Eau Sans Pareil

First time trying it today as a blind buy, absolutely love it, usually don’t care for Penhaligons fragrances but this is great

This is a great scent for women as well! Spicy!

Olfactory artist, Beverley Bayne’s ( not Bertrand Duchaufour) 2011 creation of Eau Sans Pareil for Penhallagon’s is sparkling if fleeting cocktail for the end of summer in a haunted garden. A watery right bright effusion of Aldehydes open the composition with a basket filled with fruits. Bitter Neroli meets up with the sweetly tart Kumquats; Mandarin oranges do their thing with the help of a whispering pineapple. More whispers of the sun on a southern slid toward autumn is found with a little cypress, pink pepper and a very light honey sweet Tagete flower. All of this is just a momentary introduction to a great big boisterous raspberry. The opening is promising for those who are looking for a light fruity Eau de Toilette that acts more like cologne, a beautiful melancholy ghost to follow you from summer into fall. In the heart the fragrance it moves from the fruit garden to the flower garden and in this transition it drops very close to the skin. Maybe too close to the skin for some. Light lily of the valley, a delicate Ylang-ylang bring soft caresses to a sleepy Jasmine. There is a touch of spice from clove and tangy thick liquorice that gild a lovely late rose of summer. Under this rose there is a grounding earthy orris root to remind you that all things must return to the earth. It swirls around nicely and then evaporates like a ghostly ectoplasm to the dry down. Here there is the haunting in the dying garden. The spirits of Patchouli waft over a dry, dry vetiver. Tendrils of vanilla tease a shy spectral Amber as together they float over a parched Cedarwood. Labdanum and Oakmoss are shrouded in a ghostly musk. The sprit of the fragrance crosses over to the next world at about the forth hour. As an Aromatic Fougere is it very soft and pleasing. I find it to be too wispy for my taste but still lovely in what it does. It is sold as a masculine fragrance but pushing that nonsense aside this fragrance would work well on a woman who is looking for a fruity floral that is not in the least bombastic but rather hauntingly beautiful. Eau Sans Pareil by Penhalagon's 3 gold stars *** (Why only three gold stars? Beautiful as it is, like summer Eau Sans Pariel fades much too quickly. ) For the ghostly tale that goes along with my review check out my blog Scents Memory.

Eau Sans Pareil on my skin, is primarily a raspberry fragrance. The opening few minutes remind me of black currant, probably a combined effect of the raspberry note and pine/cypress. These two main accords soon separate from each other and make an enticing contrast. I usually don't enjoy jammy raspberry accord in perfumery. But in Eau Sans Pareil, while the raspberry is unapologetically sweet, it's rendered rather dry with a matte finish thanks to the woody and camphor aspects of pine and cypress. A pinch of aldehyde adds a bit of metallic twang and sparkles. While it's not as sparkling as the raspberry champagne in Louis Vuitton Mille Feux, the cool feeling imparted by aldehyde and conifers provides a very nice balance to the sweet raspberry. Sadly, 2 hours in, the alliance of raspberry and conifers soon fall apart. An abstract spicy note and a more robust smoky woody note fight for the place of the conifers. As a result, the raspberry is warmed up and becomes much more sugary. While it's not as cynically cloying as certain commercial fruitchoulis, the fragrance feels kind of a cacophony on my skin, as the artificial raspberry here doesn't seem to incorporate these potentially interesting accords in an organic way. Eau Sans Pareil remains an almost saccharine raspberry fragrance with a vague woody spicy base from then on. The sillage is moderate for the most part, and the longevity is around 9 hours. As someone who usually doesn't cope well with raspberry note in perfumes, I find the dynamic between cool conifer and aldehyde, and sweet youthful raspberry in Eau Sans Pareil a delightful surprise. Unfortunately, the dry down didn't escape the sugary trap, thus didn't sway me on the whole. Nevertheless, if you happen to love raspberry accords in perfumery, Eau Sans Pareil providing an interesting woody variation with refreshing, metallic, camphor nuances, might worth a try.

Cypress, sharp and clean, rounded out with some tart raspberry. I don't get any rose, and I'm surprised salt isn't listed. Other notes are there adding complexity but nothing else jumps out the way the cypress and berry do. To me this isn't a sweet fragrance, but aromatic, woody and fruity with a touch of citrus. Others have described it as 'shimmering' and 'sparkling' and I agree it does have those qualities! To me this is a very masculine smell, even more so than unisex, but I don't mind that on my skin. It's somehow very Christmassy! I imagine a festive centrepiece with cypress boughs on a table, a bowl of dry but fruity mulled wine and some salted pecans to snack on. I think Duchaufour has incredible range as a perfumer, I've been collecting many of his creations for their distinctive and quirky feel. This was one of the first I owned, and coming back to it after a year (as mentioned, it's a Christmas perfume for me!) I like it even better now that I know some of his other work. UPDATE: I was intrigued by @LANIER comment below so searched the Penhaligon's website archives and found this: 'Eau Sans Pareil was originally created in 1988 by Francis Pickthall, and was transformed by Beverley Bayne into a sparkling Chypre'. That explains why this feels so different (more astringent and less rounded) than Duchaufour's other creations; Fragantica has misattributed it.

I do agree with Penhaligon's. This scent is abstract. Unique and lovely. However, also confusing at the moments. A few seconds after applying, the scent seems sweet, but it isn't. On my skin, I smell vetiver, oakmoss, orris, patchouli and cypress. The combination seems quite masculine and sharp, but it lays on a creamy mix of fruits (not sweet or gourmand) and flowers. I can't detect exact flower/fruit notes, but they are altogether beautiful. After a while, there is a hairspray note that, luckily, goes away quickly. Perhaps this is unisex by today's standards. Women might find it too masculine and vice versa. I find it very pleasant. Anytime, anyplace scent. Sillage is moderate, but perfume is long-lasting.

First of all, it is by all means a unisex fragrance. Intriguingly, it is sold and marketed as a fragrance for women in Europe and as a fragance for men in the Far East. Being male, I like it more on myself than I would on my girlfriend. :) To me musk, vetiver and rose are quite obvious from the beginning and they stay there, when raspberry, kumquat and citruses (also easily distinguishable to my nose) are already gone. Edit: It stroke me today how much patchouli is there at the beginning. How could I not smell it before? I don't think it is equally distinct in the later, more soapy-powdery stage of this frag, even though it is a base note. But will continue to sniff myself today. :)

I liked this perfume just fine. It wasn't fbw to me, but it was pleasant. I found the description of sweet, woody, floral, citrus to be very accurate. There are so many notes that I can't tell them apart and usually I am okay at that. Complex is accurate as well. This perfume has a lot going on, so it's kind of vague. It's not bad, but it's not amazing either.

After reading all the notes in this perfume I thought it would smell like a mess, it wasn't, but it smells cheap to me. Too much going on with nothing standing out.very happy I got it as a gift and didn't pay for it.

This smelled like a slightly more fruity version of 4711 to me. Not terrible, not great. Pretty inoffensive and safe. Nothing to write home about.

This smells quite jammy sweet, so only buy if you like sweet frag. Smells similar to Montblanc Individuel to me.

I don’t get any fruit or sweetness at all. On me it smells super green. I’m a bit sad about it.

Opened very nicely with a good blend of fruity and floral, but it soon turns into a powdery floral scent. It has good longevity and sillage. To me this has real vintage feeling, no wonder it was made in 1988 - suitable for mature or elderly ladies.

A bit of a hot mess in the opening with too many scent notes seeking attention. It quickly becomes a rather mundane musky vanilla cedar. Yawn. Too feminine for the hubby. Too boring for me. Not offensive, but wholly unexciting.

Too fruity and sweet. Not original. The name is "Without comparisons" and seems a copy of hypnotic poison? No comment.

I’ve owned a bottle of this interesting fragrance by the esteemed British house of Penhaligon’s for about a year but put it away and forgot about it. On this chilly but sunny February day, I decided to pull off the cute beribboned cap and spray it on the back of my hand. Having now read the reviews I can only say this is an interesting new rendition of a a more vintage style fragrance showcasing a multi-layered pyramid of florals, resins, woods, fruits and spices!! I can see how this would be far more appealing to younger noses who want fruity and lighter fragrances. I suppose this could be called a Chypre in the new sense of the genre and it truly deserves a chance!! It is definitely unisex and more than likely should possess decent longevity and pleasant sillage. Very affordable and worth a try, it’s an edgier potpourri of English exuberance!

For first month, I could smell only masculin green notes. It was like luxurious men's toner. A little dark smell that i like. I enjoyed a lot that smell though I'm a woman. after one month I could begin to recognize very sweet smell. IT is vivacious and girlish or childlike. It's interesting combination between luxurious masculin scent and girlish candy smell. But It's attractive and well balanced. I had this Spring and Summer with this perfume. I love it. LOngevity is also very long though it's eau de toillette.

A sparkling chypre fragrance, lightly aldehydic and delightful to wear. Mandarin, bergamot, pink pepper and raspberry open over Damascus Rose, muguet, orris, ylang, orange blossom, liquorice and clove. These facets give Eau Sans Pareil a light powdery floral, fruity, citrus feel over the slightly sweet fragrance of labdanum. Happy to see that the earthy and tart absolute of oak moss is present in the base. Shimmering.... yes!!

I wore this scent today for the 1st time. I chose this fragrance over Esprit Du Roi- I did not like the acidic smell in Esprit Du Roi. Eau Sans Pareil has a very distinctive raspberry note. The fragrance settles down to almost a woody type scent. I was concerned that the scent would smell to sweet on skin but feel that it works well with my own chemistry. Good fragrance from Penhaligon's.

I ordered this after sampling it (old review below) and have not been disappointed. For me, it is heaven in a bottle. A unique, complex, rich scent that is comforting and cheering at the same time. It simply smells like me. If you can get a sample, try it. It might work for you too.