Fleur de Louis

Soft, elegant, ladylike...beautiful for any age. A beautiful sweet first impression. For women who appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. Who don't need trendy notes to make something sexy and beautiful. Virginal. No dirtiness, smoke or animalic tendencies. A perfume on its best behavior. The first shot on my skin...a hint of pine...blink and you miss it. Then my beautiful lovely iris!!! You gorgeous flower you!!! I don't really detect orange flower but the rose is gorgeous and shows up about an hour later. So soft and sweet. It makes you want to swirl your nose on your skin to appreciate its beauty. There is a slight powder but ever so slight. This is not a strong or heady perfume. This is not a powerhouse and sits fairly close to the skin. Here is to beautiful beginnings!!! edit...Some days I get the orange flower. It depends on the day. Really lovely!!!

Arquiste Fleur de Louis opens with a surprisingly sharp orange blossom. The orange blossom itself doesn't have much innocent, fluffy sweetness, and skews towards green, clean neroli. But at the same time, there's quite a bit of mentholated indole as well. These two characteristics combined, Fleur de Louis feels kind of austere and bracing to me at first sniff. Gradually with time, a gentle jasmine sweetens the fragrance, warming it up and turning it more approachable. The iris also arrives with its soft powdery texture. Layering on the clean orange blossom, this mild powdery texture lends the fragrance a soapy feeling. Not the sharpness of old soap bars, but tonic and refreshing, in a poised and classic manner. The mentholated indole lasts well into the dry down, which make me suspect that pine also plays a quiet role in it. The orange blossom quietly exhibits its natural oily sweetness, while tiny bitter greenness plays hide and seek among floral sweetness. The overall effect actually reminds me of blooming hyacinths in early spring, unexpected, but I quite enjoy it. The sillage is relatively soft, and the longevity can reach 10 hours on my skin. The note pyramid of Fleur de Louis did not initially raise my interest, but I was positively surprised after testing it on my skin. I especially appreciate its use of mentholated indole, which manages to render the floral sweetness a natural feeling without compromising the overall fresh tonic ambiance of the fragrance. Moreover, it succeeds in walking the fine line of having various nuances and paying tribute to classic themes, but with a modern radiance. I would definitely recommend it to those who are seeking a more floral "eau de cologne" style fragrance, with a certain balance between classic elegance and modern aesthetics, but I'd also suggest testing beforehand if you happen to be more sensitive to mentholated greenness.

Opening was sharp - I can clearly feel neroli and iris, but there is NOTHING sweet about this as one might expect from neroli - the scent is soapy and sharp, almost bitter from iris, it is with no doubt very feminine and at the opening reminds me very much some old powerhouse fragrances as the iris here shares the same quality. Though - silage is very moderate and far from the "good old ones". The heart adds warmth of jasmine making this even more elegant and enjoyable for me. The scent itself is still kinda sharp and soapy, but the balance what jasmine gives is really lovely, it plays around being "cold" and then "warm". Drydown is warm jasmine and cedar combo with bitterness of orris root, basically - very similar to the heart part, just a tiny bit of cedar added for depth. Even though I must admit that this is a really lovely scent - it smells like elegant and expensive soap - I cannot understand the price tag (149 EUR for 55 ml) as it is nothing new or unique, also the longevity is not superb and silage is rather moderate. I do not feel anything extremely high-class quality wise also. Worth a try of course, but I think that not many will be willing to give $$$ for a full bottle.

Aside from what's already said, I also detect a lily of the valley "accord" similar to the perfumer's Walk On Air *Rodrigo Flores-Roux is also responsible for Neroli Portofino and Velvet Sublime! Right there tells you he's an expert on orange blossom!

Really great aldehydic floral fragrance. Too much orange blossom for my personal taste. Lasting power is quite weak.