Carnation

I did not like this at all when i smelled it in the bottle or when i first put it on! It smelled sharp and i couldnt really place any of it. Once the bergamot made its presence; the geranium became comfortable/ subtle and then i got the violets and mild spicy ness When the warm notes started emerging the amber musk and ylang ylang it became buttery and i was hooked i didnt think i was going to like this but once i started to like it, i kinda started loving it. its very unique and lovely surprise!

Nice perfume with a lot of precious woods,but there are a lot of artificial musc as in Arabie Lutens that I feel so badly... Carnation likes a lot humidity,so you can smell it better during a rain... Longevity is impressive.some of my friends said me that it seems masculine perfume,but for me it's unisex,rather feminine perfume.

A mesmerizing creation... not very subtle as a fragrance but unfolds so beautifully throughout the day! On my second bottle already haha. I used to think I hated carnation as a note in perfume, but come to think of it, I haven't seen it used before as skillfully as in this fragrance.

At first this scent on me was musk and something green, rotting, with a bitter note. You know, like flowers in a vase, if they were not cared for, if the water was not changed, so they began to rot. Loved this phase of the scent on me. Then (took about two hours to get from the first phase) green, bitter rotting left, and the musk stayed, and it got company of nice, kind flowers the sun was generous, but not harsh to. Jasmine? Maybe, but not jasmine alone. The flowers and the musk were so gentle, friendly, but not slack at all, even if I felt no speed in them. On the contrary, they were like... as if they were meditating. The second phase lasted for about 24 hours on me, and somewhere round its middle vanilla came and went, quickly, the kind of vanilla I like most, the one without sweetness to it. Gradually the flowers were getting fewer, and vanilla – not exactly growing louder, but, as there were fewer and fewer flowers, I felt like vanilla got stronger.

The opening, to me, is quite disconcerting: both a heavy metal note and the memory of kindergarten glue dominate. In about 10 minutes the carnation, which I think causes this, subsides more to the background. Then a luscious yet stingy ylang-violet-jasmin-amber opens up. Carnation immedialetely reminded me of Amouage Jubilation for women (because of the ylang), so I sprayed this on my other arm for comparison. If I had to choose, Jubilation (obviously to me) wins. It is lovely right from the start and much, much more refined, with a sillage and drydown which are as desirable as they are rare in perfume, so good. But I can appreciate the raw vibe of Carnation. It is more brusque and pushy and I believe we do need those characteristics at times in perfume. A happy and bold summer perfume, which may need a new category: Oriental Green.

Carnation of Mona di Orio is a fabulous perfume. I still remember those big carnations in the 60s, oozing with scent and spicey as hell. then in later years the carnations got smaller until finally (under the same name) little carnations in bundles swayed scentlessly, as our whole society has become. in French both are called œillet. the mystery around œillet is even bigger. it is, like seringa (lilac), lily, pittosporum (Knowing), lily of the valley, and, well: "Savez-vous qu’il est impossible d’avoir une senteur naturelle de lilas, de muguet, d’oeillet, de buddleia, de gardénia, de chèvrefeuille, de pittosporum, de seringa, de pois de senteur, de violette, de glycine, d’héliotrope, de jacinthe ?", so sweetpea, buddlea, gardenia, honeysuckle, violet, heliotrope, hyacinth and soybeanflowers (resembling peaflowers) are "Fleurs Muettes". they won't give you their soul with whatever extractionmethod you would like to catch their heavenly scents. I (as my mom did) love the unbelievably heady scent of privet/ligustrum, but suspect it is also a fleur muette. My dad gags when he smells it. he has a good nose. and there is reason for it. inbetween the code 4 perfume one can smell.....piss. which makes it only more alluring to me. (Oudh Infini, Gale Hayman Beverly Hills, Monas Carnation). in the first two the oudh and or civet (but I do not count out the majestic rose in OI as well as the indoles in GHBH) are responsable for the pissscent (three s's). in Carnation I guess it is the superior way of mixing complex notes. her "Nuit Noire" also has shady patches which are lovely. some datura, some henbane, some hemlock and mandragora..... I think the real purpetrayors are jasmine, violet, ylang-ylang, amber and styrax. they make not only for a heady concoction but also doesn't shy away for some witchity. with this particular perfume one meets immediately the megawatt scent of œillet, carnation, and luckily it is totally overwhelming. and it lasts and lasts. now I think I bought the flacon in 2006, the year of its birth, with "Nuit Noire". I don't know what it is, but with me (collection of 250 perfumes and since 1974, perhaps thousands) a perfume NEVER turned bad. also the six flacons I have of Gale Hayman Beverly Hills, are nicely almost black but they each smell divine, as they did in 1990 when I sprayed when watching Twin Peaks. then 120 guilders, now on ebay between 50-80 euros. I love haunting, whorey, boudoiresque (and Boudoir), a bit "wrong" perfumes. all that has a moniker of 'aqua', 'sport', 'green', 'fresh', 'laundry' is anathema to me. Later I bought Mona's "Osmanthus Oudh" and it is a fantastic perfume but much less dirty then Dusitas Oudh Infini and some of the Montales. yet I love it. and thanks to the 'not-turning', my always good skinchemistry with heavy perfumes, and immunity to 'reformulations', I enjoy this fantastic perfume. together with Serge Lutens 'Vitriol d'Œillet' these are naughty perfumes. Vitriol has a lovely fattiness (indole) and Serge metioned the 'sharp' sawteeth along the petals of the carnation. J.A.R's perfumes also come to mind. these will let the world roll.

the real mystery here is of course that this perfume is called 'Carnation' and smells like a Voluptuous Carnation (especially the old- fashioned) but doesn't actually contain Carnation at all. but I just now learned that the Carnation is nevertheless not a 'Fleur Muette', but perfumers seem to agree that the best way to conceive a Carnation Perfume is by composing it with aromachemicals derived from Cloves (Eugenol & Isoeugenol) plus Fenylethylalcohol from the flower Ylang-Ylang which all, give a good interpretation of the scent of Carnations. the whole Art then of course lies in the hands of the perfumer and if there is one thing I learned, it is that mme. Di Orio was a brilliant perfumer. again we smell a real splurge of Indoles in the initial stages and the absence also of Cloves is striking. I have a feeling the Violet, Ylang-Ylang, Bourbon Geranium and Jasmine all conspire together to reconstruct a fairly Dense and Voluptuous impression of the Spicy and Peppery, Sweet Notes of the Carnation. it is my experience several Woods always contribute in lending Flower Notes a fuller Imposition within a perfume. Indoles shall originate from Jasmine, Ylang and Violets while the Bourbon Geranium possibly give a more rich and Rozy perfume. Musk, Amber & Styrax then fill all the disparate Notes out in a veritable opaque Sketch of a daunting and quite haunting Perfume Flower Portrait.

I’m wearing this today in homage to Mona since today would have apparently been her 54th bday. I’m sad she’s no longer with us. I bought this, Jabu & Amyitis in 2020 from their website. The only way to buy them was in a discovery set (3,10ml bottles). I would have liked to have picked up Oiro as well. Now they’re not available at all. Idk if you could possibly special order them but they’re not on the website. Carnation is definitely my fav of these 3 & I actually really like it. I would love to have it in that beautiful old bottle! I find it deep and smooth and sexy. I can’t really describe the notes but it does NOT have carnation fyi. I remember when it was released that it was made clear that the name referred to the blush on a maidens cheek or something like that (much more eloquently said!) but bottom line-don’t expect a carnation frag. Anyway, it’s beautiful imo.

A plethora of notes sing in the symphonic opening. This is beautifully blended; I started to become frustrated trying to distinguish individual notes until I let my intellect rest and simply enjoyed the whole composition. Carnation is not aimed at resembling the flower; it takes its name from the archaic French word for skin. This is a blushed complexion perfume in the grand style (it doesn’t feel old-fashioned, just masterfully crafted). Gently powdery with wickedly dirty jasmine and spices, it caresses with warmth and intimacy. A sexy boudoir scent to be sure.

A complete failure on me. It went on as a beautiful carnation but faded almost instantly to synthetic smoke and plastic. Horrible. Had to scrub it off and kill it with deodorant.