Nirmala (1955)
by Molinard

I never thought I would like this one – a tropical fruity / vanilla fragrance created in 1955: Kind of my idea of a nightmare. It is humbling, enlightening, and a bit shocking to find how good it is. The tropicalness of Nirmala is real but it is accomplished without going over the top. The fruitiness is fresh, sweet, bright, and fulfilling while the vanilla is more of a firm, solid, near woody foundation: It restrains its exhuberance; it doesn't present itself as a super sweetened vanilla bomb. The restrained and mature vanilla is the secret of this fragrance, along with the reduced, skin-scent sillage. It’s unique, it’s refined, it’s creative, and it’s easy to wear: An excellent fragrance well ahead of its time.

Surprisingly modern for a fragrance launched in 1955, Nirmala is all sweet tropical fruit over a musk and vanilla base. Mangoes, ripe pineapple, and smooth citrus carry the top and middle, joined by some crisp white flower notes and just a touch of wood in the drydown. A luminous and transparent oriental that probably desrves more attention than it gets. If you like Ananas Fizz, give Nirmala a sniff, too!

At first it smells exactly like the blackberry chewing-gum (Hubba-Bubba).
Sweet, a little plastic. After 20 minutes becomes "sweaty" (!) - and it is not a feminine sweat, it's the cumin note, which I personally detest.

Nirmala is my new found love. Yes, there is a similarity to Angel, but so well put by Lizzie, "royalty does not shout," and Nirmala though unique and arresting, stays close to the skin and has more of a natural feel to it than Angel, imo.
Truly an exotic fragrance fit for a goddess. The mango and other fruits give it a succulent quality, the jasmine elevates, and the vanilla and sandalwood root one to the earth. Simply gorgeous. Make sure you are in your Goddess Mode when wearing.

When I was trying out the Molinard perfumes in their Nice boutique this was the on that spoke to me the most. It seemed to suit the atmosphere of the riviera - citrus, floral and sparkling like the light down there. I felt fresh and uplifted as soon as i spritzed it on. This is a "people-pleaser" kind of scent and Habanita's goody two-shoes" little sister.

Stop the presses! I think we may have a case of mistaken identity. I cannot speak of the EDT, but I do not recognize Molinard's classic and eternally lovely Nirmala parfum from the descriptions above. Incense? No such note (read below). Heavy? Pepper? Cotton candy? Heaven forfend!

Created in 1955, it's a gorgeous, classy, light-hearted, still-current floral & fruit fragrance from the respected 150+ year-old French house of Molinard. It is somewhat similar to Creed's Spring Flowers, also a floral-fruit medly based on jasmine (but with rose instead of fleur-des-isles as its second floral note.) Spring Flowers was orignally a bespoke fragrance created expressly for Audrey Hepburn and was her signature scent for years. (It was finally launched commercially in the mid-90's and is not to be confused with the 60's aldehylic floral unleashed by Givenchy and named for her). Can one imagine Miss Hepburn scenting herself to resemble cotton candy or with anything reminiscent of body odor?

From its website, with permission, here is Aedes's description for Normala parfum with which I wholeheartedly concur: "Nirmala was first created as a modern fantasy for royal women who understand the secrets and mystery of feminity. Nirmala is an ideal blend of the purest beauty of the fleurs-des-isles and the passion of scented fruits from fragant gardens: A note of mystery taken from an exotic vanilla found only in orchids. A scent appealing to artistic and mystical women. Top notes of mango, passion fruit, grapefruit and mandarine. Middle notes of jasmine and fleur-des-iles. Base notes of tonka bean, sandalwood, vanilla and blue cedarwood."


The sambac jasmine is of the refreshing and tantalizingly green variety.

Nirmala parfum is, in fact, what the more synthetic and perhaps a little too obvious (so slightly vulgar) Angel aspires to be. Again, I cannot speak for the EDT, but the parfum is a totally delightful and delicately rounded, well balanced and sophisticted floral redolent of piquant Levantine fruit (both bright & fresh and nostalgically candied).

I find absolutely no trace of what some complain of in its poor relation, Angel, or apparently, possibly even the EDT versions of Nirmala (but perhaps that's unconscious guilt-by-association because of its passing resemblence to its sometimes annoying little kid-sister Angel?) The Tonka bean and sandalwood give the barest hint of a tender and all together feminine aura of warm skin and this lends an appealing groundedness, character and an almost nurturing quality to the composition. But it never approaches anything rudely animalic or *body*. This was created for royalty, remember?

Nirmala is polite, it stays pretty close to the skin. While it has presence, I could never call this heavy or even intense. Royalty do not shout.

One might be tired of fruited florals and that would be fair enough. But Nirmala preceded the fruity floral craze by almost 50 years and should not suffer from the whims of fashion. After all, there is fashion and there is style.

When I wear Nirmala, I imagine this to be what Scheherazade would have worn as she courageously beguiled her Sultan with her tales of 1001 Arabian nights.

If Aedes bothers to carry it in their carefully edited product lines, can the parfum really be the horrid smelling concoction as other unfortunate reviews might have it? But maybe personal chemistry really can play that large a role. Anyway, I love it on me. I find it feminine without any uptight formality or sainted sweetness, quite like the spirited and classy-sexy Miss Hepburn.