Juste un Rêve (1996)
by Parfums de Nicolaï

The opening is fresh & almost citrussy, before a peachy tuberose comes to the fore. The tuberose is the most prominent note on my skin, & is delicate & sparkling, rather than carnal or indolic. lt slowly sweetens over the first hour, & although l don't get the coconut, l do get a faint whiff of monoi, along with a soapy note. 90 minutes in there's a trace of woods, but the whole thing lasts barely 2 hours, & the sillage is very soft.
This is a pretty scent, but rather too fragile for my personal taste. l prefer my tropical florals big, rich & loud. lf you're looking for a muted, more polite version of the genre though, this could be worth a try. l see Luckyscent no longer carry it however, so perhaps it has been discontinued?

21st January, 2012.

This started out on me green too, with rose and coconut. About 20 minutes later it turned into a lovely creamy floral, and I don't even really like florals (I got this in a sampler). It's got something of a Guerlain gourmand feel to it -- an exquisitely good thing as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, two hours later, it was completely gone.

22nd April, 2010.

Juste un Rêve starts out as a green, aldehydic jasmine, soon bolstered by a combination of tuberose and coconut familiar not only from Nicolaï’s own later Cococabana, but from Frederic Malle’s sublime Carnal Flower as well. There is less sugar and tropical fruit than in Cococabana, but Juste un Rêve is still sweeter (if less heady and lighter on the tuberose,) than the Malle. In fact, Juste un Rêve is remarkably subdued for a tuberose and jasmine floral. Not only is its power carefully modulated, but being largely devoid of animalic indole, it is also unusually clean-smelling. Its comparative reserve makes Juste un Rêve easy to wear compared to most of its type, and for this reason alone it might be a fine wardrobe choice. Juste un Rêve is without question a more balanced and sophisticated scent than Cococabana, and being drier and greener spares it the beach party and tiki torch stigma that somewhat cheapens the more recent Nicolaï release.

Juste un Rêve hardens and dries off in an interesting manner as it ages, with a peppery wood and curiously smoky, almost ashy vanilla in its foundation. If there’s anything I can hold against it, it’s that the drydown arrives very quickly, leaving Juste un Rêve to work primarily as a skin scent after the first hour or so of wear. My guess is that this ephemeral nature is the price for Juste un Rêve’s quiet poise. If you enjoy tuberose but find Fracas and Carnal Flower too forward and indulgent, and if you can tolerate limited staying power, I suggest you give Juste un Rêve a try.

12nd December, 2009.