Elixir Love
Cherry is a difficult note to use without it turning into a sweet shop, and Elie Saab Elixir Love Eau de Parfum handles it by putting rose directly on top of it from the first second. The two share the opening and they flatter one another. Rose is deep and slightly jammy, cherry is dark and a little sour under the sweetness, and the pairing reads as rich rather than sugary. It is a confident start and it announces the character of the whole thing immediately.
Neroli and jasmine fill the heart. Neroli is clean and bright with a faint bitterness, which keeps the fruit in check, and jasmine adds a white, indolic richness that deepens the rose rather than competing with it. The middle is warmer and rounder than the opening, and it is where the scent spends most of its time.
The base takes it somewhere drier. Oakmoss is damp, bitter and green, patchouli adds earth and a dark inky weight, and ambroxan runs underneath both with a warm mineral hum that keeps the fragrance on the skin for hours. That contrast between a sweet top and a dry, earthy finish is the whole argument of the composition, and it is the reason the scent does not become tiring.
Seven materials, used with some care. As an eau de parfum it has real presence for the first two hours and then settles close, lasting well into the evening. It reads feminine, it is better in autumn and winter than in heat, and it suits dinners, evenings and occasions rather than a working morning.
Elie Saab is a Lebanese couture house, opened in Beirut in 1982 by Elie Saab when he was eighteen, and known above all for evening gowns, bridal wear and red carpet dressing. Fragrance for the house is handled under licence.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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