Perfume Review: Perles by Lalique and Midnight Rain by La Prairie
September 6th, 2006
I smelled two new releases yesterday - Perles by Lalique and Midnight Rain by La Prairie. First of all, it’s taking me some physical effort to not just get to the gist of it, and tell you exactly how I feel about these two (I love giving out the punch line in anything, and have ruined many a stories by doing so). So, for that reason and for the sake of blog decency, I will refrain and lay out a more detailed analysis instead. After all, tastes differ, and I’m sure there’ll be quite a few followers of Perles and Midnight Rain and their numerous predecessors and descendants. But I must stop now and go directly to the scents before I get too far.
Perles is described as a modern chypre. It features the notes of bergamot, Bulgarian rose, iris, pepper, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver, cashmere woods. It starts out with a sour, slightly tart (think tart apples) note of Bulgarian rose, then iris becomes apparent, then the whole thing turns into a vanilla-patchouli based mix, rather gourmand in character. It sort of reminds me of Agent Provocateur - a gourmand Agent Provocateur. I can’t even call this a chypre. If this was a cake, chypre would be that very thin layer of whatever your favorite filling is, with a heavy sugared vanilla frosting (the kind they put on most American cakes that gives you instant cavities just by looking at it - sorry, not a lover here). The drydown is quite pleasant, with just a hint of oakmoss, but it’s way too close to skin and lacking oomph. It’s almost like it’s scared to be a chypre. It’s like we’re supposed to recognize it as a chypre, yet it will barely come half way to help us here. It’s a chypre wannabe that doesn’t have the guts to be one.
Now on to Midnight Rain. I was actually rather shocked to find that many notes for something that smells so one-dimensional. The notes are guava, mandarin, pomegranate, freesia, white lily, vanilla orchid, plum flower, amber flower, patchouli, vetiver, cashmere woods, musk. Notice: both scents have cashmere woods - a pure coincidence? It starts out tart, fruity, and juicy (surprise!) a la Burberry Brit Red. The drydown is smoother, with unspeakable amounts of sugared frosting, once again. This would make a good surrealist painting where instead of rain drops, you’ll see heavily frosted cupcakes falling from the midnight sky. If this was a drink, it’d most definitely be a soda that contains 41 grams of sugar per can, and the ingredients consist of not just sugar but also high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup (as if sugar is not enough already!) It’s like whoever created this was paranoid the world would run out of sugar, so they decided to pack as much as possible into Midnight Rain.
Boy, does it feel good to finally get it all off my chest!
Image source: www.neimanmarcus.com, www.marionnaud.fr
Entry Filed under: New Perfumes, Perfume Reviews
25 Comments Add your own
1. Elle | September 7th, 2006 at 6:32 am
Reading about Perles and (shudders) vanilla frosting was bad enough, but your description of Midnight Rain practically had me crossing my arms protectively in front of me and backing away in horror from the computer screen. I think I may be a sugar frosting phobic - especially in scents. Lists of ingredients should be given like recipes where you can see what the amounts are - 5 cups of sugar, 1/8 tsp. patchouli, 1/8 tsp. cashmere (?) woods.
2. The Scented Salamander | September 7th, 2006 at 6:46 am
I personally like Perles de Lalique and I think it doesn’t smell like a classical chypre because it wants to be a modern reinterpretation of a classic chypre as stated by the Lalique people themselves.
3. Christina H. | September 7th, 2006 at 6:52 am
What a disappointment! I pretty much expected the Midnight Rain to be another bland version but had such high hopes for the Perles! Sounds like neither are really worth the money. What a shame but in every cloud there is a silver lining and in this case, its more money saved for something more promising. Thank you for reporting!
4. Judith | September 7th, 2006 at 7:04 am
Wonderful reviews on scents to pass on! I hate that birthday-cake frosting, too! I don’t want even to try to imagine it in a fragrance. But it was fun to read about!
5. Marina | September 7th, 2006 at 7:18 am
I think I liked Perles a little more then you did, but not much more. I loved the image of cupcakes falling out of the sky.
Humidity’s rising
Barometer’s getting low
According to all sources
The street’s the place to go
‘Cos tonight for the first time
At just about half past ten
For the first time in history
It’s gonna start raining … cupcakes
It’s raining cupcakes
Hallelujah it’s raining cupcakes, Amen
It’s raining cupcakes
Hallelujah it’s raining cupcakes, Amen
6. Marina | September 7th, 2006 at 7:19 am
Oh, and I wanted to say in response to Helene that I’d rather they did not modernize chypre to the extent where it becomes unrecogniseable. Miss Dior Cherie! “Nuff said.
7. greeneyes | September 7th, 2006 at 8:04 am
Well, I was way off on my uneducated guess for the notes. *Sigh* Life of an amateur. I like this one better than it’s predecessor, but it does give me a headache. I liked it better the second time around (I was less offended by the Kool Aid, and I thought it smelled a bit richer), but still…the headache. For me the drydown seemed spicier and I liked it much better, but who wants to wait 4-6 hours? For fruity spice, I’ll stick with the Pom Nior.
8. Jennifer | September 7th, 2006 at 10:03 am
I admit I still want to smell Perles but I have absolutely no desire to smell Midnight Rain.
9. IrisLA | September 7th, 2006 at 10:27 am
I love your cupcake imagery too. It’ll come to me whenever I smell a cavity-inducing, sweet scent.
Marina, love your clever use of “It’s Raining Men!” This is one of my favorite songs from the disco era.
10. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Elle, I agree about lists of ingredients! Everything these days seems to be way too sweet.
11. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Helene, yes, it’s supposed to be a modern chypre. However, I don’t find chypre qualities here, other than a hint of oakmoss, sadly.
12. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Christina, no, not worth the money, unless they’re bought at online discounters.
13. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Judith, glad to help!
14. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Marina, LOL at the song! You silly goose.
15. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Marina (again), I agree. Miss Dior Cherie is a disaster.
16. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Greeneyes, yes, the drydown is less headache-inducing but overall, not worth it.
17. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Jennifer, Perles is worth sampling.
18. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Iris, thanks! Good to know I’m not always an enabler.
19. Tom | September 7th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
I like that white frosting (I am american after all). However, I prefer it to be on the cupcake that I indulge in about once a year (and then go and brush my teeth) I don’t want that accord in my scent, thanks. No more than I want a musk-flavored cupcake.
20. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Tom, definitely, only on a cupcake, and only once a year.
21. March | September 7th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Shoot, I’d eat a cupcake from that place every day if I lived near you.
I’d look like a shmoo
I’d look like Shamu
I’d look like the Hindenberg
Cup-cake-a-roo!
but I only want my icing on my cupcake, cupcake. Not my fragrance.
I think the disconnect between the Silver Rain bottle and the juice is one of the tragedies of perfumery.
22. Ina | September 7th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
March, LOL!!! I agree about the tragedy in perfumery.
23. Ayala | September 12th, 2006 at 10:56 am
The packaging for Midnight Rain is absolutely horrid! The original one - Silver Rain? - is beautifully clean and simple. The new one is just a disaster!
The scent was nothing to write home about, sweet with some distrubing underlining fake patchouli (similar to the original in the way, as to Allure Sensuelle).
24. Ina | September 12th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Ayala, I agree about the packaging, and you clearly share my impressions of the scent, too.
25. Wafa | January 26th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I think I might be the only one on here who loves Midnight Rain! It is a lot sweeter than I usually like. I am usually into woody/orientals. To me, this is something unique among a whole range of scents that all smell the same to me. Also, I purchased the new Givenchy Ange Ou Demon and thought I loved it. Then it began to make me nauseous so I returned it. When I found the MR, I knew I had come home. I am not as experienced as you guys, but just to give you an idea of what I have been into–my fave scent for a while was Hypnotic Poison, which I got in Fall 98 in Europe b4 it even launched in the US. For the last two years, I have been wearing Anna Sui (purple) which is really strange for me bc its so powdery. Now I have the MR and I cant get enough of it. I agree with Ina in that everything seems so sweet these days, and/or totally derivative I cant stand it! If I ever have to smell Michael Kors or Marc Jacobs again I will throw up and then kill myself. Well, Im kind of all over the place, but I just wanted to be brave and declare my love for MR! I dont care for the Silver Rain tho one iota.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed