Goutal
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Violet arrives with surprising crispness, green and slightly peppery rather than the expected soft florality, immediately establishing this as something removed from mainstream violet fragrances. The freshness registers almost herbal, with an almost dewy quality that suggests violet leaf might already be asserting itself.
The raspberry emerges as a clever counterweight, introducing tartness and subtle woodiness that prevents the Turkish rose from settling into conventional sweetness. A powdery softness now blooms across the composition, though it never reads as cosmetic—more like the natural bloom on a violet petal.
Violet leaf dominates decisively, becoming increasingly herbaceous, slightly green, and oddly mineral against skin warmth. The fragrance contracts further, becoming intimate and close-worn, retaining only a whisper of rose and the memory of that initial freshness, fading rather than projecting.
La Violette arrives as a quietly radical proposition: a fragrance that treats violet not as a supporting player in florals but as the entire architecture. Isabelle Doyen has constructed something deliberately understated, even austere by contemporary standards. The opening violet note doesn't perform the usual trick of smelling like powdered cosmetics—instead, it possesses an almost green freshness, as though you're encountering the flower still attached to its stem, dusted with morning moisture.
What makes this composition compelling is the tension between its components. That raspberry in the heart refuses to sweeten the composition; rather, it introduces a tart, almost woody dimension that prevents the rose from becoming predictable. The Turkish rose, when it emerges, smells less like conventional florality and more like dried petals—something with texture and slight leather undertones. The violet leaf base anchors everything in a herbaceous, slightly metallic verdancy that speaks of crushed foliage and botanical restraint.
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Boucheron
3.8/5 (200)