Ma Dame (2008)
by Jean Paul Gaultier

Odd. I do detect the smell of cold cream...you know, the old fashioned kind that smells of lanolin and rosewater. Plasticky and synthetic for sure. Sorry, I just cannot wrap my senses around this frag.

Promoted as a fresh-floral, Ma Dame is anything but this. Yes, it’s largely a floral affair but it’s certainly not fresh (although I will admit that it’s also not as heavy as Gaultier’s previous high-profile releases).

The opening is a fizzy (and slightly muted) acidic orange accord but this disappears within a matter of seconds - personally, the fleeting opening was the only evidence of freshness here. The emergence of the sweet floral notes (listed as rose and grenadine but I could hardly detect any rose) come across as unashamedly synthetic, while the cedar gradually emerges and blends with the florals during its development. Even though the cedar becomes more prominent during the drydown, by this point, I couldn’t escape the feeling that it had transformed into an even bigger mess than at the beginning.

Ma Dame is far less ‘innovative’ and provocative than previous releases, and actually reminds me of a toned down Gaultier2. It also lacks the androgyny of its predecessors, smelling more girlie and plasticky than originally expected. Ma Dame is nothing earth shattering and I’m sure there are dozens of similar floral scents (regardless of how synthetic they are) that are capable of providing a more satisfactory result.

I love this perfume. I only wish it came in EDP. I tested this and the first thing that came to mind is one of those sprays they use in the auto shops, magic markers and or the scent of spray paint. As I walked around the store, the cleaning/spray paint smell seemed to fade and I had this wonderful sweet and beautiful scent start to evolve. Now, Divatologist doesn't just have a sweet tooth. All my teeth are sweet. Hell, who am I kidding I'm sweet all over....*giggle*. Oh yeah, the perfume Madame. Well, I try not to impulse buy, but I just had to have this frag. I just couldn't figure it out, but this frag smelled like something from my past. The other day it hit me like a ton of bricks!! I was talking to my Mommy and that's when it hit me. When I was a little girl, I would sit it the bathroom when my Moms would take her makeup off and paint her nails. She used Ponds Cold Cream. Madame reminds me of those times. It smells like a cross between Ponds Cold Cream, fingernail polish remover, and the Now & Laterz I was always chewing on. I remember how much fun it was to watch my Mommy just being beautiful and wanting to be just like her. I think that this perfume not only appeals to me because of this sweet memory, but it appeals to the odd things that I like the smell of. I like the smell of gasoline, paint, magic markers, and the weird sweet smell of some of those sprays the mechanics use on cars. Madame is "Quirky" just like CoL said, but that's what I love about this perfume. I get wonderful whiffs of this stuff throughout the day every time I wear it. The dry down is absolutely beautiful in Madame. On me, it is a very sweet floral. I just love it on me. So if you like the smell of Ponds, fingernail polish remover, and candy, then this is the perfume to try lol. Seriously, it is a wonderful sweet floral that is young at heart. It's fun and flirty. Gourmand lovers this is definitely a treat for the sweets in you.

CoL above is right on...very modern and 'today'. It is kinda unisex too, if you like light quirky scents. I think the bottle says it all: a modern sexiness encased in a delicate freshness. Sour orange does the unisexiness, the grenadine does the sexiness and the rose the delicate. Worth the money and wroth a try. Excellent all around.

I tried this for my wife - in my opinion not as good as Fragile, but still a nice fragrance. The citrus smell stuck around for a while, smelt like really fresh tangerine. The rose is there in the background and provides most of the sillage. Its a modern fragrance with a fresh smell on a warm background and continues to raise JPGs esteem in the fragrance market.

I'm very happy with MaDame! She's tempting.
The opening is great, a fruity cocktail with the grenadine mixing with something that smells vanilla-y, making it almost edible. Then as she warms, the woody notes and the musk appear together. It's a fun fragrance.
A welcome change to the "norm" of fruity florals IMO.