With Folie d’un Soir by Goutal we take a look into the past. More precisely, to the 1970s. At that time, Annick Goutal first ventured to London as an au pair, eventually launching a modeling career. A bold move for a young woman. In the capital of Great Britain, she took the fashionable name Géraldine to put the step into a new life also on record by name.
Les Parfums de Géraldine – Goutal
So Folie d’un Soir revolves around the modeling career of Annick Goutal. Géraldine, the confident woman who is at home on the catwalks of London, playful, perky and exceedingly feminine. By changing her name, Annick Goutal was able to fully embrace her new role and show a side of herself that she never dared to live out at home. Inspired by the exciting life of her mother, Camille Goutal created the line Les Parfums de Géraldine, which also includes the already launched fragrances Tenue de Soirée, Nuit et Confidences and Étoile d’une Nuit (you can find the reviews here and here – only in German). The newly created collection rearranges the previous assortment of the house of Goutal, because until now the three fragrances mentioned belonged to the line Les Oiseaux de Nuit, i.e. “birds of the night”.
So it was re-sorted, and it must be said that the composition of the line Les Parfums de Géraldine fits perfectly with the theme Annick Goutal. The latest launch Folie d’une Soir revolves – as already mentioned – around the new life of Géraldine aka Annick in London. Nuit et Confidences is designed to capture the play of the model with the photographer during shoots. Tenue de Soirée reflects the glamor of the grand entrance, flurry of camera flashes. Étoile d’une Nuit, on the other hand, takes a look at model Géraldine’s makeup, which is naturally much more pronounced and expressive during shoots than in everyday life.
The new collection Les Parfums de Géraldine is also visually unified. In the future, the bottles will all bear the characteristic pompom already familiar from Tenue de Soirée – color-matched to the respective bottle, of course.
Folie d’un Soir – The Crazy Life of Géraldine
What distinguishes the life of a model? In the 1970s as well as today, models have to travel a lot and consequently always own suitcases. Perfumers Julie Massé and Mathieu Nardin take up this subject in Folie d’un Soir, combining in the creation the fragrance notes of leather, Turkish rose, pink pepper, cocoa and myrrh. The bottle and faux fur pom-pom are dipped in warm brown, reflecting the color of a leather suitcase, and in the fragrance itself the ingredient leather is found as well.
On her way to adulthood, she wanted to follow her very own path, away from music, towards a new goal and a new destiny: here she is, full of uncertainty but also of audacity, on her way to London to discover a new life. When she came as an au pair, she didn’t know she would soon become a model – paving the way for Geraldine.
Perfumers Julie Massé and Mathieu Nardin have often worked for the brand Goutal. Nardin created the aforementioned collection compagnons Tenue de Soirée, Nuit et Confidences and Étoile d’une Nuit in collaboration with Camille Goutal. The eau de toilette Le Temps des Rêves developed the duo Nardin and Massé together.
The scent of the big wide world
Warm and powdery, Folie d’un Soir starts the fragrance. From the first spray, I perceive the subtle nuances of tart cocoa, whose bitter-chocolate facets blend beautifully with transparent and soft leather.
A subtle spicy sharpness shimmers in the background, adding lightness, freshness and tension to the leather. The rose reveals itself with subtle and creamy floral notes that give the eau de parfum depth and a touch of sweetness.
The noble flower – in combination with the smoky-balsamic accents of myrrh – also highlights the facets of the leather, underlining its smooth and warm radiance, before Folie d’un Soir very gradually fades out with spicy-resinous and exceedingly smooth notes.
In the opening, Folie d’un Soir still presents itself as an extremely transparent and light fragrance, playing with the tart chocolate nuances of powdery cocoa, to soon become leathery-floral and balsamic-resinous. A more restrained yet present creation from the house of Goutal, which appears very elegant, refined and distinguished. As “crazy” – as the name suggests – I would not classify the Eau de Parfum, but rather as resting in itself, as modern, adult and exceedingly timeless. For me, rather a fragrance for cooler days, but can be applied on any occasion. It’s 10 degrees here, and it’s raining non-stop. So today I’m going to snuggle up in Folie d’un Soir and let the creation warm me up. 🙂
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