Petit Ange

PETIT ANGE was one of two eaux de fraîcheur which I picked up recently from Parfums de Nicolai to help me to survive the blistering summer. I had tried a few of this house's perfumes and was impressed, so I decided to buy this blind. On one level, I may have been thinking that this would be similar to Annick Goutal PETITE CHERIE, so imagine my surprise when I read on the label that PETIT ANGE is recommended for use on children starting at 36months! I purchased a perfume for toddlers? Whoops! It turns out that this lilac fragrance is perfectly suited for anybody at any age, and it is light and fresh and natural smelling, so that it works perfectly for my intended use: on the most oppressively hot days when heavier fragrances are out of the question. The longevity is not very good, but it's no worse than some of the perfumes of L'Artisan Parfumeur, and the 100ml bottle costs about one third the price of the regular perfumes in this line. All in all, I ended up quite pleased with this purchase, and I especially love to don PETIT ANGE right after a bath on a very hot day. It really smells great--not like baby powder or anything toddlerish but like soft, natural lilacs. Simple but beautiful.

I got a sample of Petit Ange by chance, and I don't really know what to make of it. I think it's a weird idea to spontaneously perfume a three-year-old, and if they do ask for it, any light scent will do - this one as well as any other one. As a spinster I can't review this as a children's scent anyway, so I'll just say what I think of it for my own use: which is that it's a perfectly fine everyday scent. It's light but not in a fresh way, and soft but not babyish, there's no baby powder here. It's just subdued florals and subtle citrus, nice but nothing to write home about exactly. I've had a stressful few days at work, and in those circumstances I can easily become irritated by a scent, but that didn't happen with this one. On the other hand it didn't help, either: it's just a comfortable, unobtrusive, simple fragrance. I'm glad I got to sample it as a rarity, but I don't feel the need to add it to my collection (and I don't think I would if a child should come into my life either).