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Post by Chairman Meaow
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What do I know about Francis Kurkdjian and his work? Very little. I know that he’s a wiz with orange flower. That he is large on talent, not so much, perhaps, on affability towards perfumistas. I had ordered a set of samples from his house some time back, given each a cursory sniff, and decided that he was the creator of pretty and well constructed, if not entirely memorable perfumes. And with that, Francis Kurkdjian was relegated to the recycling heap of my olfactory landscape.
Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2010
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Maison Francis Kurkdjian lists the following accords on its website:
Benzoin from Siam, Bulgarian and Iranian rose, honey, incense absolute, ylang ylang, cumin, Atlas cedar and sandalwood
With the first huff, it was as if I had sat under the bodhi tree and received my perfumed awakening. All the references to rutting animals, bodily secretions, hind quarters and nether regions, things that I had read about but had yet not experienced to any meaningful degree, things that sounded repugnant and intriguing in equal measures, were all there, fleshed out in Absolue Pour Le Soir.
It started out innocently enough – some liquored rose, sandalwood, and soft, sweet honey. But wait, reader. It’s like that scene from that old comedy The Jerk where Steve Martin takes a long, slow swipe of Bernadette Peters’ cheek with his tongue. You just know that in a few moments, when the spittle starts to dry, things are going to start to get a bit smelly.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Sure enough, the honey soon ripened, and started to acquire the tang of a pee-stained bus shelter. Absolue Pour Le Soir then took a turn for the bestial, and I had flashbacks of my dear departed cat, back arched and derriere quivering, fanning the scent of her backside as she lovingly slapped my face about with her tail. I smelled camels, whose scent had always struck me as being a little earthy, a little salty, and a little chocolaty. And underpinning all of this was an erotically charged, sweaty-musky whiff. A little later came the quite smoulder of incense, dampening the growl a touch.
Gott-im-Himmel. It was stunning.
I turned to the hovering sales assistant.
“This one doesn’t sell very well, does it?”
“No. It’s not very nice.”
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
I meandered into another shop and found that I had to severely limit my arm movements, lest my fellow shoppers catch wind of the scent and gain the impression that I had been caressing the butt crack of my local friendly hobo. And I realised with a pang that I wouldn’t have the confidence to wear this beauty out and about, this anathema to the masses, with their penchant for sterile odours.
Perhaps I’ll just content myself with dabbing discreetly. It can be my dirty little secret.
Did you? Have you? Would you? I mean, really………..
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Chairman Meow,
I would and I have and I love…it’s a dirty beast of a thing that’s best kept for naughty secrets..
Madeleine
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And do you apply discreetly, or indiscriminately? Props to you if it’s the latter!
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I’m all for caressing the Butt Crack of a local Homo, did you mean HOMO? You must have meant HOMO, HOBO would be icky!!
Portia xx
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I do believe it was a homo hobo. I am lamenting that there isn’t any patchouli in this thing, so I could call it a boho homo hobo
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Ha Ha ha! Lamenting here too.
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I just snorted coffee out my nose. You guys are hilarious. (I ordered a sample, gotta try it.)
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I own a full bottle! I love it but often chicken out of wearing it at the last moment
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Yes, you need a bit of swag to wear this baby out. Which I don’t have right now. One day!
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Oh dear,
I must have missed the memo about butt cracks. I saw I tried and I loved this.
I do get the cumin note, but then it goes all mellow and not BO on me.
Is there something my friends are not telling me?
Do I care?
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That you have not discerned the whiff of the sweaty crack in APLS indicates to me that you are a perfumista of the highest order. Care not what your friends think!
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I own a full bottle, too. And I even got Francis to sign it this year. I save it for private moments. It is a beast, but to me it is beautiful.
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It’s beautiful to me as well!
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APLS really wasn’t that evil on me. A bit wet-nappy-and-baby-powder to start with, but then it got tamer. At least I thought so, but I still wouldn’t dare to wear it outside the house, mostly because I’d be very afraid that what I think of as ever-so-slightly-soiled is coming over to others as jeez-who-hasn’t-washed-for-a-month?
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My sentiments exactly! I’m reminded of my old dog, whose favourite past time was finding piles of poo to flop in, and then running through the house wearing what I called his “ace face”. He and his brethren thought he smelled smoking HOT, the rest of the world, not so much.
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Portia, your review was spot on and hilarious! I appreciate the creation but can’t pull it off. I don’t mind butt. Butt, I mind the sour-body-odor thing that inevitably shows itself.
FK can make Orange Blossom positively wicked!
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Heya ShyLotus,
I wish I was responsible for this review. Chairman Meow is the author, and yes, she is fabulous.
Portia xx
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Oooop! My apologies to Chairman Meow!
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Thanks so much Shy (may I call you that?). FK’s Eli Saab Parfum Intense is so delicious, I literally have a Pavlovian response to it and I practically have to wipe away my dribble when I smell it.
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You remain, CM – as ever, my favourite. Awesome post. I have not had the chance to try this. But as a devout Green Ham and Eggs follower, I would try it …. in a house or with a mouse …..
On the lookout for it as of now.
Bussi
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Thank you Cookie Queen! I’d love to hear your take on it – APLS seems to smell different to a lot of folks here.
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Love your review! I wouldn’t wear what your describing. I have NEVER gotten butt, BO or anything related from any perfume. What I do get instead is a pretty, deep, a bit dark, nondescript floral. And if that’s what I get from APLS too – hell yes, I’d wear it out, thinking I smelled great. LOL
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Right, I just pulled it out and am huffing on it as I type, and, after a month’s break from it, I’m still reeling.
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Oh you had me in stitches! I find this one sickly fascinating and I do wear this one in the summer. First time I smelled it I did not know what to do with myself. Blush, laugh, giggle, breathe deeply…
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“Sickly” and “fascinating” are two very apt adjectives, IMO!
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I wear this one, in substantial amounts, and it is not BO skanky on me. I get compliments on it in fact. It must be like Muscs Koublai Khan, which is skanky on some people and not on others. This one just smells sweet and sexy to me.
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I’d like to think it smells sweet and sexy on me. The expression of horror as the vSO recoils away makes me think this isn’t necessarily the case.
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I have tried…twice…to love this one and I can’t. I just get an overwhelmingly sweet musk. Nothing naughty at all…I love cumin and I love MKK, but this is nauseating on me, as are every other one of his that I’ve tried. I can tell they’re well-done, but there’s something in the base that I can’t tolerate.
I get the exact same reaction from Sonoma Scent Studio fragrances and Smell Bent’s.
It’s some form of musk that goes horribly, horribly wrong on me!
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Say it isn’t so with SSS! I believe I am its newest fan. I even wrote a fan letter to Laurie Erickson, like some crazed groupie. I should quit before it gets creepy
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I don’t get anything naughty in this one. Sweet honey and florals with some musk. No butt crack. No sweat. None of that.
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It certainly starts out like that for me, and then it starts to turn green, and its back broadens and rips through its shirt with an almighty snarl!
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Beautiful and SEXY! For the daytime I prefer Musc Ravageur, but some evenings I prefer Absolue! In the mornings, if you don’t wash before waking up, you still smell a great spicy honey, which is even more beautiful than the very harsch beginning of the perfume! The “Cologne pour le Soir” is also great… and ca
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(following)
… and can seduce the ones who can’t bear the very harsh beginning of the “Absolue” (more cosy, no cumin).
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I did try the cologne after this, and it seemed so anaemic in comparison. I really should give it another whirl, though.
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You *are* the cat’s whiskers Chairman Meow!
You’ve nailed this beastly beauty.
The benzoin! The honey! The roses! The cedar! Although the first blast is entirely urinous, after mere moments it is to my mind quite presentable. It’s adorable! Balanced and stunning in itself, yet inducing quite unbalanced addictive self-snorfling.
I have. I do. I want.
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Oh, and thanks for the Canberra bus shelter Portia. I had forgotten how funny they look!
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You are so welcome Sister Mary.
I hope you are well.
Portia xx
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Thanks Sister! *Gives self a congratulatory bath*
You want? I got. Step in to my office any time you want and we’ll talk.
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Oh, Lord knows I have been spending quite a bit of time in your office of late… your powers of purrsuasion are legend!
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We’ve had several posts here lately at APJ about beloved skanks, which has reminded me I have neglected the musk territory thus far in my sampling. How could I let this happen? Let the skankfest begin!
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Oh nononono. Must be remedied toute suite!
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The jeans you wore in college that were perfectly broken in and went to all the parties with you and could NEVER be washed but were occasionally tossed in the dryer with about ten dryer sheets. Yep, that is what I get from APLS and I love it (but under apply due to some magic migraine trigger in the formula).
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Ahhhh… so you’re one of THOSE non jeans-washers. I’ve read about and wondered them. And now I know how you keep your jeans “fresh”! Non jeans-washer – meet your arch nemesis, the compulsive jeans-washer-after-a-wearing-or-two. Although, I do like the idea of walking in jeans AND being able to articulate my knees. Hmmm
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There is naughtiness in this perfume, which could well stimulate nocturnal horizontal aerobic activities, but thankfully it doesn’t smell the least bit dirty on me, rather a gorgeous rich leathery oriental, to hopefully one day sit alongside my beloved Habanita and Coco. Like you Chairman Meaow, I bought some samples,…ah yes back in Sept 2011.. a 7 scent sampler from Perfumed Court, this was the only one I’d shell out money for, APOM pour Femme was lovely and so was Lumiere Noire pour femme, but Absolue Pour Le Soir, stole the show.
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APLS stimulates AND simulates nocturnal horizontal nocturnal activities! It’s a real all-rounder
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I keep reading that people love this perfume – and still can’t believe it! On me it’s everything you’ve described and even worse.
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Ha Ha ha! Sorry to cut in Sonya. Undina, it smells like bakery and fur coats on me. I wore it the other night, Sonya gave me a spritz and now I am thinking of buying her bottle off her. It is SO YUMMY on my skin.
Interesting how things skew, isn’t it?
Portia x
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Who’s Sonya?
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