Manoumalia

Launched in 2008 by Swiss niche house LesNez Parfums d’Auteurs, Manoumalia, was inspired by the culture, ceremony and fragrance, of on the Pacific island of Wallis, a small Polynesian kingdom with an aristocratic monarchy belonging to the French overseas territory of Wallis and Futuna and where perfumer Sandrine Videault was born.

LezNez gives perfumers the freedom to work without a brief, so they can create original and unconventional fragrances according to their feelings, so Videault followed her nose and her heart and created that rare thing: a truly original fragrance.

Manoumalia opens with a note of fragrea. Fragrea has many olfactory similarities to its white flower sisters - gardenia, ylang-ylang, jasmine and tuberose – so it’s lush, tropical, carnal and creamy. But it also has a spicy facet that sets it apart and makes Manounalia intriguing from the first sniff. It also gives it an irresistibility that runs like a thread right through the fragrance from top to bottom. Skin heat opens up the white flower aspects of fragrea making them big and heady. Then, I smell coconut. I smell suntan lotion, but I also smell rubber and I know we are at Manoumalia’s heart of tiare (Tahitian gardenia), and vetiver. The green, earthy, pungent vetiver balances the heady white florals so smoothly, that it elevates Manoumalia to an homage rather than just a beach scent that swirls just above my skin. Then we get to the base. The. Base. The smell of sandalwood powder weaves through rich, floral, banana-faceted, jasmine-nuanced ylang-ylang. If you’ve ever wondered what erotic smells like, this is it. Amber, resinous, sweet and warm anchors it perfectly.

The drydown is rich, tropical lush and surprisingly full-bodied for an eau de toilette. But it is so much more than that. Videault followed her nose and her heart and created that rare thing: a truly original fragrance.
 
Manoumalia smells like a tropical paradise rooted in ritual but it feels like summer.

Notes: fragrea, tiare, vetiver, ylang ylang, sandalwood, amber.

Type: EdP

Parfumeur: Sandrine Videault