Essence N°9: Tubéreuse Elie Saab 2016

I blind bought this bottle, it was on a good offer and I am always looking for a good tuberose to fall in love with. First of all I love the packaging, it’s expensively classy with a hefty glass bottle and a magnetic cap. Now how it smells.. this is a very elegant tuberose essence, it s slightly creamy, stays on the clean side and doesn’t veer into the buttery bubblegumy territory that most tuberose centric fragrances go ( Fracas, truth or dare, Michael kors etc) the opening has a spicy twist With the cinnamon, this phase doesn’t last long but I wished it did. It wears really close to the skin like a veil, With medium projection to low projection but it lasts the whole day. This was a love for me so much so that I had to sell my other tuberose fragrances as I couldn’t see myself wearing them anymore.

A gentle citrus-floral opening, immediately accompanied by a delicate (musk) cream behind it. The tuberose innocently glimmers at me, while its waxy weight seems to brew in the background. But it keeps me waiting, staying where it is. Creamy white musk takes the lead and subdues the floral notes; fruit-touched, more lemon than bergamot, certainly radiant.

Perhaps the musk is a bit overpowering, at least it gives the fragrance a feminine flair in my opinion. Mischievously, one could even speak of a girlish flair, as the tuberose behaves too tame as it develops. Not banal or one-dimensional, just: tame. Alongside, a few diffuse, greener to woody aspects of blurry florality soon rumble, but they completely integrate into the creamy overall picture. A contribution of cinnamon is plausible, explaining the subtle sweetness.

Gradually, the "quite-nice little devil" sneaks into my thoughts. What’s the point of a fragrance with tuberose if it can hardly do more than hint at itself in a gently guarded and slightly nutty guise within a soft, floral-tinged musk scent? Its relative originality may lie in the fact that tuberose is used instead of jasmine. To judge that, however, I lack the breadth of experience with such scents.

Throughout the morning, a trace of neroli soapiness waves, which combines with the musk cream to create a clean note that, however, fails to compel a snap of the fingers.

That’s basically it. To summarize - a floral skin cream impression of musk, a mild citrus note, and a veil of softly nutty-waxy tuberose accompanies me through the rest of the day. It is waaaaaahnsinnig well-groomed and elegant and never gets too pompous; however, it is not particularly exciting. A similarity to Puredistance White has already been diagnosed by Lilienfeld. I don’t know that White, but that’s okay, there’s also talk of a closeness to the Puredistance I I know. This means: In the end, a cream caresser of the noble class; and the latter is meant absolutely objectively.

Although the Essence N°9 seems to be retreating after three hours, the fragrance is still well noticeable in projection throughout the day, the nutty-creamy tuberose aura hangs distinctly audible in the office.

Well. With “Kurkdjian goes Tuberose,” the title theme is certainly not overworked. If I have ever smelled a light, summery, rounded tuberose scent, it is this one. Perhaps the hairy-stinking little one is simply not the favorite vegetable for him.

I see this fragrance solely as a tip for friends of upscale cream scents. They are likely to love it.

Many thanks to Gerdi for the sample!