Kenzo Eau de Fleur(s)

You know what we need?  We need a break from March´s ponderous explorations of 80s big-hair scents and her other navel-gazing posts, complete with lint.  Well, thanks to a mercy box from someone (not naming any names) March can pull her head out of her Poison and report on the first hopeful signs of spring.

1) Snowdrops all over the neighbor´s yard.

2) These three new Kenzo Eau de Fleur dealies.  You know what a Kenzo gal I am, right?  (And no, they do not send me this crap to review as their BFF, although frankly they should.)  According to their website, “Kenzo flower waters are picked from Japanese trees.” {Note from me: one assumes this is not literal.}  “Each eau de toilette in the collection evokes a delicate trail of tree blossom. Three new fragrances made of natural, clear and streamlined floral notes. Every year, Kenzo will enrich this collection by picking another flower.” 

Let me point out (courtesy of NST) that the perfumers are: Jean Jacques (Soie), Aurelien Guichard (Tea), and Francis Kurkdjian (Magnolia), which might slow down any instantaneous dismissal of these as duty-free dreck.

So, we have:

Eau de Fleur de Soie Silk – look, they do the Franglish translamation from the Japanese for you right there on the label!  Fleur de Soie’s “shameless allure conceals its secret charm: a crimson floral note with a tender, fruity heart.”  As far as I can tell it´s an impression of Silk Tree mimosa (Albizia julibrissin, not to be confused with regular mimosa) with some watery notes and slightly tart fruit.   In Japan, silk tree is used for bonsai.  If you google you get gardening sites of people begging you not to plant silk tree mimosas – lovely as they are, they reseed rapidly and are considered an invasive exotic throughout much of the U.S.

Eau de Fleur de The Tea – “special edition.  Musky green floral. A white cowbell with a heart of gold. Sheltered under its leaves, the tea flower diffuses a floral concoction with notes of green tea and a hint of musk.”  Um… okaaay.  This is a floral tea.  It´s delicious.  This made me so happy because I had to grab several tea scents at random to compare, and what is more sprightly and happy and evocative of warmer weather than tea?  Anyhow, this Eau de Fleur is: less sweet than Nicolai Fig-Tea; not as weirdly rubbery/black as the Speziali Fiorentini (which is $24 and rocks at BE, here’s the link); kinda sorta in the direction of Bvlgari White without the herbs; heavier than L´Artisan The Pour un Ete.  I´m not sure I´ll run out and buy a bottle, since I have a lot of tea scents already, but if it appeared on my dresser I´d wear it.

Eau de Fleur de Magnolia – “Perched on their branches, magnolia flowers flaunt their dignified and willowy allure. A radiant floral bouquet, bursting with hesperidian notes, dances beneath a cloak of petals.”  A citrusy floral with a slightly funky undertone, which makes sense – magnolias smell weirdly lemony/mushroomy.  In my opinion. 

What did I think of these?  I thought they were a nicely done, in a cheerful, Kenzo-esque way.  If you think Kenzo is an inexplicable waste of time, these aren´t going to change your mind.  If you appreciate Kenzo´s lighter scents and slightly offbeat whimsy, they´re worth sampling (they´re on the Nordstrom website, not yet in my local store, but I assume they will be.)   Magnolia was my least favorite, the drydown being slightly murky-woody.  I found the Silk Flower surprisingly wearable – it´s less sweet than you´d guess and lasts decently without becoming cloying or edible, although please note that I was dabbing.  The Tea was my hands-down favorite.  It has an attractive musky base and doesn´t do any of the odd things tea scents can do on the skin (too sweet/sour/bitter/dank).

Kenzo bottle image: Nordstrom

P.S.: if you´re dying to feel the vintage YSL Paris love all over again – I bought an older bottle on eBay, please look carefully at this image at left.  I don´t know when they changed the box, but the newer ones are all pink, whereas the older ones have that wide black stripe down the middle and across the bottom of the box.  They show up pretty regularly on eBay, be sure to ask about the box if they’re using a stock photo.  I’m not sure whether there’s anything about the bottle that’s different, but this is definitely the box I remember.

My new, vintage EDT was the same nuclear blast from the past I remembered, and I couldn´t be happier.   The ones currently stocked in stores with the all-pink box are wan dupes of old Paris, and shame on them.