Reviews of Carnal Flower (2005)
by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

WOW! Is there anyone out there who takes a sniff of CARNAL FLOWER and walks away less than impressed? No more than a handful I'll wager. Dominique Ropion has clearly brought out his A-game to bear on this one for this is a modern reference floral, albeit tuberose-centric with sinus-clearing property as a hidden benefit. Potent stuff! Btw am I the only one who feels it bears more than a passing resemblance to Caron Tabac Blond's amazing opening?

I suppose this could be marketed as a unisex fragrance but as someone pointed out earlier, it's not something an average man would wear. Which suits me just fine 'cuz there's nothing remotely average about this scent. A showstopper.

An absolutely gorgeous fragrance. This is sumptuous, seductive, and yet somehow chaste, with the slightly bitter tuberose perfectly balanced by the sweet ylang-ylang, orange blossom and white musk. All of this floral richness is cut with a subtle, but still sharp eucalyptus and some fresh green notes. Coconut is a very difficult note for me, but this is the most elegantly handled coconut I've come across. It's beautifully integrated with the softest, smoothest sandalwood you can imagine. Altogether, this is a soothing and contemplative scent that could easily send me into a state of reverie.

Carnal Flower is focused and somewhat linear until its creamy, musky, sandalwood drydown. I find it quite potent, with considerable sillage and projection. I originally purchased this scent for my wife, but she liked it much better on me than on herself! It took time to screw up the courage, but I now wear Carnal Flower comfortably in public. The austere aspects of the scent and its green accents make it more unisex than you'd imagine a tuberose scent could be.

Frederic Malle Carnal Flower

Most of the fragrances I wear I get them on the first wear and subsequent wears rarely expose something I miseed on the first sniff. There are far fewer fragrances that are much different depending on the temperature and yet are rewarding in both warm and cold. Then there are the rare gems which are ever changing kaleidoscopes of notes which seem to reveal different beautifully complex combinations as if by whim. I think no matter how many times I wear them I'll never figure them out completely. One of these gems is the 2005 release for Frederic Malle Editions de Parfum, Carnal Flower. Dominique Ropion has created an incredible tuberose centered scent that is easily worn by a man and will reward those wearings with one of the most beautifully textured scents you could wear. If you take a look at the note list for Carnal Flower it can be a little off-putting. If you think that a scent with things like melon, coconut and eucalyptus has to be an unblanced bit of craziness, no one could blame you. If it keeps you from trying this, that is too bad. From the top a little bergamot starts things off traditionally and it is quickly joined by the tuberose core of Carnal Flower. The description on the box boasts that Carnal Flower has the highest concentration of tuberose absolute of any fragrance and the intensity of the tuberose throughout the develpopment definitely shows this to be true. As the tuberose begins to come to the fore the first surprise is that note of eucalyptus as the camphor-like nature of that plays elegantly against the sweet floral nature of the tuberose. This beginning has felt different on me every time I wear this. Sometimes the eucalyptus seems like an equal partner and other times it seems like it is a grace note. As this moves into the heart the other problematic notes come into play as the melon and coconut show up but they are kept in check thorughout and are used as complemetary notes. Here the sweetness of both the coconut and the melon enhance instead of detract; as they do for me in so many other scents they are used in. The base is a mix of white musk and tuberose and the musk proves to be a perfect light partner. For something with this much tuberose in it it never rises to the level of seeming to be too-much on me. It stays at an appropriate level for a shared fragrance. Carnal Flower has excellent longevity and excellent sillage. Carnal Flower is just one of the best scents I own.

Yesterday I went to a local store that sells niche perfume lines with the aim of buying my wife an anniversary present. We married in our early twenties, and 16 years on we can afford to splurge on each other as life has been good to us.

I tried out quite a few from Lutens, CdG, and Malle. I was all a bit ho-hum until I took a whiff of Carnal Flower. It rocked my world! This is just an amazing floral; one can only admire the quality and artistry of Carnal Flower. I get tuberose, jasmine, and orange blossom on a base of white musk. Identifying the notes is an intellectual exercise but with Carnal Flower it's just as important to simply state: "This smells amazing!".

I was moved because through Carnal Flower I learned that beauty goes beyond gender.

The opening - I recoil from my wrist - 2 stars - this is not the addictive cool clove of Tuberose Criminelle, something altogether spicier, more alive /
5 minutes - it warms a little - 3 stars - a floral Fracasian bouquet - nothing extraordinary, would still turn to L'Artisan for my creamy tuberose fix /
15 minutes - 4 stars - the green keeps it real, I am enchanted /
After 1 hour, it is how I would imagine the scent of an idealised cactus - something cool and fresh in an unforgiving landscape, a thorny green opening cracked to reveal juicy red flesh.

The most potent fragrance. Should be called Sharper Flower. Also, gave me an instant headache. Thank God! Because i was thinking of getting this one as my only floral. Feminine....of course it is!

Carnal Flower is one hell of an intense, rich and creamy tuberose scent that really pushes the envelope, in terms of possessing the highest concentration of this natural oil on the market. I really admire the fact that Dominique Ropion has done the same thing for tuberose as he has done for vetiver (with Vétiver Extraordinaire) but, alas, it's too perfumery / feminine for me to pull off. However, its longevity is amazing (at least 12 hours).

Hopefully, I'll change my mind about this in the near future...

[Original submission date: 23 October 2008]

Oooh! A bit too much Tuberose, giving a very theatrical aspect, verging on the camp, or is there a drag queen in the room?

This made me nauseous and gave me a migraine. It is rich and voluptuous but like a roomful of women all wearing haevy scent.

Breathing in the scent from the sample vial - and who doesn't? - I was impressed by strong, rich combination of tuberose and jasmine. This is a light-year ahead of the tuberose-scented bath and body products in volume and intensity. Certainly, this would be worth a try.

Then I put a drop of this on the back of my wrist. My first impression was that even for someone who likes tuberose, this must need a light touch on the application. Five minutes later, as the indole component made its presence fully known, I decided that I would never buy a full bottle for anyone I knew and that I needed to get it off of me soon.

At least now I know why the tuberose products in wide distribution use only a sparing amount of the fragrance - because too much of a good thing can be truly unfortunate.

You mean this has been around for 4 years and I just now sampled it? Reminds me of Datura Noir by serge lutens. Which do I like better? I don't know- I love em both. I can't analyze the notes like others can but I sure do feel refreshed and happy when I wear this.

A very good and realistically smelling incarnation of tuberose, for that I cannot give it any other than a thumbs up. Unfortunately tuberose is about all I smell and apparently I just don't care much for a tuberose soliflower fragrance.

Unisex? I find that hard to imagine. Not one to shy away from fragrances typically designated as feminine, Carnal Flower seems to me all Tuberose, and little Carnal. Though clearly well crafted with quality ingredients, this remains, for me, sticky, waxy and cloying.

Hello, lover! The instant I opened the sample I was in drool heaven. Buttery yummy tuberose-a flower yes but something nearly edible as well. Even my father who is such a pill about perfumes and shakes his head over nearly everything I wear couldn't deny this one. Every man I've asked couldn't keep their nose off it, they had to sniff my wrist again. I said absolutely no, that I wouldn't pay this much for a fragrance...but something tells me I lied. I hear ebay calling...

The blast of this almost knocked me off the bed. Tuberose, huh? I never realised there was a flower I would dislike the smell of but I loathe this one. It is the first time in my life I have run to wash off a perfume; I usually respectfully let them develop through their various stages even if I don't like them. But on me this was unbearable, hideous. And I had been so ready to be impressed with Carnal Flower! I can only pray people don't start wearing this on the plane, to the theatre and restaurants or I will have to become a hermit 'til it passes.

Please God, let me be able to afford this some day. And yes, I am the straight man who would wear this. I tried to make my sample from Barney's last a month by taking little sprays on my wrist and huffing away at it at home like a guilty crackhead. I love it, I want it, and I want to give it to the woman I'm madly in love with. She may have to wait until I get mine, though, hee hee! The tuberose whacks you upside the head, and then while your'e reeling from that, the jasmine and freshly crushed green foliage notres drift in, the the tuberose comes back, and they sort of tug-of-war each other for a while, but tuberose is the Ali of flowers (a sexy, sexy Ali, mind you), and wins in the end. A damn masterpiece. This is the smell of sex to me in a floral, and perfectly named. Five million stars!

Carnal Flower is a stunning fragrance, a picture of the living flower in olfactory form. Anyone who's smelled tuberose flowers in real life will recognize the scent immediately.

Fairly linear, I find this fragrance consists mostly of tuberose, jasmine, coconut and rich green notes.

The latter, often identified as wintergreen or eucalyptus, are what really make this fragrance special to me. They add green depth of realism, and a freshness that reminds me of taste of snow peas.

Carnal Flower has good sillage and moderate longevity, but honestly, it's totally out of my price range.

There's been a bit of debate among perfumistas as to how "unisex" this fragrance is.

It smells like a flower. If that's okay for you, then you should feel comfortable wearing it whatever your gender is, as it's not perfumey in a traditionally feminine way.

This must be my favorite white flower scent. It's so beautiful, so impeccably crafted, that I immediately loved it. Often I find tuberose heavy, headachey and cloying, but this is none of those things. There's a thread of green running through it, and a sharpness that juxtaposes beautifully with the creamy white flowers. Enchanting and exquisite.

Wasn't expecting tuberose. Also wasn't expecting a good tuberose. Man I wish some ylang-ylang was in this (maybe there is!). I swear it would level the playing field for a truly floral bouquet for men. Excellent.

WHOoooooaaaaaaaaa.... man is the sample I got of this ever potent. It's like getting slapped in the head by a giant BOUQUET OF TUBEROSE AND ORANGE BLOSSOMS. I'm having a very hard time jumping onto the unisex bandwagon. Although I'm sure SOME men could pull this off, I personally can't see myself wearing it - it's just too PERFUMEY. Besides the fact that this also reminds me of an air freshener my mother used to use around the house, this would be great on a woman who wants to be noticed. It actually smells pretty close to how I imagined Candace Bergen would smell! Just please take it easy on the trigger - if you wear too much of this you might catch me gagging nearby. Gets a neutral 'cause I personally wouldn't want my girfriend to wear this, but I also wouldn't mind.

7/10

A beautiful, full, powerful fragrance that beautifully balances out its top and middle notes. Like smelling a bouquet made from 20 different flowers all at once.
Great sillage and longevity but even though I generally have no problem wearing unisex and even some women's perfumes, this is just too floral for me.
I find it hard to imagine a straight man pulling this off successfully.

a haiku pour vous by way of review:

succulent flowers
bloom in a cemetery
after a rain storm

exceptional.

I have to be honest, I tried Carnal Flower on two separate occasions at the Frederic Malle store (in their “smelling cabine”, no less) and did not find it to be anything special. Then I spoke with a friend who worships Carnal Flower and upon finding out that I had only smelled it in the air and on a paper strip, she made me promise to smell it on my skin and to that end, kindly sent me a sample. Well, mea culpa. Carnal Flower is exquisite and lives up to all of the accolades it receives.


The funny thing is that while I “know” it is tuberose, it does not smell like the tuberose I thought I knew. Normally I find tuberose to be a bit offputting in a heavy/overpowering way. Carnal Flower, however, was refreshing and absolutely beautiful. Whilst sniffing, its shimmering beauty reminded me very much of its sister, Lys Méditerranée. In fact, I dare to say that Carnal Flower is the tuberose version of Lys Méditerranée but with a dollop of that white musk/“Coppertone sun tan lotion” smell thrown in for comfort. In any event, I am a happy convert to the shrine of Carnal Flower!

THIS IS TUBEROSE! Carnal Flower is one of the most wearable flowers for men...not too sweet, it's actually quite stealth for a delicate flower! In fact, I prefer this one on a man, and suggest Estee Lauder's Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia for a woman. I would love to smell a groom wearing this CF (and his bride wearing ELPCTG!) what a garden wedding!

A strong citrus and green opening, with floral notes following in profusion. Melon and salycilates provide a mysterious softening effect
while hardly being noticeable in themselves. More softness as coconut and musky notes round out and anchor the fragrance.

the scent is not overwhelming, and though it is floral it is equally suitable for a man or a woman, in my view. It has some sillage, but is not overly intrusive. Dominique Ropion shows his skill as a perfume artist in the subtle nuances of ingredients which in themselves don't stand out, but rather round out the main players.
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I fully agree that this is an absolutely beautiful scent, and this coming from someone who is no fan of florals... And i accept the notion that it could be worn by a man, but only in the sense that any fragrance could theoretically be worn by anyone. Certainly there may even be men for whom this scent totally works... But for me, Carnal Flower is a completely feminine scent, and not at all something that the average man would wear. (Thumbs up, of course bearing in mind that caveat.)

What a fragrance! A heady, sumptuous white floral full of tuberose...and what's that interesting coconut note(?!). Imagine wearing this to Carnival in Rio, or Fat Tuesday in steamy New Orleans...just what's needed to let your inhibitions fly. I would never label Carnal Flower 'skanky', just sensuous and voluptuous. Nor can I imagine this a unisex fragrance...it's so very floral and sweet. Definitely on my Wish List.

I was so out to prove the men wrong who thought that this "unisex" fragrance can only be worn by a woman...and it turns out they are right. I am creative with wearing a "border-line gender fragrance" but this fragrance has cross that line. For a woman's fragrance, a thumbs up and that's what I am basing my rating as.

Oh, it’s beautiful, all right. A clean and pure floral note with tuberose in the lead and jamine in support—these are genuinely superb notes, and the artistic structure and refinement are impeccable. I don’t get anything but florals in the opening and I don’t get any coconut in the base. I get tuberose, jasmine, orange blossom, and musk. No doubt about it, it’s gorgeous. I find Carnal Flower very linear; that it doesn’t have a lot of sillage, and that it lasts…incredibly. Several reviewers have said that this fragrance can easily be worn by a man; I can agree with that because, on paper, it doesn’t strike me as being especially feminine, but from its performance on my skin it turns a little too much in that direction for me to be comfortable with wearing it. Regardless of its gender direction, I’m no fan of florals for myself, and after wearing Carnal Flower a few times, I’m still no fan of florals, so for me Carnal Flower is one of those “three and one-half to four” out of “five”... This is an excellent fragrance; I can fully understand why so many love it, and it certainly deserves a thumbs up.

An absolutely beautiful scent, but it's one that you need to be, clearly, in the mood for, as it is a full blast of warm, sweet flowers. Unisex? I don't know any man who would wear something as flowery as this. (Maybe it's an American thing.) To me, tuberose and jasmine mixed together smell like gardenias, i.e., Fracas...warmed up Fracas, though, and I like it much better than Fracas, which bites too hard and lingers too top heavy for my tastes. I like perfumes that warm as they linger and this one surely does. You fall more for it as it dries down. Quite addicting. Very expensive smell, not cheap alcohol-y, and for that price, it should be. I'm not sure it's worth $2.70 per ML, but it's very nice.

As a lover of weighty, tuberose-laden frags I am a pushover for this heady scent. Luxurious, somnolent it hovers over me in a cloud of creamy opulence. Am willing to pawn my polo ponies for this one!

You must absolutely, without-a-doubt love tuberose to like this fragrance. No matter what else is in it, you MUST adore tuberose. I hate tuberose--I can't stand this.

This is number one on my wish list. I absolutely love this warm tuberose, coconut, ylang ylang scent. a velvety creamy scent. that keeps me smelling my wrists. I love Hanoians descrition. Just read that one.

I spent 4 weeks researching on perfume and its response in order to find my holy grail. Along the way, I found Carnal Flower.
It is the queen of all flowers. Very rich, and floral. Beautiful pleasant scent. Even though it is not quite what I prefer as I am looking for something 'naughty'.
However, Carnal Flower is so angelic and clean.
Though I must admit that sometime the scent remind me of some low cost synthetic smell of bouquet but surely with 98 pounds a bottle it should filled with rare expensive natural ingredients.

Carnal Flower is one of those fragrances that changes fairly dramatically depending on my body chemistry (mood? hormones?). At times the eucalyptus is too sharp; at other times the musk is borderline cloying. But when the stars are all aligned, this is fabulous. Those floral compounds (indoles?) that mimic the scent of human skin are working overtime in this beauty. The scent stays close to the body, doesn't project much, but surrounds the wearer in a cloud of moist floral dreaminess. Sensuous, but understated.

I prayed that I would not fall in love with this scent because even my one love in the Frederic Malle line (Lys Méditerranée) is proving too much for my wallet. Alas, I suppose I can live with being poor just as long as I can breathe the scent of Carnal Flower for as long as I live. To me, this scent is pure nostalgia. It evokes sultry nights in Calcutta, a romantic restaurant in Hanoi, rain, gray skies, white blossoms crushed under foot. Unlike many renditions of white flowers, it does not smell heavy or oily or obnoxious; rather is oozes a quiet, almost sad beauty. Smell at your own risk.

This scent is number one in my wardrobe.

Possessing a high rose extract content, Carnal Flower is an extremely well made tuberose scent with slight citric overtones, a lingering coconut note, and a white musk drydown. Also, as others have already mentioned, it can pass off as a unisex scent!

When I smelled this on one of the " pods " at Frederic Malle's boutique in Paris-- I was smitten. It's the most expensive fragrance on the house and it's worth every single tuberose extracted to create this masterpiece. This stays high on my list as a "must - have"... specially fans of florals.

A very clean and fresh interpretation of tuberose, and very wearable for men. Starts citrusy-spicy, then the tuberose appears and develops a smooth dominance; in the drydown a hint of musk. Quite linear, no surprising developments, just a very well-done, cool and sophisticated soliflore. Quite subtle, no big sillage, but it stays forever - detecteable even many hours after applying.

I am normally not a fan of florals. I am especially not a fan of tuberose. But there's something about Carnal Flower that entices me to repeatedly smell my wrists, clothes, or anything else I may have sprayed it on. CF takes away everything unwearable about tuberose, which is IMO the harshest and most difficult to pull off of all flowers, especially for a male. The shrill, piercing quality so often attached to tuberose fragrances is all but missing, replaced instead by a soft, buttery quality. Carnal Flower excels in all the areas where Serge Lutens' Cedre failed.

Carnal Flower (I love that name!) is, as stated in a previous review, an amazing scent! There aren't many fragrances that truly smell like real flowers in the outdoors; Carnal Flower smells like a fresh breeze carrying the scent of flowers wafting through a window at sunset on a summer day. I don't mean to indicate that this is a relaxing fragrance, though. It's exhilarating, stimulating, and so beautiful.

It's so stunning... almost searingly beautiful, it burns away all pretensions and preconceptions of what is a feminine or masculine scent. You've got to be one sexy person to pull this off.. but, believe me, it adds to one's sexiness 130%!

Utterly gorgeous very unisex white floral. The scent of tuberose and jasmine on a hot summer night on the island of Cyprus. Well worth the high price.