Nicolaï / Parfums de Nicolaï
Nicolaï / Parfums de Nicolaï
81 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Galbanum cuts through with vegetal urgency, immediately sweetened by acacia's honeyed impression and bergamot's cool citrus. It's a green-floral slap that suggests something fresh, almost herbal, before the heavy florals begin their inevitable rise.
The florals mass together into something simultaneously lush and slightly indolic—tuberose's creamy warmth dominates, supported by jasmine's wine-dark sweetness and orange blossom's delicate bitterness. The orris creates a powdery, almost aldehydic gleam over everything, whilst those animalic undertones gradually surface, lending an almost skin-like warmth to proceedings.
Oakmoss and sandalwood form a woody, slightly smoky foundation as the florals thin considerably. The musk becomes prominent—soft, creamy, slightly animalic—lingering with those oakmoss minerals in a drydown that's decidedly retro, faintly earthy, never quite clean.
Number One Intense announces itself as a fragrance of deliberate contradiction—a green chypre that refuses the lightness its opening suggests. Patricia de Nicolaï has constructed something baroque here: the galbanum strikes with that characterful pencil-shaving sharpness, immediately tempered by sweet acacia absolute's honeyed warmth, whilst bergamot provides a citrus frame that feels almost incidental compared to what's building underneath.
The genius lies in the heart's unbridled florality. Rather than creating a neat, compartmentalised bouquet, these absolutes (orange blossom, ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine, rose) blur into one another with an almost creamy density. The orris butter acts as a binder, lending everything a talcum-like softness that prevents the composition from tipping into soapiness. There's a subtle spiciness threading through—not pepper, but rather the warm, slightly animalic quality that certain jasmine samples possess, amplified by those animalic base notes to come.
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4.3/5 (135)