This week I’ve been flabbergasted by the fragrant
marvel of Yves Rocher’s latest addition to the Secret D’Essences range – Secrets
D’Essences Neroli. Regular readers will know that I’m a devotee of the ‘killer
cheapy’ but the phenomenon of creating something splendid and pricing it under
£30 is a rare event. It’s a delight to find one.
My 50 ml bottle and 15 ml purse spray (purse spray already well ravaged!)
Neroli/orange blossom ‘soliflore’ scents
(i.e. scents with a dominant single floral note) have been a significant trend
in recent years, with releases such as Tom Ford’s Neroli Portofino and
Guerlain’s Nerolia Blanca gaining an enthusiastic following. Of course Neroli
has been around for hundreds of years as a key ingredient of the traditional
eau de cologne, so it’s revival as a focus note in costly niche perfumery will
inevitably lead to comparisons with much cheaper creations. A look at Neroli
Portofino’s Fragrantica page shows that 89 readers think it smells like the
heritage classic - 4711 Cologne. 4711 costs about £10 for a 50 ml bottle,
Neroli Portofino costs upwards of £150. I know which one I’d be testing first..
Secrets D’Essences Neroli is not
particularly cologne like, yes it does give us that uplifting citrus burst in
the top notes, but it’s warmer and muskier than expected. If I were to compare
it to another scent I would suggest either Penhaligon’s Castile, Miller Harris’
Petitgrain or Evody’s Fleur D’Oranger.
The note list is rather confusing, it is
composed of; orange blossom, neroli, bitter orange, petitgrain and musk. Here’s
my potted explanation.
Orange blossom and neroli are exactly the
same thing, the flowers of the bitter orange tree. The only difference between
the two is the extraction method. I won’t bore you with geeky tech about this
but the outcome is that one smells citrus bright, mildly floral and uplifting
(neroli) and the other smells slightly citrusy but more indolic white floral,
luxuriant and pleasantly slutty (orange blossom). Petitgrain is an extraction
from the leaves from the same tree, one of my favourite notes, it is both sharp
citrus and woody/oily/soapy. As for the bitter orange, I think this is an
essential oil from the rind of the fruit.
Secrets D’Essences Neroli, unsurprisingly,
smells like all of the above. Which is a very fine smell indeed. It manages to
be at once luminous and euphoric in the manner of sparkling citrus, whilst
retaining a deeper and somewhat saucier element of creamy indole and musk. It
lasts for absolutely ages and possesses impressive projection abilities. In
fact, on the first day of it’s public wear, I attracted the olfactory interest
of a cyclist whilst queuing for a coffee in the park. Said cyclist was a Tom
Ford aficionado who was astonished by my admission of it’s price (cue one of
those rambling half an hour conversations we fumies get into when we find a
stranger who shares our obsession).
Here’s how to buy it. Yves Rocher exists on
the high street of most mainland European cities. In the UK and (possibly?)
Internationally, you have order from the online shop. Yves Rocher advertise
retail prices that are dropped all the time. Expect to pay about 40% less than
the rrp during most months. I bought a ‘green dot’ priced gift set of a 50ml
bottle and 15 ml purse spray for about £29 (green dot prices don’t change) but
currently the £44 50ml bottle is being sold at £24.50.
In addition, Yves Rocher always ask you to
choose from a selection of free gifts with each order. Today (this runs out
soon as it was the gift that I got nearly a month ago) ‘Surprise gift no.2’
includes the beautiful neroli scented argan oil body balm that layers
magnificently with the perfume.
The free neroli scented body balm
If you are intrigued by this post you might
also like to click here to read about some superb quality body products from
the same brand that help to amp up the projection and longevity of wimpy scents.
