Mémoire d’une Odeur

The fragrance that made me stop compulsively looking for new fragrances. Let me explain, after I apply this one more time for the review. I awaken in a cabin, bleary eyes adjusting to the sight of a warm golden ray dancing across a familiar room. I lay on a bed raised on an ancient wooden frame, no doubt from a tree older than I am. I sit up, planting my hand on the edge of a well worn but equally loved quilt. A powdery dust cloud rises to meet the sunbeam as I do so, dancing in the light like so many fairies before my eyes. Looking toward the sunbeam, the window fills in the scene - fields of flowers, some heavy after rain. Bulbs droop from the combined weight until they spring back, scattering mist into the air anew. Their essence travels into the cabin on a playful breeze, one that permeates through my entire stay. The sunbeam stops at a bookcase, drawing my attention. An incense holder sits atop its top shelf, a slim sandalwood-scented stick and its long-lost ashes being all that remain. Grabbing a tome off the shelf, I expect the same dustiness as my earlier encounter, but none comes. To my surprise the pages open with ease, being much newer than expected. Within those pages lie the fragrance's heart notes - Memoire owning up to its namesake. Its pages tell me my tales: of childhood book fairs, of diving my nose into the spine into a new book, mass market pages and barely-there glue holding it together. Of summers drying flowers and pressing them into bookmarks, the flowers dancing across these pages scattered in time. As the fragrance fades so too does my time in the cabin, until the next time I pick this bottle up to spray it once more. An experience bittersweet, though more the latter than the former: a reminder that we cannot stay in one place, one sensation, one scent indefinitely, and that to appreciate the ethereal is to embrace its nature. This experience has made me rethink perfumery, and has really brought about my awareness of perfume as an art form. Though I am admittedly still early in my scent journey, I realize that the beginning is the best place to be, full of wide-eyed optimism and awe that can only come with the wonder of discovery. That awe has given me the impetus to write my first (unneccessarily long winded) review here, in attempts to capture these feelings in words. It truly goes beyond trying to be a superficial "compliment getter" or "panty dropper". In modern metrics this fragrance fails at every turn. It has terrible projection, no sillage to speak of, and no staying power - after 3 hours my nose tickles my arm hair before it picks up any sort of skin scent. But that's not the point. This is a window, an intimate show between you and the perfumer and is unapologetically art for art's sake. In other art forms a vision this clear, this bold, this self-serving is the territory of one-night-only solo exhibitions. In perfumery it is available at TJ Maxx nationwide. tl;dr blind buy safe? hells no. but im so glad i did.

This one is deeply personal. A fragrance woven with time itself. The bottle, with its vintage apothecary charm, looks like something you’d find tucked inside a time traveler’s satchel elegant, mysterious, and from another era. But the true magic begins when you spray it. This isn’t just perfume ... it’s a portal. I remember standing inside the Gucci store, surrounded by the usual glamour and chatter. The sales associate handed me one of the many blotters since we wanted to test all their perfumes, and without awareness of which particular one i was smelling, i just took a whiff of the strip while still in conversation with my Dad and husband. And suddenly ... everything stopped and hit a pause. The scent wrapped itself around my senses and pulled me back. Not just in thought... but in feeling. In that moment, I was no longer in the store. I was a little girl again, in my late grandmother’s sea-facing home. The warmth of the sun spilling in. The green bathtub. That soft echo of water droplets bouncing ... The breeze carrying in whispers of the ocean. The scent herbal, woody, serene, exactly how her bathroom used to smell. It was all there. Every detail. So vivid, so intimate, I had goosebumps. I said guys something crazy happened and then I looked at the sales associate and asked her, “Which one is this, i had visions of my childhood sniffing this i am beyond amazed ?” And she smiled and said, “Ma’am, that’s exactly what this fragrance is designed to do... invoke memories in individuals its named Memoire.” I was like “WOW OMG” totally shook but mesmerised. My husband and Dad tried it too. Dad said it didn’t point to any one place, but it definitely felt nostalgic. Whereas my husband said it smelled like one of his relative’s vintage homes ... full of relics and stories. We had to bring this fragrance home. It felt so special and magical. Since then, I’ve made so many people smell it, curious if they too would be swept away by a wave of memory. A few definitely were. But Most just found it very comforting and nostalgic. But for me, Mémoire d’une Odeur is not just perfume, it’s a keepsake from time. A scented relic that holds a piece of my soul. The notes? Chamomile, almond, musk, jasmine, sandalwood, cedar, and vanilla. But no note pyramid could ever capture what it means to me. I hope they release flankers, and more perfumers attempt at creating something that actually transcends or transports people in imagination. - Bhavna Darira Chesan

This is a typical case of another misunderstood fragrance that was discontinued before the wider audience had time to fully appreciate it. But what can you do? That's life ,and sometimes we have to be at the right time and right place to experience fleeting moments. TOP NOTES The opening is very herbal and botanical. Roman Chamomile stands out for its dry, hay-like scent. Honestly, in the first 30 seconds, it can smell a bit medicinal to someone not used to it, almost like a herbal ointment or a fresh canister of expensive loose-leaf tea. There’s a “dusty” quality that feels very nostalgic—it reminds me of late summer fields when the grass is yellow and brittle. HEART NOTES After about 15 to 20 minutes, the medicinal edge evaporates completely, and the fragrance enters its most beautiful phase. The Musk accord takes over. This is difficult to describe, but on my skin, it creates a physical sensation of “coolness.” It smells like a smooth river stone pulled from cold water and drying in the sun. The Jasmine weaves in and out, providing a soft, honeyed luminescence that is never feminine or floral in a traditional way. BASE NOTES The dry down is when Mémoire becomes a close, personal skin scent. Sandalwood and Cedarwood come forward to give a sturdy, creamy, but dry base. Vanilla is barely noticeable as a note; instead, it serves as a fixative, adding a gentle, comforting warmth. After three hours, the scent smells like my own skin, but warmer, softer, and cleaner. It reminds me of old paperbacks or a favourite cashmere sweater that has taken on its owner’s scent over time. OVERALL It almost sounds like a cliché to end an review with that familiar phrase about why the best ones always get discontinued. Unfortunately, this is true for this release. While I understand that something like this probably cannot be appreciated by the general public, in the end, we, the fragrance enthusiasts, lose with each discontinuation. A lightning-in-a-bottle type of fragrance. Read the full review at scentgrail (.) com.

it fascinates me that this perfume is discontinued. it’s truly extremely unique and made me rethink the way i approached wearing perfume. memoire opens with a gentle embrace of chamomile tea and dusty jasmine, but i’m not sure how distinguishable individual notes in this fragrance are. it’s one of a genre of perfumes i feel are not serviced by a list of “ingredient” style notes marketing, and are better described as feelings. it smells like my adopted grandmother’s kitchen when i have come over to go out with her and am waiting for her to finish up her hair, and have put a tea kettle on the stove. it smells like opening a box of vintage lace mementos and letters. it smells like your mother’s photo albums forgotten on the shelf in her office that she takes out and looks over now and then. it smells like your memories of the first night at the guest house you stayed in when you went on a trip alone for the first time. it is mineraly, certainly, and dusty, and the chamomile and bitter almond and sandalwood do nothing to assuage it. but it is serene, melancholic, gentle, and tempered. it has a tea like quality but i wouldn’t say it is an aromatic, more of a musky soft aged scent. it lingers like a hug and it is easy to forget it’s there, but i often pick it up in little whiffs throughout the whole day. it is entirely unsweet, and i think it received mixed reviews because of its marketing towards younger people and it being off trend, but it’s an example to me that interesting, androgynous, experimental perfumery outside of edgy ouds and cocktail sandalwoods and synthetic musks, can still be done.

This may be ascending to a Top 10 spot in my large perfume collection. I blind purchased Memoire at TJ Maxx after missing out on one bottle in my area, but then snagging it on clearance at another location that I don’t frequent as much. Still $40 for 2 oz., but it’s Gucci, not Guess! (And I actually love Guess, too, but you get the point.) All I can say is, “Wow!” You know those perfumes that smell good when you stick your nose right up to your skin, but then you smell different but even more amazing notes from a slight distance? This does that. I’m no perfume note expert, but there’s the most gorgeous, addictive herbaceous and dewy/aquatic notes that I keep picking up from about a foot away from my hand, that are different and better than on the close-range sniff. This perfume isn’t a dupe for MAC Turquatic, but that’s another absolutely incredible scent that also has this same effect. Someone said this isn’t a safe blind buy. I’d slightly disagree, but can attest that it may not be for everyone. If you like sweet, feminine, girly...this ain’t it. If you like fresh, herbaceous, dewy/aquatic, almost creamy, then run your nearest discount retailer. One last thing: As much as I love this scent, it’s not memory-inducing in any way for me. Totally off-topic, but the scent that gives me inexplicable nostalgia is Jason Wu EDP. Not that I even knew about this scent or wore it back then, but something about it brings me back to circa 2009, living in Portland and working as a fashion intern and for Nordstrom. Now I’m off to leave this comment under that scent!