A Jubilee Weekend and Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

Well, today was the start of the Jubilee bank holiday weekend here in the UK, which means a four-day break and lots of festivities to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee, a 60-year reign as monarch. I can't say I'm complaining. Of course, this being England, the weather has now changed from gloriously sunny to much cooler and damp, which is par for the course for any holiday on the muddy isle!

I've had a bit of a quiet time this week, perfume-wise. I've worn perfume of course, but haven't really felt too inspired to write or note much for some reason. Yesterday I wore two perfumes from Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Eau des Iles and  Parfume D'Habit. The first is essentially a green coffee, herbal and woody fragrance, while the second is a woody-leather, to my nose. I find both of these MPG creations very complex, very masculine and, if I'm being honest, quite difficult to wear. If you don't like them, be warned: they both stay around a long time on skin.

I'll say one thing about all the MPG masculine fragrances I've tried, which include the two above as wells as Santal Noble and Iris Bleu Gris, and that is that they are uncompromising masculine. I don't generally like to genderise perfume, but I do find these ones very much like this.

What's interesting about Jean Laporte, the man who first founded L'Artisan before starting MPG (and now sadly no longer with us) is that I don't find much of a link, or bridge between the style of L'Artisan and MPG, in terms of actually fragrance. Aesthetically yes (both houses seem to have a quality, vision and integrity to me), but the perfumes don't seem inspired by the same person, although this could just be my personal perception.

What also interested me is I read that Jean Laporte was the founder of Sisley.

L'Artisan Nuit De Tuberose

I should start by stating that as much as I like Tuberose as a note (in a way), I find it very difficult to wear a lot of tuberose-heavy perfumes, especially those that emphasise its heady, fleshy, tropical, vamp-like qualities. I know its meant to be the age of genderlessness in perfume, but even today, for a man wearing something like that in public, particularly in an office environment, could be disastrous, to say the least.

I came to Nuit De Tuberose quite late, only first trying it a good six months after it was released, and since then I have tried it occasionally. However since L'Artisan was stocked locally in my town, I've worn it more often and am rapidly learning to appreciate this cerebral take on tuberose. I interprete Nuit De Tuberose as a hologram, or even negative, of tuberose. I suppose what I mean is that when I smell Nuit De Tuberose, my senses tell me that tuberose as a note is there, but in some way it is represented inversely. It's almost as if tuberose has been deconstructed, some parts stripped away (its more obviously fleshy and tropical/coconut/creamy attributes) and then put back together again to reveal something altogether more mysterious and lean, yet still tuberose. So taking the imagery of a negative, I can still see the picture of the subject matter, provided I concentrate and squint and 'hold it up to  the light', but it is other-worldly.

The notes for Nuit De Tuberose include pink berries, cardamom, clove, pepper, tuberose, orange blossom, ylang ylang, rose, mango, angelica, sandalwood, pallisander, musk, benzoin and styrax. This is where I am coming from with my negative analogy - the notes tell me that this is a tropical, tuberose perfume, packed full of florals, yet when one sprays and wears this on skin it comes across spicy (not surprising, considering all the spice notes listed) and dries down to quite a resinous, almost incense-like note (again, perhaps not that surprising considering the resins listed). But its the way the floral notes are represented that to my mind make this perfume genius. They combine in a way that I personally have never encountered before, making tuberose seem almost masculine, quite a feat. 

I wouldn't say that Nuit De Tuberose is an easy perfume to wear and get to know. I think its rewards reveal themselves slowly, with numerous wearings, but I've come to love this perfume. While I wouldn't say Nuit De Tuberose is masculine, it is the most masculine-friendly tuberose perfume I know of. 

Image credit - http://spacenk.scene7.com/

Scent of the day - L'Artisan

Posts have been rather scarce from me over the last week. Work commitments again. I'm hoping that by October my work load might start reducing a little, which will be welcome. I've been working flat out since May and I'm starting to feel a little worn out.

Today I'm wearing two fragrances by L'Artisan, Timbuktu and Fou D'Absinthe. I've written about both before. I own a sample of Timbuktu, but have never sprayed it before, only dabbed. I can't say it wears that differently sprayed. If anything it smells slightly fruiter and perhaps a bit more diffuse, but either way, I still like it a lot and for a L'Artisan it has quite a good longevity and sillage. 

I also entered into a competition at my local Fenwick department store to win a bottle of a L'Artisan of my choice. I certainly wouldn't mind winning, so here's holding thumbs!

L'Artisan comes to town

Ok, I know that might not be the most exciting news, but L'Artisan is now stocked at one of my local department stores. It's not the full range of course, but rather the more common ones encountered, like Myrrh & Musc, Timbuktu, Ambre and Premier Figuier. There are two others that I haven't tried before, Nuit de Tubereuse and Fou d'Absinthe.

I have to say, my first impression of Fou d'Absinthe is WTF! It starts with a wonderful hit of anise/absinth, cool and deadly, but then turns to something dank and manky on my skin for about two hours. Honestly, every time I smelled my wrist I had the impression I had dried my skin with a towel that hadn't been aired properly. You must know that smell. It isn't quite revolting, but not pleasant either. Then later on, the fragrance turns back into a slightly resinous, piney, even lightly incense-y dry down. Weird, and possibly weirdly compelling.

A lot was written about Nuit de Tubereuse when it came out last year. I only ever sprayed it on paper once and promptly forgot about it. Wearing it today, I'm struck by how this must be the most un-floral tuberose perfume I have every encountered. Much later in the dry down some of the more usual facets of tuberose come into play but again, it is a rather intriguing shape-shifter of a scent that I can't quite pin down. I think I really like it.

Dzing! - L'Artisan Parfumeur

Image credit - stegosauruspress.files.wordpress.com:trapeze_artists_in_circus

Dzing was launched in 1999 as Desir de Cirque and was created by Olivia Giacobetti, a lady well known for her fairly ethereal creations, who has done a lot of work for L'Artisan and more recently, Honore des Pres. The notes for Dzing! are listed as ginger, white cedar, fresh toffee caramel, daffodil, saffron, benzoin, musks and leather. The associations with the circus are fairly obvious, if to my nose a slightly cleansed version, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Having said that, this extremely original and unusual fragrance is still quite dirty and evocative. It opens with a smell a bit like damp cardboard and dirt. It sweetens a bit after this and the leather comes to the fore quite quickly, but its not a smoky leather; its more like the smell of riding tack and stables. As I said, this is vaguely animalic, but not in a dirty, unwashed way. Rather, it reminds me a bit like the smell of a pen where animals have been kept previously, but no longer. The toffee note is possibly meant to evoke the smell of candy floss, but I don't really find this is the case. It is compelling though, and slightly unusual in its pairing with the leather, saffron and daffodil. I find it a bit disconcerting actually; it leaves me with a vague sense of unease, as if something unusual is about to happen. Weird, I know. 


The heart of the fragrance is probably its most circusy and animalic phase, where the toffee and leather really amp up with the joining of the musks. Still, it is a bit odd-ball and unsettling, which is part of its appeal to me. If anything, the leather and musks intensify into the dry down, at least on my skin. That circus vibe never totally leaves me and when I'm in the wrong sort of mood I can find it a bit cloying, but I can't deny that this is one of the most unique and challenging perfumes I have worn. It comes highly recommended by me, but I'm not sure this is an easy one to pull off. I also couldn't see it being a daily or signature scent for me, but out of all L'Artisans' creations of this period, Dzing! really stands out and is surely a must-try for anyone seriously interested in perfume.