In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (ok, really it’s in honor of the fact that I didn’t finish my fragrance review for today and now I’m running late) here are a few green fragrances worth trying:
Annick Goutal Mandragore
Balmain Vent Vert
Body Time Green Fig Oil
Bvlgari Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert…
L’Ombre dans L’Eau was launched by Diptyque in 1983. The notes are listed as black currant leaf and Bulgarian rose; Diptyque describes the fragrance as “the scent of a green riverside garden.” It was created by Serge Kalouguine, who was also the perfumer for Diptyque Olène.
L’Ombre dans L’Eau, like yesterday’s Ecume de Rose, gets off to a somewhat rocky start, with an overwhelming burst of green (and I love green notes, mind you). It is harsh, maybe even astringent. The green remains — if you don’t like green, there is little point in even trying it — but it does calm. There are crushed green leaves. There is the bitter smell of broken stems. There is a light sprinkling of fresh herbs, and one or two pine needles. There is the smell of freshly overturned soil warming in the sun, and a bit of tartness from the black currant…
Gobin Daudé Sève Exquise is one of the five perfumes released by Victoire Gobin-Daudé in 2002. It has notes of orris, poplar bud, liatrix, and vetiver.
Sève Exquise is another green fragrance, but it is a completely different take on green from yesterday’s Sous Le Buis. If Sous Le Buis is the dark, almost bitter, late-summer green of leaves, shrubs, and twigs, Sève Exquise is the bright, pale green smell of tender shoots in spring. It has a milky-sweet quality, almost like syrup, and a subtle spicy-earthy undertone…
Victoire Gobin-Daudé, a self-taught perfumer, launched her line of 5 perfumes in 2002. Sous Le Buis is described as “Under The Boxtree – Tamed nature, boxtree freshly trimmed, softness of bark, sun heated stones. Hesperedic green: galbanum, lavender, sage, clary, orange flower.”
Sous Le Buis starts with a sharp, bitter green, very much like the smell of crushed leaves and stems and sap. As it dries down, the lavender intensifies along with the herbal notes. I usually find lavender in fragrance to be too harsh, but here it is very soft and smooth. There is a bit of orange blossom, and some light woody undertones.
It is a dry green fragrance, and while it is not dark exactly, it has none of the bright freshness of many green scents, like Miller et Bertaux no. 3 or the newer version of Vent Vert. The green here is deeper, and in keeping with the ad copy, the feel is rather like being buried in shrubbery. I adore it, but it probably won’t suit you unless you really love green. It is a unisex fragrance; many of the reviews I have read find it to be closer to masculine…
Today I am testing the third fragrance release from Parisian designers Miller et Bertaux, this one titled Green, green, green and green. I have not been able to find an official list of notes, but according to a post on a fragrance forum, the notes are laurel, bay leaves, verbena, sap, coriander (possibly the leaves, i.e., cilantro), jasmine, cedar, vetiver, and musk. That may or may not be an accurate list, but it smells about right.
Miller et Bertaux Green starts somewhat similar to Nanadebary Green: a slightly sharp verbena with green notes, and possibly some bergamot as well. As it calms, it takes off in another direction — where Nanadebary gets milder and fresher as it develops, the Miller et Bertaux takes on a deeper, very nearly bitter green.
It smells like grass, sap, fresh herbs and leaves, with a twist of lemon. For a short time, I can make out some faint, indistinct floral notes, but as it continues to dry down, those are replaced by cedary woods, and it starts to smell more like shrubbery. It is fresh in the sense that green things smell fresh, but it does not have a “fresh” note…