A Few Florals

Notes on a few floral fragrances:

Rich Hippie Wild Thing
Hey, I tried to be cynical about this one ... but I am overcome by desire. With notes of Indian jasmine, Albanian orris root (providing a faint violet scent) and Egyptian rose, Rich Hippie Wild Thing initially offers whiteflower sweetness -- a clean, pure sweetness -- that shades into its rose-but-more drydown. No one can accuse this scent of excess ... it truly is a case of less being more. A delicate, refined scent.

Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit
Initially, I experience an intense fruitiness in Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit, with the apricot note in ascendance for much of the first hour. This is replaced by the lush richness of yellow jasmine with a total combined effect of deep sweetness -- but not an overwhelming sense of rosiness, a disappointment to me. As drydown progresses, I can discern amber and sandalwood, with the musk notably absent to my nose and the chypre very subtle (hardly evident). Although this is a beautiful fragrance, it's a bit leaden ... not for me.

Annick Goutal Ce Soir Ou Jamais
According to various sites, Annick Goutal Ce Soir Ou Jamais was a scent ten years in the making and incorporates 160 essences, including Turkish rose, jasmine, ambrette (these are the three acknowledged by the Annick Goutal site), cassis, pear, peach and wild flowers. According to me, Ce Soir does bear a resemblance to the lovely Sa Majeste la Rose of Serge Lutens. I think they may share the ambrette, which affords the scent a warm muskiness. But I found this fragrance to soften into a much gentler rendition of rose, after the sharpness of its first few minutes. A sensual scent that I found myself relaxing into ... into its ultimately very gentle elegance. Lovely.