Today I am testing the L'Artisan summer limited edition fragrance for 2005, Extrait de Songe (later renamed L'Ete en Douce, see below). The scent was created by nose Olivia Giacobetti, and features mint, rose, orange blossom, linden, hay, woods, and white musk.
Extrait de Songe starts with lightly sweet floral notes and a brief touch of mint. It dries down to a very clean, very cottony blend of linden, hay, and musk. If you were to take D'Orsay Tilleul, replace the honey with musk, and spray it on freshly washed cotton clothing drying in the sun, you would have Extrait de Songe.
It is light and airy, and in feeling if not in smell it is reminiscent of other Giacobetti fragrances, such as En Passant and the IUNX line. It has surprisingly good staying power for a L'Artisan summer edition; it lasted at least 5 or 6 hours on my skin. It is nicely done and likely to appeal to fans of clean musky fragrances, but as I have written before, I am not a huge fan of clean. I will certainly use up my sample, but this will not be a full bottle purchase for me.
Extrait de Songe comes in a 100 ml bottle for $110, and includes a refillable 8 ml purse spray & funnel in a taffeta case. For buying information, see the listing for L'Artisan under Perfume Houses.
On a related topic, it is rumored that Frederic Malle will be releasing another Olivia Giacobetti scent soon, possibly based on leather. If you know anything about it, please comment!
Update: Extrait de Songe was removed from the market after a trademark dispute with Annick Goutal.
Update 2, 10/12/06: Extrait de Songe has been re-issued as L'Ete en Douce. As of now, it is exclusive to Barneys, but is expected to be in wider distribution by the end of the year. Note that it is now in the "standard" L'Artisan packaging, not in the pretty bottle shown above.
Hello R!! That is it – Linden – I could not translate from French
Love this – I agree about the lasting power too and like you I am not a fan of squeaky clean perfumes. I do like it on the whole. BTW – I may not get it as I bought a really lovely perfume from Montale today called Intense Tiare. Just out and smells of Tiare. I smell so gorgeous today that I am feeling good. Will write more in that blog of mine.
xoxo
Another Montale already — and I haven't even tried Rose Petals yet
Glad you are feeling good today and will check out Life in Paris!
Hi R! Tell me about OJ's Ishefan – has Linda changed the name from Samarkand to Ishefan?
xoxo
Yes, new name, Ishafan, but the same fragrance you smelled! I love it & will probably buy it soon.
So happy you love it! Thanks and I just heard that it has been renamed. Mwah! :))
Please check in a couple of hours – still have to think and then write! ;D
Oops…it is Isfahan, not Ishafan…sorry!
I tried it at Barney's and wrote a review on MUA…while the lasting power was astounding for a L'artisan, I didn't find this one as interesting as most of the fragrances in the line. In fact, it just smelled like white musk on me (such as The Body Shop's White Musk). While I love musk fragrances, I prefer Mure et Musc for just a standard musk. I understand that the floral and green notes are more prominent on others' skin, so I think this is definitely worth trying. It was very, very pretty sprayed on the card…dreamy and soft. For some reason, the fragrance lost these special qualities once it hit my skin. *sigh*
I didn't find it either floral or green after the top notes evaporated, other than the linden, which hung on through the end. It will be interesting to see how this sells for L'Artisan. I thought I was about the only person in the world that liked Ananas Fizz, so I was quite surprised to see it added to the regular line.
Love Linden, and L'Artisan is one creator of fragrances that I would buy unsniffed, believe it or not, as most of them work well for me. Minty sounds nice, but is it “too green?”
Barbara, I wouldn't call it minty, as the mint doesn't last for more than a few minutes, and I wouldn't call it green either. I would really suggest that you try before you buy — this is pretty different in style from most of the L'Artisans.
i detest green fragrances, so i would say it's not too green, b/c i love it. i fell in love with this fragrance when a friend of mine wore the original incarnation, “extrait de songe.” i recently tested l'ete en douce at barney's and loved it…thinking it smelled familiar. today i picked up a large bottle. i am curious to see if i will love it as much at the end as i do now, as it is fairly different from what i normally wear. i'm also curious to see if i get comments…i feel it mixes well with my chemistry,
I just happened to smell it again last weekend, and would agree, not very green. Hope L'Artisan will put it into wider distribution later, but it is a shame they didn't release it again in the pretty LE bottle.