But for myself I prefer Une Rose, which is rather a relief: my to buy list has grown quite a bit already this year. Trust me, I'd find a use for a bottle if one came into my possession. The reviews so far have been mixed, but I have a feeling it will do very well. Portrait of a Lady is brilliant, and certainly a must try. Portrait is too elegant to be overripe - it's a clean sort of dirty, if you don't mind the oxymoron. Une Rose smells sexy in a overripe, down-in-the-dirt kind of way.
No, it's too dark and dirty to be dainty, but I will say that it's a very modern dirty, in which there is nothing even slightly off-kilter: there's nothing musty or sour about the patchouli, there's nothing rough or medicinal about the oud (if there is any oud).
FREDERIC MALLE PORTRAIT OF A LADY SKIN
Tom over at Perfume Posse found it dainty, a reaction that puzzled me: Portrait of a Lady is not dainty on my skin at all. The whoosh of rose - and it is a whoosh I don't think you'll like Portrait if you don't like rose - arrives within seconds, and after, say, five or ten minutes, you've pretty much got what you'll have for the duration: a murky, spicy rose, oriental but not at all heavy (it does pack some sillage, but it doesn't feel thick), a hefty (really hefty) dose of very clean and smooth patchouli, the promised incense, some dark wood that might or might not be oud, and plenty of musk. The fruit doesn't dominate for long though. The opening is fruity: think tart berry jam. Portrait of a Lady doesn't smell like your average teen-bait fruitchouli, and it's considerably more elegant than your average patchouli rose. Fruitchouli we've seen plenty of lately, and patchouli + rose (to say nothing of incense + rose) combinations aren't exactly thin on the ground. The notes - raspberry, cassis, rose, cinnamon, clove, benzoin, sandalwood, patchouli, frankincense, ambroxan and white musk - sounded comfortably familiar. Portrait either was or wasn't inspired by the Henry James novel of the same name - I've seen both claims - but was certainly inspired by, or grew out of, ideas from Géranium Pour Monsieur, Ropion's last outing for Frédéric Malle. It is rose, an oriental sort of rose with woody notes and spices, quite different from their earthy masterpiece Une Rose and even farther away from the powder-puff classic, Lipstick Rose. Portrait of a Lady is not jasmine as many of you undoubtedly already know.
Happy anniversary, Frédéric Malle Editions de Parfums, and here's wishing you many, many more. Frédéric Malle's new Portrait of a Lady, developed by perfumer Dominique Ropion, marks the line's 10th anniversary.
0 kommentar(er)
