Fontevraud

Bruno Fazzolari Fontevraud, his limited edition creation for Luckyscent's 15th anniversary, defies categorization. The note list is a curious mix: bergamot, guava, pear, rose, oakmoss, opoponax, patchouli, amber. For me, the opening to first hour is sharper, characterized more by more oakmoss and patchouli with the bergamot, but the dry down thereafter is a fruity rose mix featuring the guava/pear combination, curious choices, neither of which are my favorite fruit by a long shot, but they work well together here. The result is a dry down that's very pleasant and waers well, particularly for those that the dig the fruity rose subgenre. Performance is solid, fitting for a year-round scent that has some bass to it in terms of the notes. Pricing is higher than BF's usual $110 for 30ml, instead boasting a $145 for 30ml, but that's expected of a limited edition, and frankly, like his other creations, Fontevraud is unique enough that it merits attention. Thus far, Five and Ummagumma remain my favorites from his lineup and the only two that I've given serious consideration to buying full bottles of, but Fontevraud is near both of those. It's quirky to the point those looking for something new and unique should definitely check it out. I'm not sure it's quite right for me, personally, but I appreciate the art in it. 7 out of 10

Bruno Fazzolari's latest creation, an edition of just 50 for Luckyscent is inspired by his travels to this 900 year old abbey in France. It is a lovely gourmand floral chypre which begins off with floral whiffs of rose and opoponax revealing the gourmand notes of pear, guava, bergamot as it begins to settle down and upon complete settling reveals the mossy powdery base of oakmoss, patchouli and amber. Breathtakingly beautiful and transportive, this is yet another showcase for Bruno's intelligent modern perfume blending capabilities. Unisex with moderate sillage and very good longevity, this is yet another winner from this talented young perfumer.

I own 7 of Bruno Fazzolari's fragrances. The creativity and art comes together to produce some wonderful smells. I was very excited when I first heard about Fontevraud. It was the first of his released after I got to know his brand and I bought a bottle off Lucky Scent as soon as it was available. Like all of his fragrances it is high quality and smells very nice. To my untrained nose I smell something close to grapefruit. It smells feminine to me.

Bruno Fazzolari Fontevraud, named after a 900-year-old fortress that became Jean Genet’s prison, is supposed to be a take on a fruity rose chypre. What I get is a lot less than that, unfortunately. An interesting, dry, bitter-boozy opening, followed by a dark amber with a touch of fruitiness and a dark rose. I don’t really get distinct oakmoss or guava, which is a shame — a fruity chypre based around guava would have been cool. This just feels like a bajillion other dark, sweet scents. Maybe I’m anosmic to the good parts? ETA: I was, it turns out, having a bad nose day, and on rewearing, the fruity note did indeed smell like guava.

Starts off dirty, like a dirty patchouli rose. Dries down to a rather pleasant earthy rose scent. Nothing groundbreaking.

Fazzolari calls his new perfume, “a celebration of the ancient and the contemporary” and names it Fontevraud, after a serially repurposed abbey in France. It is produced in a very limited run (50 bottles) in celebration of Los Angeles’s famed perfume retailer LuckyScent/ScentBar’s 15th anniversay. Combining a chypre with a fruity floral is a logical old/new combination, but as with Fontevraud Abbey’s cortège from monestery to prison to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fazzolari’s Fontevraud is neither expected nor obvious. I’ll admit I had reservations when I saw the list of notes, which includes guava, rose and pear. Visions of Sophia Grosjman’s Calyx for Prescriptives came to mind. A gorgeous perfume, but perhaps the most hyperbolic fruity chypre ever made. A chypre is not a new undertaking for Fazzolari, who previously nailed the genre with the voluptous Au Delà/Narcisse and the gleaming Seyrig, but true to his claim Fazzolari devises something new. Most attempts to resuscitate the genre try to fill in the hole left after oakmoss and all the other noxious materials were dug out. They shovel in patchouli, laundry musks and PR bullshit about how authentic the perfume is. But they’re counterfeit and they smell forged. The effort of wearing them without feeling like a fraud is too much for me. Fazzolari punks us all by creating one of the mossiest perfume in recent history that doesn’t actually smell like a traditional chypre. Fontevraud uses the chypre’s compositional configuration as a starting place to build a perfume with a texture different than either the time-honored or spurious versions. It focuses on the material’s resinous facets more than its inky and smokey qualities and lends itself to darker hues like dry fruit and spicy balsams. Rose chypres were known for their brassiness. The outspokenness of the flower often gave the perfumes hulking presences. Rose is seeded throughout Fontevraud, from top to base and from resinousness to fruitiness, but I feel as if I see it through a mirror. Visible, apparent but just out of reach no matter how close. Rose lines the whole perfume and carries a big stick but doesn’t push its way to the front. It’s a great way to tame a big note without actually declawing it. Fruit is another common chypre component but guava and pear are unorthodox picks. Fazzolari plays both fruits against type. He avoids the predictable tropical clichés of guava by giving it a dark edge. It’s as if he compresses the fruit’s distinctive redolence into a compact shape and, while it smells like guava, it smells dark, almost bitter. On the tree or in the kitchen pear’s distinctive sweet scent really only comes forward when the fruit is ripe. Before that it smells more woody than fruity. Fontevraud plays on the woody facet of pear by emphasizing the sharp, almost vinegary taste of the skin of the fruit. Fontevraud’s pear appears within the first minute that the perfume is applied but the reveal is somewhat startling. A mineralic opening segues into a mushroom note (Fazzolari says it’s a function of opoponax) which in turn becomes a grainy pear note. It’s a surprising transition that took me a few wearings to wrap my head around but now I give myself a minute or so after applying Fontevraud just to get taken for the ride. It’s a blast. The fruit tones that Fazzolari comes up with are unexpected but appealing and he has played fruit against type before. Monserrat uses a peach/grapefruit/osmanthus accord to create one of the more sophisticated fruity-florals you’ll find. Unsettled‘s smoky, buttery pineapple manages to be sultry without relying on the simple olfactory language of pineapple=tropical=exotic. Fazzolari calls Fontevraud bright but I disagree. By turning such uninhibited fruits into introverts and creating a reticent rose he designs a stylishly dark perfume that works for the same reason a little black dress or a tuxedo works. It’s impeccable and has a sexy silhouette. from scenthurdle.com

I'm a huge fan of Fazzolari's unconventional approach to formulation. Fontevraud didn't work for me AT ALL much to my chagrin, (as I eagerly snatched one up the minute it was announced in a limited run. I have had such a great experience with so many of his other creations). I'm crazy about chypres and the idea of rose and guava with oakmoss was intriguing, but the guava/oakmoss simply dried down to a strong, artificial smell of baby powder scent to me, long lasting and impossible to escape. Not a soft baby powder, but a strong overwhelming fragrance that resembles more when a product is heavily scented to smell like baby powder to smother some other chemical scent. I've noticed since I've tried this that it is very similar to other fruity chypres; it has a lot in common with Roja's Chypre Extraordinaire. I bent my mind into all sorts of directions trying imagine contexts to love Fontrevraud, but alas, this one was not to be for me. Caveat emptor; get a sample first.

Not a trained nose here at all. Got a complimentary scent of this and what stuck to me is a fruit cocktail with guava as the prominent flavor (smell). No development much on my skin. The fruit cocktail stays on, and on, and on...