Seville a l'Aube

I dismissed Seville a l'Aube pretty quickly when it was first released about 10 years ago. I wasn't a huge fan of Denyse the writer/blogger and am also not a huge fan of Bertrand Duchaufour. There was something too personal about the story of this fragrance, that I didn't care to know. So I got a decant, pretty much willed myself to dislike it, and therefore I decided I didn't like it. About 3 years ago I smelled it again while I was out shopping. Just wearing it for an afternoon without my preexisting "decision to dislike it," made me realize I absolutely love it. I virtually always love orange blossom in most fragrances and this orange blossom with slight green/herbal undertones and beeswax, honey and benzoin in the far dry down is simply divine. I don't find Seville to be spicy or particularly aromatic or even incense-y. I do wonder a bit about some of the other reviews before mine because it seems like we're smelling vastly different fragrances (maybe there was a bad batch, or maybe mislabeled samples?). On me, Seville is a airy naturalistic orange blossom that starts off very green-petitgrain-cologne-y but evolves to be more interesting towards the dry down with some sweetness mostly from a beeswax/honey/benzoin vibe. It's not uber-sweet and definitely not spicy and I think it's solidly unisex. As an orange blossom & honey fanatic myself, I think Seville is an exceptional fragrance. Feeling like I might need a back-up or 2 just in case. Longevity and sillage are moderate on me (3-5 hours presence). UPDATE: coming back to say that I love this more and more every time I wear it. I've realized I'm a lover of mostly natural/realistic type scents. I have a few synthetic bombs I adore but for the most part my favorite scents smell like true things in nature. Seville a l'Aube smells natural and true but also somehow blended to become a proper perfume. This is an absolutely stunning 'Sweet Herbal Orange Blossom' scent. I definitely need a back-up bottle. NOTE: if you want to smell like you've died and gone to heaven layer Seville a l'Aube with Hiram Green Slowdive. OMG so good. Update 3/17/21: yet another back-up has been purchased. Oh, and the black bottles are crap (thinner, less longevity). Only the original clear glass with orange label & gold cap are worthy of the original Seville. This is a MASTERPIECE of natural evocative perfumery.

I've never been to Seville, but my God, how I want to, after smelling this perfume! Seville a l'Aube awakened a deep wanderlust inside me. It reminds me so, so much of the lovely (and sadly discontinued) Ostara from Penhaglion's, but I think I like this one better. They share the same herbal-verging-on-bitter smell and the same beeswax undertone - but Ostara is more delicate, more floral, while Seville a l'Aube has more warmth to it - a warmth that reminds me of the smell of skin drenched in the drops of a hot summer rain. I think the resemblance stems from the fact that the same genius nose created both fragrances: Bertrand Duchaufour. It opens up really fresh and bitter, with petitgrain and orange blossom. The beeswax shows up soon after, joining the party and offering a lovely depth to the whole mix. The other notes blend so well with each other, that I can't really detect them individually. I am thankful that I don't really get the tobacco note, a note that usually makes a perfume a big no-no for me. This lasts for hours on my skin and has more than decent sillage. I only have a sample right now (but I want to buy a full bottle soon), so I only use one spray at a time. However, that one spray is really potent and creates a beautiful cloud around me. I think this perfume is ideal for summer - for the hottest days, when you feel like you could melt. While my love for this perfume came quite naturally, reading the story behind it after testing it amplified my love. Now I can't help but think of Spanish summer nights, large crowds, ceremonious chapels, love and lust each time I am wearing Seville a l'Aube. If I close my eyes, I am already there, in the streets of Seville, surrounded by people, orange trees and olive oil vendors. It just goes to show how important it is to have a back-story for your fragrance, as the story adds new layers to an otherwise amazing fragrance. Edit: I bought the full bottle and I am just as in love with this! I wore this during my trip to Athens, in the middle of a heat wave. It was divine! Well, my boyfriend told me I smell like vodka, but that didn't stop me from doing my thing.

It was 2011 when L'Artisan Parfumeur launched his "Seville at dawn" created by the legendary Bertrand Duchaufour who, inspired by Denyse Beaulieu's book The Perfume Lover, decided to transform the writer's love history in a perfume that is considered by many people a masterpiece, and that will always stay in the olfactive memory of all the niche perfumery enthusiasts. Denyse writes from her viewpoint about the most important night of the Sevillan holy week, the "madrugá": in Ramón's arms, who had probably just known, under a blooming orange tree she watches how the penitents walk through the andalusian capital city, moving their incense burners and launching waffs that cut through the waxy smell of the burning candles. Since the beginning it's quite evocative. One of the most realistics petit grains (orange flower leaf) you could ever smell melts with a strong orange flower scent, and they immediatly transport you to its streets at spring. Until the real protagonist of this beautiful fragrance pops up: the beeswax. Supported by a benzoin base which also reminds of Seville and its pastries with its sweet and spicy aspects, the beeswax emulates the penitents' candles which melt on the streets and which you can smell the morning after when the sun comes up and it warms up the city, the floor and the orange trees. I just regret about one thing. The lack of incense. I would have given it a nice presence, as it fullfills the streets during the Lent. But we can close an eye, because when you smell such a wonderful composition it's really hard to make room for criticism. A composition where he express some art we are quite missing lately: put histories in a bottle and give us art in liquid form, in a very creative, original and ground breaking way. Actually what niche perfumery should be all about, right? We don't know why the brand decided to discontinue this beauty, but whatever the reasons should be, it's hard to understand it. Gracias, Bertrand, to pay tribute to one of the most beautiful cities in the world 🕯️🍯💃

Ever-changing and deceptive, this one - a medieval city full of twists and turns, forever surprising you with the unexpected. Also provides utterly different experiences on different days, different skins or different weather. Its orange blossom is classic and beautiful; I went into it expecting much zingier, juicier orange, with loads of peel and zest, and at first was disappointed not to find them - it's all blossom and even drier, bark-like petitgrain. But this is on its own sort of journey - to dry, almost dusty, almost ambery sweetness for hours and hours and HOURS. So it's absolutely not another vanishing citrus-cologne or limp L'Artisan on the longevity front. The biggest surprise of all on me is the HUGE presence of beeswax - on my skin this melds with the incense to become almost overwhelming in some moments, very definitely the smell of a church processional with great flaming old-fashioned braziers and candles all ablaze. Great pulses of sweetness, too, oddly not honey (despite all the honeycomb all around) but a little drier and lighter than that, so it must be the benzoin, I guess. While the beginning reminds me a little of a much-less-spicy and patchouli-less Monegal Entre Naranjos, the great long stretch of dry powdery amberesque stuff later reminded me oddly of that great dry down of Guerlain Neroli Outrenoir. But that unapologetic waxiness makes it smell, most of all, to me like a giant organic candle shop - so it just depends if that's somewhere you will feel comfortable. It all gets incredibly heady and very sweet - almost too much so - but it's never less than charming and lasts aaaaages. Gets compliments. Not shy, but extraordinary value for money if you get a good deal on it... and for those who can keep up the pace, this is a long parade that's really worth joining. Ole, Sevilla!

In this part of the world, in the month of October, when temperature gradually starts cooling, after the long summers and monsoons, when the sky becomes cloudless, when the dew starts falling over the monsoon fed green grasses, we use to have Durga Pujas. The much awaited festival here. We all, in new dresses, go out with friends at night for Pandal hopping. After a whole night tour, tired we return to our home, at dawn. At this time the Osmanthus trees in this city are in full bloom. The smell of the Osmanthus, mixed with camphor,the incense, the flowers used in the puja, is intoxicating. Those dawns have special impact on us. Dawn itself has a freshness, but at the same time we feel tire, after a whole sleepless night, though well spent. Seville a l'Aube, exactly makes me feel the same, it's absolutely a dawn after a sleepless night, change the Osmanthus with Orange blossom, and u nail it.It's more than a perfume, it's a feeling a very well crafted one, I must say. The Orange blossom is wrapped under the arms of green and dewy leaves, exactly what you get from these flowers when they are still on trees. The Beeswax and Benzoin layers it well and creates a sensuous (not sexy) feel. I have never been in Spain, but I can relate this smell with every word of the story. It is absolutely something to try. Sillage: Soft to Moderate Longevity on my skin: Easily 8+ hours Longevity on cloth: Here is something to get amazed. It stays more on my skin than on fabric. On Fabric it is approximately 6+ Hours. Occasion: It's a mood lifter, you can wear it anywhere. It's gorgeous. It's inclined more toward feminine zone, but men also can easily wear it, more for daytime casual occasions. It's not girlish sweet. Rating: 9.5/10