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Ivoire


doesnt get any softer than this, originally uploaded by lil aNNa.

Refined and restrained beauty like a spirited woman in a tailored suit - Ivoire starts off with business-like manners of soapy cleanliness attached to a bouquet of garden roses and green leaves.

As sharp and soapy as the opening may be, it has an instant effect of cheerful and energetic attitude that is simply charming and uplifting.
Rather quickly, it softens to reveal dewy roses awakening to rays of sunshine releasing a fresh scent along with crushed grass and softly warming soil and petals.
This breath of fresh garden air remains true throughout the composition despite of the underlining warmth of leather, cedar, incense and moss - except for the very final dry down, which is of soft incense sweetened with subtle notes of raspberry jam; A somewhat bizarre finale to such a green song but nevertheless magically harmonious.

Ivoire is one of the very few green perfumes that put a smile on my face. While I find many other green compositions too sharp or melancholy, Ivoire balances beautifully between elegance and warmth. The underlining notes of cedar and leather must contribute to its favorable effect on me – and although I don’t find the raspberry note quite necessary, it is a pleasant surprise to find that “candy” hiding in the green rose garden… This final accord reminds me of Yohji’s final accords, as well as Rochas Man.

Top notes: Galbanum, Bergamot
Heart notes: Rose, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley
Base notes: Cedar, Leather, Oakmoss, Incense, Sandalwood, Raspberry

Vent Vert

Vent Vert is a perfume with one clear statement: Green!

The experience starts with a heady breeze of green notes: freshly cut grass, clary sage and galbanum, and a slight suggestion of patchouli. This definite green statement pervades throughout all stages of the olfactory evolution of this magnificent perfume, which has become, with no doubt, the symbol and inspiration for anything green. Its youthful, spring-like and independent nature is unforgettable.

Once the initially sharp green blow has made it’s statement, it allows other notes to accompany this spring experience: a surprising accord of peach and gardenia is the bridge from the top notes to the more floral heart notes: green rose, lily of the valley and fresh jasmines float amongst the greenery, as well as orange blossom absolute, with its fresh and fruity, refined citrus nuance.

These floral notes are here to beautify and accentuate the herbal notes of clary sage and galbanum, the theme that will stay with us till the very last dry out stages, when spring has become warmer, receiving myriads of pollinating flowers…
The overall bouquet can very much be likened to the lily of the valley flower, both in scent and appearance: the little white flowers reveal themselves gently through the wide, elegant green leaves…

This herbal-green-floral bouquet is supported by base notes that are not any less green: green oakmoss, vetiver (a woody-earthy-green root of a tropical grass), and sandalwood.
The base notes are dominated by the woody notes of sandalwood and vetiver. But still, it acts only as a garden-bed for the green accord of clary sage and galbanum which leads the theme of Vent Vert.

And than come the dry down stage, which combines the elements of all stages:
A softer note that is mainly a result of the melting down of galbanum, green jasmine, orange blossom, orris (that can reveal it’s delicate, woody-powdery softness once the sharper edge has evaporated..) and the woody sandalwood-vetiver accord, all clean and green and fresh, but just softly fading away, with the promise of warmer days and more blossoms to come…

Vent Vert is green all the way… Keeping in mind that it was the trend-setter for Floral Green perfume, in an era when femininity was associated with much more floral and heavy notes, Vent Vert was revolutionary is the way it used green herbal notes as the theme, and the florals were merely supporting the green ones. I simply can’t think of any other perfume that does it better!

Vent Vert is fresh without being citrusy, green without being herbal and medicinal, and has those whispering powdery notes without making it melancholy or in the least sentimental. It is pure happiness, vivacity and youthfulness at its best, liquefied and bottled!


Top: Fresh cut grass, Green Rose, Clary sage, Galbanum, Patchouli, Peach, Gardenia
Heart: Rose, Jasmine, Clary sage, Lily of the Valley, Orris root
Base: Vetiver, Sandalwood, Clary sage
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