I used to be quite the snob about pretty perfume. Not for me, I said, the simple floral bouquets. Give me spices and woods and leather! If I wore florals, they were complicated with bitter moss or animalic bases to make them darker, bitchier femme fatales. I didn't do girly. Boy, was I missing out.
Olène is girly and sweet, but without being stawberry/carmel/cotton candy dreck. It's a simple, romantic floral based on three notes: wisteria, jasmine and narcissus.
I've never smelled wisteria, but they must smell like lilac, because the first few minutes of Olène smell exactly like burying your nose in a big bunch of fresh lilacs. It's intoxicating. Then, a short while later, it switches to rich jasmine, wafting it's gorgeous, gasoline-edged and narcotic prettiness everywhere. The narcissus in the base is barely there but it adds a slightly waxy, earthy strength.
And that's it. Simple but lovely. And what's wrong with a little prettiness? In the spring, who can say no to a little romance? Olène makes me feel like mushy love songs and cartoon hearts and bunnies and flowers.
Nose:Serge Kalouguine
Notes: wisteria, jasmine, narcissus
