1st Femme

Spray lightly with this one, it's a bit of a powerhouse. The opening is very chemical. There's that hairspray like quality to it. I feel like it's aldehydes, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to be positive on that. I could be way off, but I feel like there are 'good' aldehydes (a sharp, sparkling green that's very uplifting) and 'bad' aldeyhdes (an overwhelmingly chemical smell very like hairspray). This may not use aldehydes, but to me it smells like what I call bad aldehydes. The drydown becomes much more pleasant than the opening. There's a beautifully creamy jasmine. It's not indolic or fleshy at all, it's all soft and buttery. The freesia compliments it beautifully. It's quite sweet and flirty. The aim of this perfume is to take both mature and youthful perfumes and blend them together and in that sense, this is achieved very well. It's womanly, but it's also fun and a little whimsical. There's a vanilla base that's very delicate and pretty, plus I think I detect a tiny hint of some woods. For me, this is one of those 'if only' scents. In this case, it's if only there weren't that 'bad aldehydes' note. The florals are so lovely and so unashamedly floral, which is refreshing in this era of oud, leather and tobacco. It feels like a comeback for florals. But the hairspray smell just isn't for me. Strong sillage and amazing longevity - I put this on first thing this morning and it's now 7.30pm and it's still going strong.