Because I wrote about the different strengths of perfume yesterday and I mentioned, Grand Soir from Maison Francis Kurkdjian, I thought I would post about it now.
First, a word or two about the creator of the scent, Francis Kurkdjian. “Francis Kurkdjian (born in Paris on May 14, 1969) is a French contemporary perfumer and businessman of Armenian descent. and winner of the Prix François Coty in 2001 for his lifetime achievement.” I had no idea how to pronounce his last name, so I looked it up. Kurkdjian is pronounced coor-shone. I wasn’t even close in my guesses 😉
His fragrances for both women and men are crafted in Paris. Some of the scents are considered gender neutral. The vast majority of his fragrances are eau de parfum, but on the Francis Kurkdjian website, you will also find a few eau de cologne versions as well as a few of the rare and costly extraits de parfum.
To be perfectly candid, I had never heard of Maison Francis Kurkdjian till the Facebook Fragrance Friends group starting discussing two of his scents:
- Grand Soir
- Baccarat 540.
Everyone was drooling over both of them, and both were considered gender neutral scents that I often prefer.
On the way home from Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin Steven’s house, his sister Lois asked me to sniff a fragrance sample that she picked up at Neiman Marcus in Las Vegas. It was Grand Soir. The French “grand soir” means big night. That reminds me of the movie, Big Night, with Stanley Tucci from about 20 years ago. But it also made me think of a fragrance for special occasions. Sniffing it in the car, I was instantly smitten. It seemed to be the kind of scent I fall for over and over again, a big oriental scent. It seemed like an amazing coincidence that Lois would have one of the scents we had been discussing in the FB group there for me to smell.
Here is the “inspiration” for the fragrance from the Francis Kurkdjian website:
“Dress in your finest attire and polish your look. Wander in a never-ending night and enjoy the daring radiance of a magnificent Parisian evening, over and over again. Bridges and monuments shine like a thousand stars, standing majestic in a twilit sky carried away by the soft vanilla warmth of benzoin from Siam and a tonka bean from Brazil that has been jostled by the deep darkness of cistus labdanum from Spain.”
Vanilla, benzoin and tonka bean are three of my favorite creamy, warm fragrance notes, so I’m not surprised that I fell for this scent. “Cistus labdanum” is amber oil, and I often like ambers.
The main accords are: amber, balsamic, vanilla, aromatic, and warm spicy. The reviewers on fragrance website, Fragrantica.com, rated it as a scent to “love”, for fall and winter and evening wear. I don’t care about seasonality or time of day to wear a scent. I just wear it whenever I like.
When I got home, I looked up Grand Soir that was introduced in 2016, and I gasped at the price. I think it was $225 for 2.4 fl. oz., in the price vicinity of my signature scent Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle ($180 for 1.7 fl. oz. that lasts me about 2 years or so), also an oriental scent. I thought maybe someday I would buy a sample to try out for myself.
A couple of weeks later in the run-up to Christmas, Neiman Marcus had a $50 off $200 and Rakuten was offering 10% cash back at Neiman’s (they are still offering 10% cash back). Oh, how enticing! But since I hadn’t tried the fragrance on my skin, it would be a blind buy. That would really be taking a big chance because of the price. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I threw caution to the wind and ordered Grand Soir from Neiman-Marcus.
It arrived a couple of days later. The packaging is quite luxurious: a rectangular, slightly padded outer box in which an inner, square, gold-topped closed box holding the bottle, was nestled.
The heavy glass bottle holding the amber colored liquid is itself squat and square and topped by a square gold cap.
The fragrance is an eau de parfum natural spray. It also is available in a larger size of more than 6 fl. oz. for those who are really flush. Or you can buy three 0.37 fl. oz./11 ml spray samples called Travel Size for around $135.
The scent is truly lovely. The top note is decidedly amber, and as it dries down, the warm cuddly notes of vanilla, benzoin and tonka bean make their appearance.
So am I delighted by Grand Soir? Yes and no. I love the scent, it’s truly the kind of scent I adore. However, so far, it doesn’t last or project on me nearly as much as I would like. I got a message from Lois, and she told me that Grand Soir didn’t take hold on her either. Her husband bought her a bottle on either eBay or Amazon, and she was afraid that it had been diluted. I told her it was probably fine, and I had the same issue with mine from Neiman Marcus. Then, I went back to Fragrantica to read some of the reviews. They were definitely all over the place with regard to longevity and sillage (projection of the scent). Some people described Grand Soir as “a beast” in terms of longevity and sillage. One reviewer, however, said that he thought that the scent had been changed since it was introduced in 2016, and is no longer as strong. Hmmm, that will really anger me if true.
Lately, I have been having an issue with many fragrances that I own not lasting or projecting, and they require me to use them repeatedly to eventually last. So I am going to keep at it till Grand Soir, hopefully, “takes” on me. It does last on clothing, so my LLBean parka smells delightful, lol.
In addition to Neiman Marcus and the Francis Kurkdjian website where you can have the bottle engraved (!), Grand Soir is sold at LuckyScent.com, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and even on FragranceX.com where it’s a little less expensive with their 15% off coupon.
Here are the ingredients that I included in yesterdays post again:
BTW, you can order four 2ml samples of any of the Francis Kurkdjian fragrances on the website with free delivery! And the money you spent will be credited toward the purchase of a full bottle later.
Have you ever done a blind buy of an expensive perfume? How did it work out for you?
Have you smelled Grand Soir? Would it suit you?
Sure wish I could use fragrance without feeling sick. There was one I could use … years ago … I think it was called Sugar, Sugar. It was a soft fragrance but ended up to be too much of a sweet smell on me so I stopped using it.
Sugar Sugar is a fragrance from Tokyo Milk, and it has a cupcake on the label. It’s described as a gourmand scent and the accords are all food descriptions except for powdery. I’m sorry that you can’t wear fragrances, Sandy. A lot of people get headaches or nauseated from scents. I once read that fragrances made from all natural ingredients were easier to tolerate, but I am not sure I believe that.
It’s too bad that it doesn’t last longer, but the scent sounds lovely.
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Grand Soir is a beautiful scent. I am so disappointed in the village and longevity, especially for the price. As I mentioned, one reviewer at least on Fragrantica said he thought that the juice had changed since the introduction in 2016 when he described it as “a beast”. 🙁
I’m like you, I jump on high ticket items whenever there’s big cash back on Rakuten/ ebates. I can relate to that “doesn’t seem to last long” but whenever I’d give someone a hug or beso, they’d say “you smell good”. I think because our olfactory sense get used to the fragrance already
Between the $50 off and the 10% cashback, the time was right. But I am sad that the longevity and village of this high ticket EDP is so disappointing because the fragrance is lovely. One day when I was able to smell Grand Soir on me, a woman at the museum we went to asked me what I was wearing. I was delighted, but it hasn’t happened since. Jeff can’t smell it on me either 🙁 I don’t think that this issue is olfactory adaptation. I think they monkeyed with the recipe since the introduction in 2016
What a beautiful bottle! I often think that my fragrance is too weak but then someone would tell me I smell nice. I think maybe it’s not that weak after all, our nose just gets used to it.
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I really don’t think it’s olfactory adaptation this time. One day when I could clearly smell the scent on myself, a stranger asked me what I was wearing, but that was the only time. Even Jeff has never noticed it on me. Sadly, my cousin and some folks in the FB fragrance group have complained of the same thing. I am sad about this because the scent is divine, but a longevity of 10 minutes isn’t cutting it. Nevertheless, I may order 4 samples of some of his other scents including an extrait and see if I have better luck with another fragrance.
At least you enjoy it while it’s on you but it’s a shame that for that price it’s not long lasting.
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Oh well, that’s what I get for doing a pricey blind buy 😉