Review of Carnation by aad de gids

Carnation of Mona di Orio is a fabulous perfume. I still remember those big carnations in the 60s, oozing with scent and spicey as hell. then in later years the carnations got smaller until finally (under the same name) little carnations in bundles swayed scentlessly, as our whole society has become. in French both are called œillet. the mystery around œillet is even bigger. it is a 'Mute Flower', like seringa (lilac), lily, pittosporum (Knowing), lily of the valley, and, well: "Savez-vous qu’il est impossible d’avoir une senteur naturelle de lilas, de muguet, d’oeillet, de buddleia, de gardénia, de chèvrefeuille, de pittosporum, de seringa, de pois de senteur, de violette, de glycine, d’héliotrope, de jacinthe ?", so sweetpea, buddlea, gardenia, honeysuckle, violet, heliotrope, hyacinth and peaflowers are "Fleurs Muettes". they won't give you their soul with whatever extractionmethod you would like to catch their heavenly scents. I (as my mom did) love the unbelievably heady scent of privet/ligustrum/proène, but suspect it is also a fleur muette. My dad gags when he smells it. he has a good nose. and there is reason for it. inbetween the code 4 perfume one can smell.....piss. which makes it only more alluring to me. (Oudh Infini, Gale Hayman Beverly Hills, Monas Carnation). in the first two the oudh and or civet (but I do not count out the majestic rose in OI as well as the indoles in GHBH) are responsable for the pissscent (three s's). in Carnation I guess it is the superior way of mixing complex notes. (it is after all, a Carnation perfume without Carnation !) her "Nuit Noire" also has shady patches which are lovely. some datura, some henbane, some hemlock and mandragora..... I think the real purpetrayors are jasmine, violet, ylang-ylang, amber and styrax. they make not only for a heady concoction but also doesn't shy away for some witchity. with this particular perfume one meets immediately the megawatt scent of œillet, carnation, and luckily it is totally overwhelming. and it lasts and lasts. now I think I bought the flacon in 2006, the year of its birth, with "Nuit Noire". I don't know what it is, but with me (collection of 250 perfumes and since 1974, perhaps thousands) a perfume NEVER turned bad. also the six flacons I have of Gale Hayman Beverly Hills, are nicely almost black but they each smell divine, as they did in 1990 when I sprayed when watching Twin Peaks. then 120 guilders, now on ebay between 50-80 euros. I love haunting, whorey, boudoiresque (and Boudoir), a bit "wrong" perfumes. all that has a moniker of 'aqua', 'sport', 'green', 'fresh', 'laundry' is anathema to me. Later I bought Mona's "Osmanthus Oudh" and it is a fantastic perfume but much less dirty then Dusitas Oudh Infini and some of the Montales. yet I love it. and thanks to the 'not-turning', my always good skinchemistry with heavy perfumes, and immunity to 'reformulations', I enjoy this fantastic perfume. together with Serge Lutens 'Vitriol d'Œillet' these are naughty perfumes. Vitriol has a lovely fattiness (indole) and Serge metioned the 'sharp' sawteeth along the petals of the carnation. J.A.R's perfumes also come to mind. these will let the world roll. (just now, july 2026) the real mystery here is of course that this perfume is called 'Carnation' and smells like a Voluptuous Carnation (especially the old- fashioned) but doesn't actually contain Carnation at all. but I just now learned that the Carnation is nevertheless not a 'Fleur Muette', but perfumers seem to agree that the best way to conceive a Carnation Perfume is by composing it with aromachemicals derived from Cloves (Eugenol & Isoeugenol) plus Fenylethylalcohol from the flower Ylang-Ylang which all, give a good interpretation of the scent of Carnations. the whole Art then of course lies in the hands of the perfumer and if there is one thing I learned, it is that mme. Di Orio was a brilliant perfumer. again we smell a real splurge of Indoles in the initial stages and the absence also of Cloves is striking. I have a feeling the Violet, Ylang-Ylang, Bourbon Geranium and Jasmine all conspire together to reconstruct a fairly Dense and Voluptuous impression of the Spicy and Peppery, Sweet Notes of the Carnation. it is my experience several Woods always contribute in lending Flower Notes a fuller Imposition within a perfume. Indoles shall originate from Jasmine, Ylang and Violets while the Bourbon Geranium possibly give a more rich and Rozy perfume. Musk, Amber & Styrax then fill all the disparate Notes out in a veritable opaque Sketch of a daunting and quite haunting Perfume Flower Portrait.