If you love jasmine but find that fragrances like Serge Lutens A La Nuit or yesterday’s Jasmin by Bruno Acampora are a bit more jasmine than you bargained for (especially in the full heat of summer), there are plenty of lighter options. My own perfect summer jasmine is L’Artisan’s lovely if ephemeral Thé Pour Un Été, and then there is Annick Goutal’s fizzy Le Jasmin, or the sparkling and green Jasmin Vert by Miller Harris. For just a whisper of scent, there is the very soft Jasmin by Les Bains du Marais.
Another summery option is Le Jasmin by Chantecaille, developed by perfumer Frank Voelkl and launched in 2003. The notes include mimosa, magnolia, jasmine, tuberose, ylang ylang, amber and oakmoss.
Le Jasmin’s opening is watery-fresh and I’ll admit that I do not like it nearly so well as what follows. It is also green, and while much of the watery part fades as the fragrance develops on skin, the green remains. The early stages are otherwise floral notes, rather indistinct although I do catch a bit of mimosa, and the jasmine itself is slow to take prominence. Once it does, it is for the most part light and airy, and the woody base is likewise summery and mild, with just enough warmth to ground the sweetness of the florals.
Chantecaille prides itself on using real floral essences (reportedly, 36,000 jasmine flowers go into each ounce of Le Jasmin), and Le Jasmin, while not wildly innovative, is an appealingly pretty rendition of jasmine, with a graceful, rather feminine air. It is clean enough to please those who find heavy concentrations of jasmine hard to wear, but not so clean as to disappoint jasmine fans.
Chantecaille Le Jasmin is $85 for 50 ml, $135 for 100 ml Eau de Parfum. I find the lasting power to be somewhat closer to what you’d expect from an Eau de Toilette. For buying information, see the listing for Chantecaille under Perfume Houses.
4 Comments
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Sounds lovely, but am afraid of the watery part. At the danger of sounding extremely jaded, does $135 for 100ml not seem too little for a perfume using real floral essences?
This what I came too. I see $135 for 100ml and I think, oh, a bargain!
Oops, there is also a 50 ml, just added that. $85, which I like much better than $135, and yes, we are all becoming too jaded about prices! It is more expensive than the Annick Goutal.
The Chantecailles are just ridiculously expensive here in the UK – about twice what you pay in the US. It's a nice jasmine, this one, but not at that price.
Oh my — I would say they are already on the upper edge of what they're worth. Double the US price would be out of the question, esp. when they are not so terribly unusual.