Celine Saint Germain Des Pres

Saint Germain Des Pres opens up with a blast of intensely green, freshly cut grass, slightly bitter from the petitgrain. There is no bright citrus fruit in this opening, only greenness and bitterness that disappear within five minutes. A very surprising and fleeting opening.

For the next thirty minutes, the scent is dominated by a sugary, extremely powdery heliotrope with a hint of delicate floral sweetness from orange blossom. It it pretty much just pure powder and icing sugar at this point. Elegant, but a bit stuffy. Not a fan of this stage.

I start to see the vision once the powder settles. The petitgrain is back, this time much more bitter, with almost a mentholated edge from the intensity of the oils. Mixed with the sweetness of vanilla, slight greenness, natural neroli, and the now gentle and creamy powder from orris, this is really lovely and unusual. On the Celine website, it mentions that they don't distinguish between traditionally masculine and feminine notes, and I can really see that here with the green bitterness contrasting with the soft, vanillic powderiness. And I love it. It's fantastic.

The scent softens very quickly at about an hour in and all the notes blend together smoothly, in roughly equal quantities.

Projection and sillage are moderate. I can definitely smell this in the air around me but it isn't too strong. Longevity is very good. Still getting whiffs at 7 hours and it remains faintly on the skin and even more on the clothes at 10-11 hours in.

So far, pleasantly surprised with this one. The ingredients are high quality and the perfume is undeniably well blended. I think this does lean feminine because of how strong the powder is, though a confident man could surely pull this off. It is a unique, professional, and classy scent, excellent for work and dressier occasions, and versatile for all seasons. Probably won't get a full bottle as I am not always in the mood for powder, but definitely considering a larger decant when I'm done with the sample as I quite enjoyed this. 8.5/10 rating.