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!

Starts out as the most delicious milk and cookies scent with a touch of spice from the cardamom. The animalics come out to play in the dry down, adding a lived-in, cozy edge to the entire composition. Reminds me of eating cookies by candlelight while snuggling my cat.

smells like Iraqi / Arabic desert called "Mahalabi" which is made from Milk, cornstarch , sugar , and Cardamom powder , love the smell , the dry down is very attractive

#1802 in my “Tour de Fragrance” I like this one. If you tossed in some citrus this would be very close to Tiziana Tirenzi “Burdel.” This runs $175 for 50 ml and the Burdel runs $200 for 100 ml and features real Calabrian bergamot, which is not screechy like the synthetics. I also think the cypriol in Burdel works better than the synthetic civet in this scent giving the Burdel a greener lean. Burdel also adds oud for a darker more masculine tone than this has. So I’d give Burdel the edge over this, especially for men. That said, this scent has moderate longevity, silage is also moderate. Kind of comes across like a Moresque scent in that regard. Always nice, but you could wish for more potency. You can wear this anywhere without offense. I think it’s attractive but an intimate distance choice. I haven’t tried the Dua clone so I can’t speak to that. Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Honestly, I get freshly-baked spice cookies. Vanilla and cardamom are key players here throughout the performance of the perfume, but there's this crumbliness that would still leave your fingers sticky after you finish the cookie. A deviation from the typical myrrh-incense route, there is still a musk that grounds this gourmand. Now, do I get the civet and castoreum notes? Not in the traditional sense, but I can see how it would be translated to the muskiness in the dry down. So, if those types of animalic notes would typically drive you away, I would not let that deter you this time. Overall, a really unique gourmand that brings you on a journey.

In my unending search for a cardamom scent I tried this lovely perfume. It opened like a slightly spicey chypre - more green and slightly fruity rather then warm like cardamon. Vanilla swooped in at the heart and squeezed everyone else out of the room - for a few moments. At the base, vanilla took a seat and made room for a gently spiced oud. Vanilla oud was spot on branding. I didn't pick up any of the animal notes and that's just fine this soft beauty doesn't need them.

The opening hour or so held my attention INTENSELY, and then after that, it kinda fell flat for me. A deliciously woody bubblegum accord with spices and balsam backing it up. I'm going to return to this review and complete it as at this moment, there's a lot more going on and I need a second sampling of this...

I’m not picking up anything animalic, resiny, spicy, churchy, floral or woody and I’ve worn this perfume twice. A Une Madone opens with a strong cotton candy note, drying down into caramel corn and generic gooey candy. I’m not getting Rice Krispies (like the reviewer directly below), but I do agree that this is weird, strongly reminding me of a carnival atmosphere. The base feels wet and sticky sweet. I don’t hate it, but this doesn’t represent the listed notes.

My daughter gets the full ice cream experience, and absolutely love this one! I.. can kind of get where she is coming from, but on me there is an ever-present dirty animalic musk that just won't shift. Definitely polarising, and results obviously dependant least in part on skin chemistry so not a safe blind buy, but it is worth sampling to see how it works on you.

Condensed milk, cookies and smooth texture, sounds beautiful until all the animal notes take it over. Definitely interesting but risky buy.

Balsamic, nutty, smoky myrrh with vanilla and styrax sweetening. It smells like a scorched, caramelised rice pudding. Interesting that Olympe's review below also makes that connection to rice. Some of the bitterness in the scorch note comes from the tar-like guaiac in the base. On my skin I don't really get cardamom and I hadn't detected the animalics either but now you mention it there is a thickened quality to this as well as a grainy sandalwood or tonka texture. The blending is excellent and À une Madone does present as a single accord, a sort of comforting woody gourmand, yet neither exactly. I see this as an interesting, romantic winter evening option. I can picture it worn in a ski lodge, sitting by the open fire in rugged knitwear. (Disclaimer: I've never been skiing). Not a fan of the dirty guaiac-vanilla dry-down though, after all the other notes have faded

Based on the notes I should love it but I don’t get the spices, woods, or any other notes. It’s extremely sweet and I get the condensed milk comparison. I don’t find it complex either, it smells the same the whole time. The lactonic quality is really strong and it turns my stomach unfortunately, it’s almost kind of salty or something? And it’s like spoiled milk on my skin. I think this is for anyone who wants a strong sweet milk scent. The vanilla is there but it doesn’t smell like a natural vanilla for me and it’s overpowered by the lactonic notes. I am disappointed because I enjoy the unique green vanilla Felanilla from this house, but this one is so bad for me. I always want to like gourmand scents as I do like sweet scents, but I guess sometimes there is too much of a good thing.

The initial spray was so beautiful and vanillic, and my my clothing it smelled woody and vanillic. However, on my skin that slight funky animalic nature came out. That funky animalic character made this a perfume that is not to my taste; without it, it would be a really lovely woody vanilla.

Blech. This smells like baby food. So unappealing. I get zero cardamom and zero wood. It's animalic without any allure.

Oh my. It’s so unpleasant. The opening is an overwhelming blast of chemical fumes—like industrial glue. Then the animalic notes start creeping in, that meaty smell often described in perfumes, very much in the same vein as Sadonaso. And behind it all, a strong whiff of synthetic smoke...

A Une Madone, what an excellent fragrance! A sensual, comfortable vanilla is immediately combined with quite an intense animalic aroma. Please don't be scared at this point, though! Initially, I was quite shocked just how animalic A Une Madone is as well. But something about it was calling to me, drawing me to it again and again. Before I knew it, I had used up the entire sample, I couldn't get enough of this scent. What made me change my mind? The realisation, that the animalic accord is not repulsive at all, but instead makes the vanilla even more tempting, enveloping and also takes away from its sweetness. After wearing A Une Madone three days in a row, I suddenly had a realisation: It reminds me a LOT of another controversial vanilla fragrance: L'Heure Perdue by Cartier. Many people find the rather peculiar acidic vanilla note of the Cartier fragrance too risque, some even say it smells like spoiled, sour milk, others detect a rubber smell. To me, L'Heure Perdue always smelled like frothy, steaming hot milk with vanilla flavoring. Now take that controversial, acidic vanilla note, and turn up the acidity even more! That's A Une Madone. What you get is a scent, that surely will not please everyone! But by increasing the very note that made the Cartier scent smell frothy and steamy to me, the mood shifts from "delicious" to "primal". There is something about A Une Madone, that speaks to my most inner being. Like a deeply comforting aura, it surrounds me, protects me. No matter how much the scent displeased me at first, now it creates a longing whenever I get to smell it. Fantastic work by Mr. Guillaume!

Easy to imagine yourself bored for a millisecond after spraying but any misgivings about this being an unimaginative gourmand vanish by second whiff. I exhaust my nose on the blotter trying to get everything in at once, and there's plenty to get. I'd hardly classify this as a vanilla although it's of course present. It's balsamic above all else, sour sappy myrrh, leans slightly medicinal, a truer high church incense than any I know that's advertised itself as such. I'm happily transported to a tridentine mass. The styrax is a fairly smoky one and it browns the vanilla nicely. Civet amplifies the more acrid high notes in the resins, absolutely pissy in the best way, and castoreum rounds it out, more earthen here than flatly fecal. This guaiac is not a born fragrance guaiac, it is a guaiac only passing through on its dutiful search for occult blood. Lightly sweetened, nearly caramelized cardamom flits in to the forefront again at seemingly random intervals to give the impression to passersby that this is a PERFUME, and nothing to worry about! But it is something to worry about, insofar as it is something you can be made slave to, just a little stranger than initially suspected, and so much better for it. A plunging depth in this one. A benevolent, heavy dark. Something winking in a long shadow. God, it's good.

What's not to love with this note composition? :) It's delicious. Gourmand, very milky as some have pointed out, very sweet, heavy on the vanilla but more in that soft vanilla kind of way. Not the resinous or baking vanilla more of a musky fluffy cotton candy vanilla but it does dominate the frag. I would say second note is milk, not listed, but very milky. Only then does the cardamom take place in the note rank for my nose. I was hoping for more animalics to balance this sweet scent but not getting any. Soft woods and a coca cola ish myrrh is present beneath. A big kick of civet or castoreum would have made this more niche and unique sadly it's just not there. Nor the styrax, I love this note and can add a real resinous depth to it but once again all i get is vanilla, milk, cardamom, soft woods and a bit of myrrh. ** 200 samples up for swap UK - 10 +bundles, check my customs, get in touch **

In the first 5 minutes this scent smells very much like vanilla and milk, but the milk has expired a few days ago...you think, I need to wash this off my skin right now. Then if you wait a few more minutes, the rancid smell dissipates and the vanilla becomes more prominent, the lactonic notes smell a little bit nicer, and the animalic notes show a tame purring angora cat. The more you wait the nicer it feels. Like milk and cookies? not exactly, more like milk, cookies and a big note of something woody and dark. Is that the Gurjum Balsam? the mix of castoreum and styrax? the Guaic Wood? all of them I guess? I don't know. I think a sample is enough for me. It has pleasant and unpleasant moments, I don't think it is worth the effort to tolerate the rancid milk opening. I don't know...I think I will revisit my sample later...it is definitely an intriguing scent.

Bought a big sample for this perfume, having only smelt it on paper I found it lovely: creamy, sweet and mature. I was looking for an elegant, somewhat vintage, sweet but interesting scent for winter, thought this was it. I wore this perfume the next day for an important meeting, as I was excited to test the projection and longevity, but after the first 30 minutes of the creamy sweetness, it started smelling like vomit. Due to the heat of the room that I was in, I needed to run to the bathroom to wash myself off, as it was making me horribly sick. Other people noticed it too, it smells like rancid dead animal, or vomit (not like sweat at all, just like rotten food). I am terribly disappointed in the turnout of this scent, but on me, its purely animalic and putrid. It does last a long time as I still smelt it on me after washing myself.

I see the Sadonaso reference (tho Sadonaso is much better), I smell the condensed milk. The cardamom is almost like lime juice, piercing and bright, yet not quite balanced with the rest of the perfume. Its subtle yet long lasting. Original yet familiar. Its sweet but the type of sweet thats offset with styrax and myrrh. Leather? No leather to smell. All in all I think its interesting, tho boring after a while, and will smell good in the air on many women, just not completely compelling or structurally sound 6/10

There’s something about it on top of the milky sandalwood and cardamom that reminds me of L’Artisan Rappele Toi and Francesca Bianchi Sex & The Sea , giving the fem vintage vibe, but not old lady like. The name suits it. Not suitable for blundbuys. Unless you like sweet perfumes and the two I mentioned.

Kind of smells like a spicy poopy baby diaper. When it first hits your nose its creamy and spicy and cozy, but then the animalics make my nose hairs stand up a little. If I got a whiff of this on someone I would think they just made cardamom cookies in a cozy sweater but also that they forgot to wipe.

Basically gourmand-ish, with high doses of vanilla resembling sweet condensed milk. Not animalic at all on my skin. If you like a toasted sweet feel to your scents, this might suit your needs.

This fragrance starts out as a crunchy spice cookie. The dry down turns into a light fragrant vanilla cream. Reminds me a bit of Kilian Angels Share. Feels very holiday appropriate.

This is soft, warm and cuddly. Toasted sesame, vanilla, a trickle of caramel and some sandalwood.