Parfums de la Bastide is a new French niche house founded by two former Annick Goutal executives. The five fragrances — Ardent, Eclatant, Exquise, Insolite and Insouciante — were inspired by the region of Provence.
Ardent (shown) ~ "Ardent is composed around a cedar note, evoking the warmth and strength of a majestic conifer. Nutmeg and cumin reveal its spicy character while vanilla and sandalwood usher elegance and delicacy in its wake." Additional notes include cardamom and cypress.
Éclatant ~ "Eclatant evokes the freshness of a tangy lemon, worked around bright notes and tonics which radiate out of all their glory and then become rounded in a sweet and subtle harmony." Additional notes include citron, basil, verbena, mint, cedar, rosewood and white musk.
Exquise ~ "Exquise reveals a subtle balance between the juicy and fruity sensations of a fresh fig and the smell of fig leaf, while gradually giving way to a wooded greedy depth." Additional notes include tangerine peel, cassis, peach tree leaves, davana and vanilla.
Insolite ~ "Insolite is a refreshing lavender water, with developed woody undertones that give it depth and texture. A touch of violet reveals its mineral facet, as a unexpected signature." Additional notes include cedrat, tangerine, violet, bergamot, vetiver and tonka bean.
Insouciante ~ "Insouciante is a breeze of freshly harvested delicate rose petals. Enlightened by pink berries and cassis, this combination of bubbling notes makes the perfume as light and cheerful as a glass of pink champagne." Additional notes include tangerine peel, blood orange, black pepper, jasmine, sandalwood and patchouli.
Parfums de la Bastide Ardent, Eclatant, Exquise, Insolite and Insouciante are available in 100 ml Eau de Parfum, €125 each.
(via parfumsdelabastide)
Might give these a try if I can find them in the UK at some point, having never quite forgiven AG for discontinuing my all-time favourite Eau de Camille (I’ll stop mentioning this now, I promise!); mind you, working for AG on the business side of things does not necessarily a perfumer make…
Sorry!! It was a great scent. But their line is HUGE now, so not surprising that they’re getting rid of some of the older scents.
Not your fault, Robin (!) & I do appreciate the way you respond to people’s input. I know, the AG line is ever expanding – I preferred it when it was a truly niche line & I had to buy it in Harrods, Harvey Nicks, Selfridges or Liberty during my annual December London jaunt. These stores seem to have let their non-mainstream lines dwindle over the years, though I hope to get to Harrods to explore their new fragrance hall in December.
Oh my goodness, Carolyn, Eau de Camille is one of my favourites too! I keep talking about it as well (in fact I have just mentioned it on Bois de Jasmin entirely coincidentally). Maybe it wasn’t loved enough because most people found it weird? I admit on my first spritz I didn’t know what had hit me, but it wasn’t long before I fell in love with it.
If I win the lottery I will hire my own perfumer and get him to recreate all my old loved fragrances – cost (and IFRA) no object!
Jillie, I think my first AG was Eau de Ciel (which I still would wear if it was available!) but I soon found & fell in love with Eau de Camille – I wore it for years & years, & always had people comment favourably on it. My husband thought the mention of privet in the notes was highly amusing & forever after referred to it as my “hedge perfume” – privet hedges in gardens being very popular on this side of the pond! The London stores I mentioned were always very generous with samples if one bought any AG product, so I had the chance of wearing quite a few of the earlier fragrances. Like you, I think a lot of people were put off by Camille because it was so different, & indeed a few friends who tried it didn’t like it on themselves but loved it on me. Another one with a privet note is Hampton Sun’s Privet Bloom, which Space NK used to stock here but appear to no longer do so – I bought it a few years ago purely because of the privet note & although not as complex as Camille, it did give me a faint reminder every time I wore it. I’m planning to contact Hampton Sun to see where I can find it – am visiting Seattle in October so perhaps there’ll be an outlet there; in the meantime I’m off to Bois de Jasmin to read your post! I liked your lottery comment, I think many people on here would do the same.
Perfume blog Ping-Pong – I’ve just seen your comment on BdeJ!
Your hedge remark made me chuckle as whenever I wore L’Artisan Parfumeur’s La Haie Fleurie du Hameau my husband would ask me what it was, so I sort of translated it to Marie-Antoinette’s Flowery Hedge, and of course he renamed it Dragged Through a Hedge Backwards. Honestly, where’s the romance?!
Just revisited the BdeJ article so have picked up a couple more pointers – someone mentioned Le Temps d’Une Fete, which I wore in both its incarnations; re your hedge story, I did chuckle – as for romance, we’ve just had our 25th wedding anniversary, so our heady romantic days are long gone!
Ardent sounds really nice. I’m a fan of spicy wood scents.
A couple of these sound worth a sniff…but probably won’t see testers anywhere near me I am guessing.