Julipet

In a cooler springtime, this is at its best. It’s too weak in extreme temperatures, but in the wet cool spring air, it carries quite decently. Iris and violets are so appropriate and smell wonderful paired with petrichor in the air. Also, this time (probably the fifth time wearing it during the last couple of years) I actually can smell very pronounced patchouli after several hours. Wow.

As many recent commenters, I’ve bought this out of pure nostalgia. My elder sister had this in her teens, her bulky sweaters smelled of this fragrance all the time and I thought it was so nice. I wanted to be like her when I grew up, and that included having this opaque turquoise-white phial on my dresser, obviously.

Thirty years forward, I see this by pure chance in the online marketplace while looking for another piece of my past (Midnight Poison, but that’s beside the point). I see the familiar turquoise swirl of a cap and cannot believe my eyes… Could it be that it’s STILL in production? Me and my sis live in different cities, days apart, I miss her terribly, and of course, I need this perfume on my dresser—to remind me of her.

When I got it and made the first spritz it was like falling into the past. Hugging my sister, burrowing into her scarf with my nose to inhale this tender, powdery, clean scent. It’s quite perceivable, but so transparent it’s being overshadowed by her hairspray that she generously uses to keep that impressively highly teased side-swept engineering marvel of bangs that she wears (the early 90s are still big on big hair).

Intime is almost as elusive as the smell of violets in the garden. In the broad daylight you seldom can catch it. Yet when it’s quiet evening, humid twilight hanging between night and day, they suddenly amaze you with their gentle and fresh sweetness.

It's a beautiful fragrance and I would happily rate it higher if only it weren't so fleeting and weak.

I’ve been intrigued by all the delicious ingredients and also bought this just to complete my collection of Love Potions. Of all her “sisters” I ended up reaching for LP Secrets most often.
It’s sweet, classy, and uncomplicated at first, which makes it a good office-friendly option when I feel open and chatty. Yet it later develops body and creaminess, making it intoxicating and kinda addictive. I cannot stop sniffing my wrists when I wear this. Almost as I do with Poison Girl. Admittedly, Love Potion has less potency and is less syrupy-sweet, it’s also leans more floral than gourmand, despite the strawberries and chocolate – must be the sandalwood that brings out orchid and gardenia.

Overall, I’d say it’s a good balance of sweet girly, and floral classy scent for your first job interview. Not seductive or sensual, as marketing would suggest, but pretty and innocent. I love it still. If you like Dior Poison Girl or Carolina Herrera Good Girl, this should be up your alley too (it’s not a dupe, just a similar style).

This gem is definitely a consolation for people like me searching for a Midnight Poison replacement. These two are indeed very close, even though the pyramid looks quite different, while other perfumes with more similarity in ingredients (for example, Jeanne Arthes Balade á Paris Promenade a Montmartre or Love Generation Pin Up) smell very differently and are nothing even remotely reminiscent of MP.

Rose Patchouli NOU has the unmistakable alchemy that made me fall in love with MP, yet it’s not a copy. It is drier, spicier, and more reserved – not as dramatic as MP. It’s not that much of a dark patchouli bomb in the opening and it doesn’t become as sweet and opulent as it develops. It definitely has both these sides, but they are more balanced and centered.

It’s like NOU’s Rose Patchouli is the same Goth girl you knew as a teenager, only now she is in college, wears less eyeliner, pivoted into boho style, controls her wild mood swings, and writes her thesis about Edgar Allan Poe instead of reciting his poetry in the candle light.

Another analogy that keeps coming to my mind is Carolyn Jones from the 60s’ “The Addams Family.” Her dark Morticia is Midnight Poison. And then, there is her twin sister Ophelia, all in white and with a flower crown, also played by Carolyn Jones. Same face, same quirkiness, but different – Rose & Patchouli is definitely a twin to MP, but more sunlit, cheerful and "normal" – the daylight version.

Rose & Patchouli is the closest to MP so far from all I’ve been able to test. La Belle de Russie is just as close, but they are on different flanks. While NOU’s Rose Patchouli is on the drier and spicier side of Midnight Poison, LBDLR is on the sweeter and moister side – I should try wearing them together and see where it gets me.

Also, Rose Patchouli develops this strange green apple-skin note that I also find in generic dupes of MP – even the very basic ones that don’t really develop still tend to dry down to this note, while MP doesn’t have it in the first place. In Midnight Poison, rose and patchouli slowly dissolve in the amber and vanilla sweetness before they create this opaque apple-y note. That’s why MP is a masterpiece and I will always miss it – its simplicity is very calculated, it always stays clear and transparent.

All that aside, Rose Patchouli is definitely a beautiful fragrance and I feel lucky to have found it thanks to all the lovely suggestions here. I ordered it online and as soon as I opened the package, I recognized the familiar scent and knew I've found something very close to my favorite MP.

Despite the pink pepper in the pyramid, I don't detect much similarity to YSL Elle or Perles de Lalique. Rose Patchouli is much more clear and floral.

It is spring now and RP feels very in tune with the weather, maybe it will even work in the summer. Probably won’t be potent enough for the winter, though.

I received a bottle of this as a gift from my late mother-in-law. She was a very elegant woman who enjoyed cosmetics and perfumes, so she often used to give me perfumes for birthdays and other occasions. I must say this one was the most right for me as if I had chosen it myself. I often wear it in winter because it’s so warm and sunny.

It’s comforting, cheerful, spicy, and confident. It feels in my nostrils like the sun on my skin: warm, delightful, slightly tangy. I have to be in the right mood to pull it off, but when I do, I always enjoy it very much and it puts an extra pep in my step.

When I first looked at the notes, coffee and ginger were an “aha” moment, because I felt them quite distinctly, but I was surprised that there was no amber in this. I was sure it was an amber fragrance – maybe sandalwood and Tonka beans created this illusion.

It radiates moderately but stays on my skin until the evening. On the hair, I can still smell it the next day. It’s one of my favorite comfort scents, but sometimes it can be too cheerful and loud – and it’s more about my mood and my ability to handle its energy, than temperature outside.

At first, I was not impressed. Pleasant, sweet, but generic. Too safe. Nothing to write home about. Yet Pin Up grew on me. It is a very comforting, office-friendly scent for every day. Still, it has an understated “boudoir” vibe to it.

“Pin Up” is a suitable name: it’s powdery, sweet, feminine, tender, and sexy in a very subtle, coy way. Edgy girl on a package doesn’t do it justice: it’s not provocative, just a little retro-style coquettish. Think rose silk dress and feather boa.

I think white and pink suit this perfume well. It reminds me a bit of fuzzy pink flowers of a Persian silk tree – both how they smell and how they feel to the touch. It’s gentle, sweet, but not too sweet, with a bit of fruity-sour juiciness to it. Warm with just a touch of coolness – like a satin nightie on a body.

I find myself trying to describe this scent in terms of a “soft classic” Kibbe body type verbiage. I think they are a match. No rough edges, no bold statements, just roundness, softness, sweetness, and balance – nothing sticks out, everything is smooth and composed.

I don’t detect jasmine here, which is a welcome change, because all the other perfumes with this ingredient that I tried on lately feel like jasmine bombs – Burberry Her, Burberry London, even Dior Poison. I think my nose developed some sort of jasmine-selective sensitivity. Yet not in Pin Up. If anything sounds more prominent than other ingredients, it’s rose warmed and smoothed by musk.

Pin Up sits close to skin, fittingly intimate, yet stays with you until the evening. I stop feeling it almost immediately after spraying it on, but get wafts of it as I move around.