I can't claim I didn't have a fair warning. My scent twin already reviewed Mademoiselle Piguet, and his assessment of this 2012 perfume from Robert Piguet Nouvelle Collection was that it's a fluffy orange blossom for the younger consumer. Younger being the keyword in this case. I should also know better than to trust a Mademoiselle anything. I'm as much the target audience of these fragrances as is my scent twin, and he's very much a guy.
I can (sort of) accept that young women aren't going to buy Fracas at their first visit to the Robert Piguet counter in Neiman Marcus (although they totally should). They supposedly want something more fresh and light, hence the airy and sharp orange blossom confection of Mademoiselle Piguet. The bergamot note is green and tart, and it pierces the shockingly synthetic orange blossom through the heart. The note list claims the presence of almond, apricot, and tonka bean that should have softened the scent considerably. Instead, they mostly add a layer of an artificial sweetener. It's not cloying in any way and Mademoiselle Piguet cannot be accused of going the usual fruity-floral way, so I guess that's something. The orange blossom blooms and expands outdoors on a hot summer day, which I guess is a big part of the point here. But my skin doesn't like it, my nose doesn't like it, and I'm left with a bitter taste of disappointment from a perfume house I really really love.
My scent twin was wrong about one thing, though: Mademoiselle Piguet lasts forever on my skin.
Notes: bergamot, orange blossom, almond, apricot, tonka bean.
More mandatory reading on Kafkaesque.
Robert Piguet- Mademoiselle Piguet ($150, 100ml EDP) is available from Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and robertpiguetparfums.com.
Art: L'Ete by Le Pho.
I remember it as being short-lived, but I do wash my hands frequently and this never made it to the spray on neck-and-chest phase. Strictly wrist spraying for this one.
ReplyDeleteFracas resists washing. I think Fracas would resist a skin graft..
Tom, I wish I had avoided spending so much time with this one on my neck. It took some serious scrubbing every time I tested. By the way, you'd love the way Fracas smells on my mom. Absolutely divine.
DeleteOh, you are my scent twin! )
ReplyDeleteMademoiselle Piguet lasts forever and is extremely monotonous and boring.
Hard to believe it comes from the same house that gave us Bandit.
DeleteCalypso was disappointing too. I'm afraid the House of Bandit and Fracas is a thing of the past...
DeleteThank you for the referral link. Your review of Mademoiselle Piguet proves, one more time, that we are very similar in our tastes and must also have incredibly similar skin. I know already that we reach identical conclusions about perfumes, time and time again.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, your reviews often comfort me that I'm not the lone freak in my assessment of something when everyone else seems to have come to a different conclusion. From Ombre de Hyacinth to Lubin's Idole EDT or Guerlain's Encens Mythique (I could go on and on), you're almost like my Scent Twin. Or, rather, I should say that I'm almost like yours. :) I think one of the few times I've differed sharply from you was in terms of Ramon Monegal's Pure Mariposa and Le Labo's recent Ylang 49. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm one of your biggest admirers. And, again, thank you for the referral link.
One of the biggest joys of being part of the online fragrance community is realizing I'm not as big a freak as I used to think. Having a very different taste and skin chemistry than my oldest friends, not to mention my mom and sister, was quite isolating. Finding scent twins all over the world has been a very gratifying process.
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