Carnal Flower 2005 Eau de Parfum

Carnal Flower (Eau de Parfum) by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
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7.9 / 10 536 Ratings
Carnal Flower (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle for women and men and was released in 2005. The scent is floral-green. Projection and longevity are above-average. It is being marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Floral
Green
Sweet
Animal
Fresh

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
EucalyptusEucalyptus BergamotBergamot MelonMelon
Heart Notes Heart Notes
Jasmine absoluteJasmine absolute Ylang-ylangYlang-ylang SalicylateSalicylate
Base Notes Base Notes
Tuberose absoluteTuberose absolute Orange blossom absoluteOrange blossom absolute White muskWhite musk CoconutCoconut

Perfumer

Videos
Ratings
Scent
7.9536 Ratings
Longevity
8.6437 Ratings
Sillage
8.2432 Ratings
Bottle
7.6406 Ratings
Value for money
6.5165 Ratings
Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 31.03.2024.

Reviews

27 in-depth fragrance descriptions
8
Bottle
9
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Jazzbob

76 Reviews
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Jazzbob
Jazzbob
Top Review 37  
"Mastering the tuberose is not a task for the young and the unexperienced. It is a bit like writing poetry about love. Making something new on this theme isn't easy - Dominique Ropion
According to the perfumer, Carnal Flower should bring out all the characteristics of tuberose - beguilingly floral, medicinal-green, animal-creamy - and be supported by the other notes. Allegedly it took 18 months of work and 690 attempts to reach the final result. And that one really impressed me
Although I didn't think the fragrance was completely new when I first tested it, I found this very plant-based side of tuberose (and for me, jasmine) to be particularly valuable from the very beginning. Its creator succeeded in adding eucalyptus, for example, not in a bold way as a cool, fresh element, but to emphasize the light and green facets. A close symbiosis is thus achieved here by all the components. The entire work already has a sensual-floral quality that is otherwise only perceptible in real flowers. Coconut is not to be discovered superficially, but a light creaminess, which reminds me a little bit of sun lotion and becomes more prominent with time. The plant-green colour remains, however, the same.

This naturalness and the radiant and initially clean effect of the fragrance is quite insidious, because the intensity of the white-flowering plants brings something narcotic. It is this tiny Indo-Aryan nuance that makes the difference. Although the sweetness is moderate and no really heavy or dark note is used, Carnal Flower leaves an enormously intense aura, so the dose is extremely important here. Two sprayers (from the small sample) were the maximum for me and immediately after application I even underestimated them, because it takes a while before the fragrance fully unfolds. Anything beyond that can be stressful not only for the environment but also for the wearer himself/herself.

Dominique Ropion didn't add typical base notes as a contrast, but still created a complex, strong perfume that many might consider to be the reference for tuberose by now. It is absolutely stereotypically feminine, but of course it can be worn by any man who loves light floral fragrances. But you won't find too many occasions to spray Carnal Flower on - unless you are very self-confident and want to make a real statement.
8 Comments
Annabraucht

9 Reviews
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Annabraucht
Annabraucht
Very helpful Review 16  
From spring, summer, autumn and winter.
A Malle always manages with me to bring out the natural fragrance notes so that I mean, each individual chord is in front of me. Again, there was an explosion of flowers, plants, colors and seasons!

The coconut breaks open and a spring-fresh wind blows towards me. Like thousands, fresh green leaves and buds on trees and shrubs. The orange-pink sunrise in the morning makes you forget that your own breath underlines the chilling morning cold.
Coconut buzzes around me and almost seems a bit awkward and clumsy in this scenario.
Slowly, jasmine and ylang ylang begin to bloom and it gets warmer. The winds more bulging and my mind calmer. The warmth is good; but the eucalyptus brings the refreshment it needs. I haven't gotten used to the warmth yet.
Tuberose comes into play and makes last green notes and buds disappear. The summer is here. Finally.
Coconut is still present. It was quietly in the background, but now I find it very pleasant and fitting. I allow it to dance the summer with the tuberose and orange blossom. Wonderful. Hand in hand.
Joy, warmth, well-being.

What a changeable floral fragrance! Insanely finely woven! Thank you for such a play of feelings and head cinema.
It was and is my pleasure.
0 Comments
0
Bottle
9
Sillage
9
Longevity
2.5
Scent
Connie

163 Reviews
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Connie
Connie
10  
The summit
What can I say.. This fragrance is for my nose more than bad..The peak..

The cuts here so well and I find the so bad that I can not find words for it... I would have imagined a floral beautiful tuberose fragrance but I smell a very very green "fragrance" that triggers nausea in me. The smells exactly like stale flower water...

When I was a child we had a secret retreat in the forest north of Copenhagen. It was a small pond in the middle of nowhere in the forest... In the summer when it was very hot, this pond smelled exactly the same. The water was no longer clear on the surface, but green with algae...

The fragrance starts with a lot of melon but an overripe melon, which is so ripe that it is hardly edible. The tuberose is very present but it is a tuberose of the beautiful brown and aged. I imagine how the brown water smells in the vase, where the overripe tuberose has stood together with greens in the sun for more than a week...

Unbearable and unbearable for me...
6 Comments
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
7
Scent
Kador

8 Reviews
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Kador
Kador
Less helpful Review 6  
i found a scent twin
i imagined the smell differently. Unfortunately for me it smells exactly like Guerlain Terracotta EdT but more intense and longer they're Scent Twins to me.
I own the fragrance as a hair perfume, I ordered it blindly, because it is so highly praised. As a hair perfume I can use it well in summer. I have also received compliments for it, although I do not smell it so intensively myself, which I am actually glad about.
so you can combine it well with Guerlain terracotta.
0 Comments
6
Bottle
10
Sillage
10
Longevity
5
Scent
Polyanthes

49 Reviews
Polyanthes
Polyanthes
Very helpful Review 6  
A lab grown tuberose. ...
I know I'm in the minority here and I'm not expecting positive ratings ;-) but this is my honest review after two thorough testings in different temperatures allowing the perfume to run its full course. I thought (I hope) a contrasting experience might be useful.

Frederic Malle Carnal flower opens with an amazing blast of flower shop, as in, I've suddenly shrunk, I'm very small and standing amongst a giant bunch of eucalyptus stems. It's wow, but it lasts less than five minutes.
Judging from the notes I should love CF, but this perfume quickly gets very harsh on me and doesn't stop. It's going for the whole plant with green bits included, I get that, but it's just so fresh and clean and metallic and it's screeching synthetics at me and catching in my mouth. How can this be when the sales pitch is that it "contains the highest amount of natural tuberose in the perfume industry" ? Are they really talking about the 'whole' perfume industry? Perhaps it's the salicylates that are bothering me, although I usually quite enjoy them.

I'm beginning to think that this cool, clean treatment of tuberose does not work with my skin chemistry as I have a similar problem with Narcotic Venus and Do Son. I'm a tuberose lover and have owned pure tuberose enfleurage and several different tuberose absolutes. I've never before had chemistry clashes like this with any perfumes with a high content of quality natural materials.
I'm not saying this doesn't smell like tuberose, it definitely does, an ultra-mod, sharp, melony tuberose with all the warm, voluptuous plumpness sucked out of it in a vampiric way, and it's strong, almost headache inducing. It's photorealistic, but it's an image of isolated tuberose in a lab under artificial light. This is just so cold and, well, unfriendly. This perfume refuses to get real or intimate with me, it wont merge with my skin at any point in the dry down. It remains sitting like a slice of cool just above my skin, pretending to look the other way while it pokes me annoyingly trying to get attention, faking aloofness for the duration. There is something that seems unkind and bitter here and it's getting in my mouth so much that I feel it is trying to force-feed me. But I'm not swallowing it, no sireee... No way.
Even the soft musky remnants left at the end of its life are detached, cool and clinically clean.
All the notes listed are detectable but seem to have a harsh edge. Sadly for me it's not edgy in the good way.
The sillage is pretty hefty and it is uncomfortably tenacious on my skin.
This one really doesn't like me, and the feeling's mutual.
1 Comment
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Statements

16 short views on the fragrance
BoBoChampBoBoChamp 4 years ago
8
Sillage
9
Longevity
7.5
Scent
A rather intense fresh and creamy, yet slightly animalic (white) floral Spring fragrance, balanced by a bright spicy-green opening. Classy!
0 Comments
MariaSMariaS 3 years ago
8.5
Scent
It smells like walking through the streets of my village in Crete at Spring.Intense white flower smell, very elegant and more feminine to me
0 Comments
FreshKatsuFreshKatsu 9 months ago
6
Bottle
10
Sillage
9
Longevity
7.5
Scent
Intense white floral, particularly jasmine & heavy musk. So potent that it borders on being perverse, like sex in vintage powder room
0 Comments
Jbl775Jbl775 12 months ago
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
Mentholated woody green tuberose, the white floral to end them all. Perfectly unisex to my nose, ultra elegant and high quality.
0 Comments
BertolucciKBertolucciK 1 year ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
It evolves from a greener, more pungent, fresh opening with eucalyptus, tuberose and jasmine to a drydown with a softer, creamy tuberose.
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