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My niche perfume tour started when I pitched my tents in Paris for a year in August 2019 to do a voluntary social year in a school for disabled children. I had started to look more intensively into fragrances of all kinds (designers at first, of course) shortly before that; but as I know it from me, I don't stick to the "normal" things in life for long, preferring to devote myself to the extravagant and, along with it, the expensive. So I diligently researched the Internet for the most famous and renowned Parisian perfume boutiques, and found, among other things, the "Maison" (house) of Francis Kurkdjian, a perfumer with Armenian roots born in 1969 in the city I love so much.

The flacon design of the fragrances on display in the boutique near the Tuileries immediately swept me off my feet completely: so simple, so practical, yet so ingenious, so classy and so delightfully snobby ;).

After several tests randomly grabbed from the shelf perfumes (with at the time still seeeeehr untrained nose) caught my attention the fragrance to which I dedicate this review. Like liquid reddish-brown-orange gold in a 75 ml glass bottle, I thought to myself. How much I should be right, I did not know at the time..........

Sprayed on the tester, found to be "All right", and taken to my little West Paris apartment alongside a few other échantillons, mainly from the "Oud-mood" range. The next day (Saturday) I perfumed my room for lack of other choses a faire then completely, and sprayed some MFKs on arm, hand and other still free skin areas. The "Grand Soir" also landed somewhere on my body, and opened the door to another world. Before anyone thinks this is over the top, wait and see!

After countless more tests of just this one perfume (the "Oud-mood" range had suddenly become terribly boring), I rushed to the Metro, got off at the "Tuileries" and snagged a 75 ml Grand Soir gem. After more test sprays over the next few days, I was sure I was definitely in another world. The class, the elegance, the sophistication, the skillful "snobiety" of this fragrance is incredible and incomparable. To me, this fragrance smells like a kind of likeable and endearing, yet insanely decadent arrogance. This could already be the end of this/my story with "Grand Soir" by Maison Francis Kurkdjian, if it weren't for another huge little anecdote.

In the relatively mild Parisian winter of 2019, I was really looking forward to one of a few meetings with a friend who lives in an eastern suburb of Paris. We had a date at a bar near Place de la Nation in the bustling and lively Bastille neighborhood, and she told me in advance there would be a few other friends of hers joining us. Half an hour after us, these "other friends" arrived at the bar, and introduced themselves as 2 pleasant young men and a girl, the sight of whom left me speechless from the first moment. Their appearance, their appearance, their casual elegance and their unpretentious charm triggered in me something like love at first sight. I had of course forgotten in the meantime the fragrance cloud of the scent, which surrounded me even a good hour and a half after applying the 2 sprays on the neck still very perceptible. When we greeted each other with the typical French cheek kisses, she looked at me a moment too long and said "tu sens merveilleux" with a smile on her lips that could only be guessed. We spent a wonderful evening, laughing, playing cards, talking about the German-French similarities and differences, enjoying the atmosphere and borrowing a Parisian evening from a picture book, drawn by a master.

Before I fell asleep, an invisible companion, whom I should have forgotten by now for the second time, reported impressively again. He seemed to be talking to me, whispering something to me. I did not understand him, he spoke a language that was not of this world. I knew immediately what he wanted to tell me. Two words. Grand. Soir. Grand. Evening. That was all he needed to say. That was all he needed to say. I smiled and nodded. Yes, a truly great evening. You made it so. Your name says it all. You were made for a big night out in Paris. You fit like a glove in this vibrant, breathtaking, charming, beautiful, indescribable cosmopolitan city. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Grand Soir for this evening that will be remembered as one of the most beautiful of my life and merci, Monsieur Francis Kurkdjian, for this fragrance.

I have seen the girl only once until today. That evening. Whether I will ever see her again, only heaven knows. But when I wear "Grand Soir", she sits next to me and smiles gently at me....
some moments cannot be repeated. They are too unique, too golden. The most you can do is preserve them in a perfume bottle, and take them out when you want to remember....

for example, of great evenings ...