ElisaS95

At last, I've found a lovely incense from an Italian house.

No sweetness like Messe de minuit from Etro or Cardinal, no strong conifers like Liturgie des heures or Encens Flamboyant and no fruityness like Malvs. Just cold, churchy (or spiritual), and resinous incense. If Liturgie sadly isn't available to you, you could get this.

I can't say that I smell all the notes reported in here, but resinous incense and amber, especially at the end, are the most noticeable to my nose. Perhaps it's the lavender that helps that cold sharpness and the patchouly makes it feel a little bit like there's damp soil around you.
It makes me think of a cemetery, somehow.
It lasts a long time too.

Liturgie has the coldest and the darkest feel of the few incenses I've smelled so far, but this one is similar. I find that it can be worn in summer too because of that, instead of saving it only for cold winter days.

The packaging is very curated, even for the 30ml bottle.
It looks elegant: Has a golden cap, a blue textured band at the top of the bottle with the name and logo written in golden lettering.

Plus, its name is distanced from the catholic imagery typical of frankincense perfumes. Lovely!

Cinabre, literally meaning "of the vermillion colour of cinnabar", is a fitting name for this early creation from Maria Candida Gentile, one of the four perfumes of her own first line.

The names she gives to her perfumes may be uncommon as their scent, and her works are undoubtedly original on the perfumery landscape, but, they make memories resurface inside of me with such clarity, that I could compare them to still frames of my childhood.

Perhaps it is because we're from the same land that Cinabre is so familiar to me.

But my very first approach wasn't like meeting something familiar, on the contrary, it was estranging.
Cinabre opens with a strong, razor-sharp ginger and peppercorn accord.
After a while, you become more accustomed to it and you realize that it is not like freshly cut ginger- these spices are dried, and together they still release their scent in a thick, somewhat sweet, delicious aroma. It doesn't last long before rose joins the stage.
On the middle notes, rose is the most prominent. Unlike any other I have in my collection, this rose is unique. This isn't a dewy, pink rose- It's big and cutting, in a bed of spices and warm resins. So sharp, that if I sniff close to my wrist, it's like I can smell a droplet of blood on its petals, because of my inattentiveness while admiring it.

Nearing the end stage, Cinabre leaves the spot to delicious vanilla, with faint traces of the spicy rose from before.
This perfume is altogether warm and feels heavy. If I were to describe it in fewer words then, I'd say that Cinabre is a warm, mature, thick, spicy perfume with a sharp rose that ends in vanilla and resins.

It's definitely not for the warmer months. I feel like it would be too much to handle. It performs well in fall and winter, and maybe in early spring.
It has an enormous sillage: My mom asked me immediately what perfume I was wearing today as soon as I took a few steps to go down the stairs. And that's just from applying a few drops on each wrist from a sample vial!

I hope that, if you like rose perfumes, you'll give this one a try. It is really a unique find from Italian perfumery.

As almost everyone wrote on their review on this perfume, even cross website, I will also say that the first seconds of Le Muguet are strong and challenging.

The opening is very strong green juice, somewhat fizzy. To my interpretation it also has a synthetic, fruity facet. Is it like pear granita?

Thankfully, this stage is brief, and the perfume turns into white, little LoTV bells. It feels cold.
Certainly, there is a starch-like feeling which together with the flowers this perfume represents it still makes me think of the colour white.
It smells of soaps, clean clothes fresh out of the laundry or freshly washed hands in cold water. It feels refreshing, or like the crisp air of an icy morning.

I could say it's a little sweet if I don't sniff anything else for a long time. But after wearing this for a day and spraying something else at night like Petite Cherie on my other wrist, I feel like it's really not.
Even comparing it with Penhaligon's LoTV, Annick Goutal's is not as sweet. But what I can say is that it's not bitter or certainly not salty. Continuing with the realm of the sense of taste, Le Muguet has a certain tartness to it although not strongly noticeable unless you stick your nose on your wrist or spray yourself in a lot of it.

As time goes it becomes less arrogant, and it calms down to a soft, pretty LoTV scent which smells of innocence.

I like the scent, I think its cold trait fits well with the Winter season too. It could remind us younger perfume enthusiasts of their grandma. But, in my opinion, it has freshness and feels clean, two traits I also associate with youth.
I am happy to have this bottle. Although, something inside tells me that it's my collector's side that's talking and that I would have actually preferred to own Penhaligon's interpretation of the LoTV first rather than Annick Goutal's.

This perfume is just a little more than rose.

It was the first perfume my mother got for me during my high school years as a present.
I still have a few millilitres left to remind me of her thoughtful gift, even if she never was into perfumes (although she did really like my Ninfea decant).
Feelings apart, which are an important, added value attributed to our perfumes that makes us love them even more, Rose is a pretty scent that I think it's more of a peony scent rather than being just rose.

It opens as citrusy, reminds me of the oil that you can squeeze off the peels of citrus fruits, but not from a lemon, It's not sour. It's fresh and juicy.

Soon after, all I can smell is peony. A scent I find difficult to describe because I know so little of it, yet had perceived in some perfumes already without really knowing what it was. I first smelled a real peony in Leiden's botanical gardens in the Netherlands. As soon as I put my nose near the flower I went immediately like "Ah-a!", so that was what mom's gift smells like. After almost 8 years I had finally found out. It's not as deeply perfumed as a true peony flower, but it is similar.

In the background there's a sweet and shy, pink rose that feels bright and dewy.
But in the perfume's short-lived stay, I don't think she's at the centre of the picture frame.
There's a certain fruitiness that sticks around.

I don't know about amber as I'm not familiar with the note, but I am sure that I do not detect a trace of almond milk in this- at all. A pity, since I love almond milk.

It's a light, fresh flowery perfume that doesn't last long, but its short stay is very much appreciated. Lovely and pretty to wear during daytime, even for an innocent date, that would be cute.

It's not spectacular or ground-breaking, but because of the emotional value, I don't think I'll ever forget about this scent.

I love the idea of owning a perfume that smells like green cut grass, and to own one that's from my favourite, the Annick Goutal house?
After looking at the notes, I was sold. Unfortunately, it has been long discontinued.
And so I was on a quest that lasted 1 year (arguably little, I know).
Now that I luckily own the EDT, I'll try my best to describe it for those who, like me, might be wondering what it smells like. I can contribute by adding what I personally get from this scent when applied on my skin... Also this perfume is now around 37 years old.

With this premise in mind:

At first spray on my skin, it's sharp, green crushed leaves. It feels almost metallic and mustardy. Thankfully this first stage goes away quickly.

It turns into something that smells soapy clean (vintage style) and grass like, fresh.
The clean aspect reminds me of freshly washed hands and the grass facet reminds me of the times I used to rip off grass stems in the garden.
At this point it has some flowery sweetness to it.
Rather than smelling like perfume, I feel this smells rather natural.

It changes becoming faint and delicate. It smells like taking a stroll in the sunny countryside, of tiny white flowers and what feels like small amounts of green powder from milled dried grass. Kind of a dry herbal feel in the nose.
Can you recall the sweetness dried herbs can have? I feel it's like that.
Compared to more recent releases, the sweetness in this has nothing to do with the new generation of perfumes, but it's not bitter either.
My mom, who supposedly loves the smell of cut grass, doesn't like this perfume!
I've asked others, and they tell me it just smells like countryside flowers to them.

It stays very close to the skin, meaning I can smell it only if I get my nose on it.
Near the end, It has something that reminds me of the smokiness in Palais Jamais. How weird. It's still herbal and I find it intriguing.

After all, it's a fresh, more on the dry side, herbal perfume that I think shows it's age. It doesn't last long and it stays close to one's skin.
It's very faint, but I think that's the beauty of this perfume. It's very unique and special that I am not sure if I was able to describe it fully. I don't think it's a crowd-pleaser, but I have to agree with the other reviewer that the feelings this perfume conveys are of past days of innocence and purity. So lovely...

With all this being said... I wish it was a little sweeter and juicy, I wish the grass aspect of it was stronger and that it smelled of fresh green throughout. I like it and appreciate its peculiarity- but I don't love it as I expected.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I was born during the times when the concept of a perfume was about sweetness that is not necessarily gourmand but not as unsweet like women's perfume from the 80's.

I prefer Fathom V for a grassy perfume but they are nothing alike, not even on the conceptual side.
I disagree with who compares it to Eau de Lierre. To me, they smell nothing alike (supposedly they share a note). EdL smells more like Finisterre by Maria Candida Gentile, which unfortunately I do not like at all since to me it smells like sulfuric sea waters (a little eggy).

Eau de Camille is nothing like that, fortunately!
If you also happen to be asking yourself if Eau de Camille smells like Hedera by l'erbolario, the answer is: absolutely not. They only share the Ivy imagery.

If you have read my thoughts up until now on this rare little gem, thank you- and if you'd like, let me and others know what you think of Eau de Camille!