Carine

Testing Carine from a 1.5 ml official sample Carine Roitfeld. For a celebrity type of scent, it’s really strong, different and smells addictive. It’s a very high end smelling celebrity scent if that makes sense...Reminds me of Tom Ford’s White Patchouli, which I already have. Carine is the spicier and more expensive version of White Patchouli. Opening it’s very beautiful, sweet pink pepper and soft spices. Smooth and warm spicy opening. Later on, after about 10 minutes transforms into a beautiful floral bouquet of gardenia, jasmine and rose. It’s a sweet, spicy floral at middle stage. Then, in about half an hour, patchouli takes centre stage and completes with the spices and the flowers. It’s a glorious scent in the dry down, I am not going to lie. Would it be cheaper, I would get it instantly because I love a good patchouli perfume! And Carine is really a great one, with intense presence and moderate sillage. The other base notes, vetiver and cashmeran, kind of neutralise each other. Vetiver is usually a very earthy, woody, harsher note but the softness of cashmeran smooth everything perfectly. Nothing sticks out to much or feels out of place or artificial in Carine. Should I find Carine on some sort of deal for next fall, I wouldn’t think twice before purchasing. It’s a deeper, richer, woodier white floral scent, with prominent patchouli throughout its development stages that’s more appropriate for spring and fall wear than summer! Either way, it’s a good one!! More celebrity should follow Carine Roitfeld’s take if they decide to venture into perfumery.

Incredible, hyper sexual, nonchalant elegance. Tom Ford 07 Private Blend ala Carine Roitfeld by Dominique Ropion. Few and very far between is a perfume that sets out blatantly being overtly sexual can it remain elegant and chic. Hyped but well deserved maybe even underrated to be honest. If Carine was a huge brand this would have been a blockbuster. White florals mainly I detect jasmine on patchouli and musks. A simple idea but deftly executed I can’t imagine this being anything but irresistible. If Carnal Flower had sexuality dialed up to a 10 this is a 9 only because it can be worn by anyone so because it’s not very specifically within a gender profile the sexual fluidness if you will causes to be a little less extreme. For me as a man, that means I can actually wear this myself. I love this so much right now if I had to compile a shortlist of one fragrance for life options this would be on it. Thanks to Steven from Luckyscent for raving about this repeatedly. Good guidance right there. The only reason I could this rating at fragrantica being below a four is everybody secretly wants to gate-keep this. Love this... If perfumes got standing ovations this deserves one.

Reminiscent of the early 2000s and late 90s perfumes where there was tenacity in scent, and not for the sake of amplifying concentration, sweetness or fixatives to launch into beast mode, Carine has some classic integrity with nods to Alien, Prada Intense (rectangle with dark purple atomizer bulb), and Coco Mademoiselle. She's not a scent sister to Samsara but could easily be circling the same crowds wearing a minimalist heavy-satin chemise instead of velvet and jewels. This eponymous fragrance starts with a textured, tousled-hewn, green patchouli – almost mossy with pixels of pyrite. Velvet white petals emerge and are singed by my skin's warmth. It's a cabaret lounge that snakes with the harmony of a wooded liqueur finishing in a dark, luminous French polish with a sheen of aged floral wax. The bottle – elegant, minimal, a comforting heavy smoothed stone with a satisfying magnetic cap. She's easy in the way she enters the room and turns heads, yet unassailable in her presence. Timeless yet valiantly modern amongst the Insta-girls, Carine invites intrigue and uninhibited compliments.

I had always loved the concept of Tom Ford’s White Patchouli, but I eventually had to let go of my bottle. After a few hours, the development always disappointed me - it felt like a two-dimensional painting or an image I could admire intellectually, but not truly experience. Carine fills that space instead. It’s a sculpture, an experience that lasts for hours, holding its axis assertively even into the next day. Pure magic. I love it!

This floral amber opens with a blast of indolic, animalic, fiery jasmine set ablaze by pink pepper. Carine is zhuzhed up with rose and gardenia, while the patchouli hints at a raw and wild soul. All the while, cashmeran and vetiver exude elegance and refinement. For me it’s a beautiful balancing act that perfectly conveys someone equally artistic and stylish. Follow me on Instagram: @TheScentiest