5 fragrances for Easter 2017

Picture: Violets in the garden April 10, 2017
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Easter is here and so finally the spring, even if some snow isn't unusual around 1 May but it doesn't last then.


Fragrances for Easter for me are almost always from the following groups: Gourmand (reminding of the food especially the sweets for Easter), Incense (reminding of the religious background to the testive) and floral green (reminding of the vegetation of spring with crispy bulbflowers and violets). This year I am not going to be that structured, below my impressions of some fragrances I like and which I've worn more than once the latest months.

Picture: Marconi 3
Photo: PR Profumi del Forte (c)

Marconi 3 (Profumi del Forte): This is among the cosiest and most comforting fragrances I've ever worn. In the same time Marconi 3 has an vintage elegance, a skilful blended oriental-gourmand-chypre styled fragrance with prominent vanilla, spices and patchouly. Smooth and addictive, it always renders compliments. I'm not sure if Marconi 3 is still in the PdF line since they have switched to a new design of the bottles. I'm so glad that I bought a tester of Marconi 3 before it's (eventually) gone.

Picture: Musst de Cartier Gold
Photo: PR Cartier (c)

Musst de Cartier Gold (Cartier): A hidden gem, probably missunderstood, as it could be bought quite cheap from discounters. Gold is Cartier inhouse perfumer Mathilde Laurents interpretation of the classic Musst de Cartier (Edp I'll say as my Edt from the 90s is more herbal and with a light band aid note) and Musst is fully recognized, at least in the second part of the fragrance. The beginning is greener, sunnier and lighter, and the whole fragrance is sort of a luminous "sunny day" version of the darker and heavier "sunset" variety Musst Edp. Musst Gold is an elegant floral-oriental with the characteristic comforting vanillanote which is also present in Musst.

Picture: Sheiduna
Photo: PR Puredistance (c)

Sheiduna (Puredistance): Sheiduna only gets better with more wearings. It's a beautiful perfum, which conveys the warm impression of "sunset over the desert dunes". It's dry and spicy, mixed with some of the pleasureable patchouly "old, dusty books note" with hints of dark roses, anchored in balsamic, ambery depts. It has a comforting elegance and is delightful to wear.

Picture: Bracken Woman
Photo: PR Amouage (c)

Bracken Woman (Amouage): This is a very nice surprise from Amouage. A sort of floral, green fougere for women, even if it's unisex IMO. It's a bit strange and I can imagine to some noses, off putting as it has an almost chemical vibe which occurs now and then under the dry down. Bracken remins med of fern, moss, moist vegetation contrasted with berries and tiny little pale flowers in a forest in the early springtime. Excellent fragrance.

Picture: L'Attesa
Photo: PR Masque (c)

L'Attesa (Masque): Finally I've tested it, one of 2016 cult fragrances. And L'Attesa is (like most Masque fragrance) very good. It's a dry iris, not the roty carrot varity nor the flowery version, and has a very realistic sort of clean lipsticknote, the best lipticknote I've smelled so far. There is also an wheat or beernote in L'Attesa, a note which is also present in Vero Profumo Kiki Extrait and in a sweeter context in Mancera Roses Vanille. Not surprising, Luca Maffei is the perfumer of this stunning fragrance.

Brecourt - Les éphémères - Rosa Gallica

Picture: Rosa Gallica (Romania)
Photo: From Wikimedia, user Bogdan, (cc),
some rights reserved 

Rosa Gallica is the first creation in the special collection "Les éphémères" from niche house Brecourt. The fragrances are created by perfumer and housefounder Emilie Bouge. The story behind Les éphémères is according to information from Brecourt as follows: "Each perfume in the "Les Éphémères" collection directs its focus on a rare and precious raw material. Often it involves completely forgotten substances that can only be produced in very small quantities or are too unstable to be noted on the list of popular fragrances.Whoever manufactures a fragrance under such conditions cannot guarantee that the fine raw material in the center of the composition will be available again in the required quantity or quality in the following year. No one can predict whether a perfume can ever be reproduced as the perfect equivalent to the "first edition." Therein lies the volatile nature of these creations: they are impermanent, not reproducible, available only for a short time and in limited quantities ... "éphémère". " The Rosa Gallica is a very old type of rose, known from 1100 BC and imported to Europe by the crusaders in the middleage.

Picture: Rosa Gallica
Photo: PR Brecourt (c)

The perfume Rosa Gallica starts with the for "single" roseperfumes typical, a bit oily, rubbernote, this time i percieve it as been located in the pink octaves of the note scale. The opening accord with the roseoilrubber reminds me of the opening of Annick Goutal Rose Absolue. Soon Rosa Gallica transforms to a darker (still pink), sweeter, balsamic, almost jammy rose with peppery-light spicy accents, probably the myrrh-incense combo. Here Rosa Gallica resembles another beutiful rose fragrance, this time of the oriental type: Aramis Calligraphy Rose. The roses are a bit more prominent in Rosa Gallica whereas Calligraphy Rose has a wider range of notes, also spices and herbal notes. After this stage, Rosa Gallica lightens a bit in the imagined pink nuance and the peppery note intensifies on a musky background, here I recognize a bold, oriental rosy favorite of mine: Montale Roses Musk  Either of these fragrances are containing oud according to their notelists but I think there is some involved as both has some of the woody peppery note that is involved in many oud fragrances. For a short while I percieve Rosa Gallica sweeter again, with an almost vanillic touch and Mancera Roses Vanille shows up. In the basenotes, Rosa Gallica turns back to the Aramis Calligraphy Rose phase again, but more rosy and pink than the latter when comparing the basenotes.

Picture: Rosa Gallica
Photo: PR Brecourt (c)

As indicated above, Rosa Gallica has similarities with a bunch of distinctive oriental rose fragrances, Therefore it's not particularly original or innovatory but it smells really good and is a pleasure to wear. Rosa Gallica is classified as unisex, to me it leans to the feminine side on the scale. Longevity is great about 24h and sillage is big but not overwhelming. Rosa Gallica was not at all what I've expected, when reading of the background and looking at the picture of this ancient rose. I thought it would be a relatively light but tenable natural, clean smelling pink rose in the style of Annick Goutal Rose Absolue or Rose Splendide (swe), which was the case only in the very first accord.


Rating: 5


Notes: Baie rose, incense, gallican rose, myrrh, cashmere woods, ebony, ambergris

Thanks to ParfumMaria for the sample to try