Pavillon des Fleurs is the debut fragrance from Septimanie Perfumes. The ad copy calls it a "luminous and refined fragrance" and a "sonata of white flowers", but Angela described it more bluntly in an email as "a good wallop of jasmine". Who doesn't love a good wallop of jasmine? (If you're thinking: uh, me, then move on to the next post, there's nothing else to see here today.)
Pavillon des Fleurs starts out, actually, with a little slap of jasmine, lightened by orange blossom and a touch of citrus, and only slowly builds up to the goodly wallop stage, although do bear in mind that I'm trying it from a vial. Sprayed from the bottle, it might get to the wallop stage somewhat faster. The jasmine is strong, but it stays bright and spring-like all the way though, and it's just a wee tad indolic, about the way I like my jasmine. The base is pale and velvety, and the "English leather" (the notes: jasmine, ylang ylang, orange blossom, English leather, iris and lily of the valley) is that sort of suede-at-40-paces that isn't likely to scare anybody.
Nor should the jasmine scare you off: this doesn't pack the same punch as say, Norma Kamali Jazmin or Bruno Acampora Jasmin, nor does it scream BIG WHITE FLORAL like Diptyque's (lovely) Olène. Pavillon des Fleurs is lush and romantic but not overwhelming, and while I wouldn't call it it hugely unusual, it is very much worth a try if you're after a new white floral for spring.
Septimanie Perfumes Pavillon des Fleurs is $110 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum; for buying information, see the listing for Septimanie Perfumes under Perfume Houses.
For an even bigger wallop of jasmine, try Lush's Jasmine & Henna Fluff Ease. This is a pre-treatment for hair, and is supposed to smooth hair and add shine. You apply it to dry hair, leave it on for 20 minutes, then shampoo and condition as usual. They aren't kidding about the jasmine: this stuff is STRONGLY scented, and if you don't really like jasmine, you might find those 20 minutes well nigh unbearable.
The first time I used it, I followed with two other Lush products: Rehab shampoo, an aromatic blend of rosemary and mint, then American Cream conditioner, which Lush describes as "sweet strawberry milkshake". I thought for sure that those two would knock the jasmine dead, but no, when I started to blow-dry my hair, all I could smell is jasmine. I could still smell the jasmine the next morning, and I could still smell it, faintly, after washing and conditioning my hair again the next day.
As much as I like the Oscar Blandi jasmine products for hair, the Lush puts them to shame in terms of lasting power. For my second trial, I used the Lush first then followed with the Oscar Blandi shampoo and conditioner. It made for a nice little jasmine fest, and annoyed everyone else in my household.
The Jasmine & Henna Fluff Ease is $20.95 for a 7.7 oz tub, and Lush suggests that you use a quarter of a pot for short hair; about half a pot for longer hair. My hair is shoulder length, and I used about half of a generous sample — I'm quite sure I would not need more than 1/8th of the tub to treat my hair. As for the smoothing and shining, well, who knows. I have what is known as "bad" hair, very dry and prone to frizz, and wasn't expecting a whole lot of smoothing and shining. It did make my hair much softer, and it made it smell like jasmine for a couple days. That's good enough for me.