Perfectly Marvelous

Notes here are lacking. This is what I found: Indian jasmine absolute, Red sandalwood, Pimento, Jasmine sambac, Cashmeran, Resins, Spices

I find this fragrance to smell much more of sandalwood and a bit of jasmine. It is intriguing, deep, chic, not for everybody. Unisex.

A very creamy, rounded, jasmine scent. The jasmine is enriched with a dense musk and sandalwood undertone. Very rich, expensive-smelling, and long-lasting, I would say. Not terribly unique but a commendable execution of luxury and quality that I'm sure many white-floral lovers would eat right up.

Nose Note #381 No, no, no. The first seconds are nice and have a sparkle, but it quickly turns ugly. Just not a perfume, but rather a "smell"... Smells kind of like paper fresh out of printer. Has strong chemical aroma that doesn't smell natural. I can pick out pimento - it's similarly spicy like Givenchy Xeryus Rouge, but the meat of it is so niche, I can't stand it. One of the few perfumes I had to scrub off Also!! The juice has such strong color that it left a huge oily orange mark on skin. I wouldn't dare spraying it on clothes...

"CELINE BAREL WAS INSPIRED BY MRS. VREELAND’S QUOTE, “IF IT ISN’T A PASSION, IT ISN’T BURNING, IT ISN’T ON FIRE, YOU HAVEN’T LIVED!” TO CREATE PERFECTLY MARVELOUS. THIS IS AN UNFORGETTABLE FRAGRANCE BUILT AROUND A JASMINE ABSOLUTE FROM INDIA DRAPED IN A “GLOWING LAVA” ACCORD OF LACQUERED RED SANDALWOOD AND PIMENTO. HEADY, ELEGANT AND VOLUPTUOUS, JASMINE SAMBAC LENDS A GLOSSY QUALITY TO THE COMPOSITION WHILE EVOKING UTMOST EROTICISM. CASHMERAN, A MUSK THAT EVOKES FIRE, COMBINES WITH A MIX OF SPICES AND RESINS FOR A CRACKLING EFFECT." this is what DV's website says about the notes and I have (for rather a long time, since its inception) always favoured in "Perfectly Marvelous" the LACQUERED RED SANDELWOOD as if this small chic side dressoir was on fire and you smelt that: burning red paint unexpectedly smelling well, marvelous. these perfumes all smell divine and outrageous and possessing five flacons of 100ml. already I would want to own them all and splash on them. feeling feminine, resplendent, exceptional and chic/chique. a man. homosexual, dutch and no I do not smoke dope. this will do anytime for narcotic presentisms.

I smelled this before I checked it online to find out what I was supposed to be getting, and what came across first of all was the sandalwood swiftly followed by the jasmine. Jasmine and sandalwood isn't that rare a combination - Samsara comes to mind - but in this particular perfume the sandalwood has real depth and the effect is somehow much richer. At first sniff, I wasn't able to identify the pimiento, musk and spices that I now know are also in this fragrance, but they make their presence felt in this richness. This perfume smells rare, exclusive and expensive, and quite bewitching. It actually is expensive, but I am seriously tempted to splash out. By the way, I smelled the other fragrances in this range before deciding that Simply Marvellous was the one I wanted to test on my skin, and having looked on the website I now know that sandalwood is an ingredient in several of them. It is interesting how the various perfumers who created this range have all started with the same inspiration (Diana Vreeland) and similar ingredients and yet have created perfumes that are all distinctively different from each other.

Here's an update: as you might expect, the jasmine disappeared first over time (about 4 hours). The sandalwood faded next, leaving a very soft spicy oriental, much softer than, for example, Opium. At every stage, it was still lovely. The following day it was gone from my wrist, but when I picked up my watch, the most divine and subtle scent had been absorbed by the leather strap, including the jasmine, and a day later I could still smell it from time to time.

PS if I didn't know that this was a new range, I could easily have been convinced that it was a classic I just hadn't come across before, maybe even as old as Mitsouko. I am not saying that this is like Mitsouko, because it really isn't, but I find a lot of modern launches lack individuality whereas Perfectly Marvellous (not Simply Marvellous, as I said below - I'm not finding the names in this range helpful!) has its own character.

I'm wearing a sample from the Neiman Marcus cataloge, so not certain how accurate this is. However, I get a lot of Jasmine and a lot of musk. I'd say this is a great cozy, comfort scent.