Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Jul et Mad Les White Collection REVIEW


Jul et Mad Paris is a company founded in 2012 by Julien Blanchard and Madalina Stoica-Blanchard. The first three perfumes they released, Stilettos on Lex, Terrasse à St-Germain, and Amour de Palazzo were inspired by their love story, which began with a chance meeting at a Parisian sidewalk café. Their 2014 release Aqua Sextius, was inspired by the house in Aix-en-Provence where Julien and Madalina were married, and now live and enjoy their life together. The latest collection released in 2015 is called Les White Collection. There are three Extrait de Parfum in the collection, called Néa, Nin-Shar, and Garuda, and were inspired by Julien and Madalina's love for culture: music, art, history, philosophy.




                                                            




Néa is a gorgeous gourmand with floral and Oriental nuances. It opens with a blend of dates, pomegranate, and plum that is not overly sweet, but more like a dry fruit accord. A duo of rose and jasmine join in behind the dry fruit accord, never overpowering or becoming too heady. The composition is finished off with light woody notes of patchouli and cashmeran, a hint of resinous benzoin, and a sprinkling of vanilla and caramel. Néa is a luxurious perfume that is blended like fine silk by perfumer Luca Maffei.







Head: Date, Davana, Pomegranate, Palm Leaf, Black Pepper
Heart: Jasmin Sambac, Rosa Damascena, Dry Plum
Bottom: Patchouli, Cashmeran, Vanilla, Benzoin, Caramel, Tonka Bean, Ambroxan, Musk







Nin-Shar is all about rose. A boozy rose opening sets the stage for the glorious Turkish rose absolute that is the heart of Nin-Shar. Supporting woody notes of oud, patchouli and cedar add depth, but never over power the rose, which seems to last throughout the whole evolution of the composition. Perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur has created a full bodied elegant rose perfume that will thrill rose lovers.







Head: Bergamot, Rose Liquor, Essence de Davana 
Heart: Turkish rose absolute, Egyptian jasmine, Patchouli
Bottom: Oud, Benzoin, Vanille Bourbon, Virginia cedar, Sandalwood, Incense absolute







Garuda is an oud perfume. In regards to this genre, I am not a fan of the pungent or animalic variety. Thankfully, this was not the case with Garuda. Perfumer Luca Maffei used Cambodian oud, surrounded it with saffron and rum, which gave it a warm and rich aura. There are other notes listed, but all my nose detected were the ones mentioned, and then a seemingly never ending woody dry down of cedarwood. I later learned, that it was actually the IFF aromachemical Timbersilk, a woody synthetic (thank you Mark Behnke).






Head: Bergamot, Orange, Cumin, Pink Pepper 
Heart: Cambodian Oud, Saffron, Rhum
Bottom: Patchouli, Timbersilk, Vetiver Java, Cedarwood, Cashmeran, Amber, Vanila, Musk


Les White Collection all have excellent longevity and moderate projection, with the exception of Garuda which had excellent projection.

The Les White Collection is available at Min New York.

Thanks to the generosity of Jul et Mad, we are offering a Love Dose set, which is 5ml of each perfume in Les White Collection. To enter, please leave ONE comment with which perfume intrigued you the most, or your favorite Jul et Mad perfume. Good luck.

DISCLAIMER: This review was based on samples sent by Jul et Mad.