Un Bel Amour D’été

I’m locked in a moment of pure physical ecstasy. The golden orange glow of the sun on bronzed skin salty from seawater and sweat. Coconut and floral suntan lotion. A fruit cocktail gone a bit warm in the sun. The scents of flowers on a warm breeze. It’s a moment in time, a beautiful and sultry summer day full of sensorial and physical delights that you don’t want to end. Oof, ok, focus Nathan. Let me try to do this before I pass out. First to get out of the way are some notes I’m definitely picking up that PdE doesn’t mention, namely cumin and civet. Be it known that Bel Amour is a lot more raunchy than breezy summer frivolity. The cumin and the civet add palpable and magnetic body odors to the perfume that are acting like pheromones. The animalic purr is loud, lascivious, and ready for fun. Champaca starts the perfume, golden, sweet, fruity, and unctuous. The civet makes its first appearance alongside, immediately making me think of Jicky - yes, it’s that loud and sexual. Then the heart - ugh, the gorgeous beating heart of this perfume. It’s the most beautiful thumping muscle of gardenia and ylang-ylang. The gardenia presents as its typical rich, sweet, creamy, white floral self, but here it calls heavily on its coconut facets while staying bright rather than deeply nutty or milky. The yellow floral of the ylang-ylang is pushing its fruity and banana notes, starchy texture, and highly tropical characteristics. The cumin swings in and out, adding plenty of raunch to the innocent florals. The dry down to the base keeps the purr, thump, and beat going. Thank you, Mr. Corticchiato, for consistently not ignoring your dry downs. The sandalwood and vanilla base is just as energetic as the top and heart, and carries the creaminess and earthy spiciness very well and very convincingly. Ok, enough about all that - back to smelling, back to buckling at the knees in ecstasy, back to losing myself in the memory of a languid and tryst-filled summer. What a stunner of a perfume.

Languid. Tropical. Humidity and high heat. My skin makes it come real close to Songes, so I don’t get the Fracas/Jicky association unfortunately. But it’s a rough Songes. There’s a prominence of camphor in the first hour or so, something that Songes lacks. It doesn’t veer in the direction of the menthol queen Tubereuse Criminelle, but the feel here is camphor with something else. The gardenia is quite pronounced and smells very authentic and saturated, the kind which we haven’t smelt since Boutonnière from Arquiste. But here, it has a halo of freshness curtesy of the magnolia, so it’s a humid tropical smell. The mushroom aspect is subdued but present enough to provide authenticity. From the second hour onward, it becomes less humid and more dry, kinda like the 2 o’ clock sun at the beach. The gardenia transforms to a more spicy melange and a very nice sandalwood with just a hint of vanilla and body warmth emerges. Blending is superb, like most PdE creations you can’t grasp the full effect from the start; it comes with wear. But these first weeks of wearing it in extremely high heat, I’m getting the promised heady gardenia, accurate and authentic, saturated with magnolia and slightly funky base notes that show a 90/10 ratio of sandalwood vs vanilla. It can be familiar to some, easy to love by many but never an easy cash grab or functional mainstream turd; I think I’m on the start of my Bel Amour, the infatuation. Give us a couple weeks and we’ll make it a very naughty Bel Amour d’Été! Sillage and longevity on par with the house; generous but never crass! From 2024, my favorite release so far (not yet gotten my hands on Epona and Venice Rococo to complete the perfect 2024 threesome). Edit: blooms in autumn in a glorious way! Somehow it becomes extremely gardenia forward 😍

The flowers blooming in my city this spring had me craving for something fitting for the season. I was looking at the obvious white florals, and gardenia was a note I was largely unfamiliar with. Un Bel Amour was quietly under my radar for quite some time, but out of pure randomness I got my nose on this, and I'm happy I did. I typically have a penchant for my floral to be skanky, which this isn't, but this turned out to be a welcome break. The opening feels like the THX logo; nothing I've ever sprayed can match the first few minutes of pure unadultered awe this provides. Just a full colored rush that completely floors me. And it thankfully holds up throughout the wear. The marriage of gardenia and ylang is the core, which segues into a gentle sandalwood drydown. Easy to understand, but every facet is complex and incredibly well done if one decides to look. The subtle spices bring a gentle edge, simply floating the whole time, just humming along. Nothing ever sticks out negatively. Corticchiato has yet to dissapoint. It's odd to think there wasn't anything close to this in the Parfum d'Empire lineup, since it just makes sense. It stands out as such a pretty scent top to bottom. It's like every dark album needing a very pretty song in the middle, a relief. Every perfume brand that takes itself seriously will have a tough time making something so good yet so carefree.

Wow!! My love affair with the perfume house Parfum D'Empire continues unabated. First I fell head over heels for Corsica Furiosa, then Mal-Aime then I was blown away by Aqua di Scandola. Now I have been wearing Un Bel Amour d'Ete for the last 3 days and once more I am bowled over. Bright yet utterly creamy, dense and heady yet fresh and sparkling. So opulent, but also sunny and carefree. Blended with such incredible expertise you cannot help but be astounded by the complexity of this fragrance. It wallops you in the initial 30 mins, like standing in dazzling sunshine in a garden of white and yellow flowers but then as the brightness subsides the creamy sensuality steps forwards and the sexiness is dialled up to 10. I won't try and write about the notes, there are two or three articles here on Fragrantica that do that much better than I ever could. But I will say that anyone that loves creamy white florals but who is a grown up woman who isn't afraid of her sensual powers, will adore this blockbuster of a fragrance.

I have, each on a strip and on skin, Un Bel Amour d’Ete, Le Galion’s L’Astre, and Sana Jardin’s (woefully discontinued) Revolution de la Fleur. The overlap of UBAdE and RdlF is a good 80%, the former having a cumin note, which gives it a lightness and freshness. RdlF is more humid and dense, the yellow florals heavier, and the vanilla giving it a sweet, custard-y weight. L’Astre compares about 60% to RdlF, and 75% to UBAdE, it’s a little creamier (not vanillic) than UBAdE; though the yellow florals are quite similar. All gorgeous, wearable Ylang Ylang- dominant perfumes; all vaguely tropical; they seem best suited to warm weather. Are they different enough to own all? Yes, if yellow florals are your jam, and they differentiate enough on your skin. They are pretty true to how they smell on the blotters on my skin. Nonetheless, I’m glad to have compared them, as they have a lot of overlap to my nose. I have RdlF, and would like to choose one of the others. Undecided as of yet.