L'Orpheline

I reviewed this one awhile back. I got more into the poetry and lore. I got a new bottle for myself and I'm very happy. I was really confused when I got this the first time. I had been reading up on Serge and this one had really grabbed my attention. It's not a somber lonely scent to me although it does fit well with meditation and reflection. Mindfulness yoga. Lol. Anyway. It's a wonderful blend that starts off like multiple grooming products in a spacious bathroom that has minimal aesthetics done in cold white marble. Smells like some bergamot and lavender is in there to go along with the mint, clove, patchouli, oak moss and of course the star of the show, sweet gummy frankincense; ends up being a classic and classy fougére barbershop aftershave type smell. The dry down is majestic. The incense shines. The most beautiful light smokey incense. Soft, fluffy, sweet, musky white petals. A little hint of gummy in the tree resins. Like the sweet chewy frankincense resins. This is a favorite of mine. There are some feminine qualities to this fragrance but I think it's a little bit more on the masculine side as it has those fougere qualities. Of course we can wear whatever we like. I'm kind of an older gym bro now who wears floral powdery girls perfume if I want. This is no challenge. There is even a hint of grey flannel in here. And I'm not talking just about the feeling. I sprayed this on after wearing Grey Flannel one day. The opening of L'orphaline and the dry down of Grey Flannel share some somber similarities. Luckily the dry down of Grey Flannel is the best part. Then L'orphaline goes on to become the most gorgeous sweet frankincense skin musk.

Cold and ethereal. My first niche perfume, and also my first blind buy lol. Safe to say this scent delivered. Personally i absolutely adore the medicinal barbershop opening, i don't think I'd like l'orpheline nearly as much if it didn't have that. I don't get the grandpa/old man associations at all. To me this moreso smells like a Snow Strippers song("You could be the one" maybe?). Cold light blue winter vibes. Incredibly airy and ethereal, very soft but on me it lasts a good while. I get a lot of lavender in the opening and then mostly incense as it dries down. It has a very fun way of being both cold and warm at the same time. I also earnestly don't really get many church vibes here, maybe just a vague feeling of catholic guilt, but that's probably because the incense and resins you'd smell in an eastern European Orthodox church are pretty different to me. 10/10 either way

Just got a decant of this and I'm in love. This is so simple, clean and wonderful. It's a very beautiful clean musk that becomes a little sweet on my skin as it dries down. The incense just adds some depth to the character but it's not prominent or smoky as I hoped it would be. I detect it when I just spray the fragrance but it leaves my skin fast. So melancholic and cold but at the same time to comforting and warm? Few people below mentioned that it has a bit of an aftershave feel, and in the opening, you do catch a bit of that cold fresh masculine leaning scent. But it's very pleasant and fitting. Gorgeous. Feels like this would have a very intimate projection however. The more I smell it, the more herbaceous it becomes. It’s like a soapy herby musk more than incense. I was sold on catholic guilt but I don’t detect it here. It does smell extremely melancholic

Not as meek as I imagined it to be, it opens with strong aldehydes which definitely make the perfume announce itself. The musk underneath is surprisingly sweet, the frankincense not so strong, I get a faint idea of the “church” smell people talk about; I suppose it would be more noticeable in winter and out in the open air. Does it smell like aftershave? Kind of, but it would be very reductive to class it under the “man - aftershave” category. There’s still a hint of sweetness, which is what makes L’Orpheline such a melancholic scent in my opinion: There is a sense of cutting through confusion, behaving like a grown up with a touch of lingering child-like wonder… I’d interpret it as a little girl imitating a male figure, perhaps an absent one. Meditative scent for sure, not for everyone.

I read someone said it’s not like church incense, more like the kind you buy in long boxes from a head shop. And I agree. I have boxes of sticks and cones stored in a cabinet. Mixtures of nag champa, patchouli, dragons blood, etc come wafting out when I open it, along with the dusty smell of a wood cabinet I don’t open often, with Pilar candles and old papers. Thats what this gives. On me it isn’t cold as described, the resins are warm and the incense gives it a soft smoky spice. It is evolving as it dries down into a lovely slightly masculine creaminess. Nothing modern, something an old man who is long gone would have been wearing subtly at a family reunion. The drydown is like a hug from a past generation. I like it for me but not at this moment in my life