L.T. Piver – Cuir

L.T. Piver – Cuir

LIGNE-PIVER-CUIRWhile not well-known in the United States, the French L.T.Piver house has been producing fine fragrances for over two centuries. The firm dates its origins back to the court of Louis XVI and has continued through the to the twenty-first century, adapting many of its traditional fragrances to a modern sensibility. Similar to the houses of Lubin and Guerlain, L.T. Piver became an official purveyor to the royal court of Louis XVI and later expanded to the other royal families of Europe.

The firm is named for Louis Toussaint Piver who began the Piver legacy, and helped propel it to international acclaim in England, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Russia and Brazil. L.T. Piver maintained a flower-processing factory in Grasse, plus a second facility in Aubervilliers dedicated to the manufacture of cosmetic products, of which L.T. Piver created a prodigious range. Similar to Guerlain, the firm commissioned special edition bottles from Baccarat and Lalique, which would be destined to become collector’s items.

This review is for the modern Cuir produced as an Eau de Toilette by L.T. Piver. The fragrance was imagesoriginally created at the end of the nineteenth century under the Cuir de Russie moniker, consistent with that era’s fascination with Russian culture. This manufacture date makes L.T. Piver’s creation a contemporary of Guerlain’s Cuir de Russie, and indeed, the two share certain similarities. Both feature a stronger, smokier birch tar smell than either the Chanel or Lubin Cuirs, giving the fragrance a more rustic feel. The strength of their smell characters also feels decidedly more masculine, although the Guerlain Cuir softens to a floral heart in the drydown, while the L.T. Piver maintains a fairly homogenous character throughout its wear. The modern L.T. Piver Cuir is marketed to a male audience, so the emphasis on the strong birch tar aspect without a softer, floral counterpoint seems intentional, but gives the fragrance a somewhat one-dimensional aspect when compared to the Guerlain.

Cuir’s opening features a bright citrus accord of mandarin and bergamot, which serve to lighten the fragrance somewhat and create a sense of refreshment.  As the smoky birch tar unfolds, I detect the spicy notes of clove and cinnamon, giving the fragrance a rich feeling, one that makes it suitable for autumn or winter use. At the heart of Cuir is a hint of soapiness, and here is where the fragrance begins to soften somewhat. At its base, Cuir features a touch of woods and oakmoss, sweetened by a honey-like note, which I imagine to be the coumarin making its presence felt.

While Cuir does possess a distinct character that makes it a natural choice for a man, this is definitely a fragrance that can be carried off well by a woman who is not afraid of bracing leathers. The fragrance is fairly tenacious, lasting well throughout the day without fading excessively. The sillage, while potent, is never offensive with careful application, though I would not suggest more than 2 sprays of the fragrance.

Leather 140

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, leather, woods, spices and honey

 

 

Shiseido – Feminite du Bois

Shiseido – Feminite du Bois – A Twilight Walk Through an Enchanted Forest

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When encountering new fragrance releases, I am often tempted to “edit” the formula to suit my liking. A little oakmoss here, a touch of civet there and voila, the fragrance would be perfect. With the exception of certain houses which continue to produce thoughtful, quality fragrances, the current “race to release” phenomena has resulted in a number of momentary fragrances which are not likely to withstand the test of time, let alone the next marketing launch. It is during these times that I re-trench and seek out those golden standards who await me like so many old friends.

Even more frustrating is the alternate scenario: perfumes so sublime as to be nearly mythical in their compositions which mysteriously vanish from the shelves, driving us to scour the dark corners of the internet to seek out lost treasures. One of these treasures (of which I will freely admit to having a secret horde) is Shiseido’s Feminite du Bois. For our French speakers, and those who do not mind reading subtitles, here is Serge Lutens himself discussing the reformulation issued under his brand name.

Launched in 1992 as a collaboration between Christopher Sheldrake, Pierre Bourdon and Serge Lutens this groundbreaking scent ranks highly in my list of fragrance perfection. And yet… I cannot help but wish for one tiny change. While the name Feminite du Bois aptly describes the perfume’s highly successful and innovative transformation of cedarwood into a beguiling feminine scent, the name does not in any way prepare you for the magic and beauty of this composition.

Experiencing Feminite du Bois for the first time is much like a twilight walk through an enchanted forest. The fragrance opens with a dusky scent of spices, an inviting delicate breeze of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon, beckoning you deeper into the forest. The dark quality of these opening notes is rendered in a shadowy manner, a gentle whisper of the exotic wonders that await you.

As you make your way slowly through the warm dark opening notes, you suddenly smell light blossoms of orange, violet, and rose on the breeze, each coming together to form an impression of tiny flowers carving out a space in the forest floor. In keeping with Shiseido’s minimalist aesthetic, the floral notes are subtle and silky. Moving closer in, you notice a small gathering of trees, each bearing perfectly ripe peaches and plums, the fragrance of which catches on the breeze and makes its way to you. Animals are drawn to the soft sweetness as well, and you detect a soft honey note and remnants of beeswax as its inhabitants eagerly seek out the source of the sweetness. All of these scents here in the quiet of the forest lull you into a light dream and you stand for a moment, just breathing in the beautiful warmth, when suddenly you see her, the Lady of the Wood.

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She has stood there all along, watching you as you made your way through the dusky paths, silently beckoning you with the warmth of woods and the slight musky wetness of the forest so as not to startle you with her presence. As you stand there beholding her, you are awed by her stealth, subtlety and beauty, and you are without words. For she is a wonder to behold.

Spicy Woods

Notes: cedarwood, orange blossom, peach, honey, plum, beeswax, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon.

Serge Lutens – Chypre Rouge

Serge Lutens – Chypre Rouge

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It is said that there is a fine line between madness and genius. Nowhere is this more apparent in the world of modern perfumery than in the creative duo of Serge Lutens and Christopher Sheldrake. Even the most classically beautiful of the fragrances in the Serge Lutens line have an underlying tension and subversity which make them fascinating at best and challenging at worst, but never, ever mundane.

Chypre Rouge was released by Serge Lutens in 2006 as part of his export line. I found this to be an interesting move, since the house generally releases those fragrances fit for U.S. (i.e. less sophisticated) consumption, and by many accounts, Chypre Rouge can be a challenging scent. Out of the bottle, Chypre Rouge smells thick: a plummy, jammy, spicy mash that feels more like something you would spread on toast than an actual perfume. The spices invoke all of the warmth and opulence of Lutens’s beloved Marrakech, and makes me feel completely transported. True to its name and hue, Chypre Rouge smells deeply red and calls to mind autumn leaves on the forest floor, damp and musky, with a hint of decay, sweet and pervasive like dense maple syrup.

On skin, however, the fragrance tells a different story. Similar to his Tubereuse Criminelle, Chypre Rouge’s opening belies a softer, more accessible fragrance underneath. As the intense oriental opening diminshes, the spices simmer down to a mere whisper, allowing a soft, sweet and slightly creamy woods to emerge with notes of honey and vanilla. It is in these deeper, twilight hours, that we experience the chypre aspect of the fragrance, as a light mossiness overtakes the dense immortelle-like scent, creating a sedcutive, silky veil. The sillage follows suit, wearing closer and closer to the skin as the hours pass, though as a Lutens creation, it is tenacious.

As I have found to be the case with other fragrances in the Lutens line, the aspect which I initially find most defiant in the fragrance ultimately becomes my favorite. Hours into the more demure drydown, I find myself missing the heady, viscous opening, leading me to carry around a sample vial whenever I wear it to recapture the initial assault. My sincere thanks to Messrs. Lutens and Sheldrake for creating provocative fragrances that push our limits, for it is through this olfactive adversity that we grow.

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Oriental Chypre

Notes: thyme, pine needles, honey, beeswax, jasmine, patchouli, vanilla, moss, amber, musk

 

Coty – La Rose Jacqueminot

Coty – La Rose Jacqueminot

For today’s post, I thought I would focus on a vintage Coty fragrance based on the flower which perhaps more than others has come to symbolize Valentine’s Day: the rose. The Général Jacqueminot rose is an early hybrid believed to have originated in Roussel, France 1853. The Jacqueminot is known for its deep red petals and intoxicating fragrance. It is this rose which was the inspiration behind Francois Coty’s creation La Rose Jacqueminot. While there is some dispute regarding the date of the fragrance’s creation (some sources indicate 1903 while others have stated a later date of 1906) what remains uncontrovertible is this: the success of Coty’s vision of the beauty and depth of this flower.

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In what has become a notoriously brilliant marketing move, legend has it that Francois Coty, unable to find a store willing to carry his newly-developed La Rose Jacqueminot “accidentally” let a bottle of it drop and smash on the floor of one of Paris’s most exclusive department stores, sending the ground-breaking scent wafting through the store. Women soon crowded around, clamoring to purchase the fragrance, but whether these were innocent bystanders or “shoppers” planted by Coty, we will never know. While this may be the stuff of legend, Coty was an astute businessman who went on to become wildly successful.

The fragrance starts out with a bright mix of spicy greens and soft honey, creating the impression of a rosebud preparing to unfurl and reveal its bright petals. While some sources list La Rose Jacqueminot as a rose soliflore, I find this to be far from true. As the fragrance progresses, the honey impression is punctuated by warm Autumn spices of cardamom and clove which make for a dark and complex rose.  As the fragrance warms on the skin, the spices settle and the rose becomes more subdued. Thereafter, as the more animalic basenotes of musk and amber emerge, the effect is more of a chypre tinged with rose than a true rose scent, as though the rose is simply there to temper the complexity of the chypre accords. The fragrance in the Eau de Parfum concentration is fairly long lasting, yet wears close, with a subtle silage. The vintage sample I tested is identical to the bottle displayed below.

laroseFor the wearer accustomed to a more opulent, fruitier rose such as Nahema or YSL’s Paris, or a powdery rose like Ombre Rose, this will be a distinct departure as Jaqueminot appears drier, with more emphasis on the spice and green, plant-like aspects of the flower, than on the lush petals.

 

Notes: Rose, honey, cardamom, clove, musk , and amber.