Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello Fabulous Fumies,

If you have been anywhere around the scentbloggosphere this year then Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic would certainly have registered on your radar. Uber famous frag royalty meets Belguim’s fashion icon in a scented cloud of mutual admiration. Quite the story…

Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle 2013

DriesVanNoten FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sandalwood, guaiac wood, tonka bean, vanilla, saffron, jasmine, musk, bergamot, lemon, nutmeg, cloves, patchouli, woody notes and peru balsam

With all the hype I was totally ready to be underwhelmed by this offering, which is always a good place to start smelling because you can’t be let down. Warm marshmallow sweet and slightly spicy vanilla opens that smells so familiar, like someone I love is nearby, even though I’m sure that I’ve not smelled this mix before. Every time I wear Dries Van Noten it has instantly calmed and unruffled me, and today I am wearing the dregs of a 5ml decant.

Each previous time I have worn Dries Van Noten for the purpose of reviewing it has grabbed my head and asked me to just sit and enjoy its beauty. The whole fragrance feels extremely uncluttered, though it is dense. It goes through a milky, nutmeg stage that reads egg flip to me. An egg flip was dinner sometimes when we were young and made as a great treat for us kids, whole egg, nutmeg, vanilla, ice cream and milk. It was huge and delicious. Nowadays when I think how strict Mum’s budget was I think that maybe she was eeking out her ration by giving us a liquid dinner out of, at that time, extremely cheap materials. I’ll never know now but my sister Jodie and I would feel so great on an egg flip night.

There is the most beautiful woods here too, some resinous amber references, a soft whiff of jasmine that flies mainly under the radar and patchouli, clean and fresh washed. All there making a beautiful chorus under the egg flip.

You must try Dries Van Noten, it is a rich and glamorous fragrance that has me chomping at the bit for more, I’m so sad to have finished my decant. You know what that means!

PalazzoTournabuoni holzbau-brunnerPhoto Stolen holzbau-brunner

Here’s the Frederic Malle site: A perfume built around natural sandalwood, chosen for its softness and its character, and the fact that it is simultaneously exotic and evocative of the tradition of great classic perfumes. This very short formula made of very precious materials, generates a sober but distinct sensuality. It is, in my eyes, a fair parallel to Dries van Noten’s world. ITS CREATOR: Bruno Jovanovic

DriesVanNoten TMagazinePhoto Stolen NYTMagazine

Tom at PerfumeSmellinThings reviewed Dries Van Noten today but has had a polar opposite experience to mine and also today ScentsOfSelf’s Dries Van Noten review is filled with ambivilence.

Further reading GrainDeMusc and Kafkaesque and Patty at PerfumePosse
Frederic Malle starts at $125/3 x 10ml (I think this is IDEAL for splitting)
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml

What a stunner of a fragrance. Have you tried it? Are you likely to?

Till tomorrow, take good care of yourselves and waft fragrantly,
Portia xx

40 thoughts on “Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic 2013”

  2. Hello lovely Portia!
    Beautiful review! I love the line: ‘scented cloud of mutual admiration’.

    I just wish I had the same reaction. Granted, I’ve only had my decant for a couple of days, and stressful days at that, but it pales in comparison to the rest of the FM line for me.

    Maybe I need more time.

    Love,
    M xx

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  3. My little sample arrived a few days ago, I really like this scent, if your egg flips taste as good as this smells, I want some! Aahh, so hungry now!

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  4. I couldn’t agree more! 🙂 I love it (that’s why I brought a bottle home from Vienna).
    And as for trying to review it, I have the same problem. It won’t let me do anything else but enjoy it. So I’m being stealthy and wearing it until the problem solves itself. 😉

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  5. I will also be in the minority love category if I ever get to try it! Sounds like something I would adore…sandalwood, vanilla, tonka bean, peru balsam….some of my most favorite essential oils!
    I want some!!!!! 😀

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  6. Dearest Portia
    On your suggestion, I will return to Dries with a more uncluttered mind… perhaps when I tried it before my thoughts were diverted elsewhere.
    However, I seriously wonder now whether I will ever be able to test it without thinking of your childhood egg whips… a wonderful vignette.
    Yours ever
    The Perfumed Dandy

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  7. I love your review of a scent I love. The SA at my local Barney’s had received an advance sample vial. While she didn’t have enough to make me a sample, she sprayed one of the Malle blotters with it. I took one sniff, put that blotter in a zip top plastic bag and carried it around with me, taking sniffs here and there. I had just gotten on a plane with my family when the SA rang my cell phone. The bottles had just come in and did I want one. Before the flight attendants could close the doors and tell us to turn off our electronics, I pulled out my wallet, read my credit card number and had that bottle sent off to myself. I have not regretted such a quick, impulse purchase.

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  9. This did not work for me… it was too sweet, and although I like gourmand fragrances, the combination of notes just did not ring my bells. I sent my sample off for someone else to enjoy.

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  10. Great Review, Portia! I must try this one. Love the notes and the eco-friendly sandalwood grown in Australia speaks to my heart, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin had already made me curious, but she said it was kind of low key, what do you think?
    Moms on a budget are the best cooks! Now I’m a mom too, and all I need to make a great dinner is a bag of beans and an onion. Give me a tomato as well, and I can cook for the president!

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    • Hey Solanace,
      I find Dries Van Noten beautiful, elegant and heart warming, but that could be my own associations. I felt fragrant and wafty without bombast the whole wear time but I can’t remember how long, not short.
      Dad was very strict with household money and Mum sometimes had to make a kilo of beef mince into 3 family meals in a week. Sundays were often pancake, egg flip or french toast nights and we looked eagerly forward to them. Though in hindsight I think it was money saving. So yes, mum’s are amazing on a budget.
      Portia xx

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  11. I tried this in a store and loved instantly–it feels like a cuddly rainy day, like sitting near a window under a blanket drinking warm vanilla milk, which was my mom’s treat for us and is exactly what it sounds like. Loved hearing about your ‘egg flip’ which sounds kind of like what my Brooklyn-born father called an ‘egg cream’. Sounds good! Thanks for the review. I really need to get a decant of this….

    I make vanilla milk with added spices now like saffron, and tapioca pudding like that also (which was another childhood winter/sickday treat). The closest fragrance to DVN in terms of ‘vibe’ is Safran Troublant, but that one is a little more foodie with cumin and rose facets and DVN has that kind of rainy freshness around the vanilla/saffron/milky spice.

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  12. Sounds lovely,Portia- from your description this perfume sounds like the love child of Tam Dao and Musc Ravageur…does it smell like either of those two fragrances? I haven’t been overly curious about this but your review makes me feel like seeking out a sample..

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    • Hey Lavanya,
      Tam Dao is great, like being shut up in a new wardrobe, but I don’t get that kind of woods experience, though now I need to get a new sample to see and Musc Ravaguer is not milky on me at all, but likewise I will test it. INTERESTING!!
      Portia x

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  15. I love gourmands, but what I especially love about DvN is that it is nice, woody and never veers too sweet. Am saving up for a bottle because this is what I want to smell like in the fall. I think it will make a beautiful thing to wear when you want something cozy and comforting. Thanks for the wonderful review, Portia!

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  16. You make this sound awfully good, Portia It does seem to have gotten some rather “meh” reviews, but the notes sound quite promising – and knowing both you and Ines love it, I’ll definitely sample it.

    Also, now I want an egg flip! My mom used to make something very similar for dessert in summer, but she called it “egg nog without the rum.” (Which to my mind, isn’t really egg nog then, as rum is rather crucial to the the taste of one of those, not just the alcohol factor). So I’ll refer to them as “egg flips” in the future – I like that name! 🙂

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    • Hey Suzanne,
      Since I wrote that post I’ve been craving egg flips too. We don’t have ice cream in the house though. GRRR! And no, if I buy it then I’ll eat it.
      I think everyone was so amped up for this release that they were all let down by Dries Van Noten’s simplicity. It is also a surprisingly warm fragrance for such a cool company, I was expecting something quite stark before I read notes and reviews.
      Portia xx

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  17. Pingback: Malle Dries Van Noten EDP Perfume Review | EauMG

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