Poivre Piquant

The thick of the unforgiving foliage threatens to drown out everything you've worked toward - the sun scorches this land in its fiery, peppered licks. Swimming in your own sweat, your eyes burn as you struggle to find your way through this lush wasteland. You climb and crawl and fall, time and again, hoping that what you seek is more than pure fantasy....your life lingers on this truth. Your body starts to collapse as each step becomes more difficult than the last...the world grows darker with each passing moment...you fall with a dense thud. An immeasurable amount of time passes...night and day lose meaning as you cling to life. From the depths, it calls to you - a sharp floral note rekindles your neural spark. You gasp for air as if awoken from the grave - you scramble toward this familiar yet alien scent...roses, iris, freesia, acidic greenery - it guides you toward your destination. Each step brings you closer - it appears before you in a flash. She sits, resting against a tree - she holds her side as a thick honey-like substance slowly trickles out. Startled, she locks eyes with you but relaxes as if seeing an old friend. Amazed, you examine her - you see what looks like fountains of flowers flowing beneath her transparent skin, the honey is her life essence. She offers her hand to you - you hesitate for a moment before touching it, softly. In a instant, you are filled with the warmth of a hundred suns - you see everything the universe holds, the dark and the light and everything between. Everything gains perspective and your life makes sense in the endless chaos of living -- you cannot thank her enough for these revelations. When you open your eyes, all that's left of her is a radiating gem resting in your palm. You shed a tear as you hold the warm gem tight - you will do her kindness justice...for all. Day 88 - Preservation Listening to: Muse - Madness Notes: I am somewhere between love/like with this fragrance - I'll keep it at love simply because it is a truly revitalizing experience despite some accords not hitting the right notes for me. To open, this scent that is a fiery white pepper and cool licorice - slightly woody, slightly salty. Shortly after, the fume picks up a sharp floral note (it reminds me of the fumes I've tested with freesia in them) with accents of a cosmetic powder accord (rose and iris) and some crisp greenery. The freesia floral accord is accented beautifully by a touch of honey and a soft wood note that slowly fades into a rich white musk...and that's how the journey ends! This fume is classy and beautiful and I firmly believe it belongs on a woman's skin (even though I enjoy it as well...)! It took me several wears and the entire day to figure out what this smelled like....Chanel Exclusifs Beige! I think this one is more interesting though...

It's so interesting reading reviews which sometimes reflect opposite opinions, tastes, sentiments compared to yours! I believe that many times the success or less of a fragrance is due to geography, longitude, latitude, weather and so on, rather than 'culture'. Not to say that our own chemistry can be influenced also by the air we breath, the food we eat and so on and consequently also fragrances can react - even more - very differently.... but here we are: Poivre Piquant today is the perfect frag for me! I find it very different when I wear it in winter (probably it's not a real winter frag) I agree the name could be misleading but look at the majority of the names used in perfumery - honestly - and say how many fragrances carry a proper name, which reflect the juice really?!? For instance if I call a frag 'poivre piquant' I should present it in a solid (powdery) form rather than a liquid one, shouldn't I?! Any way not many fragrances remind me P.P. and I personally think that its persistence is also great: I sprayed it this morning towards 9 o'clock a.m. and I'm not going to repeat it (now it's 17,41 p.m.) Not a great sillage, in the classical sense as it's stays close to you - but not too much - as normally only frags with a high percentage of natural elements do. As very often can happen with 'particular' or niche frags, it can be used sometimes but not every day. This is just what I've personally discovered, while using my Poivre Piquant and I'd like to share - all this - useful or not. ; ) p.s. ....and I've always said that I cannot even stand licorice smell!!!

I can't speak for anyone else, but there's plenty of black pepper here for me. For the first 15-20 minutes, I am vividly reminded of "Cracked Wheat and Pepper" crackers. As the perfume mellows out on the skin, the pepper calms down enough for me to not only tolerate it but enjoy it immensely. I can't stand the smell of black pepper on other people, it's a real turn-off. Everyone knows that dairy makes the heat of spice less painful on the tongue, which is why Indian food is always accompanied by raita or lassi or whatever. It seems this concept works with scent too. Poivre Piquant becomes a creamy, mellow, black pepper fragrance, which makes it easier on my nose and hopefully the noses of others around me. I love the authentic chai at my favorite Indian restaurant. They use more black peppercorns than others. I can really taste the peppercorns after they have simmered in the milk. Poivre Piquant reminds me of that flavor. It's by far the best pepper perfume I have ever had the pleasure of wearing.

Artisan nailed it, again. This perfume is one of my favourite in their range, it's so unusual and comforting. It's not really a perfume as such, I see it more as an olfactory painting. A lot of people mention the work 'spicy' when talking about it. 'Piquant' in French means not as much spicy as prickly or original. The top note in Poivre Piquant is without doubt pepper, vibrating on the skin and in my nose. It is probably one of the most real rendition of freshly milled pepper I have met in perfumery. Pepper sprinkled all over equally freshly baked bread. As it develops, you get more sweetness coming from the honey and milk, and then a touch of liquorice kicks in. The image for me is the cosy, wooden kitchen, and a rustic breakfast made up of bread, butter, honey, and the pepper sprinkled on top. It is not really a very foody or gourmand scent despite all the ingredients, and it is so addictive! It has quite a good staying power too, on me is lasts a few hours and projects well.

This is one of the most amazing perfume ever! When I say "amazing" here, I dont mean it's the kind of smell that makes you "Wow!", but this one is the kind that makes you " Hmm.. eh? Oh, my. I can't stop sniffing it on my hand!" There's something calm but something drifting behind. The pepper note here doesn't smell like the ordinary pepper-featured perfumes. For me, it's not spicy at all. But you can still sense it, in a very moderate, smooth and balanced way. I think it's because there's milk and honey that calm the pepper note down but not making it disappear. Also, there's some soft sweetness. Like, you put a candy in your mouth and it melted slowly. Eventually the candy has totally gone but you can still 'taste' the sweetness left behind, it doesn't taste as strong as the candy so you could have a good imagination in it. Light but not floating, soft but stable.