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L’Artisan Poivre Piquant & Piment Brulant ~ fragrance review

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L'Artisan Les Epices de la Passion fragrances

L’Artisan introduced Les Epices de la Passion, a coffret with three spiced “love potions”, in 2002. I’ve been having an on-again, off-again love affair with Safran Troublant since I first smelled it (more about that tomorrow), but the other two fragrances, Piment Brûlant and Poivre Piquant, I pretty much ignored after trying them briefly on test strips some time ago. Both scents were created by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, and since he is seriously in the running for my own little parallel-universe award for Perfumer of the Year (and I’m sure he is quite excited about it too), I thought it would be worth giving them more serious attention.

Piment Brûlant was inspired by the Aztec drink xocolatl, a bitter mixture of chocolate and cornmeal spiked with chili peppers, cinnamon, achiote and other spices; the Aztec emperor Montezuma reputedly drank up to 50 cups every day from a golden goblet…

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Comme des Garcons Harissa & Sequoia, from series 2: Red ~ fragrance review

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Comme des Garcons Harissa & Sequoia fragrances

Red was the second series of fragrances launched by Comme des Garçons, following the now sadly discontinued Leaves series. It debuted in 2001 with 5 fragrances, all revolving around the theme, obviously, of things that are or might be red. The series includes Harissa, Sequoia, Palisander, Carnation and Rose. Harissa and Sequoia are both by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour (who also created Monday’s Dzongkha and Tuesday’s Méchant Loup) and those are the two under consideration today.

Harissa is named for the North African spice mixture; other fragrance notes include blood orange, red chili pepper, angelica, saffron, nutmeg, cardamon and tomato. The top notes are muy fabuloso: basically lots of orange and lots of hot pepper. As it dries down, other spice notes join in, and while cinnamon is not listed and there probably isn’t any, after 15 minutes or so it reminds me very much of Red Hots melting in fresh orange juice…

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Serge Lutens Douce Amere ~ fragrance review

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Douce Amere fragrance components

Douce Amere was launched by Serge Lutens in 2000. The fragrance is described as a “fresh oriental”, and features notes of cinnamon, artemisia absinthium, anise, lily, jasmine, tiare flower, tagette, cedar, musk. The perfumer was Christopher Sheldrake.

Douce Amere is to my mind one of the glories of the Serge Lutens line. It centers on artemisia absinthium, the bitter herb also known as wormwood and famous as the source of the liquor absinthe. The fragrance starts with a brief flash of lemony citrus generously dusted with cinnamon: it is strong, and candy-sweet. The wormwood lends a bitter-green medicinal edge to the top notes, but it softens nicely as it dries down to something more like a milky pudding laced with black licorice, mildly spicy, with abstract floral notes and vague hints of something that smells very much like chocolate. It has a velvety finish, and a pale wood base…

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Bvlgari Omnia perfume review

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Bvlgari Omnia fragrance advertBvlgari Omnia fragrance advert 2

Bvlgari Omnia was created by nose Alberto Morillas and released in 2003. The fragrance was said to have been inspired by the spices discovered by Marco Polo on his famous voyages, and was also described by Bvlgari as “a tribute to the tradition of the great oriental perfumes, re-interpreted for the world of today”. The notes include black pepper, mandarin, masala tea, saffron, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond, chocolate, lotus blossom, and sandalwood.

Omnia has a light, peppery-citrus top note over sheer woods and spices. The chocolate and almond are subdued, but do give this a gourmand feel for a short time. It dries down to a very pretty, very soft sandalwood with dusty spices. The saffron and cardamom are the most apparent, but every so often I smell a bit of ginger or clove. I cannot smell any floral notes at all…

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