Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille Annick Goutal

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: pinterest

For patchouli lovers. 

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." - Khalil Gibran

Source: pinterest

A plum and patchouli combination that is miles apart from another plum/patch that I have, the sweet and rather gourmand-esque Isvaraya. Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille is Nature bottled if Nature to you means the smell of earth...leaves and dirt literally. Appealing? For me on certain days yes. On this day of Equinox, I am feeling rather nostalgic for autumnal colours and smells. Instead of veering down the path of fall gourmands with cinnamon and spices, I have decided to regain balance with Mon Parfum Chéri while cooped up indoors. 

A powdery opening sweetened with tart plums and restrained vanilla. Patchouli is the heavyweight here, an almost gloomy, earthy and bitter patchouli that makes me feel like I'm digging in the dirt, bare hands and all. It does not ever lighten up and in this case the bottle truly matches the scent for Mon Parfum Chéri is both bold and dark throughout its lifetime. I can only pick out iris, plum and patchouli of course, but this scent feels way more complex than it reads. Lasts forever and with good projection,  Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille is a full-bodied olfactory masterpiece that is very different from the ethereal beauties I'm used to from this house. This is not a scent for parties and socializing but a private scent for spells of solitary introspection.

I believe that Mon Parfum Cheri is full bottle worthy but it is definitely a try before you buy scent. 

La Violette Annick Goutal

Desirability: Full bottle and back up

After the excesses of the last three days thanks to the Lunar New Year festivities and gorging myself silly with all kinds of heavy traditional food, it is nice to cut back and what better way than with a beautiful soliflore like La Violette? 

I am not much of a green floral person but there's something about Annick Goutal's floral creations that are whimsical and appeal to the girly girl in me, particularly La Violette and Un Matin d'Orage. They share this similar DNA sequence that is unique to this house so much so that you could recognise an Annick Goutal floral blindfolded. 

Sweet violet flowers and tiny buds of roses balanced with the zing of fresh green leaves so realistic it is as if you are crushing a leaf between your fingers and smelling the green stain left upon them. La Violette truly smells like the promise of Spring in a bottle. Delicate and feminine, unpretentious yet polished, slightly shy yet welcoming, cool yet sunny disposition. 

I find La Violette to be a happier violet than the "bleue" Apres l'Ondee which is a gorgeous if subtle and ever so misty-eyed violet on me. Out of the two, La Violette has the bigger projection and also lasts longer although not above the four hour mark but for the time that it lingers around, it is a sheer comfort like letting all the stress out with a big sigh. 

Ambre Fétiche Annick Goutal

Ambre Fétiche is a soft and feminine amber that smells like a cross between Serge Lutens' Ambre Sultan and an incense from the Series 3 Incense of Comme des Garcons, I'm thinking in particular of Jaisalmer.

It may lack the acrid dryness of the Lutens which makes Ambre Sultan the desert wind Chergui wants to be and may be considered a wimp by the likes of the robust, one-drink-too-many Amber Russe but although Ambre Fétiche is mild in nature it still has more character and more "amber" than I get from copious spraying of L'Artisan's Ambre Extreme which is too minimalistic for me. 

Ambre Fétiche is sweet, woody and earthy...as any good amber should be :) The warm reddish-brown deep glow of the fossilized tree resin represented by sweet and creamy vanilla with a smoky, smooth blend of resins. A linear, balmy Oriental that creates an atmosphere all snugly warm and comfortable. Compared to other ambers, it's more delicate and fuzzy and would be a nice introduction to Orientals or amber scents. Not too strong and the longevity could be much improved but overall a nice and cozy scent. 

Ce Soir Ou Jamais Annick Goutal

Ce Soir Ou Jamais. Tonight or Never.

By no means a heavyweight, Ce Soir Ou Jamais is still one of the more "intense" scents from Annick Goutal, whose range I've largely associated with the words "fresh" and "light". 

The opening is true to the Annick Goutal form I'm acquainted with, a dazzling brightness in the form of zesty citrus notes and their bitter green rind, powdery aldehydes and a tart rose that's easier on the taste buds than Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose. There's this crisp bitter green note that makes me think of hyacinths like in Annick Goutal's Grand Amour but it's subtle here as is the powder. 

The scent quickly drops a bigger proportion of its acerbic notes and the sour rose is replaced with a sweeter, fruity rose covered by a fine layer of dusty powder that tickles your nose as you inhale. The rose is prominent but I feel it is a bouquet of flowers that I am smelling and not just rose alone. Ce Soir Ou Jamais despite having a dismal longevity but a moderate sillage, is a lovely old-fashioned dusty floral featuring rose that leaves one feeling nostalgic when wearing it, not quite living the moment as its name suggests but more like re-living it in one's mind. 

Petite Cherie Annick Goutal

Source: parfumglamour.com

More fruity than floral and showcasing pear, I prefer Petite Cherie to other scents I've tried with pear in the notes as it's not too sweet (Montale's Wild Pears was candied pears on me and Slumberhouse's Pear & Olive didn't suit me at all, I'll politely say it was weird on me and not in a nice way unlike some other perfume-heads who got all sorts of loveliness from it) and what sweetness there is seems to come from the fruit itself rather than added sugar. The opening is sheer and fresh with fruit and green notes, rose is listed but I didn't detect any.

I enjoyed the first hour of Petite Cherie as opposed to the later part where it turned to a soapy pear, too soapy for my liking. It stayed this way for the rest of its eight hours on me, subtle but steadfast. My search for THE pear scent continues.

Vent de Folie Annick Goutal

Vent de Folie. Wave of madness. Do they mean impulsive? I don't find Vent de Folie either mad nor impulsive but she is a sunny character.

Most of the Annick Goutal scents that I've tried are on the lighter side of life, apart from standouts like the seductive Ce Soir Ou Jamais and the voluptuous Grand Amour, which are two of my favourites from this house. 

Vent de Folie is a carefree sprite, a fresh and pretty fruity-floral on a background of clean musk, with a soft scent trail but a very good longevity, I got over 12 hours but only on clothes, on skin it disappeared after about two hours wear.

Anyway back to what it smells like, which is very appealing especially if you are into sheer, joyful beauties. I smell a basket of freshly picked, sweet and tart berries with a bunch of long stemmed pink roses on the bed of berries. It stays this way for a while, a happy-go-lucky scent before the berries and rosiness are joined by notes of white musk and powder, giving the impression of fluffy white clouds in a clear blue sky above a huge rambling garden bursting with blooms. I wore Vent de Folie to sleep and woke up to a lovely rose and woody musk, the fruit having vanished in the night.

An enjoyable experience, Vent de Folie is all joie de vivre and cannot fail to rub some happy dust on her wearer. 

Nuit Etoilee Annick Goutal

Annick Goutal Nuit Etoilee

" There is no wifi in the forest but I promise you will find a better connection."- author unknown. 

I'm more into heavy Orientals but I reach for Annick Goutal when I want something lighter and fresher, a perk-me-up, Nuit Etoilee and La Violette being my favourites from the house. Likewise when I'm feeling jaded with the world I enjoy delving into Gibran or Rumi or zen-type quotes such as the above "to lift my spirits and regain my strength" a la Cher in Clueless.

Nuit Etoilee is a breath of fresh air for me in this polluted island city where forests full of pine trees are at least 12 hours by plane away. A breath of sweet, cool air, filled with mint and pine trees reminiscent of autumns in France spent walking in leaf-laden forest grounds and a pleasant cool mist all around. It is described as a woody aromatic on Fragrantica but I find that description to be misleading. Woody aromatic brings to mind men's aftershave. Nuit Etoilee is unisex leaning to the fairer side of the scale thanks to the sweetness of the mint and the citrus fruit.

"Fresh" scents are usually boring to me ( I am thinking of Light Blue and the like that I tried over and over but could not get along with, such dull characters despite the "fresh and friendly" notes) but Nuit Etoilee is far from boring. It's airy and transparent but the sillage and longevity are above average when sprayed on my clothes. I am referring to the EDT version in this review. Next on my Annick Goutal want list: Un Matin d'Orage and Ninfeo Mio. 

Starry Night by Alex Ruiz. A homage to Van Gogh's Starry Night where the massively talented Ruiz brings to us the beauty of the night sky that Van Gogh painted. Alex Ruiz offers digital painting tutorials on his blog and has prints/cards for sale at Fine Art America. 

I leave you here with my favorite version of Starry Starry Night (Vincent) by Vonda Shepard.