Carnal Flower Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle (2005)

Carnal Flower by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle

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8.0 / 10 225 Ratings

Carnal Flower 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.

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Perfumer

Dominique Ropion

Fragrance Notes

Bergamot, Eucalyptus, Jasmine, Coconut, Melon, Musk, Orange blossom, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang

Ratings

Scent

8.0 (225 Ratings)

Longevity

8.9 (170 Ratings)

Sillage

8.2 (162 Ratings)

Bottle

7.5 (155 Ratings)

View Video of Carnal Flower (Vimeo)

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 12.11.2018

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Reviews

Rebella 7 years ago

„Queen of florals or I´ve been eaten alive and I like it. ;)”

Carnal Flower is my No 1 tuberose and not only that, but also one of my all time favorite scents. It was love at first...

DorothyGrace 109 days ago

„A Strange old Beast (and it is a Beast)”

The first spray made me feel, "Ha! That's nice. Nothing I have liked for ages and then five come along at once.", the others being from...

07/28/2018

5.0/10

10.0/10

0.5/10

DorothyGrace

A Strange old Beast (and it is a Beast)

The first spray made me feel, "Ha! That's nice. Nothing I have liked for ages and then five come along at once.", the others being from Pappillon and Joan Collins.

Within a few minutes however my impression did a sharp about turn to , "Yikes!".

The first few minutes made me feel that the perfume would be a lighter, easier to wear Fracas type of perfume but all too soon a thick, heavily sweet coconut cream poured over a rich, dense, sweet Tuberose and built up and up and up to overwhelming levels - this from a single spray from one of those 2 ml carded samples.

10 minutes in and a peppery aftershave type of note started to waft to my nose, which did remind of eucalyptus but was rather odd paired with the coconut/tuberose. This aftershave/eucalyptus note is tenacious as four hours after washing the perfume off it still projects strongly.

I get that coconut cream with tuberose syrup very heartily from Do Son by Diptyque which to my nose smells like those sun tan oils that were ever present throughout the '80s. That I find quite nice but with the eucalyptus - not so much.

I found this perfume powerful, one that I could smell constantly throughout the wear (which would have been great had I liked it). Carnal Flower makes Fracas seem positively well behaved on me.

I really dislike the eucalyptus pairing. Even after I had washed it off and four hours later my son said I stunk, it was acrid, and wouldn't stay in the same room as me. I agreed and was pleased I had only sprayed my wrists which several washes later were still radiating. Next morning, some 20 hours after application, and despite 3 or 4 washes with soap and water, my wrists still smell faintly of a really odd medicinal smelling eucalyptus and sweet sweet artificial coconut floral.

I never tried the original so can't compare but this one to me smells very artificial and harsh. Some of that may be the pairing with my skin but it smells pretty similar on a paper tester to me.

04/18/2018

6.0/10

10.0/10

5.0/10

Polyanthes

Very helpful Review 5

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 Replies

01/26/2018

5.0/10

8.5/10

Oriane

Helpful Review 4

Beautiful but Enormously Overpriced Take on the Legendary Fracas

Notes: Tuberose, Eucalyptus, Coconut, Jasmine, Orange Blossom, Melon, Ylang-Ylang, White Musk, Bergamot.

I was gifted a sample of Carnal Flower recently, and I liked it so much that I purchased a full bottle from a very reputable retailer. I do not know how old was the sample gifted me, but I now suspect that it must have been a few years old because the perfume in the full bottle does not seem to be as rich and complex as is the sample, and to my surprise given its price point, its performance is moderate at best. With an amazing six spritzes, projection and sillage were only mild to good for the first hour, and then it very quickly turned into a skin scent. Longevity was also mild to good at roughly four hours. After having read so many reviews that claimed only 1-2 spritzes provided massive projection and sillage for an entire day and half the night or more, I am very disappointed in Carnal Flower's performance.

Carnal Flower is a very beautiful perfume, but having worn Fracas many times, I did not find Carnal Flower to be at all unique or even very different from Fracas, and given its mediocre performance, I could not recommend it over Fracas. Perhaps Carnal Flower's lack lustre performance is due to reformulation? Perhaps the fragrance in the original formulation only required 1-2 spritzes to last all day and half the night as some reviewers have stated, but this is not true of the fragrance in my brand new bottle. After 3-4 hours, Carnal Flower is only barely perceptible on my skin, and it smells so similar to Fracas that I find it redundant to have it my collection.

If you love and own Fracas, you can probably live without Carnal Flower. It is undoubtedly a beautiful tuberose-centric fragrance, but I do not feel it is worth its price point even if you do not already own Fracas. You can buy roughly three 100ml bottles of Fracas for what it costs to purchase one 50ml bottle of Carnal Flower. In my opinion, Carnal Flower is simply not worth the inflated price. Fracas is just as gorgeous and performs equally as well if not better.

I am sorry to say it, but I find Carnal Flower to be little more than a Fracas clone. Madonna's Truth or Dare is also a take on Fracas, but Truth or Dare is dissimilar enough to Fracas to be quite distinguishable in its own right, and it costs significantly less than Fracas which costs significantly less than Carnal Flower, so for those on a strict budget, I suggest purchasing Truth or Dare. If you can afford Fracas, forget Truth or Dare and purchase Fracas instead as it is of a higher quality and is a more beautiful fragrance. Either way, Truth or Dare or Fracas, there is no need to pay almost $300 for a 50ml bottle of Carnal Flower unless you want it for the brand name prestige.

Fragrance: 8.75/10

Projection: 6/10 (first hour only)

Sillage: 6/10 (first hour only)

Longevity: 5/10

Presentation: 5/10

2 Replies

03/22/2017

7.5/10

5.0/10

7.5/10

10.0/10

Cumulnimbus

One in a million million perfumes

There aren't enough words to describe the pleasure of wearing this marvelous creation. Thank you Monsieur Ropion for this master piece of contemporary perfume art.

Sure I'm a tuberose lover but I felt the new face of this note which was opened by Carnal Flower, was as crossing a door to a new olfactory dimension of my favourite white flower. I can't stop admiring the perfect way it merges with fresh eucalyptus creating a new kind of depth. I just love the inner battle in the blend, how the overdosed multilayered tuberose is combined with a high flower trio of jasmine, orange blossom and ylang-ylang without becoming unbearable. I celebrate the non over sugary character and precise mastery use of fruit notes in the groups of top and base notes, exact dose to make the perfume work without ruining its revolutionary proposition. Extra value for the non prominent background position of the musk note.

One in a million million scents. So interesting, so special, so enjoyable and intelligent. High value, worths its cost. You can smell it is a long worked piece, it is a statement. If I had to choose just a scent for the rest of my lifetime it could well be Carnal Flower. I curtsy in your honour, my queen of scents.

03/04/2015

7.5/10

10.0/10

Briarthorn

Wow, beautiful

This is one of the absolute best Jasmine scents I've come across. There is no sharpness here and it's not too sweet. There's quite a bit of tuberose with the jasmine but the two blend together so magically it's awe inspiring. I get a hint of eucalyptus and ylang-ylang in the background. Use a light hand, it's very strong and loud. The longevity is amazing too.

Another work of art by this house.

May
31
2014

09/11/2014

10.0/10

Icekat

Unbridled Passion of a Tuberose

There are perfumes that completely transform your perspective when you wear them. Carnal Flower was one of them. It redeemed the tuberose in my eyes (or shall I say - my nose). Tuberose was never my favorite. I found that once tuberose is added to the mix, it makes the scent too loud and most of the time well, vulgar... And if there is an attempt to tame the tuberose, then the end result is a generic light scent that loses its luscious quality. Well, Carnal Flower proved me wrong. It managed to reveal the bold and exotic essence of the tuberose, while remaining classy and elegant. The tuberose is not a shy flower, it never will be, and Carnal Flower shows the tuberose in all its glory: sensual, passionate and stunningly attractive.

Carnal Flower is loaded with the tuberose but somehow this heady and intoxicating scent always stays fresh and abundantly green. Dominique Ropion uses the eucalyptus and orange blossom in the opening to balance the tuberose. Ingenious idea that works beautifully in this composition. The eucalyptus is not a usual note to use in the perfumes, but here it brings the woody aromatic effect and creates a luscious jungle backdrop for the tuberose. In the middle notes, Dominique adds a bit of tropical fruits and ylang-ylang to the mix to continue with the tropical ambiance of this scent. But really there are no other flowers or fragrances to compete or overshadow the tuberose in this scent. The stage is set and the tuberose is the star. Wild, passionate, seductive and bold….Be prepared for it is going to steal your heart forever.

The fragrance has formidable sillage and longevity. I only put a few drops and I am ready to go. The quality of ingredients is great and the composition is masterful, unique and mesmerizing.

Dominique Ropion, I bow before your talent. I love this scent and I think it is worth the hefty price tag. Overall score 10/10.

03/25/2013

10.0/10

Angel6

Queen of Tuberoses.

One of my favorite perfumes. Some believe it's a loud perfume, I find it very elegant, Fracas for me is extremely loud. Every perfume lover should try this one.

12/21/2012

7.5/10

5.0/10

2.5/10

8.0/10

Drseid

Reference Tuberose...

Carnal Flower opens with a beautiful, almost Eau de cologne-like opening blast of natural bergamot and mild citrus that is all too brief. At that point the real floral assault begins with tuberose playing the starring role. When I say assault I do not mean this in a bad way, but it is potent to be sure. The base is a nice clean light musk that does not call attention to itself, mixing with the tuberose as it eventually recedes. Projection is average to above average, but longevity is below average on my skin.

At first, the scent smelled very familiar to me but it took me a few hours into wearing it before I realized where I have either smelled it, or something similar to it before... It was at one of the high end hotels in Las Vegas, where the scent of the casinos and guest rooms smelled of Carnal Flower. Please do not take this as a slight to the scent, as it actually is a compliment... That resort pumps scents like that into its money making areas for a reason... It smells high class and incredible! If you feel comfortable wearing non-rose florals, then this should definitely be on your buy list, IMO, as Ropion has another winner here. On a lady in particular, I absolutely think this shines. As for myself, I'll certainly purchase a bottle as the scent is definitely collection-worthy, but I generally would rather smell this on a lady than wear it myself. I'll stick to rose scents for my own florals like Ropion's Portrait of a Lady. Both scents are winners, however and this one earns 4 stars out of 5.

09/22/2012

5.0/10

7.5/10

6.0/10

Missk

Helpful Review 4

A tuberose induced coma

I hear the name Carnal Flower bandied around the fragrance forums quite often, and there's always good things said about it. Up until this point I hadn't found the opportunity to explore Frederic Malle's perfumes in great depth, so Carnal Flower was one of those mysterious fragrances on my 'for test' list.

I was expecting a beautiful, heady white floral, so you can imagine my initial shock when the scent I applied to the card was a blast of earthiness. For the first few seconds I was channelling a review along the lines of, 'dirt meets tuberose', when the composition settled into a somewhat green, natural and heavy interpretation of tuberose and jasmine.

Towards the heart, the tuberose becomes warmer and a touch creamier. The coconut in Carnal Flower is either a love it or hate it. It adds a strange milkiness to the composition, also introducing a somewhat beachy feel, not far removed from suntan lotion. It's at this point that Carnal Flower gets a little wild.

This fragrance is not your typical white floral, nor is it particularly carnal or arousing. Naughty perhaps, like a kid playing in mud knowing full well that their mother just gave them a bath.

I find the melon accord a little off-putting, but that's due to my own personal tastes. Thankfully the note isn't too strong. I have come to the conclusion that Carnal Flower is a heady white floral that I admire, and one where I can revel in its complexity, yet somehow I can't find that strong desire to wear it.

The sillage is so intense, that if over applied, Carnal Flower could indeed become very cloying, so please proceed with caution. It also has the tendency to feel rather sticky on the skin. Personally I find this fragrance much too heavy for the warmer weather, so I suggest that wearing Carnal Flower during Spring and Summer may be pushing a boundary.

02/10/2012

7.5/10

7.0/10

Sherapop

Helpful Review 4

I'm still here, fully in tact, pretty much the same as I was before...

So many people have written about their throes of ecstasy in encountering Frédéric Malle CARNAL FLOWER that I was actually a bit hesitant to dip into my sample vial, which sat in my queue waiting patiently for quite some time. "What if perchance a single sniff might destroy the entire epic erotic myth swirling about this mysterious elixir?" I thought to myself.

CARNAL FLOWER smells luscious indeed to this tuberose lover, and lies somewhere in my memory bank of perfumes between FRACAS and BLONDE, the latter of which strikes me as quite a bit more carnal than this creation. BLONDE is darker and sweeter and features civet where CF appears to contain...plant pheromones? (Hmmm... not sure who/what that's supposed to turn on...) But I do know that the undulating loveliness of CF is a pleasure to behold.

FRACAS remains the big bodacious diva tuberose for me. I like CARNAL FLOWER a lot, but no one who loves tuberose can fail to, since this, the manufacturer's card boasts: "is undoubtedly the single fragrance featuring the largest amount of natural Tuberose absolute". Of course, that's a huge red flag to some: only tuberose lovers need apply!(and perhaps also venus flytraps?)

Was this the definitive, transformative olfactory event of my life? Have I been forever changed? No. I'm still here, fully in tact, pretty much the same as I was before, and though I do not own a bottle of CF, I still feel whole. My tuberose needs will continue to be amply filled by FRACAS and BLONDE. But I'll cherish the rest of my CF sample spray vial as well, and who knows, by the time the last drop is gone, perhaps I will be a new woman. On verra bien...

02/09/2012

7.5/10

10.0/10

Rebella

Helpful Review 5

Queen of florals or I´ve been eaten alive and I like it. ;)

Carnal Flower is my No 1 tuberose and not only that, but also one of my all time favorite scents. It was love at first sniff and we´re still having a passionate love affair after several years. Usually my go to scents are more in the soft gourmand, refined orientals and woody spectrum, which to me makes them cozy, familiar and kind of friendly. Carnal Flower isn´t at all like this, it´s like an giant flesh eating flower luring me closer and closer and I fall for that same ol' trick all over again, and keep coming back for more.

Yeah, it´s pretty much wears me, but being worn by something as classy, beautiful, frightening, elegant, carnal and splendid is a privilage, especially common days when I´m out with the dog wearing old jeans and a casual sweater...

Also good for weddings! Your own or someone elses. Men can wear it too, if they feel confident enough to pull grand florals off. Not for girls though... IMO.

Carnal Flower has dualistic character, a soft, creamy, lush, exotic smell of the most beautiful flower you can imagine, mixed with a close to cold, greenish, almost minty (eucalyptus) under currant, and that melon (!) keeping it kind of fresh, and the musk make the flower come alive and very, very hungry. Beware! It don´t evolve so much, eventually become a little softer, but never even close to well behaved.

Great lasting power and huge sillage in the early part of it. Must try for all that enjoys some adventure in life.