Ines de la Fressange Ines de la Fressange for women

This fragrance might seem a bit of an oddball. It stands yards apart from the gooey, syrupy gourmands and fruity florals of its year (1999.) It also keeps its distance from the tradition of Beautiful Florals. It is neither expansive, nor powdery, nor sweet, nor symphonic, nor, well, particularly floral. Even aldehydes, so often used in floral fragrances to ramp up from the descriptive to the superlative, just give I dl F a lacquer. But for all this distance from the norms of its era and phylum, there is not a hint of stridency or aloofness, just an easy detachment.

To stand apart and to be eccentric are two different sensibilities, and I dl F captures this precisely. (Mugler’s Angel is eccentric; unhinged, actually. I dl F is misunderstood by most of us, but this doesn’t bother her in the least. Compare even the bottles. Impractical [“But I’m artistic, dammit!”] star from Mugler; sqat, clean, unadorned inkwell from I dl F.) There is nothing agitprop about this scent; she’s not trying to win you over. It’s more like a completely different train of thought than that of 90s perfumery lead to its creation. Combining white florals (I get tuberose, ylang, jasmine) with a little peach skin, and a rather medicinal benzoin gives a comfortable, rounded feel. I should say that I had to find a listing of notes, because (other than the fact that I don’t have a great nose for identification of components) their combination gives something distinct from their parts. This would be a brilliant signature scent.

Very lovely! I am not generally a fruity floral lover; they are often too sweet for me. However, this fragrance is a bit more serious than one usually finds in the genre.

A few wisps of aldehydes open the fragrance, but they blow away quickly, to be replaced by a deliciously fresh fruity note. It isn't fruit-salad - it's a very tangy peach or nectarine, with a hit of sour berries and citrus. As the fruits begin to lift, the lovely, fresh florals come up, and together they smell wonderful. The heart-into-drydown stage is also lovely, with cool fresh florals melting into woody notes.

The bottle is both pretty and substantial, and I was surprised at the low price. It's cheap, but doesn't smell like it is.

I confess that I expected something very classic,powdery and intoxicating.at least that's what the bottle tells about this fragrance.in return I discovered something fruity and sour.I really think I smell something like plum here.it's not sweet at all.to me it smells a bit like "intuition" by estee lauder,but this one is much better.I don't get any floral scent,it's just like plum and that's all.but it's nice,much better than what I thought.
after all,I didn't know the nose behind it is Calice Becker,who is one of my favorites.if I knew that,I would go test it sooner than this.

I don't see blackberry listed but that's the primary fragrance I detect after an hour. Initially a fairly typical fluity floral, it settles down to one of the better berry scents without being too sweet. I like it mixed with Fresh Lemon Sugar.