Cristalle

After having read the contradicting German comments, I became really curios and swapped samples with Palonera.

The German comments depict a panaroma ranging from sweetness, to raping lumberjacks and magic evenings in a log cabin with francincense and sauna infusions. Apart from sweet, I can see how these impressions come about, but Seductive does something different to me. It beams me into the bathroom, all alone and with a bad cold. I take a bubble bath with spruce needle and eucalyptus (I can’t help it, to me it smells of eucalyptus even though there is no eucalyptus in it). I do not feel seductive at all, I rather need some nursing care. Well, at least the long bath feels good and I finally get up to go out. A cloud of hairspray is around me, not only giving long lasting hold to my hairstyle but also surrounding me by a seemingly never ending sharp stench. It is such a ghastly smell, it makes me stand stiff and erect. Tired from maintaining composure, I return back home. The hairspray has finally dissipated and my body smells oft he bubble bath again, still with hints of eucalyptus – and yes, now I realize – something smokey, something woody which also reminds me of a sauna infusion. I am waiting in vain for a soothing and warming effect, which helps me overcome the feeling of coughing and sneezing misery.

I do not think it is a bad perfume, but I do not have to like it, right? Anyone who wants to buy Seductive should be sure to test it beforehand. It seems to be one of those scents which are considered either top or flop.

Finally I get around to testing extensively one of the candidates I found in my basement a year ago and must admit that among the old scents of Yves Rocher there are some that are much better than I remembered – some of them are really beautiful. I cannot contribute much to Yve’s newer products as I don’t know them.

En Avril un Soir is to my opinion a green floral chypre and I would bet on my non-existing fortune that the scent accords cited above are far from complete. The top note is so very green and dry and at the same time the flowers completely lack any sweetness that there must be more to it than just flowers – I think, there is a considerable amount of galbanum involved and the smokey touch that reaches my nose shortly after dabbing my wrists and which accompanies me right to the dry-down is omitted. Moreover there must be some oak-moss, otherwise it could not smell so heavenly chypre. The heart reveals more of the flowers than the top-note, but I can’t distinguish them. However, I do smell some indolic „dirt“, probably originating from the jasmine. Slowly but steadily a powdery iris blooms on the skin handing over to the slightly sweet woody sandalwood. Shortly before the „end“ the musk adds a little soapiness, thus giving En Avril un Soir a touch of mildness which is still supported by some green right to the end of the dry-down. Closing down the show is a tickle of something dirty or wicked. What could this be?

All components are well interwoven and the development from top to base is harmonious and consistent. Comparing it to most of today’s scents, En Avril un Soir is not a shy character at all, although it does not knock you down right away. But this may be due to the fact that I dabbed it on instead of spraying it, because this bottle is is a splash bottle.

Anyway, I am quite enthusiastic that it is much more beautiful than I remembered. I would not name it a master piece, but taking into accout that Yves Rocher have always offered their scents in the lower price range, this is a remarkably well constructed composition. Chapeau!

PS: The tested version is a vintage at least 20 or 25 years old