Serge Majoullier

Elle L'aime by Lolita Lempicka 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Woo Hoo! Heya Fragrant Family,

You know that frag you buy a decant of? You know you’ll never need a full bottle but you might like to gran and spritz every so often? Well, I wrote about today’s offering in 2014 because I’d run across it in the mall and loved the bottle, which is why I’d bought my first decant. Having run through two 5ml My Perfume Samples decants and well into my third I thought perhaps it was time to bite the bullet and go FB.

Elle L’aime by Lolita Lempicka 2013

Elle L’aime by Christine Nagel + Serge Majoullier

Elle L'aime Lolita Lempicka FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, neroli, lime
Heart: Coconut, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, myrrh

So it arrived a couple of days ago while Scott was over and we sniffed it on him. We both went CRAZY because it’s super yummy and was really masculine on him. Quite a different scent life compared to the ride that I get.

I know, there are probably a bunch of you that are rolling their eyes or have even not clicked on the post because Lolita Lempicka is a bit too mainstream and uncool but I’d like you to remember how groundbreaking her licorice & violet Lolita Lempicka was in the Disney-ised poison apple, how outrageous to do a hyper gourmand mens like Au Masculin and how much fun and whimsy her whole range contains.

Elle L'aime Lolita Lempicka Brent Schlenker FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

What do I smell? It’s the perfect summer scent, a cool tropical creamsicle over a lovely warm base that will have you smiling along and enjoying the ride. Even here in the depths of our Sydney winter I am instantly transported to glorious tropical evenings and those crazy drinks by the pool. Elle L’aime is sunshine in a glass and I bet you’ll find it hard to scowl while bathing in its enveloping radiance.

Sadly Elle L’aime seems to have been a flop, I can’t see it in the department stores any more. The upside is that you can currently get it for nearly FREE at the discounters! As it was released and dumped so quickly I don’t imagine it will last there for very long though. If Bronze Goddess or Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia are fragrances you like then I reckon Elle L’aime will ring the same bells.

Elle L'aime Lolita Lempicka maldives FonthipWard PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceShop has $26/40ml
My Perfume Samples has $2/ml

Last time I wrote, I think Elle L’aime will be a perfect first grown up fragrance or a lovely addition to your easy wear, spritz and forget wardrobe. In fact, though they don’t smell much the same I am reminded of Annich Goutal’s Songes, a sugared version made in the 21st century perhaps. I think it still captures the sense and feeling of Elle L’aime perfectly.

What is your mainstream spritz & go?
Portia xx

 

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41 – Battle of the summer beach florals

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Dear fumenerds,
It’s summertime here in the Southern hemisphere, and the living is easy. School is out and we wile away endless sunny days by the water. Our skins glisten with sunscreen, various body oils, sweat, and the salty sea water. There’s an almost permanent lingering fragrance of jasmine, gardenia and frangipani in the air.

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41

Battle of the summer beach florals

It was no wonder then, when I first tried on Nuxe’s famous huile predigieux, it had me at first whiff. But it was a body oil, and body oil fragrances generally don’t last. (Although Roger & Gallet have come up with some exceptional fragranced body oils of late…) Then, I was introduced to Le Labo’s Lys 41 (2013) earlier this year. I thought I was whiffing Nuxe, albeit in the guise of an expensive French perfume. Henceforth, I am dedicating this month’s smackdown to my two favourite scents of the summer.

Lys 41 by Daphne Bugey for Le Labo 2013

Lys 41 Le Labo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, tuberose, lily, woody notes, vanilla, musk

Lily fragrances come in two guises: either a spicy clove like Anais Anais, or a salty fleshy white floral. Lys 41 is definitely an interpretation in the latter category.
Created by Daphné Bugey from Firmenich, it is a salty lily dropped into a gardenia-jasmine-tuberose white floral combo. The combination of salt and luscious white florals reminds the wearer of sand, naked flesh and coconut oil. It has an incredible Proustian effect and without the saltiness, I think this would have been another generic white floral, albeit made with very high quality ingredients and skillfully constructed.

Happily, Lys41 is relatively linear and full bodied. Gardenia is more noticeable in the initial first half hour, then jasmine comes to the forefront. Four hours in, in a creamy vanillary bed, the jasmine softens and you can detect faint mentholated tuberose. The drydown is vanilla and woods. I found the silage to be moderate and the fragrance carried itself right until bedtime. Excellent longevity.

Prodigieux Le Parfum by Serge Majoullier for Nuxe 2012

Prodigieux Le Parfum Nuxe FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin orange, orange
Heart: Rose, magnolia, gardenia
Base: Vanilla, coconut milk, pebbles

Start with monoi coconut oil, mix in some generic unscented suncreen to tone down and thin out the floral notes a level, squirt some orange peel oil, go for a dip in a salt water chlorinated pool, and you’ve pretty much recreated your own Nuxe Prodigieux experience.

The citrus lends a sour quality to this fragrance, like a synthetic ripe-banana. It clashes with the other synthetic notes and can cause some people to complain that this smells rancid and cheap. But it’s also the smell of spf, mixed with whatever coconut scented oils you’ve added on top. My mind instantly wanders to languid summer days spent by the beach, catching salty sea breezes. So do give Prodigieux a chance. On me longevity is 6hrs+ but it gets thin after 1hr. Silage is moderate.

Verdict:

Lys41 is a white floral perfume, a very well made and concentrated fine fragrance. Nuxe Prodigieux may as well have been labelled a ‘monoi tanning oil scent’ body spray. But the notes in both are so evocative that you only need an occasional whiff of it before you start to salivate, your mind begins to wander and you long for endless summer days.
For the price, I will keep dousing myself in Nuxe.

What is your favourite scent of summer vacations?
Willa Zheng