Drseid
Very helpful Review
8
Jean Kerleo's Precursor To Patou Pour Homme Prive...
Ma Liberte opens with a very nice lavender note with an undertone that can best be described as a sour lemon and an ever-so slightly powdery heliotrope. The lavender and supporting sour lemon tandem hangs around well into the heart of the scent, now joined by additional florals of jasmine and extremely faint rose. The dry-down consists of the remaining ever-persistent lavender joining clove and nutmeg spice, with a relatively well-concealed cedar wood backbone. Projection is average and longevity is excellent.
Ma Liberte is one of Jean Kerleo's greatest compositions... and regrettably discontinued. It has been compared by some to probably Kerleo's greatest composition in Patou pour Homme Prive, and I definitely see where they are coming from. That said, while I would love to say Ma Liberte was as good as that masterpiece of masterpieces, while the lavender used in the two is probably the same stuff (and the best I have ever smelled for sure) Ma Liberte primarily differs in having a sour lemon undertone at the open and early heart that just rubs me as just a tad bit "off" and gets more spicy in the base, where Patou pour Homme Prive perfects the earlier lavender dominant composition by being much more polished and smooth throughout. Make no mistake, Ma Liberte is an outstanding scent in its own right and few will ever get the chance to smell, let alone own the long-since discontinued Patou pour Homme Prive as it is one of the most rare and highly sought out scents you can find at approximately $500 a bottle nowadays... Those who have Rolls Royce taste on a Volkswagen budget should be extremely happy with Ma Liberte and its approximate current $50 a discontinued bottle price tag. No, it may not be a replacement, but you get 85% of Prive's quality at 10% of the cost, earning a superlative 4 to 4.5 stars out of 5 rating and a "must buy" recommendation for fans of oriental florals in particular.