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Post by Portia

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Hello Fragrance Family,

Few niche houses have the success or longevity of Annick Goutal. Writing about Nuit Etoilee and wearing it over the Christmas season reminded me to grab out the rest of my Annick Goutal collection. I’ve whittled it down to the favourite few, maybe 6 FBs and some large decants. Here’s one of my oft worn faves.

Eau de Sud by Annick Goutal 1996

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin orange, basil, grapefruit, bergamot
Heart: Mint, lime, lemon verbena, jasmine
Base: Vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss

Even though the citrus in Eau de Sud is a little sticky it still feels cooling in the heat of Sydney summer. I love it too as a summer reminder in the dead of winter so even if you Northern Hemisphere peeps feel like a spritz it will be perfect. So much citrus in the opening and there is a soft minty pop to keep it refreshing. Add to that a salty zing like eating oranges after swimming in salt water or a Margarita. My nose smells creaminess and I am unsure of the origin, maybe the jasmine adds a creamy note? Anyway, I get a balmy smoothness that equates to creamy in my brain, it’s really galbanum-esque. If I give myself a second spritz after about 20 minutes the basil is quite noticeable compared to the original application.

Cavendish & Harvey

Eau de Sud reminds me of this hard lollies that used to come in a tin with loads of super fine white sugar powder around them, do you remember? They were deliciously sweet with recreations of fruits but had only the merest tenuous connection to fruit, more of a fruit allusion. Here the fruits are more nameable but still that sweetness and mild sharpness is completely here. We used to suck them on planes to stop our ears popping and Mum would use them to give us a sugar hit if we looked like we were flagging and needed to be alert. Especially useful before exams or after a footy game.

The body and dry down of Eau de Sud are still salty/creamy all the way through but the whole fragrance dries out considerably and leaves a dustiness over the citrus and adds a walking over summers-browned-grass brittleness. So easy to wear and longevity of around 4 hours maximum, the first hour sillage is moderate before dropping back to soft.

My bottle is old, apparently Annick Goutal have remade Eau de Sud in 2016 and its note list is bergamot, mandarin orange, grapefruit and resins.

PDI

Further reading: EauMG and APJ
FragranceShop have the old men’s packaging Testers $44/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Are you an Eau de Sud fan?
Portia xx

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Portia

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Hello Fume Fiends,

We forget in the far off lands of 2016 that Annick Goutal the fragrance brand has been around since 1980. Many of its fragrances were groundbreaking fragile beauties that thrilled and surprised fragrance lovers. Mixed with its determined homespun style, interesting note combinations and eye rollingly beautiful floral concoctions they became a hit with the newly borne perfumistas in the heady days of the 1980s and 90s. Sables, Folavril, Eau de Monsieur, Passion and Eau d’Hadrien were ground breaking scents. Now known by perfumistas as a safe, easy to wear brand some of the wow factor has definitely been lost. Especially through reformulation, the changing out of the vibrantly coloured bottles and the bland introduction of plain glass by AmorePacific, the south Korean owners of Annick Goutal. So it comes as quite a surprise to find something so outlandish and weird in the collection as Nuit Étoilée.

Nuit Étoilée EdT by Annick Goutal 2012

Nuit Étoilée by Isabelle Doyen

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citron, sweet orange, peppermint
Heart: Siberian pine, fir resin
Base: Angelica seed, tonka, immortal

If you like to smell your fragrances 5 plus hours later then most of the Annick Goutal range will give you the shits. Nuit Étoilée EdT is no exception and you better have bought the 100ml bottle because respritzing becomes addictive.

WikiCommons

ZING!! Bright citrus and mint, like alcoholic fruit punch on a hot summers day or Mojitos in the evening. A fresh burst of wake up and live. Every time I spritz it feels like an energy burst for the brain. The mint lasts only minutes and I’m left with a woodsy citrus, green and dry. As the heart dries off on my skin all I’m left with is a very soft wash of musks and something greenish but barely noticeable. This whole process takes about an hour, unless I spray on fabric or card and then I get at least 4 hours on fabric and on card I can smell Nuit Étoilée next morning.

Nuit Étoilée is going to be my Christmas Eve scent this year. In the fresh woodsiness I find an Aussie summer whispered hint of a wintery, white Christmas that still fits with our 30C+ heat, and yes, there will be fruit punch with fresh mint in it. What would an Aussie Christmas be without it?

PDI

Further reading: EauMG and Non Blonde
FragranceX has some old blue EdT stock for AUD$75/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3/ml

Have you tried Nuit Étoilée? Does your family do alcoholic fruit punch with fresh mint chopped into it?
Portia xx