Le Parfum is Elie Saab’s first fragrance, launched in 2011 and signed by Francis Kurkdjian. The house presents it as an ode to light: a sunny orange blossom, a jasmine absolute paired with patchouli, and a cedar base wrapped in a rose honey accord. In 2012 it won the award for best women’s fragrance at the French FiFi Awards.
Angela (Now Smell This, 2011) sees a whirlwind of white flowers, strange but pretty; Thomas Dunckley (The Candy Perfume Boy) praises an orange blossom that sings; Elena Vosnaki (Perfume Shrine) finds an alluring honeyed floral, but one short on originality.
Olfastory’s review
Now Smell This: a floral firework
On August 8, 2011, Angela greeted Kurkdjian’s talk of light with skepticism, before admitting that he got it right. She describes a frenzy of white flowers turned into a searing vapor, pure and shrill as a piccolo, where aldehydes burst through the orange blossom and jasmine.
She compares the effect to the orchestral crescendo of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” The announced patchouli and cedar do not stand out for her; the fragrance stays more chaste than carnal, a likely favorite for evening weddings: strange, but pretty.
The Candy Perfume Boy: an orange blossom that sings
On August 25, 2011, Thomas Dunckley admitted his wariness of couturiers’ first fragrances; Kurkdjian’s name reassured him. He describes an orange blossom that sings, bright, honeyed, faintly animalic, over a generous patchouli and a woody base that a pronounced cedar makes slightly sharp.
Perfume Shrine: alluring, but familiar
In December 2011, Elena Vosnaki described a floral with honeyed accents, beautiful and alluring, cut for the mass market and made to displease no one. She regrets that it repeats motifs already known from Kurkdjian, which costs it points for originality.
She finds in it a facet of the perfumer’s retro roses, slipped into a composition devoted to white flowers, jasmine first. She recommends it to those who miss Giorgio Armani’s Sensi, just as immediate and simple to wear.