Eau du Ciel
Goutal (1985)

Green oily old style French fragrance with a modern green lemon edge. Wood is subdued background support. Nice first on with that bright Linden/green-citrus feeling, then softens towards a gorgeous sweet hay note. Later it is a soft velvety green hay with faint clean but not soapy edges. Fresh clean springlike.

Eau du Ciel is old fashioned and rather stately; imagine ... the swishy green stockings of Y on the shapely legs of Diorissimo.
And like many of the best ideas, it's very simple, basically a marriage of oil and alcohol: hydroxycitronellol - the fresh muguet-like floral, and the oily-dry varnish of rosewood.
But, why is a woody-green lime-flower named sky water? It smells nothing like rain...

[The old one]

I was really looking forward to trying Eau du Ciel: some of the notes (particularly linden and beeswax) sounded very unusual and intriguing. I really thought I was going to love this fragrance: however, on my skin it turns into a very ordinary white floral perfume - in fact it smells exactly like Marks And Spencer's Magnolia range (which has been around for many years).

I think this is probably more a case of Eau du Ciel not working on my skin, rather than the fragrance itself being ordinary. A great pity, though as I was looking forward to trying it so much.

Genre: Green Floral

Eau du Ciel is primarily a linden (tillieul) and violet scent to my nose. Like this house's limited edition Le Chèvrefeuille, it is a weightless, crisp green floral that smells as if it were composed with few if any traditional base notes. The rosewood and musk foundation is oddly transparent, and a delicate hay or narcissus note contributes an engaging “dewy meadow” effect. I especially admire how Eau du Ciel avoids the oppressive, powdery sweetness of so many other violet scents, managing instead to maintain a liquid ebullience through most of its development.

Given this description, you probably know what's coming: with such effervescent texture and buoyancy, Eau du Ciel has very little staying power. It's certainly potent enough while it lasts – while it won't fill the room, it's easily detected at a couple of feet. A worthy choice when you're looking for a few drops of floral good cheer.

This was not love at first whiff for me. But slowly but surely it has become one of my favorites.

I understand what some reviewers mean by saying it makes them feel like they are 12-- it does remind me of a boxed set of child's colognes I got when I was 7. There is a kind of innocence to it-- it is not a sultry seductive fragrance by any stretch. There is not much sex in the dry down.

What it is though is a beautiful linden scent. Honestly, I do not get the violet as an isolated note. For the longest time, because of the description, I thought it was heliochrysum-- a kind of "hay" scent. But slowly I have come to realize that it is a good quality linden extract. And it is almost a solifleur, if inden is considered a flower. It is sweet, distinctive, light and uncomplicated. And it lasts quite a long time for me, compared with most goutals. I wear it to work and I love it dearly.

If you love linden, give this one a try. You might not know it is in there if you just look at the descripotion, which mentions violet and hay.

I am concerned, however, because it has become hard to find and when you do find it, you have to pay full price to get it because otherwise it is always out of stock. I wonder if they are reformulating it?

On me, Eau de Ciel manifests as an orange blossom scent with green, slightly pungent top notes that quickly give way to a soapy sweetness-This is, by far, one of the more potent Annick Goutal scents- I put on less than half of a ml yesterday afternoon, smelled it all evening, and even picked up hints of it this morning!Pleasant and appealing, like a walk through a sunny field full of clover and wildflowers!