Enjoy the night-blooming purity of the beauty of tuberose in the extrait version of this white-floral scent.

Listed notes

Bergamot, cardamon, galbanum, lavender, gardenia, jasmine sambac, tuberose, tuberose absolute, cedar, musk, orange blossom, vetiver.

Top notes

Straight out of the gate Perris Monte Carlo sets a clear direction with Tubereuse Absolue Extrait. This is a warm, soft, luscious white floral tuberose with fronds of greenery and a beautiful, sunshiny warmth. You can immediately feel that glow, that radiating heat. This is the type of opening to a fragrance which really lifts your spirits – partly because of its loveliness, and partly because the scent seems to vibrate at a high frequency and is full of uplifting energy.

A gentle citrusy seam glides off the back of the galbanum greenery and seems to tie the floral aspects to the dense green-ness. In trying to explain what sort of greenery is exhibited here, I gravitate to the masses of thick, almost rubbery bluebell leaves that carpet woodlands here in the springtime – not that this scent smells of bluebell flowers, but that the greenery is similar to the substantial foliage. It’s a little sappy, as if you have accidentally broken off a stem underfoot. You bend to pick it up as the sun breaks through the clouds, and inhale the warmth and greenery together. It’s beautiful, a little nostalgic, and a touch serene.

Heart notes

A little further into the scent and the cardamon peeps out, and along with a whisper of lavender it gives little hints of spice to a developing leatheriness. It’s worth pausing for a moment here to ponder what I mean by that. This isn’t what you would call a “leather” scent, instead the greenery, the tuberose and the spices together twist until its possible to observe a fleeting leather-like quality. It’s perhaps more accurate to think of the leather as being made from plant fibres though.

The spicy aspect appears to sit quite close to the more leathery facets in the composition, but again you wouldn’t describe it as a full-on spicy scent. The spices and the leather tones ground the floral elements and give that sense of them rising up in contrast, as if pushing up through the ground in search of sunshine. It’s worth noting that although tuberose blooms at night and is often associated with carnality, there is something more virginal about it here. It has a sense of promise, perhaps, but feels unsullied and like it is able to exist just as it is in this scent.

Base notes

Deeper still into the enchanted grove that is this fragrance and the supporting white florals come into bloom: hot, honeyed jasmine, her friend gardenia and a little orange blossom. The scent grows drier, as if the sun has now risen high enough to dry the dew which sparkled on the leaves at first. A sumptuous sweetness now sits beautifully amongst the jasmine and tuberose petals, but the leathery undercurrent never really goes away. It’s a really nice uniting of different shades and tones in the scent and feels deliberate and skilfully done.

Is this a tuberose to end all others? Probably not, but it is a really pretty fragrance, especially if you like white florals. There is something really safe about this scent (if you like white florals) and whilst it is interesting if you want to really peer at it and pay attention, I can’t help but thinking that at this price point you want to stop all other tuberose scents in their tracks. If someone gave me a bottle I would be delighted, but in the meantime there are similar tuberoses which do the job for less. That said, it is almost guaranteed to find favour with those amongst us who strive for nothing less than the best quality, and who have deep pockets to match.

The other stuff

Tubereuse Absolue starts off a wear by being big and blowsy, easily projecting to handshake distance. It reduces over the course of an hour though and for the remainder of the wear goes no further than hugging distance. The scent has a density about it, probably due to it being an extrait, which makes it move slowly and stay close to the body, despite the exuberance of some of the notes when they do decide to fly away.

Despite the reduction in the way it projects, the scent has solid staying power. We tended to get eight to ten hours per wear following application.

It’s easy to imagine this as the sort of scent which will wear well at the height of summer when the sun is shining and the bees are flitting from blossom to blossom, but try it in the depths of winter and it’s sure to bring you a little ray of sunshine and warmth to remind you of more clement weather. Particularly the extrait version of the scent feels like it is worth of saving for best, special occasions and date nights – but perhaps that is just my Yorkshire sensibilities showing!

The brand

Perris Monte Carlo are a luxury brand operated by second-generation perfumer Gian Luca Perris. They aim to market high quality scents where the emphasis is on the fragrance rather than on the brand. That in itself doesn’t seem like a unique selling point, and in real terms all it means is that they offer understated luxury. Their bottles are not overdone, blingy or distracting. I always find that reassuring in a niche brand, hoping that they have put the money into the scent more than the packaging.

We’ve previously reviewed the rather lovely Cacao Azteque from this brand.

Buy it

Tubereuse Absolue extrait is available from Bloom Perfumery London, where it is priced at £225 for 50ml at extrait strength.

For other stockists, please check the Store Locator on the Perris website.

Tubereuse Absolue comes from the Black Collection, so is also available as an EdP as well as in extrait as described here. The EdP version is £130 for 100ml from Bloom, but do try it out before you buy it as it isn’t the same beast as the extrait version.

We were gifted a sample of this fragrance by a friend and follower of The Sniff who has no known links or associations with the brand. Thank you to them.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.