Le Beau Paradise Garden by Jean Paul Gaultier is "a tribute to the Garden of Gaultier, filled with vibrant flowers and enticing scents. It masterfully blends the salty coconut's freshness with the green fig's lushness and sandalwood's soothing warmth. Hints of zesty ginger, cool mint, and sun-drenched tonka bean enhance the fragrance's green aquatic and woody character, making it an ideal embodiment for energetic and passionate men."
Does it deliver? Yes, it surprisingly does. Perfumer du jour Quentin Bisch masterfully composed this fragrance as a woody, green, aquatic melody, capturing the divine atmosphere of a tropical haven in an Eau de Parfum for men concentration.
Drawing inspiration from the Jean Paul Gaultier Autumn/Winter fashion collection of 2010-2011, imagine a lush, enchanting garden named "Le Beau Paradise Garden" and "La Belle Paradise Garden," a haven of intense delights and fervent desires. The box with its paradisaical pro-lapsarian motifs and the bottle with the green hue and the delicately woven codpiece attached are very pleasing to the eye. Picture a bottle of striking beauty: an emerald-green glass ornately embroidered with a vibrant vine leaf, boasting exquisite, high-fashion details.
Le Beau Paradise Garden by Gaultier now encompasses the saltiness of Mugler's Womanity (a stand in for the genitals hidden by a fig leaf?) with its fig overtones for the main chord and buttresses them up in delicious coumarin-rich tonka bean. This gives a tasty dessert quality to the mix, creating a good tension between the salty and the sweet without succumbing to either. Although we can't expect something too innovative, since the main chords have been done before and tonka beans are everywhere apparently in later years, I find it a balanced composition. Coconut is more reminiscent of coconut water than shredded coconut sweets, which can become too sweet. In the original Le Beau I found the coconut rather too much, as I'm sensitive, but here it's just right. It's more aqueous overall, with hints of the pre-lapsarian Garden of Eden — green, damp, wet, and creamy. Tonka, after all, is in the same compound class as lactones, and it makes sense to pair them.
It does come across a bit synthetic, because —hey! — it is synthetic, but the entire market is synthetic anyway. Yet it's mild, quite fresh, mouth watering, not really botanical (which is usually associated with men's fragrances), and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't insult anyone.
Official fragrance notes for JP Gaultier Le Beau Paradise Garden:
TOP NOTES Aquatic Notes, Mint, Ginger, Fresh Greenery MIDDLE NOTES: Salty Coconut, Green Fig BASE NOTES: Sandalwood, Tonka Beans
Although Assenzio Aqua di Profumo by Italian pharmacist-inspired brand L' Erbolario is an older scent, I only truly discovered it last year, testing it again and again, and contemplating a full bottle of my own for the coming months.
The Italian name means absinth and it effortlessly recalls ringlets of fragrant smoke rising from a censer into the ethers, which is totally fitting for days of recollection and pensiveness, since incense is usually burnt into a censer and left to rise. Frankincense has a citrusy top note and this is beautifully fanned out in Assenzio, where the citrus and herbal part (bitterish artemisia and wormwood) is the introduction to the hazy, billowy development.
Perfume lovers have beautiful and zen-quality words to say about it. Silver Hiccup writes in Fragrantica, "Assenzio is ultimately a very gentle, flowy scent, like a fluffy cloud that envelops you. I can admit that for me, it may carry a sense of melancholy." Cerise Noir writes, "I love this powdery, herbal sweetness. Makes me feel so clean and calm." Abraham 7 says, "An ancient, green, relaxing charm."
Others, like Kioflare are mixed: "The opening is really quite masculine, astringent and not particularly pleasant [...] reminds me in a sense of Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet, which I was not particularly fond of. This goes on for about 15-20 min. The drydown showcases its truly marvellous and gentle side. That is the real unisex herbal talcum [...] becomes a bit chalky sweet, the herbs shine through, but they leave a gentle and warm impression, like a green powdery caress."
Although Assenzio has been compared to Felce Azzura, the famous shower gel and dusting powder products from Italy, another South-eastern European reference that is often conflated with incense, due to the dry soapy-piney ambience, it is not a replication of that (admittedly amazing) scent. But it's worth trying all the same, because the herbal qualities will appeal to lovers of the Italian classic of grooming all the same.
Best of all? This quiet scent has an array of ancillary products to enjoy from morning till bed-time... Bliss.
NB. The Aqua di Profumo concentration is the equivalent of Eau de Toilette.
Official notes for Assenzio by L' Erbolario:
Top notes are Wormwood, Amalfi Lemon and Orange. Middle notes are Artemisia, Coriander, Lavender and Cardamom. Base notes are Musk, Carnation, Geranium, Patchouli, Benzoin and Cedar.
Boring is a disparaging term for perfume such as the latest All of Me by Narciso Rodriguez, since this is a product relying on fantasy: excitement, anticipation, pleasure. However, as we know, boring can smell gorgeous too, just not particularly new or pushing the envelope. And that's fine, we need some boring fragrances too I guess.
That would have been OK, if Narciso Rodriguez and the Group behind it, Shiseido, actually continued on the road of the white and black "cubes" of the Narciso collection. But it seems that after a while on that road they missed a significant turning or something and the whole trip derailed.
I have adored the For Her eau de toilette from the first moment it launched and I have been so outspoken about it ever since, starting with Osmoz, that I feel somewhat personally proud of its enduring footprint in the industry. Imagine then my dismay when some of the best in the NR collection, namely the white and black "cube" fragrances have been discontinued. The rest in the collection have not been wowing me either; pretty, yes, but ultimately not advancing the brand. After a while, the subsequent editions in the For Her line, have also become kinda staid and stilted.
All of Me did not make wild promises, it talked about the mainstays in the world of pretty, feminine, office-friendly fragrances that make Chloé scents a popular mainstay in the department store aisles. Lots of women love them and cherish them and they do look good on a vanity, I'll give them that. However the Narciso Rodriguez brand is not Chloé, even though according to official data they did sell 1 bottle every 6 seconds in 2022 (according to the Shiseido website). The NR aesthetics bring on less apologetic versions of pretty, from the models chosen, to the shape of the bottles and the presentation, not to mention the more straightforward fashions themselves.
Nevertheless, the newest fragrance after all this optical expectation seems limp-wristed, hesitant, yet persistent enough in the screechy version of synthesized roses -with a touch of Frambinone maybe?- which bring on the impression that you're poised between something going bad and a headache blooming at the back of your eyes, like intense light blinding you.
The characteristic musk component of the Rodriguez brand has rather gone amiss in All of Me and only the fabric softener notes remain behind, with an aldehydic touch of soapiness and aquatic tonality buttressing the rose and geranium essences, making them sickly sweetish for my personal taste. Mind you, I'm particularly sensitive to that effect, so your mileage may vary on that score.
All Of Me was created by Dora Baghriche and Daphné Bugey, who have probably been given a brief to follow closely by Firmenich with which they work, and it launched in 2023. The official top note is Magnolia; the middle notes are Rose and Bourbon Geranium; the base notes are Musk and Sandalwood.
"It smells like spoiled rotten eggnog. The vanilla is nauseating. If I smelled this on another person, I would think that person was trying to cover the stink of an open necrotic abscessing wound by spreading spoiled vanilla cake icing on top of the wound." (OldSchoolCharm hates Musc Ravageur on Basenotes)
"A sweet ambery woody oriental that stays on your skin for at least 6-7 hrs and makes you go nasty and touch yourself. Amazing stuff. (Sneakersitch loves Profumi del Forte Versilia Vintage/Ambre Mediterranea on Basenotes)
"Hooker eating a burrito" (Serpent on Kingdom by Alexander McQueen on Perfume of Life)
"Fragrance reviews are silly. Fragrance marketing is even sillier." (from styleite.com and what makes it so funny is that it's so horrifyingly true)
"Have you rolled in gunpowder? What is it you are smelling of?" he said with an air of surprised distaste. This is what my tender 14 year old years met with one memorable afternoon as I was decked to the nines to go play at a piano concert organized by the Conservatoire. The delivering agent of the comment that would apparently shutter my childlike innocence was my own beloved father as we were entering the car, off to a -not so good- start to the concert in question. Flubberbusted and quite self-conscious for the rest of the afternoon (of which I have little recollection otherwise) I was rolling the info I had on the innocuous Anais Anais by Cacharel I had just sprayed on in the back corridor of my mind.
"I think the weirdest comment I got was that I smelled like Poison Ivy (from Batman)- that was the guy's association. I was wearing Paestum Rose which I do find a bit toxic. ;) " (reader Ines on this blog)
"The perfume that smells like baby wipes is Park Avenue. It really smells like baby wipes and it has a gentle smell that babies love so they don't cry and do not fear it." (via answers.com)
'Like a vintage boudoir with old pants strewn over the floor' (for Infusion d'Iris, of all things, as mentioned by one of our anonymous readers) 😮
"I bought Guerlain's Mitsouko because I loved LT's review of it. He referred to it as a desert island scent! My husband agrees. He says it is the perfect desert island scent because it smells like bug spray. (our reader Amy Barry)"
"When my son was about three, he often said my perfume smelled "like vegetables." He meant it as a compliment!" 😁 (another reader called Amy)
"The one that puzzled me was "your intelligentsia-style perfumes" - that about my wood-amber-based mass-lux set of Eau des merveilles, Samsara, Sensuous, Prada's L'eau ambrée and Tom Ford's Amber Absolute (which was the immediate cause of the comment!) a bit diluted with Herba Fresca and Tocca's Cleopatra. Not something I would associate with intelligentsia, but well." (PerfumeShrine reader)
If you have come across more of that ilk, please add them in the comments!
It's been ages since I submitted an At the Moment column, but I've been meaning to refresh this as a mental exercise in much needed times. So without further ado, some of my recent obsessions. Share yours too (whichever you want) in the comments below!
In the troubled times we're living in there is a precarious balance to keep between being flummoxed by doom scrolling and detaching one's self from the ongoing societal and political process. I try to tread carefully.
I have revisited some books like Erotica by Anais Nin, always a safe space in times of world crisis, and Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq, its diurnal direct opposite. In my bucket list for January there are some waiting for me to catch a few uninterrupted hours to finish or to begin, including Sarah Bernand by Françoise Sagan and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
SCENTING
This past fall I had been wearing (and testing) a roaster of fragrances niche and mainstream, with an emphasis on diversifying and appreciating nuance.
I chose Ambre Royal by Ormonde Jayne, first. Variations on a theme, like Bach's motif that unfolds from gavotte and sarabande to passacaglia and from there to fugue, are in no other "note" more numerous than in amber. The so-called ambergris or amber. Whatever anyone means (and it doesn't really matter to break it down technically at this point), the traditional recipe of the 19th century characterizes a whole class of perfumes named amber, ambre, ambra... In this case, with Ormonde Jayne's Ambre Royal, we have a solid construction with attractive warm powders and a salty nuance coming from the ocean.
L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain in Eau de Toilette is another choice. I personally find L'Heure Bleue to be a quiet, soft fragrance, almost shy and dreamy, with a bittersweet air that is not exactly stereotypical in particular (though it certainly does not resemble the sweetness of modern women's perfumes on the shelves) with plenty of powdery fluffy heliotrope. Some scents in this genre are reminiscent of cherry pie or even powdered lilac, but not L'Heure Bleue.
Dionysian Orgy, the fragrance by The Greek Perfumer, is similarly inviting to a painting by Caravaggio with a youth savoring a goblet of wine amidst a luscious dinner party. The composition is fruity-ambery with spicy accents that have a succulent effect. The ambience of the classic recipe for the mellis accord, which accounts for spicy oriental formulas, is present at the very heart; it evokes the best part of Cinnabar, Opium, and Youth Dew. And last but not least,
Putain de Palaces by Etat Libre d' Orange. Spare a thought for those who expect a "whore's perfume" to be rich in heavy, oriental notes full of hints and animal scents that refer to instincts. They will be quite surprised. We are dealing with a clear descendant of the Tresor skeleton, the classic, with-a-décolleté accord of rose, fluffy peach, and synthetic notes of violets and clean musk - which is perfectly in line with the choice of this particular perfume as the scent of strippers in posh clubs of other decades. Something strong, something clean, something ladylike, so as to not rouse suspicions in the minds of the clients' wives upon their return home. The fragrance is a bit powdery in the general sense of cosmetic products (lipstick, face make-up)
For the holidays 2024-2025 I drenched myself with the spectacularly chic Splendida Iris d' Or by Bvlgari, a precious gift from a friend. It is the recalibration of their criminally discontinued Bvlgari pour Femme and feels like the softest pashmina shawl on the shoulders and decolletage.
I will devote a separate post on my newer scented discoveries to usher forth 2025, but feel free to add yours.
I pledge conscious fashion choices for my 2025 bucket list. Not sure it will always be a choice that can be materialised, since it requires more time and distance spent than I'm usually willing to devote, but we have globally arrived at a time when every little thing matters. I intend to recycle some of my older clothes into newer schemes and styling and update with great quality accessories as always. Heirlooms, silk scarves, and actual leather handbags that have withstood the floods of time need not be crushed at the back of the closet.
LISTENING
I discovered La Chapelle Musique during the holidays thanks to their Noel recordings and was charmed. Here they are for your inspection (and they have lots of material on their channel).
I have increasingly been using just liquid black liner on my lash line, plus a touch of mascara on my upper lashes, and substituted posh brands for high-street alternatives for the products to do the job. My current duo is Calligraph Pro Matt Liner Waterproof by Catrice and The False Lashes Mascara by Essence. They perform great, staying put until I take them off myself and apart from not budging they also not sting in the eyes.
On the contrary I have been using posh lipsticks on my lips and intend to continue doing so this year. The Tom Ford lipsticks may suffer from a somewhat vulgarised aesthetic, as is customary to the sex sells adage supporting some brands, but the quality is unquestionable. They melt like butter on the lips when applying, stay nicely put for the most part, and when fading leave a nice stain, plus they come in a wide array of colours which please my artistic eye and warm the cockles of my little heart. The shade 04 Aphrodite with the alluring name is a favourite, in the Lip Color Sheer collection. It's a nice mid-plum, mid-rose shade that contrary to what's advertised doesn't let the natural hue of the lips shine through (and therefore reads warmer than my own set) and leaves a satiny finish. Perfect for everyday as well as dressier occasions, exactly because two glides provide much pigment. The odd thing is it's 55$ in the USA according to Temptalia and 61 euros in the local retail market, more expensive than any other brand, which makes me wonder how physical stores intend to stay open in the long term! But I digress...
I'm also currently in search of a great blurring primer that can be worn alone over sunscreen in the cooler months and in the warmer springtime ahead. I like soft and satiny things rather than all glam gloss glass skin. Any suggestions? Thanks for your input.
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