Palais Jamais

Palais Jamais is my first Etro, and though it's become a love, it first gave me a bit of a surprise and a bit of a heartbreak. The surprise is that it smells sweet. (Not dessert sweet—citrusy sweet.) With mandarin and orange blossom among the notes, perhaps it's no great revelation, but since everyone describes it as a mossy, musty, green fragrance, I was surprised to find it both sweet and *orange* in color. The comparison with Collistar Profumo di Benessere had mislead me the most. Collistar is definitely and unambiguously green, lacks any hint of sweetness, and belongs more properly in the neighborhood of Sisley Eau de Campagne. Palais Jamais is mossy and musty, but it also has an almost syrupy orange quality about it. This quality is the first to show up and the last to leave. It colors the experience from the beginning to the end. It's fused together with the perfume's more expectedly earthy and dry features, and initially it can be perceived as discordant. The first time wearing it, I wanted to ignore it and get to the green. But as soon as I relaxed into smelling what’s there instead of what I thought should be there, I came to crave Palais Jamais exactly as it is: a strange new harmony, ethereal and beguiling. Evernia prunastri aka oakmoss (which someone wondered if is still listed on the label) *is* still listed on the label. It's easily detected and gives the perfume much of its bewitching character. The heartbreak has to do with the performance. As another reviewer said, Palais Jamais isn't so much fleeting as it rushes through its development. The best stage, when all the notes sing in glorious harmony, lasts some 20 minutes. It makes you wish you could stop the clock. The wisps, however, last most of the day. On the whole, I feel this delicate, unusual perfume is a treasure. A part of it is precisely that it's not boosted by one of those aromachemicals that have the half-life of plutonium. I look forward to trying more from the same house.

To me, this is a very unusual fragrance in its curious mossy green appearance. Not what one would expect to have been formulated. There is ample oakmoss within, and vetiver, but the way it is blended with the cedar, bergamot and petitgrain... At first it is dry and a bit sharp, a brewed herbal that almost suggests some kind of scented cleaning fluid. I did NOT like this at first. I bought it blind and thought I made a mistake. I have come to discover that newly experienced accords take time to appreciate. They can be off putting at first, but in time you get to discover their true character. With Palais Jamais, that sharp opening softens into the dry down. The rich oakmoss is garnished with sage and jasmine, and cedar becomes less prominent than in the beginning. Still, there's only a subtle sweetness to this. And burnt plastic? Well, you might be able to force that imagery. There are qualities to unpleasant aromas that can appear in similar forms, but shifted enough as to become quite pleasant. Palais Jamais seems to do this. But don't get me wrong -- this is NOT an easy fragrance to wear. I think of it more like a personal scent, one that you wear when you just want to enjoy the artistry of an unusual accord. I bought this along side the older Etro Vetiver. I thought for sure that the Vetiver would be more appealing to me (which at first it was), but Palais Jamais, the ever palace it is, nudged its way to the same shelf. I don't know if Etro's latest version of it is the same as the older gold cap version. If it is, don't hesitate to give it a try if the prominent notes appeal to you. This is a curiosity worth owning. Longevity is OK, sillage is a little below average.

Etro Palais Jamais is distinctly personal and freeing. I liken Palais Jamais to the beginnings of each season, particularly spring and fall, where the landscape is reborn to eventually decompose; the evolving beauty taking evocative turns along with the ensuing scents that emanate from this ethereal cycle. There is seductive pull to this wonderland where the wooing is innate and fully whole, resulting in an uplift and a reset for all... Palais Jamais is a bottled aromatic of that process. With its initial citrus spritz shaped by a sharp coriander and a cardamom hint, there is a some kind of wonderful in the making towards a naturally dry, yet refined floral greenery. The leathery birchwood, the fragrant jasmine sambac, and the bitter orange foliage of Paraguayan petitgrain shape the tobacco hay slight of the maté absolute into a smoked, herbaceous green tea only to be augmented with a tasteful pepper, before the mossy dews, the rich vetiver strains and the soft sweetness of clary sage elevate as ensemble towards a dusty green aura of freedom and change. Ahh, to begin the begin... Lovely!

A chypre with fougere elements. Verdant lemon balm. Bitter, medicinal rather than medicinal, cold spring washed Petitgrain, plus Sage, spice spiciness and jasmine sweetness surround the smoky charred core of tobacco, Birch. This...is this really a work from 1989? Even today, Palais Jamais does not feel dated at all, it is still functional, and I wonder if its formula has never been changed. Palais Jamais is a green field overgrown with grass, and the scent of moss greens full of moisture is refreshing and pleasant. It would be great if there were no IFRA ban, Palais Jamais could use real oakmoss. However, this idea must not be realized one day. Even so, Palais Jamais is still my favorite.

Etro's Palais Jamais has extremely smokey vetiver and sweet jasmine. It's dense and multifaceted. There are hints of leather and smoked tea, a blooming orange tree and some herbal bits in the supporting roles. Still, sweet jasmine, vetiver and birch form the leading theme. If there had to be a perfume called Jasmine and Cigarettes, this could be it. But the name chosen is much more magical. These are keywords: Morocco, hidden gardens, rustic landscapes, palaces, the dry heat of night. It is one of my favorite Etros, the most inspiring for sure, but also the hardest to wear on a daily basis, randomly, just like that. Nothing is "just like that" with Palais Jamais.