Positive Reviews of Jardins d'Armide (new) 
Oriza L. Legrand (2013)

Smells old/classic/retro...flower flavored powder...strikes me as somewhat elegant and formal...sweet and soothing...get mostly rose/iris/carnation combo...very decent projection...As it hits mid to finish line I get a nice musky tonka/honey flavor...just a hint of orange blossom here and there...not a bad fragrance...to my nose , one of OLL's better efforts...not a buy for me , but I do enjoy smelling it...

This is odd but, beautiful. I smell an old-fashioned rose. Powdery, dusty orris, iris, violet, and orange blossom. Wisteria makes its presence known, almost by itself, like a solo vocalist. Then, carnation crawls in. It seems bitter, for a spell, almost like a green stem. Next comes melted, salty butter. Honey, almond, Tonka, and musk become either a Hot Buttered Rum drink or a biscuit / granola bar accord. What a chameleon this is! Iris returns. It stays. For. Awhile. Hey, wait! Now I smell milk chocolate?

This one is a puzzler and I enjoy figuring it out. I will have to revisit this a few times. Maybe I've just gone insane. Perhaps this one is just that complicated....

The original composition was 1909 and this recreation has a beautifully nostalgic Roaring 20s feel about it. The Deco mirrored dressing table with a bowl of dried rose petals, traces of rose talcum powder on the floor, the orange blossom hair tonic decanter left open in a hasty moment, nail varnish tipping from a bottle fallen on its side, the musty honeyed undertone of the old powder compact, they're all there. As are traces of the good time gal or guy who has just left this room, the scent of their sweet skin musk and oiled hair lingers in this space.
Not for everyone I bet, but definitely for me, although I would have liked the nail varnish to have been toned down a tad. The hefty layer of settled powder, however, is right up my street – you've gotta say yes to another excess, as the song went.
After a few hours the nail lacquer note recedes completely and a lot of the powder has flown, but a superb base reminiscent of many a Guerlain composition emerges from the shadows and takes things to a higher level.

Pleasant, lively opening, with elegant rose-lavender notes, anise, bergamot, orange blossoms, white musks, perhaps some sandalwood, with a bold, warm, iris-aldehydated and talcum-vanillin roundness. I also detect some herbaceous notes, but really subtle and discreet. The main feel is soap, a spring-y, playful, aromatic, bright, soft, nostalgic soapy feel with a dense, multi-faceted and even a bit narcotic floral heart. Retro elegance at its best: simple, balanced, pleasant and well-executed, pale as a shy lady and with a reassuring, cozy, clean soapy drydown, like taking a bath on a Sunday afternoon. For me, a strong madeleine of "Spuma di Sciampagna" bath soap. Not a memorable work, but may work pleasantly as an elegant and un-intrusive "signature scent".

7/10

What a joy this is! I defy any fragrance lover not to react when they smell Jardins D'Armide, even if it is not to one's personal taste. I can't imagine that anyone would find it uninteresting.

The opening of this fragrance immediately brings to mind sugared almond dragees, every time! That's a bit odd maybe because I don't think that those particular confections have much of a smell actually, but that is the first image that pops up and floats around.

In fact, if you can imagine sweet sugared almonds, and those tiny candied violets which can be found in Madrid, add some orange flower water, some sweetly aromatic dried rose petals, some geranium soap, old fashioned iris powder, and some soft, billowy (and strangely not sweet) nutty vanilla, then you would be with me on this one. It is so gloriously old fashioned! Underscoring this feast of sweetmeats is a sweetly nostalgic floral accord, built around that lovely old fashioned aromatic rose. In time the fragrance settles into an aromatic accord of rose/violet/iris/geranium/almond (heliotrope?) and vanilla/tonka.

Jardins D'Armide is certainly sweet and powdery but of course that is it's charm. There is a little brighness too which provides a perfect foil. It is delighful, charming, nostalgic. It strikes me that it was made with unrestrained pleasure and perhaps even a little humour.

Official notes; (from the OLL website)

Top notes: Old Rose, Orange Blossom and Iris Powder.

Heart notes: Florentine iris, Violet Wild, Glycine and Carnation India.

Base notes: Honey, Almond, Tonka and Musk.

I am sure that this fragrance will have it's detractors. It won't be to everyones taste. It is very old fashioned after all, and it will be perceived by some as overtly feminine, too sweet, too powdery. But I also think that it will melt the hearts of many. It presents itself as an homage to fragrances past, with little or no compromise to suit current tastes, and in my view it should be respected for that alone.

Dare I say that it would be utterly intriguing on a man.

A big hurrah for this delightful fragrance.