A Une Madone

I get so much lactonic vibes here, SO much milk and toasted rice. It kind of reminds me of the milk bar cereal milk made with rice Krispie's - not so sweet but it has that deep toasted rice vibe. I am describing it as a gourmand and I guess it is a little but it's not sweet. Not a sweet or cloying vanilla at all. Nothing like Kashnoir, or Shalimar not like TF tobacco vanille, or the architects club) I was trying this against other vanillas to see if I could skip buying a FB, but nothing, nothing is like this. (It doesn't smell like Strangers Sweet Farwell, but it reminds me of it because of the rice element, however SF is WAY sweeter) This is a vanilla fragrance with the animalistics, which is super divisive for some people. I can understand how this can smell super weird or people perceive it as rotten or spoiled. To me there could be a slight sour milk smell but it's so addictive. I also make perfume and one of the characteristics of great perfume is there has to be some funk to go against the other elements to balance out say the sweetness of florals or vanilla or whatever the nice smelling ingredients are. I think this balance in a une madone is perfect, enough funk to make it really and truly addictive. (making me think about adding more funk to a couple of my perfumes) And the dry down - WOW, I think it dries into the most delicious oriental amber fragrance. For me it's in the dry down that I get more of the spice. The journey is not linear to me at all, it's a shapeshifter but when I smell my wrist that delicious not sweet vanilla with the rice...it is downright sexy is what it is. It's a playful, mischievous vanilla, peeking out to say hi and then running away. It's unlike any vanilla I have smelled before. I would love to smell this on a man. I have only tried it in the fall, I am curious to see what it would be like in the spring or summer. I can see where the perfumer was going with it because the vanilla, the scent it really, really does have a duality to it. I'm going ahead and pulling the trigger on a FB (it's not cheap, the only downside to me). DO NOT blind buy this. It's too weird, and people seem to either love it or hate. It really lasts to me, nearly eternal. I am in love. Besotted.

‘And ceaselessly toward you, white, snowy pinnacle, My turbulent spirit will rise like a vapor. Finally, to complete your role of Mary, And to mix love with inhumanity, Infamous pleasure! of the seven deadly sins, I, torturer full of remorse, shall make seven Well sharpened Daggers and, like a callous juggler, Taking your deepest love for a target, I shall plant them all in your panting Heart, In your sobbing Heart, in your bleeding Heart!’ Just like Baudelaire’s poem, this is cold, yet inviting, cruel and comforting. It is a perfume of paradox, perfectly encapsulating the Decadent tendency. It is like an iron clad ice cream cone, dripping down stone wrists.

To me this smells like milk and woods, sweetened by vanilla. Other notes are not prominent. It is sticky and voluptuous. It may not be a classically pretty smelling perfume, but there is magnetism and intrigue in it. I find myself drawn to it quite often. The longevity is excellent. Pierre Guillaume says that he made the perfume to represent the duality of divine and carnal, and I get it. To me it is also the duality of a woman, in the way that milk represents motherhood, and sandalwood, vanilla and animalic notes represent sensuality.

the most gorgeous elevated gourmand. it smells like if caramel had a cooler warmer whorish sister. the civet and castoreum is beautifully subsumed into the sweet cardamon and vanilla to make it smell like if a chai latte reincarnated into a hot naked man. get plenty of compliments on this one and it is incredibly long lasting and projects very well. when I wear it I feel like simply the hottest cryptid in the forest. LOVE !!

On my very first sniff, I said: "EURGH! This smells like piss and poison!" I said this verbatim. Then I was scared to smell it again, but when I did, it had transformed into the most beautiful, smooth and rich oud scent, and I was in love. I am really going to enjoy wearing this this winter!