StellaDiverF

Un Jardin sur La Lagune opens with a refreshing, sparkling lemon on my skin, not as ripe and juicy as in Eau du Citron Noir, but imparting an equally natural feeling. Unfortunately, this fresh, aromatic lemon's fate also mirrors that succulent ripe lemon in Eau du Citron Noir: quickly tainted by acrid, screechy woody amber aromachemicals. Here, they're not as smoky as in Eau du Citron Noir, but mainly to provide a dry, almost dessicated texture to a salty, slightly mineral note, in order to imitate the ambient aroma of sea water in canals and stone walls in Venice.

Although I do detect the delicious, jasmine tea-like redolence of pitosporum on the test strip, on my skin, the floral notes in La Lagune remain frustratingly vague throughout the whole development. Once the fresh lemon note completely disappears after about 2 hours, Un Jardin sur La Lagune then remains this abstract, slightly salty floral musk with an unpleasantly fuzzy undertone of woody amber aromachemicals. The later eventually take over after 5 hours and turn La Lagune into an amorphous woody amber musk, not unlike the far dry down of many current masculine perfumes centred around these popular woody amber aromachemicals.

Un Jardin sur La Lagune has a moderate sillage on me and is pretty tenacious thanks to its woody amber musk dry down, lasting almost 11 hours on my skin.

Although I can more or less see why these elements are chosen to recreate the imagery of hidden garden behind stone walls with wafts of sea water through the canals, the abstract combined effect doesn't smell convincing to me. I guess this rather atmospheric treatment aims to be coherent with the rest of Les Jardins series, but the problem for me is that, while those scorching woody amber aromachemicals and inorganic-feeling mineral notes can work magic when they're cleverly disguised within other notes or when they're surrounded by vivid details, they often appear very artificial to me when they're laid out bare or without enough intricate details to smooth out the edge, which is more or less what I perceive in Un Jardin sur La Lagune. Because of the noticeable presence of woody amber aromachemicals and a resulting more harsh texture, I'd recommend it to those who enjoy Eau du Citron Noir and are interested in a slightly marine twist, rather than those who enjoy the previous entries of Les Jardins series.

Frederic Malle Dawn opens with a quite fierce oud. It has the similarly animalic, sour and fermented aspects like the Indian oud in The Night. However, instead of a full-on barnyard stroll, it also clearly exhibits a rubbery facet that fits the profile of Laotian oud that I've encountered so far. As a result, Dawn is indeed lighter than The Night, but overall speaking it's still fairly animalic as an oud perfume.

However, like The Night, the authentic oud characteristics in Dawn retreat to the background rather quickly, and what's left is only a softly sweet and resinous woody backbone with flickers of rose petals. Moreover, it's gradually consumed by a standard olibanum incense and labdanum amber accord, and further dried out by a discreet touch of woody amber aromachemicals, to the extent that the dry down after about 4 hours is almost solely a desiccating incense than anything smelling remotely of oud.

I got a medium to soft sillage with Dawn and a longevity of at least 8 hours on my skin.

For me, The Night and Dawn share the same syndrome: a fairly authentic oud opening undermined by ubiquitous, uninspiring rose and amber/incense accords. If Dawn was released two years ago, I would have recommended it along with The Night as an example of animalic oud to sample, because even though they're fairly standard and unimaginative, at least they showcase the animalic aspects of oud pretty well and are put out by a well-established brand. However, during these two years, many artisanal and independent brands have come up with oud perfumes either more authentic, more innovative, more sophisticated or more luxurious, and with a more interesting price at that. Therefore, I would not particularly recommend Dawn before other more interesting oud perfumes.

Honeymania opens with sweet honey. However, it soon dissipates into a soapy so-called wildflower scent. On me it tends to be a little unpleasantly synthetic and I can hardly detect honey any more once those wildflowers kick in.

The longevity is around 5 hours on me. The sillage is moderate and comparing to some of the one-note offerings from TBS, is actually quite good. I find the wildflower part does give out a bright and carefree feeling. However, it's really a Flowermania IMO. This is not where you should looking for a sticky sugary honey treat.

The opening of Vanille & Narcisse does have some black currants. It then soon evolves into a combination of vanilla, tonka beans and some yellow flowers, which strangely smells a little sour to me. Actually I'm not sure if I smell narcissus. The floral part slightly reminds of Lancôme Poême. Towards the end, with yellow flowers fading, the powdery vanilla and tonka beans combo also has some caramel-like aspect.

The longevity is around 7 hours on me. The sillage is moderate and manages to keep the intensity during the wearing. It's quite sweet and intense. Overdoing it will be tiring.

Mandragore Pourpre, compared to the original Mandragore, opens much darker, earthier and spicier. The bergamot and the mint are still present throughout the development. But it's no longer as green and crisp as Mandragore. The anise and the pepper turn the whole composition into another deeper colour.

In the drydown, Mandragore Pourpre has a sweeter facet than the original edition. The amber and the myrhh give an oriental vibe. If sniffed closely, the heliotrope and the incense are also distinguishable.

Although Mandragore Pourpre has quite a different character from the orginal Mandragore, their connection is evident: the same elements they share are embodied in the same way. Interestingly, Mandragore Pourpre has the same ethereal texture as the origianl edition even it's significantly spicer, which makes it inoffensive while keeping it stand out. The fact that it's spicer and darker, also helps to keep its strength and its vivacity, contrary to the original Mandragore which tends to fall bland in the drydown.

The sillage is relatively close even sprayed liberally. The longevity is around 6 hours, which is ok for an EDT. I'd definitely recommend giving it a try. An interesting olfactory experience it shall be.