I coveted this bottle for over a year, before giving in to its good looks. It is probably one of the top 3 most striking bottles I own and it really lights up my countertop with its intriguing beauty. While I was busy coveting the bottle I had convinced myself that my chance encounter with the fragrance inside was perhaps, more significant and attractive than it really was, actually. When I tested it on a gloriously sunny day of browsing and shopping the upscale shops near Venice Beach California, 'the world was my oyster' and I felt that by wearing Inédite, I would smell like sugared almonds, pearls and princesses and attract the world to throw lavish parades in my honor.
If you've ever had a brief encounter with an intriguing, witty and stylish individual who was pleasant, perhaps slightly flirtacious, and then found yourself unable to stop thinking about said person, developing a mini-crush and fantasizing about giving them your number, laughing and chatting for hours, etc. and then you DO run into them again, only this time they are kind of aloof, you notice their voice is rather grating and they appear to be very hung-over, a little creepy and biting their fingernails nervously, they ask if they can borrow some money and inquire as to whether any authorities have contacted you about their whereabouts, leaving you to wonder where the sugar coating went?...Well, that is sort of the story with Inédite.
This fragrance name, loosely translated means previously unpublished, unreleased work, and I believe connotates a sense of 'Jamais vu' and unrequited love. The scent is suppose to bring to mind a story of “Aziyadé, a young Circassian harem girl imprisoned in an oriental palace, embodies the unreachable and sensual beauty of which every man dreams." Well, that's a bit unsettling, IMO. But, alrighty-dighty... moving on!
Inédite a complex affair that is supposed to bloom into 'sweet sugar almonds, vanilla and roses'. On my skin, this scent has outstanding sillage. One spray is more than adequate for 8 hours of wearing. This is perhaps my most elegant and sophisticated evening scent, rivaled only by Serge Lutens "Daim Blond" in my humble collection. Admittedly, sophisticated evening scents are fairly low on my priority list as I am more drawn to casual, unique woody or gourmand skin scents, in general, but every collector should have a few in each category.
Inédite is a multifaceted slightly spicy floral for me. No sign of sugared almonds, vanilla or white musk. This is not in the slightest bit sweet or gourmand to my nose. It starts out kind of clean, soapy with bergamot and dried mandarin rinds- more like a popourri mandarin than an edible mandarin note. Next, I detect a prim English garden rose, on a backdrop of spicy cinnamon, coriander, clove and a lot of pink pepper. Blessedly, lilac, which typically gives me an allergic reaction, is not detectable in this composition.
Following the spicy rose opening, I can discern a cacophony of flowers dominated by heliotrope and iris, which I am sure is what attracted me in the first place, since their is nothing finer than a good high quality iris note IMHO. The floral center is blended seamlessly with patchouli and a touch slightly dirty musk, (but not Egyptian musk). This musk becomes very animalic, almost ala Shalimar (but lacking in Shalimar's signature deep seductive incense, Opopanax, tonka bean base). Patchouli is my nemesis and with Inédite, it becomes unsettling and just funky on me in the warm weather.
After 12 hours, I am finally left with a slinky spicy rose musk with a patchouli base scent that has nothing to do with sugared almonds and is just not my type. I give this fragrance a friendly "dankeschön", acknowledge that it is perfect for someone, somewhere and admire its good looking bottle on my countertop, but will very rarely wear it- "we just lacked chemistry".