A Springtime Breeze: Frederic Malle En Passant and Angeliques Sous La Pluie
In the spirit of ushering in Springtime, today I wanted to do a post about two beautiful, dewy, fresh fragrances from Frederic Malle.
Recently, I went on a short trip to a big city and I was excited to be able to go to a Holt Renfrew. While I was there, since it was an opportunity I don't often get, I spent some time gathering samples and browsing fragrances so that I could choose something in person. It was pretty exciting, I will say.
I originally had my heart set on something from Tom Ford, since the two that I have from the Private Blend line are also two of the scents that I've enjoyed most. I got samples and I tried Mandarino di Amafli, Venetian Bergamot, and both Soleil Blanc and Eau de Soleil Blanc. They did not have Champaca Absolute, which I badly wanted to try, and the four that I did try I was not bowled over by (and that is not meant to sound as fussy as I'm sure it must, I really mean it, I just was not in love with any of them, they weren't me). So, I wandered over to Frederic Malle's counter, having heard nice enough things about them, and I had a wonderful perfume experience.
By chance, I was there on a day where a representative named David had come in from Frederic Malle. He asked me what sort of scent I was looking for, and we talked about my favourite notes, which led to my trying on En Passant. I was really impressed with it, because it's so amazingly realistic. It smells exactly, 100% like lilac and rain. I mentioned how it smelled rainy, and the rep told me about how he had once had a woman ask him how to layer scents so that she could recreate the smell of wet pavement. He said that they don't encourage layering, but that in her case he had managed to make a combo work by using En Passant and layering it with Angeliques Sous La Pluie. Out of curiosity I smelled that too, by itself, and ended up really loving Angeliques. I don't think I'd layer them, but they're great by themselves. Angeliques Sous La Pluie features a good dose of juniper, along side coriander, and the smell is very fresh. The thing that I love about scents like permanent markers, acetone, turpentine or oil paint is the same thing that makes me love Angeliques. That probably makes it sound awful to some people. Alternatively, if you love the smell of a nice, clean gin, like Hendricks gin, you will really enjoy this. The rep felt that it was the kind of perfume that's so fresh and non-intrusive that it was something you could reach for when you want a perfume palette-cleanser.
To talk a bit more about the actual impressions of the perfume, En Passant is very beautiful, real, almost ozonic, and beautifully linear. It's a perfect likeness of a lilac bloom in its prime. Some people find linear perfumes disappointing - I don't agree. I think that a linear perfume can be just as nice as once that has phases, so long as it's nicely formulated. The care and artistry behind En Passant is readily apparent, especially when you consider that lilac is not part of its composition. For Angeliques Sous La Pluie, I will say that it is stronger than En Passant, En passant being a light, personal frangrance. Angeliques Sous La Pluie has a greater projection, it is not a fragrance that anyone is likely to associate with any particular age or gender, it is fresh/herbaceous, clean-peppery (think fresh cracked peppercorns) earthy, again very ozonic, with all of the cool freshness of wet foliage in a shady place.
I could see both of these giving off a professional, clean vibe.
I bought a 50ml of En Passant, and 10ml of Angeliques Sous La Pluie. The packaging is ultra-simple but nicely designed. The cap is weighted and I don't know if you can tell but the EDP│FM is set in slightly rather than just painted on a flat surface.
I hope you enjoyed this review. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
A.
Recently, I went on a short trip to a big city and I was excited to be able to go to a Holt Renfrew. While I was there, since it was an opportunity I don't often get, I spent some time gathering samples and browsing fragrances so that I could choose something in person. It was pretty exciting, I will say.
I originally had my heart set on something from Tom Ford, since the two that I have from the Private Blend line are also two of the scents that I've enjoyed most. I got samples and I tried Mandarino di Amafli, Venetian Bergamot, and both Soleil Blanc and Eau de Soleil Blanc. They did not have Champaca Absolute, which I badly wanted to try, and the four that I did try I was not bowled over by (and that is not meant to sound as fussy as I'm sure it must, I really mean it, I just was not in love with any of them, they weren't me). So, I wandered over to Frederic Malle's counter, having heard nice enough things about them, and I had a wonderful perfume experience.
By chance, I was there on a day where a representative named David had come in from Frederic Malle. He asked me what sort of scent I was looking for, and we talked about my favourite notes, which led to my trying on En Passant. I was really impressed with it, because it's so amazingly realistic. It smells exactly, 100% like lilac and rain. I mentioned how it smelled rainy, and the rep told me about how he had once had a woman ask him how to layer scents so that she could recreate the smell of wet pavement. He said that they don't encourage layering, but that in her case he had managed to make a combo work by using En Passant and layering it with Angeliques Sous La Pluie. Out of curiosity I smelled that too, by itself, and ended up really loving Angeliques. I don't think I'd layer them, but they're great by themselves. Angeliques Sous La Pluie features a good dose of juniper, along side coriander, and the smell is very fresh. The thing that I love about scents like permanent markers, acetone, turpentine or oil paint is the same thing that makes me love Angeliques. That probably makes it sound awful to some people. Alternatively, if you love the smell of a nice, clean gin, like Hendricks gin, you will really enjoy this. The rep felt that it was the kind of perfume that's so fresh and non-intrusive that it was something you could reach for when you want a perfume palette-cleanser.
To talk a bit more about the actual impressions of the perfume, En Passant is very beautiful, real, almost ozonic, and beautifully linear. It's a perfect likeness of a lilac bloom in its prime. Some people find linear perfumes disappointing - I don't agree. I think that a linear perfume can be just as nice as once that has phases, so long as it's nicely formulated. The care and artistry behind En Passant is readily apparent, especially when you consider that lilac is not part of its composition. For Angeliques Sous La Pluie, I will say that it is stronger than En Passant, En passant being a light, personal frangrance. Angeliques Sous La Pluie has a greater projection, it is not a fragrance that anyone is likely to associate with any particular age or gender, it is fresh/herbaceous, clean-peppery (think fresh cracked peppercorns) earthy, again very ozonic, with all of the cool freshness of wet foliage in a shady place.
I could see both of these giving off a professional, clean vibe.
I bought a 50ml of En Passant, and 10ml of Angeliques Sous La Pluie. The packaging is ultra-simple but nicely designed. The cap is weighted and I don't know if you can tell but the EDP│FM is set in slightly rather than just painted on a flat surface.
I hope you enjoyed this review. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
A.
Comments
Post a Comment