WHAT I SMELL: Mousse Arashiyama opens with a warmed and softly bright bergamot highlighted with a brush of incense. It’s comfort right from the start as the bergamot soon settles into a beautifully radiant fig with hints of soft and lightly creamy moss. Here, the perfume feels like a lullaby with hushed and quiet tones as it has been sung for hundreds of years. The perfume then moves from the branches above to the ground below as an earthy base settles softly under the fig. Here, the fresh overturned soil makes Mousse Arashiyama feel rooted in time. At the same time, rising above the warmed earth is a combination of fig, incense, moss and wood in a radiant but weighted manner. And with it, just a tinge of greenish vetiver to give the effect of rays of sunshine peaking at the grounded root. From beginning to end, Mousse Arashiyama is a dream of a perfume.
From the Le Jardin Retrouvé website:
You walk in this forest as in a sacred place. Cradled by the softness of the moss, your steps obey an old instinct, a deep intuition. At the bend of the trail, your eyes finally meet this powerful tree you know, but whose name you do not remember. Your soul, freed from gravity, subtly separates itself from the ground and lingers to savor the scents of oak moss, patchouli, lentiscus and frankincense.
Inspiration: Arashiyama Garden, Kyoto, Japan
Top Notes: bergamote , encens, lentisque
Middle Notes: notes aquatique, accord figue
Base Notes: mousse de chêne, vétiver , cèdre
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Victorian Japan. Connecting the ancient to the modern.
THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE MOUSSE ARASHIYAMA: reflective, calming, grounded
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MOUSSE ARASHIYAMA: CaFluereBon, The Sniff, I Sniff Before I Sleep
BOTTOM LINE: Mousse Arashiyama is a beautiful perfume comprised of peace, harmony and reflection. The last couple of unsettling years have seemed to blend into this new year. Thankfully, Mousse Arashiyama will bring you back to the center and with it, promises of hope for 2022. Thank you Le Jardin Retrouvé.
- Bone Rating: 5 out of possible 5 bones
- Scent: Aromatic Green
- Nose: Maxence Moutte
- Classification: Unisex
- Expense: 98 Euros for 50 ml eau de parfum. Also available in 15 ml and 3 ml. Available exclusively from the Le Jardin Retrouvé website.
Perfume sample provided by Le Jardin Retrouvé. Opinion my own.
WHAT I SMELL: Cavatina opens with a lovely green barber shop bergamot that’s herbal, fresh and warmly inviting. It’s not too bright, nor too earthy, but it has a wonderfully familiar and comforting persona, and from first spritz the perfume sings with happiness and joy. As the perfume develops, a green floral starts to emerge along with a light clean and fresh soapiness and in short time a fresh and dewy muguet takes center stage. At this point, the perfume is neither loud nor quiet. Instead, it’s perfectly balanced in its freshness as it begins to grow and project along with just a hint of creaminess. As this happens, Cavatina begins to move to the more “bathtastic” with a finish that feels as if you just emerged from an exquisitely fragrant bubble bath. Continuing on, the perfume begins to center itself around a green jasmine accord which is soft and pretty as it’s wrapped up in a cottony musk finish. It’s all just so glorious; when you wear Cavatina, you can’t help but smile.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: I can’t argue with perfumer Pissara Umavijani’s inspiration; Cavatina is “music for the soul.”
The Scented Hound 