SotD Wednesday, 18 January 2012  

Originally Posted by Foustie

Good morning! Shall I tell you about the Tubereuse Criminelle?

May I first say that a couple of weeks ago I would have told you that I don't care for Tubereuse fragrances, or any other heady, indolic type perfumes. For example I really don't like Fracas. I find it stodgy and oppressive. Just personal taste. I received TC as a gift.

In my view there are two ways to interpret the opening of TC. Whether it is actually camphor, menthol, wintergreen, eucalyptus, as often quoted, I couldn't say but there is certainly something that registers in that range. I have seen it said that it smells like Dettol or TCP. I think that it is closest to Germolene. If you are familiar with Germolene you are with me, if not, stick with a disinfectant smell.

Or is it.....is it really? There is another way to interpret this extraordinary opening. Have you ever had a pot of hyacinth bulbs in your house, or in your garden, a vase of longiflora lillies maybe, some jasmine? Have you ever smelled them when they are at their most fragrant. I once had a pot of tiny narcissi which filled a whole room with a heady, almost overwhelming, fragrance. At their most redolent these flowers are approaching the boundary of what could be considered to be pleasantly floral. On the breeze they are intoxicatingly lovely. Close up they are pungent and challenging. We can read the opening of Tubereuse Criminelle in this way.

Sugandaraja describes it as having "a lively cooling sharpness". Yes, that is what I experience, not gasoline or rubber. The first time, one almost recoils in surprise. Very soon, you will come to crave it.

I just know that many of you will be thinking Indoles, why hasn't she mentioned indoles? Well, I have, but just not by name. I don't like the association of indoles and feces. There is no fecal aspect to this fragrance. When the flowers come they are stunning. They are not pretty flowers. A friend of mine swears that at night, longiflora lillies, cut and in vases, turn their heads and spit. Yes, these flowers are of that ilk. Intoxicating, narcotic, but not stodgy. They are cut with that cooling menthol effect. The mid development and the drydown are very closely intermingled. I have never smelled a real Tuberose. I can only tell you that TC smells something like a hyper realistic bouquet of hyacinth, jasmine, lily, gardenia, perhaps even a little carnation, with some ultraviolet light thrown in. But then, finally, as if they have spent themselves, a somehow appropriate, softer, creamier, floral and vanillic ending brings the show to a much quieter close.

Apologies for the loooong post but I really wanted to talk about this, and it is what we are here for after all. If anyone who can't get access to TC would like to try some, just PM me. I would be delighted.