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vikgolobokov – :
I’ve been meaning to write my review of Tralala for a while; it definitely reminds me of a perfume from long ago but I can’t determine which one it is. I love this little creature. When I wear it, I am transported to a swank early 1930s cocktail party in full roar, I am Margaret Dumont, and I am chasing the Marx Brothers through the house. Mrs. Teasdale, indeed…heh heh heh…
zmeylove67 – :
I’m absolutely flabbergasted to find that Tralala starts as and remains (4 hours in) a very strong Johnson’s Baby Powder on my skin. Really. That’s it. No whiskey. No leather. No patchouli. No violet. Just…baby powder. Sigh.
My bottle is from the same source as that belonging to another member whose nose perceives with delight everything mine doesn’t so I’m certain it must be my body chemistry at fault. Still, I’m shocked. How startling to discover that a fragrance so strange/quirky/odd/”not for the faint of heart” on others is so very… innocent and ordinary on me. This hasn’t EVER happened to me before.
No regrets about the purchase though because I know I would have bought it eventually, probably at a much higher price. I’ll try it again in warm & hot weather (it’s a very damp 55 degrees here today). If it still doesn’t work I’ll set it aside with my other bottles of discontinued “fabulous on other people” fragrances that I keep for reference and an eye toward future swap/sale.
I have a feeling I’ll deplete many more mls in the weeks to come as I try and try again, hoping the fragrance deities remove their curse and smile upon me.
Posting this as a caution against a blind buy unless you’re certain, as I was, that it’s a gamble worth taking.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Ryaboff_99 – :
How funny, as it’s anything but a new release, that two of us are testing this on the same day! (See Lady Rain’s review immediately below.) That’s what spurred me to write my immediate impressions instead of letting the fume develop for awhile and mulling it over a bit.
I’ve been coveting this for awhile and found it for a reasonable price, so I splurged. One hour in, it’s lovely. More floral than I usually wear, but that’s all right. I understand exactly what another reviewer meant about it being “meaty” – to me it’s musky/unwashed in the first few minutes, but not unpleasantly so, just interesting. This could be the carnation, which I don’t usually like but here it’s okay. I’m also getting lots of vanilla, leather, incense, saffron, and a little whisky. (It’s still early.) Weirdly, the aldehydes did not blast me. I’m digging it! Will revisit this review at some point to give a fuller impression.
eriksson – :
I just had this delivered, and ay dios mio! Tralala is now officially my most prized possession!
It’s not a perfume. It’s art.
Word of caution: Only for the brave souls out there.
yamixa – :
Odio le aperture ubriache e questo wiskey non fa eccezzione. maturo,d’epoca e un po stantio.
Strano ma coinvolgente esce fuori una pelle scamosciata di qualita’ mixata piacevolmente con gli altri ingredienti.
Vecchio stile in armonia.buono e con personalita’.
Un po polvere da locale chiuso,manichini in legno,tuberosa cremosa,vaniglia e viola dolce,un garofano piccante e vetiver macho e adulto.
Non e’ ancora l’ora per me di acquistarlo .ma tolta la nota alcolica…
CHAPEAU!
Гречишникова – :
This is going to sound strange, but something about this perfume smells very meaty in the first hour or so! I guess it’s the combination of aldehydes and leather, perhaps combined with the animalic and slightly spiced aspect of honey, that create a smell definitely hinting at raw red meat. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing! It’s different and it’s interesting. It’s certainly not so overwhelming that the neighbourhood dogs are going to start following you around.
Later, more conventional floral notes shine through, but the boozy spice remains. This is one of the more interesting and potent Penhaligon’s perfumes…so, of course they discontinued it and brought in mediocre, pale new things.
LutsiaF – :
There is nothing serious about this perfume and i think that is why i have come to love her. She is heaps of fun.
Between you and me, i do not enjoy Bertrand Duchaufour’s creations for L’Artisan. They all have a thick samey dry down, which i’m guessing is his signature thang, which does not interest me and spoils otherwise beautiful fragrances whose top and middle notes are to die for.
Not that it doesn’t smell like one of his, it does! Tralala to me, steers away enough from that same old same old Bertrand. And it is in fact, the dry down i find the most fun and enjoyable part. This creation i love, (this and his daffodil Penhaligon’s Ostara).
Current swoon material (remedy for a cold wet Lakeland Winter), perfume-wise are:
– violets
– leather
– vetiver
– incense
– also including a penchant for sniffing Shalimar and vintage Chanel No.5 edt, yet finding both too stuffy to wear, too much powder and somehow too serious.
Which is why i personally enjoy this perfume. add some saffron, that glob of vanilla powder, some of the scotch found in Penhaligon’s Elixir and there you have it. Tralala.
Aldehydes, sweetness, leather (suede – think Bottega Veneta), incense, violets and powdery vanilla (more Shalimar, than vintage makeup) that hits the spot without being too powdery nor too pudding, as it is tempered with those lovely violets, suede and vetiver.
to concur, the first hour is indeed bonkers – your nose is thinking – whatever next? – then another note hits. pow. fizzing with aldehydes, pazang and just the right dose of powdery woodsy violets and incense vanilla throughout. i struggle to smell the tuberose in this and i don’t get that booze note until the dry down.
Even if like myself, you don’t generally enjoy a Bertrand, wish you could wear Shalimar and No.5 in public, are in love with violets, suede and woods – give this a spray and enter Tralaland for sure.
last 12+ hours. too much heft and lusciousness for the daylight hours. I only wear this evening time.
Sanitar01rus – :
Firstly the presentation is fabulous, that bottle is adorable, even the box it comes in is cute. Tralala is an ideal name as you can imagine the perfumer singing trala la la as they threw together a mixture of aldehydes, leather, vanilla, powder and whiskey and yea it’s a strange one but its a good one! I’m so glad i got a bottle of this before it disappears completely unless you wish to pay crazy prices on auction sites.
cikan – :
This perfume has been called crazy many times, but it is a kind of Tim Burton crazy, by which I mean fun and colourful. It’s like the perfumer took some really serious notes and then just started playing with them. So you get boozy, and sweet, and powdery, and aldehydic, and leathery, all in the same fragrance, but there’s a logic to this chaos. As for me, I’m enjoying my sample so much that I’m going to order a full bottle before they disappear completely.
Teamtheotte – :
I have very mixed feelings about this perfume. I am not keen on Aldehydes at the best of times and here they whoosh out of the bottle in a harsh explosion, but suddenly they are gone and I am transported to an autumn bonfire with a glass of whisky in my hand. Bliss! As the smoky wood dies down, faint hints pf carnation and saffron emerge and I am loving it. But alas those notes fade away all to quickly and all I am left with is a bland powdery vanilla.
I am saving what little I have left to wear at my first bonfire party of the autumn where hopefully the natural smells will prolong this on my skin. Will I try and find more now it is discontinued. Undecided.
paut_95 – :
generalmente le fragranze di penhaligon’s sono classiche, inglesi, molto “polite”, senza alcun tocco di follia. questo profumo, creato in edizione limitata e, quindi, per definizione, già fuori produzione, è una bella eccezione. sono rimasta sorpresa dalla creatività complessa, ma sempre equilibrata, di questo accordo, che comincia con sentori alcolici e aldeidici misti a zafferano, da cui spunta il cardamomo, per assestarsi su un bouquet balsamico e notevolissimo di cuoio, ambra e vaniglia, smorzato da vetiver secco. buonissimo!
tretii – :
Fragrance Review For Tralala By Penhaligon
Top Notes: Aldehydes Saffron Whiskey Violet
Middle Notes: Leather Tuberose Incense Carnation
Base Notes: Patchouli Vetiver Musk Vanilla
What a beautiful liquored up fragrance. It’s dizzying, like waltzing and being spun around so fast that you become a spinning top. Smelling this fragrance I recalled the scene in the Jennifer Jones film adaptation of Madame Bovary, the Ball Scene. She waltzes with Louis Jourdan and she becomes faint and needs fresh air so the other party guests break the windows! This is a decadent party perfume. It’s an indecent whiskey that frees you from inhibitions. It smells of aldehydes at first so you have to be familiar with and comfortable with aldehydic openings in perfumes. They are intoxicating sparkling aldehydes like bubbly champagne. Then the whiskey is very noticeable. It becomes a floral fragrance soon afterward: saffron tuberose carnation and violet. Each of these flowers and their heady scent reached my nose. I always pick up on the smell of violets first and it was a beautiful violet. The saffron is also very perceptible as is the carnation. The carnation gives this scent a silky and sexy texture. It’s a romantic feminine carnation that reminds me of corsages and evokes a prim and proper Victorian lady who has a naughty side and can be a strumpet when she’s not around anyone who has known her as a lady. These are gorgeous flowers and very fragrant, luxurious. The vanilla in the dry down is bliss. It’s creamy and blends with the whiskey and aldehydes making this into something like vanilla flavored malt. It helps that the bottle does look like a bottle of malt liquor or whiskey. It also comes with a cute little burgundy colored bow. I will use the bow as a fashion piece after I’ve finished the fragrance. For me the dry down and the stronger of the base notes was musk. It turns into a masculine musk in the end. This fragrance is something a guy can totally rock. It has flowers but so many modern men’s colognes now have floral notes and men have learned to appreciate floral scents in colognes. This isn’t really that floral and it’s mostly booze, vanilla and musk. The musk is very nicely recreated. Not animalic just comfortable and warm. It’s a fragrance for formal evening affairs/dinners and dates, and for winter time because it’s so warm, aromatic, boozy and hot blooded. Loved it. Wearing it tonight.
Groreibiork – :
Weird.Artistic.Unleashed and a bit crazy.
First sniffs are about aldehydes, quite strong and making a statement:stay off, is`s not for everybody.Brave and strong only;)!They create a washing powder note, not very pleasant in fact
Next is the art of blending opposites: leather and powdery notes, spices quite clear like saffron with light, semi sweet vanilla.On the other side we can detect some musk as well as incense.Flowers are almost not detectable and rather faint.
Very special effect of vodka (maybe rum or whiskey)in the heart makes the scent more sophisticated.
There are some comparisons to M7 Oud Absolue and the
M7 itself.They are not well founded .Both of them are based on a powerful patchouli&oud &bergamot blend :perfectly balanced and elegant.It`s not even worth looking for them in Tralala.I could wear it for an hour, scrubbing in a hot water and almost crying at the power of ingredients.Not for me.
Something like a crowded party with strangers :first everybody is smiling and chatting with each other but after some hours we start to be overstimulated, bored so we are leaving home convinced we could spend this time in a better way
Blueebird – :
Words can hardly describe how beautiful this perfume is. It smells really classic, artistic, weird, old fashioned, boozy, leathery, flowery and balmy; all at the same time. Vanilla is not very gourmet, but more feminine and deep on my skin.
The balmy part of this fragrance really reminds me of a Spikenard Perfume, but I also smell a lot of crisp flowers, woody whisky, dark incense, salty saffron and fresh aldehydes here. It is very rich and hard to compare. Also, sillage and longevity are great! 12+h on my skin!
Now, is the perfume inspired by the Tralala: The title character of an earlier Selby’s short story from a novel “Last Exit to Brooklyn”?! We might never know.
However, if you can ignore that controversy, this is one beautifully balanced and very well done fragrance.
zomba – :
Smells strongly of betelnut/areca nut. Brings to mind the traditional subcontinental mouth freshner called ‘paan’ It is a blend of sugary, sweet, spicy and aromatic scents. Although I think this fragrance is unique, I do not think I would want to wear it as a fragrance. For those of you who love it, time to buy backups as this has been discontinued i believe!
dendy.pro – :
Beautiful. Amazing parfum and complex! It will take time to understand it, and absorb it for good .. but it is something wonderfully strange and nostalgic. Transports me in a ancient times, in a theater, the nineteenth-century music, but after a while everything is turned upside down and carries me in an amazing place, as an Luna-Park full of roller coasters, fun, sugary sweets,candy… antique dolls etc … it’s almost as if I carry in “the land of toys” holding me here for a while, before getting it back again at the beginning … transports you in a way a little “drunk” is a perfume …. crazy, with the note of whiskey that keeps the other notes in the background. The aldehydes were a touch of genius in this composition, B.Dutchfour is a great artist .. every note has assigned its rightful place, everything is in constant motion, everything changes and returns .. it is something magical !! advice for “expert noses” .. is a very complex fragrance .. to me it will take days to figure out … although I already know that will become part of my collection .. Council use in Autumn/Winter because it makes it much better .. (It would be a nice Christmas day). Fascinating and intriguing, Tralala – fancy name that leaves room for interpretation,evokes well the mutual influence between glamor and the retrospective vision privileged by Meadham Kirchhoff.
Can not miss Tralala .. I hit me. I see many “Dislike” which honestly do not understand .. how can you not love this perfume ?? it’s wonderful. The sillage is great, (6 feet) with 3 spray and longevity huge (12 + h) of me .. Just a few sprays to last many hours .. go easy :). [◣The curtain closes◢] This composition deserves a big round of applause … !! ♛ Highly recommended!
Sillage: 8.5/10
Longevity: 9/10
Scent: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
ozols1 – :
It’s a shame that Penhaligon’s are not going to continue this perfume. In my mind its an amazing underrated creation. I purchased it around Christmas of 2014 and thought it was really well suited to party situation.
I love the crazy, zany madness of this perfume. It goes through so many interesting stages. Its such an interesting journey. The opening hits you hard with Whisky. The Iris comes through later and reminds me very much of Penhaligon’s Iris Prima.
I like how this perfume in many ways has been overloaded with notes and yet they all seem to work together and come through so well at various stages. There are some clashes this creation. There is a refinement which at time battles with the more playful elements in this creation. I agree with many that there is a smell of bon bon’s or sugary sweets.
Writing this review has made me want to spray myself with this perfume once again and be taken on the amazing journey this fragrance offers. I would advise people to try.
viktorya – :
Tralala is a rich, dense, creamy perfume which reminds me of Chanel No 5 and JPG Classique. The scents themselves are very different, but al three evoke images of plush velvet theater seats, the deep reddish brown of a Stradivarius violin, the scent of ancient dry wooden beams, glamourous cloting, champagne, whiskey and rich foods. All three have a different character, No 5 sips a glass of fizzy champagne, Classique nibbles on orchid flavoured white chocolate and Tralala enjoys an exceptional single malt.
It’s the richness, the opulence and feeling of luxury that they have in common.
Tralala opens with a beautiful boozy whiskey note which has the woody undertone of great single malt. Aldehydes add a little sparkle and saffron lifts the whole composition to the next level. Then it’s all about the vanilla-leather mix which is draped over the whiskeywood. The leather has a bit of a rubbery facet, which is tempered, but not masked, by the vanilla. There’s also something bitter, vetiver or patchouli maybe. Saffron remains throughout the fragrance to give it a quirky twist.
Yes, this fragrance is a tiny bit weird, but also strangely familiar. It breaths both sofistication and decandence, which is a rare combination.
I love it for nights out, but also for nights in on the couch with a book and a cup of tea. Or a glass of single malt of course.
romany – :
When I was in the Penhaligon flagship store in London, I was told that Tralala is limited!
So If you like this smell don’t wait too long, because it will not be produced any more after this batch is sold out…
Hottabich – :
This is a very warm scent, which I love, however better it still reminds me of M7 with a little more focus on floral and wiskey. For that reason I wouldnt buy a full bottle since I own M7 and have had TF oud wood. I really feel this is higher quality than the two prevously mentioned though.
vfrcbr – :
Penhaligon’s offers an absolutely fascinanting scent. An appropiate way to describe “Tralala” would be “Guerlain meets Comme des Garçons”.
Its funny, playful, weird, excentric, romantic and mysterious. I can imagine Helena Bonham Carter wearing this.
The scent is evocative of decadent pubs (the whiskey accord), vintage boudoirs (the powdery violet accord, a beautiful homage to Aprés l’Ondée and L’Heure Bleue according to the nose Bertrand Douchafour), Xmas celebrations (the marzipan-cherry main note) and mysterious chapels (the dark incense, leathery notes).
Bravo Penhaligon’s!
Tanya – :
The bottle is far more exciting than the scent unfortunately. This is not a gourmand on my skin but instead the Penhaligon’s nod to 31 Rue Cambon by Chanel.A blast of aldehydes, a ton of powder, spice and musk makes up Tralala on me and the other notes seem to have disappeared under the weight of them. It’s as if a carnation-aldehyde wearing Stepford wife just threw out her drunk on whiskey husband for wearing his leather shoes on the cream sofa. Stepford wife 1/Husband 0. Sillage is rather quiet on me, starts and remains as a close to skin scent for the better part of the day. It’s a nice addition for the house and the bottle is truly charming, but the scent- nothing not done before i.e Chanel.
seriussem11 – :
I love this, such an exquisite, beautiful scent in this bottle.
yrik1961maks1985 – :
First of all, I must say that I do not find this to be a gourmand. There is a bit of a sweetish vanilla note in the final drydown, but for the most part, to my nose this is a bitter leathery, incensy and boozey fragrance. The bitterness finally evens out in the drydown, but this is nothing I would ever want to wear. For those who love well balanced boozey and leathery scents, this should be heaven. Sillage and longevity are good. I do not find it to be reminiscent of Shalimar at all.
jokerrif – :
What a fanciful perfume! Its la Sweet Carnivale, ..candy floss, marzipan, turkish delights and incense. This is an unusual gourmand with monstrous silage, it grows and grows. This is not for the faint hearted! Do try if your seeking something super sweet and quirky. In the end it was much tooo much for me though I did enjoy the first half hour.
hoataneallyS – :
Basically I can sum up Tralala in a few notes…
Musk, vanilla, BOOZE, and saffron.
I’ll just mention the saffron it has an odd sharp quality and is pungent but I love it in fragrances. Although it’s not a major player in this one, you can detect it and it adds to overall opulence.
Quite a theatrical bright, rough, almost gourmand opening which is pretty spectacular in truth and the whisky element is present straight away. A whisky note is not something I like in many fragrances I’ll be honest but here in Tralala it’s somehow exceptable.
As it calms the fragrance becomes quite smooth and vanilla like almost like a milky drink with alcohol in…a white russian prehaps? (But far dirtier of course!)
In fact I had a bourbon whiskey float cocktail a few weeks back and this reminded me heavily of the curdling combo of strong booze and ice cream which is not such a pleasant thing!
So as Tralala rages on my skin it starts to become cloying and there’s only so much I can take of the musky vanilla which does get a bit much after a while.
It’s a little more complex than I’m giving it credit for and after you get past the cloying faze and it really dies down it goes nice again, even a bit soft and leathery.
So all in all an interesting fragrance and great longevity one of the stronger Penhaligon’s I’ve come across.
Tralala is an acquired taste maybe but so is the creepy dolls head stopper on the bottle. I wasn’t familiar with Meadham & Kirchhoff’s fashion house before but I get the picture with the style and this scent certainly ties in with the look of there clothes, bold and slightly eccentric!
priam – :
Love it! Triggers so many childhood memories of various dolls and dolls theatres. I grew up in Germany & Austria where we had tons of creative outlets in form of dolls theatres. The arguably most popular one was “Kasperle” with his crocodile friend.
This scent creation (courtesy of the ever-imaginative genius that is Msr Duchaufour) triggers all these early childhood memories for me. It is an olfactory rollercoaster, a fairground, a carroussel of memories, experiences, songs and rhymes, seasoned with all things edible and memorable and gourmand: Toffee Apples, Crème brûlée with that crackling bittersweet almost burnt sugar topping, Hot Treacle over ice-cream, Toffee, and those chocolates on grandmother’s Christmas tree filled with alcohol (=whiskey) that you were not supposed to have….but you had it anyways.
It’s almost as if the two protagonists (the Caspar and the Crocodile) represent the good=chocolate and the bad=alcohol, yet you like them both for one is sweet and the other one is dangerous and forbidden (so much for the psychoanalysis and early conditioning, but I digress).
Love the boozy opening with the aldehydes and chocolatey, caramely, whiskey notes that jump right at you like a Caspar doll out of a gift box upon opening.
Followed by some bittersweet violet, the tuberose gives it subtle, white floral sweetness, the saffron gives it spice and the carnation the bitter, pungent, nutty base.
The musk comes like a slow rising fog and takes over, confusing the story (like a shift in plot) and throws it all around once more to create suspense….until we celebrate a happy ending with a smoldering and bittersweet, still boozy, warm vanilla.
A round of applause, please!
10/10 for story-telling. 8/10 for scent. Great for fall/ winter. Perfect gift for someone who works/ loves the theatre. Gourmand, woody, musky oriental.
dikiy55555 – :
finally i have it! Yesterday I was at the Harvey Nichols in London were they presented this parfume.
the smell is really nice and original, quit strong and it is long lasting,
After 10 hours I on the plane back home I still could smell it.
i don’t had unisex parfumes in my collection yet, but this Tralala is going to change this, because this a unique parfume that smell’s artistic, romantic and a little bit crazy, like a bonbon with a lot of alcohol inside 😉
you have to smell it for yourself, but for me this fragance was love at first sight!
update: they told me at Penhaligon that at the end of this year they will release 4 new fragances! i can’t hardly wait!
CrydayNal – :
This one reads deliciously, intriguing…ANXIOUSLY AWAITING LAUNCH,!
Lexan_88 – :
This is fabulous! A very boozy opening and then a wonderful, warm gourmand develops. I got whiskey and marzipan before the soft leather and vanilla dry down.
It is delightful and I can’t wait to smell it again.
MUPFUGEXTESEE – :
Something tells me that this looks like a new version of tabac blond.
They have almost the same basic notes while leather and carnation are the main notes of the heart – in tabac blond are on top.
The combination of aldehydes with violet on top seems that gives a vintage and powedery sensation.
Weird though with the addition of whiskey note…
The composition Intrigues me the most and i will seek for a sample when it is released.
Quietrera – :
In Greek we say “tralala” referring to something crazy!!
From the composition this weird perfume sounds like its gonna drive us crazy in a positive or negative aspect! Lets see!!!
ed.67 – :
OMG!! For test… What a weird perfume!….