Eau de Camille

I'm wearing a sample of this and am astounded. THIS is precisely the smell of childhood walks with my grandma in the spring and early summer, when the air was rich with the smell of greenery and honeyed white and yellow blossoms. I'm not sure which blossoms I was actually smelling back then, but this is that smell 100%. I've always wished I could have that scent bottled and now I do! Or at least, I will soon. It's magical-a scent that you wear purely for yourself but is coincidentally just beautiful as a scent for others to experience as well. It is "safe" in the rarest way, not generic or anything like that, just so utterly beautiful and realistic that although it's completely one of a kind, it's the type of nature scent that I can't imagine ANYONE being bothered by, even those who hate perfume, because it doesn't smell like perfume. It smells like lush, warmish yet breezy, sunny flora filled spring air-bottled. I know I'm being repetitive now but this is one of those extremely rare scents that is as close as perfume can ever get to surpassing art and becoming true magic. It is really so insanely realistic that it just totally blows my mind, and trust me I've smelled a LOT of perfume. It kind of gives me a high, and is almost psychedelic, like how LSD can take you back in time, not just a memory but it can seen to literally transport you to a certain time- this does the same. More than photo realistic, trippy. And euphoria inducing. I've tried thousands of perfumes and have only reacted like this to maybe 3 or 4 now. Wow, just wow. What an experience.

I was hurrying to a class before 7 am, when it is dark out. The wind was cold, but it carried the most wonderful scent of green grass, woods, and something fresh carried from afar. It was actually coming from me, it was the Eau de Camille that I had sprayed on that morning. A relatively simple 'green' fragrance that goes on bitterly green, split-foliage and in-your-face. Better to spray and step away from the cloud. The green mellows a bit but remains green for most of the life of Eau de Camille. The drydown is pleasantly sweet, and vanillic, and really nothing like the rest of the scent. While I like Eau d'Hadrien in the summer, I think this would be a great summer scent. It is long lasting and apparent to the wearer(for an AG) but not a sillage monster that will send people running away from you. But I will remember the cold, green scent that I caught on the wind the other morning when I think of this scent. This sort of scent is right up my alley, and I really love it. PS: Yes, I do get the 'herbal soap' references. If you lived in a fairy land, where manufactured scents smelled like the real thing (think...Green Tea smells like green tea candles. Lemons smell like lemon perfume, or cleaning solution, etc.) then Eau de Camille would be the hidden "Irish Spring" so to speak, although, since I've drunk from many a cold spring, I can say that they smell like nothing, except for cold and wet rock.

Simply adore this bitter symphony of nature! The grass is fresh and rotting at the same time, the honeysuckle-moist, I am walking through an awakening garden , peeling the bark of a newly cut twig, enticed by a distant whiff of flowers. I know that they are very close yet I could barely smell them. It is one of the most enchanting perfumes I have ever had. Contrary to many comments here I don ́t think it ́s linear. Not in the least! It ́s just the effect its delicate ingredients produce by playing their music parts together, not taking up solo. Annick Goutal is one of my favourite perfumers. I can never get enough of her beautiful scents and this one is a real masterpiece. I prefer it to Eau d ́Hadrien any moment, any week, any month and year. It bears resemblance to Chevrefeuille, which I love too. But while the latter is brightened up by a substantial amount of fresh ̈lemonade drops ̈ which makes it rather sweet, Eau de Camille is the alluring bitterness itself. However it is not dark at all. It is natural, vivid, tender and magical. Good longevity and soft sillage. 6 out of 5.

This was a blind buy, I'd ordered a sample, and was bidding on a big bottle on ebay. Won the auction, big bottle was delivered, still don't have the sample! When I first sprayed this on it smelled like pure clove oil, and I dislike that scent intensely. After a minute it settled down and I was getting spicy fresh cut grass, and a slightly bitter green note followed by florals. It has fairly decent longevity too, more so than my other Annick Goutal fragrances. EDIT: amazing how the changing seasons can affect a fragrance. When I first tried this it was winter, and I got a very sharp clovelike note that was very dominant . I tried it twice with the same result, and the bottle went to the back of my cabinet for a future swap. Its now spring and as I was going through my collection I pulled this out and gave it another try. What a difference! Now I'm getting the green grassy notes and florals - not a lot of florals but noticeable. Its still a little sharp especially as it starts to dry down, but I'm liking it a lot better!

This starts out with an amazing ivy note. True, deep fresh cool ivy. Very different from the majority of green perfumes that smell like bright grass or leaves. I wish that it stayed on this note. It's incredible. After a few minutes the white florals start to show up. I smell jasmine (not sure how false jasmine differs from from regular jasmine). I smell white floral that I'm not familiar with, which may be the syringa? Not sure, I won't conjecture just to try to sound knowledgeable about florals. I honestly don't smell much honeysuckle (if at all), but that might be because compared to Annick Goutal's Le Chevrefeuille, which is a Honeysuckle haven, they aren't the forerunner in this mix. I do get how people could interpret a soap note. The flowers in this are pure white and clean, but also in full bloom, almost on the verge of being heady. That soft, almost "over ripe" scent white florals can have which to my nose always smells like being on the edge of a soapy powdery smell.

I purchased a small (.25 mL) bottle of this on eBay to try. When I got it, I promptly bought the 3.4 oz and a 4.5 oz tester refill of this in the hopes of making it last as long as I can. I love this perfume. To me (and on me) it smells jsut the way a Spring day does when I catch a wiff of sun-warmed honeysuckle on the breeze. If I could bottle the way cut grass, ivy, green growing things, and honeysuckle smells just after the rain, it would be this perfume. It is entirely feminine without being too frilly or girly. The biggest drawback is what others have said: it fades all too soon. I have found, however, that if I over-spray when applying this perfume (3x as much as I normally would apply), it lasts longer (good thing I bought so much!). I find that I can tolerate the overwhelming scent of initially putting on too much easily as it also fades quickly leaving my glorious spring day behind.

I like this! (Thanks full of colours for the sample!) Green grass on first spritz, which settles right down into an ivy, floral, and barely-there milky sweetness. I suppose this would be, on me, more of a skin scent. Oh, how I wish it were a wee bit stronger! However, since I like softer fragrances and don't mind re-applying, it's on my want list. Update: I now own a bottle, thanks to coffecat17, a generous swapper! Yes, very grassy on application: you might think, "Uh-oh, what have I done? It's too strong!" (There's something vaguely Aliage-y about it at this stage). The dry down is nothing like the first spray -- it's soft, delicate and close to the skin. Lovely. Edit (almost 10 years later): I still love this! Managed to buy another partial bottle from a member a couple of years ago, which I’ve been using sparingly. Shame it’s discontinued.

Like long grasses in a big field with some wildflowers in the background far away, late spring or early summer time. I didn't know the back story when I first sampled it, even though I loved it straight away, but the back story makes perfect sense, Annick chasing her young daughter through a field. I had moments like that with my child when he was tiny. No, it doesn't feel matronly, it might even be the perspective of the child more so than the mother. Also, it doesn't last as is typical for me with this house, but I don't care. Goutal's house is special to me. It also made me think of the field in the film Room with a View when they are taking a day trip to the country-side and the main male character goes in for a kiss.

It's rare, when you lift the cap off a scent and inhale. Your knees go weak, and something in you just collapses. This is what happens when you find exactily the thing you were looking for. What I was looking for apparently was extremely green, bitter edge foliage sparkling green. God I love the top note of Eau de Camille. Interesting that this was made in '83, because the heart really reminds me of "Songes" (that is, floral) while the drydown is reminescent of "Petite Cherie" (that is, vanilla grass). I don't know of any other perfumes with this 'ivy' accord. The entire bottle I have is worth that wonderful topnote.

I really looked forward to trying this one, I was sure I'd like it and I was right. I have a little hiccup with it, I do not like the very bitter opening. I love grass but I have my limits on bitter. The first spray of this is like the taste/scent of a super bitter cucumber peel. Really just stinks. BUT it is so worth the 5 minutes of stink until the honeysuckle and lilac kick in. Man, that is a beautiful scent. So fresh, delicate and green, the epitome of spring. I know I'll wear it often at the end of winter/spring when it's time to feel alive again after hibernation. I am so happy this one turned out well.

Since I've rediscovered this in my collection I must review. It's absolutely my favorite floral and a top summer fragrance. It's very, very green with a pleasant, invigorating sharpness. I find the honeysuckle to be the most prominant floral note. It also has an almost spicy aspect unexplained by its listed notes. That aspect is redolent of the smell of fresh marigolds to me, which I absolutely adore. I have not encountered anything like Camille with such a combo of sensations.

Sadly discontinued, this is one of my summer loves. An irresistibly light green-floral with white flowers. A honeysuckle accord with syringa is distinct and the smell of mown grass and clipped hedges. It's as though you were playing a childhood game of hide and seek, secreted in a shadowy corner of a rambling garden. Pale and simple, sparkling and fresh, Eau de Camille really puts a spring in my step on bright summer days.

I used to walk to work through Leichhardt, Sydney in Australia and the smell of the air that came off the greenery around this pretty suburb on summer mornings is exactly like Eau de Camille to me, so much so that I would question if I'd applied it that morning or not. So classy and natural, feminine and dewy. Pairs perfectly with floaty sun dresses.

Love, Love, Love the earthy green of Camille, but alas this disappears on me within two hours. Not sure if I will purchase this one again. (Camille's Water) Update: I am still wearing this from time to time and it is still very lovely and spring-like. I will always have this in my collection.

Camille is a gorgeous green, fresh beautiful bunch of flowers!! Beautiful!! So pretty! Very feminine and sparkly. Beautiful.

You know how there are fragrances you love, but hardly ever wear? Eau de Camille is the complete opposite for me-- I don't love EdC, I'm not sure if I even like it all that much, but I find myself reaching for it all the time. The scent itself goes on strong and redolent of white florals, and dies down to a whisper of sun-basked meadows. The vegetal honeysuckle is quite assertive here, giving a full impression of earthy roots, sappy green stems, and dewy white buds. Thankfully natural-smelling and not sweet. It smells like gardening, and I wear it always when I garden because it's so appropriate. At the same time, sometimes EdC takes on an abrasive pungency that reminds me of greenish-white-floral chemical cleaning solution, especially within minutes of applying. It does go away, but I find those moments unpleasant. Overall, EdC does not quite stack up to my favorite Annick Goutal masterpieces: Songes, Gardenia Passion, Heure Exquise... but it is extremely pleasant, and much more wearable. I know this is a back-handed compliment, but EdC is much more versatile and appropriate to everyday wear, and it does not compete for your attention, which is why I seem to use it with such frequency. I can wear it day or night, all four seasons.

I should first out myself as a big Annick Goutal fan, I have them all! But II find I use this least each year and I think that's because it can be a bit galbanol/jasmol heavy at first spray. Having said that, it's still a good AG scent, it lasts well, it doesn't suddenly drop off or change into something thin and synthetic. I don't detect much floral, except the earthier notes in jasmine Grand. I get notes not on the chart, like Elemi and some of the more metallic fruits. I prefer natural perfumes, but give AG a pass as they are generally so good. This is one of those scents that could just hit home for some people, it's certainly distinctive and I've been buying it for 10 years, so it must have something!

This one opens like gangbusters-- like standing behind a lawnmower's grass chute and letting it blast you in the face. A little bitter, as others have noted, but the dry down happens fast and is really pretty-- that grass drying in the sun while new spring blossoms yawn open. It smells particularly nice when you're outside. It's not sweet per se, as the ivy keeps it sharp. Sillage and longevity not particularly strong on me.

Bright, fresh, sweet green, floral. I can really smell the privet in this one which is nice. It doesn't move me but I do enjoy it. It's simple and uncomplicated, strikes me as a happy scent. Good for daytime and warmer weather and I would wear this to work if I owned a full bottle, and also perhaps to the farmers market or an outdoor event.

All fragrances of Annick Gouttal, even though i adore the bottles,, stink on me(to be honest, even my daughter said to me, in a loud voice in "Gallerie Lafayette",,mum,, lets get out of here!! This one though, was quite fresh and somehow different,, madragore as well, but on my skin about 20 min!!!!