Reviews of The Unicorn Spell by LesNez
For my nose, this is more about iris than violet.
A peppery cool iris with violet weaving in and out like whisps of smoke, sometimes present, sometimes not.
It is certainly one of the best iris scents I have found and up until now, I was unaware of the similarity between iris and violet, two variations on a theme. My husband is reminded of walking in the produce section of a local food co-op, with the fresh organic green notes rising from the various vegetables and spices.
At times this reminds me of a light version of Lutens' Iris Silver Mist, as if Unicorn was the edc concentration of that classic.
Very very nice. Turin's four stars are well deserved.
A peppery cool iris with violet weaving in and out like whisps of smoke, sometimes present, sometimes not.
It is certainly one of the best iris scents I have found and up until now, I was unaware of the similarity between iris and violet, two variations on a theme. My husband is reminded of walking in the produce section of a local food co-op, with the fresh organic green notes rising from the various vegetables and spices.
At times this reminds me of a light version of Lutens' Iris Silver Mist, as if Unicorn was the edc concentration of that classic.
Very very nice. Turin's four stars are well deserved.
WOW, this is the third of Les Nez perfumes i sample and the second one i absolutely adore. Incredibly energetic frosted violets and sparkling greens. Like the other Nez frags i get some gourmand vibes here too, cotton candy, maybe a bit of celery, and hard lemon candy. Some very mild mannered woods in the bottom.
Exciting and fun, this is the kind of perfume i can't wait to show some friends, i know it will bring a great smile to their face. (Also i need to check if someone else found the initial brightly stinging chemical note to resemble another white substance you could snort up your nose)
Exciting and fun, this is the kind of perfume i can't wait to show some friends, i know it will bring a great smile to their face. (Also i need to check if someone else found the initial brightly stinging chemical note to resemble another white substance you could snort up your nose)
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This morning I was shelling some peas and this fragrance came immediately to my mind. Its green, woody, green beans odd sweet opening used to put me off from further sniffing, but today I'm finding it much more gentle, much softer and much more on the barely sugar coated violet side than I remembered. A violet fragrance that successfully avoids the cosmetic, powdery- lipstick- soap association and sticks to the vegetal, the woodsy, the frost covered grassy feel, on the same wavelenght of L'Artisan Verte Violette. A nice fragrance, for violet lovers.
Cold, so cold. I love it!
Having recently splurged on this I'm in heaven. Not your average sweet, cloying violet, this smells of cold slate washed with freezing sping water, a bank of violets near but earthy and slightly crushed under foot. The starlight is palpable. This is the older more lonesome cousin of Nuit Etoilee, almost emo - no crowd pleaser, a quiet dreamer. Just enough musk to smell the unicorn on the dry down. Next to no sillage, this one is just for me, at home, snuffling at my own wrists. Not for little girls this violet, and probably not for everyone - try before you splurge.
Having recently splurged on this I'm in heaven. Not your average sweet, cloying violet, this smells of cold slate washed with freezing sping water, a bank of violets near but earthy and slightly crushed under foot. The starlight is palpable. This is the older more lonesome cousin of Nuit Etoilee, almost emo - no crowd pleaser, a quiet dreamer. Just enough musk to smell the unicorn on the dry down. Next to no sillage, this one is just for me, at home, snuffling at my own wrists. Not for little girls this violet, and probably not for everyone - try before you splurge.
Violets in perfume clearly come via the world of just a few large flavour and fragrance companies. This is a long history, as ionones, the chemicals that indicate violet to our noses, and their offspring chemicals were early along in fragrance chemistry. To give an idea of their ubiquity over perfume history just two of these offspring are damascones and iso E super, waning and waxing stars respectively.
Ionones are also safely edible in certain concentrations and have thus been much used in such products as candies and lipsticks. How novel these scents and flavours must have appeared at the turn of the 20th century I shall never fully appreciate, but the retro-olfactive pleasure of violet in a Haigh's, Swizzles, Leone or Flavigny Violet candy or a vintage high end lipstick is unfashionable enough to have regained some surprise for a new generation. The world of the perfumed consumable moves slightly slower than the edible consumable, so this shared flavour and fragrance history, the fact that these products are devised by the same companies has meant that the received sensibility of "violet" in perfumes has often been a sweet or candied one and the accords used in perfumes can be informed by these associations. Sometimes the associations from edible confectionery or cosmetic applications loom much larger in scents than the shrinking flowers themselves.
Mind you, I'm not averse to a candied or cosmetic violet! I love those candies I named above, and take great pleasure in Ralf Schweiger's Lipstick Rose for Frederic Malle or Olivia Giacobetti's Drôle de Rose which both riff on cosmetic violet and rose masking fragrances. But what I love about what Isabelle Doyen has done with the Unicorn Spell is that her composition departs from the historic flavourandfragrance corporate idea of a perfume violet and returns to the flower itself. It also goes beyond the frequent functional use of ionones to add a sense of softness, fullness, or plushness or using their longevity to provide a bridge between perfume ingredients of differing volatility. Instead she brings the violet to the centre of the composition, but in a fresh way.
The composition creates something quite true to the violet flower not by presenting a natural-seeming violet accord in isolation, that might be a one note symphony. Instead she does it by placing her violet in an original context. In the Unicorn Spell violets blooms as they do in nature, in the coldest part of winter. Here the damp chilliness is imparted by rootlike and woody undertones (faint whispers of vetiver/patchouli and cedar), the greenness of the violet leaves is present, and her violet accord is remarkable and true as you will recognise, if like me you gather bunches on chill mornings with numb damp fingers for the pleasure of that scent.
I suspect that a large part of the composition is ionones producing that naturalistic violet (which to me reads like a syrupy liqueur of idealised flowers, powder and soap) and methyl ionones bringing weightier cedary aromas. These are presented in combination with the cucumbery, grassiness of violet leaf (green and "wet" smelling, if you like!). Together these elements resolve for me to produce a beautiful vision of dark purple blooms just visible amongst green heart-shaped leaves in wet soil on a foggy morning. Serge Lutens with Bois de Violette does a scent with some similar elements, but with no sharp, cold, wet or green notes, just ionones and methyl ionones violets and cedar - a different, warmer picture and pure pleasure for me :-) Interestingly, hours on, Unicorn dries down to something quite like the Lutens, violet and warm woods: as though the flowers were picked from the cold green bed and taken indoors to a cosy room to be savoured.
Ionones are also safely edible in certain concentrations and have thus been much used in such products as candies and lipsticks. How novel these scents and flavours must have appeared at the turn of the 20th century I shall never fully appreciate, but the retro-olfactive pleasure of violet in a Haigh's, Swizzles, Leone or Flavigny Violet candy or a vintage high end lipstick is unfashionable enough to have regained some surprise for a new generation. The world of the perfumed consumable moves slightly slower than the edible consumable, so this shared flavour and fragrance history, the fact that these products are devised by the same companies has meant that the received sensibility of "violet" in perfumes has often been a sweet or candied one and the accords used in perfumes can be informed by these associations. Sometimes the associations from edible confectionery or cosmetic applications loom much larger in scents than the shrinking flowers themselves.
Mind you, I'm not averse to a candied or cosmetic violet! I love those candies I named above, and take great pleasure in Ralf Schweiger's Lipstick Rose for Frederic Malle or Olivia Giacobetti's Drôle de Rose which both riff on cosmetic violet and rose masking fragrances. But what I love about what Isabelle Doyen has done with the Unicorn Spell is that her composition departs from the historic flavourandfragrance corporate idea of a perfume violet and returns to the flower itself. It also goes beyond the frequent functional use of ionones to add a sense of softness, fullness, or plushness or using their longevity to provide a bridge between perfume ingredients of differing volatility. Instead she brings the violet to the centre of the composition, but in a fresh way.
The composition creates something quite true to the violet flower not by presenting a natural-seeming violet accord in isolation, that might be a one note symphony. Instead she does it by placing her violet in an original context. In the Unicorn Spell violets blooms as they do in nature, in the coldest part of winter. Here the damp chilliness is imparted by rootlike and woody undertones (faint whispers of vetiver/patchouli and cedar), the greenness of the violet leaves is present, and her violet accord is remarkable and true as you will recognise, if like me you gather bunches on chill mornings with numb damp fingers for the pleasure of that scent.
I suspect that a large part of the composition is ionones producing that naturalistic violet (which to me reads like a syrupy liqueur of idealised flowers, powder and soap) and methyl ionones bringing weightier cedary aromas. These are presented in combination with the cucumbery, grassiness of violet leaf (green and "wet" smelling, if you like!). Together these elements resolve for me to produce a beautiful vision of dark purple blooms just visible amongst green heart-shaped leaves in wet soil on a foggy morning. Serge Lutens with Bois de Violette does a scent with some similar elements, but with no sharp, cold, wet or green notes, just ionones and methyl ionones violets and cedar - a different, warmer picture and pure pleasure for me :-) Interestingly, hours on, Unicorn dries down to something quite like the Lutens, violet and warm woods: as though the flowers were picked from the cold green bed and taken indoors to a cosy room to be savoured.
The opening is minty cool and freshly vegetal, as you follow the scent trail of crushed leaves, broken stems and trampled grass. Dawn has broken, the air somewhat chilly still. It is another 15 minutes or so before you come to a forest clearing strewn with the royal hues of violets - bittersweet and green. Of the unicorn there is no sign.
Strictly for fans of violet or green florals. And I happen to be one.
Strictly for fans of violet or green florals. And I happen to be one.
On paper: bitter green notes and violet for an overall effect that is not very far from Gray Flannel or Fahrenheit (but not as good as).
On skin: mainly violet reminding of those violet candies wrapped in purple tinfoil. Very efemeral, kind of cloying. If you're into straight ahead violet fragrances, go ahead. Not for me, sorry.
Isabelle Doyen is surely a very talented perfumeur but this time she simply didn't hit the target
On skin: mainly violet reminding of those violet candies wrapped in purple tinfoil. Very efemeral, kind of cloying. If you're into straight ahead violet fragrances, go ahead. Not for me, sorry.
Isabelle Doyen is surely a very talented perfumeur but this time she simply didn't hit the target
This is an upfront violet that reminds me of similar takes from niche houses Sonoma Scent Studio (Wood violet), DSH perfumes (violet di Murano), and more recently Ava Luxe's Black Violet.The spin here is green, and I like that; it keeps it fresh and energetic. This is an interesting scent to me; I'll wear it again a few times to see if my opinion changes, but my frist take is positive. I put this on before going to the gym to lift weights, and then ran a few shopping errands before taking a shower. Four hours later i still smelled like earthy violet and not stinky Kari, so props for that.Quality is as good as anything else, longevity is as expected from a niche natural line, and wearability is up there. A must for lovers of African violet!
If have you ever sat around topping green beans into one of those battered enamel colanders, this is the scent for you. This it what The Unicorn Spell smells like on application. Very odd little thing. Silver tinted and tenacious, it flows over the skin like moonlight and icing sugar. The earthy green vegetal surge fades into stardust. I can just smell the violet shimmering away under the snow, waiting for spring. I admire this, see its cleverness, but i cannot wear it. It just makes part of me shudder, like a hated vegetable from childhood, it looms very large. Thumbs up for execution, neutral for wearability.......
Yes, Bunsen Burners. It seems that in this frosty night-time forest of unicorns and crushed violets we have to use a bunsen burner to light our way. Bunsen Burners are fuelled by Methylated Spirits and it is meths that I smell in the opening of this marvellous fragrance, not green beans, although I do appreciate that view.So we open with a flare of methylated spirits which evaporates quickly but which somehow sets the scene for this starnge little piece of alchemical magic.The name of this fragrance and it's description are suggestive of fairy tale and fantasy and I do think that this will be off putting for some people. On the other hand I find that Isabelle Doyens intentions in this excercise; the mysterious unicorn , the frosty forest, are somehow undeniably and very cleverly conveyed in this fragrance.Having said all of that what we have in the end is a beautiful cool violet aromatic, earthy and strange. I would not have chosen a violet to wear before trying this one but I do enjoy this a great deal.Note; For anyone who doesn't know what a Bunsen Burner is it is a piece of equipment that produces a naked flame by burning methylated spirits. It was given to us as children in science classes to enable us to experiment with explosive material and stuff that turned to poisonous gas when heated.
It really does smell like green beans! Fascinating, but not something I'd like to smell of. And I'm not overly fond of the sweet, powdery, candied violet that comes next.
Searing ,fresh ,vivid ,icy green opens this scent - it's like a high. Then the violets come in and stay with all the sweetness and no powder. It is a magical perfume and it lasts for hours. The unicorn has trampled through the high grass and laid down in the violet bed all on a crisp winter's morning. That's The Unicorn Spell.
Les Nez The Unicorn SpellNotes: Violet (LesNez.com)The Unicorn Spell starts in a devastatingly green part of the spectrum. Initially, there is a strong resemblance to raw green beans. Lest anybody think their fragrance experience will be ruined by a nasty vegetable odor, let me say two things. First, this aspect lasts mere seconds while the juice dries. Second, fresh green beans smell GREAT. These are not the sorry, soggy flavorless green beans you get from a can. They are the bitter green things you pick from vines in the garden, and to my nose, smell so much like sappy stems and wood, that they almost do not seem edible. Also, if I may take a jab at a certain Hermes "tomato stem" accord, I find the opening of TUS to be far fresher and more inviting.As TUS moves into the mid notes, the star of the show becomes obvious--violet. Violet leaf, violet stem, violet root, violet blossom. This is an arrestingly gorgeous dry, green woody note that is softly supported by orris root. I am not sure if I can detect galbanum, but to be sure, the violet leaf note is complex enough to have swallowed any galbanum whole. A galbanum-like bitterness is certainly present. This middle stage develops very slowly over a few hours. The bitter green softens as the iris takes over, making the whole thing seem more billowy. I have the feeling I am in a field of wild flowers at the edge of a forest. Here I can smell indistinct florals and fragrant foliage baking in the sun while I also smell the damp coolness of the forest floor and aromatic, woody tree bark. Sadly, the base notes do not support this fragrance much beyond the time the mid notes fade. At this stage (around four hours after application) TUS becomes a very close-wearing skin scent of gentle ambergris, slightly sweet and salty. I absolutely adore this interpretation of "green" using violet and iris, and this is no surprise since I love green fragrances on the whole (especially Chanel No.19). In comparison to No.19, TUS is much greener, less overtly floral, and does not ever turn very powdery. In fact, TUS is almost an anti-perfume. The fragrance is evocative, but it doesn't seem to be a beauty product per se. Likewise, it is not so experiential that it is forced into the realm of an unwearable concept piece. I am smitten by this green beauty that walks the line between conventional fragrance and something completely different.
Very well made cute little fragrance which is however not my style mainly because I like fragrances with a bit more kick to them. This is very subtle, almost weak fragrance.Burst straight from the sample vial/bottle smells quite lovely: Cool and crisp violets with dusty rooty tone. Smells very earthy, very intriguing. The one could swear there must be a doze of orris in the blend….That very delicate earthiness remains all the way through. This is indeed very vegetal fragrance. Makes me think of fresh green plants, violets at the gates of dawn, dust, gooseberry bushes, apple tree blossoms, freshly cut grass etc.Actually a beautiful fragrance, but like I said it's not made for me. But I also have to admit I was a bit too harsh and hasty on reviewing one other scent from this company (LMPTL), when I said all of their (LezNez) fragrances are totally pointless…Oh well….The Unicorn Spell is not TOTALLY pointless! And the new release, Manoumalia, is quite nice too.
I find this opens with a blast of green beans. And though the green beans dissipate over time, they don't go away, just become slightly sweeter and more powdery. Interesting, but not for me.
For what "The Unicorn Spell" lacks in casual wearability, it makes up for in establishing a mystical ambience. This fragrance completely carries it's mythical mantle and is cooly distant, but not disturbing."The Unicorn Spell" smells of ancient ideals of honor and fundamental goodness. This is the "Joan of Arc" of fragrance or something an Elvin princess would wear. This is what I'd imagine the mythological goddess Athena would smell of. For mortals, through iris-grey haze or misty mineral water, you face the unicorn and accept your fairy tale task or eternal fate; it was already written in the stars. There is a nice usage of violet and iris in this potion--two notes that often veer dangerously toward sugar-syrypy sweetness--and a subtle wetness that makes me think of full-moon nights in dewy forests. 'The Unicorn Spell" is a gracefully charming fragrance but as such, can become an exhausting aura to carry off day-in and day-out. I think I'll save this scent for days when I want to be a more philosophically contemplative and poised to fight battles of legendary ideals.
I usually find violet especially violet leaf disagreeable in fragrances. The violet in this one goes past disagreeable to disgusting and then rapidly overshoots to repugnant. Sorry, this one is a scrubber for me. If you like violet notes, be sure to give it a try it certainly has violet!
Keep a silver locket in the freezer for a week, then pull it out and put it on - that's The Unicorn Spell. Undeniably pretty, but so cold it makes my sinuses ache. Green, with scarcely a hint of the warmth you associate with a flower; these are the tiny, pale violets that grow close to the ground because they bloomed too early in the spring and had to weather a lot of chilly nights. On the skin, soft woods begin to embellish and warm the scent after half an hour; but the violet note, almost metallic to my nose, hangs on much longer; then the whole thing vanishes into oblivion, just as a hint of vanilla begins to pull the scent off-center.
I've become more and more interested in fragrances that do not smell conventionally "perfume-y", particularly if they manage to paint an olfactory picture. Wishing to avoid hyperbole, this opens with the sharp vegetal green tang of crushed leaves and softens to a wet rooty violet and perhaps a hint of chilly iris - a true to life floral, perfectly conjuring a midnight walk in a damp spring garden. A little unconventional, but really very pretty and wearable.
A very interesting scent, in a good way. On my skin the opening is strong, green, and floral, as if flowers had been pounded into a vegetable patch by a hard rain. Then a cold, very "rooty" violet appears, along with some other dry floral scent (my nose isn't good enough yet to tell what it is - maybe it's iris?) At any rate, if Unicorn spell stayed like this I would buy it, just to have something this attractive and non-perfumy. However, the drydown is so similar to the Grey Flannel my husband used to wear I will not be buying a bottle. Not that it isn't attractive, but that I'm searching for something I haven't smelled before.
Smells like lying on dewy grass at the entrance of a cave, in foggy moonlight, in winter. I cannot detect any individual notes, and the overall effect is not what one would normally call 'perfume', but as a whole, the scent is VERY evocative of a fairy-tale setting. The Unicorn Spell has a cold, earthy feel to it, but also a transparent softness in the style of L'Eau d'Hiver. The lasting power is only moderate at best, but as a lover of 'challenging' scents, I would highly recommend this.
Disappeared & then lingered only slightly on me in 1 hour, which was disappointing.I couldn't figure out what it smelled like until I read zztopp's review & I have to agree with the "salty cold cucumber" smell.I really wanted to like this, after many positive reviews I read, but I didn't. Glad I sampled it, before I bought a full bottle.Will be sampling the other 2 Les Nez this week...
The Unicorn Spell was designed around the concept of frostiness, violet, moonlight and transparency." To me it smells anything but transparent or frosty. Vegetal and very green, it should have been named The Unicorn Breath instead.Violet flower forms the main heart of the fragrance. Its all about raw vegetal violets. The opening smells like salty cold cucumbers lying on a dinner plate in a hot and humid room. I dont know how this is supposed to convey frostiness and transparency. I doubt you will smell anything like this at the Himalayas or the North Pole. A floral (berry?) heart provides much needed sapidity to the droning violet accord, and the drydown introduces a pleasant but muted tea note. Longevity is 5-6 hours.The Unicorn Spell fails to live up to its original flowery (no pun intended) description. Judged solely on its composition, I dont find it to be a particularly appealing violet fragrance either. If you are looking for a fragrance which highlights the vegetal dirtiness of violet, this might be worth investigating. I would recommend you try the classic Green Irish Tweed first, a fragrance which not only showcases the vegetal side of violet extremely well, but flanks it with notes of lemon verbana and sandalwood to form a very compelling potion. If you are on a budget, look no further than the excellent Grey Flannel - a superbly blended fragrance which is a must for violet lovers.