Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchafour for The Vagabond Prince 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hey Niche Nerds,

I know, I know. It’s taken me ages to write this review. There was so much chatter about it when it first came out that I wanted to let the dust settle. I was also deeply ambivalent about the fragrance and still am but having spent some time with it now, and having two people’s opinions that I respect highly with me as I’ve smelt it was interesting too, so welcome to

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince 2012

Enchanted Forest The Vagabond Prince fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange, blackcurrant (flower, fruit & leaf), hawthorn, rum, wine, rosemary, davana
Heart: Blackcurrant buds absolute, CO2 blackcurrant, Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver
Base: Opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute, Patchouli, castoreum absolute, cedar, vanilla, musk

The first time I smelled Enchanted Forest was with Denyse of Grain De Musc and The Perfume Lover (available softback soon) at Jovoy in Paris early in 2013 and I found it interesting and a nit naughty, with a slight kitty litter accent that made me smile. Of everything we smelled that glorious sunny winter day it was Enchanted Forest that I kept the strip of and went back to over the next couple of weeks till it lost all memory of itself.

Enchanted Forest The Vagabond Prince Mushrooms MorgueFilePhoto Stolen MorgueFile

Months went by, as quickly as they do, and other fragrant launches and tests mounted and I forgot about Enchanted Forest until we started doing a Sample Round Robin here in Australia, along came a generous sample of Enchanted Forest that I swapped out for 3 or 4 things that I had here in the swap box. I put Enchanted Forest in the MUST TRY AGAIN pile and forgot completely because I went to Scentsation in LA and then India (bragging is a disgusting habit and I am fully ashamed). So yesterday I was having lunch with Catherine du Peloux Menagé, the producer of Sydney Perfume Lovers (a meet-up group), who is an avid fragrance lover and has started a business helping people choose a scent through education and interest rather than showing them gleaming ad copy bullshit: she is clever, fun and lovely and I wanted to take some fragrances for us to try over lunch, as we do. I pulled out the Enchanted Forest to get Catherine’s take on it.

Enchanted Forest The Vagabond Prince Kittens MorgueFilePhoto Stolen MorgueFile

So what did I smell? Sweet fruity opening that reminds me of very ripe melon or guava, it’s bright, fizzy and in your face taking the modern fruity fragrance by the neck and giving it a shake till its teeth rattle. All the green herbaceous notes slotted in here stop Enchanted Forest from being a so so SO sweet train wreck. Though  it opens both sweeter and neon brighter than I would choose, once the initial screaming opening sequence calms it is surprisingly wearable. I get no real cat but can understand the sweetness could be a public urinal far enough away that you can smell only the sweet but not the disgusting, make sense?

Honeysuckle often skews nasty on me but here it plays along well with the others, I get a little Ribena syrup through the middle section, a sweet blackcurrant children’s cordial that was responsible in Australia for more dental bills than all the other sweet stuff put together. I don’t get coriander, rose, carnation or vetiver, I do get booze through the middle and down into the base and the vanilla comes in giving a pudding vibe. Resins come through but I miss so many of the things that they write as notes: woods? No not really. Patchouli? I don’t know. I think my nose is too poorly tuned to catch a lot of what’s happening.

Enchanted Forest is intriguing and I have been wanting to spend some alone time with it. This is a statement fragrance, fun and ebullient. It is a modern fruit take on Giorgio Beverly Hills (though only by comparison, not scent) and I can imagine it on big haired, shoulder padded women with high heels, nipped in waists and peplums (anyone been looking at fashion lately?). They are ready to make an entrance and unafraid of fragphobes and the boorish who feel that less is more. It’s exciting, naughty and possibly the next step in frag evolution if we could just get it on the kids who’ve been wearing celeb fruitchouli (as they get bored) then it may be the perfect gateway scent.

Further reading: Kafkaesque, The Fragrant Man and The Muse In Wooden Shoes
LuckyScent has $180/100ml and samples

What did you think? Have you tried it? Would you like to? well, here’s your chance….

giveaway kbairdPhoto Stolen kbaird

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1.5ml Enchanted Forest Manufacturers Carded Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

All you need to do is be a follower, tell us how you follow and leave a hello in the comments! EASY PEASY!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Enchanted Forest PERFUME SAMPLES GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1Ld #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 28th July 2013 11pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 31st July 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE,

Portia xx

61 thoughts on “Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchafour for The Vagabond Prince 2012”

  2. Hello Portia! I follow you using the email. I must say, you are the first person I’ve read about that is openly alright about starting to follow to enter. I usually just check for a new post at the site itself, instead of using the email to do that. Too much of a hassle for me xD

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  7. Hello Portia!

    I love this review, especially the last paragraph (just before the “Further reading”). You pull no punches here!

    I also sampled Enchanted Forest when it first came out and felt is to be a sugary version of Olympic Orchids Midsummer Day’s Dream. I suppose it was the black current in both? “Gateway fragrance” is a great description for this one. Thanks for the fun! Oh, and don’t put me in the draw. I still have some sample left.

    Azar xx

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    • Funny that you compare Midsummer Day’s Dream and Enchanted Forest! I received both in the same giveaway and I find them to be very different. On me EF is VERY fruity and MDD is VERY herbal, one is black currant berries the other black currant leaves!

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      • Hi Nadja,

        I had been wearing Midsummer Day’s Dream for quite awhile before Enchanted Forest came along. When I received my sample of EF from Fragrantica it seemed a lighter and sweeter version of MDD, a “flanker” of sorts. Even though I like them both, I find that I still wear the MDD often but haven’t even put a dent in the Enchanted Forest sample. I’ll try them on the same day and compare.

        Azar

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      • Well, MDD does get more “juicy” in the drydown so they are more similar then. It was great to receive them in the same giveaway as they are very interesting scents to compare! They are both definitely black currant scents but quite different aspects of black currant I think!

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  8. I follow you by email. And have tried Enchanted Forest from a small sample. I have held onto it, wanting to keep trying it again and again. It intrigues me….

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  9. I follow via e-mail, and have been curious about this scent. I’m a little afraid of the fruity aspect – other than citrus, I don’t usually “do” fruit in my perfumes – but I lover woods, and honeysuckle, and…It sounds intriguing, really, and only timidity and my budget (mostly the latter) have kept me from acquiring a sample so far.

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  11. Hey Portia,

    I’m curious about this one, not that I’m much of a fruit fan, but this bottle is beyond gorgeous and I just want tolike the juice. (Am I too futile? 🙂 ) Have a nice weekend, hope your winter is not as crazy cold as ours!

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  12. I follow by email and have been intrigued by this one. Beautiful bottle, great name, but I’m a little leery of the fruit + litter box I’ve heard about. Thanks for the draw.

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  13. No need entering me into the draw, I just wanted to say that your summation made me smile since I liked this perfume a lot and I’m still thinking about getting at least a decant of it to wear.

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  14. WordPress Miss P and despite the Kitty litter accent and ribena vibes you have me very intrigued about this one.

    M xxxx

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  15. Oh yes I am an email follower and would love to try this….have it in my wishlists at a couple of my suppliers!!

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  16. I’m a WordPress follower. But you already knew that probably. I have not tried this because it has some notes that aren’t high on the favorites list but you can’t judge a book by its cover or a perfume by the notes. I do like the name and the bottle.

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  17. We were only allowed Ribena on special occasions, and yes, it’s probably safer to sniff it rather than drink it!
    I follow by email.
    Yours truly,
    White Fang

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    • YAY White Fang,
      Welcome to the APJ crew. I must be a bit older than you because they were selling Ribena as a health drink when I was growing up, added to my undiagnosed but VERY apparent ADHD it was a mess.
      Portia xx

      Like

  18. Hello! I follow by email, though I usually check the blog regularly enough that the emails are pretty redundant 🙂 I also love the cute yet classy bottle, and I am slightly intrigued by the kitty litter note. Thank you for the draw!

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  19. Hi Portia
    First of all, thanks for your generous comments. When we tried this during our lunch, I was really enthusiastic and was sniffing my arms for the rest of the day. It’s hard to hold the memory in the nose I find, but the guava-like and blackcurrant bud opening was memorable, as much for the texture – sort of raspy like stroking the back of a leaf. On me it developed into lots more blackcurrant and a definite cat’s pee element (I think kitty litter is more ripe whereas cat’s pee is sharper and more pungent – this is from a woman who has never lived with a cat). I got cassis (the french blackcurrant liqueur) instead of ribena – so that’s blackcurrants and booze in one hit and there were rich unidentified flowers – wouldn’t have picked rose. Later on, the vanilla came through and it got deep and interesting – the benzoin and the castoreum I think. the initial raspiness stays with me but turns into the sensation of rubbing velvet against the nap so it tickles a little. I would certainly wear this but I don’t necessarily see it with big hair and sophistication – it would work with a red and green velvet long hippyish look for me. Fingers crossed for the draw.

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    • Hey Catherine,
      I’m glad you dropped by because even on the day it was quite different on both our skins. Thanks for your wear rememberings and good luck in the draw.
      You would look excellent in the Hippyish look you describe.
      Portia xx

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  21. Loved reading your take on this Portia. i love the notes list and was brought up on Ribena. To my embarrassment it’s still my favourite drink!

    I follow via email and would be grateful to be entered into the draw.

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  24. I love the packaging!!!! 😀 as you know I follow via WordPress and Twitter, but I won’t be enetering this time as I already won one of your giveaways this month 🙂 But good luck to everyone else!!! 😀

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  27. Very interesting post Portia, love your description of the person who would wear the Enchanted Forest, visual adjectives. Buying perfume without the bullshit is a great idea for perfume fans/lovers

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    • It seems hard to believe that it has taken so long for someone to come up with an idea so perfectly simple, so honest, doesn’t it? Thanks for dropping by AnicaSunny, just so I can enter you in the draw, how do you follow?
      Portia x

      Like

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