I am sometimes forgetful. I apparently ordered and received these samples from Surrender to Chance back in March, probably since I had just then reviewed a couple three of others from Parfums de Nicolai. And then promptly forgot about them until I just went through cleaning my desk off. So better late than never, here we go:
Maharanih Intense: Fragrantica says: Top notes are Bitter Orange and Orange; middle notes are Cinnamon, Carnation and Rose; base notes are Synthetic Civet, Patchouli and Sandalwood. Yes. it’s orange in the opening, but never photorealistic like Demeter or even like Lutens MM. It’s identifiably orange, but a perfumey orange. In a very, very good way. Unfortunately for me that opening didn’t really lead anywhere and the scent just sort of got eaten up. What was left was very pretty mind you, but hardly intense and nothing like the 7-veiled dance of the opening. Oh well. I don’t see it for sale at LuckyScent so perhaps its for the best I don’t pine for it.
Odalique: Fragrantica lists the notes as: Top notes are Tangerine, Citruses and Bergamot; middle notes are Jasmine, Oakmoss, Lily-of-the-Valley and Orris Root; base note is Musk. Oddly enough I get a lot more of the middle in the opening. Especially LotV. Now I am a big lover of muguet in all it’s many forms so this isn’t exactly a bad thing. The citruses and bergamot add a tang and grassiness that is wonderful and reminds me of the fields the flowers inhabit at home in New England: long stretches of grass between the houses and the LotV carefully mown around- cutting them would be criminal. Then it adds in a lovely, powdery musk. The day I am writing this is especially enervating and I might need to spritz the whole sample of this one to keep me from climbing a tower.. $82 for 30ML at Luckyscent, and I don’t see it at any discounters.
Violette in Love: Snarky me wants to write “Violette might be, but I sure ain’t” just for the cheap laugh. With the notes (again, Fragrantica) Raspberry, Lemon, Cassis and Coriander; middle notes are Violet, Orris and Rose; base note is Musk. You would think I wouldn’t be: On paper is simply doesn’t compute. The lemon/cassis/raspberry would make a great sorbet, but coriander? The dreaded Cilantro that it’s as fashionable these days to hate like it was gluten? And added in with the powdery violets? Yet it does, and how. I am finding a thoroughgoing theme in this houses wares, at least on me. The middle notes want to take the place of the top ones, and usually to very good effect. I get a few seconds of the sorbet (which makes me want to hit the gelato bar like a speeding car) but the powdery violets come right in. They vary between sweet and candied and heartbreakingly like the real thing. The musk is a soft, powdery skin musk and the whole thing is as gentle as a caress. If there was any day to review these, this was it. Sadly this is another one that seems to be unavailable. Want to start a petition to bring it back?
Have you tried these? Any favorites, or better, any dupes for the ones you can’t get anymore? Let us know in the comments. My samples were from Surrender to Chance
Photos: My iPhone, Pexels.
LOVE Odalisque, LOVE Vie de Chateau (sadly, I think that one’s is D/C), and I absolutely adored the old Kiss Me Tender, even though I’m not a gourmandy person. The intense version is still really good, but just a bit less interesting? I’m a PdN stan. I had always considered grabbing Violette in Love and am now sad I didn’t!
Don’t you hate it when that happens?
Hey Tom, I fell heavily for PdN early on and there are a few bottles here. Baikal Leather Intense is getting the most wear lately but I also just recently rebound a travel of New York Intense, which is bloody gorgeous too.
Portia xxx
A lot of them are. I. Outdoor spend a lot on these..
Would you believe I’ve never even got my nose on any PdN. Dunno why, just never really been on my radar. Now is not the time
Hey, I just recently found them. We can’t be on he bleeding edge of everything.
And no it’s kind of not the time for me either. So I am not falling in love with these. Period.
Hehe. Wishing you better luck with those famous last words than I have had!
Yeah, like “I won’t finish this pint of ice cream”
Or I won’t throw this computer out the window since this stupid platform keeps marking me as spam
🙂
I just remembered another Patricia de Nicolai fragrance that I love. I shouldn’t be surprised since she has the Guerlain DNA and I love the house of Guerlain pre-sale. Jean-Paul Guerlain is her uncle. In 2009, she created Un Coeur En Mai for MDCI. It’s wonderful. I love to wear it in warm weather, obviously. I think of Le Temps d’une Fete and Un Coeur En Mai as two sides of the same coin. Le Temps is spring party time while Un Coeur is a gentle spring (May) heart.
They do have a kind of Guerlain feel to them in the way the notes move in and out and how smooth they are, at least the ones that I’ve tried.
I love the MDCI Un Coeur en Mai and received a bottle this year. It’s getting a lot of wear.
Oh dear, hyacinth and jasmine. Oh who needs car insurance?
Temps d’une Fete and Odalisque are my loves!
I really need to look at more of these..
Le Temps d’une Fete is great, it’s my favourite from the brand.
Oh, Violette sounds lovely! Odalisque is probably my favorite from the house, that was FB worthy, and I have a generous decant of Maharanih. I’m pretty sure I have at least 2 other bottles of PdN with their old-style bottles and labels that look like they were assembled by the dog, must dig them up!
Perusing the comments — the others I have are Fete and Fig-Tea which is a gorgeous summer scent. Most of the scents are interesting even if not “me” and they used to be very reasonably priced, I don’t know about now.
ALSO, hilariously (?) I am literally logged into the site and it sent my above comment to spam.
Inorite? Like getting locked out of your own house by the maid!
Or the cat. Because you bought the wrong kind of tender vittles.
Happens to me a lot..
They seem to have an almost dizzying amount of scents..
Yeah… for such gorgeous fragrances
( and such an exalted pedigree)…. those BOTTLES! those… LABELS!!!
Yikes!!!!!
And the ostentations boxes..
Odalisque is FB worthy. How I would go down that rabbit hole..
I own and love Odalisque. It’s a Lily of the Valley with true staying power on my skin. Great for cool weather as well as warm. When we were in Paris last fall, we tried valiantly to find the Parfums de Nicholai boutique — I dearly wanted to sniff and possibly buy some of their scents. I had even scrawled out a list. But the boutique was not where we thought it was — that building was being renovated. So disappointing. Bloomingdales near me USED to carry that line but doesn’t any more. I’m not sure any American store is authorized to. Anyone know?
Scent twin! I visited their shop in London years ago, it was amazing, what a disappointment for you (although — hey — you were in PARIS, I’m jealous!) I hope you are managing in that ridiculous heat.
Love how our taste is so often on the same wavelength! 🙂
It’s wonderful to find a scent twin. It’s like a secret sibling..
I’d love to go to either..
But I am happy for our relatively calm temps here, so there’s that.
Supposedly there are some in the US that carry them. Mostly the usual suspects I think. Beautyhabit and luckyscent in LA
https://pnicolai.com/en/pages/boutiques
Alas, I have yet to meet a PdN that works on me. Vicarious pleasure reading about your adventures.
Well there are TONS of them so press on..
I tried Odalisque a long time ago but I wasn’t interested in it. I love the discontinued Le Temps d’une Fête. Juste un rêve is another favorite with its coconut note. And Sacrebleu Intense. I think I already wrote about this one. I bought 30ml at the beginning of one summer and by the end of summer the bottle was empty.
THAT’S it — I have Fete! What a lovely fragrance.
Me, too!!! My absolute favorite of the House!
Agreed! It’s my favorite too.
Well I id find something coconut recently. And it was even cheap. Stay Tuned!
And of course it’s D/C
Odalisque was perfect in that moment. I think my BP went down 20 points just huffing it.
I have a large PdN collection, but none of these. Have tried Violette and Odalisque, ages ago. My favorite PdN are Fig-Tea, Sacrebleu Intense, Cap Neroli and the L’Eaus – I have Chic, Mixte, and Corail. I think I have 15 of the fragrances, I went a little ham when I was in Paris a few years back, they are (perfume math) more affordable than many houses…
Oh, sounds like you had some fun in Paris. I think Cap Neroli is lovely too.
My dream is to go crazy in Paris.
And to be able to afford it.
The only one I have tried is Number One Intense and got myself a bottle. I have a sample set that I haven’t even touched yet. But I hope I can get the show on the road with them soon.
Please do and report back! Or write a post!