M. Micallef
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Nutmeg and pink pepper arrive with immediate sharpness, creating an almost savoury peppery quality that makes you sit up and take notice. The orange threads through this spiced landscape like a candied peel—tart rather than fresh, already hinting at the composition's refusal to follow conventional fruity-floral rules.
As the initial peppery brightness settles, plum emerges with unexpected depth—almost jammy but weighted with a subtle fermented quality that prevents sweetness from taking hold. Cinnamon amplifies the warm spice whilst rose threads through with an austere, slightly woody character, the trio creating a complex middle accord that's neither floral nor simply fruity but genuinely herbal-tinged.
Oud and vanilla take centre stage, but without the vanilla drowning the woody base in sweetness. What remains is a warm, slightly resinous embrace—the oud providing gentle smokiness whilst vanilla adds creamy softness, creating an elegant, understated finish that lingers rather intimately close to the skin.
Secrets of Love - Délice announces itself as a fragrance of deliberate contradiction: a spiced confection that refuses sentimentality. Jean-Claude Astier has constructed something genuinely intriguing here—the opening salvo of nutmeg and pink pepper creates an almost peppery bite that immediately destabilises any expectation of sweetness, whilst the orange provides a tart, slightly candied counterpoint rather than the typical citrus brightness one might anticipate.
What makes this composition compelling is how the heart notes refuse to soften the edges. Plum arrives not as jammy indulgence but as something darker, almost vinous, working in genuine tension with the cinnamon's warm spice. The rose, crucially, doesn't attempt prettification; instead, it leans into the woody accords beneath, creating an almost austere floral presence rather than the romantic centrepiece one might expect from the fragrance's title.
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Widian / AJ Arabia
4.3/5 (307)