Strange lands - MPG Jardin du Nil

Where to start?
Is it just me or do some of the perfume names sound extremely similar? Btw, this one came out in 1988.

Also, it's been on my mind these days so I need to get it off my chest (has no connection to the rest of the post though).
I remember discovering the perfumeland (I love how Carrie put it) and getting lost immediately. I started reading THE blogs (you all probably know  from your own experience which) and there were all these names there - of perfume houses, perfumes and perfumers I've never even heard of but everyone else seemed to know who were they all talking about. All these abbreviations, like SL, Fem du Bois, MPG, FM, ELdO, etc. were complete mistery, not to mention the fact that getting the perfume name connected to the right house was way beyond me.
And here I am, a few years later, writing a blog and discussing all these things in abbreviations. And I thought I would never, ever, be able to gain this knowledge.
Basically, what I'm saying is - when you want to do something and it's something you like, there is no limit to where you might go. And I just feel like I started. :)

OK, on to my strange discovery.

I have problems putting my thoughts into words now. The perfume itself is strange (until the drydown) and what it made me realize isn't that strange but it's something I never considered before.
You see, when I applied Jardin du Nil, I thought my sample might have gone off. So, I went searching for notes and all relevant information, only to come across the fact that other people might not have termed it so diplomatically and had much more colorful phrases to describe the opening of this one. :)

So, it seems my sample isn't off, just strange. And I'm bursting to tell you that although that strange is almost unwearable (well, certainly for some), I love the fact that Jean Laporte was so brave, as well as MPG, and released this.
Notes: citruses, geranium, mint, tincture of rose, jasmine, vetyver, patchouli, amber.

Believe me, these notes do not prepare you in the least for what is to assault your nose once you apply Jardin du Nil. :)
I know I make it sound awful but I am just so intrigued by it. I will keep smelling my sample over and over.

But to get back on to the perfume. It starts for me like a citrusy, acidic, bitter and aquatic something. I thought the acidic/bitter part was due to the perfume going off, but it seems that's normal. :)
And then I went in search of notes and realized what it was that I was smelling. The rose tincture! Beside the citrusy notes, I'm sure you all know the smell of stale roses in a vase. That's what's giving this the strange acidic feel that is a bit nose-assaulting. But once I realized it, I didn't mind the smell. Well, I didn't even mind it before because I was intrigued.

After this initial strangeness, I'm guessing we're entering the more docile waters of the Nile, where the rose is more dark and lightly boozy, underscored by mint and then later by vetiver and jasmine hiding somewhere in the night so you can't be completely sure it's them but you can guess who in the company is yet unaccounted for.
The drydown reminds me of Paestum Rose's drydown and is nowhere near the intriguing strangeness of the beginning but is probably the part most people enjoy the most or never get around to smelling. :)