Père Noël

[verystarry]

On Christmas Eve, French children leave shoes filled with carrots by their fireplaces as a treat for Gui, Père Noëls donkey. If the child has been good, Père Noël takes Guis offering and fills the childs shoes with sweet fruits, candies, and small toys.

Bright Sicilian oranges and sweet tangerines with a clink of lavender candy and a drop of anise.

I wanted to cry when I put this on. It reminded me of growing up in Italy, and the Christmas holiday. Captured perfectly. Have you ever had those anise cookies from an Italian bakery? That's what the anise note is like in this one, and the orange is distinctly Sicilian I don't know HOW they captured this so perfectly but they did. I'm not a huge citrus scent based fan but this one, wrapped my heart up in magic and took me back to being a child at Christmas time.

[TallGrrl78]

Just put a dab on and wow, I love this one. It's anise and tangerines/oranges. The anise kind of lends a spice to the orange. The orange and tangerine is just so bright and happy. Smells like delicious candy. After a few minutes, the lavender starts to pop out a bit in the background. The whole thing blends together seamlessly. So happy I sprung for a bottle on this one

 

This just keeps getting more fantastic the longer I wear it. Now it's like a candied anise on me. I think I'm gonna need to grab a backup bottle of this one. I also wish I could get this as an atmo so I could spray all the things with it!

[annemathematics]

I don't know what I was expecting when I blind bought this baby. I had a hunch, and my gamble played off big time. I snagged several beautiful new scents, but this is the one I'm currently gushiest about.

 

The candy note reminds me of the sugared vanilla in the lick its, and not the clean clear candy notes ala jolly rancher aka "if only one knew the right way to change them."

This is an anise orange lavender lick it and it's blowing my mind with awesomeness. Total swoony love happening right now between my nose and my arm.

[Hystrixia]

In the Bottle: Père Noël is a bright yellow colored oil in the bottle that smells of sweet tangerines, fresh orange zest, and candied anise. Even from the inside the bottle it smells sugary sweet.

Top Notes: Freshly applied on my wrist, the anise and hard candy note is immediately noticeable alongside the tangerine and orange. The lavender is not detectable at all at this point. It has an almost creamy quality that is lovely. It is like sniffing a bag full of anise drops and candied oranges. Very yummy and definitely foodie.

Middle Notes: An hour has passed and the hard candy mixed with the creamy anise has become the dominant note with the oranges as the supporting player. The overall scent is like a sickeningly sweet and almost plastic-y creamsicle on my skin. I’m pretty sure I smell like one of those Peppermint Rose or Cupcake dolls I used to have as a little girl back in the 90’s. Still no lavender at this point and I highly doubt it will ever show up on me.

Base Notes: Almost four hours later and it has become straight up candied anise drops with not a hint of the orange or tangerine whatsoever; only sugary sweetness. Bummer!

Overall Impression: Curses! I was hoping for a juicier, fruity orange based fragrance with only a touch of candy. It’s a shame considering I really, REALLY liked the initial wear stages where it smelled like candied oranges and anise. Unfortunately for me, this turned into a straight-up sugar fest on my skin. I will admit it was a bit nice as it reminded a lot of being a little girl again, but I don’t exactly enjoy smelling like a creamsicle fragranced plastic doll in the process. Père Noël scent colors are vanilla white, bright orange, and chartreuse.

Pere Noel’s sillage is fairly good in the beginning but it tapers off considerably as it has a short period of longevity. Prepare to slather yourself in this if you want the scent to last all day on you.

Final Verdict: Père Noël will not be staying in my collection. Off to the Swaps it goes!

Edited December 22, 2015 by Hystrixia

[Aviatrix]

In the bottle this is all orange, a slightly bitter, but not unpleasant orange. On the skin, however, the candy and anise really come out! I don't get any lavender as such, but the candy feeling is definitely there. The orange goes to the background and mingles nicely with the anise. This orange is different from any other orange note I have ever tried. But I do like it.

Unfortunately it is very faint on me, so I have to really slather it and reapply throughout the day. But even so, I think I will get a lot of use from it, so I am glad I took a chance on a bottle.

[Sakura Tsukikage]

This is such a lovely scent! I wasn't sure how this one would turn out, since I'm a bit dubious when it comes to anise/licorice notes in scent, but I absolutely love it.

 

It smells very sweet to me in the bottle, and on skin I get an immediate hit of sweet orange wafting around me, sugary and almost creamsicley, but not necessarily anisey. Closer to my skin, I do get the lavender and it deepens the scent just a bit, melding with the anise to give it an herbal depth of a sort--herbal isn't quite the right word, because it's so sweet and candyish, but it's the only word that comes to mind, but if you're afraid of herbal scents, I wouldn't say you need to be worried about it, it's just deeper and not quite as candyish close to the skin. As it wears, the sweet orange dominates (and there's definitely a tangerine quality to it), but more anise moves into the waft--but I still love it! I agree with the sense of sugared vanilla candy with sweet, gentle anise and a hint of lavender described by other reviewers. It had great sillage on me, and it lasted much longer than I expected! I put it on around noon and I could still smell hints of it when I was heading to bed, though it was very light after about five hours. Still, I didn't expect it to last that long.

 

This is such a sweet and lovely scent! It's unusual for a holiday scent, but it also seems to really capture the feeling of Christmas and the holidays for me. Still, I think you could certainly wear it year-round!

[astarinel]

Bright sweet orange + anise, with a tiny bit of lavender. This is one that smells like its note list in a great way, with lovely citrus.

 

I would definitely want more if it stays the way it is wet, but as it dries the citrus burns off very quickly and I'm left with a creamy anise candy scent, which is nice, but reminds me of anise-heavy scents that I already have.

[spookygrrrly]

In the bottle: Light sweet orange and tangerine.

 

Wet: Creamy orange. Kind of like an orange creamsicle. But sugared vanilla too. I don't notice any anise but my husband did so I guess it is in there somewhere.

 

Dry: Vanilla, orange, and cream. I haven't been wearing it quite and hour and it is almost completely gone.

 

It is a sweet and pretty scent but not quite what I expected. The lavender and anise never really came out on my skin and it just doesn't last on me at all.

 

EDITED 2/23/16:

 

I'm not even sure why but I tried my decant at the end of January...basically a month later...and WOW now I get what the other reviewers were talking about. A beautiful blend of tangerine, vanilla cream, and anise. I'm thoroughly in love now and went and got a bottle. Now I'm wondering if I should have bought two!

Edited February 24, 2016 by spookygrrrly

[Soupy Twist]

Tangerine and that soft restaurant mint candy in the bottle. Goes on as tangerine and orange, which becomes freshly-squeezed orange juice. Morphs into powdered anise, almost like anisette cookies. Absolutely delicious. It softens a little bit as it wears, which might be the lavender but to me is more like the roundness of vanilla.

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: Sweet tangerines and candy, followed by Sicilian orange, and then the anise.

 

Wet: This smells like orange candy on me. The anise starts off lurking in the background, but then quickly gains prominence. I'm not fond of anise, so I was hoping it would stay in the background. It smells like anise candy now.

 

Dry: Candied anise. It smells soft, like there is a powder around the candy. The citrus notes are lingering in the background.

 

Verdict: There is just too much anise in this one for me, though the candy part of this smells nice.

Edited January 9, 2016 by dementia_divine

[jensdays]

It’s the lab’s basic citrus blend. Very close to Gobo without the cream, actually. Nice, but nothing I’d go out of my way for. It did last a long while on my skin, had very little throw though, and I never got anything but citrus.

[Carolan Ivey]

This one started out smelling like a just-opened box of lemon creme cookies, which was quite pleasant. A few minutes later though, my skin reacted with something - maybe the anise? - and I was racing to wash it off. I've never tried any BPALs with anise before, so I'm thinking that's something I should stay away from in the future. With regret, into the sell/trade/giveaway box. :/

[milo]

Sweet, creamy citrus, and tobacco, though I'm sure it's probably the anise that is the culprit. I don't get lavender, but maybe it adds something to the blend that I'm not aware of. I like this, it kind of reminds me of Knick-Knack, a super exclusive Post imp back in the day. This one is brighter and sweeter though. I like this, but it is a teeny sweet for me, but I love the orange and anise together. A reluctant pass, and I probably would have sprung for a bottle if I weren't so poor, and the dollar was better. I'm guessing a guy would do amazing things to this blend.

[Klepz]

Pere Noel. How do I begin a review for this scent? His notes are so simple, yet that very simplicity creates a scent that is paradoxically complex and so, so beautiful.

 

Santa was love at first sniff, before I even opened the decant. Despite this, straight out of the mail he was more of a bitter orange scent and a few days rest allowed him to mellow and smooth out beautifully. He's all bright, cheery and juicy orange and tangerine - like sunshine, and light, and happiness in a bottle. For a second on wet, the citrus has a bitterness to it that disappears quickly enough. The candy I was so afraid of brightens the citrus and sweetens it around the edges so that there's almost a dusty vanilla pudding halo around the scent. So it adds a pinch of sweetness without making the scent smell like hard candy. It's definitely bright fruit.

 

The anise is right up there with the citrus. It's not dominant, and it's not overpowering, but it is ever-present from the wet stage to the drydown and it's what makes the scent so stunning.

 

Pere Noel is bright, happy, and utterly unique. He is tied for my favorite BPAL of all time and I hope he will be back for many Yule releases to come.

 

Thank you for making this Beth. Thank you for putting this beautiful scent out into the world. I have no words for how grateful I am.

 

 

[sprout]

This is an Insta bottle purchase for me.

 

In vitro: oranges! The oil is orange too.

 

Wet: sweet orange oil and zingy, effervescent tangerine!

 

Early dry: Each of the notes are discernable, orange/tangerine, anise, candy sweet lavender, cookies

 

Drydown: Father Christmas dries to slightly sweet pizzelle cookies. Lavender candies are like the Belfana note.

 

Final analysis: The notes are all present but combine to smell like a tray of delicious treats. This is perfect. The pizzelle cookies are dead ringers, slightly sweet with just a hint of anise. If you liked La Belfana and Sugar Cookie, this should be a no-brainer. I'd love it if the sillage was stronger, but aging could improve that. The only question I have to ask is do I need multiple bottles or not?

Edited January 22, 2016 by sprout

[Nyx_DevineNight]

In the bottle: Oranges, tangerines and lavender. This will be interesting.

Wet: Wow! Can you say oranges and tangerines? They are strong at first. Then you start smelling the anise, and the lavender comes in behind. This is interesting, but in a good way.

Dry: The anise has now come out to dominate the scent with the lavender still close behind. But the oranges and tangerines are now barely there. I surprisingly like this. I was really unsure about it because of the note mixture and I'm not fond of orange. But this turned out really nice... A while later it is all anise. But I don't mind. I happen to be fond of that scent. I'm just not sure if I want to smell like it.

[VioletChaos]

This didn't jump out at me when I placed my initial Yule order, but so many people were raving about it, that I decided to take a chance on a bottle. Lessee what I have here!

 

In the Bottle: Wow. That's...not what I expected. It smells like orange cake with a thin sugar glaze frosting. Holy moly!

 

Wet On Skin: More of the same, with a little of the lavender poking out. This is a sugary lavender, like a mild version of the note in TKO- which I *adore*. I don't like most florals, but give me sugared flowers and I'm so there.

 

Dry Down: The lavender becomes a bit more prominent and the orange has retreated, but I don't mind at all. I've often lamented that I can't wear TKO as a perfume because it does as claimed and knocks me right out. Well now I have a sweet, gentle sugary lavender scent to wear just for fun and I'm totally delighted with it.

[zankoku_zen]

So this is a morpher. I get the orange and tangerine on wet, but it dries down to a lavender candy blend that reminds me more to TKO. So if oranges and TKO had a baby, this is what that baby would smell like.

[Teaker]

I like this very much. A lovely deep orange, with sweet licorice candy. Very wearable, sweet but not cloying or overwhelming. Nice for layering with creamy or vanilla scents, too. A winner for me.

[theredkilt]

The opening greets me with a burst of juicy oranges, the same ones as in Eastern Comma. Then the lavender peeks out and the whole things dissipates to a comforting fruity sweetness. I was expecting more zest and zing and punch. This is to mellow for my taste.

[aphrodite]

i absolutely love this scent. it's a bright, candied tangerine-orange above all for me. i don't specifically detect the lavender, and the anise darkens it around the edges a bit but isn't especially prominent. but they both work to make this scent complex, simple, calming, and uplifting all at once. the throw and longevity are surprising for a citrus, too. if i put on too much it can become cloying, but applying just a little with an optional afternoon touch up is perfect.

[mymymai]

ITI: Orange-sickle! Oh my gosh, my mouth is actually watering.
Wet: Ripe, sugary oranges, sticky candy tangerine, cream, and a hint of lavender make this a foody scent worth having. Oh my gosh. Excuse me while I try not to eat my arm.
Dry: It's still a lovely scent, even though it isn't as long lived as I would like (I dislike having to reapply during the work day). What's left after 3 hours is a light orange, something that reads as a creamy musk on my skin, and a touch of gentle lavender.

[Haltija]

I have never loved a orange scent as much as I love this one.

 

It's perfectly balanced orange and tangerine with the most mouthwatering anise I have ever smelled. I get 0 lavender and that's just fine. The combination of tangerine and anise is sooo stunning. It's sweet but not too sweet and tart without being obnoxious. Thank you for this Beth! It's perfect <3

[LiberAmoris]

Père Noël is a lovely fragrance, but it took me many tries before it finally smelled the way others have noted it above. For the first 3 or 4 tests, it smelled a bit chalky on me, an issue I attribute to some wonky skin chemistry lately.

 

Orange and lavender are fantastic together, and one of my first signature fragrances was a solid tangerine-lavender perfume that came in a tin. Père Noël reminds me less of Yuletime and more of that fantastic natural fragrance I wore as a teenager. Amongst the orange, tangerine, and lavender, the anise is a nice touch—it's pretty light-handed and just makes everything a little richer and more nuanced.

 

So glad that I hung onto this and kept trying!

[vanilla323]

This one was tricky on me. I loved the anise note but the orange notes started to remind me of a cleaning product sadly. I also don't know if me and lavender get along either. But I'm glad I got to try it. Passed it on someone who loves it.