1889 Moulin Rouge Histoires de Parfums for women

1889 Moulin Rouge is all about the drydown. The initial spray and topnotes are not good...there's a musty, flat smell followed by a synthetic sweetness and almost a waxiness...like a lip balm that's artificially flavored. If you can make it through all that(and I'll admit, the first two times I wore this, I couldn't)and get to the middle notes, you'll realize how beautiful this scent really is. Cinnamon and sugar combine with musky iris (oh how I love iris in the drydown!) and finally settle this fragrance down into a stunning and sophisticated perfume. There are many accords and levels to this scent that definitely have earned it the title of Moulin Rouge. I think of it as a three ring circus! There's always something going on there, whether good or bad. Never boring, and definitely not for the faint of heart, but now it's one of my favorites!

I don't know If I like wearing it so much but I do think it's a masterpiece. Makes me feel like an old fashion tart. I immediately crave wearing a red feather boa and calling people "dearie" or "mush". It takes you directly to the moulin rouge in 1889- not the Hollywood version but the reality with artists, bohemians and the opium den inside a 30 foot elephant. It smells like the preparations for a big and very debauched night out - the perfume, old fashioned make up, drink and in a funny sort of way adrenaline from the excitement of it all. Something about it, however, leaves me with regrets-like the feeling of wanting something cleaner and more wholesome the next day. It is a masterpiece though- time travel in a bottle.

One can hardly expect subtlety from a perfume with a name like 1889 MOULIN ROUGE, even produced by the illustrious house of Histoires de parfums, and in fact it's pretty much in your face (nose) with obnoxious sillage and longevity that can be curtailed only with a hot bath. This creation has a loud cinnamony-fruity—obviously intended to be red—personality perhaps befitting of one of the ladies who graces places such as the Moulin Rouge.

For me, it's all a bit too brash, not at all seductive, and although I am confident that this composition contains only niche-quality components, they add up to all too much, proving yet again that sometimes less is more. The dominant scent in the opening could be approximated by eating a large quantity of Fire Stix Jolly Ranchers candy while swilling down copious volumes of cheap, sweet, jug red wine. In a word: yuck. The drydown comes closer to a mix between Chopard MADNESS and one of the Givenchy floral fruity frags.

There's got to be a drugstore Dana facsimile of 1889 MOULIN ROUGE out there somewhere for those who like this sort of thing, but Histoires de Parfums has managed to convince me that even the best of ingredients cannot make such a perfume compelling to me. Désolée.

I am wearing this today, on a rainy and cold New England Spring day, hoping for the sun to come out. On first application, I don't smell much of anything...perhaps I am anosmic to some aspect of it. Later, as it warms up on my skin, my husband notices it and expresses his approval. I like it better and better as it develops but it takes some time on my skin. I think Carla has described it very well. However, for me, this is a subtle, ladylike and at the same time, sophisticated scent. I get a lot of rose & iris, not much cinnamon.

This is my new 2011 sensation. I am blown away! The perfume reminds me so much of my mom that it is almost unbelivable. And I wanted to show it to her- she sad that it really reminds her of her mother's make up box also. Really special perfume that I would wear summer and winter time. This is a must try- it is really unique and one of a kind!

Spin the windmills of your mind back to 1889. Proceed into the red-light district of Paris and enter the world famous Moulin Rouge. Histories de Parfums 1889 Moulin Rouge perfume captures the era to perfection.

Notes of cinnamon, mandarin and prominent plum start off this intoxicating scent in full force. Enter the dose of absinthe and you begin to feel the buzz. Your mood becomes elevated as the rose with it's lipstick scented qualities announces itself. Here comes the iris with its powder consistency coupled with musk and patchouli and you’re in a sizzling state of mind. If you couldn’t dance the Can-Can before, you certainly can now as 1889 Moulin Rouge will put you in the mood. The good times linger on for 5 hours as you feel the Parisian connection. This is a show stopping scent that performs with enough strength to satisfy the wearer from beginning to end.

With the lipstick-powdery aspect you would think it would be similar to Frederic Malles's Lipstick Rose. It's not. The difference is Lipstick Rose has the focus on the violet and the vanilla and is a smoother formal fragrance. Moulin Rouge's focus is on the plum with an informal and rougher, risque edge that is then topped off with a touch of class. It's in a category all it's own.

If Toulouse–Lautrec were around today, I would imagine he’d probably tip his hat, raise his glass of wine with a toast and say “Yes, this is what its all about, bawdy and beautiful”!