L'Artisan Parfumeur - Mon Numero 10

Picture:  Cover of the pulp magazine Oriental Stories
(Spring 1932, vol. 2, no. 2)  featuring Scented Gardens by Dorothy Quick.Cover art by Margaret Brundage, Wikimedia commons

Mon Numero 10 is created by  the highly productive perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour for the well known, pioneer, nichehouse L'Artisan Parfumeur.

Mon Numero 10 starts with a very special accord which smell almost like stewed fruits in  liqueur. Soon a clean airy incenseote appears, similar to the clean incense in Andy Tauers Incense Extreme. The incense is followed by a very well mixed note of cedar which smells like smooth pencil shavings, the note of pencil shavings I sometimes percieve as too sharp. Leather is another note which slowly evolve and becoming clearer in the middle of Mon Numero 10 and together with the other notes the fragrance adopts an almost furry texture. From here on, Mon Numero 10 smells similar to the iconic Fendi  Femme (original) but thinner and sweeter, like a contemporary, slight gourmand adaption to the classical Fendi theme. I could also detect Chanel Coco. This pleasant phase goes on until the later stages where suddenly the sweet, cinnaber infused, glüwein accord found in Parfumerie Generale Un Crime Exotique appears.

Picture: L'Artisan Parfumeur Mon Numero 10
Photo: PR L'Artisan Parfumeur

Mon Numero 10 is a perfect oriental for fall and winter, comforting and with  interesting twists as described above. The longevity is good, for a day and with traces left the following morning, it's especially these remaining notes which are very close to Un Crime Exotique. As Mon Numero 10 appears as an intresting mix of other attractive perfumes it somehow feels like Duchaufour was not especially inspired when he composed this blend, it's like this fragrance was created by routine. Despite this Mon Numero 10 is a good, multifacetted and wearable oriental. If I had not been familiar with the other perfumes which I detect in this fragrance and also liked each of them better than the "merged" fragrance, I would have considered more than a sample of Mon Numero 10.

Rating: 4 (November 2014)

Rating: 5 (Re-rated in June 2015 as I liked No 10 even more when tested after the review. It turned to be a fragrance which I couldn't get out of my mind = FBW)

Notes: Fennel, bergamot, aldehydes, pink pepper, cardamon, cinnamon, cabreuva, leather, incense, rose, geranium, jasmine, cedar, musk, vanilla, benzoin, hyrax, heliotrophe, tonka been, styrax, ambregris

Thanks to Fragrance & Art  for the sample