Signature pour Femme (2000)
by ST Dupont

S. T. Dupont is a classically constructed fruity floral that has some very nice things going for it. The fruit, while there, are not overly sweet or abundant. There’s tangerine and either there’s peach or the combination of notes give a peachy smell. The florals are a balanced, mixed bouquet very nicely blended – the only floral that sort of stands out to me is the orchid. The base is woody / amber with the emphasis on the rosewood – quite soft and gentle but with good longevity. Signature is a beautifully put together, refined, muted fruity / floral… Quite discreet and one of those truly under known and underrated hidden gems.

Very akin to Dupont's Signature for men, with bright florals and fruits over a woody base. This is one of the few frags I can think of in which the gardenia and rose don't overpower the other floral notes.

Pretty old school in its construction, though, and not for young women in search of a light and breezy type of frag. Also, this one's probably better suited for romantic and formal events in the evening -- I can certainly see how it might come across as overbearing and/or cloying in confined business spaces.

About 3 years ago we bought this fragrance to my mother-in-law, for her birthday. It was fine for winter, a bit stronger, but it left a trail of headaches at summer seasons.

The top notes are fruity, but brief, with something in the orange vein (maybe bergamot or mandarin) and some peach notes. Middle notes appears then, based on strong floral notes of rose, orchid, maybe a bit of soft gardenia, and an always present note of earthy iris and some old aldehydes. The basenote is based on woods like sandalwood, rosewood, some cedar and musk. Maybe also a little of vanilla, as an oriental note.

About a month before we bought it, we tested an 1 ml sample on my mother's skin and also my best female friend smelled it. Both of them liked it, as she often used strong and distinctive fragrances. Unlike them, my mother-in-law usually used soft fragrances and with this fragrance she tended to overspray it. At winter it was fine, but on summer or closed spaces, it was suffocating for the ones in the same room. Best suitable for colder seasons and evening events, for women with personality over 35 years old. Not suitable for office use or another kind of closed spaces, or warmer seasons, as it's a dense and not fresh fragrance.

Very underrated and not a fragrance you necessarily fall in love with right away. On the first few wearings, I thought this a pretty ordinary fruity-floral with woody drydown - inoffensive and an item in my collection that I'd always consider reaching for but ultimately pass up in favor of something more interesting or pronounced. It wasn't until I tried out Vera Wang, which is very similar to this, that I begun to appreciate the unique qualities of Signature. Though it has many different floral notes in it, I think of it as a "yellow flower" fragrance, sunny and akin to a very fruity, rounded chardonnay. The things that keep it from being just about florals - the nutmeg and the rosewood particularly - do in fact make the composition interesting once you bother to notice them. Once I wear this scent for a few consecutive days, I always end up realizing, "Hey, I could wear this all the time and really enjoy it."