01/22/2023
Elysium
809 Reviews
Elysium
Helpful Review
3
Spices Caress The Senses
I have known LPDO products for many years. I used to try them and buy them in a well-known commercial chain that sold them at a discounted price compared to the retail price. But then they stopped selling, and now I can only blindly buy them online. And Folies d'Épices was one of the latest purchases, along with Voyage Secret. Until now, these perfumes have never let me down; the quality is good, even if I don’t get the phenomenal performance advertised. But it doesn’t matter. The low price and the faithful similarity allow me to experience the thrill of wearing more expensive perfumes without spending a fortune.
Folies D’Épices is not quite what I would have expected. From its name, I imagined something overly crowded with spices, a bit like Potion Eau de Parfum. Instead, it turned out to be a completely different thing, fortunately pleasant. Many herbs are present, and some are perceived, but the dominant accords are resinous, woody, and liqueur. It is an oriental and spicy fragrance, which opens with a balsamic, mentholated and citrus accord filled with green cardamom pods and bergamot zest. The explosion is masculine and velvety, with a sticky, resinous undertone carried by elemi putty. The opening is like a warm embrace underlined by an unusual crowd of spices. It’s sweet, peppery, and mentholated; underneath, I find a kind of intoxication similar to a barrel-aged liquor like rum, rich in woody and spicy undertones.
A gorgeous, hearty dose of cinnamon bark and sweet nutmeg oozes into the heart and comes to the fore. If I smell it next to the skin, the spiciness is savoury, there’s a hint of bitter clove, and the cinnamon comes out like in Brooklyn cinnamon bubblegum. I also smell a little dusty, and I’m not sure if it’s the orris root or the violet leaves. More likely, the former, as the notes are crisp, dry, and not dewy and metallic. The scent notes on the packaging hint at a rose in the middle, but I find it quite challenging to detect. Maybe it’s so well blended into the concoction that it doesn’t overpower the other notes.
From there, the journey is linear with little change until the dry down, a whiff of vanilla sweetness from the coumarin, creamy woodiness from the sandalwood, and dryness from the cedar. The spiciness is almost gone or lingers in the back, while a kind of amber, musky woodiness is what I pick up for the rest of its life.
It lasts for a couple of hours till it is a skin scent, and after half a day or so, it is pretty hard to detect on my skin. The sillage is light, while the projection is moderate for the first half hour but very close to my skin afterwards. It is unobtrusive, and people close to me can admire its beauty without being affected by its power or intensity—a fitting scent for cool early autumn and winter mornings. Safe for the office, but you get the best when you wear it in your free time at home or with friends because it’s so cosy that you feel good.
I'm basing my impressions and review on a bottle I've owned since August 2020.
-Elysium
Folies D’Épices is not quite what I would have expected. From its name, I imagined something overly crowded with spices, a bit like Potion Eau de Parfum. Instead, it turned out to be a completely different thing, fortunately pleasant. Many herbs are present, and some are perceived, but the dominant accords are resinous, woody, and liqueur. It is an oriental and spicy fragrance, which opens with a balsamic, mentholated and citrus accord filled with green cardamom pods and bergamot zest. The explosion is masculine and velvety, with a sticky, resinous undertone carried by elemi putty. The opening is like a warm embrace underlined by an unusual crowd of spices. It’s sweet, peppery, and mentholated; underneath, I find a kind of intoxication similar to a barrel-aged liquor like rum, rich in woody and spicy undertones.
A gorgeous, hearty dose of cinnamon bark and sweet nutmeg oozes into the heart and comes to the fore. If I smell it next to the skin, the spiciness is savoury, there’s a hint of bitter clove, and the cinnamon comes out like in Brooklyn cinnamon bubblegum. I also smell a little dusty, and I’m not sure if it’s the orris root or the violet leaves. More likely, the former, as the notes are crisp, dry, and not dewy and metallic. The scent notes on the packaging hint at a rose in the middle, but I find it quite challenging to detect. Maybe it’s so well blended into the concoction that it doesn’t overpower the other notes.
From there, the journey is linear with little change until the dry down, a whiff of vanilla sweetness from the coumarin, creamy woodiness from the sandalwood, and dryness from the cedar. The spiciness is almost gone or lingers in the back, while a kind of amber, musky woodiness is what I pick up for the rest of its life.
It lasts for a couple of hours till it is a skin scent, and after half a day or so, it is pretty hard to detect on my skin. The sillage is light, while the projection is moderate for the first half hour but very close to my skin afterwards. It is unobtrusive, and people close to me can admire its beauty without being affected by its power or intensity—a fitting scent for cool early autumn and winter mornings. Safe for the office, but you get the best when you wear it in your free time at home or with friends because it’s so cosy that you feel good.
I'm basing my impressions and review on a bottle I've owned since August 2020.
-Elysium