Carnal Flower is definitely a gorgeous one, but that price tag is a little scary.
Diptyque Oyedo
YSL - Opium Vapeurs de Parfum
On me, this smells like a one-note version of the original, made of some mid-level ingredient reformulated to vanish within two hours of wearing it.
Maybe it's just what I associate it with (my mother), or that it's the first tuberose-centered scent that I ever came into contact with, but nothing will ever beat Fracas for me.Oh well, it turned out that it was indeed my body lotion (which lasted for about an hour ). The scent itself was too greenish for a tuberose, and slightly underwhelming. I mean, if I'm going to pay $320 for 100 ml (and if you're going to invest in a Malle, it makes more sense buying a 100 ml for $320 when the price of a 50 ml bottle is $215 ), then that scent has got to be extraordinary and distinctive and idiosyncratic and unmistakable. Carnal Flower isn't any of these things (on me, at least). Hell, it didn't even last for more than 3 hours. Besides, I already own Fracas and Nuit de Tubereuse and Tubereuse Criminelle, so there's no point investing in another tuberose, and an underwhelming one at that. Guess I'm in the minority.
Malle's Musc Ravageur and Noir Epices, on the other hand... I haven't worn them yet, but the glass vial does smell abso-bloody-lutely amazing.
i actually kinda like those lighter flankers. my favorite way of wearing those is layering them over the original. the original will stick around, but the lighter notes layered on top will lighten the entire thing, meaning you end up with a good medium between 'too strong' and 'too light'.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud
It's not a bad scent at all, but at $300 for 70ml, it isn't totally out of the world either, and as such not worth the price, unless, of course, it totally changes tack and turns into something heart-stoppingly beautiful after an hour or so.