05/12/2014

Ysbrand
84 Reviews

Ysbrand
Helpful Review
7
Triumph of Flora
I had smelled Olène some years earlier and i remembered it as a particularly intoxicating white floral so i was very looking forward to smell it again; when i did in my last visit to the Diptyque store in Paris, i had the same exact feeling of wonder and i celebrated the reunion with this vernal goddess by getting myself one bottle that i don´t really need because i already have perfume for an average lifespan.
The opening of Olène is to me, one of the most beautiful and perfect i´ve ever smelled. Serve the illustration on the label (now in the back of the flaÇon) as a promise of the content: Flora holding a cornucopia of flowers, therefore spring-like, seductive and lush as very few other fragances, Olène does to narcissus what Guerlain´s Mahora does to tuberose.
Olène is indeed a very narcissus centered fragance, could i dare to say a soliflore? I speak with Oléne-tinged fingertips on the keyboard and the nose on a helpful "bridal-crown" narcissus that grows on a lil pot just at my side (yeah,im literally twisting my head to sniff and type at the same time just for the sake of being truthful) so contrarily to other opinions, im convinced when i say the note of narcissus is dominant.
The glorious opening, though, is much sunnier and sweeter than narcissus itself, thanks to what it seems to be a honeyed spanish broom-like accord (wisteria indeed? pseudoacacia? fabaceae after all) and i think thats the key of the right-away climax of Olène. Wisteria sweetens but also enhances the tonic herbaceous side of narcissus, that almost reminds to a slightly astringent green tea. As the fragance develops,looses the sunbeams holy nimbus, but not its beauty. It turns more sober, falsely melancholic just because its eyes look better that way, a subtle flirty smile; narcissus takes the center, closely assisted by jasmine and gardenia without dilluting the unique ambiguous, voluptuous character of narcissus. A nostalgic honeysuckle pulls in the other direction of jasmine: greener, more yellow, tad honey and pear-like. Olène stays quite linear, closer and closer to the skin until is just a whisper.
My only problem with Olène is precisely its longevity. I dont mind it becomes my skin scent (i wish!) but it should stay longer. Fades too fast to take it seriously. A looser hand with the narcissus absolute and this would be a classic. Diptyque really needs to launch an eau de parfum concentration version as they did with other iconic fragances.
The opening of Olène is to me, one of the most beautiful and perfect i´ve ever smelled. Serve the illustration on the label (now in the back of the flaÇon) as a promise of the content: Flora holding a cornucopia of flowers, therefore spring-like, seductive and lush as very few other fragances, Olène does to narcissus what Guerlain´s Mahora does to tuberose.
Olène is indeed a very narcissus centered fragance, could i dare to say a soliflore? I speak with Oléne-tinged fingertips on the keyboard and the nose on a helpful "bridal-crown" narcissus that grows on a lil pot just at my side (yeah,im literally twisting my head to sniff and type at the same time just for the sake of being truthful) so contrarily to other opinions, im convinced when i say the note of narcissus is dominant.
The glorious opening, though, is much sunnier and sweeter than narcissus itself, thanks to what it seems to be a honeyed spanish broom-like accord (wisteria indeed? pseudoacacia? fabaceae after all) and i think thats the key of the right-away climax of Olène. Wisteria sweetens but also enhances the tonic herbaceous side of narcissus, that almost reminds to a slightly astringent green tea. As the fragance develops,looses the sunbeams holy nimbus, but not its beauty. It turns more sober, falsely melancholic just because its eyes look better that way, a subtle flirty smile; narcissus takes the center, closely assisted by jasmine and gardenia without dilluting the unique ambiguous, voluptuous character of narcissus. A nostalgic honeysuckle pulls in the other direction of jasmine: greener, more yellow, tad honey and pear-like. Olène stays quite linear, closer and closer to the skin until is just a whisper.
My only problem with Olène is precisely its longevity. I dont mind it becomes my skin scent (i wish!) but it should stay longer. Fades too fast to take it seriously. A looser hand with the narcissus absolute and this would be a classic. Diptyque really needs to launch an eau de parfum concentration version as they did with other iconic fragances.
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