Fou d'Absinthe will be the next release from L'Artisan, and the first to feature their newly redesigned packaging. The fragrance for men, in Eau de Parfum concentration, was created by perfumer Olivia Giacobetti and will include notes of frozen alcohol, wormwood, blackcurrant bud, angelica, star anise, four spices cocktail (pepper, clove, nutmeg, and ginger), patchouli, pine, cistus and fir balsam. (via osmoz and alzd) Update: see a review of L'Artisan Fou d'Absinthe.
Diptyque will launch Eau de Lierre in early May. The fragrance features fresh notes, pepper, ivy, water notes, musk and wood. (via osmoz) Update: see a review of Diptyque Eau de Lierre.
Not a huge fan of the change to seven sides, being partial to even numbers, but I do like the new cap. Is it a trick of the picture, or is the new bottle taller and narrower, making it remind me of the Lorenzo Villoresi bottles? I have an old school rectangular L'Artisan bottle in my collection, and I much prefer the modern many-sided designs. Feu L'Absinthe and Eau de Lierre are my first major lemmings of 2006!
I just realized that says Fou and not Feu. Bummer, because I assumed it would be smoky! According to my trusty Google tool, “Fou” translates to “Insane”. Please enlighten.
It translates as “Crazy for Absinthe”. Frankly, my hopes aren't too high – I don't think anything can make better use of absinthe than SL Douce Amère. But then, maybe I'm just a cranky old traditionalist? We'll see….
I was thinking it's because absinthe (wormwood liqueur) was supposed to have driven people totally insane. Absinthe-induced insanity.
K, I found Eau de Lierre disappointingly dull, but still holding out hope for the L'Artisan! Haven't seen the bottle in person so don't know if the picture is accurate!
Love Douce Amere, but this sounds different enough to be worth having both — if its good!
T, that was what I assumed they were implying too.
K, see Tania's comment — I think they were making a play on absinthe's reputation for crazy making, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe
Come to think of it, it can mean “crazy for absinthe” or “crazy because of absinthe”. Nice wordplay, don't you think?
I confess that despite my having been sort of bored with Olivia's stuff lately, this one could be good. But WTH is a note of frozen alcohol?
I'm excited for Fou d'Absinthe! And I'm with keeter, the new bottle design reminds me of LV.
Eau de Lierre sounds a little like L'Artisan's Navegar. Doesn't really appeal to me, though, because I run from “watery notes.”
Yes, and hope the juice is as clever as its title
T, what bored you? Idole? Mandarine?
You know, I hadn't thought of it but now that you guys point it out, it does look similar.
Love Navegar — it is considerably more interesting (to my nose) than the Eau de Lierre.
Now that's a plug ugly bottle! Why did they feel they had to change it?
I don't think the Diptyque one will be particularly exciting and, like you, who could do the absinthe thing better than Douce Amere?
Hugs!
Idole was nice (great bottle) but I felt like I'd been there before. Not interested in Mandarine (didn't know that was her). Safran Troublant was pretty good, I admit (was that her?). Costes, yawn, nice but I've been there too. She did Hiris, right? Didn't like that. I don't know, feel like I've been waiting for her to wow me again like with Dzing!
R, what surprised me was that they bothered to change it at all — it isn't all that different than it was. But like you, I preferred the old.
T, yes, she did Safran too. Sounds like her style is more to my taste than yours — I love Hiris, Navegar, Andree Putman, Philosykos, Dzing, Passage d'Enfer. Idole was lovely but admit I'm not in love with it, and Costes did nothing for me.
I wonder if the bottle will still have the lovely engraving on, like the old style? I must admit, I'm so determined to like Fou d'Absinthe, it could probably smell like cigarettes stubbed out in old beer dregs and it would be months before I'd notice! I'm not much excited by the Eau de Lierre; most Diptyques smell like pot-pourri refresher to me, alas…
LOL!!! I thought “what lovely engraving?”, and went to look at my bottles. Never even noticed that! So now you see why I misread your other comment…little details like that have trouble getting past my ADHD
I might be wrong but I'm almost sure Fou d'Absinth wasn't created by Olivia Giacobetti. The documentation we received from L'Artisan gave the name that of another less wellknown (to me at least) perfumer. I don't recall his name now, but I will check our L'Artisan documentation tomorrow.
That you Cedric, and do let me know if I am wrong — I was told she did both Fou d'Absinthe and the new Mandarine.
R, nosing around in here … have you tried the Mandarine yet? (I know you like orange as much as I do.) Also, any chance you've smelled the Black March? The curiosity is killing me, I should just go buy some and get it over with already… thanks!
Don't buy the Black March just yet, have a vague feeling you'll get to try it soon. It is lighter than I expected, but very nice: lots of dirt, lots of bark, bit of flower, bit of water. Smells like a damp spring morning. Will be curious to hear what you think of it.
On the Mandarine: no. And have not tried as hard to get a sample as I usually do. Have to admit that I'm put off by the rather dull early reports. People seem to like it but not love it and not hate it — and that is not a good sign!
I got to try this at the sniffa. It was good on the strip–but wonderful on my skin–woody, spicy, and delicious! I will buy it. According to the introduction we were given, they are, indeed, making a play on absinthe's crazy-making properties! I also seem to remember this as created by a male perfumeur, known for his work with woods and spices.
Oh good, hope it will be wonderful on my skin too!
Oh, thank you so much!
Vague feeling, indeed! It sounds just wonderful, what's better than a damp spring morning? The Mandarine — you're right. There are lots of oranges to “like” — I want another to love.
Bummer about the new Artisan bottle. All they did was add more sides! Pointless! I much prefer the simple and elegant older bottles.
I agree with Cedric, olivia did not create this one. it was created by a male french perfumer that has also done something for burberry.
either Michel ALMAIRAC or Nathalie GRACIA-CETTO
created Fou d'absinthe
i'm pretty sure of it.
Press materials I have seen attribute Fou d'Absinthe to Olivia Giacobetti. I heard that the same applies to Mandarine, but I have not seen this verified in print.
I couldn't find the name of the nose who created Fou d'Absinthe in the documentation we have. Maybe I just dreamed or saw that on another website…?
But having smelled Fou d'Absinthe myself, it's absolutely not in the style of Olivia Giacobetti.
Seems pointless to me too…just looks chunkier.
Thank you, will keep investigating…
Thanks V.
Thanks so much for checking C! I will send an email to L'Artisan but doubt they will help.
the perfumer for Christian Dior Higher created this. That is a fact… I am a former rep for l'artisan in south florida and i still speak with Francois from l'artisan from time to time.. and i remember him mentioning the name and other scent the perfumer made.. and one was dior and one was burberry
Again, thanks! Have added the word “possibly” to the article until I can find out for sure who the nose was.
Could be that a whole mess of perfumers was involved in the creation. Happens a lot. Hope you get the straight dope from L'Artisan. Good luck!
Higher was created by Olivier Gillotin and Olivier Pescheux. Neither worked on Burberry fragrances. The only perfumers who worked on both Dior and Burberry fragrances are Nathalie Gracia-Cetto, Michel Almairac, and Nathalie Lorson.
I'm sure that is the case more often than not, even when only one person gets credited.
Okay, another one I want to give a whirl over here. I adore Absinthe type scents. My faves already in this category are Paname Keiko Mecheri and Douce Amere Serge Lutens. Both breathtaking beautiful absinthe scents out now.
Another plus, being created by one of my fave parfumeurs, Olivia G. She's one great talent in the fragrance world, IMO.
Mando:-)
Wholeheartedly agree about Olivia G, M. And I need to try Paname again. Love Douce Amere!
Izzy, definitely check out Paname Keiko Mecheri. If you love Douce Amere, you may love Paname more. It's pretty close to Douce Amere in scent quality and a lot cheaper but of course KM had downsize their bottle sizes and upping the prices which really sucked. The old ones were fine and you got a lot more bang for your buck.
Mando:-)
M, will give it another sniff next time at Barney's, but you're right, the price difference is no longer as tempting as it was!
L'Artisan has confirmed that Fou d'Absinthe was created by Olivia Giacobetti. Whether others also worked on it, of course, I'll never know, but that is their official answer.
C, see below, L'Artisan says it is OG. Perhaps she worked with others, of course.
You may be correct, but per L'Artisan it is by OG…it may be that others worked on it as well and that is what is causing the confusion.