L'Eau Scandaleuse

My experience with this is different from most here. Opens with a BLAST of artemisia (the brand lists davana, but it smells like regular artemisia to me), its bitter-green effect amplified by a bit of cypriol. Then there’s a smooth, just slightly pungent leather note, and yes, the tuberose. She’s creamy, she’s realistic, she gives the perfume a lovely lift. There is a peach-oakmoss accord here that accounts for the comparisons to Mitsouko. But it doesn’t have the smokiness of Mitsouko, and the oakmoss is less strong. L’Eau Scandaleuse is greener, more bitter, more animalic than the Guerlain grande dame. The other perfume it reminds me of a little is Naomi Goodsir’s Nuit de Bakélite, with the artemisia-tuberose combo. But this goes in a different direction with the other notes and is also much more wearable. An hour in, L’Eau Scandaleuse becomes mostly peachy tuberose with beautiful leather underneath, but there are still those hints of green bitterness that make the perfume so unique and addictive.

tuberose and leather, hmm....At first I thought it's gonna be a "beauty and beast" kind of floral-animalic perfume, but it's not what I imagined. The opening tuberose blast like firework to your face, possibly sweetened by fruity notes, along with subtle inky tone. But this is not a floral perfume, it quickly transition into a dry, slightly salty leather base. If the it's the flower that got you in, the leather is what make you stay. Sometimes I can perceive a charred cacao or even chocolate edge in the leather. Although the castoreum is listed, luckily it doesn't muddle things up. As time goes by it only makes the leather richer and thicker, it almost developed a gourmand aspect with tuberose. Overall, a perfume worth having.

Such a fierce, elegant perfume! When dabbed from a sampler this has a quite strong tuberose, but when sprayed from my bottle the tuberose is more a background feel and the main impression is a bitter leather - I completely get the references to the smell of a (concept of a ) painter's studio - turpentine/white spirits, oil paints, leather seating. From some angles it's slightly horse-y, as in the smell of stables, including the smell of dry soil or turf. My partner loves this on me; for my part, I'd enjoy it more if I could (also) detect the sweetish tuberose that comes through in the sample.

This is so gorgeous! I received a sample pack of the four current AL offerings and I'm impressed with all of them... I've always wanted to like Cabochard but have never managed to keep a bottle for more than 6 months. L'Eau Scandaleuse, on the other hand, is everything I hoped for Cabochard but could never find. To me, L'Eau Scandaleuse is a waxy leather with gorgeous fatty aspects from the tuberose and grounding earthy notes of oakmoss. After smelling this I don't feel compelled to search for vintage chypres anymore. If you're a fan of vintage fragrances I recommend trying this whole line.

This was a must try for me after reading Kafka's review and it was love at first sniff for me. I have no idea why this is isn't a more popular fragrance - it's absolutely amazing. Opening with a heady wiff of white flowers, it starts deepening over time into a spicy, supple leather with just a touch of floral, nectared sweetness to offset the richness of the dark notes. Love it! While I can see a man wearing this confidently for sure, to me it reads like leather pencil skirts and sheer lace blouses: undeniably classically feminine, undeniably seductive and more than a little provocative.