Harmonie du Soir

Harmonie du Soir is the most crowded composition in the range and its ambition works against it as often as for it. Orange and mandarin open bright and simple, a clean citrus start that gives no hint of what follows. The heart is where everything happens at once: honey, jasmine, gardenia, peach and orange blossom, five substantial materials competing in a small space. Honey is the dominant one and the most divisive, bringing a thick, slightly animalic sweetness that some will find rich and others will find cloying. Gardenia and orange blossom push the white floral side, peach softens the edges, and jasmine fills whatever room is left. On skin it reads as one large sweet floral impression rather than as five distinguishable notes. The base is the most interesting part and the reason the fragrance is worth attention: patchouli, caramel and licorice, an unusual trio that gives the drydown a dark, faintly bitter, chewy quality quite unlike anything else the brand does. The licorice in particular stops the caramel from turning into plain toffee. Longevity is around five hours in the 100 mL bottle with moderate projection early on. It is strictly an autumn and winter evening fragrance. Overloaded in the middle, genuinely good at the end, and priced low enough to forgive.