Sensual & Decadent LM Parfums 2015

Perfume reviews should ideally contain a somewhat reflective opinion on a fragrance. But to be honest - there’s not much more to say than "Oh my God, this smells so incredibly good!" Because that’s all you want to say when you’ve sprayed on Sensual&Decadent; you just want to keep smelling it. If I hadn’t hurriedly left the perfume store after testing it, I would have been much poorer within the next three minutes. But thanks to my escape, I was able to postpone this event (for how long, that’s another question).

Additionally, I should mention the following. I usually pay attention to good expression. To a nuanced expression. But Sensual&Decadent makes all my rational abilities disappear and reduces me to expressions like "awesome."

Nevertheless, I want to make an effort (to avoid receiving a "not very helpful" rating) and attempt a slightly more nuanced approach to the perfume, preferably through its name.

"Sensual" - oh yes, it is sensual. Vanilla is simply a perfect aphrodisiac. The fruit from the top notes can only be smelled if you know it’s there. Ylang Ylang perhaps, but more in the form of a sensual aura than from the flowers.

The joke about the perfume is that it is so simple. It’s actually just a beautiful vanilla, perfectly complemented by resins and very slightly smoky aspects. But this is so brilliantly balanced, like I’ve never smelled before. A vanilla that you simply must have. Where no rational thought is possible anymore. Thus, the lack of a scent progression fits perfectly - nothing distracts, it is simply consistently pure sensuality.

Decadent? Yes, in its abundance. And in its beauty. Perhaps also in the effort to view vanilla, which is already a natural aphrodisiac, as something coming from nature and thus inferior, that needs to be improved through human influence. So, by adding other substances, a kind of idealized vanilla is created that enhances its effect.

When I think of decadence, I always think of "Against the Grain," THE work of decadence literature par excellence. Des Esseintes, a French nobleman and aesthete, retreats to his country house and shapes his life there in complete solitude according to his ideals, over which he develops neuroses and gradually withers away. Eventually, he is advised to return to society.

There could have been another, simpler (and more beautiful) way - one only needed to imagine Des Esseintes being sprayed with this perfume by a woman. The rest would have followed immediately, including the disappearance of all neuroses. I am quite sure of that.