Un Crime Exotique by Parfumerie Générale {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Fragrance}
Un Crime Exotique (An Exotic Crime) is the latest offering by the house of Parfumerie Générale and is part of their Private Collection. It is said to come from a super secret stash of perfumes; it is not advertised on their site and is currently exclusively carried by Luckyscent.
The noir-novel name here appears to make little obvious reference to the perfume, which holds no apparent sense of foreboding, mystery, or threat. The only crime one can detect is that of greed, more of a sin than a crime.
Un Crime Exotique is a deliciously decadent spicy gourmand and dessert-y perfume with a subtle hint of indolic florals in its core, which seems mainly to contribute to the creation of a lush triple-crème perfume accord oozing with gourmandise and good memories. Would those subtle tuberose and osmanthus hints in its core be the exotic crime accord? In this case, it is a humorous reference to a, by definition, well hidden crime covered by the brouhaha of joyous relaxed conversations around a festive meal by the candlelight. The perfume evokes memories of rambunctious family and friend dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas complete with special desserts, good alcohols, tea, pot-pourris, and even ginger and pumpkin-scented candles......
The perfume seems especially geared towards the American market in that sense as aromas of ginger, cinnamon spice, pumpkin, and cream irresistibly conjures up fall colors and a turkey feast. Un Crime Exotique we thereby decree is a perfect Christmas and Thanksgiving perfume to be worn around that time of the year or even more eloquently the rest of the year to help recapture happy moments in the fall and winter as well as from one's childhood. If Clinique Happy aims to be the spring and summer definition of happiness, Un Crime Exotique would be its colder seasons counterpart.
The fragrance is fairly linear starting with a warm super creamy and well-done gingerbread and spice accord, then going on to smell like mulled cider, apple caramels, rum baba, hot buttered rum, gingerbread, pumpkin pie, and to my nose very specifically, evoking a New England Indian pudding. Everyone can play at this game and recognize their favorite sweet festive specialties. After having helped ourselves to this rich series of desserts and while we hope some digestives are being served – it smells so intense it feels rum-y- the scent becomes more contemplative and nostalgic as the dimension of time is alluded to. This is done through a switch from a spicy gourmand mood to a spicy candlelit mood. Indeed and quite remarkably so, the fragrance is redolent of the aroma of warm wax candles scented with gingerbread and spices. We are thus able to sense the end of an evening of festivities as the smell of wax candles slowly lose their kindle passing from hot to warm and then cold. The conversations have died off, people have left until next year, only lingers in the air the scented trace of the feast and the comforting memories of the past.
Notes are: Chinese osmanthus, gingerbread, tea, cinnamon, star anise, mate absolute, vanilla sugar, South Sea Island sandalwood.
A 50 ml flacon retails for $105. You can sample it for $3 at Luckyscent.
For another great gourmand Christmas scent see Jean-Paul Gaultier Gaultier2. For another fragrance inspired by the scent of fragrant candles see Hilary Duff With Love (it is less realistic however in this regard than Un Crime Exotique).
Previous Posts in Perfume Shorts:
Kai Fragrance Oil & Kai Eau de Parfum
Notes on L'Ombre Fauve & Ether de Lilas by Parfumerie Générale
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