Jasmine Perfume – Guide to Best Jasmine Perfumes

Jasmine perfume – skanky, indolic, sensual…

poopy. 

 

Whoa, whoa, puuuump the brakes, Ethel.  

If you’ve been around perfume and this rather quirky perfume crowd for any length of time, you probably already know about the more, fecal aspects to jasmine, but if your exposure to jasmine perfumes have been those meticulously well-blended florals that hide all the best the jasmine flower has to offer, we’ll need to cover a little bit of chemistry first.

 

I’ll take Floral Chemistry for $1,000, Alex

 

I’m kidding!  You guys all know chemistry, along with statistics that don’t have dollar signs, research papers and Excel spreadsheets make me sleepy.  So let’s just link it up to smarter people, and I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version.  Indoles by themselves don’t smell like feces, more like musty decay, but hook it up with some musk and humidity, and inst-o-poop.  The animalic piece of jasmine isn’t from the indoles – it’s from some other chemical they share with horses.

Okay, see, not painful!

Like all my other perfume choices in the single note series, I am not using perfumes that use it in some blend because jasmine is used in about everything, probably more than rose – it’s a basic building block of thousands or perfumes, all of which I’m not going to sniff for this piece.  Now, it may be the prominent note in a floral blend, obviously, since I’m not doing only soliflores, but it has to be prominent – Patou Joy  for example.  Then I’m going to divide them up into groups in some weird way or another, but sorted as well by how indolic they are. If you hate when jasmine is indolic, it’s okay!  There are plenty of beautiful ones to choose from that are pure as the driven snow and almost never hint of being slutty.

As a reference, if you’re not really sure what that indolic thing smells like, try Serge Lutens A La Nuit.  It is perfectly balanced jasmine perfection. It teeters and ricochets and spins in between the walls of deeply indolic and just beautiful jasmine and holds that balance in some freakish tension for like an hour – my favorite part – before it settles down into a complete enchanting and mesmerizing jasmine perfume.  So start there to learn about what jasmine does smell like. BTW, I ran across a study out there that said that Jasmine was a better sedative than Valium – 

“…in a Plexiglas cage whose air contained a high concentration of the fragrance, the mice ceased all activity and sat quietly in the corner.”

Funny, that sounds a little like me.  Or… you know… quite a few of you.  And A La Nuit has it in spades. I can feel it unwinding stress as I lay my nose down into it. It’s also supposed to help you sleep. So grab a hit of jasmine for your bedside table if you have trouble sleeping, and you can stop dealing with that Ambien hangover. So let’s think of the most indolic of our jasmine perfumes as drugs, shall we?  

The first major entry into perfume as drugs is Jean Patou Joy, and I’m talking the vintage pure parfum because I just don’t like to screw around with Joy.  It has the real Grasse jasmine in it, which is pretty heady stuff. It is a blend, but when I smell it, it oozes old world luxury – days when you took an oceanliner to Europe or a proper train across Europe included one of those dark bar cars where you might run across mysterious, dangerous men over a gin and tonic.  It was the scent of luxury and wild possibilities, especially in that drydown.  Back when they made perfumes that smelled like a lady on the surface and a complete slut as you got closer. All that civet in the parfum of Joy is a wonder.  I put it on before bed and woke up in the morning smelling like I’d had a shag or ten.  Hey, it didn’t happen – the shagging, I mean.

 Joy is the Madame of Jasmine Perfumes, she binds all that came after to her – in the dark and under the sheets.  

 

Mainlining Jasmine Heroin

 

In the rock-paper-scissors Game of Jasmines of the very indolic variety, there are a few that should knock you to a heavy doped sleep that you may or may not wake up from.  

AbdesSalaam Attar Tawaf – I think I said back in July that this one is feral and growls.  I stand by that. Nothing has changed. The jasmine leaps from the bottle and clamps down on your nose and starts humping it.  Kinda like that French Poodle, Jacques, my Aunt Ruby had.  It’s loamy mushroom on the open, then the sink into lush piles of  jasmine.  

CB I Hate perfume Cradle of Light is hands down one of my favorite jasmines.  Christopher Brosius told us about this when we were there in 2007, I don’t think it was out right then, but he basically started with his Musk and then threw in obscenely expensive jasmine absolutes, some tomato leaves and galbanum to green that dirt up when it first goes on.  CB did some interesting things with this jasmine. It’s every bit as feral and offensive, but the green and earth notes hold it back, so the narcotic quality of it never really shoves you over the edge of “OHDEARGODGETTHISTHINGOFFME” which is what you’d think would happen when you read that list of notes. I’ll pull March’s review of it back in2007 – 

jasmine perfume courtesan caravaggio

Caravaggio – portrait of a courtesan

 

“The initial two minutes of this fragrance is a wonder – at first dab it smells of almost nothing (huh?) presumably while the oils are warming on my skin; then there is a broken-stem fusillade of galbanum and other shrubbery so intense I was worried I´d met my first CB scrubber where I´d least expected it, along with a damp-earth note that conjures my beloved Black March; the greenness suddenly subsides; there is a brief pause for maximum effect, then comes a storm of white flowers that manages to come right up to my pleasure redline but not stifle me. I do this again and again, and it never fails to enchant me.”

 

Well, there you go, it sounds like a long, hot slow, um, something or other with no happy ending?  And exactly!  

Nasomatto Nuda opens, and I’m thinking someone did just take a dump on my arm.  This is so slutty, and even with the broad array of skanky jasmine perfumes I have sitting on top of my coffee table and now on my left arm while working on this post, this thing is just flat out killing everything in its path. It is the jasmine version of a Category 5 Jasmine tornado.  While some of the others go much earthier (Tawaf and Cradle of Light), Nuda just floats along on an indolic path.  As much as I get the “idea” of a lusty jasmine, there is something restrained about it after the first 15 minutes.  Like that socialite that is so buttoned up in elegant, almost prim gowns, but runs a fetish call girl business out of her penthouse – you can’t see that in public, except every now and then a glimpse of a malevolently sensual smile when she thinks no one is looking.

Serge Lutens Sarrasins explodes out with a ferocity that makes me gasp, and it never fails to surprise me.  Leather, civet, jasmine, something a little mentholated.  Sarrasins flies its freak flag proudly, with no apology, embracing that common note it has with a horse and keeps nosing into it deeper.  In a good way!  If you’ve ever ridden horses, when you are brushing them down, there is a smell when you put your nose in their neck that I think is amazing, and it’s that note that Sarrasins has, that skin/leather/horsey magic.  

Montale Jasmin Full definitely hits paydirt for a mainlined heroin jasmine, but I don’t find it that skanky, just really narcotic and a lovely rendition of jasmine that feels the closest to what it would be in nature.  No putzing around with a lot of other notes, just the full jasmine Monty.  Easy on the appliation a drop or two of this can scent you, your house, your pets and neighborhood for the better part of a day.

Amouage Tribute – by special request and my unanimous agreeableness because I love it so much (Hey, Musette, and it’s in color just for you!). It’s got some jasmine in it, so exactly, yeah!  Smoky vetiver oud rose infused jasmine.  I really don’t get enough occasion to talk about this one or smell it, so I’m deeply grateful for the nudge. If you haven’t done smoky jasmine, this is the place to start and end.  You may never recover, I warn you.  You will either hate it, leave this blog and never come back, declaring us nuts, or you’ll just give your nose over to this beautiful, beautiful smoky sedative and never find your way back.  

 

Jasmine all buttoned up and beautiful – Mainstream

 

 jasmine perfume alienLet’s get out of the way what I just hated the most.  Maybe there’s some plastic cheap horrible jasmine scent out there that I haven’t smelled that would be far worse – but call me a skeptic that it exists.  I smelled Thierry Mugler Alien shortly after it came out, and there is nothing that has happened from that day to this that has changed my mind about how much I hate that nasty thing.  I don’t know what the hell Ropion was thinking, and I’m blaming his partner for whatever happened to it.  Solar jasmine is something that shouldn’t exist, and I’m still trying to recover from smelling it again after I swore never, ever again.  

Ropion No Longer Rulz

Jo Malone, on the other hand, has me somewhat happy with her two mainstream jasmine-centric perfumes –  Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint and Honeysuckle & Jasmine.  While I’m not completely bowled over by either of them, they are both pretty, easy to wear and would suit anyone who really loves jasmine but does not want it creeping out the guy they are setting next to on the transit.  I always think what I just wrote is the Kiss of Death.  It basically means boring, not offensive, smells like jasmine, not memorable.  But, hey, sometimes that’s exactly what you want for some occasions.  You can’t go tooling around the office smelling like you had a quickie in a jasmine bush on your way to work.

Annick Goutal Songes, on the other hand, just blows me away for a mainstream jasmine.  Annick is a little niche, but since she can be found in almost any department store, I’m sending her to mainstream for this. Songes is so gorgeous, it almost makes me cry. Creamy jasmine silhouetted by gardenia, Songes can straddle the gardenia and jasmine category with her lusty thighs, but I tossed her over on the jasmine side because it just seems more prominent.  This is so beautiful, but it’s got some tinges of naughty around the edges, and it is smoldering sensuality. It’s all warmed tropical islands, lazy days filled with sun and sex.  And it probably could go up there in the seriously narcotic jasmines. I don’t know why, don’t ask my reasons, it just didn’t feel right!  But Songes is so narcotic, it is mesmerizing, and this is the EDT I have, I understand the EDP is even more so.  The Goutal I don’t have is Le Jasmin. I’ve never tried any of the Goutal soliflores, not sure why!  It needs to be in this category, I just don’t have anything to say about it (insert all commenters who have smelled it telling me they can’t believe I’ve never smelled this incredible jasmine creation, at which time I collapse in tears because I haven’t and how could I possibly have considered publishing this post – besides a deadline – without having smelled it)

I have to admit, I’m not sure I ever really smelled Estee Lauder Jasmin White Moss until about now. Hey, this stuff happens.  March reviewed it when it came out, so I didn’t really need to.  It’s really lovely, feels old world, and it’s a great mainstream take on jasmine. It isn’t dethroning Songes as my favorite mainstream jasmine, but if Songes is just a little too interesting.

Fresh Pink Jasmine, Donna Karan Essences Jasmine, and Bvlgari Jasmin Noir are all varying degrees of okay jasmine mainstream fragrances, depending on your personal tastes. I throw them out here as options that I don’t really detest too much or if I do, I can see how they could be loved.  They just aren’t really doing it for me.  YMMV, to each his own, insert another 30 perfume platitudes that basically say don’t hate me if one of these are something you adore. I’m a cretin, what can I say?

 

Jasmine Flying Beautiful, Free and Mostly Virginal – Niche 

By Kilian Love and Tears – crowned the winner unanimously by everyone present as the most beautiful jasmine perfume that skates completely over the cesspool of indoles after dipping it’s beautiful and pampered toe in the indolic waters right at the open.   Listen, this thing is so beautiful, and I don’t have a full bottle, and I can’t think of one reason why I don’t, except I keep living off of samples. Calice Becker uses her radiating accord signature to diffuse what could be either too heavy or too saccharine and morphs it into its title – love and tears.  It is the love that makes your heart burst, it is the tears that will last a lifetime, but won’t take back one second of the love.  

It is the broken that reflects light.  Akhilandeshvari, Hindu goddess, Never Not Broken, I’m sure I’ve talked about her before.  Because she is fractured in a million places, healing, only to break again, she reflects light like a diamond.  Calice Becker does that kind of reflected brilliance in her perfumes. They break your heart just enough to let in more light and joy.  

I’m squeezing Ormonde Jayne Frangipani in here because it is so pretty. It is a white floral blend, and it may violate one of my rules of being jasmine dominant, but it followed me home, and I’m keeping it!

The missing perfume I am all weepy about is The Different Company Jasmin de Nuit. I would have sworn I had a teeny little bottle of it around, but it is nowhere, so I’m going completely on memory. Spices and jasmine, a completely different take by Celine Ellena.  Not my favorite jasmine in the world, but its uniqueness and sheer pretty earns my love.

Le Labo Jasmin 17 gets a spot in this virginal jasmine niche area because it is just so damn pretty!  Roucel did it.

 

Yeah, pretty perfumes!!  Roucel Ruulz ALL! 

Etat Libre d’Orange Jasmin et Cigarette is one I go back and forth on.  I sorta love it because it’s so weird, but it’s just not something I ever wear.  But it gets aces for being a little bit of a freak.
  
I really wanted to like Tom Ford Jasmin Rouge, and I was over the moon in love with it on the open, all big jasmine and those cute little spices came peeping out, and in retrospect, I just wanted it to end there.  Like a love affair that’s gone on just a little too long, I grew weary of it trying too hard, ignored it, and then it just become boring by its repeatedly asking me why I didn’t love it anymore.  

And those are my picks for mostly the best with a worst or two thrown in. There are a lot of jasmine dominant perfumes I did not try because I don’t have them.  And I”m pretty sure y’all will point the ones I know I didn’t try out and the ones I’ve never heard of, so let me have it!

Surveyed some of the Posse, and here’s what they said –

Tom – It hasn’t been done yet. I’d love a jasmine that’s like the one that perfumes the nights here in Los Angeles, especially in the hills. Something that has the chill of evening the air off the ocean forcing the almost electric Santa Anas into retreat. With a soupçon of sage and a bare touch of dried pine as a nod to Coldwater Cañon. Add some leather and some of the oil that Andy Tauer came up with in “Hyacinth and a Mechanic” (ED – OMG, you know, I ran across this in a drawer looking for TDC Jasmine and screamed because I didn’t think I had any left!) and it could be a cruise up the canyon in a vintage Jag with the roof off. The life I’d like to lead. And musk. It’s a desert. We sweat. Heck, Beverly Hills will be 100 years old in 2014. Somebody do this, please?

Portia – Everything I thought was jasmine is some other white flower except Guerlain’s Lys Soleia. My current go to frag and it is AH MAY ZING!!! (ED. – Portia, are you sure about this being jasmine?  I think it may wind up in that pile of perfumes that are some other white flower   :Happy-Grin: )

Anita – That’s (Jasmine) another weird one for me.  Like gardenia, I want to love it but…well, I love a good jasmine essential oil (usually distilled into a carrier oil, as the stuff costs a bomb ) – anyhoo I take a bit whallop of Cetaphil cream and drop 6-10 drops of jasmine EO into the whallop.  A perfect veil of apres-bain jasmine!  And Floris does a beautiful jasmine.  In fact, the perfume is sitting on my table right now.  Carnal Flower has a touch of jasmine but unless all conditions are perfect, the tuberose holds it hostage, in the corner, at knifepoint.  Like Ann, I am in love with Alien, which I find  hysterical as I hate Angel like a mongoose hates a snake. PLEASE put Tribute therein.  PLEASE?  It’s the smokiest jasmine on the planet.  Such a perfect pairing, as if an old, woody jasmine bush was in its last, fullest flower  – and the flowers were drying (and even more potent)…when the ta’if rose bush underneath caught on fire!

Ann – I don’t have a lot of jasmine fragrances but ones I do like are –  By Kilian Love and Tears, Serge Luten Sarrasins (love that initial blast!), Dior New Look (not exactly the starring player in this one but I get a nice hint of it in there).  And applied lightly, Alien is an other-worldly hit of jasmine — when you’re in the mood for it, there’s nothing better. For days when you’d like to wear it, but at a lower volume, the body cream is quite nice.

Arielle – I HATE jasmine perfumes. I feel like a jasmine flower is taking an ice pick to my brain just THINKING about it. Can I list my LEAST favorite jasmine fragrances, or is that a bit too negative? Well, I’ll tell you anyway. My least favorite jasmine fumes are Gorilla Perfumes Lust, Thierry Mugler Alien, Chanel Gardenia, and Guerlain Samsara. 

 

 

(Disclosure – some of the perfumes for the samples are from my personal collection and some are donated by Surrender to Chance both for me to sample and as the prize)

 

  • Fernando says:

    Ack! I’m late! And I love jasmine! On my wife!

    • Patty says:

      Fernando, I’m so sorry you were late! But we are doing it again, so make it in in time for the vanilla perfume drawing!

  • Divna Gogeva says:

    I love this series! I wonder what’s next… tuberose? violet? iris? either way, looking forward to it!

    • Patty says:

      Vanilla!!!! I’ve got a lot of these to do, I hope I can keep this up. 🙂 Whacking out some of the biggest categories makes the rest of them look a little less daunting.

  • GreenGirl says:

    CB Cradle of Light is amazing. I need to revisit my sample of Songes. I’ve not really explored jasmine, I got sidetracked by iris very early on! I’d love to try some more.

    • Patty says:

      If you’ve tried CB, you’ve really ran it up the pole. Songes was such a lovely rediscovery. I had forgotten how really exquisite it is. Have fun!

  • Patricia R. says:

    My previous season was jasmin-craving season, I wanted to try them all, now it’s shifted to roses, but I am still looking for an interesting, non-sigular jasmin scent.

  • Micki says:

    Indole, ahh indole. I like jasmines as long as I don’t think about them. xoxo

  • For years, I have enjoyed various blooming jasmine plants (grandiflorum, sambac, etc) in my sunroom, but shied away from jasmine perfumes. Last year, however, I became a convert. My gateway drug? Intelligent Nutrients Jasmine Absolute. Down the rabbit hole I tumbled – please enter me in the drawing.

    • Patty says:

      wow, that’s surprising. though I think I did love my jasmine plants – poor dearly departed things – before I really loved jasmine perfumes.

  • GGS says:

    I have not been a fan of the indolic jasmines. Do own a full bottle of TDC Jasmin de Nuit!
    I can send you some 🙂 It’s lovely…

    • Patty says:

      Oh, thank you! You’ll never believe, though. I was going through a drawer, and at the back was part of a bottle of Jasmine de Nuit! I was so happy. I knew I had some.

  • ana says:

    Jasmine. jasmine, jasmine I need to get to know thee! Please enter me in the draw!

  • Elaine says:

    I just read Coming to My Senses by Alyssa Harad, and found your site. I’m clueless, but intrigued. Jasmine smells poopy? Whoa.

    • Patty says:

      elaine! Clueless is so much fun! Did you just love Alyssa’s book? She’s amazing and wonderful, and we love her.

      Some jasmine smells poopy, depends on the varieety. Usually perfumes mask that when they want to do a mainstream perfume – most people find it somewhat offensive. Well, except us. We want poopy indoles by the gallon because smelling should be an experience!

  • Amy M. says:

    To me, there’s A La Nuit and then everything else. (With blended ones Songes and Love & Tears close behind.) I Love learning about all these perfumes while at the same time laughing my head off Patty’s entertaining way with words. Thanks for the draw, and as always – really fun posts!

    • Patty says:

      Oh, we completely agree, Amy. and I’m glad you’re having fun with it. I think sometimes I might have been stepping over a few lines, but I just figured what the heck, we’ll just move the lines. 🙂

  • frl says:

    Thanks for the drawing. My knowledge of Jasmine is limited–I’d love to try more.

  • Zedster says:

    Who knew writing about poopy perfume could be so entertaining? I’ll have to try Montale Jasmine Full one of these days.

  • Amer says:

    I sometimes hate internet. i got carried away and wrote a huge paragraph on how as a child I discovered scatole, the other major stinker component of jasmine (yes, the fecal one), how no one believed me and then years later proved them wrong with the power of wikipedia! I pressed “submit” and the connection was lost and so was my comment. Lost for ever and no one will ever know what a child genius I was so I will post this video instead hoping that you will still enter my in the draw.

  • Scotti Anne Gunn says:

    Want with a burning passion

  • Joanna says:

    I Love Angel sorry girls for those that don’t….but I love Jasmine scents & ohhhhhhh I so wanna win! 🙂

  • Zoe says:

    Is there such a thing as a masculine jasmine? I have a character in a book I’m writing who I always pictured as smelling faintly of it.

    • Patty says:

      Yes! The different company Jasmine de Nuit I think is a great jasmine for men. Etat Libre Jasmine et Cigarette would be another good one for guys. Dior Eau Sauvage has a good amount of jasmine in it, even though I don’t have it listed here because that’s not its focus. Creed Jasmal would probably work as well. I think Serge Lutens Sarrasins could work on the right guy.

  • Lynn Welch says:

    I would love to try some! thanks

  • Lynn Welch says:

    I would love to try some..I have never tried Jasmine! Thanks.. new interest!

  • yukiej says:

    One of my first, and favorite, jasmine scents is SSS Jour Ensoleille. I love its rich intensity that almost burns my nose like fresh spices. Thanks for the drawing! I’d love to try some other jasmine scents.

  • Karley Kassoff says:

    Hope my friend wins so she can share

    • Patty says:

      I’m not sure if she did or not!

      • Angelique says:

        Me either! But I’m trying to find out. *wink*!
        And thanks to my dear Karley. I didn’t even have to threaten her with a spray of jasmine to her eyes!
        I do appreciate you all too for making comments on everyone’s post.

  • Angelique says:

    When I first started making my own perfumes, all I heard was jasmine in this most expensive perfume, jasmine in that most expensive fragrance, so of course wanted to smell it straight. Then, there I was on vacation in New Orleans when I found an essential oil shop, and so asked for a test strip of it. I sniffed it … and it nearly knocked me out; talk about a strong scent.
    I thought then “Smells like a French whore house” …and now when I’m in that certain sexy little mood, I’ll cut jasmine absolute in high octane vodka, add a bit of black pepper, maybe a little ginger, and while not paid for any shagging services … it’s not from lack of offers! Ah, sweet and naughty New Orleans is forever evoked for me with jasmine scents.
    I enjoyed your article; I’ll save it for future references and when I’m in a umm … “position” to sample some, I’ll know what to try!

  • susafina says:

    I’m up for some lovely jasmines. Enter me in the drawing and thanks!

  • Terry Maloney says:

    Know very little about Jasmine perfume…would especially like to try Killian Love and Tears….but game for any of them! Thanks for the opportunity!

  • Christy C says:

    I adore Serge Lutens A la Nuit! Still can’t figure out what indoles smell like, though–I don’t get what others describe as indolic from that one. Also a big OJ Frangipani fan. I need to try most of the other ones you mention! Thanks for the draw!

    • Patty says:

      Plain old indoles really are just musty smelling. I have a little 1% indole solution for reference. It needs the other richer parts of the flower to give it that gorgeous skank. LIke ambergris smells really foul until it warms and mixes with other components, then it gets a richness that it doesn’t have on its own. Raw materials are fun to smell!

  • susafina says:

    I’ll try jasmine. Enter me in the drawing and thanks!

  • Kacey says:

    Thank you for the fantastic post and generous draw! My favorite of the series so far. Though I always used to love catching heady whiffs of jasmine from the bushes in the backyard in my childhood, I’ve never experienced a jasmine-centric perfume. This guide (and draw, if I were the lucky winner) seems like the perfect way to get started!

    • Kacey says:

      Eep, looks like both my facebook comment AND this comment show up here, and are entered in the draw! If this is against the rules, I apologize and please remove this comment from the drawing : )

    • Patty says:

      Actually I count both comments! But this was the one that counted and won!!!! Congrats, Kacey!!!

      • Kacey says:

        :O *falls over* Oh my goodness!! I can’t believe it! 😀 Oh, I was having such a terrible week and this just completely brightened it in a big way. Thank you again and again!

  • Lisa B. says:

    I’ve tried Frangipani and Sarrasins before; and I didn’t like either one…but I don’t think it was the Jasmine part that I disliked, so…please enter me! I’d love to try some more!

  • Rachel says:

    Love me some jasmine, yes I do! And tuberose and lilies and….

  • Elena says:

    Before I started reading perfume blogs and otherwise heading down the rabbit hole, I didn’t realize that it was possible to dislike jasmine. I love jasmine tea more than life itself, and I miss the smell of jasmine from when I used to live in CA and walk my dogs past someone’s huge fence covered with it. Beautiful stuff. Thanks for the draw!

    • Patty says:

      I know, it surprised me too. I think it might be more jasmine in perfume than it is the actual jasmine flower. Tough to hate that beautiful little flower, though I’m sure people do hate it.

  • Audrey H. says:

    I love jasmine perfumes. Have been so intrigued by A la nuit but sorta scared to try it lol Would be thrilling to try all of these, thanks for the article and chance to win these samples.

  • Cheryl says:

    I love jasmine, and especially Songes. But sadly my nose isn’t refined at all and I often confuse it with other white flowers such as tuberose. Portia’s comment in your post made me laugh.

    • Patty says:

      They are confusing. It’s not your nose at all. I smelled some ylang in Costa Rica, and I would have sworn it was jasmine, it’s just brighter, but in isolation, it’s so close! tuberose is often blended with another white florla because it is, well, difficult. Have you ever smelled it raw? Scary stuff. 🙂

  • leslie says:

    i’m reading a tremendous book called ‘the Historian’…thanks for asking. please blah blah draw, blah blah.

  • Maryann says:

    Funny – I love jasmine, but until this post prompted me to think about it, i didn’t realize – I don’t actually have any jasmine fragrances, other than samples of Alien and White Jasmine & Mint. I’m intrigued by your description of Amouage Tribute – can’t wait for the chance to try it.

  • meemee says:

    My husband loves A La Nuit and so do I. I love the funk of jasmine. haha But then, I love Muscs Koublai Khan which is about as funky as you can get.

    • Patty says:

      You ever layer MKK on top of the La Nuit? Nope, me neither, and it just occurred to me that that could be a very cool experiment!

  • Linn says:

    I have yet to come to terms with jasmine! Most of the times, I will try a jasmine fragrance and find myself turning over my shoulder during the day to see who’s standing behind me with such a disturbing smell. Then I realize that this particular, peculiar smell is emanating from me, and, well… Occasionally though, I find myself feeling all seductive and evening-lace-slip-welcoming home my husband in a jasmine scent. I have never experienced a fragrance note playing such tricks with my nose. Although I more times than not are disturbed by jasmine, I keep returning to it, hoping for more. My quest will not end yet, I am sure!

    • Patty says:

      Well, jasmine is a little bitchy. 🙂 And it is disturbing. The indoles aren’t supposed to be comforting at all, it reminds us of decay, but the sweet part of that smell, not the way funkier, nastier parts. So it’s as if mortality has slipped its chain and is stalking you quietly. Kinda creeps me out sometimes, but I’m prone to making myself comfortable with all the uncomfotable things that make my skin crawl. Well, except snakes. I’m feeling better about spiders, but snakes are just a no still.

      • Linn says:

        Yes, why not. I’ll get on the ride and try to try my way through the jasmine ups and downs, uncomfortable or not. It’s way better than worms. For me, worms are your snakes. I just can’t stand that look of wriggling in uncontrollable spasms that they orchestrate. Anyway, jasmine… I’ll try A La Nuit again today. Better than both snakes and worms, guess that’s always a start.

  • Lauren S says:

    Love the Jasmine! Thanks for the draw, Patty! 🙂

  • sherobin says:

    The most beautiful jasmine I’ve ever smelled was Tigerflag’s Motia Attar, now long gone. A good substitute, and a stand-by for me is Ava Luxe Pikaki. I also love the Guerlain AA Flora Nerolia, which is more about jasmine than Neroli, and Le Labo Jasmin 17. They are almost the same animal, but the former is the grown-up version. I wear the latter more often.

    The new Dior Grand Bal was gorgeous and refined – someday I’d like a bottle. But my first jasmine love was Shiseido Zen black. Some may question this being put in the jasmine category, but to me it has always smelled predominately of the finest jasmine tea, made into a rose-tinged chypre. Thanks for the draw!

  • Brooke says:

    What a fantastic draw. This was the first year I explored jasmine fragrances. I have to admit that I wear EldO’s Jasmin et Cigarette more frequently thank most due to it’s quirkiness and longevity. The odd thing is that skin is normally like glue but most jasmine frags disappear rather quickly – Jo M Jasmine & Mint, Ineke’s Poets’s Jasmine, l’Artisan The pour Un Ete are all lovely but fleeting. Now a couple of the heavy hitters like SL A la Nuit and Montal Full Jasmin have me running for the hills – too heady for me.

    • Patty says:

      How strange. though jasmine doesn’t last that long on me. I think of it as a feature, not a bug. 🙂 I like short-lived fragrances, about 2 hours is my max, and then I really want it to be sorta gone.

  • Bluepinegrove says:

    Thanks for the draw! I have only recently admitted that I love jasmine. I’m fond of Soihvole Jasmine Summer and the big pot of blooming jasmine I bought for the garden, but I need to try your recommendations.

  • mariekel says:

    A bit late to the jasmine party, but I do love me some skanky flowers…especially, as Flora mentioned, Le Galion Jasmine in parfum. My absolute favourite indolic jasmine. I also love Coty’s Jasmin de Corse, which is quite similar, but perhaps a bit smokier, with a slight petrol note. Gorgeous. And Guerlain’s Jasmin is also a lovely little stinker. all sadly discontinued, alas…on the current front, I actually quite like one of the Aura Cacia blends a swapper sent me a bottle of a while back. I don’t know the name of it, but it is a surprisingly ripe, full-bodied little number.

    • Patty says:

      Now I am going to start obsessing about that Le Galion Jasmine thanks to you two. 🙂 I need to go dig up some guerlain Jasmine. I know where I can get some. I’m just trying to ignore it!

  • Jeff B says:

    Jasmine has become a recent obsession of mine, and I must admit I love Alien.

  • Katherine says:

    Ooh, a jasmine giveaway! You named many of my favorites, but three more I’d add to the list: Bond No. 9 Fire Island, Carthusia Gelsomini di Capri, and Rubj Extrait 🙂

    • Patty says:

      Darn it, the Rubj!!! How could I miss that. I almost never miss a chance to love on a Vero! 🙂 B*nd is nameless in Perfume Posseville. 🙂

  • NeenaJ says:

    Like Dina C., my only reference to jasmine is jasmine tea – which I adore. I would love to be able to sniff all of these and find something compatible with my skin (most florals – especially iris – are scrubbers for me).

  • J says:

    Love this post! I’ve been searching for my next jasmine scent so this couldn’t have come at a better time.

  • Lemon says:

    Just looking at the bride with the jasmine headpiece makes me think of how lucsious the wedding site must smell. And I’m surprised to learn that it’s calming (at least to mice).

  • wallis says:

    Kilian Love and Tears. Clive Christian X. Place Venome Diamant Rose. Kai. (sorry!!!) I just love jaz.

    • Patty says:

      Great choices! Never heard of the Place Vendome one though? forgot about X being jasmine-dominant. Argh, all of these that show up later!

  • Marte says:

    My favourite jasmine scents are Parfumerie Generale – Drama Nuui, Serge Lutens – Sarrasins and Dior – Grand Bal.

    Great draw! 🙂

  • Cyn says:

    I once had a cat name Jasmine. Thats gotta count for something!

  • Adrienne says:

    I love jasmine in every form! Great draw!

  • Hester says:

    Oh and: So happy to see someone mentioning Lush Lust, even though it was in an “I hate” context 🙂 That stuff is REAL and fierce. Closest, to my nose, the the actual plant.

  • Hester says:

    Ooooh I hope I’m not to late to enter the draw! Man, jasmine is my best. It’s blooming here right now, what lovely rot 🙂

  • Gisela says:

    I love my vintage Joy and Love and Tears is on my wish list. Every now and then I go through the department store for a spritz of A la Nuit and recently I was quite happy when I got a decant of it in a swap. But it seems like it is turned, because all I get is hairspray and soap…

    • Patty says:

      Weird! Orange blossom is usually the on ehtat can go soapy, but it’s possible it did turn. I’ve had it happen before for reasons unknown

  • Lisa D says:

    Okay, I’ll bite. Patty, hon, what the hell are you doing with these fonts? :Happy-Grin:

    • Patty says:

      Hahahaha! Finally! It was thing I did this last summer that talked about how to make your writing more visually interesting, especially on longer writing. changing up the fonts and doing big ones helps people slide to the next topic in the post. So when I started writing these much longer posts, I figured I needed ALL the help I could get! :Delighted:

  • Sherri says:

    I love Jasmine perfume!! But Love and Tears is my favorite of all time

  • Dionne says:

    Thus far I’ve smelled, uh, two jasmines, and obviously my poor ol’ nose is unedumacated, because I thought Jennifer Aniston and Alien were both lovely. Come rescue me from my plebeian sniffer! Jasmine is actually slated to be explored next summer (yup, I plan that far in advance), so this list is going to be saved and referred to when it’s time to immerse myself in the indolic end of the perfume pool. Keep doing the series, I love it!

    • Patty says:

      Your nose is NOT uneducated. this is all personal taste. From all the comments, a lot of people love Alien, and I”m sure a lot more love Jennifer Aniston. I actually smelled that one and thought it was pretty good. Just ran out of space or it didn’t come up on the jasmine radar.

  • Kandice says:

    I love true jasmine essential oils but haven’t had a chance to try many perfumes yet with this as the primary note. Would love to be entered in the draw! Thanks for the giveaway!

  • DrLemur says:

    This reminds me that I really need to figure out what that nice shrub in my yard is. Some people tell me gardenia, others jasmine. Me, I just think it smells lovely.

    • Patty says:

      Gardenias are usually big, and jasmine flowers tend to be small, but some jasmine can be larger, I just don’t remember which variety!

  • Janice says:

    I am really enjoying this series of posts. Favorite jasmine would have to be Joy, but again there are so many here I haven’t tried yet.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, cool, that is so good to hear, especially today when I’m coming off of days and days of vanilla. the sacrifice of my sanity is worth it! 🙂

  • Jayme says:

    I want to sample Joy! Please enter me in the drawing….

  • monkeytoe says:

    I love jasmine on the stem and in the juice. You didn’t mention a couple of my faves. Hanging with the bad set behind the gym are Norma Kamali’s, L’Orientaliste’s, and Bruno Acampora’s while the sweeter, freshly showered set, Guerlain AA Jasminora and PG Ilang Ivohibe, study in the carrels in the library. Thank you for the drawing!

    • Patty says:

      You are so welcome! I don’t think I’ve across all of those, except the Bruno and the PG, but they were too far back in my memory banks to pull out, and I couldn’t find a sample in time!

  • Mrs.Honey says:

    I love Joy, but it is not any more a jasmine than is Chanel No.5 Joy is the ultimate floral, with plenty of civet.

    I go back and forth on Alien. I know that there are other perfumes with jasmine that I like, but can’t think of them right now.

    • Patty says:

      I think it’s all the aldehydes in 5 that make me think of it primarily as an aldehydic perfume, and then I don’t sort it any further than that.

  • Joe says:

    Ooooh. Jasmine. A few standouts definitely include Joy, Sarrasins, and that EL Jasmine White Moss. But also, a major favorite is PG Drama Nuui — reminds me exactly of a type of climbing jasmine (‘polyanthum’) that grows in my Calif neighborhood and blooms huge billowing clouds of blossoms in early spring.

    Love your sample giveaways lately, you generous lady. Thanks for the opportunity!

    • Patty says:

      I do not have enough of the PGs, that’s for sure. There’s only been like three that I fell in major love with L’oisseu de Nuit, one of the tea or fig ones? And Bois Blond. His gourmands are so hard on me, I just have to take a wide berth, which means I kinda avoid the whole line!

      You are so welcome, Joe! I actually love doing this and can’t figure out why I haven’t done this series before. Well, maybe because it is so much work on some of the larger categoriies. Jasmine wasn’t bad, but rose and the one for this week has been freaking brutal!!! I’m looking forward to next week, when I get to take a breather on a lighter category that I absolutely love!

  • Ramona says:

    Whoa! Who doesnt like a little bit o skank? Please enter me in the draw and Thank You- quite a few listed I have yet to try, but I am working on it, oh so slowly =)

  • Lorinda says:

    I really like Jasmine, but mostly I do the EO and absolute. For some reason I don’t trust jasmine perfumes, I have none but vintage Joy (which I LOVE). I have a sample of Alien I will try in the next few days, and Songes has been on my list for so long I forgot why! I think I will put the CB I hate perfumes one on my list for trying next.

    Thanks for the great series! I know you did Gardenia, but what about Tuberose? The late summer weather is making me crave it. :–)

  • Janet in California says:

    Love/ hate jasmine. But when I love it—heaven!

    Great series!

  • Elisa says:

    When I first started getting into perfume I bought a bottle of vintage Eau de Joy and thought it was SO unbelievably skanky! All I smelled was jasmine, jasmine, jasmine FUNK. now I smell all the beautiful rose too and jasmine doesn’t just smell like monkey sex to me. I hate the original Alien too (grape soda!) but some of the flankers are great — I recently bought a bottle of the Ambre d’Or version. I also like a good oily metallic jasmine as in Songes or Lust sometimes too, especially in summer.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, yeah, that’s my Joy, jasmine funk. 🙂 I think the first encounter of jasmine outside of the pristine confines mainstream perfume companies put it in is a bit of a shock. once you get over that shock, then it’s easier to figure out whether you love or hate it!

  • Lynda says:

    Thank you for hosting this! I’d love to add to my sample collection with some jasmine!

  • smy says:

    Omg, I love jasmine! But I haven’t tried many of these and they sound amazing! Please enter me in the draw!

  • Liane says:

    Great jasmine round up! I have a love/hate thing with it, and now I better understand why. Please enter me in the drawing!

  • Thalia says:

    Oh, please do enter me! This sounds fabulous.

    One I didn’t see mentioned that I like is Bulgari Black — such weird rubber/leather/vanilla jasmine, I really enjoy it.

  • kizzers says:

    I’m loving these guides! Jasmine’s are a huge favourite of mine, and Songes was my first hunt-down-at-all-costs-must-have-it-now bottle as a budding perfumista. My garden is full of jasmines too – poopy ones and clean ones!

  • Jaclyn Schoknecht says:

    I second Tom’s comment! I’d be the first (well second) one in line to buy that fragrance. I lived in LA for 10 years and one of the things I miss the most is the smell of night blooming jasmine. Swoon!

  • Simone says:

    Oh, thanks for this guide, I need it!
    I am relatively new to perfumes, especially to the appeal of the florals.
    For the time being, my favorite jasmine would be love and tears, but I haven’t tried many.
    I liked it because it felt so elegant!

    • Patty says:

      You are so welcome, Simone, I hope it’s really helpful! Love and Tears is an amazing place to start with jasmine! You are already way in there!

  • Nina Z says:

    I’m loving this whole series! Wonderful job. One of my favorite jasmines is Atelier Cacao. After the chocolate and orange part fades, it is a beautiful natural jasmine!

    And that’s good news indeed about jasmine for better sleep. I’ve been trying other notes (vanilla, orange blossom, etc.), but now I’m definitely going to try jasmine.

    • Patty says:

      Thanks, Nina! I’m going to have to go back and sniff Cacao. I was so blasted by the cacao I never noticed the jasmine! Let me know how the jasmine to sleep works!

  • Jeanine says:

    Serge Lutens wins again! Can’t get enough of Sarrasins.

    • Patty says:

      Serge did put out some stunning jamines that have stood up to a lot of challengers to the throne! I still have to say, Nuda and Love and Tears give it a good run for its money.

  • Alityke says:

    Wow! How many of those do I own and love? Obv no need to enter me in the draw. Didn’t realise I was such a jasmine slut. My fave A La Nuit, my least loved Alien, yet she still gets an occasional outing

  • Jeanine says:

    Hahahaha! I want a fragrance that humps my nose! That is quite the visual! But I love the SL Sarrasins. Stunning.

  • rosiegreen says:

    Love jasmine. Please enter me in the draw. P.S. I like the crazy fonts.

  • maggiecat says:

    Love jasmine! LOVE! Except when I don’t (i.e. when it’s thrown in with my nemesis, tuberose). Badgley Mischka’s Fleurs de Nuit is nice; Jo Malone’s Honeysuckle and Jasmine is a favorite (a great “office” jasmine, as is Jennifer Anniston’s Debut). I like the La Labo as well. The Bulgari Jasmin Noir series is a favorite – I prefer the L’Essence version – and Narciso Rodriguez Musc for her Intense is a lovely jasmine and musk. However, nothing compares to the real thing – I used to grow jasmine when I lived in Florida and so very much miss the scent of the flower blooming in real life. Dallas is a wonderful city, but way too short on jasmine if you ask me. 🙂

  • FragrantWitch says:

    I am chiming in with the Alien lovers and seconding the Angel loathing. Like Mals, I do much better with the tropical sambac jasmine than the grandiflorum. Love Songes in small doses and EL Jasmine White Moss. I also like the cheap and cheerful Body Shop Neroli Jasmine- who’d a thunk? Ive only recently gotten into jasmines but I received a small sample of A la Nuit in a swap and feeling brave gave myself a healthy spray. And nearly suffocated myself. Would it wash off? Hell no. It even survived a swim in chlorinated water. II salute those who can wear it. Me, I triple bagged it and have it to my sister-in-law.

  • ROSANNE MORRIS says:

    Love SL A La Nuit!!! I have to agree with Tom Ford’s Jasmin Rouge but I layer it with Santal Blush and it smells heavenly! LUST is another fave!

  • Laura says:

    I’m a newbie to this website. love this post. wondering what a poopy perfume would smell like…

    • Patty says:

      Well, kinda like that! Except not exactly. There are similarities, but just in one aspect. You’ll know it when you smell it. 🙂

  • LindaB says:

    HUGE jasmine fan – faves are Mugler Alien (don’t hate me and I’m with Anita in that I despise Angel but adore Alien, whoddathunk?) and AG Songes. Songes is probably even in my top 5 ANY perfumes of all time. It’s just beyond words…

    Please enter me in the draw…there are so many you listed that I haven’t had the opportunity to try and now I’m desperate to smell ALL of them! :-0

    • Patty says:

      Oh, I don’t hate you alien lovers! Just don’t spray it on me!

      Agree on Songes. I overwore it when it first came out, and put it aside for quite a whlie. Smelling it again was really heavenly!

  • Claudia says:

    Love Songes and A la Nuit. Thanks for the drawing!

  • Tama says:

    Wow, you were quite thorough. One of my faves is Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Jasmin. Just the perfect balance of indoles and the horse thing. Would be too poopy for some, I think, but I love it. I also love the Montale and Jo Malone mint. Except for Alien, I pretty much just like jasmine (to be fair one of the Sunessence Aliens smelled exactly like Organza, which I wear very well).

    • Patty says:

      I dunno, Tama, I think I missed quite a few! I never have smelled that MPG, that’s a line for some reason I haven’t smelled many of, just Bahainia and the Iris, both of which are great!.

  • Mals86 says:

    What a lovely giveaway… but please DO NOT enter me. 🙂

    I haz Jasmine Difficulties. That is, I tend to like it when combined with other white florals (Songes is lovely, and Carnal Flower is the most gorgeous thing on the planet) but not as the focal note. And tropical jasmine (sambac) is more comfortable for me than what I think of as classic French jasmine (grandiflorum) – the sambac is far less weird/poopy/skanky, more creamy-floral. I don’t hate Alien, for one thing, and that one is definitely the tropical stuff.

    I keep trying jasmines of differing types, trying to push my boundaries a little bit, but where I Absolutely Adore Tuberose, love ylang, love muguet, love gardenia… jasmine as the major focus is still really tough for me. I swear, A La Nuit tried to freakin’ KILL ME. She had a shiv.

    Sometime this summer I went somewhere in the evening and left the windows down on the van. Was passing our dairy farm neighbor when I suddenly thought to myself, “Wow, is that jasmine I smell? Or is it a perfume I’m testing?” Nope. Neighbor had spread manure on his wheatfield earlier in the day.

    I have long referred to Joy as Ho Panties because it is so so skanky on me (and I don’t think it’s the civet, as I usually do okay with that stuff). Smelling Sarrasins was like having my nose shoved into the wet spot on the bed (holy cow, did I just write that? guess so).

    Jasmines I do somewhat like are of the greenish variety, with lots of accent on the fresh-floral stuff and very little dirt: MH Jasmin Vert (jasmine plus galbanum and narcissus), or Septimanie Pavilion des Fleurs. And even then I can’t wear them for long because they’re all JASMINE JASMINE JASMINE at eighty decibels.

    • FragrantWitch says:

      Hahahaha! ‘Wet spot on the bed’ totally deserves to be a new description for intensely skanky jasmine!

    • Dionne says:

      I’m so glad I read through all the comments, because this is an excellent mini-post, Mals. I guffawed far too loudly to be lady-like. And like FragrantWitch said, “wet spot on the bed” has now entered my lexicon. Seriously, you should trademark it.

    • Patty says:

      OMG, wet spot on the bed, I’m stealing it, it’s mine now! 🙂 Yeah, Joy is Ho Panties for sure, but they are only Ho Panties when you get closer!

  • Claudia says:

    Currently reading: September Vogue
    Fonts: Thumbs up! I love them; keep it up!

    Thanks for the draw! 🙂

  • Samantha L. says:

    I love jasmine..it’s one of my favorite notes. I’d love to smell Sarrasins again, I can’t find my very tiny sample!

    • Patty says:

      I hate it when that happens. I’ve been hunting down one sample in bowls of samples for weeks, and it’s making me crazy! I need a better filing system.

  • Jen says:

    Great round up! I go through jasmine-hate/jasmine-love phases. It’s never in between. There are quite a few here I would love to try, though. Thanks for the draw.

    • Patty says:

      You are so welcome! Jasmine isn’t always on the top of my list. Given what I’m doing for this next Tuesday, I’m pretty sure that note is off the menu for a month or four!

  • Farouche says:

    Great series! Please enter me in the draw. I haven’t found my dream jasmine yet, but am enjoying the quest.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, thanks, Farouche! It’s been a blast to write, and now I’m sorta addicted to it! so look for a new one next week!

      It was a difficult one, and I’m still sorta shell-shocked at how many perfumes I had to go through to write it. :Tired:

  • tammy says:

    Joy is my favorote, bar none. I love Jasmin et Cigarrette, though. Sarrasins was my biggest perfume disappointment to date. I just get very bright jasmine, which I don’t care for….no ink, no skank. I likes my jasmine dirrrrty!

    Thanks for a chance to win!

    • Patty says:

      Really? Yikes, just goes to show anyone who says skin chemistry doesn’t have some impact on how perfume smell is wrong, wrong, wrong! 🙂

  • Lily says:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH, not just for the draw, but for pointing out that indoles don’t smell like poop. They smell like mothballs. A La Nuit smells clean on me, but too much like Naphthalene if I overdo.

    Fave jasmine, maybe Tom Ford Jasmin Rouge except that it doesn’t last long enough. Plenty on your list I haven’t tried.

    And like Anita, I hate Lush Lust. Not b/c it has jasmine, a note I love, but because it has too many skatoles and smells like rot and (literally) a dirty mouth. I must be hypersensitive to the gross aspects of the naturals in it b/c lots of people love it.

    Finally a question, is the current Amouage Tribute seriously different that the prior batch? I had heard bad things about the one that’s being currently sold, but I thought I would ask someone whose opinion I respect 😀

    • Patty says:

      They do! I was skeptical about this until I got a little 5 ml of just indoles, and mothballs it is!

      Oh, I don’t know about the difference in the Tributes. The one I’ve had is one I’ve had for a long time, since it first came out, I think – the stuff lasts a lifetime for any normal person, but even more so for me who it takes a while to cycle back around to! So I don’t know!

  • brenda sierra says:

    love jasmine,please add me to drawing !

  • Teri says:

    Yoo hoo to the perfumers who read these blogs (and I know some do), another rousing thumbs up for Tom’s recommendation above. My single favorite natural floral scent is night blooming jasmine. I dream about it in the winter, I revel in it in the summer.

    I can remember as a very young child sniffing Joy for the first time and thinking that is what angels must smell like. It is lovely, classy, timeless and incredibly special.

    As always when I’m late to the party, y’all have mentioned most of the jasmines I like. But I have to add L’Artisan’s La Chasse Aux Papillons. It isn’t one I wear a lot, but I keep a small decant around to take a ‘hit’ on occasionally because it’s just so darn cheerful and always makes me happy.

    • Patty says:

      I thought about throwing in Papillons in this, but for some reason I kept thinking of it as more about the linden, lime and orange blossom, but it is so darn pretty!

  • pam says:

    OK, I admit that I have not explored the jasmines. I guess Joy edt doesn’t count. Will be on the lookout for some of the wonders mentioned.

    • Patty says:

      Absolutely Joy EDT counts, but I read somewhere that they use the Grasse jasmine still in the parfum, which is why I used it for this review!

  • Barbara Dodge says:

    I love Jasmine. When I was in college I spent a week’s pay for a 1/4 oz. bottle of Chanel’s Gardenia and always thought of it as “Chanel Jasmine” – little did I know! I must have had a good nose. (The next month I spent a week’s salary on a 1/4 oz. bottle of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie – my mother said it smelled like the inside of a Rolls Royce).

    • Patty says:

      You did! Because it sure isn’t gardenia. 🙂

      I’ve never been inside of a Rolls Royce, but Cuir de Russie is exactly how it should smell.

  • jirish says:

    I really have to try Tribute because smoky jasmine sounds fabulous to me. I actually get some smoky jasmine from Lonestar Memories, though I may be the only one who does so. Something about my skin brings out the jasmine in that.

  • Maureen says:

    I’m not sure if I like jasmine. If it’s in Chanel #5, I like that. Someone (SIL) had given me BBW Jasmin Vanilla body lotion and mist about 3 years ago. I keep trying it once in awhile just to see if I still don’t like it, buy, nope , I don’t like that. I like vanilla, so either I don’t like jasmin, or it’s just that one I don’t like. I should just give it away. I would love to win these to see if I really do or don’t like jasmin. ( I did have a friend who used to wear JOY, and I remember I did like that on her.) Thanks for the draw and the interesting articles.

    • Patty says:

      It is in Chanel No. 5, but more of a jasmine accord. I think it’s the BBW vanilla you aren’t loving. I know BBW has a lot of fans, but I’m not one of them, and their vanilla is particularly strong and not pleasant if you don’t like it! 🙂

  • Holly F. says:

    Jasmin de Nuit is my favorite jasmine. So spicy, so sultry… this is definitely full-bottle-worthy! I also love Jasmin et Cigarette as it is truly one of a kind. Thanks for the good read, and the draw!

  • Em says:

    I’m hoping to sniff Nuda again before it goes utterly off the market — I fleetingly whiffed it a year ago while looking for fall scents, and thus didn’t think about it enough.

  • Joaquim says:

    Jasmin…Bruno Acampora’s Jasmin is simply amazing, and I love SL Sarrasins (as always with Mr. Lutens).
    Thank you for all this amazing draws!

  • Apryle says:

    I’m remembering GAP Mandarin Jasmine – that simply can’t be the gold standard..can it? I may be cranky though- as I didn’t stop for Chai this morning. (intimidated by the drive thru) Thank you for this drawing. Be Well

  • Helena says:

    A La Nuit is sooo beautiful. And.. I layered it with Bandit – in out subtropical summer – and this mixture was a bomb! (gorgeous bomb) – recommended 😉
    I tried Tawaf and liked it very much, I’d wished it was stronger and more long-lasting though (it lasted on me only for an hour or something)..
    Thank you very much for this draw, I’d certainly like to try more jasmines.

    • Patty White says:

      Whoa, you are a brave one! Bandit and A la Nuit, that is an experiment I think I need to try!

      Tawaf was a little fleeting on me too. I don’t notice it as much because I change out perfumes several times a day, so it’s the long-lasting ones that annoy me! 🙂

  • Elaine says:

    I’ve avoided jasmines so far, largely because they’re associated in my mind with a funeral. Loved Songes before that funeral though, and I do think it’s time for me to explore this flower again, on its own merits. Enter me in the draw please!

    • Patty White says:

      Oh, that is so sad. I have the same thing with carnations and chrysanthemums, but I decided to work through it when Serge came out with de Profundis. It was an amazing experience dealing with the emotions it brought up and working through them in this weird way.

      I hope it works like that for you, Elaine, so you can enjoy jasmine again. 🙂

  • kathleen says:

    I have some Joy parfum from the late 70s or early 80s. It has teeth now, lol. I love all things jasmine, but then I am a white florals girl. Nobody has mentioned Guerlain Les Secrets de Sophie. Which is quite a lovely jasmine

  • farawayspices says:

    jasmine is such a polarizing note, but I do believe that for many jasmine haters, in the right blend, it can be an acquired taste. For some people, I think there may be an “old woman” association, since it was used more generously in vintage perfumes. I do love jasmine!
    (btw, I loved the part about your Aunt Ruby’s dog, Jacques…too funny!)

    • Patty says:

      do you think? Yeah, maybe that’s it, it’s so predominant in vintage perfumes, it’s got that connotation with it. Such a shame.

      Oh, that dog was a horror show!

  • HA HA HA HA!!! I’m an ASS HOLE! You are correct, Lys Soleia is not Jasmine. HA HA HA!! Sorry Girl. Then I vote for Beyond Paradise Blue.
    Portia xxx

    • Patty says:

      Naw! I laughed when I saw that, especially after you said all the things you thought were jasmine weren’t. Hey, just consistent. 🙂

  • Barbara says:

    The only jasmine I’ve tried is Bulgari Jasmin Noir, which bored me. Didn’t even know Jennifer Aniston’s fragrance had jasmine in it. Didn’t like that one either!
    If I won I could try some REAL jasmine fragrances, since I haven’t explored this note at all.

  • rosarita says:

    I want someone to create Tom’s jasmine perfume, that sounds fabulous! I have been on a half hearted quest for a jasmine to love for some time now. Arpege is my favorite blend of rose/jasmine. Thanks for the draw and for this series of posts, Patti, they are informative and fun to read.

  • Asali says:

    I love these soli- flore posts Patty, keep ’em coming 😀
    Wearing Promesse a l’aube today which I find to be a beautiful subdued jasmin- love it!

    • Patty says:

      Okay! I’m glad you guys are enjoying them. I’ve really enjoyed writing them. Though the one for this coming week has me with a pounding headache and a panic attack. 🙂

  • Joanne says:

    This is a wonderful opportunity to explore jasmine–thank you! (Although I was somewhat taken aback at the “poopy” reference–I had no idea that it came across like that to some people or sometimes. Yikes!)

    • Patty says:

      Well, most of the time it doesn’t! The Nasomatto Nuda is probably the closest to poopy. In fact, when we were in Grasse, I think two of us bought the Nuda, sprayed it after, and Nancy declared it Poopy Jasmine on the spot.

  • bookhouseshell says:

    dang, I really need to do some single note explorations. I must love Jasmine, it is in just about every vintage frag that I love, but I’ve never really sought it out & tested it.

    • Patty says:

      I know! When I went into this, because jasmine is so pervasive in so many perfumes, it was tough to break it down to the dominant one, but I love jasmine in anything!

  • DinaC says:

    I love drinking jasmine green tea, so that’s my reference jasmine. I like A La Nuit by SL, but sometimes it’s a bit too strong and demanding for me. I find the Jennifer Aniston scent a soft, clean jasmine that’s easy to wear. I need to test some more of these. Thanks for entering me in the drawing. I’m really enjoying this series of blog posts that you’re doing, Patty.

    • Patty says:

      Absolutely, Dina! You know, the Jennifer Aniston fragrance I never thought was that bad. She did a reasonable job on it. A La Nuit sometimes does demand a lot of attention, I know!!

  • Sherri says:

    Jasmine 101….I love it, Patty!!

    With all the thousands of jasmine perfumes out there, Songes is still my favorite. I have the Goutal Jasmin soliflore too. Don’t worry; you’re not missing anything there. It’s a simple jasmine with an odd note which I think is supposed to be ginger…I’m not fond of it but can’t bear separating it from all its little pastel-bowed Goutal soliflore sisters. Anyway, no contest to the beautiful Songes!

    • Patty says:

      yeah, Jasmine 101!!!! Songes really is amazing, but I’m glad I didn’t miss anything with the Le Jasmin. I hadn’t put it on in months, and when I put it on for review, it really just about made me gasp with out beautiful it is!

  • Poodle says:

    I love jasmine and wish I lived somewhere where it would grow happily outside. In perfumes I love it as well. I know Alien is supposed to be jasmine but I have to say it doesn’t smell like true jasmine to me. That being said, I like it. I also like Jasmin Noir as well. I haven’t smelled many of the niche jasmines yet. It’s a note I love but haven’t really explored. Thanks for the draw.

    • Patty says:

      I’ve tried growing it outside, and it was an epic failure. I’d bring my little jasmines in over the winter, they’d survive to some degree, then I’d take them back out, sometimes they’d make it, but eventually winter or my not so gentle plant-tending abilities killed the little guys. You are so lucky!!

  • Irina says:

    I’m a little afraid of jasmine, appreciated but was not able to wear “sarrasins”- do not know many other mentioned
    would love to win this draw and start to get really aquinted with jasm’

    • Patty says:

      You know, Sarrasins is a little scary. It behaves on me, but there are a couple of moments where I start to panic, thinking it’s decided to just go completely foul. so I get that!

  • Zazie says:

    In my book: best Jasmine soliflore: Rodin.
    followed by A la nuit.
    Best jasmine symphony: Joy and n.5 parfum.
    Bets tropical Jasmine: Montale intense tiaré and Songes.

    To Ari: you have a jasmine favorite: it’s kai!!! :p

    • Patty says:

      Rodin? I haven’t heard of that one, but now I think I must!

      I would have put 5 in there, but you know, I admire it? I just have no love for it. Every time I put it on, I sorta wanna go shower. I know, I know, I’m a cretin. 🙂

  • killerrabbit says:

    Well I must comment and enter because in my increasing large perfume wardrobe I don’t have a SINGLE one of the perfumes mentioned. How is this possible? I almost named my daughter Jasmine as I like the smell of the flower so much and it grows profusely just around her birthday. I have been busily smelling perfumes around Gardenia (also a favourite) but have neglected my favourite flower. Thank you for your excellent expose into the best Jasmine perfumes, I will now know where to start.

  • Ninara Poll says:

    Jasmine, when it is a dominant note, loathes me with the passion and heat and strength of ten thousand fiery suns. Needless to say, I’m a bit leery of it. Then again, it may just be that I haven’t had any experiences with a *good* jasmine (BBW Night Blooming Jasmine scarred my nose for life and instantly induce a migraine whenever I sniff it… ); even the night-flowering jasmine in my parents’ yard smells of clorox and fomalin-treated flesh to me. Can we all not tell that I desperately need to try some good jasmine to see if jasmine truly does hate me? 😉 Thank you so much for hosting this draw, and for making a non-Facebook means of entry possible!

    NP

    • Flora says:

      Ninara, night-blooming “jasmine” is not really jasmine at all – I happen to like its aroma, but that “poisonous” aspect is completely lacking in true jasmine, the flowers of which are incredibly delicious.

    • Patty White says:

      Oh, no! But, hey, I totally get it. It may be the jasmine you’ve tried so far, but it could be that you haven’t found the right one! It’s always fun to find out, though!

  • OhLily says:

    Thanks for another lovely give-away, Patty!

    I really do like Goutal’s Le Jasmine an awful lot, and jasmine essential oil with jojoba and sweet almond oils is dreamy at night after a shower or bath. Talk about sweet dreams!

    • Patty says:

      It is narcotic, isn’t it? I love my essential oils just to sniff. I have them in most of the white florals except gardenia, which I need to get when I”m in NYC in October. They do have a great effect on sleep.

      And you are so welcome, it is way fun for me!

  • Tatiana says:

    I love the photo of the bride with jasmine in her hair, so lovely. The only two jasmines I’ve tried on skin are Mugler Alien and Bulgari Jasmine Noir. I guess I need to go sniff some more.

    • Mals86 says:

      Oh, I love that photo too.

    • Patty says:

      Well, yes! did you like them? I mean, I know people love Alien, and I don’ t know what note it is in there that make my stomach and skin crawl, but something does! Jasmin Noir is really pretty, though!

      I love the India tradition of jasmine, it’s so romantic and over the top, which is what I think weddings are – making romantic, extravagant, over the top declarations. I’d be okay with gardenia or tuberose or orange blossom, too. Or all of them! Yikes, I have just turned into a big white floral ‘ho.

  • Lauren B. says:

    Great post. I still need to try Sarassins (and I’m sure I’d enjoy that horse smell.) I know you didn’t list perfumes that have a blend of lots of other flowers, but my nose really picks out the jasmine in Creed’s White Flowers (at least that’s what I’m telling myself) 🙂

    • Patty says:

      Oh, yeah, try Sarrasins, esepcially if you’re a horsie person. I think Lyric Woman has a similar thing going on with it. Whatever it is, I know I’d live with my nose stuck in a horse’s neck if I could. 🙂

      You know, I’m pretty sure you are right! I should go back and sniff that one. I know I did, I liked it, but it just wasn’t memorable beyond pretty, but pretty is an admirable thing in perfumery these days! I still want that Nicki Minaj pink bottle just so I can decapitate her.

  • Caela says:

    This requires breaking my lurking streak to enter- I love the smell of jasmine. I’ve been dithering over getting a bottle of A La Nuit, but wanting to try some of the other options first, although I am a Lutens junkie. (Like Eldarwen22, I don’t find A La Nuit indolic- it rather just sings out like a high note- but then I’m a newbie at perfume who grew up surrounded by relatives bathed in Arabian attars, so there’s a significant chance I just haven’t managed to identify indoles properly because I’m inured to their dirtiness.)

    • Patty says:

      Woo-hoo!!! I love it when a lurker has to break radio silence! 🙂

      Have fun on your exploration of jasmine. The nice thing about a post like this is all the comments that dd other voices to favorites, either agreeing with some of my choices or disagreeing and also offering up some other options that I’ve never tried.

      xo

  • LCT says:

    I didn’t even realize I loved jasmine until I tried A La Nuit and couldn’t pry my nose off my wrist. This is the exact article I was looking for when I immediately went online, nose pressed to wrist, to find out more. Now it exists! Thank you for the draw.

    • Patty says:

      It’s so weird when people tell me they hate A La Nuit, I keep thinking, how?!?!? But I absolutely know it’s possible. Oh, I’m so glad this was exactly what you were looking for! Enjoy your jasmine exploration!

  • TaffyJ says:

    Oh yeah, I love me a jazz man.

    Oh..wait…yes, I love jasmine too! I have a decant of AbdesSalaam Attar Tawaf, acquired after reading Patty’s review, and whoa, that is one sexy scent.

    Love this essay!

    • Patty says:

      I almost put that youtube up. 🙂 Isn’t that Tawaf gorgeously sexy? I put it on again as a refresher to write this post and just swooned all over again.

  • Flora says:

    Oh yes please, I would love to win these, thank you! I adore jasmine, and of course I love Joy. My favorite jasmine fragrance other than Joy that I actually have is vintage Le Galion Jasmin, from 1937, the same year Sortilege and Snob were launched. Composed by the master perfumer Paul Vacher, It is most certainly a “properly indolic” jasmine! A La Nuit is on my “someday” list – I love it, but I can’t exactly wear such a brilliantly radiant perfume to the office! A small decant would probably last me several years.

    On the other end of the spectrum, L’Artisan’s lovely La Haie Fleurie is very much in the Love and Tears mode, tender and wistful and not in the least naughty.

    • Patty says:

      I’ve never smelled that Le Galion, it sounds amazing. I like the old Le Galions, they’ve got some heft to them! Back then I don’t think it occurred to them to cover up the way jasmine really smells.

      but I do love the properly buttoned up beautiful jasmines too, they just make me feel so feminine.

  • mary says:

    Nice take on jasmines, Patty. I am enjoying Keiko Mecheiri Jasmine–no indoles, just light and pretty. It helps you sleep, eh? I’m on that! And yes, please enter me for he collection!

    • Patty says:

      For some reason, Keiko Mecheiri is a line I don’t think I’ve smelled many of at all, I don’t know why! I think I need to go exploring in them. Some of them got mentioned for the rose too!

  • Lala says:

    Yay!! I’m not the only one that loathes the wretched Alien.

    Call me ignorant, but I think of Songes first as a ylang ylang perfume, not a jasmine bomb. However you classify it, Songes is lovely. Love and Tears is also a favorite.

    Thank you for such a generous giveaway.

    • Patty says:

      Shhh!!! We have some Alien lovers, don’t say it too loud or they’ll sic that alien monster on us.

      You know, I smelled real ylang in Costa Rica a couple of years ago, and I have a hard time telling them apart except for a creaminess. so I think Songes is a little more ylang because it rolls, but then some people wanted to plop it in the tuberose. I’m just sticking it here, though I’ll probably put it in some other categories too because it is a tremendous white floral!

  • I love Lush Lust. LOVE.

    I’m always surprised to see Love & Tears referenced as a great perfume. I think it is one of the most overrated yawn-fests ever. I really don’t see the appeal whatsoever.

    • Patty says:

      you know, I’ve only smelled a couple of the Lush perfumes, and I thought they were okay to kinda awful, but I might have to hunt this one down since it seems to fall on the love/hate fault line.

      You know, I think Love and Tears could go the wrong way on someone. It completely works on me, and I think it’s enchanting.

  • Laura Conrad says:

    I’m with Tom about the perfume in the night. I don’t know as many perfumes as you guys do, but I haven’t smelled one like that. But I’d like to try the good jasmines.

    • Patty says:

      Yeah, I’d love to smell that one that tom has in his head for sure. I really wish someone would do it! Maybe Duchaufour. Or maybe? I’ll have to think about this.

  • Senka says:

    No, thank you!

  • Marie says:

    Jasmine is probably my favorite single note, and Songes is my favorite jasmine, but lordy, it’s slutty on me – can only wear it if I’m not leaving the house, or if I want my DH to pay attention!!!

  • pyramus says:

    I am not really a jasmine person but I like Serge Lutens A La Nuit (of course), ELdO Jasmin et Cigarette, and Lust by Gorilla Perfumes: I never wear them but they’re interesting.

  • hd says:

    I love the idea of jasmine perfumes as ambien substitutes! Though, when I tried alien parfum les cuir this past weekend, I had to scrub it off within 15 minutes…There’s nothing sleepy about that gal! But maybe it was the leather? I do love OJ’s frangipani with a passion..

    • Patty says:

      I think I’m going to try it one night when I can’t sleep!

      Ewwww, Alien with the leather, I just couldn’t. I smelled the A*men with leather, and that’s really amazing, and I smelled the angel with leather, and that is holy crap skanky, which surprised me. But alien with leather skeeves me out, and I haven’t even sniffed it!

  • Eldarwen 22 says:

    When people say that SL’s A La Nuit has loads of indoles and it’s very barn yard, I don’t get it. I can’t smell anything indolic with A La Nuit but I get the indoles, jasmine and leather in Sarrasins. I love jasmine in perfume when it is well done but if it’s not well done it stinks badly.

    • Patty says:

      It’s not very barnyard. I think it holds that balance incredibly well! But for that first 30 minutes, it shifts on me a lot, sidles up to downright filthy,then pulls back. I think that’s why I love it so much, it won’t commit exactly. Plus,it really is just heartbreakingly gorgeous.

  • Charise says:

    I have always wanted to learn more about jasmine fragrances! Don’t know much about indoles, but I love the smell of jasmine blossoms. Count me in on the drawing. 🙂

  • cheesegan says:

    The only perfume mentioned that I’m familiar with is Joy. I’d love to try the others, please enter me in the draw.
    Thanks.

    • Patty says:

      No way! Wow, I must be a big old jasmine groupie, then. I tend to collect them, except I’m surprised how many I don’t have. And I get the jasmine EO too, even the really expensive stuff, just because I love smelling the absolute on it. Amazing stuff, and it is incredibly narcotic.