Pivoine

- I am an avid hate of floral fragrances on my self. They simply don’t work with my chemistry and often leave me with a massive headache. But recently I’ve found the only three floral fragrances I have come to love and this is one. This is the most classic floral out of the three and is one I will most definitely repurchase in the future. - It has the most beautiful and dainty feminine quality from the peony and is made more airy with the apple. The apple has a very crisp personality beside the delicate peony for the first two hours and is almost photorealistic of a juicy sweet red apple. The rose and other florals play a supporting role to the peony rather than becoming a player as well or overshadowing the peony. The suede in the base acts as a balancing factor, taking away any heady quality and making the fragrance more unisex(I suspect the Jasmine plays a part), albeit leaning feminine. - I don’t like to gender fragrance but just for clarification, this can be worn by anyone including men, as I am one. In fact the review that sold me on buying a sample was from a very masculine man who wore this rather religiously. (This is interesting because one of the other two florals I’ve come to enjoy was one I asked a man at a coffee shop what he was wearing and it was Gucci Gorgeous Gardenia) - the longevity was above moderate as expected considering this is a floral spring-summer warm weather-ish fragrance. But it still lasted long and had decent sillage.

Pivoine is much more complex and grownup than the notes might make it seem like. There is indeed a beautiful, true peony in the center, but it is so wonderfully enriched by the other flowers and especially the apple, that the result is classy and anything but simplistic. The second most detectable note though is a bitter and soft one (it should be the suede) which smells almost almondy. It’s a peony covered by a dry, matte veil.

I'm actually a big fan of this house and the way that they focus more on creating something that smells good, something that brings a beauty to the wearer of their perfumes, rather that trying to create something that's based around a novelty, or out there scent, to get attention. This is rare for a niche house. They just simply make really good perfumes that smell amazing, remain interesting in the way they are so expertly blended and the focus is on quality ingredients. This is a primarily floral number that focuses on peony. It starts off with a sweet and juicy red apple. There's almost a sense of there being a watery crispness to the apple, which then fades into the background as the florals appear. The flowers are fresh cut and they maintain that same watery, lightweight and sweet delicate character as the apple note in the opening. My nose mainly gets a big pink peony covered in rain drops and delicate pink rose. The jasmine is lurking somewhere in the back, but I barely detect it. A carnation lends a little bitter and spicy facet, which calms the sweet side of things down from ever becoming oversweet at any stage, whilst a delicate suede note is retained all the way through on the drydown. Pink, fresh peony and floral here isn't particularly my own style, so I wouldn't be getting myself a full bottle here (There's others I own and long for from this house) but it's a wonderful feminine fragrance that I highly recomend to floral lovers out there it's another beautiful perfume here from Manos Gerakinis, who can't seem to do any wrong to my nose. Well done!

Manos Gerakinis Pivoine, from his “Parfums de Jour” trio, is primarily floral with peony, first and foremost, and a few others—carnation, jasmine, rose—and red apple on top with suede on the base. Fittingly, the sweet apple vibe is more pronounced at the opening, after which the fragrance becomes mainly floral-dominant—light, well-blended, and sweet—before there’s just an ever so slight suede vibe in the dry down a few hours in. It’s a really well-constructed and accurate note pyramid, to my nose. Overall, Pivoine is a really pleasant fragrance, undoubtedly a little feminine on my but very fresh and agreeable, on the whole, with a feeling of year-round appropriateness, so I’d recommend checking it out. Like Immortelle, it walks the line between artistry and wearability very effectively, providing something with nuance and intrigue but ease as well. Like Immortelle, Pivoine is priced at $145 for 60ml and is in EDP concentration, sold in the US only at Perfumology in Philadelphia but also online. 7 out of 10

I get the comparison to Peony and Blush Suede but Pivoine is smoother, and on my skin, has more of an emphasis on the peony than on the suede. I don’t sense rose in here, it truly is a pure peony perfume for me. I don’t love it for myself personally but it smells classy and expensive without doing too much, and the longevity is fab. I think this is a quality representation of peony.