Of Gardenias And Green (Scent Review: Arquiste, Boutonniere no 7)

I was at Aedes the other day and tried on the newest Arquiste, Boutonniere no 7. This perfume is based on an idea, and it is a pretty swell one. Imagine a scene at Paris' Opera Comique: a bunch of well-dressed young men in tuxedos are milling about during intermission, and they all have gardenia boutonnieres on their lapel. I can see the scene vividly as I close my eyes. This perfume is marketed as "Gardenia for men" and that in itself is intriguing, as there are probably very few male-centric gardenia scents out there, if any. At first sniff, the gardenia her is beautiful, bloomy, and very very bright. It's also quite green, because there is a splash of vetiver in the beginning. And while it was beautiful, I didn't really recognize a lot of development in the scent, and I even said, "it's pretty linear!"  And while it is, perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux also made a perfume that speaks quietly after, in soft and hush tones. I had left the store, and as the cold day wore on, the perfume showed some complexities: the vetiver became more pronounced. In a way, it was like seeing a gardenia flower and its white petals, and then slowly its stem comes out, and there's the green, and as it settles, I even get hints of lavender and jasmine. I had thought I didn't need this scent, but now I can't stop thinking about it. I was putting away my clothes today and got a whiff of it via my shirt, and it's really exquisite - I smell gardenias there, but it is framed beautifully by everything else that it's like a beautiful portrait of white flowers with numerous colors in the background making the white flower stand out more in the picture. While I think about it, I really have yet to smell anything in the whole Arquiste line that I don't love, Carlos Huber doesn't try to be unique just for the sake of being different. His scents are elegantly different - instantly recognizable even if the idea seems common: a gardenia scent like this one for example. Santa, if you are listening, I really would like this on Christmas morning.