Pawly

Soudain L'Hiver by Henry Jacques - a very special fragrance for me. After a statement and some time in my collection, a review of this beautiful fragrance must now follow. This is my very first Henry Jacques bottle. And not only that, it is also the first fragrance I have ever tested by Henry Jacques. So much for good recommendations from experienced sellers.

It's currently April, and now that the cold polar air is sweeping across Europe and it's even snowing in Berlin, it's obviously the best time not only to enjoy this fragrance yourself, but also to find out more about it.
It's woodsy here. Woke up in a tent, somewhere in Scandinavia. Frozen morning dew outside. The sun is shining, the air is cool and dry. The sun's rays make it pleasantly warm on your head, but freezing cold under the trees. The frost in the morning permeates the whole forest, a light wind blows through the treetops. After waking up, it's straight into the sauna. The scent of cedar and pine is clearly perceptible, the first infusion a dream. It slowly becomes pleasantly warm and the frost from the morning is forgotten. After the last infusion, it's off into the cold lake. Barefoot through the frozen morning dew, past pine trees, the lake slightly frozen. Enough freezing, the morning ritual is over - let's get to work, the hut doesn't build itself.

Soudain L'Hiver is a wonderfully green fragrance that develops beautifully, depending not only on the temperature but also on the environment. Starting with a wonderfully green, woody note, it quickly becomes slightly spicy due to the rosemary. Cedar and rosemary in particular come to the fore here, but neroli and jasmine are also quite clearly recognizable and ensure a well-rounded fragrance, so that the cedar does not feel as dry as is quite common with this fragrance note. Leather and moss join the party later and make for an interesting drydown that is definitely worth seeing. It also gets exciting in particularly cold temperatures: here, the floral notes recede far into the background and make room for a kind of freshness. Very pleasant and beautiful. It remains green here until the end, pine can be perceived almost continuously, all the notes blend into one another and are barely distinguishable. After around 6-8 hours, however, this is the end, at least for the extrait.

Soudain L'Hiver will probably always have a place in my heart, not only because it was the brand's first fragrance for me, but also because it was the first one I was allowed to get to know. It has a really exciting character, looks good as a "rough gentleman", but also has a delicate side and would certainly look just as good at a gala as in the forest with an axe and a lumberjack shirt. It can get a little thick in the heat - as the name (Soudain L'Hiver - sudden winter) suggests, I see it more in winter, spring or fall. Could be a little more long-lasting, but perfectly fine. Strong similarities to No. 9 d'Igor & 1995 by Henry Jacques. All great.

If you are just starting out with Henry Jacques and are finding your way around, I can only recommend this fragrance. Not only is it in the lower league of the brand in terms of price, it is also really beautifully made in terms of fragrance. Not everyone likes green, but there is so much more here than just green. Floral notes play a significant role here and the leather rounds off the composition nicely in the drydown. A great experience and definitely more affordable than many other Henry Jacques. The development here is also very exciting. Wonderful.

After the review and corresponding enthusiasm for the fragrance oil, the only logical consequence now follows - a review of the fragrance "Les Brumes", i.e. sprayable perfume - a much less intensive, but more constructive version with a little more practical experience and background knowledge. Instead of many adjectives and impressive lines, a calmer approach. If you want to read both, I recommend my review of "Henry Jacques - Fragrance (Pure Parfum)". We'd best get straight to the point... after about 6 lines of talk. So not even that direct.

Sunday morning. We've had breakfast, the day is rainy - what to do? It's still too cold for parks, it's April after all and you live in Germany. Oh, is it even sleeting now? I hope the roads aren't slippery tomorrow and I get to work on time. Cinema is boring, so is sitting at home. Art gallery - it's been a long time. Well, why not? it says "Contemporary Art", not a trace of old-fashioned buildings. Instead, everything is smooth, white, without contrast. Strange surroundings, totally new and unfamiliar, but also interesting. The art? Somehow confusing, not tangible at all. Strange, minimalist sculptures, peculiar pictures, sometimes bizarre shapes. Disturbing video exhibitions. There is no music, even the creaking wooden floor from old-fashioned art exhibitions is missing. The only perceptible sounds are those of the ticket scanners in the distance, in combination with the shoes of visitors and the whispering from the corner - are these people discussing art or confusion? Do these people know what they are looking at or are they, like me, just wandering around aimlessly, hoping to understand something here? All right - into the next room. Oops, wrong turn, completely empty. White walls. No one is here. Slight smell of paint, completely silent. Soothing but also unsettling. I linger here for a while to let the impressions sink in. Footsteps approach - have more people lost their way here? It's just a member of staff informing me that my time in this room has run out. Ten minutes per person is the maximum. The next person is already waiting in line. Oh, don't get lost, this is intentional. Just like that. Does that make the experience better or worse? Unsure, I leave the room, the gallery, and make my way back home. The journey was confusing, but also beautiful.

Fragrance - a fragrance by Henry Jacques that is so strange but at the same time so pleasing. Even the name is not revealing and is as generic as it could be. Even searching for this fragrance in your trusted search engine is difficult, as it simply spits out all Henry Jacques "Fragrances" and doesn't show exactly this one. The notes? Fused together. Starting with lots of aldehydes, they continue right through to the end and remain in the foreground. Something floral in between. Perhaps garden carnation and ylang-ylang, but perhaps not, it is impossible to say for sure. The iris shines through and, together with the aldehydes, forms a great, somewhat old-fashioned composition, which at the same time appears totally modern and alternative. A really interesting blend. No sweetness, no dryness, not too much of anything and yet strong and perceptible. Character yes, but a very unique and barely tangible one. An exciting thing.

After many hours, this is the end. This fragrance lasts incredibly well on both skin and clothing. The sillage is airy, the longevity impressive. Certainly enough for a day in the art gallery. While Henry Jacques is usually a little more old-fashioned and traditional, this fragrance offers a very interesting and unusual contrast. Certainly one of the most exciting from the house, which is unfortunately incredibly difficult to test, as it is only available to test and buy exclusively in Paris. The price is painful, especially for people who live from their art, the bottle is beautiful to look at and the transparent liquid goes surprisingly well with the fragrance.

A great work of art that is just waiting for the right artist to wear it. Unique, special, pleasing at the same time. Addictive. Funny, but not too funny. Absolutely signature worthy, but not everyone is worthy to wear it as a signature. The fragrance chooses its wearer. Oh, just great. A little bit nicer as a brume than as an oil - this fragrance is simply great to spray on and the longevity hardly suffers here either.

... much too strenuous before that.

Fleur du Desert - the latest fragrance in the oriental Louis Vuitton collection, with a surprisingly acceptable price by LV standards, it obviously divides opinion. For some it's the best LV, for others the worst.

Louis Vuitton has so far been surprisingly convincing. As someone who neither finds the brand appealing nor likes mass-produced fragrances without much character, you would think that the brand is not for me at all, and yet it convinces me time and time again. A well-made, fresh and cheerful Imagination in the morning simply works, and Ombre Nomade, even if it has become a little tiring, has established this type of oud in the European market, and it doesn't stop there. The brand is surprisingly bold. The Nouveau Monde, or Cactus Garden, is pretty far from mass market. These fragrances tend to fly under the radar, have exciting compositions and are in an acceptable price segment. With Pur Oud, Louis Vuitton has even dared to create a real, incredibly polarizing oud fragrance, and Myriad is also in the same league. So what about the Fleur du Desert?

Starting in the boutique in search of Pacific Chill, I first sprayed Fleur du Desert onto a strip of paper and was immediately impressed. Powdery, floral, at the same time oriental, woody, warm. Beautiful and special. Quite different from the rest of the oriental collection, but at the same time pleasant to smell. The enthusiasm was immediately noticeable. After the opening, however, the powder came through more and more, together with the floral notes, and became a little more tiring. Enthusiasm turned into disillusionment - "Why is it developing like this?" Well, no big deal, that's not what I was here for after all. Nevertheless, I did get to see a sample.

At home, I tested it again - this time directly on the skin, it's supposed to be better and it was actually pretty. Slain straight away. Powder through and through, floral too. As a big jasmine fan, I was disillusioned - there's not much jasmine here, it's probably the orange blossom that I don't really like. Chemical, synthetic, scratchy, loud, exhausting were the associations here. Wood, oud, warmth, something balancing? Not a chance. It was downright dry on the nose, even though this was supposed to be my pleasant, oriental "Scent of the Night". Well, that was probably nothing, it's not developing much either, off to bed, it'll be gone tomorrow. But no - I can't, it has to be washed off, even though I never actually have to do that. It's just too exhausting. The next day, a pleasant scent in bed. Smelling it on my hand - it's great! Light, pleasant, balanced. The powder fades, the jasmine remains. The orange blossom is perceptible, but less tiring. I still don't smell any oud here. If this fragrance were exactly the same from start to finish, it would certainly be one of my favorites from the house. However, I find washing off a 300+ euro fragrance every time before I can wear it a little... strange. A great pity.

Despite the bad experience, there are points here for the bottle, because it's really great, and the price is not cheap for Louis Vuitton, but it's okay. Longevity and sillage are enormous, and this one is competition for the Ombre Nomade. The other two oriental LVs are much weaker and more restrained, but this one literally screams through the streets. If you are looking for performance, you will get it here, headaches are pre-programmed with over 5 sprays. For me, this is an incredibly exhausting, loud, annoying and unbalanced fragrance that could be so beautiful if it had just been toned down a little. Unfortunately, that's not really what Louis Vuitton and its customers want and the result is a fragrance that could be described as the nemesis of public transportation users.

... impressive, dream location, room-filling, arrogant, powdery, unisex, versatile, spring in a bottle, fresh, attracting compliments, fantastically beautiful, special, unusual and yet pleasing, airy, nostalgic, fascinating, addictive, hard to describe, wonderful, great blend, qualitative, constantly changing, creative, artistic, multi-faceted, barely tangible, out of this world

Henry Jacques' Fragrance - a fragrance that flies far under the radar, receives far too little attention, has a rather unimpressive fragrance pyramid but undoubtedly impresses with its composition, because it is not only fantastically beautiful, but also surprisingly unique. An absolutely unique and special fragrance, not only in the world of fragrances, but also in the Henry Jacques lineup. Enough raving, back to the hard facts, serious notes and strict evaluation criteria.

Let's start with the notes. The fragrance begins to reveal its aldehydes immediately after application, and there are plenty of them. These immediately radiate out into the entire room and spread incredibly quickly - the sillage is already incredibly strong here. Once again a little unusual for Henry Jacques, but surprisingly bearable. Ylang-ylang and all the other floral notes are not individually recognizable to me here, but are rather noticeable as a mixture, cedar is completely absent, the aldehydes retain the upper hand by a wide margin. Iris and labdanum can be seen in the drydown, the iris in particular stands out together with the aldehydes and creates a powdery, floral, old-school creation that is reminiscent of classic Chanel fragrances. Vanilla is completely absent here, but I wouldn't know if it would be in the right place either. This aldehyde-floral-iris creation continues to the end with the same strength. Certainly one of the strongest HJ fragrances. What should be particularly exciting here is the fact that both the longevity and the sillage are enormous. Of all the test strips, it is the fragrance that has lasted by far the longest, and after applying several HJ fragrances to the skin, it was only the fragrance that was able to create a cloud behind it and drown out all the other fragrances. After many, many hours, it eventually came to an end. It ends just as it began - with the aldehydes, which have persisted throughout and certainly form the framework of the entire composition. Despite some difficult notes, this is a wonderful creation that I really like and still long for months later.

Henry Jacques' fragrance is captivating in a strange way. The powdery floral notes, combined with the great and perceptible, yet airy and unobtrusive sillage, make you crave this fragrance over and over again - even though the notes would not normally suit my taste. The performance is great, as is the development. Surprisingly good and with the right budget, this fragrance can also be layered wonderfully with one of the greener Henry Jacques creations. I tried it with the No. 9 d'Igor and the 1995, in both cases a really nice result.

This fragrance is one of the most beautiful that I have come across so far, and even if I can unfortunately say this over and over again with Henry Jacques, I think this composition is simply extremely successful and courageous, because aldehydes, powder and floral must be skillful and require a certain self-confidence. The fragrance has an old-school feel, but at the same time is also reminiscent of modern studios, art exhibitions and alternative people who are artistically talented and creative. White galleries, still completely devoid of works of art, with a slight smell of paint. An artist sits alone in the middle of this gigantic space and creates controversial sculptures. Here I see the scent - a signature for an artistic person. White canvas, white space, the color is provided by the person carrying it.

Oh Henry Jacques, what have you conjured up for us once again? Myosotis - a rather unusual creation from Henry Jacques. Sweet, with plenty of benzoin, almost a kind of "syrup", combined with light, friendly, floral notes. Can that work well? Oh yes, it can. And here I'll tell you how and why.

Now that I've been able to test a few Henry Jacques and the salespeople have understood quite well what they can and can't offer me to test, I couldn't help but ask for this fragrance. The dark oil, the interesting name and the pyramid of notes just sounded so exciting that I had to ask. Of course, a test was no problem at all, and so I was able to test it both on paper and on me, and I was not to be disappointed.

The fragrance starts floral. Ylang-ylang and jasmine immediately stand out, but tuberose is not long in coming either. Surprising for the rather dark contents of this bottle. The lightness is unusual, but makes you want more, and the sweetness is not too long in coming. The fragrance changes, and as is usual with Henry Jacques, it does so very often and in an exciting way. It becomes a little spicier. The sweetness provides an interesting counterpart to the otherwise quite dominant floral notes. Benzoin is absolutely perceptible, as is the clove. Spiciness and sweetness, including vanilla on one side, light floral notes on the other. An interplay of wonderful fragrance notes, all of breathtaking quality. Clearly perceptible, but not conspicuously loud. A journey of discovery that leads through many developments and never gets boring. All I can do on the way to the Eiffel Tower is sniff my arm. Two weeks later, long since home, the scent still won't let me go.

What is that? A strip of paper in my jacket pocket with HJ on it? Now the entire jacket pocket, including all the bills and packaging, smells like this scent. Garbage has never smelled so good, and even after disposing of it, the garbage bag smells like myosotis. Impressive longevity and strangely strong sillage, and that on paper.

After the fragrance has lived through its development, the slightly floral, sweet, syrupy construct remains until the end, where it finishes after about 10-12 hours. A breathtaking longevity that lasts throughout the day. A warming, friendly, unique fragrance that I just can't get out of my head. And while other fragrances from the house are similarly beautiful and can definitely inspire me, it is this one that radiates a certain magic, conveying a sense of comfort and security. It radiates warmth. It also has a wonderful bottle, even if the cap could be a little nicer. The service is also an absolute dream from start to finish. Buying this fragrance just feels good - from the service and packaging to the actual fragrance itself, which, with the right budget, would be extremely suitable as a signature. If one of your fellow human beings "discovers" this fragrance on the person in question, you can count yourself lucky to be able to smell such a masterpiece. An absolute dream.

The alarm clock rings, ringtone? That super annoying and loud one from the iPhone, at full volume. The cell phone is far away, the alarm is getting louder and louder. The news: the fragrance costs almost 800 euros. Ouch. That's how quickly dreams can fly away. At least the trip was nice.