Chenonceau

Received this on a giveaway and really didn't know what to expect. I really like it! It is soft, resinous, with a sweet but not cloying plummy amber. There is no fruit listed and maybe I'm mistaking the cacao for a jammy plum but whatever it is, it is deep, rich and lovely. Smells very natural and great quality.

After reading Elena Vosnaki's article (find it here, on Fragrantica.com) about this fragrance, I had to purchase a bottle. Vosnaki writes at length about the musk, orris, vanilla, and powder notes in this fragrance, but she had me with her claim that deep down, Chenonceau is an amber blend. I got none of the complexity that Vosnaki wrote about in the beginning, but I needed only to be patient. And this one took some time.... I applied the perfume oil at about 7:30 this morning, and it wasn't until after lunch that I noticed it had changed into a total (and unapologetic) aromatic fougère. Chenonceau has the essential dry-down of fougères that I remember from 1970s men who wore fragrances like Dana's Canoe and Faberge's Brut. I stress the *essential* dry-down (from the tonka bean, I suspect), but it doesn't go so far as that exaggerated sweetness of Brut that for some reason, I always associate with the Stanley Kowalskis and Joe St. Georges of this world. This fragrance is too sophisticated for Stanley Kowalski, but nevertheless, I find it very masculine, which for me is true for most amber blends and really all fougères aromas. Chenonceau does have the mystery of an amber blend and for that, I love it, but with my chemistry, the fougères scents tend to turn very sweet -- too sweet for my green-loving nose. Still, this is a complex scent that will delight those fans of masculine amber blends. ADDENDUM: I wrote the above review at the onset of a hot St. Louis summer. Wearing Chenonceau on a rainy autumn day brings out an entirely new set of attributes in this fragrance. It is highly suited to days like this -- they bring out the warmth and, quite simply, the deliciousness of this exotic blend.

a warm fragrance, with the opening notes amber and cocoa and then get the light powdery smell sweeter with vanilla and tonka and I smell something of mint. This is a pleasant smell, which I think of a nice wool sweater on a cold autumn or winter.