Kenzo, Flower, Flour, Essentielle

Welcome to today’s post, where I’m not gonna say a single thing about CREED {insert snooty trademark here} so we won’t get any rabid Creed fanboys stopping by and whipping out their – oh, never mind.  Well, anyway, it’s been at least a month since I reviewed a Kenzo, right?  Right?

In The Guide, Tania Sanchez says (and quotes LT agreeing) that the original Flower by Kenzo is quite similar to the original Royal Bain de Champagne by Caron, about which I would have zero idea, having never smelled that one, but if you’ve been lemming it, you might want to stop by one of the eleventy-million places that sell Flower.  While you’re there, I’d sniff Flower Oriental if they have it, which is probably my favorite Flower flanker, with a darkish, incense-y drydown.  I am also partial to the Winter Flower and Le Parfum.  The original Flower is just too powdery and sweet on me (hawthorne, rose, violet, hedione, opoponax, musk, vanilla) and it wafts a bit of that doughy thing I get, sometimes from amber and sometimes from heliotrope.  It’s done by Alberto Morillas, btw, for you fans.

A couple months ago, Kenzo released Flower by Kenzo I Have Another Boring Flanker Name Essentielle, the latest in a long line of flankers to the original Kenzo Flower, this one with an emphasis on rose, jasmine, more musk, pink pepper and frankincense.  And HOW COOL IS THAT BOTTLE!!!  Squeeee!   They’re even more stretched out than the others!

It smells to me more or less like I’d expect it to smell – a more condensed version of Flower, which I’ve been trying and failing to fall in love with for years, because it’s lauded by several people whose opinion I respect.  Essentielle strikes me as a stronger, more compressed, more effusive version of the original – although bear in mind that we’re talking about Kenzo here, not Serge Lutens.  This isn’t likely to bowl anyone over in the elevator.

I really like the top, which seems to me the largest divergence from the original.  Instead of the powdery onslaught that makes me wince a little, I get a whiff of something vegetal and green that reminds me of magnolia.  It also strikes me as less girly than Flower, probably closer to the Winter LE, although dangit, I can’t find my sample.  It never achieves the almost candied sweetness that the original achieves on me, although the drydown is similar.  There’s a breadiness to it that is also quite enticing.  After an hour or so it reminds me somewhat of Barbara Bui, only smelled side by side Barbara Bui seems more faceted and complex, with the honey top and the spicy incense, whereas Essentielle remains a perfectly smooth orb of scent.

Who would like this?  Well, fans of the original Flower should definitely give it a whirl.   People who sorta liked Flower but wished it were less powdery and sweet might also like it.  People who like powder/dough comfort, definitely.

Let’s throw this open to a general powder/dough discussion.  People get Play-Doh from all sorts of strange places – and a shout-out to our overseas friends, my understanding is that Play-Doh is in general an unhelpful reference for you all, being a quintessentially American product/smell?  Is that true?

Scents in which I get Play-Doh, or just dough, include POTL, Anne Pliska (so those are amber play-dohs?), Barbara Bui (powder-dough), L’Artisan Bois Farine (sourdough), and several of the Kenzo dealies.   Powder, like baby powder, can overlap in this area.  Sometimes it’s powdered dough.  Let’s see, what else?  Estee Amber Ylang is Amber-dough.  L’Artisan Jour de Fete is Play-doh/wet flour.

Dough I have a fair amount of tolerance for.   Powder, not so much.  Lorenzo Villoresi Teint de Neige, which is the powder against all powders shall be judged, much like Ambre Narguile (aka The Nazgul) is the amber of all ambers … gah, where was I?  Anyhoo, some people loooove that Teint de Neige.  I’d rather have a cavity filled, thanks.

Do you love dough?  Baby powder?  Both?  Where’s the overlap?  And what are some of the dough scents and powder scents I’ve forgotten?  I know there are lots.   Now’s the chance for you folks who hate L’Heure Bleue and Apres l’Ondee to come on out and tell the rest of us we’re idiots!