Saturday Question: Which Is Your Favourite L’Artisan Parfumeur?

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hello Fellow Fumies,

At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

 

Saturday Question: Which Is Your Favourite L’Artisan Parfumeur?

L’Artisan! One of the very first niche houses. So many firsts. First fragrances featuring single notes with a few extras for highlight and contrast: Fig, Blackcurrant, Amber and more. They loved the idea of taking an ancient art and breathing new life into it. Lost for years in the doldrums and seemingly owned by groups that don’t “get” them. I think Puig has given them a new lease of life. Sure, it’s not all to my taste, nor do I think it particularly in keeping with their history but if they have to sidestep to keep the boat afloat then I’m cool. The world is a better place for me because L’Artisan is in it.

There are so many excellent scents to choose from. Batucada, Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, L’Eau d’Ambre, L’Eau du Navigateur, La Chasse aux Papillons, Nuit de Tubereuse, Piment Brulant, Premier Figuier, Skin on Skin and Tea for Two are just some of the range in my collection. Batucada, Skin on Skin and Tea for Two are in my Top 4 I reckon of wears but the one that gets the most skin time by far is…..

My Answer:

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, Lavender, Petitgrain, Plant juice
Heart: Benzoin, Beeswax, Jasmine, Orange blossom, White blossoms
Base: Amber, Resin, Rose, Frankincense

Seville a l’Aube: Yes, the 2012 orange blossom, incense and candles with a bunch of accompanying accords wears beautifully for me in most weathers. The waxy white flowers meld magnificently with the lavender, smoky resins and tobacco. It’s easy to imagine the dusty evening Spanish religious festival and all the associated smells in my mind.

Not only does it smell amazing but it always reminds me of my friend Denyse Beaulieu who was the muse for the fragrance. She wrote a book called The Perfume Lover that was a magical ride through the mysteries of fragrance creation. It was also a love story. The fragrance, book and friend are all inextricably linked and I think part of my joy in it is that.

Surrender To Chance has samples

My Saturday Question to you is:

Which Is Your Favourite L’Artisan Parfumeur?

37 thoughts on “Saturday Question: Which Is Your Favourite L’Artisan Parfumeur?”

  2. Unfortunatley I dont have any L’Artisan so I’m looking forward to all your replies.
    I think my friend has Skin on Skin, must ask her when I see her.

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  3. I don’t have a lot of experience with L’Artisan. I have a bottle of Al Oudh, a very weird animalic that somehow smells wonderful in the winter when I’m feeling that kind of scent. I’ve sampled Dzing, Timbuktu, Seville a L’Aube; enjoyable but none that I would wear often enough to justify FB.
    I really want to sample Drole de Rose and Skin on Skin.

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  4. Haven’t tried them all (has anyone?) but Dzing! is hands down my favourite from their line, and one of best scents I’ve tried.

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  7. Hands down Un Air de Bretagne….I LOVE the way it smells….my eldest wears it beautifully (but then again, so do I-LOL!) and it has her own name in the name…and my first decant was gifted to me by a dear friend who turned me on to the scent and marine scents in general….and I received a few more decants from another APJer because she knew we love it chez marzipan…plus the bottle is gorgeous and, in my opinion, prettier than the regular bottles.

    Has anyone tried the accompanying one? The one with a dominant lavender note? and some leather I think? I am curious about that one…I think it’s called Bucolique de Provence?

    second runner up would be Safran Troublant…took me years to understand it but it finally clicked sometime last year and I plowed through a 15 ml decant in a matter of two weeks-LOL!

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    • I am with you on Saffran Troublant! My second runner up for sure! I think Premier Figuier Extreme would be my third choice! It is quite difficult to chose. I love most of the perfumes I have tried from the line. I still have some problems wearing Dzing and Dzongkha. Hopefully, some day I will be able to understand them!

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  8. If only they would bring back Ananas Fizz in edp, with decent longevity I’m sure that would be my number 1.

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  11. Dzing! I love the hay and animalic smell of it, but with the toffee apple it’s an easier, lighter, slightly more wear than it’s less ‘polite’ cousin – Musc Ravageur, so more appropriate for everyday use.
    Interestingly my dog (who generally doesn’t tend to like perfumes that much) also loves this scent. I suspect for the same reasons…

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  12. I have largely ignored l’Artisan, mainly because of reviews citing disappointment in the reformulations. Inevitably I read poor longevity and lack lustre performance in general. Having said that, I still enjoy Safrant Troublant and Dzing! Never got any incense out of Passage d’Enfer. Actually, I never got very much of anything out of that one.

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  14. L’Artisan came into my perfumista life too late (probably about 8 years ago), and by that time the place for light and fleeting scents in my collection was firmly taken by Jo Malone, so it has never played that significant role for me. But I did find several favorites (and would have added even more, had they not reformulated and repacked in bigger bottles their perfumes).
    My #1 is Tea for Two. Then, probably, L’Eau de Ambre Extreme. And I’m a proud owner of the limited edition “fig” bottle of Premier Figuier. I would have named Traverse du Bosphore, but I have only a decant of it. I missed a 50 ml bottle, and I cannot bring myself to buying it in 100 ml format.

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  15. I only have Safran Troublant, but I did have a variety of shower gels. My favourite bathy thing was Jatamansi, so much that I then bought the perfume unsniffed. It was a No, but happily I passed it along to a friend who loved it.

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  16. Tea for two, incredible underrated fragrance. I love it a lot, for me the best juice from their house 👍🏻

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  18. I am in mourning for the long discontinued La Haie Fleurie du Hameau (later thankfully shortened to La Haie Fleurie). This was my introduction to L’Artisan in the 80s and I was bowled over by how it really did smell like the jasmine and honeysuckle in my garden.

    Mimosa Pour Moi and Vanillia were also lovely, along with Premier Figuier Extreme, L’Eau d’Artisan and Ananas Fizz.

    In the “old days” L’Artisan always used to send novel little gifts with your order, like scented ceramics or candle holders – I still have some!

    Sadly I don’t think their fragrances are as special now, and they are certainly weaker. But I have somewhere a backup bottle of La Haie, and I am now inspired to search for it!

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  19. They dont last as long as I would like but I have Saffron Troublant, Seville a l‘aube and Passage d‘Enfer which is my favorite of the 3. I also enjoyed but did not own Mimosa pour Moi and L’Eau Ambre. I do want to try some of the newer ones (except the Banana one 😱 no just no) and wish I could have tried la Haie Fleurie and le Coeur Sacre.

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  20. I tested dzing!,timbuktu und Passage enfer and Now have a bottle of Dzing! Wanted to Love Timbuktu, but the sour mango is a nono…

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  21. Dzongkha, and quite a ways after that Traversee and Saffran Troublant, although I don’t wear them as often as I did. I also really like Jatamansi.

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  22. I think it’s got to be Timbuktu, although some others are lovely as well. Couer du vetiver sacre is nice, maybe as a runner up. Timbuktu is the only one I’ve considered purchasing a bottle of, but I can’t make myself do 50-100 ml of anything these days.

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  23. I have forgotten what Tea for Two and Timbuktu smell like but from the ones I remember, Safran Troublant might be my favorite. I clearly know which one I hate: Pimente Brulent. It was intense chili fragrance and I was confounded why Turin rated it so high.

    I do credit Turin for sparking my interest in niche and vintage classics but I have also realized over time he does let his personal relationships affect his views so I have come to view him not as neutral in his views as I used to think before. Some of the perfumers he is quite likely to praise most of the times include Roucel and Douchaufour (I am not bashing Roucel and Douchaufour because I do consider them brilliant perfumers and love some of their creations but Turin has a habit of even rating mediocre creations from them quite highly).

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  24. I love Dzongkha best, but Seville, Traversee, Nuit de Tubereuse and Passage d’Enfer are up there too.

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  26. So many to pick from Portia, and so many un-tried from this house as yet. I’m going to pick Al Oudh. I adore it with a capital A. I wish I had found it earlier in my perfume addiction but maybe it came to me just when it was right for me. Every time I open the box and sniff I love it. I have a little vial spray in my glasses cover so each day when I put my glasses on I can smell a little of it and it always makes me smile. Warm weather or cold is seems to suit my skin. Having said all that seems like a perfect time for a little spray then xx

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  27. The Perfume Lover! I must read that book someday soon. Thank you for the reminder. 😀

    La Chasse aux Papillons still makes my heart flutter. I love the name, so poetic, and the scent reminds me perfectly of the scent of my mother’s backyard garden.

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    • You know I was looking on fragrantica to see which fragrances were made by Lartisan and as soon as I saw La Chasse aux Papillions I thought of you! So good to see you here, Tiffanie! I hope you and your family are well xoxoxo CM8

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      • thanks, cm8! doing ok over here, it’s a day by day kind of thing, lots of reminders to savor each moment. 😀

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  28. Sevile à l’Aube is my only FB. It holds up well in the cold winter weather and is glorious in early spring. The green notes in the top have faded (the petitgrain?), but it still seems like a complete scent. I also love the story attached to this creation.

    I think I have tried a tuberose and a rose scent years ago, I got a lot of samples from others when I started exploring perfume for real. I also think I liked Mon numéro 8 well enough. Never tried Dzing!

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  29. L’Artisan has very nice scents but very few have impressed me enough to buy a bottle. On the other hand, I’d keep every one if I got them as a present. I have Dzing! which is a masterpiece in my opinion and recently I bought an almost full bottle of Caligna for a very good price. It has immediately become my everyday go-to perfume. It’s so pretty and wearable in every occasion.
    Reading the comments here, I think I should try Safran Troublant and Un Air de Bretagne.

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