Niki de Saint Phalle

Picture it: 1982. A twelve year old girl is walking through the old I. Magnin store at Union Square in San Francisco: an elegant, gracious space done up in grey marble and accented with gilded brass. The girl, in love with the glamour of her surroundings, the first giddy flush of love in fact, passes a cosmetic counter; a flask atop it gets her full attention. A rectangular pillar of blue cobalt glass supports two metallic snakes, one gold, one enameled in piebald primary colors. They are entwined in what parents or teachers would euphemistically call "an act of love." A sales lady (That's a sales assistant, for you younger readers) notices her gawking at this revelation, smiles, and hands the girl a sample of what lies within that cobalt pillar. (Yes, there was a time when sales assistants were called sales ladies and they did things like that. Sigh.) At home the girl sits down cross-legged on her bedroom floor and opens the little vial. Even before the fragrance touches skin she knows---something about her is changing, is being changed by whatever is in this tiny plastic vial. She doesn't have the words to adequately describe or analyze what she is experiencing, though words like topnotes, oakmoss and drydown really can't be used to describe an awakening, a coming of age, an epiphany. What is really in that little vial is not so much a perfume but a secret handshake admitting her for the first time into a world of mature sensuality. Sweet flowers with a serrated edge of bitterness, spicy and forbidding with woods thick enough to become lost in: though it will be years before her first real kiss, her first real love affair, her first heartbreaks--this is the moment, the passkey from childhood to what lays beyond. Though I kept the sample for years, I did not buy NdSP; by the time I was in my late teens/early 20s it had disappeared from suburban mall shelves and I thought it was discontinued and gone forever. About a year ago, discovering fragrance again, I wondered, "what about Niki?" and set out to find it. While the EDT is excellent-- lighter than the vintage as I remember it, more green and less complex--the old NdSP lives on in the bath oil--the bitter pollen of marigold that makes this fragrance what it is really stands out. This is a must try for every serious perfumista because there is nothing like it on the market today -- so says my inner 12 year old.

I just splurged and ordered a new (old) bottle of this, after the bottle and name caught my eye and I read just about every review on here, I clicked around all my usual 'fume sites until landing on the 'Bay. Scrolled down a few and not only was it an old, unopened bottle, but the special Zodiac edition Eau Defendue spray - IN THE "CAT" VERSION! IT MUST BE PERFUME FATE! (I am most certainly a crazy cat lady, and a Leo.) I have a soft spot for chypres, the greener and mossy-er the better -- and I've recently begun to discover that contrary to my expectations, I dig on leather accords as well. I found my recent acquisition of Mitsouko to be a disappointment, it's just ~okay~ from what I can gather. It's a vintage EDT and I spent the entire first two days thinking maybe I got a bad bottle or was anosmic, I could barely smell anything! Now I get faint shadows of scent, but barely enough to really fall in love as I was hoping. My fault I suppose, for going for the less expensive EDT. I couldn't find for sure whether the Eau Defendue/Zodiac version of NdSP is EDT or EDP, I'm just hoping to be pleasantly surprised. In any case, I am dying for the beautiful bottle, now I can get rid of my gnarly Katy Perry Purr and Meow that I really only own just to have a cat represented on my perfume tray. (Anyone interested, PM me.) Thank you all for your reviews (good and bad), I tend to be more intrigued by the more uncertain or negative ones I read, and I'm literally bursting with excitement to try NdSP! I can't wait to smell like a mossy old book, left forgotten in an enchanted forest. I'll update once she settles into her new home. UPDATE 3/2015: Perfection! Dark and mysterious spicy woodsy mossy heaven. Earthier than my beloved Coriandre but reminiscent of all of my favorite things about that scent. Projection/sillage and longevity are moderate, probably to the benefit of those around me as I tend to overspray my favorites.

So complicated this scent is, but I am not complaining, no, I am basking! The herbal opening is gorgeous. Adding mint and bergamot to those little fresh cut leaves brightens the scene, and makes it perfect. The peach is hidden, it doesn't shout out with sweetnees-the peach uses itś fuzzy skin, and stays softly in the background, taming the opening notes, keeping them from turning "too masculine". My nose is elated, ecstatic, and stunned, and the middle notes are difficult for me to discern. I can say that the carnation keeps the composition dry. The jasmine and ylang-ylang are slightly overshadowed, but not completely lost, while they mix and meld so perfectly with the other earthen notes of cedar, orris root, and patchouli. The rose reaveals itself only by playing rival to the patchouli, and lending hidden power and velvety caress to all the other notes in play. The drydown comes along and I am baffled by how intensely I can enjoy all the whole three stages of this scent, so thoroughly. The base is like a cedar chest, an antique house with wooden floors. The base itself reminds me of a gentle Azuree by EL. At first the leather note in the base misguided me, I thought of wax or powder, but now I am finding the leather to be a lovely and essential touch. The scent is strong, but itś not forceful, not tacky. This perfume is on edge the whole time, but simultaneously balanced, sublime. This scent has presence, texture. It develops, changes, revealing so many facets-doing so-smoothly at every level. An excellent Chypre, it is never sugary, not for one moment. Wonderfully natural, always keeping you grounded. Oriental in the way the spices and deep eastern notes conjure dreams of 1,000 Nights under an indigo dark sky. Truly beautifully Floral, as it never fails to be profoundly feminine.

Niki de Saint Phalle, Niki de Saint Phalle vintage EDT I once had an instructor say that all good art should elicit an emotional response. It doesn’t matter if it’s a positive emotion like awe or acceptance, or a negative emotion like fear or hate. Art that has an emotional impact is good art. Personally, really beautiful art, art that is painfully beautiful, makes me weep. Niki de Saint Phalle is among the best of the best. I acquired a vintage EDT in a blind swap; knowing nothing about the fragrance nor the designer except that it had a cult following and that it was vintage, which was enough to make me want it. I really had no idea what was in store for me. This fragrance is so beautiful I want to weep. I cannot believe this fragrance hadn’t crossed my path before. It’s so unbelievably green and lush, but also vibrant and unbelievably colorful. On my skin, the carnation arrived first wrapped in green and mint. The heart was a perfectly blended leather, cedar, artemisia and orris with a hint of fruit. The drydown was sandalwood and a mossy green with amber. Years ago, I went to Niki’s sculptural garden Queen Califa’s Magical Circle. At that time I knew nothing about the artist, not even the name of the park, but I knew I had never seen such beautiful structural mosaic before! The pieces were so colorful and whimsical that I remember them clearly to this day. Now that I’ve worn this fragrance and I’ve experienced her beautiful mosaic sculpture in the park, it all makes perfect sense! This fragrance really is a liquid interpretation of those glittering vibrant joyful mosaics. Niki received the artistic equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize in art, and what she created in tile, mirror, and concrete, she has recreated in fragrance. This is absolutely exquisite.

My best friend in high school bought me a spray bottle of EDT (early 80s) right after my tiny sample had run out, saying, "I had to get it for you because it's so weird. Like you." Intelligent and observant as well as generous, that one. :) We both loved the cobalt blue glass bottle, the golden cap with embossed intertwined snakes...even the ads were magnificent. Not for conformists, conservatives, nor the faint of heart, this scent literally turned the heads of admirers, the curious, and the frightened. 15/16-y-old strawberry blonde Michigan girls certainly weren't supposed to smell like THAT! Niki de Saint Phalle is sharp and sweet, light and deep, cool and warm, bright and dark, and all at once. A sweet smile, a rather intimidating glance; a light touch, a profound sexiness. Green, floral, but with a heavy and spicy base. It's simultaneously lighthearted, mysterious, innocent, and sophisticated. It is many things, but it is never submissive: this is for a woman with an independent mind. Only an artist - or alchemist - could create a smooth blending of such diverse elements and make it work. It worked well enough it convinced a miserable punkly teenager at least one more human out there understood her, and they made this perfume. (I have neither owned nor smelled any reformulations.) It lent an enormous amount of moral support and confidence. Wear this for dancing in a meadow, whilst examining those avant garde paintings you've considered for your modern Parisian penthouse, or beret and bongos at a coffeehouse. Yeah!