Those of you who have read my thoughts on Vero Profumo Onda know I’m a fan of this perfume, perfumer and line. Onda’s rich strange nod to Guerlain’s Djedi, while not being just a copy of that perfume – a new slant on how you get to Mars from Pluto – is brilliant. She currently has two other scents out, Vero Profumo Rubj and Kiki, and they could not be more different in feel than Onda. Often I find perfumers tend to use the same notes or types of notes over and over because their feel for those notes or type of perfume is where they are most skilled. When a perfumer works with completely different notes on a type of perfume and does a beautiful job with each sketch, you can just color me impressed. Vero Kern is definitely that perfumer.
Vero Profumo Rubj is described as a rendezvous in Sheikh Nefzaoui´s “Perfumed garden, Opulent & beguiling.” Notes include Moroccan sweet orange blossom, Egyptian jasmine, and musk. This goes on very, very orangey floral, and just about when you are thinking it’s only another sweet, almost fruity floral perfume, the interesting take on it shows up. I know there are other notes in there, and I hope she chimes in and tells us what they are – I wish I had asked before. As the orange blossom and jasmine start to head off down the path to opulent floralland, it gets snatched to the ground and pummeled with a good dose of earthiness. I know there’s some musk that helps with the earthy feel and grounding, but something(s) else are at play that I can’t name as easily. So while the notes sound like a simple white floral, there is a lot more going on with this that keeps me snuffling around it in the drydown. This turns out to be my least favorite of the three – I do like it very much, just not as well as the other two. An unusual slant on the rich white floral. The drydown on me doesn’t last overmuch after an overnight, I take back the not lasting, it was just sleeping. It stays an elegant white floral for hours and is just lovely. I’m not sure this reacts on my skin like it might on someone else’s midway through. I’ll be interested to hear from others who have tried it.
Vero Profumo Kiki – “an homage to the city of Paris and is meant to please confirmed individualists with French chic.” Kiki’s notes include Lavender, powdery caramel, musk, and exotic fruits. Reading those notes almost gave me hives. Lavender… caramel…?! musk…!?!? fruit???!!!! What fresh hell… And how can a perfumer who created the freakishly beautiful Onda do something that sounds as if Lavender sprigs will be buried in my candied apple? Saying this a fruity perfume is just unso. It is lavender, it is fruit, it is candy, with musk rolling around at the bottom of that odd little sack. Have I mentioned that I don’t really like lavender notes in perfume? Or caramel unless it is part of a Banana Caramel pie (ask for the recipe if you must know)? Or that fruit notes normally don’t excite me? My best description: one of those weird desserts that they roll out to your table that your dining companion insisted on. You are sitting there with your nose turned up at the very idea that you would like this, you like none of these things separately and together is just revolting – they don’t even belong in the same bowl – but as you dig in, you find yourself realizing that lavender and caramel are a lovely contrast and why didn’t someone tell you how perfect they were together? There is a facet to Kiki that smells similar to what you always think of as a candied fruit perfume, so it seems familiar, but the lavender is so expertly woven through that it never seems too sweet, and it distracts the nose, then it just trills off into some new area that is just lovely and fresh and completely charming as the musk adds a sensuous, deep sensuousness to it. In the hands of a skilled perfumer, magic truly happens – the unthinkably perverse turns into cuddly nose porn.
I’m certain as the day is long that Vero Profumo Kiki will absolutely not appeal to everyone, but I think those of you that are like me and rolled your eyes at the notes should give it a chance. This one is in regular rotation on me since I sniffed it. It fills me with happiness to wear it, and I would like all those folks out there making a fruity perfume to just sniff this so they can see what a fresh approach on an old standard should smell like.
These are available at the Vero Profumo website, $145 for 7.5 ml and $230 for 15 ml, pure parfums only. She does have a nice size sample set of all three perfumes $20.
Time for a drawing! Samples of all three of the Vero Profumo perfumes. Just drop a note in comments if you would like your name put in the drawing!
Today I’m trying Ondo and was loving it. Then my 16 year old granddaughter said “I’d wait until you’re older to wear that – it’s a VERY old ladies’ perfume” !! Oh dear, I still love but I don’t want to smell like a white-haired old dear in a floral frock.
From what I’ve read Onda is anything but ‘white-haired old dear in a floral frock’. When I think Ondo (and I am awaiting a sample to compare against Djedi) I think Lauren Bacall (now, not then) or Judi Dench as Lady Catherine Debourgh in Pride and Prejudice..or Judi Dench as ElizabethR..or Judi..well, you get the idea.
There’s old…and then there’s magnificent! To the young there may be a bit of difficulty discerning the difference.
Onda, severe couture suit and an incredible string of baroque pearls… Manolo stilettos…yes, I can see that just fine!
Yes!! You’re right. Think Lady Catherine not Miss Marple! I too am waiting to compare it with Djedi ( thanks to Perfumed Court). I do hope I don’t fall in love with Djedi – how could I ever find or afford a whole bottle?
I may have to buy Ondo though; I feel my credit card calling to me.
I love your site! Thanks for all of your hard work! I think we have similar tastes and I’m dying to try Kiki. Please enter me in the drawing.
A new perfume line ot explore! Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
What beautiful reviews. Where/how did you first learn of this line?
Please enter me in the drawing as well.
Hope I am not too late!
Kiki of Montparnasse (Alice Prin) is my muse.
We even share the same birthdate and I was just thinking how nice it would be to have a perfume named after her.
Funny huh?
Tiffany
Oh, I had to giggle… I have actually had a baked apple and lavender dessert. I found it pleasing but still odd. (And it didn’t have caramel).
Would you mind entering me in the drawing? Sounds like great fun.
Please enter me in the drawing. “Kiki” was my nickname when I was little. That was decades ago. No one has called me that in years, except as a gentle joke. HA HA! Thanks for the memories. On a perfume note, I bought a bottle of “Nuit de Noel” by Caron and I am really loving it. I feel really at home wearing this. WOW!!! Okay, my vocabulary is greatly lacking so I better not start of perfume blog, but this stuff is great! I’m so glad that my blind buy worked out. I also own Fleurs de Rocaille (1930’s version – not the modern one.)
Hey patty please enter me in the drawing…I would love to get a whiff of these…I am so bored with main stream same stream fragrances so fragrances such as these are a joy to find:d
I enjoy lavender in many perfumes. I’d love to win a sample of Onda.
Re: the banana pie recipe above. After you pour the cooked and cooled sweetened condensed milk in over the bananas, do you serve it right away? Or does it need to “set” in the refrigerator?
Thanks, Gail
Please include me in the drawing. I would like to try these as they are not carried in any store near me.
Thanks for writing about them, please enter me in the drawing. Thank you :d
I’ve been wondering about these. Please do enter me in the drawing!
I want the recipe for Banana Caramel pie 🙂
Excellent review of Kiki – very intriguing!
Please enter me into the drawing.
Absolutely, enter me in the drawing! Why? Because I really, really need to fall in love with another perfume that might be incredibly difficult for me to obtain in the future (after it’s established itself as indispensable – may I mention Gobin-Daude here?), and will certainly cost me a fortune, now and later. Some part of me must revel in the exquisite pains associated with perfume love.
🙂
Well, yeah! WE have to suffer for our love, mustn’t we? :((
Of course I would love to be in the draw
And of course I will put you in the draw!
Great reviews — I love your exploratory approach.
And…
Nose porn! ;))
Pretty please toss my funky-chic chapeau into the draw…
Most definitely will!
Oh, Patty, may I be in the drawing? Lavender generally doesn’t like me much — Encens et Lavande is devoid of Encens, Reverie au Jardin is medicinal on me — but, oddly enough, Anat Fritz recently told me that it is FBW (something refreshing about its giant sharpened pencilness, which the lavender helps evoke)! But this sounds intriguing, as does the Onda. (When it comes to Big White Florals, though, I’ve put some away in a “for later” box, which I come back to occasionally to see whether I’ve grown into them.) Thanks! –Ellen
Absolutley, Ellen! Big White Florals are tricky. I often do not have enough of the Big Girl Femme in me to wear them!
Oh, those sound AMAZING!!!!! And I am laughing at your dessert description. I have The Biggest Sweet tooth ever, and I am such a dessert snob. And one of our marital routines is the Cheese will order some gross thing that I snub … until I have a bite … :”> you’re right, though, those notes sound horrible!
I know how you are about your dessert. 🙂 Warren has finally given up on food and just orders what I have now because I’m almost always right. Pretty sure you’d love the Kiki, the Rubj may or may not work on you. The onda…Hmmm, I think you’ll enjoy the trip, but not sure you’ll ever wear it.
8-|Now I need to try these too…;)Please enter me in the drawing !
Absolutely, Katie!
Oh gosh, why even fight it??? Yes, please enter me in the drawing. I’ll have to get the samples somehow, regardless. These sound like complicated, intelligent, quirky scents–for me, resistance is useless 🙂
They are all of that. 🙂
Loved the sound of these ever since I read about them and the perfumer on Andy’s blog..Do enter me in the draw!
Will do, lavanya, and good luck!
Rubj started out simply gorgeous – clear, pure orange blossom with opulent sillage. I was swooning. I was less pleased with the drydown, which turned into a musky mess on me. Next.
I’d love to try Ondo and Kiki. Please enter me in the drawing.
Will do, Iris. I had the kinda of mess with Rubj for a while, and I was shocked to find it a few hours later just glamming it up on my arm. I think there’s a note in the middle that I’m anosmic too that was covering it up, and once it keeled over or developed, I very much enjoyed the rest of it. It’s been over 24 hours now, and both are going strong.
Thanks to Patty’s generosity with the Best of 2007 package, I’m wearing Onda right now. It’s a very special kind of earthy. Recently, I’ve fallen in complete love with Aftelier, which is the earthiness of moist dirt and riotous fertility. Vero’s earthy Onda is in another galaxy–dry, dry, dry, with each blade of green and leathery goodness visible to the nose. It’s so austere that I need a black suit with a great scarf and funky hat to match. I love it–I am sure to become a patron of Vero’s work. Hopefully, in the next few days, Kiki and Rubj will show up in my mailbox, thanks to a swap. This review has generated even more excitement about trying them.
I am back–the other samples showed up. I want to sing about how amazing is Kiki! And Rubj is utterly breathtaking. Vero has hit a homerun with her opening salvo. They are all different, just as you wrote, Patty, which makes the success of all three unbelievable. I would have thought them made by three different, equally gifted, perfumers. But, no, she is just that good!
I am so glad you are enjoying all the Veros, aren’t they special? I treasure so much the independent perfumers out there forging new creations without pressure to “make something commercial” while at the same time needing to create something people like and will sell because otherwise you’re just doing it as a hobby.
Tough gig, to be sure, and I think they do some pretty exciting things.
Well, now I’ve let them develop…And Kiki is fabulous! Perfect type of sweetness for me. My favorite! And Rubj is a sweet, innocent orange blossom, rather than the big white flower you describe. Beautiful. I want them all.
Am I the only unlucky one not to get anything much in common between Onda and Djedi? :((
I think! I put them side by side, both the vintage and the reissued Djedi, which are close to identical, and there are differences, but a lot of similarities as well.
Djedi is one of my favorites so I’d love to try out Onda. Please enter me in the drawing!
Best,
Devon
I will, Devon! I have a terrible time wearing Djedi most days, even though I love to have just a drop or two on to sniff, but Onda is completely wearable.
You know, I think I would love Kiki (love the name, too!).
Please enter me in the drawing, darling. Thank you!
Hugs and love!
I think you would too. 🙂
You know Patty, I was perfectly happy being a lurking non-entity here until you did this review! It probably helps that it is bitterly cold this AM, making caramel and lavendar sound so very enticing. Like many, I just did not get excited about lavendar until Andy’s RaJ (and Andy, if you’re here somewhere; Incense Extreme was perfect for walking the oldest child to school in the -2 degree F chill this morning. SO uplifting!) I have been nosing around the Veros for the past few months thanks to the blogs of Andy and Helg, and would love to be entered in the drawing. BTW, I love the use of fractals in your new look. It’s the perfect blend of the chaotic and the sublime! All the Best, Heather
Thanks, Heather, glad you de-lurked! These are so worth trying, even though I know they won’t be everyone’s cuppa. But if they hit with you, you’ll be just delighted with them!
Whoa, these perfumes sound great. But I won’t lie, while I would love if you could enter me in the drawing (please do,) I’m really interested in you posting the banana pie recipe.
Have a great weekend!
I wondered if anyone was going to ask for this. 🙂
easy recipe. Either make your own graham cracker crust or get a pre-made one.
Take a can of sweetened condensed milk and boil it, covered by water for about four hours. Don’t worry, the can won’t blow up. This makes the leche part of the pie. Then cool the can off.
Slice up bananas in the graham cracker crust, pour the sweetened condensed milk that is now leche over the bananas and top with crushed heath bars.
UFB yummy.
The combination of lavender and caramel in Kiki brings to mind PdN Maharajah with it’s lavender-cinnamon combo that works so well eventhough sounds horrifing on paper…Makes me want to experiment in the kitchen:)
Please, count me in!
Will do! Yeah, there’s a streak of PdN mischief at play in the Veros, definitely. I really love that. 🙂
oooh! Please enter me in the drawing — these sound interesting!
My first experience with lavendar and sweet/fruity things was standard grocery store yogurt available in New Zealand. Things like “Passion Fruit and Lavendar” or “Honey and Lavendar”. Being me, I just had to try them. Wow – what a neat combination! Too bad those flavors aren’t available here in the US.
oops, sorry, your comment is up there above in Carlene’s!
Oh, please enter me in the drawing…I need cuddly nose porn!!
We all need some cuddly nose porn. Will do, Carlene!
That yogurt sounds like perfection. I seriously would have turned my nose up at it before, but I’ve changed my mind about lavender in my perfumes and food now. 🙂
I would love to try these scents, but I just realized the shipping on her sample set nearly doubles the price! So please enter me in your drawing! They all sound intriguing.
I have to tell you, her samples are very generous, and you’re getting about 3-5 mls or so between the three of them of pure parfum, and the $40 for that set of samples is well worth it and probably one of the best bargains in perfumeworld. 😡
Oh that’s good to know. It’s great to have a nice large sample to get to know a fragrance.
Wow, the Kiki scent sounds so intriguing–such a strange juxtaposition of notes. I’m not a huge lavender fan, but this sounds like something I’d like to try. I’d love to be included in the drawing.
Now off to rummage through the fridge. It’s only 9 in the morning, but that dessert photo you put in the post is giving me cravings!
I’m there with you on the lavendar and the weird combination. It was shocking to me how well it worked together.
I know, I’m hungry now too!
I would love, LOVE, to smell these. Please enter me in the drawing. They both sound gorgeous.
Absolutely, Debbie! I think you’d very much enjoy sniffing them.
i´ve samples of all three & when i received them last october, rubj was the one i fell for first – though i didn´t expect that at all!
on me it´s a very animalic orange flower scent, very juicy & absolutely like nothing else i smelled before. i think it´s best when the weather is still a bit warmer, i don´t crave it very much in winter.
onda is of course great & unique, as you already wrote about it before, i´ll go on to kiki:
hm…i didn´t like it that much when i sampled it in warmer weather: just fresh lavender, nice, but nothing to write home about.
i was a bit disappointed: caramel, musk, where???
then i tested it again in winter & now i appreciate it more (though i wouldn´t call it love, it grows on me). i get more of the powdery feel. though i cannot detect caramel it´s much smoother, more comforting & generally much nicer. it isn´t that “hey, i´m all about lavender!” anymore, but more complex.
i think i´ll wear it today 🙂
🙂
Vero did just give me the other notes for Rubj. Mild cedar wood, little oak moss absolute and Mandarin essential oil, which gives it that fruitish feel. I have to say the overnight smell on this has me loving it a lot more than I did yesterday.
Luckily the powder was a zero on me, because that would have killed it had I gotten some of that. I’ll have to try it in summer and see how it changes!
oooh… count me into the drawing! onda sounds lovely.
Absolutely, Rachael!
Patty I think you’ve done them proud! I totally love Onda – it is primeveal and mesmerising and beautiful all at once. I haven’t got along with Rubj at all, I get something bitter which doesn’t agree with my skin/nose and I’m on the cusp about Kikki. I enjoy the smell of lavender in an aromatherapy setting but not usually in fragrances and I’m struggling a bit with this but thanks to your review am going to give it another go. I think these are special scents and so reasonable in price and pretty bottles too!
Aw, thanks, I hope I did! Being a fan of the perfumer and the perfumes, you do want to describe them properly without turning into a total foaming fangirl. 🙂
Rubj did have a stage that wasn’t working that well for me, I was getting not a lot at all, but about three hours later, whatever that thing was was gone and it’s all white floral, rich beauty.
I think Kiki is tricky, and people will fall on one side or the other with it!
Sadly – I AM that person who would order the weirdest thing on the menu, filled with things that have no business going together. Just to say I ate it. At least once 🙂
Please enter me in the drawing. Though from your description, I may be forced to race to that site and get her sample set. :d
Consider yourself not alone in your menu choices. Both my sister and I are foodies who would join you in a heartbeat. 🙂
I actually tend to be that person too on desserts and appetizers, but I’m a little more conservative on main courses. 🙂
Patty dear, I am glad to see that Vero Profumo is finally getting all the attention it deserves and I agree with your lovely reviews!
Like I had commented on my own reviews back in summer, these are unique scents that brave it into uncharted territory.
Onda is especially masterful, but of course Kiki is also wonderful: in fact -just like you- I had hesitation about lavender (and too sweet scents), but this had me converted! (along with AT’s Reverie). No mean feat! I love to wear this for snuggling, it’s such a playfully sexy smell :)>-
Agree! I had missed your reviews of them, but I have to tell you, I had samples of Rubj and Kiki on my desk for the longest time, and I just didn’t get around to sampling them properly. I’d try them on, and then I kept getting whiffs of lovelies, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Finally did a clean slate try-on and was just charmed.
I think Rubj and Kiki are the most accessible of the three, even though I adore Onda. I just think it is more of a challenge to get your nose around for the perfumista early in the journey. But! I could be wrong. 🙂
No, you’re not wrong: they ARE more accesible!
But then variety makes for more people being happy.=d>:(
The second emoticon above was a typing/mouse mistake….duh…
Anyway, in case you’re interested in what I thought and you do have the time to read my musings (I know you’re busy, so no problem if you don’t make it):
my Kiki review
my Rubj review
my Onda review
Vero gave me a most elucidating interview as well: Vero interview
Hope you enjoy.
For some reason these have been very on-again, off-again in the perfume wishlist of my head. Rubj? Almost fruity floral? Not me. Kiki? I can’t bring myself to even think about that combo so early in the morning. Onda is the only one, and only because of your respect, that I would guess that I would like.
The goddesses have spoken through you and have given me another nudge. Please throw my name into the hat. You know I always imagine a certain type of hat according to what the draw is for. Something small pink and chic for this one.
:)>-
and cunningly made so it doesn’t look like all the other pink, chic hats around this year. 🙂
I wish I could give you a nudge on if you would like them or not, but I think the take on each of them is so unusual, they just aren’t going to fit in a pigeonhole, which makes it harder for people to make a judgment. But I think you’d admire the craftmanship of each of them, regardless.
Uncle. I really am going to have to try these. Had held off since lavender is not exactly a note I gravitate towards and, although I am no longer white floral phobic, I still can’t wear those w/out a serious dose of base notes to ground them. Rubj obviously meets my requirements – sounds brilliant! And in this new world of insane pricing, $145 for a bottle of pure perfume sounds like a great deal. However, I *will* sample first.
On these, I would recommend definitely a sample. I can see how they may go off in other directions on people. The Kiki, after a day on, has wound up in a contemplative lavender area. I’m worried these will last too long for you. 🙂
I do find her pure parfum price point to be reasonable. I know, that should be just crazy talk, but there you have it. 🙂
Your description of Kiki had me smiling – by the end of the paragraph I found myself thinking I *have* to smell this! I started out resistant to lavender notes but over the years I’ve grown to absolutely love lavender in perfumes.
Please enter me in the drawing too!
I don’t think I’m going to across the board being a lavender fan, but! I’m so darn happy I’ve found a few to wear that make me so happy.
What I love about you Patty is that you always turn something up when I’m feeling jaded and write about it (them) in such a way that my very existence is perked up and brought back to life. You’re a special twinkle, aintcha?
Twinkie? 🙂 Well, these perked me right up, and then it makes me feel all optimistic about the perfume world. Because as long as she and Andy and others are out there making beautiful things, all is well in the world.
Wow. I’m with you and gonna roll my eyes at that Kiki business, but it sounds so gross, please enter me in the drawing just so I can smell it. Kind of an ewwww-disgusting-you’ve-gotta-smell-this vibe. Plus I’d really love to sniff the Onda.
Of course, I can’t really smell anything today. Damn sinuses. I’ve been spritzing the powerhouses the last few days just so I could get a whiff of something in this stopped up head. What layers nicely with Vick’s VapoRub?
:-&
The top notes of Tubereuse Criminelle!:d
Be well, bud!
Thanks, my friend. Nothing that hot toddies and a pajama day won’t fix. But yeah, something with notes of camphor would probably do the trick, huh?
My parents are in England right now. I sent them with a list and the address of Les Senteurs. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Are they buying? Exchange rate warnings! Though the £ is now having its own disastrous wobble (and the euro too soon I think, given the Societe Generale disaster of yesterday…)
You poor thing, get well soon!
i don’t think you’d turn up your nose at Kiki at all. You may not love it or wear it – I’ll wear your share — but I think you’d admire its craftmanship. And it’s not all that weird the longer it’s on, just has a cool take on sweet notes and lavendar.
In the wee small hours of the morning, I found your terrific site! Having such a great time reading everything that I just don’t want to sleep tonight, but alas, I must. I’ll be back often. It is exciting to meet perfume lovers, especially a whole posse of them. Today I found a Lucien Lelong Joli Petit set of four colognes in their original case. The bottles have been opened so I took many sniffs and they are still vital. So happy right now.
Goodnight, and put me in the drawing for the samples, oh yes.
Welcome, Dee, I’m so glad you found us. What a great find! Do you do a lot of vintage things?
I’ve only tried tiny bits of Onda and Rubj, but worshiped one (Onda) and very much appreciated the other (Rubj). I’ve never smelled Djedi, but if this is even close, I must bow deeply. Onda is a powerhouse on me, a 2-day’s journey, and yet skin-soft in a melting manner. Rubj is a quicker ride, but very, very pretty. The lavender in Kiki scares me, but I would love to give it a whirl. So, toss me in the bowl with the rest of the crew, please!
Will do. I think it’s great that these are lasters on your skin! Gives hope to Kelly. 🙂
Lavender is scary, because I always think of bath and body shop smells, which is why I think I don’t like it. I love the smell of fresh lavendar, not the overamped stuff. This is that fresh, lovely smell. 8-|
i told myself that i didn’t need any more samples. who was i kidding? of course i do! please sign me up for the drawing as well, these frags sound so delicious.
Not need samples?!?! Pshaw!
it’s nice when the surreal becomes sensual. what an odd mix. please enter me in the drawing. i would love to eat lavender caramels, myself!
Lavendar with caramel does sound perfect now!
Mmmmm, banana caramel pie :d I am so hungry right now and I want some!
Okay, on to perfume. I got the sample set and I’m afraid neither kiki nor rubj really floated my boat. I’m just not a fan of white florals, so while I can admire rubj, I would never wear it except for sampling purposes. kiki was pretty, but there wasn’t a lot of development on my skin, so pretty was all I ever got :((
Now to onda. I would almost sell my daughter to be able to afford a bottle. Please don’t send hate mail, I wouldn’t actually do it! Just a saying…. The deepness and smoothness of the vetiver in this just makes me happy at a bone-deep level. ….sigh……
I can see Kiki and Rubj being either more accessible for some people or just not as interesting as Onda. It took me a few weeks to get around to sampling them properly.
Onda is gorgeous and interesting and everything a great perfume.
Aren’t they all beautiful? What strikes me about all three of Vero’s perfumes is the sense of clarity and space woven into all of them. You can be rolling in the roots and wood (Onda), running through the park with a coltisch gamine (Kiki), riding a flying carpet over a souk (Rubj), but always under a wide, beautiful, open sky…… I love them all, but curiuously enough (I hate white florals), Rubj is my favourite. But then I’ve always been partial to flying carpets.
No need to enter me in the drawing – I have samples, and I’m saving up for full bottles…. Unless, of course, you insist :-\”
Definitely have space. it’s weird because I sometimes think of that as being unconstructed, and these all have very definite construction, but they are not cloying or close at all, they do run free. 🙂
Thank you for entering me in the drawing of Vero Profumo scents.
will do, Alica
would most like to try the Onda – have been following the advice here and trying the Guerlains in parfum strength. My what a difference and there are some real stunners! And if Onda is close to a long lost Guerlain beauty it must be wonderful – does she say if Djeda was her inspiration. Would love to be in the draw.
Hey, Kim. I got a note from her that says Djedi was not her inspriation. She didn’t smell it until after she created Onda, which is even more cool. They aren’t smell-alikes at all, they each have a different approach. Onda is much, much smoother than Djedi, and I far prefer it for actual wear. Djedi is difficult to wear because it is so strong, and I have to be in the mood for it. onda can be worn any time!
Vero Kern has created three very elegant perfumes. Earthy though some may get, the composition is absolutely elegant.
Rubj is also my least favorite, but that is not to say that I don’t like it. On me it starts out with a big bouquet of orange blossoms. Then a bitter note comes in–not nasty bitter, interesting, fresh bitter. The drydown is oddly like that of (of all things!) L’Artisan The pour un Ete.
I don’t know if Onda is at all like Djedi because I’ve never tried the latter. It’s a fascinating interpretation of vetiver. It has a vintage character to it; I cannot pay a perfume a higher compliment. Outstanding.
Kiki breaks my heart. I put it on, and I am instantly happy. The only other fragrance that has that effect on me is Chanel No. 19. Patty, you emphasized the sweetness of it, but it doesn’t strike me as all that sweet. I get a lot of soft lavender with some hints of caramel. So why do I say it breaks my heart? It’s very evanescent on me!!!!! :(( You mentioned a “long drydown.” Both Andy Tauer and Helg of Perfumeshrine commented in their blogs about the fragrance being long lasting. Not on my freakish skin! I want it to be my BFF, but it won’t hang around. =((
Although I’ve tried all three fragrances, I still want to be included in the drawing. I bought tiny samples, and obviously they’re not going to be enough.
I didn’t think Kiki was sweet at all, except in the early going. it has the feel of sweet without being that, like a light dusting of sugar that never distracts you, but somehow enhances what you’re smelling. It’s beautifully done. Glad to see admiration for her skills spreading, she certainly deserves it.
I love a good “ewwww-ahhhh”! Please enter me in the drawing.
I would be interested to see what these do on your skin, eat it or no?
you had me at “beautiful job with each sketch.” i have yet to try these, so yes, please enter me in the drawing.
Will do my friend!
Hi Patty,
Very interesting reviews! I’m dying to know what that Kiki one smells like especially.
Please enter me in the drawing!
Thanks!
Molly
Will do! all three are worth smelling, most definitely!
Hi Patty,
Please enter me in the drawing. I can’t quite imagine how these will smell. And I’ve never heard of this perfumer. Where do you buy it?
Thanks!
Hi, cynthia! I put up links to her website, that I forgot about before. I’m a big fan of her talents, and I’m pretty sure she’ll be carried in the U.S. by someone soon!