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BukS – :
This is one of the strangest scents I’ve sampled recently. I do get celery straight up at first. Then sweet candied orange with smokey tea. Every so often now I get a really strong earthy incense smell and wonder where it is coming from. It has to be me, but when I sniff my wrist, all I smell is the sweet citrus! It is all very interesting but I think I am enjoying it.
b1mbo0 – :
Who can sell this to me? Please PM me.
Where can i buy it?
Lovely bottle, extra points for smelling unusual as some reviewers described it.
Xxxap – :
“To hold the garden’s fragrance in one vase, and see all autumn in a single spray?”
Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber
Mandarine Mandarin is an under the radar, intriguing, mysterious, dark and shapeshifting Far Eastern influenced oriental. There is a peculiar textural feel of something that constantly teases and desires to be ingested, a forbidden fruit of sorts, yet it curiously offers itself only in hybrid shape: half solid quasi-gourmand, half aromatic infusion.
In a way Mandarine Mandarin can be described as a dark chutney of nutmeg-spiced oriental oranges, with pulp and peel, perfumed by vinegary pine-smoked Lapsang Souchong. A modicum of intermittent tart freshness combines momentarily with silky green herbal aromatics whilst the darker and warm spices flavour the musky ambery sea around it, complement and complete it whilst remaining in harmonious motion much like a pomandrous yin and yang.
The development, once again, is congruent with a Chinese belief, namely that “by detours one is to reach the secrets”. Mandarine Mandarin vexes, zigs and zags carefree from spicy citrus via honey-ambered black tea to its last incarnation as a gentle musky-green bouquet of assorted fleurs d’oranger. Ji Cheng, in Yuanye, had a point when he described perfection (of Chinese Gardens) as “the work of man that must appear to have been created by heaven”. He could as well have been talking about this highly unusual creation.
krov69 – :
I have this on one wrist and TF mandarino portofino on the other. Polar opposites in terms of elegant citrus scents. I love them both because I now begrudgingly admit that I love citrus and cannot get enough of them.
MM is as elegant as it gets. Maybe it’s my Asian upbringing but I smell richness and refinement in the most classic Asian sense. There’s the sweetness of mandarins, little smoke, warmth of incense and spice, and creaminess of je ne se quoi. I envision carved mahogany bookshelves decorated with fine porcelain vases dripping with fall mums and orchids. Tea saucers holding not tea but spiced dates cooked in rock sugar. And in a corner a silk clothed lady of the house reading and peeling mandarins…
I want to wear this because it will make me feel refined.
But yes it does oddly read celery as well.
TFMP is sunny, glaring white stucco against azure waters and chartreuse orange fruits in a marble bowl. All swirling in a light salty sea breeze. Elegance and ease in the complete western sense. The citrus is warm bright and bitter.
I want to wear this because it will make me feel lifted.
Барсик 1201 – :
This one is orange citrus and green-like notes, and it’s creamy, but goes nowhere near creamsicle. It is soft spice floating in a luscious, but non cloying, not sweet cloud. It’s Oriental spice, but demure. There seems to be a lot of drama regarding the green notes. Some people smell celery, and I’m one of them, but I love celery. It’s one of the sweetest and lightest of all the greens in my garden. It’s not in the notes, but it’s definitely there. I’m wondering how this mix of notes spells celery for so many of us, but I’m not going to stress it too much. IMO, this is close to perfect.
Wodker – :
Well well what a surprise. I–like Ms Rochambeau below me–tried and pretty much succeeded in collecting SL perfumes (I’m a junkie/fan). But this one didn’t grab me–at first. While I LOVE orange flower blossom scents (I can appreciate Elie Saab), I’m not a fan of citrusy anything. So, for YEARS I didn’t even try this–I don’t think I even was tempted by the wax sample. Just “knew” it wasn’t my thing. Well, PoshP supplied me with a good sized decant, and I tried it today! Oh my goodness! It was spicy, yes–totally “discordant” as one person put–orange, nutmeg and also tonka–but humming along was oddly, JASMINE. So I looked up the notes, and I see “tea.” Hmmm…Jasmine tea??? I have decided that is the “tea” note! The discordant aspect slips away and blends and mellows and even the “five-spice” quality merges beautifully together. However, I LIKE the discordant upfront aspect initially.
This is an odd, utterly beautiful fragrance. I have been sniffing my wrists like a maniac. At first, I had to grudgingly admit that I liked it and had overlooked it, and then thought about when/where I would wear this (it’s not exactly sexy, certainly not “every day,” and for me, not cuddle up with a pillow go-to-bed kind of scent). Finally, I conceded, this is an elegant perfume. There is nothing quite like it out there with which I’m familiar. I’d wear it to an afternoon, evening wedding, maybe an opera. The dry down is still spicy, mellowed with nutmeg and tonka, food-like, but not the usual “fruitylicious” noxious stuff we’re all tired of, and also elegant. It does remind me of a Chinese herbalist (without the dry root/mushroom smell) or an elegant tea, the Jasmine wafting up blending with the citrus, so citrus and Jasmine.
Now, to segue. I’m a lover of heavy-hitting perfumes, and this one is NOT at ALL like Kenzo Jungle–repeat, not similar in any respect, save one: they are both spicy/food scents, or they pick up with food elements and then go off into different directions. If you are the type to like Kenzo Jungle (and it’s ilk), you may appreciate how these qualities (food, oranges, peel, nutmeg) for Mandarine combine into a stellar scent whose sum is so much greater than its parts.
The kicker is that I’m not a Jasmine fan (no one can avoid it, and I have many scents with it but it’s not “my thing” and I’m not into Citrus–but these two together, wow). I don’t know if I’d spring for a bell jar, and there are other SLs that I just love all the time, but once more I’m in awe of SL. His direction lately of going “paille” led me over to other designers, but I’m glad I have tried this classic. Silage is good–to the point that I would consider using a light hand–a heavy one might lead to sort of an over-kill of the joy and then onto nausea. The longevity is moderate though it quickly softens after an hour.
To the reviewer who got the half-empty bell, “Good on you” as my dad would say. Off to ebay…
opf5854 – :
This is a difficult fragrance to characterize as it has two distinct, and very different, phases. The opening is a pale, candied orange rind burst over a feminine florals. There’s also something green in there – possibly the tea. Feminine and a bit frilly – as close to a “fruity floral” as I’ve smelled from Serge Lutens – but it still has some interesting, slightly discordant notes. After the top finishes you’re left with something which is the polar opposite of the opening; a salty musk, very old school in feel. Gets progressively muskier, almost skanky, as it dries down. It’s as if MM goes from day to night. By this point the sillage has reduced dramatically. After about 4 hours it nears the end as a jasmine-like skin scent. I’m not really interested in purchasing more than my sample but it was an intriguing journey.
Orlov00709 – :
Being a bit of a “foodie”, and a lover of spices of all kinds, I really cringe when reading “celery” over and over again in reviews of Mandarine Mandarin.
I love this fragrance. To me, what is often described as that celery note here, is more accurately spices. Something akin to Chinese Five Spice with no cinnamon, more fennel.
MM got me at first sniff. From a paper strip. Then onto my skin… and it really blossomed. Of course there are several nods to Orange — peel, blossom, even the flesh of mandarins. But it is the kinda weird spices that grab me the most.
Definitely old Chinese in spirit. Unique and stunning.
negarady85 – :
I’m glad that It’s taken me 4 years to write this review, because if I had written it when I first tried it, I would have been a bit dismissive. At some point back then, I was trying to nab every reasonably priced Serge Lutens scent I could find on Ebay as I wanted to have a bit of all of them in my collection (I’ve since given up on that goal). One was a 1/3 full bell jar of Mandarine Mandarin for under $50 that I couldn’t pass on. When I first tried it I thought it was a nice spicey fruity/orange and pomander-like scent, but nothing too exciting. Over the next few years I would hardly ever reach for it and can count on one hand how many times I did. However, the temperatures here in DC this past week, dipped below 0 degrees bringing on a craving to wear something that I felt would be warm, cheerful and comforting and I grabbed Mandarine Mandarin assuming it would be the perfect scent. It turned out to be that and more. I’m realizing that some scents can be fairly consistant in their effect all-year-round, While some need to be tried in all kinds of weather in order to find out what conditions in which they flourish. M.M. is one of those that’s at its most beautiful in the cold of winter. Suddenly, there were smokey and honeyed facets that I hadn’t experienced before and the orange note wasn’t the bright sparkling citrus of an eau de cologne, it was more dark and candied. As it dried down it became a soft, suede-like and slightly floral, still with a hint of spices. Now I know that whenever the ugly, gray, depressing days of winter arrive, I have just the remedy waiting for me on one of the shelves of my perfume case.
hill9999 – :
Agree with Dresden Doll – the development of the scent is a bit like going to a fireworks show and having all of them lit off at the beginning instead of the end.
What’s left is a gorgeous, warm, and creamy. Must be the ambergris (which isn’t listed in the notes above).
igitsman – :
It turned out to be absolutely different from the wax sample. The sample smelt of honey and dried citrus peel. The fluid from my bottle opens with fresh celery. Then it transforms into spices and some oranges, but not the sample, again. Still I find it quite nice for a very cold winter weather.
Tronchoigon – :
Smells exactly like fresh celery. This is not a smell that i would like to have on my skin.
nike2012 – :
I had thought it would sound crazy saying that this smells like celery, but I see I’m not alone!
The opening of Mandarine Mandarin smells oddly of a fresh stick of celery when you snap it in half. Then it becomes very spicy, distinctively nutmeg. The orange simmers in the background, but never becomes fruity or citrusy, which is what I had been hoping for. A bite of tea evens this scent out, pulling it further away from possibly showing signs of containing juicy fruit and the labdanum supports the nutmeg, ensuring this scent remains spicy and slightly bitter.
Development not particularly well defined. The notes that appear do so quite quickly so that it smells rather linear. Not bad, a unique smelling spicy scent surely, but also not all that impressive. I had thought there would be more to it.
WeLDERX – :
Was a present, because “it’s newyeary, and you like Chinese art”. The bottle reminds me of Chinese fairy tales I read as a little girl, and the scent was newyeary all right. First I got essential oil of citrus nature, then it was this oil and Frutella. The giver liked it on me, everyone else did, too, and I quite enjoyed the story attached to it, wearing this scent every time we were celebrating something, because it did smell newyeary to me, of childhood, of laughter, and of eating sweets under the conifer.
Zxcvbnm1 – :
Smells like burnt orange peel, or orange custard. Strong nutmeg. Not a scent I want to smell of.
Tobius1978 – :
Nuts and wet oranges topping some kind of smoky custard. Reminds me of an exotic dessert, but it doesn’t smell completely edible. Unisex.
Like others have described, there is something vegetal that throws this one off–it might be the florals or another unnamed note that muddle the orange-nut harmony.
ifzkurdi – :
This smells like vegetable soup 😀
AciDfish – :
Another Lutens that is not for me. I loved the wax sample, which smelled like the whole scent of the orange grove – leaves, blossom, oil, the lot. But a 3ml decant of the perfume has proved a real disappointment – like a mixture of orange oil and curry powder on my skin. I compared it, wrist for wrist, with Fleurs d’Oranger, which I love, and definitely prefer the latter for its sweetness.
haimpl7 – :
Lancome Tresor + Smoke = Manderine Manderin.
Woughlibby – :
Unusual, for a once off its interesting. Yes it does smell like celery (nutmeg, labdanum and roships) Refreshing its not. I like it but not enough to break the bank. I think for me its a scent I would tire of. But thankyou for being stimulating.
ARus – :
The solid perfume sample i got smells like straight celery. If you like celery then great!
Not sure whether the actual perfume will smell like that.
AugustoCes – :
An appealing fragrance- a powerful, somewhat animalic orange blossom note dominates, reminding me of SL’s Fleur d’Oranger, but there is indeed a green celery note playing an interesting background harmony-
windir59 – :
The top notes are certainly interesting – warm numeg and fleur d’orange, I can smell nuts too. This intrigue lasts for 20 minutes and after that – one linear smell of bitter oranges. Not bad, but nothing to write home about if you are not a great orange fan. So I would gladly wear Mandarine Mandarin until my sample runs out, but I won’t be purchasing a full bottle. maybe emply – for it’s so pretty…
onegiople – :
All I can smell is mandarin celery, not for me
mazdaa8 – :
Nutmeg and bitter, bitter oranges. Oddly smell little like fennel or celeryleaf. Strange fragrance, I don’t see myself wearing this with enthusiasm, or to be honest, wear it again at all.
Bottle is one great piece of art.
volod924 – :
What a beautiful bottle. I’d like to find some of this perfume. Even if the scent isn’t appealing, the bottle is! I find myself wanting to collect unique and beautiful bottles.