Charles Jourdan The Parfum (2004)
by Charles Jourdan

Yes, this is a creamy/fruity scent, along with a bunch of other gourmand notes, but everything is so discreet it doesn't smell like food. L de Lolita Lempicka, for instance, dries down to what smells like vanilla pudding. The complexity of The Parfum makes it never get boring, though it has no "rough edges." It's strong and has great longevity. I don't care if it's a "women's" fragrance; to me, it's just an excellent gourmand.

The Parfum strikes me as a little different from the other gourmands: It has the sweet fruity notes, the almond note, the coffee notes, florals, but, as flathorn says, it’s not really foody … just luscious. It opens fruity and sweet and seems to be going in the direction of the major designer gourmands, but then it takes a side rode to remove itself from the madding crowd. It has the substance of Angel but not the patchouli and that aims it more in the direction of Lolita Lempicka. But Charles Jourdan The Parfum has much more body and depth than Lolita. Then there’s the coffee – smooth, somewhat subtle, and more olfactorily tempting than gustatorily fetching; what I mean is, it’s a coffee I want to smell but not drink. The coffee seems to provide the heft that patchouli provides for Angel. I like this version better. This one is special. The drydown is spicy / woody – quite well executed . The Parfum is a very good fragrance – unique, refined, long lasting… I’m sold.

One of the few gourmands I like. Charles Jourdan manages to take the gourmand notes out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. It is voluptuous, fruity, creamy and definitely sexy. The tag line for this fragrance is "The sexiest fragrance in the world". While that is a bold statement, it *is* sexy. It is to me what many have said 'Angel' is for them. I have always found 'Angel" sticky and queasy, so I was pleased to find a gourmand equivalent for myself. It lacks the predominat patchouli note which inhabits the whole of 'Angel' from start-up to drydown. I am a chypre person, as my skin adores them, so if you are also such a person, and have difficulties with 'Angel', this luscious, rounded concoction may be your plate of gourmand.