Patricia de Nicolai

Nicolaï Rose Oud Perfume Review

Photograph: Esperessence

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress/anxiety in a soft and gentle way. 

Interestingly Patricia de Nicolaï made Rose Oud as a powerful very rich deep fragrance (see video) But Rose Oud wears very close to my skin. It is more the light stroke of a rose. Caresse in French. Caresse de Rose would have been a better title for the fragrance.  I can only scent Rose Oud when I smell my wrist very closely, at less than 5 cm. Which is a pity but I reapply several times during the day. Longevity is not very good either. Very powerful rose perfumes on my skin are Guerlain Nahema edp and Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.

Although I love rose fragrances I find it hard to find rose perfumes I wear regularly.  They can either be too the linear like Jo Malone Red Roses, too uplifting like the spicy Amouage Epic or Majda Bekkali Mon Nom Est Rouge or too activating like Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.  I have found Rose Oud to be very appealing and  wore it quite often last summer. Of all my rose fragrances, this is the one I used most.

Rose Oud could give an uncomplicated impression at first sniff. But I find it an interesting modern, elegant, radiant and subtle fragrance.  You can wear it when you do not want others to smell your fragrance for example at your office or for a job interview.

What do I smell?

Personally I do not scent any oud in Rose Oud but some other male bloggers (Chemist in a Bottle and Geurengoeroe) say they do. At the beginning I get a fruity peach note probably due to the osmanthus. At the same time I get a lot of aldehydes the first few minutes adding lightness and brilliance. The aldehydes are not used in a retro vintage style like Antoine Lie in Rien Intense but in a more modern 21th century way.  What remains afterwards is an oily fragrance according to Perfume Shrine due to Nargamotha/Cypriol*. I get a sweet raspberry/rose note as well which is very similar to the Oliver and Co Santalum scented candle.

What does it do ?

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress or anxiety in a soft and gentle way. I used it a lot when my mother was in the hospital last summer. Part of this soothing effect could be a result of the usage of cypriol or to the calming effect of the rose.

Which image do I get ?

I get the image of the fur of my cat, Rubio as caressing him has a similar calming effect on me as wearing Rose Oud.

Composition: (according to the official Nicolaï website)

Top note: raspberry, davana, osmanthus

Heart note: rose, lily of the valley

Base note: agarwood, patchouli , sandalwood, musk, amber

Fragrance family: according to Patricia de Nicolaï chypre due to the rose and patchouli absolute (I would say floral chypre with fruity accents due to the raspberry or fruity chypre, Michael Edwards classifies it as a rose soliflore which makes sense)

Sillage: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

Fragrance: 4/5

Overall: 3,5/5

Origin of bottle: my own,  Nicolaï is sold in The Netherlands by The Perfume Lounge and Parfumaria, both sell samples.

* Nagarmotha/Cypriol is a plant of the Cyperaceae family belonging to the papyrus family. Cypriol essential oil is harvested through steam distillation. Lotus Garden Botanicals states on its website that its fragrance has similarities with vetiver and oud. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy and is said to have an emotionally calming effect. According to an article of Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer most of the oud in perfumes are bases often made with Cypriol.

Give away: we are giving away a 2 ml sample of Rose Oud

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  3. Draw will close september 3, at 12.00 PM Parisian Time
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  5. Worldwide draw

 

Bissoumine Un Ange Passe

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Touched by an angel

Some weeks ago I was introduced to the French perfume line Bissoumine on the perfume blog Olfactoria´s Travels. I always enjoy reading Birgits reviews. Bissoumine is a French line founded in 2009. They sell beautiful handmade silk scarves, scented candles and perfumes. The silk scarves are true beauties! The perfume line includes 8 perfumes at this moment. Bissoumine means perfume in old Aramaic. From the 4 perfumes I tested so far Un Ange Passe instantly got my attention as did Un fleur de Nall.

Un Ange Passe started as a scented candle but after frequent requests from clients, it was turned into a perfume. Literally Un Ange Passe means an angel passes. In French un ange passe describes an unexpected break in a conversation causing awkwardness. This scent will probably cause the opposite. When someone passes wearing Un Ange Passe, it will cause a moment of relieve and lightness. If they can scent the perfume though, as it wears close to your skin.

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While wearing it, it reminded me a bit of the style of Italian perfumer Olivia Giacobetti as it is very light and fresh. The concept of trying to capture something passing by can be found in her perfume made for Frederic Malle, En Passant. In this perfume Olivia Giacobetti successfully captured the scent of passing by lilac flowers in spring.

Un Ange Passe is more abstract though.

It has the sweetness of perfumes made by French perfumer Patricia Nicolai only lighter, fortunately. It is described as a light amber by the perfumer Kitty Shpirer. I consider it a light white powdery musk perfume. The feeling it provokes is of wearing a large transparent white feather light veil. Un Ange Passe is a perfume you can give to someone who does not like strong perfumes or is starting to wear perfume. It would make an excellent perfume to wear during summer sunny holidays.

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The perfume Un Ange Passe, the scented candle and the beautiful scarves will make excellent gifts.  I have not tried their scented candles or scarves but they look and sound wonderful on the website. They can be bought online in the Bissoumine webshop. Un Ange Passe eau de toilette costs 80 euro for 50 ml spray. A beautiful sample set is sold online but including Un ange passe or Les Fleurs de Nall. The large scented candle is 35 euro and scarves are 160 euro online. Bissoumine is not sold in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, yet. It would be very suited for a boutique with hippie chic beautiful clothing.

 

Notes according to Fragantica are:

ylang ylang, rhubarb, mandarine
spicy rose and delicate anis flower, jasmine.
transparent amber, sandalwood and white musk.

Photograph of bottle: courtesy of Bissoumine, other two photographs by L’Esperessence

Origin of sample: pr

Originally published: October 2, 2012

Update: August 11, 2014 Bissoumine does not sell silk scarves any longer, Un Ange Passe costs 88,29 euro at the moment for a 50 ml edp bottle.