Michelle

Such a beautiful beautiful perfume. I have a vintage spray bottle that looks exactly like the photo here in Fragrantica in a glass bottle with gold looking stopper. This is a sweet floral chypre. It stands out among other chypres of it's time (released in the late 70s or early 80s) because it has a coconut top note. The coconut is so there can't miss it. Milky smooth creamy but not too much of it to fall into gourmand category. It's a sweet smooth coconut milk that is also surrounded by soft aldehydes. The aldehydes give this aroma a soapy and powdery vibe. Imagine smelling a coconut and white floral hand made soap without harsh chemicals. It's delicious and comforting, relaxing. Not tropical. Just white floral. The gardenia is coming through, a little tuberose, carnation and ylang ylang plus iris. The iris and aldehyde pairing of course gives it a big powdery vibe. That kind of soft spicy carnation kick is nice too. And floral powder. Beautiful powder. The coconut never leaves the aroma either. Eventually as it dries it is soft and warm-spicy. It becomes those kind of perfumes that don't smell like perfumes but a well-made luxury skin cream or body lotion. This is your skin but better. The woodsy note of sandalwood comes through with a cinnamon spiciness. There may be amber and a soft warm vanilla. I'm also detecting very soft green edges like a vetiver or a jasmine green leaf. The lack of citrus notes give it more a white effect white powdery silky effect as opposed to a fresh citrusy effect. A smokier and spicier finish dry down. Maybe a little bit of white musk. Some cinnamon and vanilla. The scent is long lasting over 7 hours and yet the projection/sillage is soft and can only be detected by the person closest to you. This seems to have come right before the release of Giorgio Beverly Hills. This is like that but softer and more friendly, less intimidating, less 'go big or go home' and more like it's kid sister. This is a youthful fragrance. I picture a very classy young teen girl or just turned 18 girl or 18 through 20, starting off in life but starting off right. She is simple, lady-like, loves to wear dresses usually white dresses, pearls and earrings, little make up, Mary Jane shoes. She is innocent but grown up at the same time. Blonde or light brown hair. Peaceful eyes and peaceful spirit. A sophisticated sweet white floral aroma. I love it so much. I like to spray it in the air over my bed to get me to sleep. Bottom line if you want a tamer softer Giorgio Beverly Hills or a softer toned-down Jovan Island Gardenia this is for you. It's also giving me Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds vibe but a lot softer far more youth-friendly and toned down. This scent works best in the autumn and winter but can also be worn sparingly in the spring time. It's formal and semi formal and if you spray minimally it is ok for office and work places. Wishing everyone a happy new year.

Michelle! The mother and father of Carnal Flower and even Tubereuse Criminelle, it sways differently from the other tuberoses of the era, even though there are common elements with Chloe, launched a bit earlier. Michelle isn't in the same ballpark as Poison, Giorgio or Ysatis. There's an ethereal feel, just like in Chloe, that echoes the last days of the 70's, moving from greener floral chypres, to the 'Hey, I'm here' gorgeous 80's powerhouses, but it also has some guts. The main notes that hold Michelle together is coconut and a camphorous tuberose, with the other notes playing along. The coconut gives the creamy/buttery feel and the tuberose shows it's wintergreen aspect. Both enhance/balance each other, in a hot and cold interplay that recalls Chloe. But the difference is the lack of softness. Michelle has a bite from the carnation, the Iris isn't extremely powdery and the oakmoss is more prominent as it dries down. There's more creaminess from the ylang ylang at the heart and drydown and something more that has been described as cinnamon but that I can't pinpoint. The musk also feels warmer, more animalic, civet adds a primitive touch and the vetiver gives it a dryness that helps ground the sweetness. Is it a chypre? An oriental? Just beautiful! Michelle feels expensive, well made, and joyous. Like I said there's a certain feel that evokes the end of an era and the beginning of an other. I can picture it on someone early morning in spring walking in Manhattan in a suit and later going to dinner in a shoulder padded dress. It's not extremely powerful, but splash or spray generously and it can take you through an entire day. It's tuberose alright, but not so innocent anymore. And it needs spring and summer to be herself, when the warmth brings her to life. So if you enjoy tuberose and it's less delicate side, try Michelle. It's been discontinued but still available online and on eBay. Review based on original black box splash edt, with red stripes and gold semi circles.

Michelle could be considered a milestone on the timeline of modern perfumery. It's fascinating to experience it as the olfactory midpoint between the green, earthy chypres that were popular in the decade preceding its release, and the roaring, overflowing and sweet florals of the 80s. It begins with aldehydes and a dewy, verdant chord, soon growing ever more peach lactonic as gardenia quickly materializes. To my nose, the gardenia is most forward, with the tuberose a refined and mildly camphorous cohort to the gardenia's milky, thick blooms. There is buttery quality to this floral interior, and an inherent spiciness: clove, cinnamon. Soon, suggestions of grass, earth, and woods slowly advance over time. It is soon evident that a vetiver is imparting this through the floral heart. Growing more mossy and grassy, Michelle also sheds a corporeal glow, a musky swell from beneath the layers, sweetened with a layer of vanilla. It could very well be that Michelle was a predecessor to explorations in niche narcotic white florals of the 21st century. I pondered as to whether in a blind test, how even a seasoned nose would identify it. Would they assume it is something from Serge Lutens or Frederic Malle? It is this liminal approach by Francoise Caron that makes Michelle outstanding, as if it is an olfactory watermark of shifting tides. I find this often in certain perfumes, where they present a flux in technique and in trends. As a matter of fact, we can find this in a few of Caron's compositions—Choc de Cardin, R de Capucci, and the magnificent Le 3e Homme de Caron, her collaboration with Akiko Kamei. It would behoove a lover of gardenia and tuberose to get acquainted with Michelle.

I have a mini set that includes the pure parfum and the edt. This is beautiful. I don't smell the coconut at all, but I know that it is giving this scent a lovely creaminess and more than a hint of the tropics. The white florals are refined. No bubblegum or heavy butter here. I also love the hint of spice which I’m attributing to the carnation. Not overt, but you will know it's there. While this isn't a soapy fragrance it does remind me of the bars of soap that used to be sold in Henri Bendel's. It was a Tuberose and Jasmine French milled soap that smelled wonderful and almost identical to this perfume. Smelling this scent reminded me of that. I have been on a Tuberose crusade trying to find my perfect tuberose scent for some time now, and this one goes far to fit the bill. It's a delightfully creamy, full-bodied beachy predominantly tuberose scent tempered by the other notes from becoming too camphorous. I hate when some tuberose scents veer off into mothball or Vicks VapoRub territory. The dry down is very sedate and elegant. I'll have to decant the minis into an atomizer as dabbing it doesn't seem to give the coverage I would like. I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled in the future for a larger spray bottle. Edit - I purchased a 3.4oz. edt after finding that the edt seemed to work better than the pure parfum in silage, though the parfum is richer. Longevity is much better in spray form too.

This is one glam fragrance. This could be Carnal Flowers mother and Daughter to Jungle Gardenia. Its a earthy well done white flower scent. Aldehyde opening, then gardenia, green notes and coconut with a creamy sometimes camphorous tuberose is on display until the spicy carnation brings the realistic tuberose down again. It takes a long time to evolve thru her stages. Shes one of a kind, much more affordable than CF and more complex. Id say shes the most complex out of the three. Shes strong done in 80s fashion but not in an intrusive way like you think of when someone mentions Giorgio. Michelle is very high class. I remember a lot of very wealthy ladies I knew wear Michelle back in the 80s. Epitome of class and style. My significant other kept commenting on how beautiful I smelled. He rarely compliments. This is a stunner. Signature worthy.