Christmas Gift Star Buy – The new Marc Jacobs Decadence EDP

By  |  0 Comments

First Christmas Gift Star Buy for 2015!

Perfume is one of our favourite subjects here at Simply Woman and no Christmas tree would be perfect without a wrapped bottle of something gorgeous underneath!  Whether you are buying for grandma, mum, sister or best mate you can’t go wrong with a bottle of perfume (just slightly wrong if you get their preference wrong!)

This is the downside of picking out a new fragrance for someone, but fragrance follows some fairly set rules and if you know someone likes Issey Miyake for example (woody/citrus) you can pick out something in a similar vein.  If you are travelling home for the holidays via an airport – it’s really worth looking at World Duty Free for gifts.  You can get fantastic coffret sets (minis) of fragrances from DKNY, Armani, Lancome and Estee Lauder or the classic fragrance you know they will like.

IMG_2573

So, on to Marc Jacobs new release – Decadence.  Historically, MJ fragrances have erred on the very girlie side – Daisy, Dot, Lola and Honey are all classic “young” fragrances – pretty but not very interesting or attention grabbing.  The sort of fragrance you forget you are wearing and doesn’t bother anyone.  Boring!

Decadence is quite a departure for MJ Fragrances.  The bottle is dark and sexy with tassles and snakeskin – even the box is dark green velvet – pulling the sexy, decadent theme together nicely.

Marc Jacobs says ” Top notes of Italian plum, saffron and iris. Bulgarian rose, Sambac jasmine and orris root form the heart of the perfume, while the base includes warm liquid amber, vetiver and papyrus wood.

IMG_2541 IMG_2572 IMG_2571 IMG_2566

Interpretation.  From this description, the top notes are generally the lightest and freshest of the fragrance – bergamot is common along with pear, pink pepper and citrus fruits.  Here they’ve chosen three quite heady flowers to open the perfume – a bold move and hopefully one they’ve followed through with.  Iris does bring a little freshness so it’s not all super intense.

Rose and Jasmine form the floral heart with a slight twist of rare ingredient orris.  It’s a root and gives a slightly powdery edge, almost velvety, cutting the flowers down to size a bit.  Although they’ve used a lot of floral notes they’ve never allowed it to be “girlie”

Finally the dry down is to an amber, vetiver and papyrus.  So – woody, grassy and resiny.  It’s nice and warming – fresher than a classic oriental thanks to the vetiver but still with that cosy feel to it.

All in all – it’s a bit pedestrian if you are used to a solid performer in the oriental category.  There are oodles of sexier fragrances like Tom Ford Black Orchid but they are pricey so if you fancy a fragrance that bowls you over instantly with heady notes – this is worth trying.  I would say it’s consistent across the life of the fragrance, it’s well constructed with carefully chosen notes that dazzle then fade gently so you won’t be disappointed.

This is definitely a date night/nightclub type fragrance – I wouldn’t be in a rush to wear this to work as although you might like it – others might find it a bit heady.  The DH reckoned it was “pretty full on” when first sprayed but faded to “quite nice once it calmed down”

Marc Jacobs Decadence is available from all department stores and World Duty Free

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply