Hey Hey All You Stink Junkies,

Don’t miss my VIDEO guest spot on the PERFUME POSSE today<<<JUMP

They were having a sale at L’Artisan Parfumeur, one of my favourite fragrance houses but I live in Australia. Then my girl friend Alice went to England. So I shopped like KER-AY-ZEEE!!

The first cab off the rank will be L’Ea Du Navigateur. Why? Because it’s fricken AWESOME! This is a slick, classy and elegant creation.

Photos Stolen boatbuildingindonesia

The Phinisi Spirit (Boat Pictured Above)
The highly valued spices, and the fabled spice route itself, actually originated on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, later known as the “East Indies” or spice islands. Spices from these small islands were transported along a well developed network of sea routes by even more impressive sailing vessels, ancestors to the modern Phinisi. (Plagiarised from boatbuildingindonesia)

Fragrantica gives these notes and accords all in one mine: coffee, spices, woodsy notes, floral notes, rum, resin, incense, tobacco, leather, cedar and myrrh

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

What do I smell? I smell a boozy, spicy, coffee; a warm and cheeky Jamaican Coffee, that you used to get after dinner in restaurants. There is wood, I get a salty tang too, the flowers are very quiet and each time I think I’ve nailed one it disappears on me. The resins after half an hour are boat reminiscent but warm like a salty amber, maybe it’s the leather accord and my nose is misreading it. Tar?

The myrrh has been there all along but it makes a centre stage appearance, quite profound for a note that I often find lurking rather than doing a diva turn on my skin, 2-3 hours in. After that last big note the whole melange goes very quiet, like the background smells of cargo at sea I imagine. Starting to smell myself in the mix too, like L’Ea Du Navigateur has found my scent and decided it works very well in the mix so it might as well use everything at its disposal to create a spellbinding and narcotic miasma.

I get zero of the smoke, tobacco and incense that others rave about, and that’s a shame, but I’ve only worn L’Eau Du Navigateur twice. I think there will be surprises wearing it for different things and in changing temperatures. Next morning, over 8 hours, there is still a trace of a better smelling me.

Back in 2006 PerfumeSmellin’Things review is excellent as is 1000Fragrances.

Get hold of a sample/decant because it’s so lovely. I can’t believe there isn’t more of a song and dance done about it. Maybe because it’s been around for 30 years.

Do you have a favourite L’Artisan Parfumeur fragrance I should try? Please leave me a note so I can,
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx