Parfum de Grasse

Like many of Dawn’s creations, Parfum de Grasse has a vintage aura. It opens with big orange & yellow flowers - neroli and mimosa - recalling those flowers blooming around Grasse in late winter. The flowers then quickly give way to the heart of the fragrance. It's, as the previous reviewer so elegantly phrased it, a rounded, polished gemstone of a fragrance without any particular note taking over on its own. A symphony rather than specific instruments. The sandalwood is there, the moss, the beeswax, the vetiver, and the subtle florals, but they come together to create something more than the sum of its parts. Like the opening, the dry-down brings me to the hills of Provence, this time in summer. There’s none of the lavender or other aromatic herbs one usually thinks of but instead the base notes conjure the scintillating woods of the garrigue in the hot sun.

This perfume makes me drool. None of the notes stick out, it’s got that rounded and polished gem-stone feel of the great classic perfumes of the past. It’s soft and delicious, an easy reach for when you crave chypre perfection. This is what Chypre Palatin wants to be. I’ll be getting a small vial of this, we’ll see if I need a bigger one.

I simply cannot stop myself from wearing this. It is so exquisitely, perfectly rendered that I feel instantly transported to Grasse.

It starts woody- spicy- warm: moss, vetiver (less dry kind), sandalwood and well anchored by beeswax. There is a resinous feeling in this. After reading about the brazilian vetiver I can see where this unexpected note came from. It seems this type of vetiver is woody, resinous and aromatic. Quite interesting. After 20 min the neroli and orris notes become more evident. The neroli brings its bitterish side and the orris is not powdery but green, leafy and woody. Other unexpected twist. I like this touch a lot. The composition has roses, jasmine and carnations just enough to bring a feminine side. It takes more than 2 hours for these notes to become more powerful. The top notes are hard to discern, probably they just add up to the initial illusion of floral notes. Nice chypre floral, somehow too heavy for my nose. Probably too much vetiver. Maybe a different type of vetiver or other woody tone would have brought a better balance in this composition. I like the dry down that feels more floral and less resinous. Nice variation on a classic chypre, with a modern label. 8.2/10

Bought a lot of three by this perfumer and two of them are chypres in the vintage style, this being one of them. I get a boozy, citrusy mimosa with beeswax giving it some creaminess and a nice amount of oakmoss here. Sillage and longevity are better with this one. Again, it reminds me of vintage Avon (as the other one, Rose Vert, does), though the ingredients are fresher of course. A good choice for late summer/early autumn.