Safran Troublant

I sprayed this earlier this evening onto the freshly showered skin of my forearms, after applying a fragrance free moisturiser; my skin soaks up perfumes like a sponge and I find moisturising first (usually) improves longevity. Initially, this smelled quite harsh and spicy as the saffron and ginger are very powerful. Then the magic occurred and I got wafts of the most delightful rich, creamy and spicy fragrance, underpinned by unobtrusive sandalwood and vanilla. I don't get any floral notes at all. Sillage is very close and this is - on me, anyway - poor from the outset and a skin scent within 45 minutes. I have a decant (thank you for this, Alex Planet_X) and the spray is very over-enthusiastic! However, as the fragrance seemed to calm down very quickly, I added another two sprays to each forearm. Out of interest, I also sprayed some on my pyjama top and THIS is where I can pick up the body odour smell to which some reviewers refer, although it isn't overwhelming. The scent does not seem to develop or change on clothing, which is unfortunate. Some two hours later, the scent has all but disappeared from my skin, unless I breathe warm air onto it and then inhale immediately. Although I LOVE this fragrance, I know that I will have to re-spray every two hours and will get through an entire bottle very quickly. This is one of the worst performances of any perfume I have tried; the other is ID Parfums Siam Flamboyant, which I tried earlier today. However, 60ml of SF is currently retailing on eBay for less than £10 GBP including P&P. 100ml of Safran Troublant is well over £60 GBP +. I know Safran Troublant is an EDT, but at this price point, the sillage and longevity are shockingly poor. This is very disappointing - and I can see from reading previous reviews that my experience is not unique.

Saffron--glorious threads of orange saffron! Safran Troublant smells exactly like pure saffron right out of the spice jar, but over time it becomes creamier with the added richness of vanilla and just the right touch of rose. I smell saffron all the way into the drydown. After trying so many foodie scents like Loukhoum, Gourmandises, and Sweet Oriental Dream, I badly wanted a perfume that was not so sickeningly sweet. The sugar was too much to bear. And Ford's Noir de Noir is beautiful, but it's so dark and rich that I think of it as an evening or special occasion fragrance. It's also quite foodie with a sumptuous, creamy, French vanilla note. Safran Troublant is the answer to my lengthy query as to whether I would ever find a true saffron perfume with just the right amount of rose that is not sweet like candy or covered in barrels of powdered sugar. To think--I almost passed on sampling this because I assumed it would be like all the others. While many people describe this perfume as gourmand (technically it is, since saffron is obviously edible and plentiful here), I guess I fail to want to eat this perfume and will instead satisfy any cravings for Turkish Delight with the likes of Loukhoum. Safran Troublant is not as strong of a perfume as I'd like, but it does last, and I do feel it was worth the price. It's great for casual wear; a breathtaking interpretation of saffron; a beautifully crafted perfume; simple but unique.

I am have been holding off my review on this perfume for a time now. Safran Troublant feels to me like an olfactory peep into my soul and I feel so shy about talking about it. But this is such a masterpiece it would be an injustice to keep it to myself. Safran Troublant is, as expected, a fragrant ode to saffron. Upon opening, every single time the inital heady rush of golden saffron paralyses my mind and all I can feel is my heart beating a little faster with excitement. It is like being suspended in time and space and feeling all your hopes at once. The first time I wore this, the transition from the opening to the creamy sweet saffron-infused base actually brought tears to my eyes. Ever since then though, it has simply brought me peace and a gentle humming in my body. Depending on my mood, it can also make me a feel sweetly melancholy. Troublant indeed! As it really settles, it seems like the fragrance oozes from my pores, as if I really *am* Safran Troublant. This is the kind of fragrance that would make me extremely jealous to smell on anyone else. I love it beyond reason or sensibility. The issue of lengevity is very real. One second it is there and the next I am desperately hoovering my skin with my nose, trying to recover my lost treasure. Ultimately it is understandable though, how can such an etheral heavenly gift really be captured for long? On second thoughts, that is probably why God invented purse atomisers.

The soft and feminine way to wear a spicy fragrance. Oh, how I love this! The opening is very close to real saffron, warm and spicy, not as medicinal as it can sometimes be in perfumes. But you can already smell the sweet roses and vanilla underneath it. This is a wonderfully creamy and milky kind of scent, the rose is jammy in a way, but not heavy, maybe like a transparent rose jelly. The sugar note is like a veil of powdered sugar that lies over the spiced vanilla in the drydown, it’s not cloying. Safran Troublant is relatively simple and easy to wear, good to comfort yourself on cold fall and winter days, but it isn‘t boring. I read the complaints about lasting power, and I know that this is generally a problem with L‘Artisan for some people, but all I can say is that I own several of their fragrances and never felt like they vanish too quickly. This is a soft scent though, but for me there are more times and places where I’d rather smell like a delicate rose and saffron dessert than like I rolled through a spice rack. And if I want that effect, I bring out my Kenzo Jungle instead. Despite this being categorized as a unisex scent, I feel very feminine and romantic in it, as it‘s sweet and rosy and also rounded and natural, without any hard edges. But of course I wouldn‘t want to tell any guy that he shouldn‘t wear it, it’s just the opposite of the typical male-marketed spice fragrance.

Some years ago, L'Artisan Perfumeur had a boutique in London, next to the Opera House in Covent Garden. I had some time to kill before a performance, so wandered in, and ended up having a lovely, lengthy chat with the very well informed perfumista who was working that evening. She said she had around 300 fragrances in her personal collection, which seemed like an awful lot at the time (I used to have a working wardrobe of about 25). I remember a lengthy discussion about incense fragrances, and the relative merits of Etro Messe de Minuit versus CdG Avignon. She did her job well too, as I departed with a rather red and inflamed credit card, having purchased a large bottle of Safran Troublant and a smaller bottle of Piment Brulant. It was a great shame when that boutique closed, although probably for the best for the health of my bank balance. The remaining half-bottle is still in good condition, in semi-regular use and smelling fab. Safran Troublant is possibly my favourite fragrance. The brand's description talked about 'an unsettling portrait of a candied rose' but I do not detect much rose at all, or only rosewater. I think it is more of a 'complicated and expensive Indian dessert'. My husband and I both wore it at our wedding.

In Sweden the most common use for saffron is in a kind of buns that we bakes during december to celebrate Lucia and Christmas, in my family it is a christmas tradition to bake the buns together with my kids some days before Lucia (13th december). Otherwise saffron is use for that special french fishsoup... So I was a bit skeptical at first when it comes to saffron in a perfume, I don ́t want to go around smelling like saffron buns. But I don ́t. Safran Troublant is a gorgeus perfume. One of the best of the L'Artisan`s perfume I ́ve tried this far. If the colour orange was a fragrance it could smell like this. Warm, aromatic and quite sexy too. It makes me think of light candels, sheer shiffonscarfs and bubble bath. A perfect fragrance to wrap you in with in november and december when the weather is rainy and grey (at least in Sweden). If you are unsure about rosefragrances, you should try this because it dosn ́t remind me of any other fragrance with rose that I have tested. The same goes for the safron, if you are skeptical (like me) still give it a try, I am sure you will enjoy this. I was about to buy a big bottle of Dzing! and I maybe will, but now I think I must have a big bottle of this one to. A must must must try!

Love. It is love. I smelled it for the first time today, and my limbic brain went into ecstatic overdrive. I could not think anymore. I just kept on smelling my arm, and mumbling incoherent one syllable sounds. And I walked out of the store with a 100ml bottle, which set me off by about CAD$ 168. Totally unplanned and completely compulsive. Back home, I sprayed generously and I am now, officially, in olfactory paradise. So, how does Safran Troublant smell like? There definitely is saffron, but that is only part of the story. While saffron remains at the centre stage throughout, it is gorgeously enveloped in softness, with a hint of rose and ginger. I presume that the vanilla and sandalwood are responsible for that incredibly aerial softness but, really, in truth I cannot pick out the specific notes. And yes, rose and ginger can be sometimes overwhelming, but that is not the case here. They simply provide a bit more depth. All notes are so magnificently blended that I have the feeling I just found the perfect masterpiece. That said, as noted by others, sillage and longevity are below average. I like close to the skin scents, so poor sillage is a non-issue for me. As for longevity, that's a bit of a shame.

Safran Troublant is a precise balance of Sensual Girlishness and Esoteric Asceticism, The earthy Rose note Is a Willowy Young Hippie with her long fair Wisps Around her Pale lightly freckled face With her Diaphanous Batik Gown of all different colors and a Suede Southwestern style Hat with Turquoise Stones, Walking in a familiar rhythmic motion, removed of thought or feeling like her soul been ascended from a another plane, The Rose note represents The innocent Wanderer for an unquenchable Thirst for Knowledge. Sweet with an Tinge of Patchouli begins our Journey, Walking around in the Ashrams the Warm Winds of Saffron Pierced her Senses brought her to Consciousnesses Then from the corner of her Pewter Colored eye is a Sadhu Staring into space without time nor age piercing Black eyes Yellow Red and black Pigment on his meditative face and a Saffron Colored Cloth covered the Background, Wisps of Incense smoke Intoxicated the Moment even further couldn't keep her fixation on this Holy man. Safran Troublant Conjure Passion and Spirituality vast Like the Epic Mahabharata and the devotional love Of Rama And Sita of the Ramayana, S.T Brings the Ancient into the Modern.

This was a blind buy for me from L'Artisan Parfumeur. I didn't have any doubts about loving it, since this cross references with several of my previous favorites on fragrantica database, but was apprehensive on how it would work with my skin chemistry. Would I get the saffron and rose I want, or only vanilla, as some people here seem to have gotten? Fortunately, for me, this works amazingly! Saffron comes through in the best way possible. Crisp rose, too, initially, but it all blends to a beautiful, soft and not at all offensive gourmand blend in about an hour from the application. It also lasts longer on me than people report, but this seems to be a common occurance for L'Artisan Parfumeur brand in colder, drier climates, with a dryish skintype people here tend to have. And, for the record, new L'Artisan Parfumeur box for this fragrance closes the "created by" discussion that has been going on at many sites. It clearly states this is a Olivia Giacobetti creation, not a Bernard Duchafour as this site still states. So, if maintainance is reading, maybe it's time to change this?

What a lovely fragrance. It has a similar quality to Five O'Clock au Gingembre - that of cosiness. A great scent to wear to curl up by the fire and eat ginger biscuits. On me, I get a great blast of saffron to start, mingled with a very fresh rose, very light like a rosewater. After a few minutes there's the merest hint of fresh ginger as if a scent wafted in from the kitchen. And then very quickly the drydown, which smells exactly like the sugary white chocolate mix I make at home (mainly vanilla). I love Giacobetti's scents, but heck, this is elusive - it's a skin scent inside half an hour, though having reached this phase, it then lasts for hours. Glad I bought a 100ml bottle, as it will need reapplying often, but its quiet throw makes it, like the Carons, a great fragrance to wear to dinner. Very glad I have this - it's a most unusual fragrance journey. These days I often wear it layered over Calligraphy Saffron, which anchors it and makes it last longer.

Olivia Giacobetti is maybe my favourite perfumer. She has such a delicate and expressive hand (nose?). Safran Troublant is one of my favourite creations of hers and one of my favourite perfumes of all time. It's the most beautiful expression of saffron I've ever smelled. A soft candied rose comes in on kitten feet and the other notes blend seamlessly. It reminds me of a beautiful saffron and rosewater dessert without being so literally gourmand I feel like food. It's both creamy and a little powdery, but not too much so, just like the slight dusting of powdered sugar and cornstarch on loukhoum. The drydown is pure creamy comfort. To me this is the ultimate cozy perfume, one I wear at bedtime a lot, or when I want to curl up with a blanket and read. It's not a strong projector but it lasts a reasonable amount of time. The tragedy of this being discontinued is that I've never found anything remotely close to this.

Beautiful, unique and ethereal creation signed by Olivia Giacobetti for L'Artisan (not Bertrand Duchaufour, who's credited here on Fragrantica). I mostly get rose, vanilla, saffron, ginger and sandalwood. A little gourmand but not overly so. It strikes me as elegant and quiet, even when applied generously. It's a scent that one truly wears for themselves because others aren't likely to notice it unless they're extremely close to you. If you prefer big, radiant, sillage monsters, this isn't for you because it doesn't shout across the room. It's a scented whisper. I've been wearing this quite a bit (it's currently summer here in Paris) and even on the hottest days, it's never too much. It just creates a beautiful halo of scent around me. One of the five fragrances I'd rush to save if the house caught fire. There's nothing else quite like it.

Very impressed scent-wise. Terribly disappointed about its longevity On me this is a soft warm scent with lots of saffron and ginger. A natural sweet nuances akin to the smell of raw sugar wafts in and out alongside a subdued vanilla fragrance. During the dry down I could smell a transparent sandalwood note that is so soft it's always on the verge of vanishing. No rose. But I'm perfectly fine with that. I especially adore Safran Troublant for its versatility. This is a scent that can be worn and enjoyed alone or paired with clean florals to give them depth and warmth. I've paired it with soft notes like tea and neroli that can be easily overpowered, and each time the combination turned out fabulous. But it only lasts 2 hours or less on me, and my skin generally holds on to perfumes well! For that exact reason I won't purchase it.

I used to own an old bottle of this, the one with the golden cap presentation bottle, back when I was 16 years old. It was once a perfume that I was madly in love with, right at the start of my fascination and journey into niche perfume houses, and I adored this bottle from the first sniff, immediately going back to purchase it the next day with the pocket money I had saved up over months. This sweet saffron heavenly fragrance was one of my earliest perfume purchases I got fir myself and something I treasured.... I have regretted selling that bottle intensely over the last 15 years :( I kept back 5ml that I use sparingly, but I miss owning the full bottle which has left a hole in my heart. Please, if anyone is wanting to part with their old formulation version of this one - please, please let me know.

Fairy, fine, ambiguous, with many notes composite like symphony, but in it can be heard rather piano, not forte. Piquant, oriental, warm, elegant, but not ostentatious. First smell after perfume Mitsouko, which ideally adjust for me. Because Safran Troblant has something from soul and character – Mitsouko - liberty, individuality. If compare to beautiful arts – this are masterly draw brush paints: red, golden, brown, yellow, white. This smell doesn't intrude. Appetite, spurring – saffron, rose, wanilia, probably muscat, creates fine, intriguing mixture. Great congratulations for Olivia Giacobetti! - she is author (not Bertrand Duchaufour )this modern and magic composition, dignified legendary parfum Mitsouko.I love parfums L'Artisan, but specially I love Safran Troublant.

I finally got a full bottle of this wonderful scent and I am sooo pleased with it. Its my first venture into the Gourmand category of fragrances. I love this smooth, sensuously light and spicy scent. The Saffron infusion ...added to a rich and unique mixture of flower notes and my favorite base ... Vanilla!!!! Its a gourmand scent, and although it may sound like a "Plate of Paella"... its very .... Uni-Sex in my book... I cant stop smelling my wrist .... and can't wait to wear this out and see what the response is from friends and strangers. UP Date Oct7 2010: My only compliant: Non lasting and fleeting! the fragrance isn't long lasting .. and I find myself spraying it over and over....to recapture its ethereal magic.

I don't know why I consider this a hidden gem, but I do. Maybe it's because I've never caught anyone else wearing it? I wear it almost exclusively in cooler/cold weather (under 45 degrees Fahrenheit). The ginger and saffron are gorgeous in ST. It strikes me as perfectly unisex and my husband agrees with me.... His current fave is 5 O' Clock Au Gingembre so there's a clear symmetry. I'm thinking of grabbing a back up bottle in case LAP decides to d/c this lovely composition. The only flaw IMO (teeny flaw at that), is gimme more roses... I think it's just my own glitch though. I don't see musk listed in the notes, but I definitely get a musky presence. This is one of those compositions that everyone should sample.

The strangest thing happened with Safran Troublant. When I received it, I was underwhelmed because all I could smell was an alcoholic rose which disappeared within 30 minutes. I sprayed and sprayed, on clothing and in my hair, and the result would be invariably the same. Until a few months ago, when I tried it again and, a few hours after I applied it, I was wondering where the sweet, creamy and delicate fragrance surrounding me was coming from - it was Safran Troublant! Some days it can last up to 6 hours, on other days it disappears and comes back. As for the scent itself, it’s been said before that it is a truly delightful balmy rose with sugar and mild spices, a unique and comforting concoction.

A very unique, beautiful scent. The beginning starts off with sharp saffron. It's spicy and a bit dirty, almost like B.O.! It then smudges out beautifully over the next few minutes and hours into a creamy sweet-spicy aroma, like saffron rice pudding. It's a very comforting and cozy scent. The rose is blended in well, adding structure and complimenting the tang of the saffron, while the sandalwood adds woody sweetness to the base. Definitely more of a spicy gourmand, not overly sweet. Works well for all genders. Sillage is low and the scent sticks close to the body, making this the perfect scent for cooler days with layers wrapped around you bringing up wafts of Safran Troublant periodically.

Oh, my beloved and discontinued Safran Troublant! Now THIS is a true saffron masterpiece (unlike another overhyped beast that I have yet to review). I would describe this as a well-blended and deceptively simple composition. When people talk of "your skin but better" or milky skin scents, this is the one that comes to my mind. This saffron is lightly spiced with ginger and evolves into a soft, creamy sandalwood enhanced by the vanilla and a jammy red rose – all of which come together beautifully and keep this from going medicinal. It evokes a creamy sip of that hot "golden milk" beverage. I treasure my bottle and like to wear it in cooler months when I'm needing something cozy and grounded.