French Lover

Think of a day that is one of the most special days in your life, think of an outfit that embraces you when you wear it and creates self-confidence as if it were a part of you, think of a car that reflects both your dreams and your character and draws all the attention, think of a neighborhood that is the subject of poems, series and movies, think of a place that is one of the most glamorous, prestigious and elegant places you can go to and think of a partner who you feel like it would be impossible to be without for the rest of your life These days were not easy to come, of course time is very important, one should try to understand the person in front of them, listen, feel and give them time, yes yes time should be given. When I say give them time, I do not mean judging and questioning them of course, I only mean understanding what they want to say completely and laying solid foundations on the path to follow, not rushing but the feeling, excitement and happiness that comes from understanding them better each time, as if saying yes this is it. I think the day that comes to my mind must be exactly like this; Age had reached maturity, I turned 35, it is time to establish a happy home with the right person. I had already made plans for the day I would propose to my lover, who I have been with for over a year, it was a weekend night in the last quarter of June when the weather was very nice, an elegant solitaire stone was obtained before that night, that elegant Italian suit to be worn for the night was put on, we got in the sports car with only one door and set off towards Çırağan, which was the meeting point overlooking the Bosphorus. Think of such a day, the beginning of a day that is very special for you and will truly determine the fate of your life, which scent should be used on such a night, which perfume do you think would go on such a precious day, the answer to this question would undoubtedly be French Lover for me, the only perfume that will fulfill the meaning and importance of the night and come out of that heavy responsibility with its head held high. As I mentioned a few lines above, giving time is a virtue that requires patience, French Lover is a perfume that will deserve this virtuous behavior, such a perfume that turns the concept of time upside down and can give the full value of the time spent, if you really need to give time to a perfume, I think French Lover is the only perfume that can deserve this time to the end. Nobody can fall in love immediately after using French Lover because its character is not suitable for lightning love. For it, everything must progress slowly, progress so that the value and worth of everything increases day by day, and as time is given and patience it leaves awe in the mind and tongue of the person who admires it. It is a masterpiece that makes you say "Aaa yes this is it" and later on as you use it, "yes this is it" and as you use it, "this is definitely it" and "this is the perfume of my life". Its name is not French Lover for nothing, and it does its justice to it to the fullest. French Lover, a perfume created by the famous designer Pierre Bourdon of the famous perfume house Frederic Malle in 2007, is not really sad that it is not sought after by the masses. Not everyone should use such a perfume anyway, those who use it and understand its language must deserve it. When I sprayed French Lover, not everyone will like it easily and I was amazed by those moments that I did not want to pass. As explained in the scent notes, I got galbanum (galbanum gum) and dry spices, the note I got the most was galbanum, it is used in a resinous consistency, very masculine and stylish, the scent passes from the beginning to the middle notes in perfect harmony, as if you see that parade, it just leaves you in awe, it does not rush and slowly leaves its role, in the middle notes of the perfume, I detect angelica (angelica), cedarwood and vetiver, but the most prominent is angelica, the other notes are not as prominent as angelica, it is very fresh and does not contain any sweetness, it has a very elegant, charismatic, gentlemanly and gentlemanly structure in the middle part. As for the last part, the perfume gets closer to the skin, the angelica stays in the background a bit but you still feel that dry and green positive energy, vetiver takes the leading role in the last part, and with its companion oakmoss, it leaves the skin quietly and gently, as if making you miss the next meeting. Its longevity can vary between 8-12 hours on the skin and it should be noted that it is a complete skin perfume rather than clothes, in terms of noticeability, I think it behaves exactly as it should, the first half hour is above average, after half an hour it approaches the skin and goes on an average course, after the 4th hour it almost integrates with the skin. French Lover is not a perfume for young people, I do not recommend it to young people because young people may not understand its language, I recommend it to people over the age of 28, it is really a perfume that can take on all roles, it can be used in 4 seasons and it is like a friend who does not choose clothes and can take on all kinds of roles, it can also suit your sportswear, it can take on the responsibility of the most special and luxurious night, while it is a joker that you can use on your most ordinary day, its general appreciation is quite high, I think the majority of people who smell it will like it. To summarize, give French Lover time, try to understand it, listen to it and feel it

The smell of rustic dampness, the smell of woods in a storm. Fragrantica posted an article with Frederic Malle talking about how a true great fragrance needs to become part of you; be more than a smell, and be supremely wearable. I recently put French Lover as my signature fragrance, for that reason. It's too expensive for me to use most often, but it's the fragrance that I like most, to present as part of me. Pierre Bourdon intended this to be an Angelica fragrance. He believed the two woody elements of vetiver and cedar would naturally compliment the woody aspect of Angelica. So the heart is Angelica, and heart accord is three fold, Angelica, vetiver and cedar. There are 4 other very important complimenting elements, the pepper, white musk, incense, and a very important Iris note. The Iris is listed in the Frederic Malle description, but not here on fragrantica. It also has Galbanum, a slightly bitter green resin, and moss, but I can't pick them out. There are a lot of nice vetiver and cedar, pepper fragrances, like CdG Wonderwood. But French Lover stands apart. It took me a while to discover what makes this fragrance so, exquisite, classy, and a bit sexy. It is the Iris and white musk. The fragrance feels wet and juicy. Cedar, vetiver and bitter green angelica, can be very stark, dry, and a bit borring; but not French Lover. The vetiver feels wet and green, the cedar is exquisite, the Angelica is moist and green; a beautiful heart accord. I don't like Iris, like in Dior Homme series, but here it's so subtle, and secretly blended into the woody, green heart accord, and gives it a refined floral element! The Iris and white musk are what really make this fragrance so luscious, and exciting, and very wearable. The incense is also beautifull, more woody, and less churchy, ashen. This is one of my top two fragrances. It is masculine in a very classy way because of the subtle Iris note and white musc. This is so well blended, unusual, and exquisite. Performance is very good. PS: I just got a 50 ml backup bottle of Bois D'Orage. It is just like French Lover, from which I did my review. I cannot tell any difference in scent and performance. If I had to choose, I give a slight edge to Bois d'Orage. Rating: 10/10 God bless. John 3:16

I’ve never had a French lover, so I can’t tell you if this is accurate. Do all French people who are someone’s lover smell this way? If so, I should get me one asap. Apparently, the alternate name, Bois d’Orage, was given to the perfume to quell puerile Americans like myself. Ok, I’ll stop being facetious now. Malle’s French Lover by the legendary Pierre Bourdon is no laughing matter, particularly the way it’s been treated while under the heavy thumb of Estee Lauder. Several Malles had to go through reformulations when EL insisted they stay in the lineup while fully complying, without any leeway, to IFRA regulations. Reformulating is very expensive and yields no guarantees. Malle is the type that if he cannot stay true to the original to exacting parameters he would rather discontinue the perfume; his zealotry for being technically faithful to a composition and maintaining its innocence is no surprise. Though he hasn’t said that in as many words, what Malle has told us is that to save enormous sums of time and money, both factors greatly affecting the ability to craft new perfumes, some of his old-guard compositions fell on the sword. French Lover, to my nose, is one of them. Although the new formulation is not terribly far off, it’s not the same; the newer formulation(s) have had the salty sweatiness and beastly animalic musks quietened, and the longevity is noticeably shorter. Perhaps we can say our French lover has gotten older and calmed down a bit. Otherwise, it's the same perfume. The green and bitter opening, thanks to galbanum and violet leaf, and the bitter aromatic fruit of juniper, still arrests attention. They string their way down to heart and base notes of angelica, woods, incense, vetiver, and musks. The salt and sweat of the vetiver are dialed back a bit in new formulations, as is the muskiness, as mentioned, but woody, smokey (cigarette smoke?) incense, and softly green angelica are still there and in fine form. It's old school yet modern, natural but toys with the synthetic, a bit crude and brash yet perfectly capable of staccato sophistication, comfortably masculine and comfortably feminine all at once. It's fantastic.

oh my god WHAT A FRAGRANCE! I met this masterpiece at the end of 2022 when I visited a luxury department store and came across a Frederic Malle stand for the first time in my life. Caught my eye by its name but it was like a shock to my soul. I'm a cinematic person with a photographic memory so let me take you to the place it makes me envision: walking in the greenest forest, with immaculate and smooth, narrow asphalt path passing through the longest & tallest, greenest trees. The weather is cloudy, there's a crispy cold that doesn't kill, but definitely make you need a light, wrap around coat. It's a sharp, clean air, and you have no goal but just to walk. You are in the moment, completely there, and your mind isn't occupied by anything else, but only that walk through that forest. every time I take a sniff, it hits me the same way. the only other men's fragrance that leaves a similar feeling within me is T'erre D'hermes so if you are as head over heels over that one as I am, you might LOVE this one. I thought it was unisex for a while because I really wanted to wear this myself. But even the page here says "for men" still, made quite bit of a research back then to wear this whenever I wanted to channel my inner lone wolf. this is straight up the smacking scent of "the lone wolf". and I don't care if it's "for men" or not, whenever I want to get dressed like Trinity, I'mma need this scent to adorn me to make everyone walking past me feel like I've just slapped them hard across the face. that is the effect it has on me. every. single. time a masterpiece in deed. god bless Pierre Bourdon

#1 FM for men. Wonderful unlisted notes: Juniper, pimento, Florentine Iris! I haven't worn this for a year. My smell was gone from covid for 8 months, now it's 90% back. This has always been in my top 5 or signature fragrance, from a large collection and over 600 reviews. I'm rediscovering what a magnificent masterpiece this is. Not just for the craftsmanship of the composition, but the sheer enjoyability of it. FM lists pink pepper or pimento, and juniper, angelica in the top. It does feel like it has some fresh peppery spice, added to the pimento note. I always got a touch of Iris in this, that takes it out of the pure woods category, and gives it a moist orisy, floral touch. Maybe not, but something is balancing the great medley of dry woody notes, with at least something moist and green. Maybe it's just the pimento, angelica, and a nice mossiness; a green vetiver perhaps. I just read a piece on Pierre Bourdon's French Lover on the FM web site. They list a Juniper Flower note. Junipers have small yellow flowers, or it's hinting to the unlisted iris note? Overall it's a simple woody fragrance, but the absolute best simple woody fragrance; understated eligance. PS: The best and most accurate description I found, is from Selfridge store in UK, who carry FM. They say it's built on a heart of Angelica note, complimented by galbanum and FLORENTINE IRIS ! So my hunch is correct about Iris being in it. Pierre Bourdon's other fragrance for FM is Iris Poudre. So I think for marketing, they kept the Iris unlisted. Not to appear he composed 2 Iris fragrances.