Héliotrope

First impressions: this is so much like Guerlain LHB, but somewhat stripped. It’s like the base of LHB-the guerlinade. Usually I leave very long winded reviews and to be fair I might end up coming back to do just that, but for now I really don’t have a whole lot more to say because that really is it. Performance is similar to but slightly better than the bottle of LHB I had back around 2013. I blind bought this because I am basically guaranteed to love any perfume that centers on heliotrope, almond, vanilla, and tonka. These are some of my favorite notes ever. I also LOVE rice notes on the rare occasions a perfume includes them. And honestly I love every single note this perfume has: iris, mimosa, violet leaf, benzoin, musk, and orange blossom. There was no way this perfume was going to be anything other than a love with those notes and a love it is. I’m not sure if this is discontinued, but I got a 40% full bottle on eBay for both a fair penny (considering it was only 40% full) and a great deal because this seems very hard to find-there was not a single BNIB bottle of this on eBay, and you can still often find BNIB bottles of long discontinued perfumes on eBay. I had to have it because a) I currently don’t have a heliotrope perfume in my collection, b) the rarity of it and not knowing when/if I’ll get a chance to snatch this up again, c) I’ve wanted to explore this house for years and this is my first perfume from them, and c) it’s just so beautiful and collectible. Oh and because it just sounded delicious! Lol. Very successful blind buy. Love it. If you’re lucky enough to come across this beauty and you love heliotrope and LHB snatch it up! I won’t be wearing this too often precisely because of the rarity of this but I’m thrilled to have this in my collection! I can’t wait to try more from this house. Also if you’ve ever tried JAR Jarling or Lush snow...something. I forgot the name 😭 snowflake maybe? Also long discontinued and the JAR one is actually way harder to find then this but if you happen to know either, they are quite similar except that those two lean more into almond/marzipan whereas this leans more into pure heliotrope. It is somewhat comparable to Etro Heliotrope but the Etro one is much more stuffy and would get cloying on me, it seemed to have a sort of cherry-almond accord which was just too much with everything else, even though cherry-almond is an accord that I normally love. This one never goes sickly sweet and instead of a syrupy cherry-almond accord and stuffy musk, this surrounds its absolutely bombastic heliotrope with drier, airier notes like rice and iris. Or to put it another way, Etro goes in the direction of SL Rahat Loukhoum, whereas this goes in the direction of something like Prada infusion d’iris especially the one in the gold bottle. Along with Guerlain l’heure de nuit (which actually now that I think about it this bears a good share of relation to as well. It’s kind of in between LHB and LDN) this is probably my favorite heliotrope so far. Well, JAR Jarling as well, but I don’t have high hopes of ever getting my hands on that one lol

As Keldur pointed out before, Héliotrope (the Oriza fragrance I know doesn’t have “Blanc” in its name and as far as I remember never had) resembles L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain. Because I adore both and find comparisons of that kind useful, I’m going to write about some similarities and differences of these two fragrances. Both share the same core qualities; the powder, the tonka, the iris-mimosa-heliotrope combo which make them feel so unique. However, L'Heure Bleue is overall sweeter. To my nose, it has an almost pungent sweetness, which can be a bit much. With Héliotrope on the other hand, the sweetness is just as present, but more covert. Not as prominent. Both scents don’t change drastically over the time. They are complex but remain rather linear in what they express. However, the the drydown is different. While L'Heure Bleue leaves soft traces of vanilla lingering on your skin for hours, with Héliotrope there is a strong emphasis on the iris. Personally, I prefer L'Heure Bleue in this respect. If L'Heure Bleue were a person, it would be a chic lady in a sleeveless black dress lounging on the veranda of an expensive hotel by the sea in the early evening. Héliotrope, however, is an ethereal, genderless being bathing in rays of cool sunlight. Speaking in colours, with L'Heure Bleue you can FEEL the deep hazy blue of the twilight when applying it. Héliotrope, on the other hand, gives me the vibe of a light sky-coloured purple. Relaxing and without any hint of danger. L'Heure Bleue might be the bigger masterpiece, yet Héliotrope is the fragrance I end up returning to again and again. It smells like comfort: warm rice pudding with tonka and orange water, decorated with violets. And it is high-quality, without the slightest hint of sex appeal. A very pure, very vintage scent. Héliotrope leans feminine, but there are certain types of men who can wear it effortlessly; men, who are comfortable with their soft, cuddly side. Also, very dandy-like characters. And: men, who don't have much toxicity in them and don't care if they smell "different". Héliotrope is more of an eccentric fragrance. It is one of my personal favourites and I truly recommend it, but I would not advise a blind-buy. Yet, people who enjoy L'Heure Bleue will quite possibly like it.

My second fragrance sample from this brand. Again first of all big props for offering an affordable freely customizable sample set. I really wish all brands did this. So, to cut to the chase right away, WHAT A DARLING this fragrance is. The most retro phase is clearly the opening that first hits you with a blast of powdery soapy notes intermingled with hints of iris and violet, on a strong base of fresh sweet almonds. Like the smell that would spread if a society lady of 100-150 years ago just did her morning routine and just powdered herself up as a final touch at her gorgeous dressing table. The dry down, however, turns a bit more modern as a delicious milky gourmand. It smells like a lightly sweetened almond rice pudding, topped with delicate small petaled florals that add some lightness to the composition. This phase is just beautiful, innocent, and to me, very feminine. There are those 19th-century paintings of picnic scenes, where a mother and/or a few young girls all dressed in white old-style summer dresses or blouses will sit in a summer field with a picnic basket near them. I feel that's how those young, fresh-faced, innocent-looking girls in their starched blouses would smell like. This scent may not have the strongest sillage or longevity. I would say after 3 hrs it's more or less a skin scent of innocent soft powdery vanilla. Nevertheless, despite me currently being on a self-imposed purchase-stop, I am 95% sure I will get myself a bottle of this sooner or later. I would love to visit the Paris boutique. Let's see. But eventually, I'll own this little delicious treasure.

This is a heavenly, fluffy heliotrope and almond scent. This is suuuper powdery and thick-smelling, if that makes sense, and a bit sweet, but not too much. I love it. It smells exactly how I’ve always imagined antique deodorant powders and face powders to smell. I’m imagining an 18th-century aristocrat or courtesan dusting powder scented like this on their chest with an enormous powder puff. Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) would smell like this. This was initially my favorite out of the Oriza samples I ordered, but after much testing, I might have to give that title to Jardins d’Armide. They’re quite similar in my opinion (ultra powdery, feminine, similar drydown), but they have a couple of differences. Jardins d’Armide is rose-heavy and slightly sweeter with a prominent honey note. Héliotrope smells a bit plasticky like an old doll, and there’s something anisic and almost lactonic about it. Longevity also differs – Héliotrope is quite weak, whereas Jardins d’Armide’s is much better. Héliotrope is wonderful while it lasts, but the longevity is not good enough for me; I get about 4 hours of wear out of it. Although I love it, it’s not full-bottle worthy for me. I’d buy it in a heartbeat if it lasted longer

Recently I smelled for the first time heliotrope flowers and my first thought was: "Oh, this really does smell like that heliotrope fragrance by Oriza L. Legrand! Wow!" They have a lovely almond-y, vanillic, powdery, marshmellow-like smell. This is also the most realistic baby power scent I ever smelled but in a good way. Honestly, I never got the baby powder as a pejorative term. I like how's it smells... A lot of perfumes are labeled as smelling like baby power but I never got it, until this one. It smells like creamy sweet powder with a slight floral aspect to it. Utterly innocent and soothing. Heliotrope had become one of my favorites notes, I can't get enough. Basically it smells like creamy baby powder + marshmellows or conversational hearts (like another reviewer mentioned), but the sweetness is very natural, nothing artificial. Oh, it also smells like you caught a whiff of a pastry shop where they make marzipan or almond cookies, or something else with almonds and powdered sugar!