Saint-Germain-des-Prés by Celine

Saint-Germain-des-Prés 2019

Baptiste
02/27/2021 - 04:34 PM
39
Top Review
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10
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris! Hach! When you think of Paris, everyone thinks of this city in their own unique way. There are as many associations to Paris as there are sights in this city. Given the abundance of choice, it is often difficult to describe the places, sites and buildings visited. If one wants to tell somebody where there is something great to see, then at some point, the term arrondissement or quartier comes up. And at the latest then it gets confusing. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements. These 20 districts are then each divided into 4 quartiers. This makes a total of 80 quarters. If the arrondissements are arranged clockwise starting from the Louvre, the 80 quarters do not follow a comprehensible pattern. But moreover, we often talk about Parisian quarters that actually are not quarters at all. For example, the Quartier Latin that is located in the 5th arrondissement but is not an administrative district as such but only describes the university district. Or the trendy Marais in the 4th and partly 3rd arrondissement with its numerous small boutiques and cafes.

One can divide Paris of course also fun-half after the preferences of the Tourist:innen. There are on the Montmartre those hopeless Romantiker:innen, the howling Moulin Rouge soundtrack sing up and down or climb like Amelie in Zorro costume on the Sacré-Cœur and eat raspberries from the fingers. Or under the Eiffel Tower, where World's Fair geeks flock to snap selfies. In the Latin Quarter, on the other hand, you'll meet library nerds and path beer-drinking endless students. Around the Louvre, instead, it's teeming with royalists and art historians babbling away in nickel glasses and questionable Mona Lisa smiles. Then there's the Marais, where mostly queer tourists parade through the narrow streets and populate the countless sidewalk cafes at an early hour in the name of freedom and tolerance. And there is the Rue Saint-Honoré with the haute couture houses in the side streets, where predominantly members of the Parfumo community drag themselves and their killer sillage from one perfumery to the other.

And then there's the Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

It's actually a real quarter and is located in the 6th arrondissement and is considered THE quarter of intellectuals and artists. At least it used to be. Existentialism was invented here, and certainly many other isms of art and literature. All the greats of painting, literature, music, film and the boulevard frolicked here from the middle of the 20th century onwards. It is said that in a small attic apartment at Quai Malaquais No. 3, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon were still lovers in their early years, while in the famous cafés such as Les Deux Magots and the Café de Flore, the stars and starlets admired each other.
Apparently Hedi Slimane, as the creative head of the new Celine perfume line, often sat in one of the cafés on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and was inspired by this fragrance. He speaks of a quarter of eternal youth with its look influenced by novel and cinema heroes, which he wants to have captured here.

The fragrance starts thanks Petigrain and Neroli fresh-green as a possible allusion to the addition "des Prés", which means "in the meadows". This fresh green excursion to the meadow disappears, however, already after a few minutes again and it develops a typical of the line powderiness. The fragrance remains bright and you can still sense the neroli for quite a while despite the increasing sweetness. As it progresses, iris, heliotrope and vanilla take over and the scent is reminiscent of melted butter without being too powerful. The scent concept remains creamy powdery dry sweet and darkens a bit towards the end. The presence of the scent is rather reduced and skin deep, so that you have a fine and clean, not too sweet butter-vanilla-cream aura around you almost throughout the day. This serves the current zeitgeist with more sweetness in perfumes, but is never overbearing or even too much. I would still classify the fragrance as unisex despite the powder and sweetness. If one looks for comparison fragrances, one can imagine quiet, creamy powdery variants of Dior's Bois d'Argent and Guerlain's Cuir Beluga.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a light, pale powdery-creamy, very classy and high-end clean scent that I have come to appreciate and love. Nothing scratches or bites here, so I don't quite want to make the association with the eponymous neighborhood. If I think because of the history of Saint-Germain-des-Prés but rather something colorful, exciting, playful, dazzling and unconventional, so the fragrance does not want to convince in this regard of hoped-for sophistication so right.
But as a Paris lover who likes to sit in the Café de Flore and watch people, I will certainly put the fragrance on next time. And maybe I'll strike up a conversation with a star or starlet or two. Maybe. Or maybe not. It doesn't matter. The main thing is Paris. Hach.
13 Comments
SetaSeta 3 years ago
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Wonderful sketch of the different neighborhoods. Saint-Germain would be after your description probably also something for me. But whether the intellectuals and artists can still afford apartments there? Nevertheless: hach...The scent is probably rather 'bon chic, bon genre'...
GoldGold 3 years ago
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A city tour plus perfume description, I'm glad and fun!
BoujiescentBoujiescent 4 years ago
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I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for the nice comment, had to smile :) Got a longing for the 2nd home.
ExUserExUser 4 years ago
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Does it have the prominent orris/iris note of "La Peau Nue" from the same line?
UngenauUngenau 4 years ago
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What a beautiful, informative, engaging commentary!
Great class!
ErnoErno 4 years ago
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"My French city", which I also know well, is Lyon, where I lived for two years.... But PARIS is just Paris, is just Paris.... ah... You have a beautiful language. I'm afraid I don't know the scent yet... well, a little bit now. *thank you*
Jo13579Jo13579 4 years ago
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I totally liked St Germain, and the rest of the Latin Quarter too - the prettier, almost more authentic bank of the Seine. Nice comment, even if I probably can't do anything with the scent
FlyFly 4 years ago
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... i'm going to choose the perfume because of your beautiful comment
Thank you
FlyFly 4 years ago
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I live in Paris, but you have described this city so beautifully and aptly - I would go there immediately if I didn't live here. But what I will do in any case, as soon as that is possible again : I will go to the café de Flore or the deux magots, makes --one rather rarely or not at all, if one is parisien...- to Emporio Armani look, me think whether I should buy me there a new sweater, or the perfume of Celine, will then think of your comment and
FvSpeeFvSpee 4 years ago
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A comment with an exciting development, like a good unfolding fragrance!
HannahHannah 4 years ago
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I just read Simone de Beauvoir's war diary and she too was a regular at Deux Magots and Flore. You describe the fragrance very vividly as fine, noble and without edges, but perhaps those have also been sanded down in the Quartier in recent decades. For me, the delicate powdery nerolino notes reflect well the flair and myth of the Quarter in early summer. Both of which we can hopefully enjoy again soon in a fragrant way. Thank you for your beautiful comment.
GschpusiGschpusi 4 years ago
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Great, informative commentary. Thanks a lot
SchatzSucherSchatzSucher 4 years ago
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What a beautiful, lively commentary! It's been too long since my last visit to Paris, but I remember the city as vibrant and exciting, with something to discover on practically every corner.
This kind of fragrance, uncomplicated and unexciting, suits me very well at the moment. It does not always have to go exalted and loud.