[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] I’m going back a bit in time here and expecting many to already know this fragrance, but it’s my first time with Goutal Eau de Sud which launched in 1996. It’s a good way to observe how radically fragrances have changed over the past years – this is enveloping, rich and so French if I can describe it like that. My first thought on it was its ‘Frenchness’ and how it typifies warmth and sensuality and when combined with skin is something almost explosively feminine.
The juice was created by Annick Goutal but now lives under the Goutal label – Annick’s daughter, Camille, has taken the reigns since Annick passed in 1999. The opener is fresh – bergamot and orange, with middle notes of lemon verbena, lime, mint and jasmine with the jasmine doing its usual takeover of everything. So, that heavy bloom scent that jasmine gives is what wraps the entire experience. My brain quite often pings up images when I smell something for the first time – this time it was heavy cream satin – and then it made me think of the time I saw Isabella Blow having tea in a full length cream satin shift dress with a netting fascinator crossing her face (Philip Treacy perhaps). She was surrounded by six or seven young men in suits – they were hanging on her every word. So, I suppose that Goutal Eau de Sud is the scent of that moment that makes one human beguiling to others. I bet there is a word for it in the German language which excels at naming nuances.
The base notes are oakmoss, vetiver and patchouli but I don’t think I can pull them out individually in this. I get citrus and warm jasmine, mainly. Anyway, what a discovery – do you know this one already? I’ve read other reviews of this that are so at odds with my thoughts – many seem to find grapefruit and sandalwood notes and high citrus content, and while, yes, citrus is there, it’s less dominant to my nose than the jasmine. Perhaps the notes have changed over the years, but there is a mysterious amount of conflict! I’ve found it at Escentual for £68.40 HERE, non-affiliate HERE.
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