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Le Temps d'une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï is a Floral Green fragrance for women. Le Temps d'une Fête was launched in 2007. The nose behind this fragrance is Patricia de Nicolai. Top note is osmanthus; middle notes are narcissus and hyacinth; base notes are styrax and oakmoss.
Top Notes
Middle Notes
Base Notes
I find this initially a very pretty, soft floral. I don't experience the strong "green" note others mention. It's very close to the body, not much sillage, very polite. Unfortunately, after a few hours it dries down to a classic perfume "death by vintage face powder" (reminding me of Tabac Blond, Habanita, etc - although the opening hours of these fragrances are totally different)
It seems that we all agree on the notes in LeTemps d’une Fête, but we characterize the fragrance differently. Galbanum, hyacinth, narcissus, incense. But I don’t get dark, animalic or mossy. The florals are utterly spring-crisp, fresh and dewy. The water-like green florals combine with an equally green resinous aspect (galbanum, mastic) to give LTdF its cool snap and smartness. All the bits come together to give the feel of spring: moist, sappy new growth wood; young grass; newly sprouted bulb flowers.
I understand the comparison of LTdF to Guerlains’s Chamade. They share a number of notes. But in tone, they feel nowhere near each other. Chamade’s languid, oily green/yellow October is miles from the April of LTdF’s new growth. Compared to LTdF’s just-sprouted-this-morning freshness, Chamade doesn't feel so much ripe as aged. LTdF’s real point of camparison in the Guerlain line is Habit Rouge. In both fragrances, opopanax and florals combine to strike a similar timber (sound, not wood.) Both share a high pitched harmonious range, but one with great richness. Opopanax together with either orange blossom (HR) or narcissus (LTdF) gives both fragrances that gorgeous 9/10ths harmony - 1/10th dissonance that keeps me listening closely.
If you're pining for the original version of Cristalle by Chanel, THIS. IS. IT! I have had a 20ml of Chanel Cristalle which I have been using ever so stingily to make it last. It has been one of my all-time favorites and so very hard to find. Thank goodness for receiving this sample from a fello Fragrantican! I don't remember who but thanks a million.
This is an herbal-woody-green-floral that should lift the spirits of anyone who is fond of these notes. The topnotes middle and drydown seem to stay the same throughout. It is classy, sophisticated and wafts deliciously around me. I prefer this in the day and would most likely use this in the spring summer but today it is overcast and I'm wanting some sunshine.
A few dabs to the wrist and voila! Instant spring-summer if only in my head. The stryax note makes this similar to Molecule 03, by Escentric Molecules.
Beautiful floral crafted in the classic style from quality materials. Great example of narcissus. It probably didn't grab my attention as well as other PdN florals like Number One or Odalisque, but still very lovely - my only complaint is that it faded too soon.
Um what is going on here... All I can smell is incense??? Help!! Where are the sunny green yellow happy notes???
It's a beautiful scent. I feel it more woody-floral than floral-green. It's a perfect, real narcissus, lingering for hours, with a woody base. I feel it so french, playful and sunny. Amazing.
TRUE LOVE this perfume makes me happy and
making me breath and take life in.
Thank Fragrantica ladys for indroducing us. <3
Update:amazing staying power
Springy florals, synthetic musk and nice green leafy notes, all dry down to a cloying nasty cheap fake white musk base that I couldn't scrub off. Like a bad relationship: Lovely beginning, nasty, ugly ending.
Sunny, summery, green and yellow perfection. It's gentle yet vivid - like dappled sunshine in a lush summer garden. I find this lasts all day and I enjoy it's sweet presence at every stage.
I'm off to my hairdresser -- who is majorly sensitive to most fragrances. However, I know I can safely sit in her chair with this on, and she won't be offended. It is a gentle floral.
My sample came on a promotional card by Nicolai. Its pyramid of notes looks a tad different from what is offered here. If I may -- the card says (en français, which I hope I'm translating properly):
Top:
galbanum,
opoponax,
lentiscus/mastic (resin from lentiscus, an evergreen shrub),
tree moss.
Middle:
hyacinth,
daffodil and narcissus,
styrax
Bottom:
sandalwood,
oakmoss
When I first apply this, it is momentarily bracing. I agree with reviewers who have used words like "green" and "sunny" to describe the opening. This lasts only seconds on me before it settles into a quiet, powdery floral. Truth to tell, I have only had it on for a couple of hours and, so, haven't been able to experience a good part of the day with it on my skin. I imagine I'll still like it later!
For me Temps d'una tempe opens very, very gentle with fantastic shy flowers, very feminine and warm, it does feel like spring time, after a very cold winter, when the first sun is up, the first flowers bloom and there is this warm and fresh feeling in the air.
This is my second perfume for Parfums de Nicolai and so far both I've found extremely lovely with amazing staying power, it truly is a gem and a must for floral lovers.
Happyness in bottle :)
Call me a whinger but having read all these reviews and then applied Temps I felt a little cheated. Surely my sample was corrupted by something from Avon's finest??
Ahhh, but there it is, a burst of trumpeting yellow narcissus, frolicking recklessly, expending its youth in one single burst. Gorgeous.
To be honest, the famous 'greenness' is lost on me, this is the very definititon of YELLOW. No wonder other reviewers have dubbed it an instant anti-depressant!
I do find it incredibly dusty and nose-tickling, though not really detracting from the sheer fun of it all.
And once again, PdN has managed to evoke emotions I was not aware were lurking there. A longing for another time in my life featuring the golden yellow of the warm afternoon and a yellow slippery dip in my backyard, a warm wind tickling my face.
Would I purchase a bottle? Well, if you simpy must *insist*....
This is perfection in a bottle for me. It's the perfume I go to when I need a pick me up, or when I need something happy. It's just so unlike anything I've smelled and it's unusual enough that I keep coming back for it. I think others have gotten it correct--this is a very soft, smooth, gentle green floral. The base kind of reminds me of "guerlain-ade" but I guess since Patricia is a descendant of Guerlain, it makes sense. Five starts all around.
Le Temps d'une Fete is compelling, unusual, and satisfying. The green, high, heady top notes create a trance-like state that is not lost during the long dry down. It is without a doubt one of my all time favorite scents. Others have described it as sunny and friendly, but to me it is strange, riveting, and captivating. I can never just put it on and go about my day - this one stops me in my tracks for a few transcendent moments every time. I often wear it to bed, for the shear joy of it. Oh God, I need to put some on right now. Is this addiction?
So lovely, lovely, lovely. It opens with a gentle green -- not sharply, astringently green, but fresh, dewy leaves. I like very "green" perfumes and this is not a heavy hitter in that category.
Shortly therafter it blooms into a golden bouquet of spring light. It's barely sweet at all, mingling warm hay with something pleasantly piercing and deep -- I guess that's the daffodil. It is the olfactory idea of golden sunlight with pollen motes dancing in it.
After buying a full bottle, I learned the hard way that over-applying Le Temps d'Une Fete results in a day spent choking in a hayloft -- it is definitely possible to overdo this one! But if you spray moderately, you carry your own atmosphere of a perfect late spring day in a meadow along wherever you go. And it does indeed last all day.
I pulled my previous post because I now have more sampling experience under my nose and can give a better review.
This scent is so unabashadly green it could be used as the mascot for St. Patrick's day. Now I love Chamade, and have added it to my collection, but I will say i **like** this opening better. Unlike Chamade, which comes out of the bottle wiht a slap to your face, this slinks out of the bottle; like a cat with an oily grin on it's face.
And this kitty is sly. It rests langourously on its throne all day, a throne made of deep, rich woods. Idly the kitty peers into a pool framed by narcissus, and is greeted by a tart, seductive smile.
I set this one notch below Chamade, however, because of longevity and hte dry down. While the dry down is impressive for an EDT, it doesn't carry the green sparkle throughout. But for the first few hours, this is truly the cat's meow of green florals.
I am struck mute with the beauty of this one. Fresh, green spring florals, with the apricot-suede smoothness of osmanthus and the earthy, hay-like dusty quality of narcissus, all backed with light woods and moss. Smells like a forest floor in spring, with all the wildflowers blooming. A happy, happy perfume.
I can't wait to buy a bottle of Le Temps d'Une Fete. It's that lovely!
Edit: I did buy a bottle (and kudos to Patricia de Nicolai for those 1-ounce bottles!!) and spent the summer wearing it. This remains one of the few perfumes I can count on to brighten my mood, and it would definitely make my Desert Island list. Lasting power is quite good on my normally scent-eating-skin (about 4-5 hours).
So beautiful feel good and be happy scent, green sophistication for adults (but I'm sure that this one will please all ages). Le Temps d'une Fete is so rounded, like Leesee wrote, you can't separate single notes, it's just fresh'green with some earthines beneth. Great for spring, you really can feel new bright green leaves growing, daffodils popping out to shine in sun and all this springy things, but it's too lovely to use only in one season.
And like a added bonus, this Patricia de Nicolai gem do last well on skin, maybe 8-10 hours.
This is the sunniest, friendliest, most open green floral I have ever tried. The perfume has a balanced, well-rounded structure, and the notes, rather than existing as distinct yet harmonious beings, have meshed into a newly created whole, a new species of scent. A few spritzes of this and you are enveloped in a soft cloud of fragrance that moves gently with you throughout your day and hums a quiet but genius tune -- a tune I seem to want to hear over and over again.
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