Noa
Cacharel (1998)

A variation of Body Shop's White Musk with herbs and heavy citrus, Noa is a white musk that stays firmly on the dry side. It has a bitter almost regretful note of new textiles, which reminds me of a scene from the Great Gatsby.

Gatsby is showing off his extensive house to his friend Dick, and Daisy - his long time secret love.
They are in his dressing room, where he shows them his shirts from England;
'of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel ... stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple green and lavender and faint orange'.
At they pile up in soft rich folds, Daisy bursts into tears and cries "I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before" : no doubt regretting her recent marriage to the boorish Tom Buchanan - and knowing she will never be the Mistress of Gatsby's Mansion.

It may be a hoarse whisper of a scent, but anything with this power to evoke can be no weak perfume.

A very different softness. Not of the warm kind like oriental softness, but cool musky softness, like Those princesses wearing a silk light blue dress in a winter setting. Very lovely. I wish performances were a bit better though.

NOTE: GREAT SCENT BOTTLE FOR THOSE WITH ARTHRITIS, my 98 y/o Gram can pick it up and spay, and being a lighter scent is a benefit, as aging has dulled smell sense to where uncertain when 'enough' is 'enough'.

It is a lighter scent than I usually wear, and at fist try, I barely got anything but a comfortable clean with hints of something else.

Tried again,and sprayed more liberally and what a difference! It has almost no sillage on me. It is fall here, and this scent feels like putting a lightweight shawl that had been my Gram's --always white florals or her--on a cool day. Interestingly I think it will make a crisp and cool summer spritz after being out in heat and humidity.Would make a good office scent, close to skin and 2-5 hrs on my skin.

The price is quite inexpensive, and after that first burst of aldehydes? and floral/peach. I smelled minimal coffee. It's also a fun bottle.

I get mainly musk and peony scents, and the coffee barely noticable on me. It's very soft and gentle, clean yet creamy, somehow feels like Lanvin Oxygène without pepper. It dries down quickly into a body scent which is very pleasant in spring and summer. Unfortunately the longevity is around 3 or 4h, a little bit too short for me and the sillage is very close to skin. By the way, the bottle is funny with the little pearl swimming within. The colour and the tranparency are well chosen for the perfume.

Originally written in 2013.

I'm never sure if I really like this one. It is certainly pleasant, clear but not over simple. However, I, the lover of all things crisp and sparkling, find this a bit too sharp (aldehydes?) at the beginning. It never becomes a love for me, but I wear it sometimes because it has something about it. I think it may never be love because it just smells perfumey to me, definitely soapy, and has something of what I'd imagine a French laundry would smell like. In fact, there's something very French about it. It's incredible value for money too!

To me this is simply stunning. It's one of my current favourites even though it is not the kind of fragrance that I would usually gravitate towards.

There is something so calm, soothing and ethereal about Noa. It's soft, forgiving, clean and very feminine, innocent but not girly.

I was concerned about trying this when I read the coffee note because I can't stand the smell of it but I couldn't detect it at all. The white musk is prominent, along with jasmine, lily of the valley and peony.

Very good projection, very good lasting power (nothing usually lasts more than a couple of hours on me but this remained detectable all day).