The Moon Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle 2019

During a day trip to Milan I had the chance to visit the Milan Cathedral and many other sights as well as a few perfume houses. The enthusiast in me has of course days before researched on the Internet which houses have a store in Lombardy and with pleasure I could determine that there is a small shop of Editions de Parfums.
Arrived I was as happy as a little child who enters a candy store, because the perfume houses of Frederik Malle are very sparse. The tiny store of only about 15 square meters was fully geared to the new release "Syntehtic Jungle" and decorated in the plump green jungle design. However, I was interested from the beginning only "The Moon", because it is otherwise very difficult to get alone to samples and these are admittedly also just extremely expensive. The fragrance had attracted me by its description and several reviews on video platforms and aroused my interest. I am a big fan of Editions de Parfums but have only been able to test "Promise" from the Desert Gems collection. So I was all the more interested in the high-priced fragrances, all of which are supposed to use real oud. I would also like to add that I received super friendly advice in the store and was even offered a chair so that I could sit down and test everything I wanted in peace without any pressure being put on me to buy anything. Quite big cinema! :-)

I sprayed The Moon with a sprayer on my arm, so that I could test it from the durability and sillage. My first thought was that the scent reminded me more of Promise than I would have thought. This may be due to the Turkish rose that prominently accompanies both fragrances, however, I can't shake the feeling that I also perceive a spicy pepper note at the beginning. However, this comparison is quickly invalidated as a lovely raspberry note comes to the fore. It is still strongly supported by the rose which holds back, however, more and more. The longer the scent is on my arm, the more woody and oriental it becomes, which I attribute to the oud. Leather I can hardly perceive in the course of the fragrance. The oud is definitely to smell but clearly less animalic than in his colleague "The Night" from the same collection, which I could also test. There, the oud already has an almost fecal note, whereas in "The Moon" it remains wonderfully discreet in the background and gives a spicy-oriental note. The durability is phenomenal! On my skin, the scent was easily noticeable for 15+ hours despite showering in between, and projected without end for the first 5 hours. The scent is generally very loud, however, I feel him at the same time not as intrusive.
When I later sniffed again on my arm I am the association of the shadow of a caravan that moves over a dune ridge not got rid of and had to think at the same time of Sting's song "Desert Rose". This describes the fragrance perfectly for me: Arabic singing and a low setting sun that captures the last impressions of the desert. Also, the name just fits too well and I feel transported to the Orient by the scent. "The Moon" is a wonderful rose-oud scent, with the rose taking center stage and supported by a pleasantly sweet raspberry. It is spicy, woody and smells very classy in my opinion. I can recommend everyone to get his nose to a sample, because this fragrance has me intrigued beyond belief.
I leave the closing words to Sting and "Desert Rose":
"This desert rose whose shadow bears the secret promise, this desert flower no sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this"