Paul & Joe - Blanc

What a weather! Half a meter of snow and -15 C cold, and it´s not even december yet!

The change of seasons influences me, this time of year I´m usually a little more tired, a little more keen on candy (yes, I admit I have tried to swap for candy at Perfume Posse´s swapmania) and not as sparkling as I am in may or june. On the other hand the Christmas preparations are mood lifting and yesterday me and daughter made a gingerbread house, it was so much fun.

When autumn turning into late autumn and eventually winter my taste in perfumes also changes. The warm spicy, woody and often amber-based perfumes I love wearing during autumn slowly being replaced by scents with gourmand feautures. I was so close to make a sample order with only gourmand samples, but then an Ebay thing got in between, so I have to wait with those gourmand until after Christmas.

Paul & Joe Blanc isn´t really a gourmand scent, or it is, but it´s a different take on gourmand. I´ve been curious about it for some time without manage to get it. First I visited the only shop in Sweden that have it, but they didn´t have it right then. Then I was so close getting a used bottle of it at Ebay and when I was about to place the winning bid the seller had forgot to allow bidders from outside UK (I´ve asked for it beforehand). Now and then I manage to mess things up, even though I know it´s perfectly simple to order a sample of Blanc from The Perfumed Court. Whatever... Anyway, now I have a sample thanks to a perfume friend.

And I like! Not sure what I like, but Blanc smells a little like this: 60% common, not that bad but still, common floral. This isn´t the part of Blanc making it special it´s the other parts. Another part maybe 30% of Blanc smells similar to much more expensive L'Eau d'Hiver by Frederic Malle, soft, subtle, caressing, cold and a little milky floral. Wonderful and different. But maybe the best part -according to me- the little one remaining (about 10%) smells like my loved Bois Farine by L'Artisan. Or, add some tiny, tiny note of something skankydirty then you get it.

In fact, Bland is much more subtle, well made and complex then to expect for a scent at this price point. I could easily buy a bottle and have instead of much more pricey L'Eau d'Hiver. Floralgourmand-scents without any fruit (is nut a fruit?) and not much sweetness isn´t that common. So in my opinion Blanc manage to fill up an otherwise quite empty spot.

One problem with Blanc is that I´ve heard a lot of people that don´t get neither the nutty or the milky notes from it. This is quite subtle, and I wouldn´t at all think that Blanc was something special if I didn´t get the milky and nutty notes. If it´s because of skin chemistry or sense of smell is hard to say, maybe a combo? I suspect that Blanc smells a little different on me on different occations, but I haven´t tried it enough to be sure.

Without the more odd notes of milk and nut, Blanc is left with some soft floral notes of lily of the valley and jasmine, and some hints of lilac (I´m glad it´s only hints, usually I´m not a fan of lilac in perfume). Blanc is a soft but also somewhat cold floral, like flowers dipped in powdery snow. The nutty note is most obvious during the opening, but some traces of it lingers for a while. The milky note is more apparent in the drydown.

Unfortunatly, Blanc don´t have that great lasting power on me. After about 3 hours it becomes so subtle and close to skin that I tend to forget that I´m wearing it. However, I have just a small dab on sample, and longvity and sillage could be much better if sprayed on.

I do recommend Blanc to all of you looking for a floral scent with an odd, cold tvist. Or if you´re looking for a starnge, not so sweet gourmand or something in between. I hope to get me some small bottle of it myself or at least a larger decant.

Thursday I´ll go away agian. Heading south to my daughter in Markaryd and then to a funeral in Skåne. Back home again on saturday.

pic. flickr