#pdm: athalia

[feytouched]

scent of the day: athalia (parfums de marly)

this is very much within my usual wheelhouse: a powdery, incense-y scent with a somber yet graceful iris at its heart. the bright orange note in the top notes sets it apart from other similar scents in my collection. this orange-fruit note then morphs into a heady orange-blossom that compliments the iris very well. there is something dusky and dim and artistic about this scent. however, it's a little heavy for summertime wear; the powderiness also won't please everyone, especially if you consider powdery scents old lady-like. it certainly has that vintage DNA, and sillage more than ample enough to make it stifling.

myself, i don't find it grandmotherly per se, but rather somber and even a little sultry. i will save it for colder weather though. if you like guerlain's l'heure bleue, consider sampling athalia - not at all the same, and yet i think they'd suit the same kind of person.

[blackleopardgirl]

Athalia doesn’t seem like it’ll be for me

Delina La rose smells too aquatic for me, it also smelt a little too spicy for my nose.

Delina was nice and rosey and im not a big fan of rose scents. However, I wasn’t a fan of the mix of pear as well. It might’ve been too fruity or citrusy for me.

Delina exclusif is gorgeous, I love the opening notes of pear and Turkish rose smells nice, but it’s the soft, Powderly vanilla dry down that I LOVE! The lasting power of this fragrance and the other Delina perfumes is incredible. I’ve seen some people say that it lasts upwards of 10+ hours!

Delina limited edition- I don’t see how this perfume could be better than Delina exclusif im sorry! I see why exclusif is one of the most popular PDM perfumes.

Meliora- I wanted to like this so much, but I couldn’t. I could BARELY smell the berries in that fragrance when I smelt it. It has notes of red berries but it wasn’t strong enough, I wanted it to smell like Viktor and Rolf’s ‘Ruby Orchid’ with the juicy fruits.

Safanad sounds like it would be for me. The orange blossom, ylang ylang and vanilla notes all seem like they’d be for me! I’m hoping that it’s on display at another Nordstrom in my state.

[feytouched]

1) do you know any lily of the valley perfumes that actually smell like the flower? 2) any floral but like musky perfumes that a bird woman would wear?

thank you <3

1 ) unfortunately i've never smelled a real lily of the valley flower :( so i'm not the best judge of the realism of a muguet note, but some of my favourite perfumes that include it are moscow (bpal), juliet (bpal) and lazy sunday morning (margiela). they aren't soliflores, though. i hear good things about penhaligon's lily of the valley and dior's diorissimo, might be good options to sample.

2 ) it's not floral at all but if you want something that's peak bird woman, it's got to be zoologist owl. it's musky, atmospheric, a bit strange, but interesting for sure; there are other bird-inspired fragrances by the same brand you might want to check out. if you want to be not an owl but a sparrow on a branch laden with autumn fruit, then rudenėja by alkemia. a nightingale in a lacquer painting? kintsukuroi by alkemia. a dove on a blooming pear tree? juliet by bpal, again. a more theatrical, melancholy bird-woman character? athalia by pdm. (or valaya, for the shinier hollywood adaptation of the bird-woman stage play).

[feytouched]

Hi! I just ordered a few samples from the perfumed court based on your scent of the day reviews. I've never tried perfumes before and I'm so excited for them to come in! Unfortunately they were out of stock of the parfums de marly athalia, which really piqued my interest. Do you have any recommendations for other scents that feel somber? Bonus points if it's androgynous, but femme is good too! I hope your week gets better, wishing you good health and a bit of gentleness <3

(and if you're interested, here are the scents I ordered: Diptyque L'Ombre EDP, Lolita Lempicka, Yves Libre, Zoologist Harvest Mouse, and Le Labo The Matcha)

excelent choices! please let me know what you think of them when they arrive, i hope you'll love them!

sadly the perfumed court doesn't always carry all scents from every line, i got my parfum de marly samples directly from the brand's website (they offer a sample kit that then gives you a discount if you want to order a full bottle). for pdm that's what i'd recommend doing!

somber scents... it will depend on the sort of shadows you prefer. guerlain's l'heure bleue is pensive and melancholy, but not yet fully dark. fallen by bpal is the heavy air before a storm. event horizon and anathema (also by bpal) are similarly stormy. the former leans ecclesiastic, the latter floral. deadly nightshade by alkemia is trad goth elegance. autumn vibes by maison martin margiela is a november walk on soggy leaves, on a day without sunlight. zoologist snowy owl is the same, only in midwinter, with the leaves now frozen deep under snow. these are all very different, but all have a somber mood to them in my opinion.

if you want something more in line with athalia's vintage powdery florals, go with l'heure bleue or the earlier entries in the list; the last two are more androgynous, esoteric interpretations.