Annick Goutal - Eau de Charlotte

It has been a while since my last posting, about a week actually. I promise I´ll not go away for a while now. It was really fun to visit middle daughter and her boyfriend. I thought I was bohemian but... Well, let just say they give the word bohemian a new meaning. their apartment is filled with art but not so much furniture. It´s like stepping inside a strange art exhibit.

After coming home it feels like it´s time to start fokusing on the upcoming Christmas and all things about it. I´m not that much of a Christmas decorating type, but the more I like Christmas cooking, baking and candymaking. I think I´ll start with some Christmas baking this weekend.

What is your Christmas MUST, if any? How important are the Christmas fragrances to you? Which is your fave Christmas scent? I think mine are a cozy and homey mix between hyacinth (my fave Christmas flower), citrusfruits and cinnamon/gingerbread-spices.

One scent that´s smelling really cozy and nice, but not that Christmasy is Annick Goutal´s Eau de Charlotte. I´ve discovered that Eau de Charlotte is a chameleon like scent, that wears very different on different people.

usually it´s my middle daughter that seem to like Annick Goutal´s perfumes the best. But with Eau de Charlotte I actually think it´s smells the best on me. With notes of black currant, lily, lily-of-the-valley, mimosa, vanilla and cacao it isn´t really certain how a fragrance ends up.

On me, Eau de Charlotte, becomes soft floral with some tart berry notes (a little black currant but I also smell some more tart kind of berry like raspberry or red currant). This floral and tart scent gets accompanied by some milky vanilla and the chocolate never shows up on my skin, insetad I find something similar to tea with milk and honey. That sounds kind of good, doesn´t it? And yes it is, on me. It´s a cozy, caressing mix between floral and soft gourmand. A really comfort scent, like having breakfast at the veranda a summerday with the smell of the garden flowers surrounding you and blackberry jam, toasts and tea.

On my youngest daughter Eau de Charlotte gets a totally different character. The flowers are more noticeable on her and most of Eau de Charlotte ends up smelling like an expensive and creamy lipstick. There is a violet note coming through on my daughters skin that isn´t at all present on me. Both me and daughter also thinks that Eau de Charlotte wears much stronger on her then on me. But eventually it becomes more similar what it is on me.

On the middle daughter it explodes with notes of really tart and also sweet berries and a somewhat sharp and soapy chocolate note. I noticed that middle daughter didn´t liked this Annick Goutal as much as other scents from that brand. It´s like we´re wearing three different fragrances. I can´t think of any perfume that wear so different on the three of us. However it´s quite similar during basenote.

If you have tried Eau de Charlotte, how is it on you?

Well, after about an hour Eau de Charlotte develops to a soft, milky gourmand with some floral elements on the three of us. Lasting power is OK for a Goutal scent, about 3 hours on me. But the sillage was very different on me and the daughters, medium on me and youngest but quite strong and pushy on the middle daughter.

I think if you like Eau de Charlotte, you´ll also like Paul & Joe´s Blanc and other slightly soft and gourmand florals.

Pic: confiture and croissant 1watercolor by Carol Gillott

Annick Goutal - Ninfeo Mio

Is it something that I really miss in my collection that is green scents, I have some light green ones like Comme des Garcons 3, but non of that heavy, lush green kind.

On teh perfume meeting in May I tried a lot of scents, among them was Annick Goutal´s new Ninfeo Mio. The top note was really impressing, but the basenote kind of drowned among all the other scents I tried. Anyway, I´ve gone around thinkg about it and hoping that it might be the scent to fill in the missing lush, green in my collection. So I ordered a spray sample of it.

And yes, the opening is as gorgeous as I remember. This is green in square, most of all I think it smells like nettles on me, nettles, and juicy early summer grass and soma almost sticky new leafs. All taht is sprinkled with a light touch of citrus that making it stronger and gives it a livelyness and tartness.

According to me, the opening of Ninfeo Mio is a masterpiece, I can´t think of any other green scent that I have enjoyed so much. Totally amazing, I ma so hocked up on Ninfeo Mio for about half an hour. The bursting green top note is followed by gentle notes of flowers (only hints, not strong at all) and something soft and a little milky, and I´m still with it... until it´s... uuuh... what is happening?

Unfortunatly there isn´t anything good happening. Some note or combaination of notes makes Ninfeo Mio go sour on me. Something smelling like brimstone and something harsh and piercing shows up. I didn´t noticed this when I tried it in Stockholm, and it´s such a dissapointment. I have notice this sourness with some other Goutal´s as well, some of the florals and the whole oriental line of Annick Goutal. What on earth is it in the scent that makes them behave like this?

But, I have to admit that Ninfeo Mio smells good from start to end on my husband, his skin chemistry seem to agree really well with notes that don´t agree at all with mine.

So despite Ninfeo Mio´s crash on my skin, I do recommend it. The sillage is medium and lasting power is good, at elast for an Anncik Goutal. If you usually like green scents and have skinchemistry for it, this might be a winner.

pic: publicdomainphotos

Annick Goutal - Mandragore

If Annick Goutal´s Eau de Charlotte is a short, but sincere love poem (to a daughter, the scent was created to Annick Goutal´s daughter, Charlotte), then Annick Goutal´s Mandragore is a magic and very efficient spell. Ever since I first heard of Annick Goutal´s scents I´ve been interested in and curious about Mandragore, still I haven´t test it until now. Other scents has come in the way, and I´ve been a bit put off because many of Annick Goutal´s scents don´t have any lasting power.


Now there is even a "flanker" for Mandragore (Mandragore Poupre), and finally I decided to order samples of both of them. To my sense of smell, Mandragore is MUCH better than it´s flanker. Mandragore Poupre may have a little better lasting power, but instead it lacks all of the magic and charm I find in original Mandragore.


Mandragore starts of all bubbly and sprightly on my skin, peppy notes of citrus that almost become alive which are followed by a note of star anise which smells almost like liqorice, but more herbal, warm and complex. All I´ve got is a little dab on sample, but this short phase of the scent is nothing but stunningly gorgeous on me. It captures me and I´ve become enchanted, Mandragore is moodlifting, happy and easy to like, but also mysterious, magic and unique. A not that common combination.


The opening is a blast, but lasts very short on me, I can soon smell notes of mint, but that is a warm minty note, more like I´ve been rubbing min leaves in the garden between my fingers than mint a tothpaste or chewing gum. I can´t think of any other scent that manage to make such a nice mint nore and also so interesting. It´s like the combination of notes manage to make each note more interesting than it is on it´s own, even though that´s true for most perfume mkaing, I find it particullary so in Mandragore.


During the heart of the scent I can smell ginger and also some cardamom, at the same time Mandragore also becomes more earthy, darker and herby. Citrus and mint is still there and contribute to a lively impression. Unfortunatly, Mandragore don´t lasts that long either, and after about an hour there is only a quite flat scent left, even though it´s soft, nice and really comfy. I would love to try spraying on Mandragore to see how it´s behave then. Despite it´s lack of lasting power I think of buying a mini or decant of Mandragore soon. I also belive it could be a really pleasant summer scent.


If you´re curious about Annick Goutal I do recommend you to try Mandragore, it´s suitable for both man and women. I also fint it to be an outsider among Annick Goutal scents.




Pic: Misummer´s Eve, Edward Robert Hughes

Annick Goutal - Eau de Charlotte

When I tell people about my perfume interest they often wonder if I don´t get tired of it. And if I really need that many perfumes? Of course I don´t NEED that many perfumes, but that I would get tired of my perfume interest is as likely that I would get tired of reading or listening to music.


I am and have always been (since I´ve learn to read anyway) a bookworm. In our family´s bookshelfs you can find anything between Swedish female mystery writers as well as classic masterpieces of Russian, Greek and English writers. Modern litterature, poetry, non-fiction about art, animals, history and sience. Fantasy, sci-fi, love stories and adventures. Well, not only me but my husband as well has a hunger for all kinds of books.


I´ve got plenty of time to wondering about a lot of things. I do think a lot about perfumes, but as often I think about books that I´ve read. So one day I start thinking about if perfumes/perfume houses where books, what kind of books would they be?


Of course Serge Lutens perfumes would be rich stories filled with life, fortune and adventourus scenes. Serge Lutens scents are as memorable and packed as Gabriel Garcia Marques novel One hundred years of solitude.


Frederic Malle´s scents are a little more intellectual and European, not as straight forward. Maybe a little like Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir rather than too cherful and noisy.


L'Artisan often manages to capture scents from all over the world, colourful, beautful and also modern. Crossover. Maybe our Swedish novelist Jonas Hassein Khemiri would suit the, he is good in mixing different cultures.


With Annick Goutal´s scents it´s that way that I was prepared to meet a novel filled with adventure and didn´t realised that it was a delicate love poem or a sparse japanese haiku. For some reason this is a very attractive thought for me. That I imagine that Annick Goutal scents rather being short, well expressed poems than several hundred pages of reading. This is a parable that works well for me, even though others might find it strange.


On me, there is only a few Annick Goutal scents that last for a long time or make a bold impression, actually Songes is the only this far. Eau de Charlotte is as all the others, ethereal, light, soft and transparent. Still, I really love it during that short moment when it smells the most and the goodest on me. This moment is about 1-1½ hour on me, but with Eau de Charlotte it´s a really nice hour.


The opening is shy and quite, warm berries together with something powdery that remind me of lipstick, even though lipstick in a really sheer and discrete color, which makes your lip looks nude. There is also some weak green notes, but hidden under the others and I can´t really tell what it is.


In the heart of the scent I can find powdery flowers, smelling mostly like lilies. And there is also a soft note of cacao, that together with vanilla makes a nice gourmand base. The berry notes are returning once in a while and I discover something that smells like biscuits or even, milk in Eau de Charlotte. Whatever it is, I love the smell. Not long time after tha, Eau de Charlotte starts to become so sheer and discrete that I almost forgot about it, and the next time I try to locate it on my wrist, it´s gone.


Yes, it´s sad that many of Annick Goutal´s scents has so short lasting power on me, but still Eau de Charlotte (and others) smells really, really good while they last. The short, but impressive moment while Annick goutal scents last are more memorable than many much more long lasting scents manage to receive.


Are you more lucka than me with the lasting power of Annick Goutal scents? My middle daughter loves almost anything from Annick Goutal, but then they also last as least twice as long on her...




Pic: levasomkarin

Annick Goutal - Songes

When it comes to describing a perfume with words there is a lot of different thing that can help, to compare a perfume to a colour, a song, a person or a memory are some. The perfumes I´ve tried before from Annick Goutal is all something that I like to compare with watercolours. Light, transparent and, sorry enough, on me kind of bland and watery. The little I´ve smell has been nice and pleasant, but my skin chemistry or if it is my sense of smell, demand something stronger. And that was it, for a long time, until I´ve got a little sample of Songes in a swap. Honestly I didn´t tried it immediatly, but after a while I decide to give it a try. And wow, am I glad I did? Oh yes! Songes isn´t like anything else I´ve tried from Annick Goutal, but still it has a feeling of transparence and ease. Songes do sing on my skin, and it is a seductive song.

Songes make me think of the petite, fragile and yet strong and magnetic french singer Edith Piaf. Songes seduces me, once again I am almost hypnotised by a perfume. Songes has an almost magnetic attraction to me, I forget about other perfumes and all I can think of is Songes. Of course I´ve checked out how to get more of it. Because I will definitly need more!

Songes is the most deliciously scented flowers in a garden a dark, cool summer night. Jasmine so exquisit that it is vibrant, and the other flowers (ylang-ylang, tiare and frangipani) are caressing, powdery and soft. The vanilla adds sweetness and warmt but the icing on the cake is the wonderful and lingering note of light incense. All this together make a sensual, sofisticated, elegant and very, very beautiful perfume. I find Songes wonderful, but it is really perfume for special occations. Wear Songes on a romantic and intimiate evening with your darling.

Songes is amazingly longlasting and with good sillage. Compared to others (I´ve tried) from Annick Goutal it is heavy, but still manage to keep the feeling of thin lightness.

I am so grateful I´ve got the chanse to try Songes. But it maked me want to try all the others from Annick Goutal, it may be some other hidden gems among them. Do you have some Annick Goutal favourites? If I like Songes, who among the others could be right up my alley?