Description
Helene by Rance 1795 is a Fruity-Floral fragrance for women. Helene was launched in 2010. The nose behind this fragrance is Mr. Giovanni Rancé, owner and Creative Director of Rancé 1795.
Hélène was born of the joyful, pure and passionate love between Napoleon and his last lover. To Love Jean Rancé dedicated these vivacious, sincere notes of captivating exotic atmospheres.
In 2015, the Rancé Maison gives Hélène a sparkling new life. Fruity notes, enchanting white flowers and a new packaging hiding a “poetic secret”: Hélène is an invitation to an island of dream.
In the head, a delicious pear goes hand-in-hand with sparkling fruity touches. The heart debuts in a delicate floral bouquet scented of rose, magnolia and white flowers. In the base, a bewitching amber unveils warm sandalwood and patchouli notes, which give Hélène a captivating allure.
Before reformulation top notes were neroli, ylang-ylang, cardamom and cinnamon; middle notes are jasmine, african orange flower, tonka bean and rose; base notes are musk, iris, sandalwood, benzoin and heliotrope.
Katherine_fromAD – :
I agree with arhytmetics’ review. Please don’t ignore it, as I did, lured by numerous positive reviews on Fragrantica. The fragrance does not remind pre-2015 version and smells unpleasant and cheap. Red card for Rance from my wallet, sorry.
каркас – :
5/10
velryCole – :
smells a bit like cola, which i love
Prototip – :
Im in love with Helene….Beautiful elegant and lovely scent.
Sometimes too much powdery, but its ok without summer.
It makes me happy everyday!
Sakura311 – :
There aren’t a huge number of previous reviewers, but most seem to mention they can smell the various spices in this. Allow me to be different and say that on my skin, the cardamon and cinnamon are barely present. Unlike others, I don’t really get the warmth from this. The sandalwood is very very dry, but to my nose that doesn’t necessarily read as warmth. Orange flower/neroli scents, especially mass-market ones, usually tend to go quite warm/sweet. But these orange flowers, over such a dry base, and such a powdery-purple heliotrope….this isn’t warm or sweet. It’s decidedly white to me, neither warm nor cool, but certainly no obvious heat.
This moves to jasmine-dominant after the first hour. The interesting thing for me is that among the obvious whiteness, there is a cool (and maybe even a little wet/earthy) note of iris. It comes out a little more as the scent develops and becomes muskier, although is still quite faint. I don’t get any clear vanilla notes until about 2 hours in, but these notes aren’t bold either. The balsamic qualities take a while to develop, and I would say there is a brief, slightly unpleasant sharpness as it begins to unfold, but I don’t think you’ll notice that in everyday wear.
It wouldn’t be entirely correct to call this “woody” to the extent that it is really just “wood” – one wood: sandalwood. Underneath everything is a powderiness that resolves itself with a light, clean, semi-soapy musk. There is a vague suggestion of something vanilla/cinnamic/marzipan, but it’s blended enough that this remains a vague suggestion only, rather than anything remotely gourmand. As others have said, it is a softer sillage.
The one thing holding me back from liking this is the drydown. Looking at the previous reviewers, the last review was mid-2016 and before that mid-2015. As per the description above, this was reformulated in 2015. Therefore the version I’m smelling are minis of the new reformulation, which mean the previous reviews may not adequately reflect this perfume at present. Now, I’m currently reading the Fragrantica reviews for other Rancé frags….user KJS88 has this to say about Rancé’s ‘Triomphe Millesime’: