Magnolia Folie

There is so much elegance in the deliberate simplicity. Imagine the smell of magnolia tree in full bloom just after the rain. Wet soil, cold air. Beautiful. Update: I tried it again in hot sticky weather, still good, surprisingly elegant and understated. But in the cold of winter or early spring it was stunning. Like a promise of better days to come.

I love Roger & Gallet's moderately priced scents. They aren't particularly innovative, but they're always well-done, made with good ingredients, often blended by famed perfumers. If I had a criticism of R&G, it would be that they tend to be too citrus-heavy for my tastes—but this scent is citrus-free! It starts off as a lovely light powdery floral and then with time the flowers recede and cedar dominates. I do wish the flowers stuck around a bit longer, but it's not a dealbreaker. I wear this as an everyday scent, sometimes as deodorant or something to spray my clothes with. It's not a scent that will fascinate you with its complexity but it smells nice, and thanks to the price tag you can spray with abandon!

I was looking for something to replace the sadly discontinued L'Occitane Eau du Val when my bottle finally ran out. Magnolia isn't that common - a sales rep at Jo Malone told me it's hard to source - so I was happy to find this. It's not nearly as good as Eau du Val but I took the manufacturer's advice and layered with Feuille de Figuier (which I love) and together they're really nice.

A very fresh and feminine magnolia scent, with the supporting freshness of cedar mixed with a clean aspect of patchouli and a distant echo of cassis. Lovely for spring and summer.

I tend to not like Roger&Gallet scents because they often very woody, somewhat synthetic middle notes - with exceptions namely Fleur de Osmanthus. This like most RG scents, it starts nicely, a delicate floral scent (the magnolias here all seem scentless), but it goes into a cedar-y woody middlenotes, a bit masculine for its topnotes. And it all fades quite fast. Magnolia Folie is not very crazy after all, nor very original, just quite boring and sedate.