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Portia
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Hey there Niche Nerds,
A while back my mate Sonya was having a clear out. One of the fragrances that I loved when I first smelled it but never came back to again is today’s scent. You know how that happens yeah? You’re MADLY in love with it when you spritz it in store, you buy a 2ml decant and use it up but before you pull the trigger on your credit card something else gets you excited and you move on. TBH I wish that would play out a bit more often for me, HA! I’d have 1/3 the collection currently in this house.
1889 Moulin Rouge by Histoires de Parfums 2010
1889 Moulin Rouge by Gérald Ghislain, Sylvie Jourdet
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Plum, Cinnamon
Heart: Absinth, Damascus rose
Base: Iris, Patchouli, Musk, Fur
Plum and cardboardy iris are my first whiff, it’s VERY stage make up smelling. We used to use pots of carmine lipstick and they smelled remarkably like this. The rose waltzes in underneath the radar and gradually makes itself known. Personally I think of absinth as far more herbal and astringent than the soft focus booziness in Moulin Rouge, it feels more creamy cocktail-ish or even that drink that you have at Harry’s bar in Venice; the Bellini. Sweet and lightly sparkling.
Iris though is king in Moulin Rouge, from top to bottom it dominates, quietly but insistent. One of the things I really love about Moulin Rouge is its understated smellability. Though you are fragrant and people can smell you it does not feel intrusive or overpowering, somehow it manages that fine line of smelling fabulous but not intrusive.
Skewed towards what we think of as a feminine fragrance I think it an excellent choice for the guys as well. I can easily imagine it being a signature scented point of difference for a man in an office.
Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Non Blonde
ParfuMaria has €95/60ml
What is your favourite olde world makeup scent?
Portia xx