Megan Markle said in a 2015 interview that one of her favourite perfumes was Oribe Cote d’Azur, so I’m sure that made it pretty popular. Last year, Oribe relaunched it, and added 2 more perfumes, Desertland and Valley of Flowers, to its lineup. Cote d’Azur seems to be a crowd favourite, so it’s the one I tried first. I’m finding that one or two sprays is plenty and there’s lots of sillage and projection. Longevity is pretty much the whole day.
Cote d’Azur opens with a gorgeous blend of citruses including bergamot and lemon, and it really reminded me of Light Blue, but instead of being a blue scent, this has a warm ambery drydown that’s a lot like Byredo Gypsy Water, In fact, Jerome Epinette, who’s one of the two perfumers credited with making Côte d’Azur has made many Byredo perfumes but not Gypsy Water. Still, if it’s the same huge perfume company making both scents, you could see how successful or beloved amber accord might be borrowed.
In case you haven’t smelled Gypsy Water, the beautiful drydown is amber and vetiver so it’s fresh and warm at the same time, that reminds me of warm rain. It’s positively addictive and I can see why people love this perfume so much. When I sprayed all three on paper, Cote d’Azur wasn’t the one that spoke to me the most, but I do love it on skin.
The one that spoke to me was Desertland because it’s a herbal vetiver perfume. Lavender gives it a dryness and juniper and pine keep it fresh. The drydown is very similar to Cote d’Azur and side by side after a few hours, there was very little difference between the two. It’s almost like both of them were built on the same base.
Valley of Flowers was my least favourite. It uses a generic-smelling floral accord, that’s a little too sharp, too piercing. The drydown still had a steel edge to it that wasn’t warm like the others.
You can purchase the Oribe sample set and the perfumes from the Oribe website. I would say that if you like the smell of the shampoo, then Cote d’azur is a very safe blind-buy. If you like Gypsy Water, then you will like the dry down.
