Arielle Shoshana and Regime des Fleurs

One of the things I miss about living in the D.C. area is being able to go to Arielle Shoshana’s eponymous fragrance shop; like so many perfume lovers she’s smart and generous and a delight to chat with, and she carries a lot of interesting lines. And now, the word is that Arielle Shoshana’s own four bespoke fragrances are going to be stocked by Anthropologie, which is fantastic. Her scents seem like a good fit for the store — quirky but approachable, and also really nice. I’m so happy for Arielle and I hope they do well there. (If you want to try a sample set, here’s a link – my personal favorite is the milky-spicy Sunday.)

Anyhow, Arielle sent me samples of three newer fragrances from Régime des Fleurs. I think RdF has settled down a bit and quit changing things, including their bottle designs and their fragrance line-up (although they’ve brought most-requested scents back periodically). Their price point at $240 seems … less extravagant than it used to, given perfume inflation, and the bottles are gorgeous. And while I haven’t sniffed every one of their scents, I have never been bored. Will I be bored this time? Let’s find out.

Himitsu — violets, saffron, heliotrope, muguet, tolu balsam, suede. From the website: “Himitsu (‘mystery’ in Japanese) lives up to its enigmatic name. Suede and saffron cloak candied violets in moody shadows…”  Oh, wow, is that lovely. I get a burst of violets and leather at the top – softer, though, than something like Jolie Madame.  I think I’m smelling the saffron with the suede which is reading as glove leather? Yummmm. Over time it becomes softer and even more suede-like, with whiffs of muguet and not much heliotrope (fine by me, although it’s no doubt contributing its softness.)  Lasting power is good. I don’t feel my credit card levitating out of my wallet to purchase it, but I’d happily own a decant to spritz on my handkerchiefs and keep my handbag smelling wonderful.

Nitesurf Neroli — Neroli water, salty mist, neon petals, ginger lily, transparent citrus, Hedione, smoked seashells, Ambroxan.  Okay, I was a bit apprehensive about this one given my aversion to a salty-musk-marine thing I loathe and which would therefore last forever on my skin.  But I … am surprised at how much I like this. it’s delightfully, oddly alluring. I don’t get a ton of development – it’s pretty much salty orange start to finish, with that glorious roasted-seashell note of choya nakh, the citrus and the burnished-sunset glow of hedione, over a wet-beach base. The more I wore this, the more captivating it became.

Tóor Tóor– grapefruit rind, violet leaves, vetiver oil, tuberose absolute, vetiver heart, freesia, ditax wood, vetiver concentrate, leather.  I was most excited about this one – woody tuberose! done by Dominique Ropion! – so it makes a certain amount of sense that this was the biggest fail on me. Let me make clear up front: I think it’s my nose going wonky/partly anosmic, which isn’t the fault of the perfumer or the perfume. It’s like all the interesting, woodsy, or possibly “naughty” bits are rendered in a laughably wrong way. It starts out (again, I believe this is entirely a me problem) smelling like a Glade White Flower miasma spritzed in a not-particularly-clean bathroom; then I get a burst of … cheese? Rather like parmesan, with a hint of mint, before it finally collapses into a damp heap of root beer (!) and vetiver, the only “normal” part of this, as I’m smelling it. Feel free to laugh at me. If the notes sound appealing, you should definitely check it out for yourself, maybe it’s fantastic.

The Régime des Fleurs website has what I think is a nice offer – a discovery set (samples of 13 of their fragrances) for $68, of which $60 can be used as a credit toward a full bottle purchase made within three months.

Have you tried fragrances from these lines?

Cover image: Pexels

Bottle images from the brands’ websites