Love Memoir

I just received this, early this morning. I feel so bad that UPS drivers are working on Thanksgiving. I was expecting this package tomorrow. I was going to wear Cobalt Amber today but when I sprayed this perfume on my hand to test it I decided to go w/ this instead because I think it is a crowd pleaser and will be nice to wear around the people I will be celebrating the holiday with. I bought the whole kit, full bottle, travel spray and body lotion. I am very happy that this blind buy worked out so well because this is a very nice everyday, year round perfume. This opens w/ a crisp bergamot w/ a jammy black currant, and a creamy coconut. I am sensitive to bergamot but what Iman used in this composition smells very much like the bergamot in another perfume of mine called Fresh Morning by Scent Strip(s) and it smells like high quality. As the crisp bergamot and jammy black currant tame down a bit, a soft powdery orris root and delicate rose petals greet the nose. A very smooth vanilla, and earthy vetiver and patchouli join the composition. This perfume is blended to perfection. It is slightly citrus, slightly floral, slightly powdery, slightly sweet, slightly spicy, slightly creamy and slightly earthy. There is nothing ground breaking here, this is a very safe perfume that most people will like. And you could buy this for someone who isn't that into perfume and be quite sure they would enjoy it. Why I rated this perfume a love instead of a like is because while it reminds me of La Vi est Belle by Lancome, Ivanka Trump's perfume and Torn by Henry Rose, Love Memoir in my opinion is blended better than those fragrances. This is an easy, pretty, year round workhorse in a fragrance collection. The story surrounding this perfume and the name is also beautiful. Love is so important, it is everything and her love story w/ David is inspiring. I hope Iman creates more perfumes for her brand, she knows what she is doing and I think she could have a great line of fragrances like Elizabeth Taylor helped create for her time period which was more about decadence, luxury and over the top sex appeal. Where Love Memoir fits in w/ post modern tastes, it is more no nonsense, streamlined, w/ a minimalist yet still powerful approach. The bottle by the way is so freaking cool, the most unique in my collection. Edit: 11/27/21 When I wore this on Thanksgiving and my husband could not stop smelling me and rated this a 9 out of 10. I own a lot of perfumes and my collection keeps growing for him to say that it is amazing because for most of my perfumes he is so so about and only a few make it to his tops list and this is now one of them. Also Love Memoir lasts. I took the travel spray w/ me to the Thanksgiving gathering we attended and did not need to reapply. This perfume projected and I was complimented by my friend and her mother on how nice I smelled. I highly recommend this perfume. It is a easy reach crowd pleaser.

Charming. Right off, my impression is of a lovely, not-very-sweet fruitchouli, and then it dries down to a richly woody patchouli. The patchouli-black current is prominent at first, then the patchouli-vetiver. Reminds me a trifle of scents like Fancy Nights, Angel, or other patchouli rich fragrances, only less sweet. For the record, the mentioned vanilla and coconut (on me) are practically invisible. Moderate sillage and longevity. Not a powerhouse, but not wimpy either. For my personal taste, more vanilla and florals would have been welcome. This is hardly a criticism, however, as what we have is quality, mature, and mysterious! It can be layered, after all, and is in a beautiful bottle. To sum up: To me, the overall aura of Iman's release smells like Amouage on a budget or Amouage Light! The fragrance type is such that I can truly envision a stunning Middle Eastern or African woman smelling like this. However, to me the dry down is UNISEX. If you love this type but cannot abide the oud frequently featured in such scents, Love Memoir could be perfect for you. Update: It's growing on me! I'm noticing the powder more and also a touch of sweetness that could be coconut. The more I wear Love Memoir in cold weather the more I'm getting whiffs of gorgeous. So well blended that it's hard to tell where one note leaves off and another begins. Kudos - this is good. :)

OK, I love it. As a Bowie fan and someone who thinks Iman is an angel on Earth, I HAD to try it, but I wasn't guaranteed to like it. No worries - I do like it very much. It opens VERY strong, a spicy/sweet cloud of richness. The first hour you can smell the florals and something spicy, which I think is the orris. After that it's a bit of patchouli and a lot of vetiver. It's expertly blended and very wearable; I think it's truly unisex although the opening might be just a bit more feminine. Sillage is moderate depending on how many sprays you use, and longevity is fantastic - I could still smell it 12 hours later. I think this is going to be one of my new favorites.

Being a long time fan of Bowie, I got this just to have in my collection. Not really caring what the scent was like. But to my surprise, I really like this. I get a good blast of the vetiver in the opening and that fades to a milder, sweeter scent in the dry down. I don't understand likening this to Angel Muse (which I have) at all. At least to my nose. To say this isn't your typical celebrity fragrance is putting it mildly. It's unisex, as I would expect for frag inspired by the Thin White Duke.

I'm so happy I could get that perfume. Beautiful story behind this fragrance. When you smell it you really can feel nostalgic and it's s something like 80's,90's scent. Gorgeous sweet rose with coconut and vanilla. Every other note is also noticable. Masterpiece.

Beautiful!! My husband said this smells really really good! I’m not good at picking out different notes but this perfume smells warm, calm, soothing, a little sweet, and very inviting. I think Iman did a wonderful job with this.

This is the best perfume to ever exist! The smell is absolute heaven, not over powering, and lasts forever. My new daily perfume

I watched Iman's launch of this fragrance on HSN and loved hearing her story behind it, even down to the details of the bottle shape and packaging. Clearly she really put her heart into this one and wanted it to be her special fragrance, we are just lucky enough to get to enjoy it along with her. I would say it first came off as rather strong with one spray, stronger than I like - but after a few minutes I really warmed up to it. I'm not good with picking up some of these individual notes, but it struck me as a very unisex, very warm, sensual scent. To me, this is an evening or night out scent, but I think it'd also be safe to wear to the office or out and about during the day. It won't be an every day fragrance, but I will definitely enjoy it from time to time. The bottle is beautiful and unique as well.

My travel spray came in the mail today. I wanted to order it last fall, but I decided not to spend the money. After reading Elena's recent review, I looked at it again on hsn.com, and the travel spray was on sale for 50% off with free shipping! So I treated myself. My first impression is good. I can smell a little bit of coconut, but the scent is very well blended. However, this does seem like more of a cool/cold weather scent to me, so I'm going to put it away and get it out again when it cools off where I live. But I'm not saying it shouldn't be worn in warm/hot weather; this is just my taste. I might add that of course the travel spray doesn't come in the pretty bottle, but the travel spray bottle is a decent size with a metal cap that fits well.

I received this fragrance today (excellent price). I smell vetiver for about 10 minutes, then become sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet. This is a mature and elegant fragrance. I do not smell coconut. My husband said that it is a little bit musky, maybe he can perceive orris better than me. I need more time to check out sillage and longevity.

The bottle is really cool. The scent is nice, but unremarkable.

All I got from this is the black currant... This "new" fragrance smells A LOT like "Goldea The Roman Night" by Bvlgari to my nose which I found at TJ Maxx for about $20 and decluttered quite awhile ago. The notes are very similar.

Love the bottle. The juice, much less. I've tried it several times since it arrived, and think it's a no for me. I think it's got too much jasmine. And it's too high end, pinnacle of the fashion industry scent, what all the glamor girls and rich women wear and think they're being unique or something. It isn't a surprise; that's who Iman is. And as a top model, she would have smelled every top dollar scent in the last 30 years and probably been given most of them gratis. So she would have definite ideas of what she wanted in a fragrance. I can't fault her. This is her area. But it's not my style. When I want a heavy rose-patchouli-vetiver-vanilla fragrance, I reach for something Robert Piguet, or Memo, Armani, Tom Ford or any number of scents other people have made (that I've managed to find decants of). And almost none of them have the heavy handed jasmine heart note this one has. It's summer now. Love Memoir definitely isn't a summer fragrance. I would normally say it will be better on a cold blustery winter day, but it won't. I'd choose any number of fragrances before I'd reach for this one. I also gave it the juice test: would I like this scent if it came in a plain medicine bottle and/or I was told it was dirt cheap and sold by some offbrand seller? No, I would not. The bottle and Iman herself really sells it.

I blind bought this because I couldn’t find a sample anywhere and unfortunately, this wasn’t a successful experience...I really want to love this fragrance but it just doesn’t smell like any of the notes listed at all...no bergamot, certainly no coconut or vanilla. Just a very sharp and jagged patchouli... I am super sad because the bottle is gorgeous and Iman is such a classy lady... It’s alright, after all, perfumes are such a subjective experience, I am bound to find someone who will give this fragrance a big love!

Meh... it's ok, I guess. Another fruity fragrance marketed as something special. There's no coconut note in it at all, I'm not sure why it's listed. The bottle has an interesting design though and feels expensive, the glass has a nice weight to it. Longevity and projections are average for a celebrity fragrance, nothing to rave about either.

I ordered this perfume when it first came out on HSN. It came, I tried it and was VERY disappointed. It smelled like cheap (old ladies) perfume on me. I could not get past the strong smell of all the notes which dried down on me, which were bad (I did NOT smell any Vanilla) I had to take a shower to wash it off. I LOVE David Bowie and was wanting this to smell great on me like Iman said it would. It's hard purchasing perfume without testing it first. Needless to say, this was sent back to HSN immediately!

This arrived in today's mail ... It reminds me of warm skin ... The orris, rose and coconut are shining right through after one spray on my wrists ... The rose is a very peachy one ... I've smelled this before! Upon first spray, it is a dead ringer of My Burberry Black -- Doing a side-by-side comparison, the two are initially similar except that Love Memoir is very warm and sensual ... As the fragrance wore on, MBB was stronger and had more lasting power ... Love Memoir became much milder as the hours went by ... This fragrance was a strong indication of what perhaps Iman might have felt when her beloved [David Bowie] embraced her ... If you've ever embraced a partner you truly love, this is what this fragrance reminds me of...You relish that moment, feel their love and hope they feel your love as well ...

Apparently this fragrance is inspired by Iman’s memories with the love of her life, David Bowie. The bergamot and black current reminding her of their wedding in Florence, Italy. After his passing she wore his fragrance for years, Vetiver. I haven’t smelled this but it seems to be a classic chypre in the likes of Guerlain or Roja with the addition of coconut, perhaps a combination of his and hers. I think it’s a cool idea and probably smells very nice. Many of us wear fragrance for the scent memories attached and I feel many perfumers create perfumes based on nostalgia or ones that remind them of significant others.

I really want to try this, if only because I have loved Bowie since I was a teen and from what I can tell, the relationship between him and Iman was full of love. I'd be hard pressed to think of a more sophisticated couple. The problem is that I LOATHE black currant. I've yet to meet a fragrance featuring that note that works with my chemistry. I'm not really the kind of person to run out and purchase something as a "fangirl", but given the good reviews and my admiration towards Iman for sharing this very personal story with us, I may do so anyway.

Does anyone else remember Essence of Iman, not in the Fragrantica database, which to my memory was quite similar to SJP Stash? It's hard to recall when it was released yet I want to say it was somewhere around 2000. It was woody, slightly sweet, slightly spicy, and absolutely addictive. There are two bottles on eBay currently, and I wonder if Love Memoir is anywhere close to it. Without seeing SJP Stash listed as a smell-alike, I'm thinking it isn't, which is a shame. I'd adore having another bottle the same or extremely like Essence of Iman.