After a spell of cloudy, rainy weather had me craving something besides the usual, hot-weather, refreshing citrus suspects, I began poking through a recent sample stash. And landed on jasmine: Guerlain Idylle Duet Jasmin-Lilas and Jo Malone Jasmine Sambac & Marigold Intense, to be exact.
I do love this note and count Serge Lutens A La Nuit and Sarrasins, Dior’s Grand Bal and Thierry Mugler’s Alien among my favorites. I tend to forget them somewhat, however, in hot weather. But these two newbies just sort of hit the spot this week.
Sometimes jasmine has a dirty, almost feral feel to it, but not these. The Guerlain is smooth, a little sweet, and has a subtle lilac streak to it, as befitting its name, and it’s a very pretty floral scent. Here’s what Surrender to Chance has to say about it: Idylle Duet … is composed around an overdose of jasmine and mauve lilac and celebrates the revival of the exceptional Calabrian jasmine, a jasminum grandiflorum plant that was found forgotten in the Calabrian region of Italy. It is a unique jasmine with subtle fruity accents. Idylle Duet features top notes of lilacs and green accords; middle notes of jasmine and rose; and base notes of musk and woodsy accords. It is an eau de parfum.”
The Jo Malone carries a bit more bite, with a gentle punch of raspiness that the note sometimes conjures. But after about 15 minutes, it’s all pretty, all the time. From STC: It “captures the scent of serene fields of jasmine sambac, the most precious in the world. It blends the jasmine with vibrant marigold and exotic ylang-ylang and adds warmth with rich benzoin resin, vanilla and amber notes.”
Both were different enough to have me sniff-toggling back and forth, enjoying my lovely floral bubble all evening. And one aside: I read somewhere that the note helps you to relax at bedtime, so I’m all for that.
What about you? What are your favorites?
In my younger days I associated jasmine with garbage because where I grew up (surrounded by strip malls) it was always planted around the huge dumpsters near retail/restaurant areas!!! I love it now but I still sometimes think of those dumpster bushes.
I’m a fan of Alien and A La Nuit and have taken some notes from the favorites mentioned above 🙂
I’m so late to this, but I figured I may as well leave a comment. I used to think I hated jasmine, but my two most-worn fragrances this summer are Grandiflora Queen of the Night and the now-discontinued Bvlgari Jasmin Noir. I don’t know what it is. Grandiflora turned me into a huge jasmine freak, honestly. It’s such a sexy scent, but not overwhelming. It hums along on the skin, leaving just the faintest scent trail. And the jasmine in the juice is almost luminescent, it glows! Jasmin Noir wears like a lighter Queen of the Night on me. I bought a full bottle of the Bvlgari because it was dead cheap on fragrancenet (I sadly don’t have the cash to splash on a fb of QotN)
One vote for DC Jasmine de Nuit…
I’m fond of Jasmine and white and yellow flowers. AG Songes is one I wear often especially in the cooler months.
I own Gelsomino Nobile in EdP, it is very pretty, However, the smooth elegance of Grand Bal is perhaps my favorite among the not discontinued or vintage perfumes. I still remember my maternal grandmother wearing Joy in the 70s, so good! I’m not sure I ever tried any of the SL jasmines
My favorite jasmine right now is Vilhelm Parfumerie’s Don’t Tell Jasmine, which falls into the “straight up jasmine” camp. It’s got a bit of lemon, but mostly it’s full-throated jasmine, which I love. A really perfumey jasmine is Creed’s Jasmin Imperatrice Eugenie. That one feels like a special event when I dab some from the sample I got from a perfume friend. For summer, I like the casual fun of Pacifica’s California Star Jasmine. I only wish the scent lasted longer. And, of course, Pacifica discontinued it.
Hey there Ann,
I love white flowers and jasmine is a particular favourite. TF Jasmine Rouge, Guerlain Jasminora, Joy, and currently wearing Un Jour d’ere by Keiko Mecheri.
Even in winter jasmine can hot the spot.
Portia xx
Not really into jasmine or other white florals. I’ll wear a sample of Alien occasionally. About the closest I get to jasmine is Hermes 24 Faubourg and only in cool to cold weather.
AG Songes. I love white florals year-round. i just realized though that many of my favorites are more tuberose than jasmine centered.
I love both the Idylle Duet and JM. Also enjoying the new Hermes Cèdre Sambac and Acqua di Parma Gelsomino Nobile, and the SLs are always good. I love jasmine.
In perfume, I either like jasmine straight up EO as Feral Jasmine mentioned above (a little dab’ll do ya) or ‘hinting’ at it, ala AdP’s Gelsomino. I absolutely LOVE their body crème, with that funky, vegetal greenness.
The flower itself (which I have grown, to marginal success) is varied but all seem to have that heavy, vegetal greenness as a base. I was in a neighbor’s conservatory in the evening, once, and was nearly overcome by the lushness of the night-blooming jasmine!
xxoxo
Cannnot say I have ever been much into jasmine. However I have been wearing Hermès Cèdre Sambac pretty much nonstop since April. Interspersed with Malle’s Superstitious. So yeah, I might be on the road. CS is absolutely gorgeous. ??
I love nearly all jasmines, especially the Abdes-Saalam Tawaf and SL Sarrasins, also Songes and even Lush Lust. But my favorite is a really good Jasminum sambac absolute worn in little dabs, straight up. Growwll!
I keep thinking I should be bored with jasmine in perfumes but it never quite gets to that point. I love Hindu Honeysuckle by Providence Perfume Company, Dirty Flowers Factory by Kerosene, and Jewelry of Heaven and Jasmine Dawn and Dusk, from Velvet and Sweetpea’s Purrfumery. A new love for me is Silver Lining by Mirus, also a lilac/jasmine frag (with petrichor! So good!!). Thank you for the lovely post, I’ll have to get a sniff of at the very least the mentioned Guerlain.
The one Mirus I’ve tried was Elysian Fields (which is a truly gorgeous fogere with a hint of hyacinth to my nose) and now I’m going to have to get my hands on Silver Lining!
I’m not much into the flower power frags but I do like Alien and get compliments when I wear it.
I also love Alien and its Luminescent flaner