Parfum d'Été (1993)
by Kenzo

Breezy. Light green vibe. Faint fruitiness. Smells "clear". Spring bouquet that's blended all together, in the beginning.
Lily of the valley shines here. The other flowers remain mixed as one bunch. It's fresh, spring-like, even summery. It reminds me of the early 90's, no doubt. It's in the vein of Laura Ashley or Jessica McClintock. A Martha Stewart wannabe, would have worn this, back in the day. Jasmine becomes pronounced later, as well.
Woods move in with the flowers. It's a nice fragrance; nothing obnoxious about it.

I’m reviewing the current version, as I haven’t smelled the original in twenty years.

Breezy and fresh in a very 90’s way, with Lily of the Valley playing the diva, and Hyacinth and Freesia singing backup, it’s in the same genre as Gucci Envy and Cristalle Eau Verte: a green floral revival. I tend to think of it as Diorissimo modulated for Generation X.

This review is for the old version. I am not familiar with the new version.

I love this green floral. The lily of the valley, the hyacinth and the rose are blend so well. It has good staying power too.

The leaf shaped bottle is beautiful. I will never understand why they changed it.

I didn't realize it had been reformulated and put in a very ordinary looking bottle. Must go in search of another of the older bottles.

Described as a green fruity floral by Barbara Herman, this is indeed that, beginning with a "candied green violet" and calming down after its initial blast to an acceptable, though hardly memorable, light summery scent. The cedar base is a bit too intrusive.

This is not a bad scent, it simply doesn't impress or develop. What you get is what you get. There is a slight plastic quality to it, which must be the synthetic peach or hyacinth or both. Not off-putting, but decidedly there.

I wish I could have liked it better, but alas!

Top notes: Peach, Hyacinth, Rosewood, Violet
Middle notes: Muguet, Cyclamen, Rose, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Orris
Base notes: Sandalwood, Musk Cedar, Amber

Genre: Floral
Parfum d’Été’s harshly chemical hyacinth and green floral top notes put me off right away, smelling as they do of aerosol air-freshener. The arrangement of tomato leaf, muguet reconstruction that surfaces in their wake is no less harsh and no more pleasant. The eventual emergence of a lush, fruity ylang-ylang goes some way toward redeeming the central accord, but it’s contradicted by assertively soapy musk and scratchy cedar base notes. I suspect it would be better in a candle than on my person.

This kind of brisk green floral has been done much better in Annick Goutal’s Eau de Ciel and Folavril, or Comme des Garçons’ Lily and Calamus, not to mention predecessors like Capucci’s Yendi and Jacomo’s Silences.