La Fumee

It's strange it's taken me so long to write about the fragrance that not only was my introduction to niche perfumery, but first made me begin my olfactory journey and I only get to it now that it's been discontinued along with the range. And to my great surprise I have found that Miller Harris remains unknown to a lot of fragrance enthusiasts even now. Right at the top I get a good dose of incense and cedar with birch and coriander trailing right behind them. And this is interesting to me, because for birch to come through so loud and clear when there's both oud and sandalwood in a fragrance is very uncommon. The cedar here is enhancing the incense, but never gives it an overly green or aromatic feel. At the heart I get all the spices (cardamom, cumin) and resins with sandalwood entering the picture. Only then do I begin to distingush the oud in here. And funnily I only recognize the chamomile at the beginning of the drydown, right when the oud emerges. I think all the other versions of La Fumee in the collection remain similar to the original, with the exception of La Fumee Alexandrie which has strayed a bit far from the original DNA for my liking (it's rose that dominates that one). The others mainly differ from the original in their dominance of oud over other woods (Intense and Arabie) and in the addition of fruits into the composition (Maroc and Ottoman). The original is still the most complex one in the series, and I think the intense (which I do like a lot) is a slight simplification. The most long lasting among the bunch is in my experience Arabie, exceeding even the intense version. To me the whole series remains unique in a sea of fragrances that often appears to be somewhat oversaturated with more of the same. What they offer is a refreshing lack of florals, especially rose (with the exception of Alexandrie of course). I am obviously biased, but I do think La Fumee and its siblings deserve your attention.

I AM IN LOVE with this fragrance, I am. And while so different from my usual blends, La Fumee is eerily similar to the rose, oud, wood, resin, patchouli, sandalwood stuff that I love. This fragrance is absolutely beautiful. As a more "linear" fragrance than what I usually wear, I love the simplicity and purity of this fragrance a whole lot! The opening is intoxicating with glorious incense notes followed by a rather intense smokiness, which I love! Throughout the opening, I couldn't refrain from smelling my inner wrists and forearms. I find La Fumee totally feminine when shortly after the opening notes, creamy, silky, velvety, smooth ethereal vanilla notes rise and interplay with the ongoing lovely incense & smokiness! Dreamy and almost light (which I'm starting to prefer, given my fragrances tend to play heavy with resinous, rather oily notes), La Fumee cloaked me in a cloud of smoky, creamy, resinous, vanilla, woody incense. The fragrance places me in a near meditative, dream-like state...it really does! Middle floral notes quickly emerge and once again mingle nicely with all the notes and scents in play. And while I would not consider this fragrance to be complex in nature, somehow all the notes blend together nicely and land in pleasant harmony. I imagine there's elemi, sandalwood and other woody, resinous notes emerging, which contribute to the pleasant dry down and base. I did not think silage was great but when I picked my husband up from work, he immediately commented on how I (and his truck) "smelled like incense." Interesting. Now, I timed all of this loveliness and I'd say the fragrance greatly diminished on my skin at approximately 3.5 to 4 hours. So, for me longevity is moderate, not great. As another reviewer stated, "This truly is magical stuff." I love this fragrance. I can see wearing it for quite some time to come.

miller harris house has a very very unique “form” .in general, miller harris “form” is lush and at the same time its thoughtful . Its posh but at the same time its very social . I believe la fumee from MH is a revolution in spicy and incense genre . An incensed and spicy fragrance that can control these two difficult elements fantastically and turns the oriental spicy genre which can be too much sometimes , to a very lush ,gorgeous,classy ،moderate and sociable scent ! Each word and scene of la fumee keeps the “form” And harmony . thoughtful timing and changes , never looses its balance , and whispers the journey , A beautiful autumn or winter journey. Remember , when fire goes off ..then , La fumee starts ! sharp ,incensed woody ,cardamom and labdanun race ,in a semi sweet field. For about half hour ..then slowly changes ,after all that heavy incense now you can see lavender more clearly and la fumee Incensed face changes to kind of smoky and mid spicy .this smoke is coming from cedar , from far away .you can see the view and there is a lovely silence in the scent , absolutely beautiful landscape . As la fumee goes ,it gets more and more smoky , birch ,smoked woods and amber .. and goes on .. On my skin , La fumee has a great longevity and also good sillage which suits the scent very well . Completely unisex, And I must point it out , La fumee belongs to the cold weather ,i mean not even spring , its a completely different fragrance in colder seasons , then you’ll see how beautiful she is .

I bought this blind after reading the reviews and decided to take the risk and omg am I glad I did. I'll start by saying I really like the simplicity of the bottle and the sketched flowers on it. It's very lovely but the juice that is contained within is AMAZING! This was truly a spiritual experience. Initially you get almost drunk with frankincense. There is no denying that this is strong at first and you'll definitely not need to spray a lot. After a few minutes you get this hint of beautiful lavender and then the citrus notes. They are soft and in the background. You then get thrown into a Catholic mass; it smells like the moment of communion. You are quietly entwined by the incense and smoke as it starts to give way to the spices and woods. Wow! My head is spinning. The smoke, the spices and the woods. The experience is incredible and the notes are all played in their proper sequence. The dry down is a solemn prayer. The sandalwood remains sweetened by the amber. Quiet, gentle yet ever present in the air that surrounds you for hours. In my opinion this is a totally unisex fragrance. I feel it's slightly more feminine than masculine although it's not too sweet which is perfect to me. This is my new favorite. It'll be great moving into Fall and Winter. Highly recommended if you love spicy and smoky scents. Six hours later and I'm still sniffing my arm. Btw this is my first experience with Miller Harris and it was great. I'll definitely be trying Terre D'Iris next as I love iris. ❤️

I love smoky balsamic scents, and I'm really into this one. It's a spicy/woody incense that stays fairly linear on my skin but that's okay with me. I enjoy cumin in perfume and here the warm-skin scent it imbues is for me enhanced by the cardamom and coriander. And these spice notes feel dry like the seeds in my kitchen jars which helps give this scent a dusty aged character that I like. I have a jar of dried chamomile too, and here its creaminess, along with the labdanum, goes beautifully with the resins and smoke. The lavender plays a bigger part in the meld than I first realised - I can pick out this note among the others throughout, but like I mentioned, I get a fairly steady linearity from the start. Elemi up top and amber at the base ensure resinous tones through this too. The arid parchment-like quality eases after an hour or so and gives way to a woodier vibe with sharpish cedar sap; leathery birch; creamy sandalwood, and a beautifully restrained drop of oud. As it moves further into dry-down a slight sweetish floral tone comes out in the woodiness. Overall, this starts as an ancient book might smell, then later reminds me of inside a dusty old chest of drawers that once had lavender drawer-liners. Not a great deal of development but I really enjoy wearing it all the same.