Beaute du Diable

Had a decant of this one along with the rest of the line a while back and decided to wait for this one until I had my bottle because as you might have understood, it was love at first sniff for me, both in ideology and in execution. It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I have a bit of a dichotomy with a gentle, kind and charitable nature clashing with a much darker spiritual side which would surprise many who know me in everyday life. It turns out, Liquides Imaginaires pulled this off very well with Beauté du Diable, the start of what I'm guessing is a new trilogy, "Les Eaux de l'Ame" (waters of the soul, loosely translated, with "eaux" referring to perfumes). At the time of writing this, the second one in the series, "Ame du Coeur" was already announced. As for Beauté du Diable, it opens up very spicy, with a powerful punch of clove and the pepperiness of carnation. I personally have not much experience with carnation but I definitely get a peppery floral here with a background of cloves and an alcoholic bitterness which I'm guessing is that absinthe note. I see a bunch of citrus in the notes and juniper (gin) but I don't pick that up. Later on, I start to pick up a soft piney sweetness which I guess is cypress and/or labdanum but all in all, Beauté du Diable is a fairly linear fragrance to my nose and on my skin, which is great for me since I absolutely love that scent. It's a bright and lively scent thanks to the spices (and perhaps that's where the citrus comes into play, this "brightness" I feel) but with also a darker, sultry sexy edge, hence the dichotomy between light and dark and the idea of seduction and temptation. I'd say it may lean more male because of the spiciness but I think a goth, a nightlife woman wanting attention or just an assertive woman could absolutely pull this off easily. Given its spiciness this is absolutely a colder season fragrance and perhaps a spring scent on colder nights. The longevity is alright 4-5 hours on my skin pushing out a little more within the first hour, which is somewhat weak to some but typical for the brand. So in short, I often consider perfumes to be a "mask" of what mood or intention I want to project on a particular day, and as such Beauté du Diable is absolutely a success for me, another unusual, unconventional and unique "mask" in the Liquides Imaginaires wardrobe!

Another misunderstood masterpiece from LLI. This one, though, is rightfully so, because isn’t the devil - aka Lightbringer - often misunderstood? And yet a self-proclaimed liar? This scent is a dedication, an ode(ur) poeme to Il Diable. LLI describes this scent beginning “You know me without knowing me”, and then goes on to say “I move at the speed of thought, my spirit is volatile, like the money I like to spend on frivolous things. I transform the material into the immaterial....” It goes on. It’s a great read. All to say - this scent is a spicy aromatic, quite volatile, and truly unisex. It is also a liar, and maybe expectedly so. You believe it is one thing, and the next minute it is another. Weighted on clove but not too much, softened by carnation, brightened by Haitian vetiver and labdanum in the base. The interesting thing about this perfume is that it seems to cycle through its open, heart and base several times before all top and heart notes have burned off completely. This happens over the course of a few hours and is the reason why I describe this scent as being volatile and unpredictable. It is masculine and feminine at the same time. Many scents claim to be so. I don’t think they are. Ok - maybe they’re “unisex”. THIS scent is androgynous. Suggestive of both. Gender fluid. There IS a true wormwood accord in the open, and this does burn off quickly - but you would drink absinthe quickly because it doesn’t really taste good. It makes you feel good. Also, a bitter orange gin accord, coriander, cypress, ylang ylang, geranium (which I’ve never really cared for but it works here), and sweet, innocent, “well I NEVER!” carnation. The base is Haiti vetiver, gaiac wood (NOT heavy, just enough for the strength and meat), Cistus Spain - Side note - Cistus Spain is an interesting choice for labdanum in this fragrance. It is a resin that comes from the Cistus bush, which can only be harvested three months out of the year and involves very intense, harsh conditions and grueling work for the laborers who harvest it. Devilish. The last note listed is Cobblestone Accord. I will leave that up to you. I like it all very much. Like I say about everything this House does - it ain’t for everybody, but I think they’re artists.

It smells like a forbidden memory from 1926 and somehow I remember it just perfectly. Like the poetry of Goethe and Nezval abandoned in a smoke-filled apartment somewhere between Berlin and Prague, soaked in absinthe, candle wax, c*caine and slow artistic self-destruction. It smells like sleepless decadence, collapsing morality and the kind of beauty that inevitably ends in su*cide. Not vintage in the fashionable sense, but genuinely corrupted, haunted and rotting beneath the weight of its own elegance. This is not a perfume for cheerful people. It smells like a man leaving an evening service in an Orthodox church with incense still trapped in the folds of his black coat, only to disappear into a dim absinthe bar somewhere in Central Europe, carrying the cold night air with him like a private funeral procession. There is wax, smoke, dark woods, something herbal and intoxicating and beneath it all a strange metallic sadness, as if the fragrance itself knows that every beautiful thing eventually destroys its owner. It feels nostalgic in the most dangerous way. Not comforting nostalgia, but the kind that arrives at 2 a.m. when you suddenly remember a forgotten corridor from childhood or the exact silence of a snowy street after midnight. It smells intellectual, self-destructive, theatrical and oddly sacred at the same time. Like poetry written under bad lighting by someone who has not slept properly in years. So no, don’t buy it. I would selfishly prefer not to encounter my own signature scent lingering on strangers like the ghost of some decadent poet who k*lled himself in 1926 after one absinthe too many. Certain fragrances deserve to remain personal, like private ruins or inherited madness...

I'm genuinely surprised that this does not have more reviews! I find it unique, and it tickles my lizard brain to the point that I will eventually need at least a decant when my spray sample runs dry, which it is about to do! I'm a gin aficionado and a juniper junkie, and I'm not able to pick those out- maybe they're there but just blended in well adding to the intrigue for me, not sure. I also cannot specifically pick out the citrus, but there is a bright freshness that is lifting everything up. I smell more carnation than true clove (yes, I know they have a clove adjacent aroma, but if you've put your nose in an actual carnation you know it's not quite the same as a dried clove bud or clove oil). I also get the ylang and something that I find believable as "cobblestone" (something smells like wet limestone). It's all grounded in that labdanum, guaiac, vetiver swirl that draws me in deep. I cannot dissect this the way that many of the sniffers here are able to, but I would love for more people to put their noses on this and chime in :) I totally agree with trabuquera's summary "Overall: tingly magic dust. Worth a try for amateur alchemists." Oh, and regarding performance, it's right where I want it- persistent, yet not overbearing. When worn as my afternoon/evening fragrance I can still detect it lightly on my skin in the morning. *An incredible deal came along and I now own a FB. Love!! So unique and so bewitching. I highly recommend a sample of this one

This is a most beautiful love letter to Goethe's Faust: If Mephistopheles can grant Faust an experience of transcendence on Earth—a moment so blissful that he wishes to remain in it forever—then he will instantly die and serve the Devil in Hell. That moment of transcendent bliss is captured in this beautiful aromatic fragrance. I think @aistte's review below mine captures it perfectly. Definitely signature scent-worthy along with L'Ile Pourpre which is also stunningly beautiful. It's very well-balanced and not at all clove-dominant. It's aromatic and sharp in its opening moments. Gin, absinthe, coriander and zingy citruses dominate before they reveal a glorious swirl of red carnation, geranium, cypress, ylang-ylang and a hint of cloves. This is intoxicating. A devil's kiss of temptation. The base of cobblestone (hot, dusty cobblestones on a swelteringly hot day) combined with Labdanum, Guaiac wood, and dry Haitian vetiver offer a ravishing atrium for the mid-notes to sparkle. Is it expensive? Yes - but - it is a treasure. A work of art, every bit as precious to humanity as the Mona Lisa. It should be priceless, or at least it is to me.