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!

I first encountered this scent at age 19, and I can see now why it wouldn't have appealed to me at that age, but is very appealing now that I am in my late 30's. Niki de Saint Phalle is a mature woman's scent, with maturity meaning age and experience rather than a number. I was not ready to be that person at age 19 or 20, but I welcome this scent now. Other Fragrantica members suggested I would like this one as it smells similar to Molinard de Molinard, which is one of my favorites. It does smell like that one, with a little more green "Christmas tree" note in the opening. It then dries down to a beautiful, sexy musk, similar to Halston Classic. I can't wear the Halston at all, but Niki also has enough leather in the base to keep it pleasant-smelling on me. It's a bit out of fashion at this time, or perhaps its a scent completely out of time altogether, unless it's the right time for YOU to wear it. Full disclosure: the beautiful packaging is a HUGE part of the appeal for me, too. I never buy scents based on packaging alone, but thankfully, the scent is as exotic, attractive and mysterious as the opulent blue bottle that contains it. I have the EDT and it has decent staying power in this concentration, but I am hoping I can find an EDP or Parfum of this scent to purchase in the future.

Vintage smelling greens/woods/chypres are my obsession, and I happened upon this page-- I have never heard of this?! I read the reviews, and went right to Fragrancenet to buy a 2 oz bottle. Mmmmm... this is good. GREEN, but soapy, earthy, and woody. I don't get any mint (good). I get the "pine" like green but it's so well blended and smooth overall. A little bit of every note put together so well. Along the same lines as Bandit IMO. I just love how it's still clean/fresh but green 'n dirty. Good stuff! Totally unisex. Compared to vintage femininity like Miss Dior, Intimate, Bandit, Aliage, Animale, Dioressence, Charlie, etc... this is very feminine. But compared to today's opinions-- this is masculine. So anyone who wants should wear this! :) This must be a recent formula, it's not very potent (edt). But I def love it! I went over to ebay to check out the other products, and I'm beyond stoked that I got a 100ml bath oil for $25. I hope it's the kind of bath oil that doubles as a skin perfume! (I have Youth Dew bath oil and prefer that as a perfume) Any have experience with Niki bath oil? Update: 3 hours later, this EDT on skin is still going! Only I get a light velvety spicy/wood/patch. I'm going to decant this into a spray when I get home and GO NUTS! I love this!

Niki de Saint Phalle was the first "real" perfume I bought...I was a teen, not yet old enough to drive or only barely old enough, and my mother disapproved very strongly of the purchase. At the counter where I was testing perfumes, she protested my desire for it. I had not seen any marketing for it, nor had I known anyone to wear it; on the contrary, it was completely outside of my provincial experience. She felt, I think, that it was not a genteel scent and certainly not suitable for a girl my age. I persisted. I bought it with my own money, despite her manifest dismay and disapproval. She drew up her mouth. I handed over a pile of five and one dollar notes. I took it home, wore it in tiny spritzes daily and more generous sprays on dates. It suited me, somehow. I didn't really know exactly how i smelled, but I knew that I smelled different than my female school-mates. More...mature? Moer complex? Not so sweet. I LOVED IT. I still have an unholy respect for the chypre genre...I think it's time to search out a new (old) bottle of this, for auld lang syne. I found it intriguing then and I still do. Green and growly, earthy and intricate, bold and remote. Opposites that embrace. Very me...

I’ve finally found my Forever Perfume; the first scent since I got into perfume that I sprung for a full-sized bottle of and wear near-daily. Niki de Saint Phalle (from 1982) is the ultimate dark-green witchy chypre. It’s a jolt of sharp galbanum and bitter-herbal, emerald-green wormwood up top, with a slug of grimy oakmoss and solid, reassuring leather beneath, and oodles of animalics and patchouli in the middle. A few hours in when all the green glow has burned off, the dark leather-carnation-oakmoss base gets pleasantly creamy-soft from the peach and iris, but never goes sweet. It’s just comfortable against the skin. The whole genre of dark woody chypres is catnip to me, but none of them is quite as on-the-nose what I want. Some (Paloma Picasso, Knowing) are too floral and missing the sharp green top; Magie Noire is too transparent and not skanky enough; Aromatics Elixir is beautiful but rather gloomy; Bandit is a bit plain; Mystere is a bit too dry. Maai is a beautiful contemporary black-green chypre but far too expensive for me to get a full bottle. Niki de Saint Phalle, though. The wicked, brainy brew of my dreams. Atavistic yet elegant.

This perfume is a masterpiece. I spray it, and wow...love, lust at first sniff. Starts off really tantalisingly citrussy, warmly, smoothly sweet ( I know it sounds like a contradiction, but that is what I get!!!!!!!!!!). Not a fruity cocktail sweet, warm, hypnotically sweet. I think what captivates me is the bergamot mix with apple/citrus. Then, it dries down to a gloriously composed middle waft of gentle, powdery warmth...must be the carnations...and of course, the 'I love', patchouli, which here just seems to anchor and stabilise the sometimes oversweet notes such as jasmine. And then,, add even more depth. And I'm walking on sunshine, and sweetness, and a fabulous cloud of divine scent. Just ordered 2 more bottles..no way am I ever going to skimp with this one. NB, I wore it yesterday, for my birthday. My darling daughter (aged 21) said to me...'WOW! What is that amazing perfume. It's divine!" Now, she generally likes sweeter chypre and floral fumes. (Currently she wears Lolita Lempicka and Parisienne) So, the allure must be ageless.... Thank you to Niki and the gods of all perfume beauty. Another great love!!!

I found a really good deal on one of the horoscope 2oz bottles. It wasn't my "sign" but it was cheap and these bottles comes with a spray! WAHOOOOOO! Strange, the box/bottle doesn't say EDT. I'm assuming it is. It smells exactly like regular Niki. Except, call me crazy-- but one squirt on a tissue has HUGE sillage. Dare I say-- much more sillage than any of the splash EDTs. Perhaps it's the amount of liquid that comes out the sprayer? Anyways, I'm STOKED to have a spray bottle now. I've previously put my Niki splashes in atomizers, but now I'll just refill these 2oz bottles. Too bad it's not my sign tho. Haha. I also put my Niki bath oil in an atomizer, and it still sprays/works despite being oil. The bath oil is thicker and has this "doughy" aspect to it. So the bath oil smells a bit diff than the EDT. I also have a mini vintage, and honestly-- I can't really find a difference in smell. Gawd, I love this. Minty greeny piney fresh soapy woody earthy. Sublime. I get a lot of mint in this version, which I wasn't sure I'd like/want. But I do. I love! Minty pine! I also love the dark blue shower gel!!

I got so lucky and found this bottle at the local thrift store with about 75% still left in it. It looks like it's an original 1982 bottle but I can't tell because there's obviously no date on it. It is the oval shaped bottle with the intertwining snakes on it and the artwork is beautiful. I love the cobalt blue of the bottle. Now onto the scent, all I can say is that it's vintage in a very charming way. It was very warm in the thrift store yet the smell didn't seem overwhelming so I think that it can still be worn for spring but I would definitely recommend it as a nighttime fragrance. Unfortunately it didn't have a price sticker on it and my local thrift store usually will not sell something if they have not priced it yet.I pouted my lip out and ask them if they could please price it in comparison to some of their other perfumes and they said they'd sell it to me for $2.99. So I got a very good steal! It's a beautiful scent it was made the year I was born and for no other reason than that I love it. The smell wins me over.

Niki de Saint Phalle is a beautiful, complex and well blended chypre of the good old school. Bold and daring, not for the faint of heart. At the same time it is elegant, sophisticated and refined. On my skin it opens with a massive blast of aldehydes and green leaves. Not my favourite phase I must admit, but it fades away within five minutes. Then I smell wormwood and carnations, a bit of peach and ylang-ylang. This beautiful and enchanting combination lasts approximately one hour. And then my favourite phase beginns - oakmoss, leather, patchouli and mellow musk. This smells very autumnal, has a hint of decomposing leaves, something woody and quiet about it. And as a gentle leitmotif through all this beauty - orris root, a bit soapy and powdery. Good longevity, stays 6 - 7 hours on my skin. This perfume reminds me of Ivoire de Balmain, Magie Noir Lancome, Azuree Estée Lauder and alike. Funny that a feminine fragrance of the 80's sounds completely unisex nowadays. Love it!

With such a prominent leather note, I'm shocked at this being compared to Silences over Miss Balmain or Cabochard. Halston classic is a very clear ancestor of this scent, and NdSP could easily be a stand in for an "intense" version of Halston. An easy love for me, with an aldehydic herbal opening that quickly transforms into an intensely mossy leather. The bottle can fool you, smelling only of flowery aldehydes--this MUST be sampled on the skin. I can see why this gets ranked among the best chypres ever, it is THAT sublime. For lovers of leather, wood, and moss ONLY. You won't find many flowers or fruits, here. Smells wintery to me. My only complaint is the lame cap--such a beautiful bottle, but the cap on the splash is cheap golden plastic with a visible seam. Why not a metal cap? Review is for EDT splash, which is plenty intense for my requirements.

Just got my new 30 ml splash bottle, courtesy of a guest newly arrived from the States. I didn't have high hopes for it since it's not the vintage and my last bottle (the 60 ml.vapo-spray)that I had for well over a decade was already a reformulation. This new bottle does smell fresher though and the notes have more definition, AND it has the colorful snakes on it. Looks gorgeous on my dresser. I haven't been without Niki since it first came out 35 years ago but I only just realized that the dry down, after a good 4-5 hours, strongly recalls Halston Classic- (another old love of mine, pre-reformulation). Indeed I just checked the notes and there is a very extensive overlap. I don't get much leather, if any, in this version of Niki. Maybe that's why it recalls Halston now. The oakmoss predominates now in both.

Adding another review, now that I have tried both the Eau de Toilette and the pure Parfum. If you're new to this scent, try the EdT first. It is inexpensive and easily found online. If you like the citrus and pine top notes in the Edt, you'll want to purchase the Parfum at some point. Those notes last much longer in the Parfum concentration and give the fragrance a different effect. The parfum is much greener and a little sweeter. If your favorite part of this fragrance is the leather and musk of the drydown, the EdT gets there faster and those are the notes that will linger. This scent is very long-lasting even in the EdT strength. (And if you're a bottle collector, you'll want both versions! They're just so darn pretty!)

A blind buy based on the reviews of fellow Fragranticans and NowSmellThis. And, boy, does it not disappoint! Gorgeous stuff made before Health and Safety killed the Chypre. Carnation and oakmoss heaven, so much so that it reminds me of L'air du Temps in its glory days (as I remember it was in 1980s), sans the aldehydes and cloves but with the same slight soapiness that sets in in half-hour or so. Artemisia gives it some grown-up bitterness that I love. If you'd wear L'air du Temps in 1980s with a white trouser suit, fedora and killer heels, NdSP can be worn with down-to-earth jeans, a lumberjack shirt and cowboy boots to go hiking or riding and then still empower you to gatecrash an event of any calibre at any venue.

If I could be faithful to a perfume, this could be the one. This is so me, it is more me than me. This is the imagery that came to mind earlier when it was newly on: I am outside and in the near distance there is meadow filled with blooms and scent. But, I am walking into a forest that I have to part the vines in order to enter. It is much cooler in the forest, and smell of damp earth, trees and green foliage prevails. As my feet sink in the compost on the forest floor, I turn to see the sunlight on the wildflowers. I got moderate sillage for several hours. I can still sniff it out on my wrists and it has been 11 hours. This is very unisex, and it is exquisitely beautiful. I wish I could swim in this.

So lovely it makes me wish Niki had made more perfumes. Her only effort is a beauty, from its cobalt bottle with the playful snakes to the lovely stuff inside. The scent reminds me of a sun drenched garden (of Eden?), where drying herbs and flowers perfume the air. This fragrance is completely unisex. Bracing herbs mingle with soft musk to create a unique, beautiful scent. Although this perfume has an artemisia note it still manages to keep the bitterness to a minimum. Ma Griffe could learn a thing or two in that department ... Sillage is average, this scent sticks close to the skin. Niki's masterpiece should be more popular, it's truly a standout.

i'm so blown away, i'm at a loss for words. a chypre lover's dream. one of my most successful blind buys ever. more thoughts, the day after: some reviews mention getting aldehydes. not only are they not listed, i don't get any aldehydes (and i'm very sensitive to them/ don't generally like them). like many, i'm reminded of lancome magie noire, one of my all-time faves; i'm also reminded of sisley eau du soir. in my notes, i eventually wrote: this makes me feel like i’m in the deep, shady heart of the most magical of woodsy forests, near a small glade with aromatic herbs and flowers blossoming amidst the ancient trees and verdant, mossy undergrowth.