Fragrance Shopping Tip of the Day: Nicolaï Eau Exotique still Available as Eau Turquoise...or How Words Matter in Perfumery

If you like to smell of fresh, tart mango for summer and/or regret the disappearance of Eau Exotique Eau Fraîche by Parfums de Nicolaï (2005), the scoop is that it was very discreetly reincarnated as Eau Turquoise (2008)...


I found a sample of the 2008 release which was advertised as a "new perfume" and realized as I smelled it that it is the exact same composition as Eau Exotique. Why they did not inform their customers of the re-christening process is a bit mysterious, but there is obviously a marketing rationale behind this choice.

If you ever doubted that words, literature and imagination are important to perfumery, this is one conspicuous example. 

To summarize, Eau Turquoise = Eau Exotique, which was as it turns out never discontinued as I assumed in an article I wrote on the new L'Eau Mixte.

The official list of notes is of no help to orient you because if you compare the past and the present information, you do read about a common mango note but there are differences such as a mention of apricot today versus blackcurrant yesterday. The 2 lists of notes just highlight different notes but they would be all there in both versions.

Eau Exotique: lime, petitgrain, sweet orange, cassis, mango, jasmine, vetiver, patchouli, cedar, and musk.

Eau Turquoise: mango, apricot, lime, Turkish rose oil, pepper, cardamom, patchouli, cedar, musk.