Eau de Californie

This is the one I was most excited to try and while I agree with Elirone below, it is nothing groundbreaking, it also did not disappoint me as I was hoping this would be the lovely combo of iris and palo santo that the notes had me imagining when it was first released. I am happy to report that it is even more beautiful than imagined with a perfect balance of powdery iris atmosphere to soften the burned wood of palo santo. The name is really fitting and anyone familiar with the smell of the desert, wood cooking in dry sun, will appreciate the connection. If you love palo santo but want a more refined take, a less smokey hippie vibe, something you can wear anytime anyplace, it’s worth a try. Samples are hard to come by still but I found two places online selling for $14 ml (yikes) and since we won’t be allowed to travel for awhile this was my only chance. I am sampling the whole line but this is full-bottle worthy to me. Marc Jacobs owns this one according to something he posted on Instagram FYI trivial bonus info. Oh and I guess I should add that the only drawback I can see is that I couldn’t smell this on myself after a couple of hours. My husband still could but I couldn’t. I was only wearing about .5 ml though so this could be one that requires a heavier spray. Update: Bought the bottle and I still love it, wear it everyday. I really load it on in the morning, skin, clothes, hair, and no matter how much I spray it always remains light and subtle, a gentle sillage. Quiet green citrus brightness fades into the perfect balance of iris and smokey palo santo. I love this so much that I can’t help but be devestated by its’ evaporation 2-3 hrs into the day. It has a gentle presence to begin with without any heavy base notes to anchor it longterm. So it’s performance is rather like a very successful, tenacious cologne rather than an EDP. I still adore it and will take this scent any way I can get it. Perhaps I can extend its’ performance with a little palo santo oil. 4 out of 5. Beware, this spoils a little faster than other perfumes in my collection. Try to use it up within a year.

Eau de Californie is a radiant woody cologne with a nice chypre drydown. It is very much in keeping with the Celine DNA, being a lightweight, utterly chic scent featuring Celine's signature sheer, delicate orris. It is similar in style to Bois Dormant, but this is my preference. The prominent use of Palo Santo here sets this apart - it is smooth and realistic, and smells freshly-hewn. EdC is smooth and woody from initial spray. Bergamot adds freshness up top, and the powdery orris slowly develops in the background, ethereal and refined. The chypre base is mossy and woody, with the smooth Palo Santo shining through. To me, it is evocative of vintage chypres but with a modern, pared-back update. It remains dry and woody until final fade, with some muted mossiness lingering. Sillage is intimate and longevity is moderate. It is a unisex, transeasonal daytime scent. A lightweight, high-quality cologne-chypre, EdC is an effortlessly elegant everyday scent. I just wish it had better performance, but Palo Santo and orris on a chypre base - beautiful. 4/5.

Eau De Californie is blazing sunlight on a dry Southern California landscape—a fragrance that feels like home to anyone who knows the quiet magic of Los Angeles hills in summer. It opens with a fleeting brightness of citrus, quickly giving way to smoky palo santo, creamy and warm, yet somehow transparent. Think cologne, but stripped down and reimagined, Hedi Slimane-style. The sillage is close, I recieve constant complements when wearing this one when someone comes in for a hug or gets a bit close in the office; subtle yet undeniably present. This isn’t a scent that shouts; it hums, drawing you in like the warmth of a fire you didn’t realize you needed. Wearing it is effortless—my everyday signature that feels personal yet endlessly chic. Smoky, intimate, and unmistakably cool, Eau De Californie is a scent for those who understand that less is always more.

This is my favorite from the original lineup. Beautiful woody palo santo and powdery orris. Very classy and likeable (i.e. inoffensive) as well as totally unisex. It smells really really good but I've been asking myself: is it worth the money? I've gone through over 10ml in samples which were kindly provided to me by my SA in the boutique at multiple occasions. While I love the scent, I just can't bring myself to buy a full bottle. My biggest issue is the performance. The longevity is nothing to rave about. It lasts a bit and projects decently for maybe 30 minutes, but the overall performance is simply not good enough to warrant the price of over 2€ per ml. If I pay that much I expect to be able to still smell it at least 3 hours after spraying.

A chilly breeze rolls in, bringing with it a slightly n nasal bite—sharp, citrus-laced, bergamot slicing through the air like the first ray of sun over quiet hills. Crisp, fleeting, gone before you can retaliate. The friendly contrast of woods settle in fast, gentler yet equally attracting. Smooth sandalwood, dry but soft, curling into the smoky embrace of palo santo, sacred and weightless, like embers glowing in the dusk. Firm surfaces draped in cushy, cocooning moss, grounding but never heavy, earthy whispers of forest green beneath khaki warmth. Powdery, elegant, blurred at the edges, effortlessly unisex. Neither too bold nor too delicate. Just balance, just beauty, and just the quiet confidence of something thoughtfully, perfectly composed.