Marquise de Merteuil

[CitizenBree]

Stately, bold, aristocratic and cruel. Opulent galbanum and amber, glistening peach, and a bouquet of French florals, with a merciless undertone of jonquil and heartless vetiver.

I don't know how I got this one. It looks used and must have come as a frimp somewhere down the line. While I love peaches, I probably skipped this one because of the vetiver, which I hate.

This is peaches and amber and then comes the floral. I wish the peach was a little heavier, but I do really like this scent. It is a little of the fancy perfume smell, but the peach makes it a little more special.

I would wear this any time of year for a special dinner or date night.

[SophieCedar]

Fancy fancy! Classy peach.

 

In imp: strong florals lily of the vally, rose. No peach here.

Wet: amber and galbanum splodes and the florals take flight. The peach starts to appear here. there's no sign of vetivert.

 

Drydown: soft amber and a tiny hint of vetivert that really just compliments it. The peach is still the mainstay. This is a wonderful complex scent!

[Lysi]

I don't even know what it is that I'm smelling here, except maybe a little bit of the florals. I get no peach or amber at all

 

I do know that on me, this is screaming "MANLY!" so I think I'll pass it to the husband.

[Victory]

This is a blend I've had my eye on for a long time because I love peach and amber, but never got because vetiver is a much-hated note for me. Many thanks to the lab for the frimp so I get to try it! Freshly on, Marquise de Merteuil is strongly reminiscent of Aglaea, which is a scent I love. It's the peach and amber, which are so good together. As the scent dries, the peach and amber step back a little and the florals and another note become more prominent. I'm not sure what the note is- maybe the galbanum + vetiver? Whatever it is, it smells really substantial. Vetiver usually smells like death to me, as in like a corpse, and while I recognize it here and don't love it, it doesn't smell like that. It's more hm, menacing yes, but more of a threat of death than death itself. The peach/amber flutter over it, trying to hide the vetiver, which is apt to the description. I actually like this a lot more than I thought I would, since the vetiver isn't quite so awful as usual, but I think I prefer Aglaea.

[Sultaana]

Peach...amber...and vetiver? Oh thank you for the peaches and the amber. I can't believe my nose is actually smelling a complement to vetiver! This is a sweet, sophisticated perfume and I'm beyond impressed with it.

[hkhm]

imp: sweet, flowery peach.

 

wet: darn, there must be rose in this. for a moment this is a blissful peach flower and then it turns sharply soapy.

 

dry: no vetiver, no amber, no peach... just soapy florals.

[madscientistdh]

In the bottle: Tutti frutti bubble gum with a hint of a sharper fruit note.

 

On my skin (wet): Reminds me of apricot oil, a bit of a spiciness, hard to place exactly what kind of spice though... Both my female cats left the room after I put this on! >_> Not sure what that means, I liked it you guys!

 

Drydown: More fruity/floral spice comes out, a bit of an apple note? Something sharp that renders it cruel, bold.

 

Verdict: Very nice scent! Sophisticated and intriguing with a veil of something a little darker. Must be why my cats didn't like it, haha...

[ianastar]

I don't get the Peach or the Vetiver. I'm not usually a vetiver scent fan because they all tend to turn really soapy on me. So I was okay with the vetiver not being apparent.

 

I get more endulgent florals with this one. A scent of a very expensive floral bouqet presented to a classy lady of noble standing.

[Balame]

In the Imp: Marquise, you've finally played into my hands - let's see if we're compatible. Will you be the musky dark peach of my dreams? You actually smell very promising, with dramatic amber and fruit. Let's just hope the florals don't go berserk!

 

Wet: Ooh, do I love you? I'm reminded of the peach flavored water I get from the Japenese supermarket. Which I adore. So yummy and wet, yet refined. Delicate and yet it makes a statement.

 

Dry: NO florals, back! You're ruining everything, don't come between us. This is too sweet now and you're eating up the lovely amber! I only get a tiny bit of vetiver, sadly.

 

Overall: We could've been so good together. In the end, all I got was a fancy bouquet and peach candy. Very cute, but I'm not that kind of woman, Marquise. Just no.

[Incendiare]

Peachy floral in the imp. The florals blossom even more on me. I'm surprised I don't smell any vetiver in here. After about ten minutes, this is mostly floral. I'd say along the lines of lily of the valley and iris. The peach is barely there. Marquise is alright but not really a winner for me.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Nothing specific stands out, but the word sophisticated comes to mind at first sniff.

 

Drydown: This is a warm and sexy floral. The amber begins to grow until it becomes the dominate note.

 

Dry: Sexy amber softened by a hit of floral. Slightly powdery but not overly so. The other notes quietly add sophistication and complexity without drawing too much attention to themselves.

 

 

Verdict: This is sophisticated, warm, womanly, and soft. It sounds like the sort of perfume I normally dislike, yet the Marquise doesn't bother my nose the way other sexy/heavy floral-types do. I think it's because the florals play more of a supporting character role rather than the lead. Not sure if I'd wear this much, but I do like it.

 

6 out of 10 bones

Edited July 2, 2013 by BoneBone24

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): What an interesting combination of notes. Peach, amber, and galbanum. It's warm and fruity at first, but then something spicy and a little more sinister creeps in as I inhale deeper.

 

Wet: Odd. I'm getting spices here even though they are not on the list. It comes across as spiced peach, amber, and a faint wafting of florals like lavender and star jasmine. On the second application, jonquil comes out fighting, followed by the French florals and then the peach.

 

Dry: Yum! Peach, vetiver, and galbanum. It's sweet and heady, but far from innocent.

[Mechanical Death]

I got this imp and had to try it. I love floral blends but they don't always love me. It smelled wonderful in the vial. Like rich honey, peach juice and peach blossoms.

 

On the skin it started to smell immediately like tuberose, overpowering everything and slightly rotten but thankfully not soapy. Rotten florals have a chance of recovering, soap not so much. I don't get any vetiver-- it must be very minuscule and helping to keep the blend from being overpoweringly floral and instead

 

The tuberose backs off thankfully. It's playing gracefully with the rest and turning into a sweet flowery blend. The vetiver which I don't smell outright keeps the whole thing from turning powdery.

It's very nice but almost identical antheia, just peach tinted instead of apple tinted. I may like it better. Perhaps I'll grab a bottle of this and swap out antheia.

[starfish327]

I may have reviewed this one already, I'm not sure.

 

In the imp: I'm getting artifical peach and something reading as white musk.

 

On the skin: I swear there is white musk in this one. It's the sour dirtiness of white musk on my skin, the artifical peach, and something else vaguely 'fake' that I can't really place.

 

Dry: I didn't think it was that strong but my boyfriend commented that I was wearing something. It smells like stale peach jolly ranchers, and vaguely stale musk. It's not that bad, and it's a lot better thant the wet stage but it never moves beyond meh.

 

Off to the swaps.

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: a floral blend
Wet skin: Still floral. I'm looking at the notes for this blend and cannot for the life of me identify one of them within this scent, except the "bouquet of fresh florals"
Dry on skin: A nice light floral, a little powdery.

Obviously a floral, but nothing really stands out for me in this one. I would love to have the peach and amber come thru. Heck I'd like to know what the vetiver smells like mixing with everything.
I think I'll try this again later to see if aging this little imp does anything. I'll update this review if anything changes

[ObliqueRed]

I didn't notice much change in this one over time, except that my skin takes one of the notes (or a combination) and turns it into powder. I am hazarding a guess that it's the amber, because I had a similar reaction to Black Lotus (except that this was floral powder and that was powder in a headshop!) and that is the only note they have in common.

 

I liked this in the bottle, though to me it smelled very much like a perfume my mother used to wear. I think it was from Estee Lauder. On my skin it shifted, and turned into a powdery floral, but with no strong single floral note. I didn't get much peach, just a tantalizing glimpse hiding under the flowers; it was in those moments that I liked this scent the most.

 

As time wore on, it got more powdery on me but also more well-blended. It's still clinging to the skin of my wrists many hours later, a pleasant scent, but not one that I think works particularly well with my body chemistry/tastes.

[heyjjudette]

This is almost all vetiver on me. Very heavy and lush. I'm not getting the peach yet, just a heavy smokey scent. When I first put it on it smelled literally like pot on me. Very herbal at first. Now it's spicy. I think this is growing on me.

 

It's also reminding me of a Liz Taylor perfume as it dries down. Kind of an older woman perfume scent. Honestly, that's sort of a good thing. It's winning me over.

 

ETA: So heavy! It's very lush, almost pure vetiver on me but the fruit behind it. This is beautiful, but just too much for me.

Edited October 29, 2013 by allidavie
Added content from heyjjudette's duplicate review =)

[Zii]

Bitter florals... Something about all the dark notes makes this perfume smell sour to me, like cheap perfume after a night clubbing where the sweat mixes with the scent of flowers and patchouli. Not my thing at all...

 

Also, there is peach in this? No peach at all to me.

[tharsei-thanate]

This starts off really nice. Sweet florals and juicy peach. But then the amber pokes its head out and it's unpleasantly powdery. At least the peach is behaving and not turning into hard candies. This one's a bit of a no right now but I'll keep it a bit longer. Hopefully the amber learns to behave itself because this smells quite nice otherwise.

[Roogna]

wet: very much like cologne of amber and florals

as it dries: some sweet gum-like peach comes out.

 

dry: Fresh and clean, peach takes over quickly without being overpowering. still hint of florals. it's a lovely blend that works well, just not my kind of scent

[Pumpkinn]

Immediately, Marquise de Merteuil is powdery, fruity sweetness, and floral. It reminds me of the opening of Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds, minus the big aldehydic fanfare. But that’s the only similarity between the two. Marquise is fruitier and juicier. I wouldn’t even say the floral notes are heady in the way they are in White Diamonds.

 

Then something green and woody appears, brightening the scent. Something else adds depth. I’m not familiar enough with a few of these notes to warrant a guess as to what this something might be.

 

The fragrance deepens further into a warm spiciness against a faint floral backdrop. The powder has disappeared by now. But there is a mild dirtiness and I’m coming to wonder if it’s the peach note reacting with my chemistry. I experienced the same in Fae, but it was a lot stronger.

 

Eventually, this passes and I’m left with a deep, resinous, spicy amber with a little peach. There may be some gentle florals in the back, but the contrast isn’t stark enough for me to be 100% sure.

 

Marquise finally settles into something I can only best describe like this: a toasted marshmallow, whose sweetness is entirely removed and replaced instead with the aroma of wet bark (which has a gentle woody sweetness all its own).

 

My paper sample, however, smells fresher, lighter, greener, featuring a strong floral presence.

 

I can relate to what BoneBone24 said about the scent: It sounds like the sort of perfume I normally dislike, yet the Marquise doesn't bother my nose the way other sexy/heavy floral-types do.

 

I think Marquise is interesting, definitely a morpher on my skin, but probably not something I’ll be wearing too often. I’ll probably keep studying it. : )

[Balaclava]

It's very juicy and fresh, but with a boozy adult twist, like a peach bellini. I think of it as a younger, more modern version of Youth Dew.

[unxolve]

What flowers are in this?? I tested this one blind, and looking at the ingredients, I'm not getting any peach or amber at all.
I don't think I could even identify the other listed notes, (not EXACTLY sure what galbanum, jonquil, and vetiver smell like)

Instead, I would have guessed tea rose, green tea, lilac, jasmine?... it smells similar to that particular *something* that I loved in Spirit Board, Serving Tea After Coitus, and MAYBE Venus Genetrix. One of those french florals has got to be some kind of rose.

 

Just that smell. Right on my wrist. Heavenly tea-and-rose, that sort of citrusy bittersweet tea flavor with a lush rose.

Anyway, this is great. If the smell holds out, it could be a great GC replacement for two of my favorite LE blends.

[Veronica]

Wet, this is warm amber and peach. As it dries, the peach fades into the background as the florals come to the fore. This ends up being a creamy floral with a spiced cologne background, but still feminine. Vetiver is faint and very well behaved in this.

 

EDIT: after full dry down, the florals fade and the notes all meld together into a lovely men's cologne, with the vetiver doing an amazing job tying it all together. Slightly sweet, spiced cologne.

Edited May 5, 2015 by delighted

[Malaena]

Flowers hate me so much. I get nothing but floral death from this one. I think it has jasmine in it - that note always does this!