Carmel de Ville

Carmel de Ville starts with a burst of sugared plum with slightly green hint, it is weird but in a good way, somewhat it reminds me of the feeling when seeing a Kabuki play. Soon enough, an intriguing smell comes in and stays, it’s not a typical perfume-y smell to my nose, it’s ‘synthetic’ (as in I can’t possibly smelt this smell from any daily fruits or flowers) but not the type of fruity sugary synthetic smell you find in many commercial, somehow it’s like Play-Doh mended with some vaguely water-rose and floral scent. Then it goes like Play-Doh plus sweetness plus lily smell plus a tiny bit creamy hint for a long while. I am not a fan of dominant lily scent, and somehow it makes me feel cold and a little bit gloomy while sniffing my wrist. Later on, a weird echo-y milk-y slightly quasi-aquatic smell adds in, and it stabilises and harmonicalise the perfume, but I find it still a little bit headache-inducing. I wanted to like Carmel de Ville, but it just doesn’t love me back. However, if you likes white flowers like lily, and you can go with aquatic-ish scent, try this one.

Starts out very boozy and sweet, quickly softening into sultry tobacco on a base of mostly sandalwood. The composition is interesting but a little discordant on my skin chemistry.

Inspired by the ambiance of Doris Day's elegant Cypress Inn of Carmel-by-the-Sea as the creators indicate this combines a late fifties aesthetics withan 19th century whiff of aristocracy. It starts like a liquer of apricots and plums. Then it turn surprisingly old fashioned with a big note of hawthorn. It's a bit stuffy but thankfully in the drydown we have patchouli and dry tobacco and the vwhole thing fades quite gracefully.

I would absolutely love to try this one and some of the other, they are in the natural perfume catagory, which I'msomewhat gravitating to though I'm not opposed to some synergy being created with other materials.