Visar inlägg med etikett Monsieur. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett Monsieur. Visa alla inlägg

måndag 2 februari 2015

Huitème Art - Liqueur Charnelle

Picture: Liqueur Charnelle
Photo: PR Huiteme Art (c)
Liqueur Charnelle is a woody aromatic fragrance with a gourmand touch created by Pierre Guillaume for one of his lines, Huitème Art.

Liqueur Charnelle starts with boozy notes accompanied with the for dark gourmand fragrances, typical dark, accord of dried fruits. There is also an interplay with not too sweet gourmand notes, like hard candy or delicate cakes. An offsetting, fresh, woody note, like just carved juniperwood also appears and creates a special touch in the top.  After a while woody peppernotes in a distinct dose appears and are the leading accord in the fragrance during almost the rest of its drydown. Liqueur Charnelle acts quite linear during the dry down, with the light pastery accord, supported with some booze as the offsetting notes to the woody pepper. In the basenotes, the pepper steps back and the dark, dried fruits preserved in cognac appears forward just as an accord which highlights balsamic and tobacconotes joins the composition. And the beautiful fresh juniperwood from the topnotes appears and is the note which remains in the very late dry down. To me the basenotes are the most pleasant part of Liqueur Charnelle.

Liqueur Charnelle is definitly a fragrance for late autumn and winter, I think it could be overwhelming in warmer weather. It has an impressive sillage and is strong, very light application is necessary. Liqueur Charnelle is partyly similar to a bunch of woody/spicy/aromatic/gourmand fragrances on the market as for exemple when it comes to the spicy, gourmand part: Editions Parfums de Frederic Malle Dries van Noten, Carner Barcelona Rima XI and to some extent  El Born. That despite all the three mentioned are smoother and cozier, more of "sitting in a café sipping latte", than Liqueur Charnelle which is more extroverted with its woody peppery accords, similar to some recent more masculine woody fragrances. Those fragrances often containing oud, mentioned or not, and when testing Liqueur Charnelle when it comes to its woody part, I come to think of recent releases such as the HA of 2013  Monsieur , Parfums MDCI Cuir Garamante , Puredistance Black (here also the boozy aspects), Robert Piguet Bois Noir (the woody pepper) just as in Montale Dark Oud.

Liquer Charnelle has traces from many fragrances but also an own personality, it's a good fragrance, nice to wear if lightly applied. When I tested Liqueur Charnelle the first time, Mr Parfumista liked it better than me, but after I have worn the sample a few times and found the right, light dose to apply I like it as much. Liqueur Charnelle is something as strange as an aggressive comfortfragrance.

Rating: 5

Notes: Cognac, dried fruits, linden blossom, grapes, caramel, vanilla, black pepper, pink pepper, elemi, amber, raspberry, coumarin, tobacco

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test.

måndag 3 februari 2014

Parfums MDCI - Cuir Garamante

Picture: Foggara (water chanell) in the
old Garamantes territory in Libya
Photo: Tagelmoust (cc) Wikipedia,
some rights reserved 
Parfums MDCI is a french niche house, founded by Claude Marchal, which offers high quality fragrances in collaboration with both experienced established perfumers and the coming perfumer generation.Cuir Garamante is one of the two latest launches from the house. The fragrance is created by Richard Ibanez, an experinted senior perfumer, creator of for example the special, before its time, dark, woody Sonia Rykiel Le Parfum.

Cuir Garamante is inspired by the ancient saharian berbers who was constructors of water channels for irrigaton and therefore dominated the traderoute from Tchad to the Mediterranean ca 500 B.C. As inspired from the desert, Cuir Garamante starts very dry, hot and spicy. Pepper, saffron and the likes creates a fizzy almost transparant, warm, desert-windy impression.As CG deepens there is also a pleasant slight sweaty note, like a soft touch of cummin glimpsing through. The oud is of the smoother variation and it's contributing with a dark, luxury, boozy, woody impression in the same way as in Puredistance Black.On my skin the rose in Cuir Gramante is not detectable as it is when testing it on the scentstripe, probably as the rose is light.On the teststripe the oud-rose (medium pink rose) smells very balanced and restrained, this is not the traditional rose-saffran-oud combo of  Montale and the crowd of followers of this, in those days avantgarde house. The Cuir Garamante rose-oud combo is more of (even if the fragrances are different in style) the gentle second oud genaration rose-oud accord, as in Parfums de Nicolaï Rose Oud. In the basenotes the boozy quality is still present, but in a slighter sweeter context than earlier, probably the resins, smooth sandalwood and discrete, dry vanilla (pod) notes, absolutely not the gourmand, dessert vanilla. In the basenotes there is also a fine leather, which interacts seamless with the other notes.
Picture: Cuir Garamante in Parfums MDCI Deluxe Falcon
There is also a plain version bottle
Photo: PR Parfums MDCI (c) 
Cuir Garamante is marketed towards men but I think it's an unisex creation which leans to the masculine side, contrary to Puredistance Black which is a more feminine unisex IMO. But this is just nuances, one have to test on oneself. Cuir Garamante is suitable both for office and dressed up occasions, for all seasons except for the warmest summerdays. The longevity is about a day.

Cuir Garamante is a well crafted fragence, well balanced and made of high quality ingredients. It's not original or avantgarde, an increasing number of niche lines includes a fragrance of this dark-woody- spicy- oud- booze-leather character (even if emphasizing a bit different among the notes) in their catalouge. Beside a spicier version of Puredistance Black, Cuir Garamante also resembles Robert Piguet Casbah (the dry spices) and partly Huitième Art Monsieur (the niche standard woody impression).

Rating:. 5

Notes: Pink pepper, nutmeg, saffron, rose, oud, papyrus, leather, vanilla, labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood

fredag 3 januari 2014

Huitième Art - Monsieur

Picture: Monsieur in its stylish bottle
Photo: PR Huitième Art (c)
Monsieur is the latest fragrance in Pierre Guillaumes line Huitième Art where each fragrance emphasizes on a special ingredient. In Monsieur different nuances of wood is the star and it's the first fragrance that is classified as masculine in the line, just as the excellent Poudre de Riz from last year was classified as (and really is) feminine. The review is based on comments from and my own impressions from Mr Parfumistas several wearings of a sample from Fragrance & Art.

Monsieur starts strong woody, the fizz of fresh cedar and sandalwood is prominent, underscored with incense. Vetiver and blond woody notes supports interacting with heavier notes as oak and a dry, clean and stripped down, woody patchouli, it's not the typical earthy and herbal "full" patchouli. The over all impression is a dry woody fragrance, linear in its construction as almost everything happens at the same time. When sniffing Monsieur another true woody Pierre Guillaume  fragrance  from the Parfumerie Générale line comes to my mind: L`Eau Guerriere even if that one is in a brighter and lighter context, but not in strength. Another fragrance comparable with Monsieur is Robert Piguet Bois Noir. There also something that resembles parts of Puredistance Black but Monsieur is drier and louder.

Monsieur is a reaible, true woody fragrance intensified with incense which creates a sort of radiating impression. It's in the cathegory "perfect for office" as it's smells appealing and inoffensive. Unfortunately the longevity doesn't match the strong initial impression, Monsieur stays at skin for about 6-8h (on Mr Parfumistas scenteating skin). On the other hand, on a paperstrip or cloth, it stays for days.

Despite not an original and innovating fragrance, it seems as sort of created in a rush and to be honest, not really worthy a nose that have created gems as for example Poudre de Riz,  Cozë and Papyrus de Ciane   Monsieur is a good choice for those in search for a contemporary, basic, woody fragrance.

Rating: 3         (my initial rating was 4 but after some further sniff & consideration I concluded that this is nothing but a good basic woody fragrance ie 3)

Notes: Patchouli, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood, poplar buds, incense, papyrus, oak, oakmoss