Stumbling, quite accidentally, over a scent with a vaguely similar profile as Classique Cabaret. I was worried ever since I got that beautiful, glittering bottle that I would have to ration my usage of it because it's discontinued (remember how I found the very last bottle of it on a sales table? A treasure. A steal, too). It's glittering ginger with a sweet orange blossom, very hard to miss, very seductive. While it doesn't necessarily awaken images of powder puffs, feathered fans and lipstick, I do think the name is very fitting since it's sweet and bombastic, very seductive in a slightly old-fashioned way. Look at the bottle, that's what it is. A glittering corsage, deep red. Velvet curtains, those bright lipstick-smiles and legs flashed your way. You're meant to see her, smell her. Stage persona, meant to amuse and seduce even at a distance. Very fun!
Well - imagine my surprise when I found a trace of that in Fragonard's Belle des Arles. First, it's a bombastic orange blossom, straight from the tree. Like crushing a petal between your fingers, cool and a little wet with juice, overwhelming in aroma. I was a little discouraged because although I love orange blossoms, this was a little much, a little too naturalistic for me (I wondered whether I had an excuse to get something that smelled purely of the Orangerie at the castle nearby). Then, Classique EdT came to mind, minus the anis (which I find hard to bear sometimes). There's a brief moment where it also reminded me of the orange blossom-flavoured Les Anis de Flavigny (seemingly going right against what I just said, but bear with me): The white pearls clicking against your teeth, sugar and orange blossoms. Porcelain-sweet, a little creamy. I also detect a slight hint of pink here, maybe a faint taste of bubblegum (but no Love don't be shy, thankfully!!!) or rather a hint of strawberry jam (whereever that might be coming from). At this point, I will say that I wouldn't mind more of that slightly moist, cool, realistic orange blossom from the start to balance out the sweetness. But I see we have turned from princesses in orangeries (wet-cool blossoms) to cabaret girls (orange blossom candy), flashing their white teeth laughing as they powder their décolleté. A playfulness powdered in sugar, a splash of orange blossom water with sugar crusted alongside the rim of the glass. Yet, not as bombastic as Cabaret, not as loud (nor as sparkling, the ginger is missing). The girls are not on stage yet, you see? They're backstage, giggling and getting ready, blowing you a kiss as you walk by. (And, a little note: as we progress, I feel that the orange blossom does get a little creamier again, softer, a little more natural. I don't mean to be indiscreet, but I think we're getting a little rendezvous with a cabaret girl backstage - stripped of some of her glittering sugar cristals. Only a hint of powdered sugar on soft petals)
But to make this very long story short: What a delight? What a surprise? Based on my previous experiences with the line (a lotion of Belle de Paris which is so cool, so creamy that it freezes me, a bottle of Belle d'Amour which I keep wearing because it smells like an intriguing vanilla on clothes, but I only ever smell a dripping-cool bush of greenery on myself?), I expected something cool and rather refined - like the Orange Blossom start. But this development is unexpected and very nice. It's not overly sweet to my nose, either - the orange blossom is clearly the star. Delightful!
