Niki de Saint Phalle
by Niki de Saint Phalle

Review of Vintage EDT:

Upon first application, vintage NdSP, is dominated by clean orris root, powdery oakmoss and a hint of citrus. After an hour heart notes briefly appear in whispers of scent: rose and carnation are the only two I can decipher. Finally at about 1 1/2 hours after application this scent dries down to an fantastic warm cedar, surprisingly gentle leather, powdery oakmoss and musky scent.

My personal impressions of are of clean, chic refinement and elegance. I feel the richness of the patchouli underneath the more prominent notes, but I don't actually smell it.

Sillage: about 15 feet
Longevity: 10 hours on my skin
Overall Rating and Feel: 9/10. I wouldn't call this fragrance "green". Rather its character is clean, powdery, and woody refinement. Unbelievably well blended, it ALMOST wears the same from start to finish. Wearable by both sexes IMO. There is something very swoon worthy about the way this smells. This is the perfect scent to wear to an event where you want to stand out in a crowd in a good way.

30th October, 2011.

What a dark, creamy and absolutely devine smell this is. Despite the negative reviews I bought this unsniffed - and I'm so glad I did.
I got an aquarious bottle from the Zodiac series. Instead of Eau de toilette it's named Eau Defendue. It's rich and oily and worth each penny: USdollars 29,99 for a 2 oz bottle. It's a true bargain.
Go and get a bottle - If you dislike the juice I'm sure you'll enjoy the beautiful artistic bottle. It's a win-win situation!

23rd September, 2011.

Niki de Saint Phalle and Chanel no 19 don't seem
too different from each other they both have the
simular sharp green opening although no 19 stays
cool and crisp, Niki dries warm and reisenious
with Leather and patches of Civet Niki is a warmer
and extroverted cousin to No 19 with it's cold cypre
like wet grass and dry oakmoss comes to show you that
every Oriental and greens are a Indivual.

12nd February, 2011.

I thought I’d love this fragrance. Dark green chypre . I’d read a lot of comments from fans. Risky. Strange. Exciting. Maybe the parfum is different, but I only know the edt. NdSP hits the notes I should love (green, mossy, bitter) but doesn’t really do anything with them. The top notes are strong, but indistinct. As it evolves, NdSP starts to seem more unsteady. It’s got some of the right stuff, but what seems like haphazard composition and uneven editing make it seem both out of proportion and simple at the same time. The seams are showing. Not long into its evolution, it gets patchier and then falls apart, and oddly, the only interesting parts ---the bitterness, really (moss, tagetes)---fade and a vague resinous sweetness remains.

Proof that we’re not blind fans of any particular genre and that artistry in composition matters.

18th December, 2010.

I have only tried the Parfum version of Nikki de St Phalle: I first bought it in the mid 1980s, when it was one of the fragrances in the selection in Harrods Christmas magazine one year. The perfume was as exotic as the blue cube shaped glass bottle, topped with gold and coloured snakes. In those days I usually wore classics like Chanel No5 and No22, and Le Dix and Prelude by Balenciaga, so for me Niki de St Phalle was something very exotic. On me this perfume turned into a heavy slightly gingery oriental-chypre, completely different from anything I'd had before. It got compliments from people virtually every time I wore it. It was wonderful!
I wore this perfume until 1999 or 2000, when my last bottle (the 1oz/30ml Parfum, I had always bought) was a huge disappointment: the packaging appeared the same, until I opened the box. I was immediately struck by how all the gold on the stopper, and snakes ontop of it, which had always been metal, were now cheap-looking gold and colour painted plastic. The fragrance was equally disappointing: though it was similar to the way it always had been, it was not the same; it didn't have the same depth, and generally smelled a much cheaper fragrance. I did not enjoy wearing that bottle at all, and did not receive any of the usual compliments about it.
I have tried testers of this fragrance, from many different shops, numerous times since I bought my last bottle: for me this fragrance has definitely changed, and is not the wonderful perfume it was. Now, it is a pleasant fragrance, but not the very special one it used to be.

28th February, 2010.

“I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain dark things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.”

Thank you Pablo Neruda (A Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971), for this beautiful passage.

I had a different experience with Phalle Parfum today, and so I must write about it. I never realized how strongly the carnation stands out; and carnation, as you see above, is fiery.

I also got strong images of a fragile, pink light fighting against the shadows, and voila, along came this poem.

NIki de St. Phalle is an unusual scent. I’ve been coming back to it for over a year now, in various strengths and years of production. This will never rise to the top shelf with me, but what is so arresting is the oily leather played off on the deep, earthy florals. The seduction is so subtle I think it demands a biblical warning. Song of Solomon author take note.

As a black, dusty leather with an elusive swath of green this is truly remarkable. Folks who like Jean Scherrer (original), Eau de Soir and Miss Dior should give this a nod.

I’ll probably always keep a small decant on hand, just for the soul of it.

13rd February, 2010. (Last Edited: 7th January, 2011.)