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On a huge re visitation of Malle at the moment and this was one which I immediately passed on when I smelled it years ago and it's still very much NOT for me. However, like a great piece of art I can appreciate it for what others get from it, and as a perfume it has all the hallmarks of something great. L'eau d'Hiver is very original, it has Ellena's trademark transparency, yet multidimensional complexity. (very hard to achieve both) But as I stare at this piece of art, I'm not compelled to ponder it for long, maybe just saunter off, complimentary champagne in hand, across the gallery to gawp at the next work or scoff some vol au vents? The reviewer below me here says this is a 'winter watercolour' (my rudimentary French got 'Winter water') which is actually a fantastic way to view L'eau d'Hiver. It's a collection of wintery, grey/blue washes on a textured, woody, paper. So yeah it's a watercolour, of frigid, dry tundra, Ice that sublimes into gas, never in a liquid state, which is peculiar because it's literally called water and JCE's aesthetic is pretty watery business. It's a chilly fragrance too, yet it has warm elements like heliotrope, iris, honey, all things I'd say were fairly warm. I'm confused and somewhat alienated by the combo of light almond tinged musk, the dryness and oddity of this composition, it smells like very dehydrated, floral, powder of ionones and driftwood, It's strange because it's barely in the realms of existence, a spectre, but a present one, and what is there, is a bit disturbing to me. Some might think, wow...how did you get so much challenge from such a seemingly simple scent? That's just me though. I get that this is a good fragrance, I can feel it, I know it. I just don't like it (that's always subject to change) and wouldn't buy it. (also subject to change)
This is undeniable brilliance in a bottle from the high priest of smell himself. It's a different thing every time I wear it. I think that now I'm familiar enough with it to get over the influence of marketing copy and other people's opinions, this genre-less gem has resolved in my mind as honey-iris. The iris is the same found in Heaven Can Wait, very unsurprisingly, and L'Eau D'Hiver shares more than a passing resemblance to Girl by CdG (for Pharrell Williams) and perhaps therefore has its roots vaguely in Fahrenheit.