Violet Cendre

somehow all of these things come to mind: extremely realistic foggy misty morning lavender garden, lavender fabric softener, detergent isle in the supermarket. I know they are very different things but different shades of this perfume remind me of all of those facets. the scent is natural, nothing chemical or screechy here, and yet the combination of lavender and rose feels immediately bring fabric softener and detergent to mind. there's also obviously depth, coming from the amber and tonka and woodsy note, but you have to stick your nose close to the skin to detect those notes, otherwise at a distant it comes off as soapy. The perfumer claims that the creation of Violet Cendre was inspired by the Lutens classic, Gris Clair, and I can totally see that this is miles and miles better than Gris Clair. Gris Clair is soapy and metallic in the worst way (burned my nose and caused headache), but Violet Cendre is very natural smelling.

I so wanted to love this one. The notes seemed right up my alley, and I’m a sucker for a description that mentions fog. I do get the steam from a hot iron accord when I put my wrist right up to my nose plus a bit of lavender, but unfortunately, from a distance all I get are whiffs of grocery store bathroom air freshener.

Extremely realistic feeling evoked of walking past a lavender bush when it's in full bloom. Instant memory flashback, pretty crazy. To back this up, a (VERY) powdery violet as well as hard lemon candy. A very lifelike but minimalist perfume, atleast in terms of notes I can feel. Nothing sharp here to disturb your dreamy thoughts. Very well made! Edit: An hour in and this has turned into an ultra smooth soapy leather fragrance, with the floral notes (with the addition of creamy white flowers) being in the background.