Pages

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Frederic Malle- Portrait Of A Lady


I don't get it, I really don't. It's not that Portrait of a Lady, the latest release from Frederic Malle's Editions de Parfums line, is bad or not well-crafted. That's not the problem. But let's look at the three main threads holding Dominic Ropion's composition together: sweet berries, rose and patchouli. Where have we seen this before? Oh, right. Everywhere.

One can blame the accumulating expectations for this Frederic Malle release. We were promised a true feminine ambery and rich perfume. I was eager to try it and I know many who pre-ordered a bottle without sampling first. I hope they're enjoying it, because the first couple of times I tried Portrait of a Lady it was a borderline scrubber. The fruits from the opening notes refused to go away no matter what, and the very red roses didn't help any (I'm not much of a rose person). The whole thing grew into a big fruitchouli thing with barely a whiff of the promised amber and incense. It was too red in feel and almost vulgar, but not in a good way.

I still don't like Portrait of a Lady very much. Further sampling revealed it's easier on my nose when dabbed and not sprayed. The rose somehow smells richer and prettier and the berries are less soul-sucking. I still feel an urge to wash the whole thing off after a few hours because the perfume is aggressive and not very interesting. It's actually distracting- I kept smelling this big rose/patchouli thing the other day as I tried to take a nap and it kept me awake. It's only after about 6 hours or so that the Lady calms down and becomes his fairly sweet and ambery that is surprisingly soft after all  the mayhem. This part I enjoy and really appreciate, it's just that I'm sure there should have been a different path to get there, preferably not one that reminds me of Calvin Klein's Euphoria and other mishaps.

Bottom Line: Can you believe this stuff costs $300?

Portrait Of A Lady by Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums ($300, 100ml EDP) is available from Frederic Malle boutiques, Barneys and Aedes. The latter sells samples.

Photo of Sophia Loren in 1964 from life.com

12 comments:

  1. Gaia I much prefer Une Rose myself, which while rosy, is so mulit-faceted and deep, with earthy truffle accords. It's gorgeous. I also find Portrait a very tenacious perfume that overstays its welcome, but there are a lot of folk out there that dig it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm testing it today.I don't get any berries (unfortunately, I have to say). I get loads of patch (again unfortunately) and quite a lot of overly smelly roses. I have neither the incense, nor the cinnamon, not even the sandalwood. They probably can't get through the heaps of patchouli&roses...
    I liked it on the test-strip, but not on my skin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wamp womp. :-\

    This still hasn't hit the shelves here (we have a Malle-exclusive counter, what's the hold-up??), but I'm less than excited about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I vacillate between, I've smelled this before, and, is that it? Not a scrubber but kind of, "so what?", to me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have been avoiding trying PoaL because I am afraid to be disappointed...although most of the FM perfumes I have tried *suck* on me, personally :( but I want them to love me.


    previous lurker :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. A sample would work to tell me what I feel when smelling Portrait of a Lady. 300$ seems too expensive. But I don´t know what can happen when I will smell it for the first time! Maybe it´s better not to smell it then not to fall into a great longing? this sounds to me like a child who wants the best basket ball and yet... it will never happen

    ReplyDelete
  7. When we tried this at Barney's I was really underwhelmed with its derivative qualities and have not had the desire to give it a retry.

    So, my feelings about POAL remain similar to yours, but the good news is that I'm not tempted to spend a mini-fortune on it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Didn't much care for this and certainly didn't want to spend $300 on it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm where Dane is, it's not in town yet, but I'm not over-excited about it. You put into words exactly what I was afraid it would be: just another patch-rose. I was really hoping the cinnamon/sandalwood/frankincense would be dominant. I think I'll be happy to stick with my favourite rose Nicolai's Maharanih.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I got a decant of this in order to give it a thorough test. So far, I am not enthralled. I've also been testing Une Fleur de Cassie, which seems a lot more interesting. I wonder if you've tried that one and what you think of it, Gaia? ~~nozknoz

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm late here but I am so grateful for your post. Last December I drove 400 km and lost a day only to try this. And I was dissapointed. Thought it is something wrong with me, you read everywhere excited reviews. I didn't like it, I didn't dislike it, it was just nothing special. Nothing to love or hate, nothing new and I was happy I didn't try it on my skin, how I somethimes do when I heard about terific perfumes. So I am so happy you wrote this down in a honest way. But let's not blame it on the price, people can pay as much as they want for what they like. If they do like it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I I love it and always get compliments whenever I wear it. It's very similar to Oud Isphahan by Dior, but the Dior has a gasoline or some other fuel scent in it that I do not like at all. Portrait of a Lady is just lovely.

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and appreciate the time you take to connect with me, but please do not insert links to your blog or store. Those will be deleted. The comment feature is not intended to provide an advertising venue for your blog or your commercial site.