Yves Rocher
Yves Rocher
82 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Peach emerges with surprising hesitancy—not the candied stone fruit of popular fragrances, but a pale, barely-there impression that immediately cedes ground to the aquatic elements. Within minutes, the composition tilts decidedly cool and herbaceous, the fruit note dissolving like morning dew.
Water lily takes the foreground, its green-tinged, almost soapy quality defining the dry-down landscape. The powdery accord becomes increasingly prominent, softening the aquatic's initial crispness and creating a hazy, talc-dusted veil that feels almost creamy against the cool florality.
Cedar emerges with quiet authority, introducing woody mineral dryness that tempers the powdery floral heart. The musk base provides skin-adhesive warmth without sweetness, leaving behind a subtle, almost abstract marriage of soft powder and distant wood smoke—barely perceptible, lingering like a suggestion rather than a presence.
Ming Shu arrives as a whisper rather than a declaration—a fragrance that prioritises restraint over projection. The peach top note emerges with a soft, almost translucent quality, lacking the juicy vivacity one might expect; instead, it reads more as a delicate stone fruit impression, almost peachy-floral rather than distinctly peach. This immediate sweetness quickly yields to the heart's water lily, which anchors the composition in aquatic freshness. The lily doesn't perform as a romantic floral flourish but rather as a cool, slightly green catalyst that emphasises the fragrance's 88% aquatic accord—think less garden flower, more the green-tinged dampness of a lily pad's underside.
What defines Ming Shu is its powdery undertone (52% in the accords), which softens the aquatic-floral interplay into something almost skinlike. There's a green earthiness threading through the mid-stages, likely from the cedar base beginning its emergence, creating a subtle tension between the cool, wet florality and woody mineral dryness.
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Jo Malone
3.5/5 (80)