She laughed.)
Two years later, I was ready to wear it and I still haven’t stopped. Maybe I just needed to “grow into” it!
I agree to all of these posts. The problem is that there are so many perfumes out there now, however, Malle’s are and always have been the real thing. But there is so little time for some of us who work 40-50 hours a week to even know about them than to have access and money to purchase them. I do think that the Malle fragrances are among the very best even when they are what we have previously been used to , i.e. perfection. There is something (or more) for anyone from this line.