Début (2004)
by Delrae

Debut by Delrae - Upon application, one is treated to a pleasant plume of vivacious lushness from green leaves along with sweet and fruity ylang-ylang wafting on a winsome cloud of bittersweetness furnished by bergamot and lime. Floating to the floral middle, cool verdancy dominates with the fresh, green lily-of-the-valley, slightly sweet and bitter linden blossom as well as light, semi-sweet cyclamen. Aldehydes enhance the brilliance of the florals; and indoles supply a faint inky underpinning. This alluring pas de trois meanders to the waiting base. Robust vetiver predominates the base with its scent of dried field grass and accompanying clean earth, wonderfully tempered by creamy sandalwood and warm, skin-like musk. An appealing dry down ensues. This airy and distinctive composition has very good longevity and sillage/projection - easy on the trigger is the catchphrase here.

2nd January, 2012.

The opening is sharp & green on me, almost bitter, with notes of lime & cut grass. l like the middle phase best, when floral notes of lily of the valley & something like lilac come through. l've never smelled linden blossom, so l can only assume that's what l'm smelling here. Later on the vetiver makes an appearance, & it becomes quite masculine again. l can definitely see this working on a man. This fragrance isn't really me, l find it much too tart & green, but it's very well structured, interesting & high quality, with good sillage & longevity, therefore l'm giving it a thumbs up.

3rd February, 2011.

I love all things Delrae (and all things Roudnitzka) and again - let's hear it for body chemistry.

On me Debut comes flying out with muguet (I frequently bypass the top and sometimes middle notes and go straight to the heart or soul of things. What can I tell you.) Swiftly mingled with linden but none of the lime others have mentioned. Over time it mellows. It's lightly green (that there vetiver) and the musk unnoticeable. On me.

Part of Gemini me is Old School and I love these full-bodied florals. Can't imagine this on a guy.

24th July, 2010.

I supported myself in college by servine magaritas at a Mexican restaurant. One night a group of guys my age came in and ordered the house special: Cuervo Gold on the rocks.

When I approached the table wiht my tray of margaritas they started snickering. One of the nicer fellas said, "Miss, you've fallen into the glass." Indeed. In my attempt to balance the heavy tray I brought it close to my chest, and my left bosom had plopped into the wide top.

I spent the rest of the night smelling like tart lime and sugar. Not a memory I care to recall, but Debut managed to bring it up.

This is just too strong/bitter/tart or something with that lime/green note. I waited and waited for it to mellow out, but it didn't happen. I love ylang ylang and lily, but couldn't detect them at all because of the green harshness.

In short, if I want to smell like a strong lime all day I already know what to do

17th June, 2010. (Last Edited: 2nd October, 2010.)

Début starts off with a weird, strident cherry Lifesaver accord that I find highly off-putting. The artificial fruit flavor is soon joined by sharp, dry aromatics and nose-tweaking aldehydes, which at least serve to mask some of the opening’s excessive sweetness.

The aldehydes eventually dissipate and the screechy fruit esters recede a bit to reveal intensely soapy chypre-like foundation that’s softened by a cool white flower accord. The composition grows greener over time, and completely sheds its fruity cloak after the first hour of wear. Later on a mélange of buttery woods spreads itself over the blend to smooth out the angular and somewhat bitter foundation.

Début is tremendously loud throughout its duration, with extraordinary projection and plenty of sillage. Between its potency and its bold structure it works as an olfactory blunt instrument – say a mace. Don’t wear Début when subtlety or understatement are required, and please don’t wear too much of it!

None of this is to say that Début is a bad fragrance. On the contrary, I think it quite fine once I get past the abrasive top notes. In a market dominated by faceless fragrances, Début is bold, distinctive, and full of personality. So much so that I’d have to reserve it for special occasions.

(As an aside, I think Début would work well on either gender – at least theoretically. As a man I’d have to go to great lengths to apply it lightly enough for comfort.)

12nd December, 2009.

To my nose Début debuts with a strong green fairly well supported by the florals: lily of the valley and ylang-ylang. The strength of this green / floral accord overwhelms the bergamot and citrus of the opening, although the citrus does enrich and fill out the green / floral accord. This accord is a clean, floral-green and sometimes I get a background of some near-unpleasant, sweet, fruity note; at other times I miss that iffy note. The opening / heart is a clear accord that has more than normal strength to it as well as very good longevity. Eventually I get a floral that is more linden than anything else. It’s a clean linden note but so straightforward that I find it a bit ordinary, even in conjunction with the green. I usually enjoy linden but this one is missing either depth or complexity. With the base, I begin enjoying the fragrance more – On my skin the vetiver (with the continuance of the heart green note) predominates while the wood and musk pretty much stay in the background. Since I am a vetiver lover, I find the drydown pleasantly cool, sharp, and distant. This is an OK fragrance – classically constructed, pleasant if not intriguing accords. I find it totally unisex and I suspect that my ambivalence about it is due to its incompatibility with my skin – ordinarily I get along nicely with Parfums Delrae fragrances.

16th March, 2009.