Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular Perfume
When it comes to Chloé perfumes, I don’t really have an opinion one way or another. When I do, they discontinue whatever I like (such as Love, Chloé). Everything else has been a rose-y flanker that basically define “generic perfume” smells. It’s not that those are bad; I’m actually genuinely in awe of their line for creating things that are so generic that I can’t even describe them. They posses a special power because there are few perfumes that make me shut up.
When Chloé launched Nomade, I was in no rush to try it. It marketed itself as a chypre and with this designer perfume’s record, I just expected for this to smell like a rose dryer sheet and not anything remotely moss-y or different from their massive catalog of Coty-fied roses.
Nomade smells like what the brand promises – a modern chypre. It opens with weeds that smell like an overgrown pasture mixed with a pleasant commercial perfume. It’s like lily and stone fruits (notably peaches and plums). I also start to pick up on a sulfuric grapefruit peel and tomato leaves. I also swear that I get lychee, basically all of the stuff that is not listed in the perfume’s note list. The heart of the scent has a hint of non-descript wildflowers/pollen, tomato leaves, blackcurrant, and well, sourness. Nomade is fruity and sweet but it’s weird because there’s bitter greenness throughout the scent. It eventually dries down to a dry, sharp, and green moss with patchouli and woods that seem like they’ve been put through the washer and dryer.
Over the past decade, there’s been many designer perfumes that promised us a “modern chypre”. However, I found those perfumes to be the usual fruity-floral compositions but with a base with the faintest traces of moss (and a lot of patchouli that has graduated from Fruitichouli Academy). To my surprise, Nomade is recognizably a chypre. But, it’s not an old school chypre. It’s modern enough and well, generic enough, to be sold to people that have no clue that chypre is a perfume genre.
Notes listed include Mirabelle liquor, freesia and oak moss. Launched in 2019. PERFUMER – Quentin Bisch
Give Nomade a try if you like sour fruity florals. Or perfumes like INeKe Gilded Lily, Jo Malone London English Oak and Redcurrant, Miller Harris Cassis en Feuille, Rochas Femme (modern) and/or Kelly & Jones Notes of Merlot. And maybe even stuff that is bitter and green like Annick Goutal Folavril.
Projection and longevity are above average. This definitely wears more like an EDP. When I wrote this review, I didn’t realize that there is an EDT and an EDP and apparently they smell different. I wish the brand would have done what they usually do and just make the EDT a flanker! With the way this one wore, I was shocked to find out that the entire time I’ve been sampling the EDT and not the EDP.
Nomade comes in a few sizes with the 1.7 oz retailing for $95 at Sephora.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Sour chypre. Personally, I don’t see myself wearing something like this but I appreciate that a mainstream designer perfume finally managed to make a modern chypre that isn’t ashamed of its oakmoss past.
*Sample obtained by me. Product pic from Sephora. Grace Coddington in Vogue August 1966 from pleasurephoto.wordpress.com.
I feel slightly lame for saying this but, wow – what a pretty bottle! Ready for some autumnal scents, post more reviews please!! (And your photo choices always seem spot on with the fragrance you are reviewing)
Lol, I’ve actually felt the same with Chloe (and Cartier) bottles! That’s one of the good things about designer perfumes. They can spend the money on original bottles.
Me too! I’m ready to retire all those citrus perfumes I’ve been wearing. I started to dig through my backlog of samples this weekend. I’m trying to find things that I think will transition into fall. I’ve oddly been craving tobacco scents again (after burning myself out on those) and spices.
I read that Chanel is – or has – released an extrait of Coromandel!! That may be my fall (and winter) splurge.
I SAW THIS! I want to go by the boutique to try it!
I appreciate your review, you smelled a lot more in Nomade than I did! I didn’t care for it at all. I don’t smell it as a chypre, not even a modern version. I do have a bottle of Love Chloe and occasionally enjoy it’s pretty soapiness.
Do you know/remember if you tried the EDT/EDP (or both)? I’m starting to feel a little loony because every time I talk about it, people tell me they had an experience like yours.
But, I swear, this is what I get. I get a lot of bitterness and moss that reminds me of Annick Goutal perfumes from the 80’s. This is an EDT sample from Sephora. I have not tried the EDP or any other variations so idk. It’s been weird though.
Chloe has an aggressively inoffensive aesthetic when it comes to perfumes. They do soap pretty darn well 😉
Hey V, long time no comment from me but I’m in agreement on your assessment as usual! I remember being shocked, actually, when I sprayed this at Sephora. Instead of the usual fruit candy, it was “strong” (my ridiculously non-descriptive word that usually applies to a scent with more patchouli than I could ever wear ) and almost masculine feeling. While it’s not a scent for me either, I feel the same way about appreciating Chloé for trying something different. For the right person, this could open up the gates to Perfumeland 😉
Yeah, it’s not something I ever see myself wearing. There is something “strong” about it. (I can’t come up with a better word either!). But, it’s strong but sharp too. And bitter. And now that I’m saying this, those are the sort of words I use to describe mainstream, designer masculine scents. It has that dry woods/patchouli that is in a lot of designer scents that really, really want you to know it’s “For Men”.
Anyway, it’s not what I expected (which is good). It is nice to see something different from them.
I am curious about the EDP because I’m hearing people say this perfume was sweet on them. It was a bitter, dry, green thing on me. I’m wondering if the EDP is more candied? All I know is that Sephora sent me an EDT sample and I was like “Wow, this is different for designer!”
Yes, I originally wrote strong and *sharp* in my comment to you but it’s been a while since I smelled it and wondered if I was misremembering. OMG yes maybe it originally started its product development as a men’s scent, ha!
Huh, I’m assuming I tried the EDT too? I grabbed the only bottle I saw on the Sephora shelf at the time so I dunno really. It was definitely NOT sweet on me. Hm, this sounds like a perfume mystery that I need to investigate as soon as I make it back to the mainland! ️♀️
It also doesn’t help that the EDP and the EDT bottles are almost identical! I don’t think I could tell the difference if I went into Sephora right now. I’d have to read the fine print very carefully!
I do plan on trying the EDP the next time I’m out. I’m hearing that version is more plum-y and rose-y than the EDT. Most people are saying it is sweeter, especially on paper. Who knows what my body will do to it…