WHAT I SMELL: Fleur Japonais opens with a soft milky magnolia that is quickly greeted by lilting cherry blossoms that are seemingly caressed by a light breeze. The perfume is intoxicating in that it’s full of body, yet light in presence. But there’s also a hidden strength in the blossoms in that their beauty is full of passion and power with the promise of rebirth. As the perfume develops, the soft and beautiful florals even out in consistency creating for a blanket that’s silky smooth. And along with that beautiful blanket is just the right amount of light incense that dreamily floats above the blossoms. Here, Fleur Japonais feels as if it is creating a passage to an ancient Japanese temple. In the end, a light powder with the incense and a soft sandalwood residing underneath, makes you feel as if you’re walking along a quiet path laden with freshly fallen pedals; pink above and pink below. Beyond gorgeous.
From Shalini Parfum:
Fleur Japonais is inspired by the revered Cherry blossoms of Japan. The “Sakura” season is a celebration of life as the pink flowers embrace the temples of Kyoto.
The parfum is a heavenly composition of ephemeral Cherry blossoms, intoxicating Magnolia flowers, Frankincense, Labdanum and Sandalwood.
Fleur Japonais reaches for the heavens as the pink flowers merge with the ethereal smoke from the woods and resins.
In Japanese culture there is an association between the Sakura and the Samurai – the flower and the man. They are both admired for their fleeting beautiful lives. It is believed that the soul of the Samurai lives in the Sakura.
Clouds of pink caressing your face. The delicate fragrance of Cherry blossoms scents the air. The temple bells chime softly as the soft scent of the fragrance floats like pink petals caressing the earth.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Dreaming in a sea of pink.
THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE FLEUR JAPONAIS: soft, serene, spiritual
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT FLEUR JAPONAIS: Colognoisseur, The Plum Girl
BOTTOM LINE: Simply put, Fleur Japonais isn’t a perfume that is mean to shock, surprise or jolt you with twists and turns. Instead, it’s quiet beauty just takes you in without force and leads you softly to the most sacred of place within your soul.
- Bone Rating: 5 out of possible 5 bones
- Scent: Floral
- Nose: Maurice Roucel
- Classification: Unisex
- Expense: Cubique glass bottle with the glass stopper $500 for 50 ml, Cubique glass bottle with black bulb atomizer $500 for 50 ml, Small spray bottle $150 for 7.5 ml. Byzantine glass flacon $1,100 for 100 ml. White Lacquer and Gold Plated Travel Spray, $415 for 12.5 ml. All parfum extrait.
PARADIS PROVENCE – WHAT I SMELL: Paradis Provence opens with a sparkling, yet slightly salty thyme and lavender along with what I found to be just a hint of sweet caramel. Almost right from first spritz, the perfume seems to lift off the skin as if it’s ascending towards the sky. With this airy quality, it’s as if it’s a sheet that has been hanging on the clothesline, soaked in the sun and infused with the herbaceous thyme and lavender from nearby fields. In the most quiet of ways, there’s an orange blossom note that rests within the perfume which helps to temper the stronger aspects of the lavender, making its’ persona softer, while still buzzing with energy Additionally, the perfume also has an interesting textured quality to it, as if it has been painted on with a soft and powdered dry brush. Overall, Paradis Provence has a very calming presence (as I write this, I’m sitting in the dark without electricity as a tropical storm charges through…thanks to Paradis Provence, no worries). Paradis Provence doesn’t change much beyond this point which is a good thing as the perfume rests in this powdery herbal and lightly woody heaven that is quiet, intimate and grounded in positive energy.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Inner peace.
IRIS LUMIÈRE – WHAT I SMELL: Iris Lumière graces the skin with a soft, cottony muguet tinged with the slightest of moistened leaves and tempered galbanum. The perfume is tender and quiet; as if you laid your head on an exquisite pillow which is cool to the skin and surrounded by soft and lilting violet and muguet caressing your head with lullaby whispers. There’s a light earthiness that rests under the tender florals and a dry wood that keeps the perfume just out of the clouds. The opening of the perfume lasts a very long time and the development moves oh so slowly which is just as well as the innocent florals are in a place that begs not to be left. When Iris Lumière decides to walk along the garden path, the green begins to grow and the lightest wisp of frankincense lifts gracefully with each quiet step along the way. Here, Iris Lumière moves from the delicate innocence of the muguet and to a more mature orris root and it begins to warm ever so slightly as it begins to pulsate off of the skin in a lightly woody timbre.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Self assurance.
You can’t fake passion. Passion is something that comes from deep inside you and surrounds you and those you touch. Shalini Kumar, better known as “Shalini,” is passion personified. From her early days in Bombay, to her childhood spent in exotic locations like Seville, Dubai and Provence, her passion for fragrance developed through the scented memories of these extraordinary settings. But while her passion to create perfume was yet to be imagined, Shalini was working on her passion for fashion; first creating for Valentino Couture and then creating her own haute couture line of clothing and jewelry aptly named Shalini Couture. 
The Scented Hound 