The final days of winter are always celebrated in Paris with golden mimosa, now in bloom in the south of France where they create a spectacular landscape between January and march. In February we celebrate "La Fête du Mimosa" which takes place in the Grasse area along what is called "the mimosa avenue", a 130 km scented route with golden flowers. Mimosa (Acacia dealbata) was introduced from Australia around 1867 and several decades later it started to be cultivated for florists and used for perfumes. The new perfume from Annick Goutal, very different from any previous interpretation of the flower, translates the emotion of the child in front of the mimosa bouquet and the metaphoric associations that take place in our mind. The entire week I delighted my self with several mimosa bouquets in Paris studying their curious scent and floral anatomy. In fact, what defines better this flower is the contrast and the surprise. You smell first a very delicate, mild, powdery, soft herbal chamomile and baby skin note. All this infinite tenderness is contrasted by the shade of the numerous smaller globose bright yellow flower heads. While the nose is delighted by the refined scent that has to be smelled very close, the eyes are mesmerized by the curious botanic architecture and your skin is gently touched by the velvety flowers. If for the rational mind mimosa is the picture of the branch, for the child "you smell what you see". It is this poetic dimension made from associations of different senses that Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal have used in their scentsorial representation. When you look close to the flower, you actually see micro golden fruits that could be mandarin or any other forbidden fruit from the Hesperidian Garden. But their gentle touch on the nose will transform this illusion and the acidity of any citruses into another …. golden fruit but velvety - nectarine. In fact, this is the surprise and the metaphor of the perfume. The golden mimosa branch holds microscopic nectarines with their delicious notes, now mixed with the flowers. Unlike any previous mimosa perfume where the perfumers had portrayed with delicacy the actual scent of the flower, Isabelle Doyen plays with metaphors and illusions. This is not mimosa. This is nectarine. This is mimosa. The entire perfume is then constructed around this illusion. The coldness of a magnolia note as seen in Un Matin d'Orage is surrounded by the fresh muskiness with light pear-peach notes as depicted in Petite Chérie. In fact, quite different by their individual notes, Mimosa and Pétite Chérie seem to share the same approach where fruits and light flowers, innocence and metaphor are deliciously blended in a familiar note. Very different from the sweet powdery note of Farnesiana and the cold green violet touch of Mimosa pour moi (Artisan Parfumeur), the new perfume from Annick Goutal brings the visual mimosa metaphor inside the bottle. It has the characteristic facets of the mimosa (the powdery soft orris note, the light anis) and the exquisite mimosa absolute but it brings also the sun. The perfume, with its strong juicy green fruity nectarine facet, clearly evokes the scent of baby hair and skin, the sensation of a mild baby shampoo with chamomile under sparkling fruits. Unusual by its metaphoric approach, familiar by its scent, Mimosa (Annick Goutal) is a delicious fragrance for the first days of spring with golden sun and cold weather like the icy breath of a morning magnolia.
Did you enjoy my article? Sign up for updates about new fragrances, reviews of artistic perfumes and exceptional vintage masterpieces. I would be very happy if you would consider joining 1000 Fragrances, throughRSS feed,GoogleFriend connect, Facebook (more personal), or any other way that appeals to you.
Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
