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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Sira Des Indes - Jean Patou

I really wanted to love this one, and therefore I have given it more tries then usual. After all, it is not like Jean Patou releases new scents often. My anticipation grew as I awaited the release.

Disappointment came quickly with the artifical opening note, that I am thinking must be the pear/banana accord. Smelling not as much like a banana or pear as plastic. Thankfully it fades quickly into a lovely sweet floral. The floral note is magnolia champaca, sometimes known as yellow magnolia or the Joy Perfume Tree. (Do you love the Joy Perfume reference?) The fruit notes act to sweeten the floral rather than smelling fruity, which I thought was very well done. That was the good news. Bad news; Indes is quite animalic. Not really Serge Lutens MKK or anything, but plenty more than most. At first I thought it was just the floral acting indolic, but no, it is more than that.
The thrust of the scent is a sweet floral with animalic musk floating in and out.

Close to the skin and not long lasting, proved to be the final blows to any chance this one had of winding its way into my heart.

Notes: Magnolia champaca, banana accord, bergamot, pear, red berries, cardamom, musk, amber, vanilla and sandalwood.

Available now at SAKS in store.

7 comments:

Victoria said...

I will add - if the pear/banana were removed, the musk toned down and the amber turned up, it could be love.

Caitlin Shortell said...

Great review. I am still curious. How does it compare to SL Fleurs de Citronnier?

Victoria said...

I think they are completely different - If you are referring to how the musk is interpreted. To me the SL gets its muskiness from the indoles in the tuberose, not the musk note. I feel the musk note listed is more likely the crystal musk as in Clair de Musc. The musk in Sira is animalic.

The floral aspects differ as well, whereas the SL is more neroli (enhanced with honey); the Sira is a sweetened magnolia. That is to say, a magnolia floating in fruit juice, so ... lightly artifical.

My friend suggested that this is a less sweet Cartier Delices. I would say that comparision is closer than that of the de Citronnier.

Does that help?

Marina said...

Oooh...animalic! Now I am really excited about Sira :-)Thank you very much for the review!

Anonymous said...

Bad day for me today( broke my nose).Trying TDC Jasmine de Nuit, and I love it!

Anonymous said...

I have just bought a bottle of this on ebay, as somebody who remembers her mother wearing all those wonderful perfumes from the 1920's upwards, I still prefer the old perfumes to the new ones, which smell terribly synthetic, however...I am hoping this will smell good, as the description seems to talk quite a lot about the sweetness...I love sweet perfumes...and pear, well the perfume of pear in a good sauterne...delicious...sounds good to me...
Finally what is surprising is the vast differences in the price of perfumes on offer, glad to say I did not pay a great deal for mine, by shopping around...

Anonymous said...

I decided to try Sira Des Indes having found an offer on a website. The first time I tried it I was pleased to have it though I was not sure it would become a longterm favourite. However, once I began to smell it's residue on my clothes and I used it through the cold bleak days of an English January. I really began to feel it was a nuturing soothing scent that reminds you of the warmth of the sun and the richness of exotic fruits and flowers. So I have become very fond of this perfume and would recommend it to anyone who wants to indulge in a rich heady scent. Enjoy!