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…

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When I say Parfums de Nicolaï Le Temps d’Une Fête centers on narcissus, some of you might decide right away it’s not for you. So often narcissus spells a crisp, virginal scent better suited to a girl taking her first communion than a full grown woman with a taste for gin. But take a few sniffs, and you might change your mind. Instead of a cloying, sexless flower, Le Temps d’Une Fête smells of warm narcissus cloaked in mossy, animalic notes. Any girl taking her first communion in it would raise suspicions of having spent more time in the hayloft with the stable boy than at home with her rosary.

The Parfums de Nicolaï website lists Le Temps d’Une Fête’s top notes as galbanum, opoponax, and tree moss; its heart as daffodil and narcissus; and its base as sandalwood, patchouli, and oak moss. The house’s perfumer and co-founder, Patricia de Nicolaï, created it in 2006. (Note: the website is as rinky dink as the house’s perfume packaging. I clicked on the link to the Parfums de Nicolaï home page only to find it blank. But if you root around in Google, you can find a link to something deeper in the website and access the site’s content that way.)

Le Temps d’Une Fête opens with a sweet, green, diffusive fragrance that might have a little neroli tucked in with its galbanum and sharp tree moss…

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