Paloma Picasso / Mon Parfum fragrance notes
Head
- Bergamot, hyancinth, Rosewood
Heart
- rose, mimosa, Geranium, Tuberose, Jasmine, lily of the valley, Ylang ylang, coriander
Base
- patchouli, honey, Vetiver, Amber, Musk, Civet, Benzoin, Oakmoss
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Latest Reviews of Paloma Picasso / Mon Parfum


As far as the notes go, I definitely smell hyacinth and rose, along with civet, a touch of green galbanum, and honey. Everything else is present but not as forward. And I can’t pick them out without seeing the notes. The longevity is amazing, and the sillage is a touch softer than the smelling directly on the skin, which has a tiny bit of a sharp quality, but not on a negative way.
I don’t normally like civet. And hyacinth, though I do like it, is usually presented in a very prom and proper and sort of uptight way. This is not uptight.
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It's not only pedals that are dropping, though. Drawers and knickers are dropping down after this bombast, as the heart exposes more than just ripe florals, someone or something's hind quarters have sat in the flower patch. I almost hear "ANIMAL! ANIMAL! ANIMAL!" from the eponymously named Muppet as he flails his bandy arms and bangs on the drums. The notoriety of Paloma Picasso EDP has come into full view, and it's enough to make one blush.
Yes, the note breakdown shows a cute little civet and an industrious, fussy little beaver, but there seems like there are other little whiffy, furry creatures here getting their oozing bums into a mess of trouble, barely kept in check by the woody, mossy guardians of the forest. So all of you who feel safest with vanilla, praline, caramel, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry with sprinkles and sugar cubes and ambroxan ennui must steer clear of this. You could not handle this. It's just too sexy. Too damn sexy.
Nobody will accuse the wearer of being donned with a niminy-piminy, delicate scent of pink feminine sensibility. A woman who would wear this would be my kind of woman. A man who would wear this would be my kind of man. Did I just come out as bisexual? Yep. Now you know...



I can't get over how many of the notes within it are obviously natural essential oils... jasmine, ambrette seed, oakmoss, bergamot, ylang, patchouly, angelica, coriander, all exquisitely natural. The castoreum and civet might even be the real-deal, too. Now this is the sort of thing they still did back in the 1970's and 1980's: $40 would buy you an EDP just brimming with authentic natural oils. Today, you won't find a complex EDP with loads of naturals for under $200. Anything below that is likely to be all-synthetic, or have a great preponderance of synthetic components.
This scent reminds me, in its curious medicinal herbality, with things like Balmain IVOIRE or Marilyn Miglin PHER'OMONE. Some have called it "the feminine YSL KOUROS" (though, for me, Schiaparelli SHOCKING holds that particular honor). It could be the heavyweight cousin of Clinique AROMATICS ELIXIR, or like a concentrated extrait version of Myrurgia MAJA. I had expected PP to be austere, sharp and cruelly chic like Piguet BANDIT, but no, the floralcy, buried as it is in herbs and animalics, is still quite "pretty", and a certain tart/citrus fruitiness never lets the scent become too imperiously austere.
For being a "1980's Dynasty shoulderpad" "power" scent, it does not have a wild and invasive sillage, but sits rather concentratedly on the skin.
I agree with others-- this scent is a modern masterpiece of its type. This is oldschool French perfumery "comme il faut", the way "they don't do it anymore". I don't think a woman today under 40 would, in her wildest dreams, wear a scent like this. Which is a shame, maybe.
Definitely ultra-glam stuff... opera, classy soiree, pearls, expensive shmattas, your good shoes. Not a PTA, church, office or grocery store fragrance at all.