3 of the Best Gorgeous Jasmine Perfumes for Women

Tayn's many interests include unusual perfumes, and she enjoys sharing fragrance recommendations.

Many floral perfumes are delicate, and some white floral perfumes are cool. But if you want a white floral fragrance that's neither delicate nor cool, something strong and sweet and with a creamy warmth, jasmine is a perfect choice.

It is believed that the jasmine plant originated in the Himalayas. Long cultivated for the unique heady fragrance of its flowers, jasmine is used in certain types of Chinese teas, in essential oils and for aromatherapy, as an aphrodisiac in certain cultures, and, of course, it is frequently used as a component in perfume and cosmetics.

1. Serge Lutens A La Nuit

Serge Lutens is a Paris-based niche perfume house with an excellent reputation among many perfume-lovers for creating special perfumes that really stand out from the crowd. You can read more about Serge Lutens in my article about some of his spicy perfumes.

Opening Notes

Some perfumes really open with a bang, and I can’t think of any that achieve that better than A La Nuit. The top notes of A La Nuit are really made for those times when too much jasmine is barely enough. The opening is sweet and strong and intoxicatingly jasmine, which is appropriate, since this is a jasmine soliflore (ie. a perfume that focuses on the scent of a single flower.)

There’s something very rich and dark about the opening stages of A La Nuit. It’s very much a white floral fragrance, but no one would ever describe it as clean. It’s not a young girl’s perfume. This is a woman’s fragrance, as sultry as a hot summer night. Jasmine flowers open and release their fragrance at night, and those opening notes of A La Nuit always remind me of walking out into my garden on a hot and humid summer evening and being assailed by the combined scent of dozens of newly opened jasmine flowers.

Lasting

Flowers are ephemeral things, though. They don’t last, and neither does that initial, almost overpowering, jasmine note of A La Nuit. The perfume’s focus never strays from jasmine, but the jasmine note develops as it goes along, becoming quieter and less sweet. Trying it again now, it’s surprising how quickly that development happens, since the powerful opening of A La Nuit is what most people, including me, remember most distinctly about it. After three or four hours, there’s just a whisper of it left on the skin, but that whisper lingers, holding on to the memory of what came before.

A La Nuit is very much a perfume for jasmine lovers. If you love jasmine, you’ll probably adore it. If you’re more in like with jasmine than in love with it, you’ll probably find the other jasmine perfumes I’m looking at here more to your taste.

Estee Lauder Private Collection Jasmine White Moss

Estee Lauder is, of course, a famous company that specialises in cosmetics, skin care products, and perfumes. Founded by Estee Lauder in 1946, they have produced many well-known perfumes over the second half of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first.

If big, dark dirty jasmines like A La Nuit are not quite what you’re looking for, Estee Lauder has provided us with a light, bright and airy spin on jasmine in Jasmine White Moss.

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Part of the Private Collection range, Jasmine White Moss is based on an unfinished fragrance that Estee Lauder herself was working on during the 1980s. The incomplete formula was discovered in the archives by Estee Lauder’s granddaughter, Aerin Lauder, who is now the Creative Director of Estee Lauder. Aerin Lauder loved the unfinished fragrance so much that she decided to complete it. The finished fragrance was released in 2009.

Opening Notes

Despite its origins, Jasmine White Moss is not at all like something from the 1980s. It’s very modern, opening with bright citrus notes of mandarin and bergamot, which swiftly develop into fresh greenness of the white moss. But this is still essentially a jasmine perfume, and jasmine is at the heart of it. Like A La Nuit, the jasmine in Jasmine White Moss really makes its presence felt when it first arrives. But, unlike A La Nuit, as the jasmine develops here it is joined by other florals, including violet and orange blossom.

Lasting

This is a much gentler and cleaner perfume than A La Nuit. Jasmine White Moss is soft, bright and fresh, and much more a daytime fragrance than A La Nuit. Lasting power is excellent.

Annick Goutal Le Jasmin

Annick Goutal was originally a fashion model and concert pianist. She launched her own perfume line in 1980. Since Annick Goutal’s death in 1999, her daughter Camille has continued to produce perfumes for the Annick Goutal line in collaboration with perfumer Isabelle Doyen.

Le Jasmin is a jasmine soliflore, like A La Nuit, but it is also quite light and airy, like Jasmine White Moss. If you’re looking for a jasmine perfume that steers a middle course between these two, Le Jasmin could be just what you’re looking for.

Opening Notes

The opening ginger note is a little unexpected, but it gives a good indication of the shape of things to come. That slight spicy buzz of ginger never really goes away, but it soon retires into the background to make way for the floral heart. Jasmine is the king here, but it’s a fresher, greener jasmine than in A La Nuit, and it’s accompanied by a beautiful white magnolia. Together, these notes produce a perfume that’s soft and smooth and warm but also a little fresh and a little spicy.

Lasting

Le Jasmine is a gorgeous and gorgeously feminine take on a classic floral. And as an added bonus, it lasts for hours.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

daviddonkor70 on February 07, 2016:

wow, i really liked that..... very descriptive. i am going to follow you!!!!!!

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Cynthia B Turner from Georgia on June 29, 2014:

I love perfumes and fragrances. Reading about them is the next best thing to wearing them (almost). I enjoy learning about fragrances I had no idea existed. Maybe I should start a bucket list of fragrances. Your article is excellent. Thanks for awakening the senses, even if only in my imagination. Take care.