Agent Provocateur Maitresse

Maitresse, to me smells like scented compact powder after it’s been applied on a cleansed face + the drydown of Chanel No.5 EdP after the aldehydes are gone + warm skin that had been moisturized with white musk body lotion an hour earlier. What a beautiful scent, smooth and soft yet with decent sillage...it has all the comforting elements of an ideal skin scent, while having enough projection to be noticed, keeping you within it’s lovely scent bubble for hours. I smell ylang ylang, iris, creamy white musk, a shy violet, and a fuzzy suede note most prominently, but all the notes are extremely well-blended with fluffy, rounded edges, and there’s this persisting, subtly-sweet, very ‘skin-like’ muskiness to it that smells so intoxicating and nostalgic to me. This scent had me almost crying when I first sprayed it on. It reminds me so much of my late mother in the 90s, specifically the way her face and neck smelled, it’s the combined smells of her perfectly powdered face, her clean, moisturized skin, and ofcourse, the lingering drydown of her Chanel no.5 perfume that she would discretely spray on every single morning before starting her day...it brings back the memory of her warm, tight hugs. I miss her so much and this scent immediately took me back to my childhood with my beautiful mother. Maitresse is so feminine and intimate, it can be cozy-matronly or extremely sensual, or both at once, depending on the context. For example, a child would find this scent comforting and memorable on their mother, while the husband would find it to be sensuous and very arousing on his wife, it has this attractive, intimate aura that makes people want to get close to you to savor your irresistible feminine energy. More than that, it’s also elegant and polite enough to be worn to the office, there’s absolutely nothing lewd or scandalous about this scent at all! It’s Woman with a capital W. As for the age group this scent would appeal to, this is a scent for women who are (and absolutely revel in being) ‘traditionally feminine’, regardless of her age, doesn’t matter if she’s 18 or 80. It would also appeal to those who are drawn to the retro-feminine, boudoir or vintage pin-up girl aesthetics and want an easy, everyday scent to allude to that particular style/era. A couple reviews below talk about it being a scent they imagine Marilyn Monroe wearing, I agree, but this is Marilyn in Norma Jean mode, not glamorous Marilyn on the silver screen, rather she is relaxing at home in a silk kimono after a long, pampering hot bath and indulgent skin care rituals. If you are someone who admires the vintage classics like Chanel No.5, but you don’t feel comfortable wearing them, or perhaps you desire a more modernized and smoother/softer take on vintage perfumes to wear day to day, you should definitely try this scent. Mama would have loved this scent for sure. And I love it too! A very successful blind buy for me (I have the new formulation without the woman on the bottle). Very different from mainstream scents. The ‘vibe’ and feel of this scent is like that of Love, Chloe (my signature that’s been sadly discontinued), eventhough they do not smell alike, both are modern floral-musk scents with a very nostalgic, retro-feminine twist to them, Maitresse has a more relaxed, creamy and intimate personality and Love, Chloe is much more powdery, sophisticated and aristocratic in feel. I’m looking forward to wearing this one often. It’s a safe, all-year round scent for me that can suit any occasion, day or night...the only time this scent would be a no-go is on hot summer days outdoors. I really can’t believe it can be gotten for so cheap when it smells anything but!! Update: I wore it out tonight meeting my friend, it’s a warm, softly breezy summer night...it made him take a huge breath and sigh as soon as I got into the car, he told me I smelled incredible! We hung out for a few hours at a nearby cafe, and after he dropped me back home, he called me to say that my beautiful scent was still lingering in his car. Now, I did overspray this one because I wanted better performance out of it, and I’m glad the scent still stayed true to itself even with nearly 10 sprays...on my clothes, neck, arms, in my hair. I’m ordering another bottle as my back up. For the price I’m paying, it’s an absolute steal, I don’t even mind having to overspray!

After a year of searching, and a lot of perfumes and euros later, i think i found my scent! Blind buy, based on great reviews, but i was very skeptic before trying it. I was expecting something "in your face sexy" and a somewhat overpowering fragrance. Soft, subtle,a bit powdery, clean, yet with depth !! I can't detect patchouli (thank God), but i think it's the leather that gives this a very soft and smooth feeling. I don't feel that this is really sexy, it's too subtle and soft for that (i guess a sexy scent to me is an oriental with bigger sillage). Longevity is great (12 hours/ next shower), sillage is moderate when lightly sprayed, and i like it that way. I don't believe in love at first sniff, but now it was! I have to explore this further, but i think i found what i've been looking for :) EDIT: I been wearing this for a couple of days now, and it truly is lovely. Something about this makes it smell very clean. Not "fresh" in the sense that it would be green in any way. Maybe soapy is a better word. The powder in this reminds me of Tocade, so i get a lot of powder, but in a very soft and grown up way, not baby powder. I think the powder in this might make it feel "old ladyish" to those who are used to fruity fresh scents. To me it feels classy and grown up. (And come to think of it, heck, i am an old lady, 42 :D ) Staying power is good, i almost wish it had more sillage though, it's very subtle on me. The more i wear it, the more i like it!

This is my second review for this insatiable fragrance, and must admit to myself that I am a liar (LOL), as on my first review I mentioned that I will stop using it as per its power of attraction... My bottle is about to finish, and honestly I intend to stock up with new ones so it won’t be missing from my collection. All those years of collecting perfumes, I thought that I was not going into that procedure, but after all I am deeply attached to Maitresse. Plus, it has become my signature scent. For me, Maitresse is my perfume overdose, a magnificent concoction of floral mixed with aldehyde notes, gentle and soft, desirable and flirtatious at the same time. I have got the whole collection line of Maitresse, including the Golden Shimmering limited edition bottle, which I use on very special occasions. My fiancé’s opinion is that of all the perfumes I possess, this one suits me the best and apart of that, I still receive a lot of compliments and from women too... In the years to come, I believe that my perfume collection may grow bigger and bigger, but if I had to give it up and just choose two perfumes, that would be Maitresse along with another one of my favorites, Caresse from Fragonard. Fragrances will come and go, but only those two have a special and permanent place in my wardrobe.

Maitresse is not a sex goddess to me. She's comforting, more of an embrace than a suggestive stroke. She has a lovely throwback quality which I have to attribute to the aldehydes. I detect quite a bit of the note, but they're approachable aldehydes. The kind aldehyde haters will find acceptable; a gentle gateway to the note. The suede is just as noticeable. A lighter leather presentation. It's cleaner and definitely softer. The suede holds the violet, ylang-ylang and musk gently together while the aldehydes uplift and cool the entire composition to perfection. Maitresse gracefully sidesteps both the trap of trying to please everyone and conversely trying too hard to be different and edgy. The balance offers a wonderfully projecting, long lasting fragrance which feels both easy to wear and beautifully unique at the same time. NOW, while I love the aesthetics of the bottle and how comfortably it snuggles into the palm of my hand, MY Maitresse is wearing a cozy pair socks not stockings and stilettos :)

Literal sex bomb. The bottle is shaped like a bomb. A lot of women prefer L'Agent but I tested it and didn't like it. Too much incense, nothing remotely sexy about it. Smelled like a Catholic church. Nothing to do with sex. This is the one you want. Sweet, floral, seductive. The kind of sweetness in this perfume is not a girly girl type of sweetness like the Paris Hilton fragrances. This is a womanly adult sweetness. A sweet woman who is beckoning a man into her boudoir in her lingerie. Opens with lotus and ylang-ylang, so right away it's floral. Osmanthus jasmine iris and violets are in the heart. Iris is really noticeable and the violet is as strong as I like my violets. This kind of floral is elegant and powdery. It's also got some leather or suede but it's not as big as others seem to make it out to be. It's there but I find this fragrance to be more on the woodsy and musky side toward the end. I wear this when I go out on dates or to wear in the bedroom.