Dans Tes Bras

This is one of the hardest fragrances to "understand" in the Frederic Malle line. After spending a considerable amount of time with it, days in fact, I'm still not quite sure how or what to say. So, I guess I'll start with my notes on what I smell during each stage of the perfume, but this is likely going to be on my list of reviews I am least satisfied with. The opening of the perfume is very attention grabbing. Picture heavily aldehydic citruses in your nose's mind, and then remove the "sparkling" quality and the effervescent quality of them that can make your nose tingle in a fun and pleasant way, and that's what the opening of Dans Tes Bras is like. Trying to dissect the opening is tough, but it certainly smells like the brightest and sharpest of evergreen resin, powdery bergamot - which has the brightness of citrus but also the oily quality of zest whilst being incredibly dry, and then there is the violet note. This isn't sun shining on dewy freshly bloomed violets, the sun is inside the violet and radiating the violet outwards. The opening is blindingly bright, but in a very warm and hair-raisingly sensual way. Dans Tes Bras quietens significantly as it dries down. I'm not sure how much cashmeran, heliotrope, and musk materials Maurice Roucel put in Dans, but I will say that it has to be a massive amount. Usually these materials are the "glue" that holds more prominent material notes together, such as woods, incenses, and florals. In Dans it's the reverse: the dry down is all about cashmeran, heliotrope, and musks that have spicy and milky sandalwood shaved over the top and flecked with notes of earthy and sweet patchouli. In contrast to the opening, this conjures feelings of comfort, softness, and cleanliness, like a clean down comforter still smelling of fabric softener draped around your bare skin.... I think.... This is a tough one, folks, but Malle's description of the perfume helps connect it all together. In Your Arms is supposed to reflect the feelings of a sensually physical embrace, and Roucel nails it. The opening, as I said, is hair-raising, like the electrical tingle weaving through your skin and putting a knot in the pit of your stomach when skin meets skin with someone you are head-over-heels for. Once that feeling of electricity subsides, the skin-on-skin contact becomes an embrace that feels of energetic comfort and contentedness rather than raw sensuality; you want to hold, and be held, tighter and tighter. Many have tried and nearly all, if not all, have failed to describe what love feels like. We're told by parents and guardians and older confidantes when we are young that it's a feeling "you'll know when you feel it," and that's about all you'll get for a description because it is nigh on impossible to accurately explain. I think that's why I am struggling to tell you what I think of Dans Tes Bras. If I were a legendary philosopher and scholar, or poet laureate, maybe my attempt would be much more eloquent. Maurice Roucel seems to clearly understand it through his nose and the abilities of his blending hand. And I have to say, from my experiences evocated by Dans Tes Bras, Roucel deserves the legend or laureate title. This is a beautiful and stunning piece of work.

After reading the latest article about Dans Tes Bras posted on Fragrantica and seeing the tumult of reactions it received, I felt compelled to remind myself of it. It is the most abstract, misunderstood, and perhaps demanding perfume from the house. It feels like a blank canvas on which the individual can draw his/her interpretation of the scent. For the most part, opinions are divisive on whether "In Your Arms" evokes a warm or rather a cold embrace. I stand with the latter. If this perfume intends to evoke the feeling of being hugged, it is a sad hug. I can draw a parallel to another aloof woody-floral perfume composed by Roucel, as poetic as Dans Tes Bras, and I'm speaking, of course, about Iris Silver Mist. They share quite a few elements: the cold air, the cloves, and the woody-incense-infused base. The first time I smelled it, I pictured this: taking a stroll through a pine forest in early Autumn during a foggy and chilly early morning, wearing a cashmere sweater that has been recently washed and ironed, still smelling of violet and heliotrope fabric softener. That's precisely what Dans Tes Bras evoked in me - a somehow sad/melancholic walk through a forest. The only warmth came from the sweater dressing you. I also get the sandalwood and the incense in the dry-down, the latter only amplifying the austerity. That being said, I absolutely love this perfume and see it as a true work of art. It is such a conceptual smell that will smell different to each person. If I force myself, I can see other angles of it, but the overall feeling of aloofness never goes away. The opening is the weirdest part as it greets you with a prominent pine accord, a mineral and flint-like smell, and something that I'd address as salty mushrooms in the sense that it feels somehow "meaty." Later, I get the violet and the heliotrope, but the way these floral accords feel is like smelling them through a glass. Or imagine the flowers made of crystals, shuttering once you clasp them in your hands. Yes, I get this ever-present flint-like, mineral, and crystalline quality with the fragrance that comes from the cashmeran. The latter is the major player in the composition, while everything else is either pasted on top or is a direct facet. I believe that the pine accord is also imparted by this molecule, together with the flint-like smell, the mineral quality, and the saltiness. The clove is used to accentuate the cold sensation, and the incense in the base perpetuates the feeling of detachment. The white musk and the sandalwood help to push everything up and add some fluff and creaminess, but overall, the perfume doesn't stray into the warm territory for me. I find this piece a genuine work of an expert from the man who gave us so many worth remembering compositions over the decades. And then Lauder forced Uncut Gem upon him, poor Maurice. I want to remember him for works like Musc Ravageur, Iris Silver Mist, and this "Cold Embrace" in Dans Tes Bras. IG:@memory.of.scents

My favorite fragrance so far in my fragrance journey. Very simple, yet very effective. Starts out very powdery (my guess is the violet). There's also a green touch, makes it feel slightly aromatic (probably the pine tree note). There is only one transition on my skin, the opening lasts for a few hours before transitioning into the base: musky, musky, musky. Musk is one of my favorite notes, might be my favorite. I don't understand how such an amazing masterpiece is criminally underrated and under appreciated throughout the frag com. Youtubers in the frag com seriously need to try this. I'll stock up on many bottles if no one else wants them lol. The cashmere is very present throughout the life of the fragrance. People have raved about Musk Raveguer for years, but I wonder where the love for Dans Tes Bras has been. For being a 2008 release, this is very modern, also very sexy. Very alluring. I don't say this a lot about fragrances, but Dans Tes Bras is intimacy in a bottle. Save it for special occasions where you're alone with your significant other. Where it whenever, but it feels like you're cuddling up with your significant other, in bed, just appreciating one another. Wear it when you're with your special someone, they'll probably love it. A perfect couples' scent: it is very unisex, and you both can spray each other and enjoy the way you smell. Off my skin, projection is moderate to moderate/heavy the first 3-4 hours; it's airy but very present to those who can smell it. Each time I've worn it, it has lasted at least 12+ hours. After the first 3-4 hours, it is a skin scent, but a very long lasting and sexy one. If you don't like the opening, wait for the dry down. It's worth waiting for. The dry down is to die for, and you might get lucky if your lover smells it. If you don't like it, then more for me and the others who love it. I rarely say this, but the retail price is justifiable. If there were no other way to get a hold of this, buy it at full retail. It may cost an arm and a leg, but you can grow that arm and leg back with Dans Tes Bras. Of course, sample it first, as it is a Frederic Malle: niche and expensive. I want to try Musc Ravegeur, Dries Van Noten, Portrait of a Lady, Carnal Flower, and some others in the Malle house, but Maurice Roucel did his thing. This fragrance is a lifer. Update 11/12/21: I must confess I read all the new reviews about Dans Tes Bras and Under My Skin to see what other people think about those two. Both are my favorite fragrances of all time (albeit I only began a nonstop fragrance journey almost 2 years ago). I guess it depends on the emotions you want to look for: Dans Tes Bras is comfort, security, and intimacy; Under My Skin is dark, mysterious, lustful, and animalistic.

I don't recall ever reaching for the adjective "tangy" when describing a fragrance, but there is a first for everything. Dans Tes Bras opens up tangy, meaning there's a bit sour, a bit sweet, a bit salty. So, imagine if you will, an alternate dimension where violet had become a flavor that reached critical mass, and there was a Tang beverage powder, flavored violet (I used to eat Tang power raw as a kid, I was weird then as I am now). Dans Tes Bras is what this violet Tang would smell like, especially in its first hour. But wait, what is this? Pine needles in my powder, hmm, I am not aghast at all. Quite contrary, this is quite tasty. There is a fragrance material called Koavone, in the ionone family produced by IFF, for which I am familiar. It's diffusive, woody, simultaneously violet and pine-needle. It seems that Maurice Roucel might have used it here, but that's up for debate. However, what is irrefutable is that Cashmeran makes a dashing, smashing appearance, partnering with heliotropin fluffiness and rendering the violet in the heart more so like a Choward's violet candy after it is slowly dissolved in one's mouth. The real question is: do I really like all of this? You bet your sweet bippy I do. It's hazy, gauzy, nearly psychedelic, which is why it may be polarizing to some who seek out the rational and straightforward in fragrance. Malle himself has stated this is the most underappreciated in his oeuvre, and I am inclined to agree. Musc Ravageur may be David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, but Dans Tes Bras is Bowie's Low. Cashmeran smells to me like a blurring of the lines between natural and synthetic smells. It seems woody, but so abstract that the brain, well, my brain at least, has a difficult time discerning where the wood association really has its origins. It feels woolly and vague, yet ever so present and enveloping. It fuses into a formula rather than rests upon it. That's why a deft hand is needed so that it doesn't dampen all else. Roucel made the ambient Cashmeran truly beautiful here, carrying all elements to a musky cocoon in the dry down, violet powder whispers and woodland daydreams lingering for hours.

Dans Tes Bras - In Your Arms Maurice Roucel just loves musk and musk loves him. Maurice has “only” two perfumes for Frederic Malle and I would say that both are masterpieces. Musc Ravageur and Dans Tes Bras. Totally two different approaches to musk. Sweet gourmand musk (MR) and salty creamy musk (DTB). Dans Tes Bras has more musk than Musc Ravageur, that's something which Maurice said. And indeed, musk is there for the life of the perfume. Cashmeran is there and gives that "smooth", refreshing, powdery note. Violet gives saltiness, but it is so well synchronized with musk, sandalwood and cashmeran that the saltiness is not sharp and aggressive but creamy. For me, the biggest factor in this perfume is sandalwood. I smelled a bunch of sandalwoods but I only found this one in Frederic Malle (Example of the same/similar sandalwood: Une Fleur De Cassie). Not only that sandalwood gives that creamy/woody note but it is also the only note that stays in the nose after a few seconds and then when you move your nose away you can feel it on your tongue as well. Really amazing perfume. Pure quality in a bottle. Along with Une Fleur De Cassie, Iris Poudre and Musc Ravegur, I would say that this is one of the "most artistic" perfumes from the house. I’m not saying these four perfumes are that hard to wear (I wear them all), but definitely the idea while creating was to satisfy and make the wearer happy, not to give you a compliment (Although somehow Musc Ravageur is hyped (well deserved), I think that it was initially made as a masterpiece work for a brave audience or fragrance enthusiasts rather than to be hyped). It lasts 10-12+ hours, but the drydown can last a few more hours depending on the temperature and weather. It stays on the clothes until washing (for a couple of days), solid for this type of fragrance. My rating would be 10+. Even my wife who isn’t that crazy about FM sometimes goes for DTB and says it’s wonderful and refreshing. DTB will be with you for the whole day, close to your skin. It wont bother the people around you. But no doubt, DTB will be felt by the person who is *in your arms*. :)