Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
555 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The eucalyptus and bergamot cuttingly announce themselves, green and spry, with the melon arriving as a soft counterbalance that rounds the edges into something refreshing rather than sharp. Within two minutes, the florals begin their emergence, the jasmine's creamy sweetness already softening the herbal opening.
By the first hour, the ylang ylang and jasmine absolute have claimed the composition entirely; the heart is densely floral and honeyed, with that salicylate giving it an almost salty edge that keeps it from becoming perfume-counter sweet. The green eucalyptus doesn't disappear so much as recede into an indefinable herbaceous backbone that prevents the florals from feeling stagnant.
The tuberose and coconut base emerges as the fresher notes fade, creating something warm and powdery-creamy rather than gourmand. The white musk becomes increasingly apparent here, lending the drydown an almost transparent, skin-like quality—you're left with a softly glowing floral haze rather than a distinct perfume trail.
Carnal Flower is a fragrance that commits fully to its premise: a gardenia-adjacent reverie rendered through the lens of tuberose's honeyed intensity. Dominique Ropion has constructed something that feels simultaneously indolic and eerily clean—the jasmine absolute and ylang ylang create a sultry floral heart, whilst the salicylate compounds add a faintly medicinal, slightly soapy counterpoint that prevents the composition from tipping into cloying territory.
The melon in the top notes is deceptively crucial; it arrives as a gentle sweetness that tempers the eucalyptus's sharpness, which might otherwise read medicinal rather than bright. This green quality—that 88% accord score isn't arbitrary—threads throughout, preventing the inevitable tuberose and coconut base from becoming a static vanilla pudding. Instead, there's a living quality here, as though you've crushed a handful of green leaves against your skin whilst standing in a greenhouse heavy with night-blooming florals.
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3.8/5 (264)