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Comments
· January 11, 2008 10:53 AM by
Audrey_H
· January 11, 2008 1:31 PM by
Dain
· January 11, 2008 1:37 PM by
Colleen Shirazi
· January 11, 2008 1:50 PM by
Dain
· January 11, 2008 2:13 PM by
Colleen Shirazi
· January 11, 2008 2:21 PM by
Dain
· January 11, 2008 2:48 PM by
Qwendy
· January 11, 2008 3:27 PM by
Dain
· January 12, 2008 12:09 AM by
Colleen Shirazi
· January 12, 2008 4:30 AM by
Dain
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Posted by Dain, Friday, January 11, 2008 6:26 AM (Eastern)
I just needed a break. Exploring Serge Lutens is a rare experience for any 'fumehead, and since I've been pairing works of art with each review, I might extend the metaphor further and say, it is a bit like discovering the palette instead of the painting, but always with a clever twist, rather like this ad, on the left (www.biblioparfum.net): classical, piecemeal, and just enough strange. Even when they are downright bizarre, Serge Lutens is somehow immediate and accessible, no doubt that accounts for much of the popularity. There is a little something for everyone, whether you love a note, desire exposure to a note, or have sniffed everything. But I have found, in spite of my very great appreciation, there are ultimately not that many I'd care to buy (though the ones I do want I really want); intellectual consideration is one thing, my wallet is quite another. There's damning with strong praise. The simple truth is, I would just rather buy a painting (that is the main reason why I have been sparing with notes-descriptions, for the most part).Traditional compositions may be more difficult to pick apart, but ultimately, that is what I prefer. Thanks to the very kind and thoughtful Wendy, I was able to test two Jean Patou perfumes, which, shame on me, I have never actually tried before. No, not even iconic Joy. She sent me a sample of vintage Joy parfum, and also a vial of Normandie, and sorta, I love both. If every house has a trademark style (though two perfumes make very slight evidence), then surely Jean Patou's is an absolute, seamless beauty. You could dash your heart against it, and like a mountain, it would remain, utterly unmoved.
I will not repeat the legends. Joy is an exercise in severe classicism: filmy green topnotes that disappear into a deluge of rose and jasmine petals, the very best and very, very many, massing to the point of unnatural abundance. It is like drowning in an ocean of flowers, the tenderest death you can imagine. It is old fashioned. The glamour is palpable. The only perfume I could pit against it is Chanel No. 5, and No. 5 may just lose (it's been too long since I've sniffed No. 5 to opine definitively, but it is also, when I think on it, jasmine and rose). My first impressions were of a little girl in her mother's evening gowns, and as I am not fond of perfumes that wear me instead of the other way around, I began to dismiss it. But I would return, to sniff, and sniff again, and it grows ever greater in beauty—Joy, it seems, is a perfume that lingers in the mind.
As for Normandie, my adoration was immediate. I have been dying to try Guerlain Après L'Ondée for ages. The way the reviews had it, it was pristine, austere loveliness, an olfactory ars poetica, after the rainstorm and some shit. And? A pox on purple prose!* I finally got my hands on a sample. And? Necco wafers! Yes, indeed, this rare and much lauded Guerlain blossoms into this tinny, plastic floral-wax-sweet smell on my skin. Possibly, Guerlain does not suit me; I really enjoy L'Heure Bleue, but I shamelessly spray my bed linens with the EDP. Normandie is all the fulfillment of my desires: here is the watery, restrained bouquet of melancholy flowers (above: Ophelia, drowned) I had imagined in Après L'Ondée. They do share in common a certain rubberiness, but in one the effect is quite pronounced, no prizes for guessing which one. It is a lesson in understatement, very different from Joy in that respect, but with the same sort of flawlessness that can only be achieved through perfect proportions. It's moderately old-fashioned (there's a wee bit of mustiness that might not appeal to some, but... very wee), slightly clove-and-carnation-spicy, slightly rose-powdery, slightly vanillic sweet, slightly ambery-warm, slightly jasmine-soapy, and ever-so-slightly oakmoss-earthy. That was very heavy-handed of me, but you get the point: Normandie is the absolute soul of discretion.
I am now tempted to get a whole Ma Collection set, a dozen mini bottles of their classics, $175 for 50 mL is a little expensive, but it'd be much more interesting than buying a vial of a single perfume.
* Though I myself... well. Guilty as charged.
Labels: jean patou, perfume reviews, serge lutens
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January 11, 2008 10:53 AM,
oooh.. love the pre-raphaelites!
January 11, 2008 1:31 PM,
Mmm... me too. Victorian sentimentality perhaps, not the rigor of modernism perhaps, but whatever, they're pretty.
January 11, 2008 1:37 PM,
It's Sublime I'm after...sort of. I haven't smelled it in years. I used to go to Nordstrom, when I was a student and couldn't afford to buy much, and sniff certain perfumes. Sublime was one of them...and Dior Dune, Guerlain Samsara, various Chanels...and Crabtree & Evelyn's Evelyn (pure rose to my nose).
January 11, 2008 1:50 PM,
I want to smell Sublime, isn't it tuberose-y? I rather want to smell all of them.
January 11, 2008 2:13 PM,
Sublime is the oriental, to my memory. It rather belongs with Dune and Samsara...and there's the bugger. When I tried Samsara again, after all these years, I was disappointed. I recall Sublime as being better than Samsara though.
What I've read about Joy...it was created specifically for the Great Depression. Patou's wealthy clients could no longer afford his clothes, so he made a perfume for them they could afford...and he wanted them to be happy, hence the name Joy. Anyhow that's what I read.
January 11, 2008 2:21 PM,
Wow, Dune. I forgot about that perfume. I thought Samsara was disappointing, too, and the whole copy behind the name is such bullshit, by someone who has a very dim idea of the concept.
Yeah, Joy is outrageous. It has a really over-the-top effect, all those flower petals. You get the sense there are millions of them.
January 11, 2008 2:48 PM,
Hi Dain, I love your painting choice!
I hate to harp on this, but you must always take into account which version of the scent you are sniffing. I wouldn't be surprised if the current Chanel #5 pales in comparison to Vintage Joy! I daresay that the older formulation of Apres L'Ondee is probably gorgeous, as your description smacks of reformulation. Ebay is still a reliable source for vintage scent, I have gotten all of my favorites there!
January 11, 2008 3:27 PM,
Thanks, Wendy! I have absolutely no doubt the Chanel No. 5 I smelled was a reformulation, and probably an EDT at that (ew... Chanel EDTs!). I most likely last smelled No. 5 at Lord & Taylors long before Sephora took over. I'll keep an eye out on ebay.
January 12, 2008 12:09 AM,
I cannot believe anyone would reformulate Chanel No. 5. I haven't smelled the new one, but I'll guess they made it lighter...and I think Dain is right in her previous post, about perfumes becoming less "powerful," less singular, really.
Welcome to the LP blog btw. :)
January 12, 2008 4:30 AM,
Hm, I really wouldn't know. Chanel has showed a great reluctance thus far to introduce a flanker to their sacred cow, so perhaps they have not tampered with it, or now that they have, perhaps they have. Neither Joy nor No. 5 are really to my taste, so I wouldn't know either way.
In any case, it was a while ago that I smelled it, and I'm inclined to think it was the EDT. Chanel EDP are quite good, but the EDTs are terrible.
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