Noturfave

Compared to the La Panthère Parfum, this is:
- less sweet and tart
-rounder and more floral, with gardenia as the center.

Imagine my surprise when, expecting apricot, I got a heady gardenia fragrance lightly tinged with apple.
The gardenia is beautiful, though. It has the sensual and narcotic, almost overripe aspects of white florals that I love, without being too sweet.
I detect a bit of powdery-bitter oakmoss but the perfumer could have put more in.
Oh well.

The overall effect is very elegant. I think it comes off as more put together than the parfum.

I love osmanthus.
And I love oakmoss.
But:
The opening accord here is a bit juicy, sweet and tart compared to the delicate, almost suedey scent of the real flower. It's larger than life, more peach ring than apricot, and diffuses quickly and beautifully.
After a few minutes drydown, there's a less obvious, more realistic apricot that sticks around, along with a musk which unfortunately reminds me of baby wipes.
The oakmoss is barely there.

Ultimately I love the idea - you'd never think that a Parfum would be more topnote heavy than the EdP La Panthère Eau de Parfum - but I wanted to see something different and richer, less fruity, in the execution. I think I ultimately was looking for a different perfume. Luckily I only sampled.
Without the weight of my expectations to drag it down, it's still a nice perfume. More heavy-handed and definitely stronger in sillage than the EdP. It'd appeal to gourmand lovers.

The leather mixed with incense creates a smoky, narcotic black cardamom or betel nut impression.
The effect created here is not the calming smoke of frankincense.
I’m not in the monastery. I’m watching an oil rig burn. Or a pile of tires. I want to run.

This effect lasts a whole hour before drying down to the middle, and I am safe to take in the rest of the scent.

I smell sweetness- a hint of lightly spiced rose.
And finally, two hours or so later, when the oakmoss kicks in, it’s a brilliant rosy-leather chypre.

Sillage is strong. Especially at the beginning. The perfume lasts a whole day on clothes. But that first phase is brutal.

Buy with caution.

It’s funny how things with different listed notes can smell so close together. For instance. I’m in love with original Azurēe. The aldehydic opening. The nonsweet floral powder. The rooty, earthy and medicinal orris root. The light hints of leather.

Sillage Blanc is rated to smell closer to Bandit Eau de Toilette than Azuree. And yes. The leather is stronger. And the ingredient list is closer. Sillage Blanc has no orris, either.

But those bitter-green, earthy herbs in this concoction- they create something that smells almost like orris.
And the leather is there, confronting you from the very beginning.

At a time when both Azurēe and Bandit Eau de Toilette are quite hard to get (at least where I am) this fragrance is the descendant - even replacement for both of them.

The vintage Eau de Toilette is odd. It's a 90s fragrance with 80s hugeness, in a low concentration. Think: a staggering opening of fruity, sweet, indolic jasmine. Then the rosy, creamy sweetness of sandalwood - but dwarfed by the huge, opaque floral cloud. The carnation adds spice and weight to the concoction. It's incredibly thick and rich - but doesn't project, though it does last.
That's the weirdness of the EdT. It reminds me of Opium, but they didn't commit.

It's better - actually delicious - mixed with a woodier base. Think Stash Eau de Parfum Elixir.