Shalini Paradis Provence Review (Maurice Roucel) + Healing Light Draw

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019

Shalini Paradis Provence (Photo/Digital Effects: Despina Veneti)©

“We promised ourselves that one day we would live here. We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers, looked with an addict’s longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window.” (Peter Mayle, “A Year in Provence”)

Shalini Kumar of Shalini Parfum & Maurice Roucel of Symrise

When I met Shalini Kumar (N.Y.-based fashion designer, and owner/creative director of Shalini Parfum) a few months ago in Paris, she shared with me that her next perfume would be an olfactory celebration of her deep love for the South of France. Having been born and raised in the Mediterranean, I am always touched to meet people from all over the world that have developed such an existential connection with that blessed Basin. Since that conversation, Shalini Paradis Provence has been for me one of the most anticipated releases of the year. My expectations were met with a soul-cleansing fragrance of touching purity, centered around thyme and lavender, composed by Master Perfumer Maurice Roucel (making this his fourth collaboration with Shalini).

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque near Gordes, in Luberon, Provence (Photo: luxurytravelmag.com.au)©

For hundreds of years now, Provence has been seducing artists and visitors with its transcendent light and its art de vivre, as well as with its magical landscapes: the lavender and sunflower fields, the picturesque villages on top of ancient rock formations, the glorious meetings of the mountains and the sea… Shalini shared with me her special affection for the area: “My great love for Provence began on my very first visit to Luberon, with its old olive trees and fields of blue lavender. The colors and essences spoke to my soul, and I felt good in my skin being there. There is a clarity that I experience when I swim in the blue waters of the Mediterranean. I have continued to find my personal paradise in Provence each summer for the last twenty years, and have always felt deeply restored there. I also have two perfect little French god sons living in Cannes, who are a source of immense joy and love in my life”. As for Shalini Paradis Provence, she confessed: “This fragrance has been in my soul for many years. It is my way to be transported to Provence each day. Paradis Provence is meant to evoke the “golden light of thyme”. That is the solar, healing energy.”

Vogue, December 1946 (Photo: Herbert Matter)©

Shalini also shared with me what perfume creation truly means to her: she regards her fragrances as olfactory expressions of her own personal journey to self-awareness and evolution, like scented entries in a diary. Viewed under this prism, her first fragrance, Shalini, was essentially about the metamorphosis of a girl into a woman, Jardin Nocturne about a young woman’s sexual awakening, while Amorem Rose was created out of the need for healing of the heart through deep, divine love. As for Paradis Provence, the essence of the fragrance is for Shalini a healing energy that echoes a love that’s timeless: “the kind that soulmates share beyond time or space barriers.”

“Plateau de Albion Lavender” by Maria Bertran©

Shalini Paradis Provence opens with a cool, aromatherapy-like lavender, that immediately invites the wearer to inhale deeply. Intense and complex, this top-quality lavender absolute is green, herbaceous and slightly woody. The thyme, spicy and phenolic, with almost leathery nuances, warms up the fragrance shyly but increasingly, like the first sunbeams on a dewy spring morning. Both belonging to the mint family (Lamiaceae), lavender and thyme are among the most valuable of herbs, cherished for centuries for their healing properties, and they are the undeniable protagonists of Shalini Paradis Provence. It could be a result of their potent aromatic synergy, but I also detect hints of clary sage, violet, pine and moss in the composition. The delicate floralcy of orange blossom, with just a touch of jasmine, enters the scene, mellowing and sweetening the fragrance. An astonishing breezy effect runs through Shalini Paradis Provence (possibly aided by musk), in a manner of a gentle current of air that carries along the aromas of Provençal blooming fields, blending them all together. In its drydown the fragrance becomes more floral and mild, and slightly soapy. Overall, the evolution of Shalini Paradis Provence takes a rather therapeutic character: its intense, highly energizing opening awakens body and mind, moving then on slowly towards cleansing, relaxing and soothing the wearer.

Shalini Paradis Provence in the Lalique “Deux Fleurs” flacon, Shalini fashion creations and lavender/sunflower fields in Provence (Photos courtesy of Shalini/Collage: Despina Veneti)©

The beautiful “Deux Fleurs” crystal flacon (designed by René Lalique in 1935) is the ideal carrier for a fragrance that’s built around dualities: more than being unisex, Shalini Paradis Provence merges the (pre)conceptions of “masculine” and “feminine” fragrance into oblivion; it also accomplishes a remarkable fusion of timeless aromatherapy and contemporary fine perfumery. Shalini Paradis Provence takes the wearer even beyond the geographical location of its name: it evokes universally longed-for feelings of uncomplicated bliss, soul-soothing tranquility and profound reassurance. If your idea of “Paradise” is a place of peace, harmony and solace, then Shalini Paradis Provence could very well be its fragrance.

Notes: Thyme, Lavender, Orange Blossom, Jasmine.

Disclaimer: I’d like to thank Shalini for my 7.5ml spray bottle of Shalini Paradis Provence. The opinions are my own.

– Despina Veneti, Senior Editor

Thanks to the generosity of Shalini, we have a draw for a 7.5ml avant-première spray bottle of Shalini Paradis Provence ($150) for one registered reader in USA, Canada or EU. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Despina’s review, if you have a favorite Shalini fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes 7/30/2019

Available @indigoperfumery @aedes_perfumery @bergdorfs @jovoyparis @harrods and other fine stockists

Also available in the Cubique Glass bottle with a Black Bulb atomizer for $500. The parfum will be available in the limited edition Lalique crystal flacon for $2700.