Le Rivage des Syrtes

Absolutely and without question was my favorite fragrance in 2012. If you had asked me to build a bespoke fragrance, I would have come up with most of these ingredients (possibly added tonka or cedar) and asked Patricia de Nicolai to bring it together for me. At the very top you have an incredible mixture of pineapple and orange. Neither smells like a fruit juice because of the galbanum - they smell like the ripest and most delicious versions of themself. About an hour later, the orange has given way to orange blossom and this changes the way the pineapple smells pretty drastically. It becomes a much more garden-esque scent and less of something that you'd expect of a summer day. This phase is _incredibly_ long lived, usually lasting 8 or 9 hours on me, with the projection dying towards the end. As it goes, you get a small amount of incense and the orange blossom comes to the forefront. Vanilla pops up to round it off. I get an easy 12 hours from this, which is incredibly rare. The girlfriend gets more like 20 or 24. It's incredibly dynamic, and the kind of thing I'd wear to any occasion. Price is no object here, get the sample set for 90 euro from the website and they will discount that off your purchase of a full bottle. If you're like me, it'll likely be this. Don't bother with the toy on top and you'll save yourself some money for when you need a second bottle. Scent: 9/10 Overall: 10/10

Le Rivage des Syrtes is an award-winning novel by French author Julien Gracq in 1951. The story takes place on the border between Orsenna and Farghestan, two fictional Mediterranean countries that have been at war for 300 years. Le Rivage des Syrtes has galbanum, orange blossom, sweet orange as top notes and tuberose as the main axis. Sweet and juicy Pineapple adds a tropical touch to tuberose. Le Rivage des Syrtes is partly genetically similar to Un Coeur en Mai. A basket of garnished fruity, mellow ylang-ylang tuberose. Sweetness is well controlled, no indole. The plump white flowers of the right thickness, the sexy vanilla amber, and it's not what I expected. Admiring Nicolai more and more, Le Rivage des Syrtes is more beautiful than expected.

yum! i get bubblegum in a smooth smelling tuberose orange blend. a warm vanilla helps make this more sweetly complex, but still very soft. the pineapple and citrus scents meld like heavenly candy... the tuberose and orange blossom are very bubblegum-y in the best of ways. exactly like bubble gum (i even tested it with real gum). tuberose has always smelled a bit bubble gummy to me, but it was never presented in such a foody way. i always hoped for this scent combo, and i have also been looking for this sort of orange scent too, 2 in one! great floral/citrus/gourmand that smells happy and sunny without smelling cheap. i just bought a FB

This was a delightful surprise - a crisp summer spritz with a pineapple twist. It's beautifully refreshing and just the right mix of vanilla, amber and a whiff of incense. It's not very floral to me, it's more citrus so a great unisex summer scent. It hits big with the citrus at first blast, but dries down to a soft fruity fragrance with a creamy vanilla base. Not sweet, quite crisp and sexy. This is a beautiful fragrance, lasts about 4-5 hours on me and has medium projection. This is wonderful after my morning shower, and it will get a lot of wear through the summer months. Beautiful bottle and presentation as well. Very lovely.

Rivage des Syrtes opens with a certain tart fruitiness that for me is easy to wear and pleasant to smell. But true pay-off is in the drydown. It hugs my skin in a lovely, soft, comforting, powdery softness that tells me, every time I smell my arm, that everything is right in the world. I did not expect to love this ... I thought Peche Cardinal or Rose De Siwa would be the one for me. But this is really special. Of the 5 sample coffret, this is the one I'm reaching for more than any other.

I ended up allergic to this one. Sneeze fest then blocked up. It reminds me of a darker, heavier, musky Shalimar. Citrus. Vanilla. Florals. But there is a sort of tart/sour/bitter note underlying everything.

A small decant of Le Rivage des Syrtes came as a gift with my purchase; otherwise I would have never picked it up. I usually stay far away from vanilla scents, for good reason: even when it’s not sickening, to my nose it eats up every other note and turns the entire perfume into a generic vanilla. This is the case here too. I can only sense some yellow flowers trying to peek through, but it’s all vanilla. And yet I don’t hate this perfume... It is a skin scent on me, but whenever I moved my arm around, a waft of something utterly gorgeous hit me. It really is so pretty, despite smelling like just vanilla. I would’ve kept the decant had it not had a cheap alcohol scent that gives me a headache when smelled too much. Truly a shame, in this case.

Didn't really enjoy this one: it sort of rotated between sickly-sweet, as if someone had left some fruit out in the sun too long and it had over-ripened, and then the incense. I'm just particularly sensitive to smoky smells, because I just couldn't get over the smell of an ash-tray in that regard. I think to most others this would give it just a bit of complexity, but I couldn't handle it. It didn't mix with the fruitiness for me, it just oddly clashed like a bad cover-up job.

Yuck! I bought the Peche Cardinal which smells divine and requested le Rivage, what a horrible odor! I don't smell the fruitiness at all. It smells like a old musky and stuck between a cheap French whore perfume. Perhaps I received a bad sample because what people describe as to what his/her noses smells is non-existent. Sorry! Where did I miss it?

It may just be the decant I got but smells a little metallic—maybe from the metal sprayer?—supposed to be fruity/citrusy, supposed to be pineapple, which I do detect...the musc base note comes out fast on me though, and I'm not that fond of it. only 2.5 or 3 stars out of 5.

It smells like cat piss on me...

Smells like those old wooden cabinets, the very dark brown ones that you can find in antique boutiques. I think it's the combinaison with the ylang ylang and the incense. I guess it can be a vibe to some, It's just not for me.

Trying to marry citrus, sweetness, galbanum and incense is ambitious, and predictably it doesn't work. Smells really unpleasant

Le Rivage des Syrtes MDCI Parfums (USD 120, BNIB 75 ml.(?)) First Impression, Full Wear... (Jul 2, 2024) This is Finest Florental out-there in the market. I am so delightful to own this one. Interpretation of Florental is very loose, because there is no proper stucture. Similar to Chypre or Fougere, if we breakdown the word, I think it is from Floral + Oriental which is now calling Amber, so structure wise any floral with amber could be one. But imho, I would call something Florental when it is slight spice, the amber leans old way (The dense powder one) and the floral is narcotic in its true nature with a tint of smokiness Otherwise I would preferably call Amber-Floral. But when it merge with local fruit note, it is also - could be another genre. Le Rivage des Syrtes is what I would define as properly done Fruity-Florental Structure. However, it is very French (that Amalgamation of Airy, Light, Linger in a way). I personally never wear any florental that as light as this. Opening with soft bite from Galbanum and all the soft citrus tone fruity in the morning. It is very evoking from my nose, addictive. (1-1.30 hrs. of wear) When the heart is hits. That bouquet of Fresh Sweet Tuberose, Soft Bloom Ylang. On fresher side of thing. Dancing with that Soft pineapple top. Gorgeous. (1.30 - 4 hrs.) There was a point that I can feel the amber build up, but it is not covering the beautiful quality of floral that floating like Beautiful Mediterranean coast, it is just there to be show that everything is on the powdery side of thing. When all of amber and floral gone, the soft incense with floral sweetness still linger on my skin like holy Greek goddess, Le Rivage des Syrtes is such a delightful fragrance to wear... I don't know will I brave enough to buy this at retail price.. (USD 350) But for the price I receive, I wholeheartedly delight to own. All the Tropical, All the Floral, All the Amber and the way this end with soft incense. Is very harmonize, I believe this might need another set of knowledge or experience. To understand the House of MDCI truly... If there was a point I need to mention.. I would call this very Frenchy. I means I own both Italian and French perfume and as we heading to newer year. The fragrance just become more and more obnoxiously strong. And you could think, how the hell I would pay USD350 for such a soft projecting fragrance. Hey.. as I mention, I might need another set of knowledge or experience to understand the house of MDCI truly.. Very Very Enjoyable.. 9/10 ***** Extension 1 on 4 August 2026. 2 years laters. I think this is one of best White Floral Bouquet, a fine Oriental. I don't really wear Oriental now (well time pass, things change). But a bottle of LRDS is there for me to visit at night. I can't wait one day that I will probably wear this before go out to the ball. It is one of fragrance that represents Orange Blossom so well. Perhaps, the best in class I know. Consider nature of Orange Blossom and how dark it can become, well.. Orange Blossom is really hard to be this dark. End of assessment. ===== Pre blind-buy record. I might buy solely this due to price factor and admiration of MDCI. But the note listed here seems very promising. Galbanum opening make me think of Chamade. But fruity accent. Wow, that could be something! White floral heart and end with amber. Green tint, might be in style of "Atlas Garden" or refine version of "Accento Overdose" who's know?! But this is positive to me.

Anyone who has cooked with orange or tangerine oil will recognize the pervasive orange oil scent in MDCI LE RIVAGE DES SYRTES. There is a clingy quality to orange oil which makes it infuse everything with which it comes in contact, and it persists on and on and on. I have used tangerine oil in chocolate desserts to tasty effect. But I must say that I'm not convinced that using such a powerful agent is the best idea in a haute niche perfume. LE RIVAGE DES SYRTES opens with a lot of fruit, with both the pineapple and the orange very noticeable. There is a real succulence to the opening, and the characteristically high quality, the brightness of the ingredients which I have generally found in the other perfumes from MDCI is quite evident here as well. However, rather than developing, LE RIVAGE DES SYRTES becomes stuck in orange oil mode. The pineapple fades away, while the orange actually seems to grow stronger, and the flowers are pretty much missing in action. I'd like to be able to say that this is a great orange perfume, but it just seems too one-sided to me. There probably is some significant development in here somewhere, but it's all covered up by the dominant orange oil note to the point where I cannot recommend this perfume to any but the most fanatical of orange lovers. Even then, I think that there are better orange perfume choices available, especially chez Hermès.

So hmm.. this is unique. I"ve only been exposed to pineapple a few other times, and here it is quite pronounced. Pineapple is not crisp and tart like a typical citrus, it is weighty, and in general Le Rivages opens 'low, full and heavy' to me (so I don't get the refreshing blast that you would expect from these top notes) At the one hour mark this rounds out and becomes warm and luscious. I like this phase best, its very comforting. I don't detect the incense at all, which is a shame. The pineapple stays with this fragrance throughout, but it is more enjoyable after the one hour mark. This is a good fragrance, thumbs up. ITs not my favorite from this line (that would Nicolai's other submission, En Coeur en Mai). But it is far from the worst from this house (Vepres S., with its highly stinky caramel note)

Sweetened orange over a sherbet-y vanilla base. As with the other less-dramatic scents in the line, there’s not much to this. I’ve smelled the same aesthetic countless times, often done just as well for a fraction of the price. This one lacks the bite of citrus and, as the result, the sweetness takes over so you’re left with a sort of cutesy orange blossom candy. For the price, it’s simply not worth it.

A softer less complex version of Pierre Wulff's Gilda. More emphasis on the pineapple here than in Gilda, but overall this is a gentler Gilda.

Powdery Oranges with no pineapple detected yet. More like of a dusty orange.