Mousse Arashiyama

Le Jardin Retrouvé is a wonderful house and out of all my sample set, Mousse Arashiyama instantly stood out. As an incense lover, this took me in a different direction than I expected it to. Picture this: a Japanese temple, hidden deep in the woods with a river flowing nearby. You can hear and smell the aquatic wisps of fresh water and you feel grounded from the mossy greenery surrounding you. As you step inside the temple, Shinto incense wafts and overtakes your senses. To me, this is a soothing, calming vision and it definitely suits Mousse Arashiyama. The brief mentions the inspiration to be the self-named gardens in Kyoto and I can see (smell) why. It's an unusual take on incense, in that instead of going for the typical churchy vibes, it goes into an aquatic and mossy direction. The result makes for a very natural smelling perfume, as it is the case with all of Le Jardin Retrouvé`s fragrances. However, being incense dominant, it might not be for you if you don't care for the smell of it. I would still say to try it, as the aquatic and mossy notes definitely take it elsewhere. So yes, Mousse Arashiyama is aquatic, mossy incense. It is also (to me) soothing, calming, grounding and meditative. I will definitely wear this one when I feel the need to compose myself. I would say it leans masculine because of the mossy and incense aspect but a confident woman could wear this easily. Thanks to the incense and moss, the longevity is quite good, easily 7-8 hours on me with good projection for the initial hours. I don't think this is something you wear to a club or a romantic dinner, however. This is more of a functional perfume to me, one I will use to reach a certain state of mind. Regardless, I absolutely love the smell and the fact I'm sniffing myself agressively is always a good sign! I'll be wearing this one in the Spring when greenery is returning. Fans of incense, get your nose on this one.

There needs to be more praise for mastic resin in perfume. Also known as lentisque, this resin comes from Pistacia lentiscus, an evergreen shrub native to the Mediterranean basin and in the same family as pistachio trees. The resin has an aroma that I would describe as "green incense," only mildly smoky in scent and flavor (it's considered a spice that's long been used a chewing gum), but more so sweet-verdant, raw-earthy, and with turpentine-coniferous top notes similar to that of frankincense. There is a radiance to it that feels like sunshine to me. I love its use in Sisley's Eau d'Ikar (now repackaged as L'Eau Rêvée D'Ikar), Tom Ford Vert des Bois, Masque Milano Terralba, and WienerBlut Klubwasser. In the brilliant Mousse Arashiyama, Maxence Moutte uses mastic resin with a fig leaf accord to evoke the feel of a lush, wet mossy forest. Just an accent of Calone is used to impart the watery effect. I've never visited Arashiyama in Japan (how I'd love to!), so I cannot opine whether Moutte has nailed its ambience, but I can say that there is a certain familiarity to its overall feel, since I am always exploring forests in my own spare time. While oakmoss is listed as a note here, I think more the true mosses that cover the stumps of trees, deep green and velvety, like that of Leucobryum glaucum, pincushion moss. I detect Maceal here (which I confirmed through the Le Jardin Retrouvé website!), a green-woody aromachem produced by Givaudan that I at one time experimented myself in creating a woody, mossy effect. It turns out it can create this effect as evidenced here. This is also an example of where a soupçon of geosmin can be used effectively—it's even so subtle underneath the layers, rather than holding all else hostage. This a fantastic creation.

A scent portrait of a damp, mossy forest. I definitely get the woodsy vibe, but Maxence Moutte steers away from making this a 100% lifelike nature scent and gives ample consideration to wearability, so the end result feels impressionistic rather than photorealistic. Very soft and serene, and it comes across a bit like a distant, much more well-mannered cousin of Sloth, a scent that can be a struggle to wear in warm weather, or when you're just not in the mood to take the full brunt of some of its more distinctive traits in all their mildewy glory. This scratches a similar itch with the wet moss and incense combo but spares the wearer the chore of contending with anything overly challenging. Despite what the accord tower suggests, I'd call this more green than woody; it's just a mossy greenness. And there's definitely prominent fig to provide sweetness, so if you don't like that note, steer clear. There's also calone, which I'm usually not crazy about, but it's dosed conservatively here and helps to conjure up notions of rivers and waterfalls and mist within the forest scenery. So if you're like me and normally put off by that note, this still may be worth trying. Personally, I can't fault this too much. I think it strikes a great balance between wearable and atypical. And it nails the brief without taking it too literally, which is nice to see once in a while. Great first experience with this house. High hopes for the rest of the line.

A perfume that gives the feeling of being in nature! Pleasant fresh scent that is well suited during for daytime in late spring and for summer days! The mixture of Oakmoss that becomes prominent together with aguatic scent, fruit and wood works strangely enough very well and everything is pleasantly fresh. It otherwise starts with a light smoke scent (very light and not intrusive) and fresh citrus and it is absolutely very affordable and also interesting. Complex in its simplicity and I look forward to using it during the day frequently during late spring and summer. Seems to consist of nature products. Well worth a try. A bit 70s "old school" but at the same time very modern and I would call it a green spring and summer perfume. Recommended.

My experience with this house seems to have me straight down the middle for the score of "Lovely,but it smells like a high quality version of something I have" or "smells novel". This is the later. This is the first time I've tried a perfume with incense that manages to smell light and delicate.I agree this smells much more Mediterranean than anything. I'm a big fan of Korres perfumes, and this smells like something they might release. It might be a little early to call, but I think I like this even more than Violet kew.

This is not your typical oakmoss scent although oakmoss fans will love it. What sets this apart is the green lushness with an aquatic heart- not something you'd typically associate with oakmoss but here, it absolutely works. A touch of fig adds a fruity, milky heart and a waft of incense adds to the contemplative nature of this unusual, but IMO, excellent fragrance. You can just imagine yourself in a silent forest with just a tinkling waterfall nearby.

This is a very personal scent for me. Eons ago I made a perfume at a make your own perfume place, it was was barely wearable. However, this perfume encompasses what I was going for, but made into a beautiful and very wearable perfume. A great scent!

You're in a small ancient temple, burning incense at the altar, hidden away deep in a shady, cool, wet forest. Good stuff.

If you are not an incense lover, this will probably not be for you. It’s a different kind of incense than traditional stick incense smell but very similar. This is really, really interesting. The aquatic notes are dominant on clothes and paper but disappear on my skin, leaving me with this incense-spicy green and woodsy sour (vetiver) mossy goodness. I like this a lot, but as good as it is, I don’t need this in my collection. Would be a perfect gift for chypre lovers but they have to love those really lush woodsy smells. I adore this and will enjoy the sample I have! Will come back to update if it wins me over enough to get a full bottle.

This smells absolutely wonderful on my skin. I agree that initially it can come across as overly grassy, but soon after it settles nicely and I find that it has an intimate yet lasting projection. Definitely not for everyone, and even furthermore, isn’t an everyday scent unless you are going for a very specific vibe (which I happen to favor). Overall, thouroughly enjoyed my sample and will be purchasing a bottle, unless I can find something similar that has a stronger projection and perhaps less sweetness.

I blind bought this one, a small bottle. Agree with reviews below that it has an Italian feeling much more than a Japanese one. The fig makes it more about the Mediterranean coast than a Japanese forest. The only "Japan" aspect I can find in there is the very noticeable moss note. It is wet moss on tall trees. I like it. Unisex leaning masculine just a bit. A gorgeous scent for sure at a good price point.

this is beautiful. this takes me to a garden in spring, its foggy and there are water droplets on all the flowers. its perfectly green and wearable. very romantic and feminine. the incense is detectable, makes it slightly smokey, but really it smells like a fresh morning. incredible lasting power

quite elegant - good mix of the bergamot & green fig in the opening plus the dry and smoky incense to bring it down a note. the moss is what makes this unique and i guess 'japanese'. i wouldn't wear it though, i classify this as a tai tai scent

An interesting combo of some aquatic and green fig with smoked dry incense. There’s some woodiness backing the scent to add some depth, the dry down being more vetiver forward with remnants of that smoky fig.

The drydown reminds me of sugar pickled Indochina Dragonplum.

this opens with fig, mastic, incense and bergamot with the first 2 being the strongest on my skin. i think the fig leaf is quite prominent, even moreso than just fig. honestly it's kind of weird. there is this intense greenness then the incense comes through as an opposing note that gets sort of strange and musty smelling. later i get something kind of smoky, i believe it's vetiver...it's like burning greenery and the fig has calmed down a bit at this point though still quite prominent. i am sort of intrigued by this but am not sure its wearable for me personally.

I blind-bought a small bottle based on the notes, and talks saying the incense wasn't too prominent. The incense is too prominent. On my skin, I almost only get incense and slight whiffs of fig and bergamot, and on paper the greens and watery notes show much more before it inevitably dries down to a smoky base. I must say the opening and the first few hours on paper and fabric are still beautiful. It is green, aquatic and fruity with smoky and woody groundedness. Incense is really not my thing though, so I will only be spraying it on my clothes from time to time.

As you spray it's this super intense fresh grass like scent with incense. As it dries the greeness subsides a little and you get this more toned down incense with the help of the fig and aquatic notes. This is what I'd expect Tomoe from Kamisana Kiss to smell: Burning incense from a temple in the middle of a wet rainy forest. The aquactic notes do take you a little away from Japan and bring you to the mediterranean sea. Definitly not for everyone so not a safe blind buy. Maculine leaning.

I come from an area just close to Arashiyama, Kyoto. Not much of bamboo, much more of temple incense smell, but, much much more of rather unnecessary generic aquatic (similar to YSL homme) that cloyed far too dominantly... well there’s a river and bridge at Arashiyama but not these kind of aquatic from a generic bottle of beachy synth cucumber scent. Lovely imagery and may have been quite nice without aquatic. Glad i bought a sample and not a bottle.

Fig that smells for miles, a pulsating creaminess mixed with green notes that suffocate me. Reminiscences of green tea...and then a salty water note, it makes me feel like someone gave me a ducking in a sea of plasticine figs and cut grass. The mix itself is not discordant, but the accumulation of green and blue notes is very complicated for me here. It is a very personal description, in general I dislike fig and water notes, I'm sure many people will enjoy this perfum...not me