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L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore ~ new fragrance

Posted by Robin on 11 September 2010 61 Comments

L'Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore

L’Artisan Parfumeur will launch Traversée du Bosphore, a new fragrance by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, in November. Traversée du Bosphore was inspired by a journey to Istanbul:

The crossing of the Bosphorus, from one bank to the other, is an experience best enjoyed at daybreak...

The men sit around in an endless, casual debate, the tobacco smoke rising lazily from their hookahs. The scent of hot juicy apples floats up into the air.

Gardens bursting with a thousand dazzling tulips exude green notes carrying a hint of saffron. The delicate fragrance of the saffron becomes almost overwhelming as the spice market draws near, blending deliciously with the aroma of leather that scorches the air around the tanneries.

It is easy to lose oneself wandering through this maze of tiny streets at random, escorted and intoxicated by the suave, soft perfume of Turkish Delight, oscillating between rose and pistachio. A swirl of gentle musk emanates from every unhurried step, which slow and become almost aimless as dusk approaches.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversée du Bosphore will be available in 50 ($115) and 100 ml ($155) Eau de Parfum. (via press release)

Update: see a review of L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversée du Bosphore.

Filed Under: new fragrances
Tagged With: bertrand duchaufour, lartisan parfumeur

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61 Comments

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  1. janjan says:
    11 September 2010 at 10:17 am

    Sounds very promising, and I am interested in anything when Bertrand Duchaufour is mentioned!

    I’m assuming the list of notes are sprinkled throughout the copy?…

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:09 pm

      I assume so too…have not yet seen anything like an “official” list of notes.

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  2. arch.memory says:
    11 September 2010 at 10:18 am

    Oh goodness! This sounds like a must try, despite the awful florid language.. Duchaufour is dangerous for my wallet!

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    • kaos.geo says:
      11 September 2010 at 10:24 am

      Yes, it sound like Traversée du Bankrupcy to me 😀

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      • Aparatchick says:
        11 September 2010 at 11:32 am

        🙂 So true!

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:09 pm

      Yep…

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  3. krokodilgena says:
    11 September 2010 at 10:29 am

    Istanbul excited me, but this doesn’t sound like something I’d like.
    I don’t think I like anything by Bertrand Duchaufour that I’ve tried.

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:10 pm

      Yeah, he is one of my favorite perfumers but I know several people who just don’t care for his style.

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  4. ol rait says:
    11 September 2010 at 11:28 am

    Though I’ve not tried anything of Duchaufour’s since his stylistic evolution, I am excited to try this. Well, I was. Then they mentioned hot juicy apples.

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    • Aparatchick says:
      11 September 2010 at 11:40 am

      I’m OK with the hot, juicy apples, but not too sure about the combination of notes I’m reading in the copy (and why did they mention tanneries? Have they ever gotten whiff of a tannery?). I do admire a number of things Duchaufour has done, so I’ll be interested in sniffing this one.

      But that copy really makes me want to visit Turkey and cross the Bosphorus!

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      • mals86 says:
        11 September 2010 at 12:30 pm

        Yeah, the tannery… Cuir de Russie smells like that to me, very close to rawhide and blood and animal parts and iodine, ick. I was surprised to NOT get what everybody else gets out of it. Sigh.

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        • Daisy says:
          11 September 2010 at 2:28 pm

          funny since I’m wearing Cuir de Russie today…

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      • Daisy says:
        11 September 2010 at 12:41 pm

        holy moly! a TANNERY?–eww…..but softly tanned leather–mmmmm

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      • AnnS says:
        11 September 2010 at 4:03 pm

        Uh, yeah, I wandered by accident near a “tannery” in Greece once upon a time, and it was not such a good smelling place. Hello bins of urine!….. But this fragrance sounds test worthy for sure. Maybe Duchaufour is on a leather kick? I got kind of a weird indolic suede accord from Nuits de Tuberose.

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:11 pm

      Yeah. I’ll take mine without the hot juicy apples.

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      • neeks says:
        12 September 2010 at 5:24 am

        Yes! It was all going so well otherwise, leather, tobacco, safron, even turkish delight, but apples..especially hot juicy ones.

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  5. dee says:
    11 September 2010 at 11:48 am

    “Bertrand Duchaufour” is code in my house for “take out your bank card”. How I love splits!

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    • Daisy says:
      11 September 2010 at 12:42 pm

      oh yeah—I’m headed over to the group to post for interest…Dee, should I just pencil you in my dear??

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      • dee says:
        17 September 2010 at 12:14 am

        I see that I made the top of the split list! This is a big day for me 🙂

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:11 pm

      🙂

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  6. Chuck says:
    11 September 2010 at 12:20 pm

    I smelled this last night at Henri Bendel in NY — they already have it in stock. Apparently it has just arrived. As I had already smelled a bunch of other things, and as I only smelled this on a strip instead of on skin, I can’t give a full account. My first impression was that it is surprisingly dry and leathery, but then a hint of a sweet, almost chocolaty note (?) comes through. Perhaps that’s the apples? It didn’t smell like apples to me at all. It’s very much in line with the rest of Duchaufour’s recent scents for L’Artisan — it has the dryness of Nuit de Tuberose and also is somewhat reminiscent of Piment Brulant.

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    • Daisy says:
      11 September 2010 at 3:55 pm

      bwahahahahaha —I’m on it!

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      • Robin says:
        11 September 2010 at 5:12 pm

        Hey, are you doing samples out of those splits? If you are, sign me up.

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        • Daisy says:
          11 September 2010 at 5:24 pm

          done 🙂

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          • rickbr says:
            11 September 2010 at 8:31 pm

            Can I enter for the list of decants too? Please, say yes 😀

          • Daisy says:
            12 September 2010 at 10:54 am

            rickbr—contact me at Daisyloo82 at gmail dot com……we’re doing a sign up.

    • Haunani says:
      11 September 2010 at 10:54 pm

      Well, Chuck, I’m a big Duchaufour fan, but this sounds like a bit of a mess to me, from just reading the copy. However, your description leads me to believe that I’ll probably like it!

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      • Chuck says:
        12 September 2010 at 10:28 am

        Yeah, I like Duchaufour a lot too, but all three of his recent L’Artisan releases (Al Oudh, Havana Vanille, Nuit de Tubereuse) have been disappointing to me; and (on an admittedly cursory inspection) I was not impressed by this one either. To be fair, I only smelled the strip for a few minutes and then moved on to other things, so this was not enough time to get a full impression of the fragrance.

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  7. Joe says:
    11 September 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Ohhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo…

    oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no

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    • Daisy says:
      11 September 2010 at 2:27 pm

      oh yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yessssss!

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      • Joe says:
        11 September 2010 at 3:50 pm

        I’ll have what Daisy’s having.

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        • Daisy says:
          11 September 2010 at 3:55 pm

          😀

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    • ami says:
      11 September 2010 at 2:35 pm

      : DDDDDDD

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    • lilybug says:
      11 September 2010 at 3:32 pm

      My thoughts too! I want to be saving money, but you wouldn’t know it from my perfume spending 🙁

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  8. Tama says:
    11 September 2010 at 2:24 pm

    I refuse to get overly excited about a l’Artisan after the Havana Vanille debacle, but this does seem interesting. I am warming up to a few of these – I got a nice compliment when wearing Nuit de Tubereuse the other day, and we all know I fell hard for the new vetiver. I’ll be testing that one again tomorrow to make sure.

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    • Joe says:
      11 September 2010 at 2:37 pm

      Yeah, I suffered from that HV debacle (love that term) as well. I’m not sure yet about the Vetiver. I only have a vial and it’s hard to form an impression (and I have so many vetivers already).

      But this one sounds unusual. As I was telling Daisy, it sounds like it could be an amazing fall scent, combining the best of a tobacco scent like Ava Luxe Shish, CBIHP Gathering Apples, and some rosy/nutty Loukhoum scents. I love the idea.

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      • Joe says:
        11 September 2010 at 2:37 pm

        that was meant to read “Ava Luxe Shisha”

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        • Tama says:
          11 September 2010 at 2:48 pm

          I have yet to try any Ava Luxe!!

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        • nozknoz says:
          11 September 2010 at 11:11 pm

          Yes, I’m reading apple shisha between the lines of that PR copy!

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  9. mough says:
    11 September 2010 at 4:22 pm

    What was the “Havana Vanille Debacle” about? Was Castro Involved? Could I google that and get an answer? Is it like Milli Vanilli lip synching?

    SOTD: Iris and Musk by J. Malone.

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    • Robin says:
      11 September 2010 at 5:12 pm

      It got lots of glowing reviews (including mine). Many people bought it unsniffed, and hated it. Never buy unsniffed!

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      • raymond says:
        11 September 2010 at 7:12 pm

        i nearly had my very own HV debacle: i was at Bendel’s and HV was still a month away from being release so i was super excited that the saleswoman would let me try some. when i took a whiff i nearly gagged! she probably knew i was lying when i told her how nice it was. uck! 🙂

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      • rickbr says:
        11 September 2010 at 8:33 pm

        I bought a decant of HV unsniffed based on the reviews, but i didn’t hated it, but it wasn’t what i was expecting too. On me it was a plain boozy vanila with something that reminded me of play-doh…

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      • Haunani says:
        11 September 2010 at 10:55 pm

        I was lucky. I bought it unsniffed and loved it!

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  10. www.mybeautyblog.de says:
    11 September 2010 at 6:10 pm

    Oh, Turkey! Tea, apple-tea, smoke, cumin, saffron – this will be a good one, loved his Fleur de Liane too.
    I am still fighting with his latest, the tuberose. But I discovered Sublime Balkiss so my paycheck has already a mission.

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    • Melaine says:
      11 September 2010 at 6:42 pm

      Love Sublime Balkiss, too, but not the spendy price tag. I bought DKNY Delicious Night and Caudalie’s Fleur de Vigne instead for something like $30 for the pair. Alone, neither is an exact smell alike for SB but worn together they are very, very similar and so much cheaper.

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    • Masha says:
      12 September 2010 at 5:16 am

      There’s no apple, no cumin, no smoke. It’s light, sweet, and pretty. The leather is a very light note as well, far less than say, Daim Blond.

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  11. Melaine says:
    11 September 2010 at 6:36 pm

    A “thousand dazzling tulips exude green notes carrying a hint of saffron”. Do you think they meant crocus? Tulips are gorgeous says this girl from Holland, Michigan, but they have nothing to do with saffron. 🙂

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    • Masha says:
      12 September 2010 at 5:17 am

      It’s a tulip accord, as imagined by the perfumer, but it does bear resemblance to those few tulips that have an odor.

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  12. violetnoir says:
    11 September 2010 at 6:38 pm

    And the hits just keep on coming!

    Those folks at L’Artisan are hitting home runs this year! If I have not loved all of the new releases, I have certainly liked them a lot.

    Now this new one?

    I can’t wait to test it!

    Hugs!

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  13. rickbr says:
    11 September 2010 at 8:29 pm

    I loved the description! L’artisan is trying to bankrupt me lol I still have to try their take on vetiver and on tubereuse. But i hope that this one is not as safe as it was Havana Vanille, which disapointed me a lot.
    They should do a coffret with all of the travel fragrances in 15ml each one. I’d buy one for me as xmas gift 😛

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    • Haunani says:
      11 September 2010 at 10:57 pm

      LOVE the travel coffret idea and would buy it in a heartbeat (is my favorite perfumeur reading this???).

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  14. nozknoz says:
    11 September 2010 at 11:17 pm

    Duchaufour + L’Artisan + Istanbul = Lemmingzilla!

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  15. Masha says:
    12 September 2010 at 2:08 am

    I’ve tried it and I find it really charming. It’s transparent and breezy. Basically, it’s a mix of 3 accords- light suede, an imagined “tulip” accord, that has a just a hint of saffron, and a pistachio/rose lokum accord. Is this the first leather gourmand?? It’s weird but it works.

    But who wrote that ad copy??? Talk about purple prose, has the writer ever been to Istanbul in the morning? Smoked fish, fresh sesame bread, cheap cigarettes, and diesel exhaust. Thick coal smoke in wintertime. And tanneries? GAG! That’s a pong, not a smell. I sure hope they re-write that piece. Puh-lease!

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    • Katie Puckrik says:
      12 September 2010 at 2:56 am

      That’s a very helpful summation, Masha – thanks indeedy. I was wondering if it had anything in common with the gorgeous Safran Troublant, what with ST’s saffron/rose/sweet’n’nutty intersection, but this one sounds more leatheresque.

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      • Masha says:
        12 September 2010 at 5:20 am

        ST, I’d forgotten that one! That’s a beauty. Yes, I think they must be cousins, kissin’ cousins! There is definitely overlap, but they are distinct from each other. TdB is sweeter, and the light leather note works well with the sweet notes and saffron. It’s more complicated than ST.

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    • Tama says:
      12 September 2010 at 1:21 pm

      I love the word “pong”.

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    • Joe says:
      12 September 2010 at 5:14 pm

      Masha, you made me laugh. Thanks for the rundown of what this scent is really like. Of course, perfume marketing prose is sort of what I’m coming to think of as the “Eat Pray Love” school of romantic travel copywriting.

      Regarding leather gourmands: I tend to think of Cuir Beluga, Daim Blond, and maybe Cuir Venenum to fall into that category somewhat.

      I hope it’s not so transparent as to disappear in ten minutes flat. Thanks again!

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    • 734elizabeths says:
      13 September 2010 at 10:44 am

      Turkey is one of the most scent-specific countries I know, and it smells like coal smoke.

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  16. scents and sensibility says:
    27 December 2010 at 4:45 pm

    Wanted to add that I tried this on paper today and, perhaps it’s because the fragrance was being pushed as a “Christmas special”, it seemed far more appropriate as a home fragrance than something one would wear. And given the marketing spiel, it wasn’t surprising to hear that the candles had been flying off the shelves. As others have mentioned, the leather is very, very light; I got apple (and pomegranate?) in the top notes with a bit of spice.

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    • Robin says:
      28 December 2010 at 12:17 pm

      I would say that’s true of many niche fragrances: they’re possibly more appropriate as home fragrances, and tend to appeal more to people who don’t care about that distinction, I think.

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