The two perfumes I will review today, Vert Pivoine and Noir Patchouli couldn’t be farther from one another in theme and feel. Like day and night would be a good comparison. Nonetheless I wanted to put them together.
It started out with the simple fact that they are grouped together with my new love Blanc Violette on the Histoires website as The Irreverents. And what Gerard Ghislain saw fit to put together, I shall not divorce.
But then when I started wearing them, they still stayed linked in my mind, I tended to wear Vert Pivoine during the day and Noir Patchouli in the evenings and as a sleep scent and it fit perfectly.
A quick side note: Histoires de Parfums offer 120ml bottles and 60ml bottles, the latter are pictured here, because I adore the half bottles they make. Look, it is half a bottle! That is very cute and goes to show what a bottle geek I am. There are also 14ml sizes available although not through their website and not anywhere in Europe as far as I could establish. Only US retailers seem to carry them for now, for example The Perfume Shoppe and Anthropologie. If you know of a European retailer who carries them I’d be thankful, if you let me know. Aside over.
Vert Pivoine:
Created by Gerard Ghislain, Vert Pivoine includes notes of peony, ivy leaves, rose water, mimosa, gardenia, rose berry, cedar, sandalwood and musk.
Vert Pivoine is a very bright and sunny perfume. Fresh (in the best way possible), floral, fabulous. I am not a huge fan of fresh rose perfumes (I like my roses dark and spicy) and despite this being centered on peony, to me it is one of the best rose scents I have ever smelled. Peony and rose together with leafy elements build a wonderfully uplifting and at the same time calming floral scent that is a delight to wear. Often in perfumes of this kind I like the first five minutes and then begin to fret and stamp my foot, wanting the cheeriness to go away, overly happy perfumes make me majorly cranky. (A good example is Acqua di Parma Magnolia Nobile). Not here. Vert Pivoine is not so upbeat that you think medical assistance must be at work, it is not cheery to the point of setting my teeth on edge, but it rather floats from its happy start into a lovely and interesting base that is still beautiful, but more wistful and contemplative and deep than you would ever give this kind of perfume credit for.
Seeing that is is supposed to be a short review, I’ll conclude by saying – I like it. It is a fresh floral without the endless fake cheer, but a pretty, no, even a beautiful character.
Noir Patchouli:
Noir Patchouli includes notes of patchouli, coriander, cardamom, floral bouquet, berries, musk, leather and vanilla.
Noir Patchouli is characterized as a unisex woody chypre. Patchouli is in the name and patchouli is what this is all about. My favorite patchouli is a very refined chocolaty one – Chanel Coromandel, the harsher, more rugged ones are not so much my thing. And while I would not put a full (or half) bottle on my wishlist, I enjoyed wearing this sample until I had nothing left. Maybe living rough does suit me after all. Because roughness is what this perfume evokes in me. It is raspy and scratchy, dark and rich. It reminds me strongly of another scent in the line, 1740 Marquis de Sade, as well as the interesting Olfactive Studio Chambre Noire (in feel, not smell). As it develops Noir Patchouli becomes sweeter, less harsh and more rounded, I can’t say I get much of the listed florals in the heart, but maybe that is what softens the patchouli and finally the addition of vanilla in the base gives it an almost tender touch, but the leather note holds against that, so it stays a rugged perfume after all and that is good.
Noir Patchouli is one of those perfumes that smell interesting on me and have a slightly disorienting feel for others. It is not a scent people expect on me, I rather enjoy that.
Noir Patchouli is also a perfume I find irrestistible and devastatingly attractive on a man. Just sayin’.
So Day and Night, those two diametrically opposed perfumes are both highly likeable, highly wearable and highly interesting.
So far I am very happy with my choices from this line and will certainly explore it further.
Olfactoria's Travels 
Technical problems posting, I had to log in (never been asked to do this, I could not remeber my log in details) Any way I digress, I am now off to look at the perfume shoppe at the small bottles although I love the half bottles, they are so cute. not that I am a bottle geek either or anything….:-0
That has been going on for a few days now, people have problems signing in. 😦 I’m very sorry about that, but I’m so glad you persisted! xo
The half bottles are the cutest, aren’t they? 🙂
The posting palaver is a pain, I hope Word Press go back to allowing us to comment without logging in first. Otherwise your comment disappears! I can see why it’s putting people off.
Anyway, lovely Day and Night review. I know you are not a fan of “endless fake cheer” so this peony but must be good! I wish I got chocolately from Coromandel, I don’t know if I’ll find a patchouli for me. Noir Patchouli sounds like a good masculine.
Agree, love those literally half-a-bottle bottles!
Oh no, did you have sign in again?
This is making me very anxious. The other day I thought the Rose Barbare review must be exceptionally bad, because nobody commented for so long…
If only I knew what the problem is with wp!
No chocolate on Coromandel for you? Hmm, maybe you have found your patchouli already in PoaL? 🙂
Yes, Word Press gave me lots of grief, too, I had to reset my password 3 times, and it erased my comments, too! So today I reset my password (again, kept getting error messages), logged in first, then wrote the comment. I guess there’s evil spam going around and they’ve overdone it on the security….
Thanks so much for persisting! xo
Definitely not down to the quality of your review, B!
Good point about PoaL, that hadn’t occured to me. It’s probably as much patch as I can handle.
Thank you, that is reassuring. 🙂
There is quite a lot of patch in PoaL, but the rose is distracting from (or rather adding to) it. I think it is what causes my headaches with this perfume. 😦
Vert Pivoine is my favorite of this line. You are right, it’s cheerful without being annoying. And it has very good lasting power on me. Love the half-bottles, I haven’t seen those before!
The bottles are the cutest! 🙂
It is not easy to be happy without being overly cheerful, but this fragrances manages that quite well.
Chiming in to see if I get the same problems with wp…
Hm, I should order their sample pack, finally !
Did you have a problem too?
I seem to recall reading somewhere that they only want gravatar users to sign in anew, since they adjusted something in the commenting system. Since you are not using a gravatar profile, you should be fine.
Yes, I was absolutely fine, wp liked me.
I would also like to join in with the general ‘ah-ing’ over the half bottles, aren’t they beautifully quirky! Plus I am also tempted by a group called ‘The Irreverents’!
I have yet to try anything from this line but Ambre 114 has been on my ‘To Try’ List for ages now, uh oh… I see they have a nice affordable little sample set…
P.s. Word Press is making things slightly more difficult for me too, but I think I’ve worked it out.
The Irreverents in half a bottle are truly irresistible, aren’t they? 🙂
What a coincidence, wearing Vert Pivione today as I did yesterday. Inspired of your Blanc Violette review last week I have started to wear my almost forgotten HdP samples. To me Vert Pivione is most about peony and less about rose, compared to PdN Rose Pivione. In the top of the HdP line (havn’t tested them all) together with Moulin Rouge. Also like Noir Patchouli but strangely it fades quickly on my skin.
Tara calls this Perfume ESP. 🙂
Noir Patchouli lasts about a week on my skin… 😀
Oh, I envy you! I wish Vert Pivione would have had more peopny to my nose.
I’m not usually one to love soliflores, but Vert Pivoine and Blanc Violette were both instant loves for me when I received the HdP discovery . As you noted, they each in their own mange to be floaty and pretty and to have something interesting about them that keeps them from being merely cheerful.
Not sure why but I never really took to Noir Patchouli, but I didn’t dislike it either. Your review has me thinking I might want to revisit it at some point.
Aaack, typos. That should say “they each in their own way manage to be floaty and pretty…”
I loved the typo! : – ). We want more mange in comments!
🙂
Glad to hear you got a similar experience out of the HdP florals, Suzanne. Interestingly, I would have thought Noir Patchouli to be quite your kind of perfume…
I ADORE the half bottles. It’s genius design on their part and will make them stand out from the rest. I’ve tried Noir Patchouli and I love it. Have not tried Vert Pivoine because I love roses but I’m not a fan of white flowers or green scents. I too love my roses dark and spicy!
I agree, the half bottles stand out and spark interest as this comments thread shows. 🙂
Although I’m more for the dark and moody, there are days when a pretty and carefree perfume like Vert Pivoine is just the ticket.
Now I am really curious about Noir Patchouli. Shame that it is not part of my sample pack. Oh well, must try soon. Thank you for the lovely review.
You are very welcome!
So much to try, so little time… 🙂
I haven’t tried Noir Patchouli – just because when I was choosing my samples it wasn’t the most attractive of the choices for my taste. I think Vert Pivione is nice but I hoped for more peony and less soapy rose in it.
About problems with WP: for several days it behaved strangely even for me who is always logged in. I never used just my e-mail to leave a reply but suddenly I got the same message and had to re-login. Luckily, if I post not from a mobile device, I always copy the reply into a clipboard first so I didn’t have to re-type anything. But still annoying.
Thankfully Vert Pivoine was not soapy on me at all.
Somehow I’m relieved that WP played up for you too, since I see you as a technical whizz kid. So it is indeed WP and not something I did wrong. 😉
No-no, it’s not you… Well, it’s not even me (thank you for the “kid” part though ;)). It’s all WP’s fault!
😀
Lovely review, B! You’ve inspired me to seek out Vert Pivoine because (as you may know), I do love a nice peony note (and sometimes even not-so-nice ones — I’m a sucker!). And I also agree about the half bottles. They’re so cute!
Vert Pivoine is a perfect fit for you in my mind. From what I do know about your tastes, it should be a slam-dunk. 🙂
I so agree about the fun half bottles. Like that Freak bottle, which I finally saw last night, but with more cut off!
I like Vert Pivoine best of the line, which may not surprise you. Like Parfumista I got more peony than rose, and loved the green aspect.
Noir Patchouli was not me at all and went on its way as a swap extra…
It indeed doesn’t surprise me that you like Vert Pivoine. I bet you smell lovely in it.
Half-bottles, yes, yes, yes! I love them!
Peony I like very much, but tend never to reach for— I’ve got the Parfums Delrae, Coup de Foudre, which I like so much whenever I pull it out, but hardly ever do so. The patchouli sounds really nice though! I can’t believe I haven’t tried more from this line! I still need to try Blanc Violette… And will get there eventually 🙂
Sorry I’m late here too! WP has been a nightmare, since I sometimes comment from work, where logging into WordPress isn’t something i like to do… So I’m behind on *everything*. Well, more than usual 😉
I know exactly what you mean: peony is lovely, I enjoy it when I wear it, but not something I ever crave.
Sorry, WP played up this week. 😦
My local Anthropologie store had the tiny bottles of Ambre 114, Noir Patchouli and 1969 today (Sat. 24/03/12) – so I got the little Ambre 114 straight away, counting my blessings at the affordable gorgeousness of it.
Woohoo! What a lucky find! Ambre 114 is great. Enjoy! 🙂
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