Les Brumes

This afternoon, I walked through the rain for authentic gelato. Like actual drizzle, actual soggy socks, actual poncho type beat. From a newly-opened Italian gelato shop, I somehow ended up with lemon sorbet amongst four others, violently tart and glistening with frost, doled out by a warm man with his cold tongs. And Les Brumes? That’s it. That exact lemon sorbet, but bottled, fizzing, volatile, uncannily photoreal. Every bit of it: the kind of lemon punch that makes you wince before you smile. The way that first bite always hits you the hardest, then again with every bite after. You don’t even ease into this one—it goes SNAP! right on impact. Lemon in the way of limonene, citrus aldehydes immediately leaping out like a cold sting to the face. It doesn’t do that creamy sunlit lemon thing (YOU KNOW the Lira type: lemon tart with a butter crust). No. This is the sort of lemon you juice straight onto ice and sip with your eyes watering. Sorbet scraped from a steel pan. Dolloped not with a spoon but with something more silver scalpel. Echoing a fellow reviewer, the most surprising part is that it stays. Citrus never stays. This is where it really is lovely, because citrus-y chemicals tend to burn off fast. Top notes in your most literal-est top-note sense, gone with the wind. But somehow citral here zings its way into the midsection of the wear, still fizzing like lemon soda mixed with grated ginger and basil stems. There’s sage, too: Think someone garnishing fresh leaves into your drink and then misting it onto your skin. Although, it doesn’t smell like an Italian cologne, despite what the scent pyramid might suggest. This isn’t Acqua di Parma. Aromatic and sharp, this smells cold. Smells zesty. Smells like quality. Had I not read the notes I would not have caught the mate. But once you do, it’s unmistakable: the cool, smoked-tea echo, like drinking tea from a clay cup still warm from the hand that held it before you. It’s a grounding bitterness, a soft one. Stops the whole thing from becoming otherwise, I reckon, airborne or chemical. And that fragrant, whispered floral–woody drydown underneath, oh it really grounds it all the more. This scent feels like a palate cleanser. Like how I needed the sorbet to recover from the overdose of creamy panna cotta and pistachio praline, literally, on skin, this refreshes like a reset button. It's nearly as if the fragrance were composed in contrast to Ormaie’s heavier, broodier pieces—Le Passant’s boiled-sweets lavender, Papier Carbone’s gritty patchouli syrup. Les Brumes wipes the slate, clears the room, re-circulates the air, revives your mental. The kind of scent that doesn’t wear you but perks you. An indisputable favourite from the house so far (just as fate should have it!! The new gelato parlour stole my first place too). My sorbet soulmate. Artful and sophisticated, with unparalleled (f/r)izz

I’ve almost finished a small bottle of this I got as a gift. I loved it when I first tried it - super punchy and sharp citrus smell. Yes it does smell a bit like cleaning product or vitamin c but in a gorgeous yummy way that melds well with me. Took a few months break from wearing this and started again recently now that it’s warm again. I’m new to layering and have been enjoying this with my little Escentric 01 tester. The only thing is that I don’t think it lasts very long and it’s quite costly - not sure if it’s a repurchased but i’ve enjoyed our time together

This was love at first sniff. Les Brumes is an extremely unique sweet & sour citrus unisex fragrance. Very easy to wear with above average longevity. It befuddles me why this is rated so low here on fragrantica. It is 3.33 at time of writing. I would easily give it 4.33. Also at the time of writing, there is nothing in the 'this perfume reminds me of...' box, because, well, there is nothing...that I can think of. I own around 400 fragrances (including OP oils), and none of those smell even remotely similar to Les Brumes. Very happy to own this gem!

This was my scent all summer 2021. Unisex, citrus, but what drew me in was that it smelled different from other citrus perfume that populates in summer. The bottle design is gorgeous as in all of the Ormaie product. I just wish it had a better longevity. Considering this is a spring/summer perfume (maybe early fall depending on where you live), having to lose my scent after 3-4 hours like EDT is quite sad :(

Beautiful, elegant citrus perfume that lasts longer than most, likely due to the floral heart and a beautiful base of cedar and mate. Smells completely unisex to me yet can be beautiful AND sexy on either a man or a woman. I think it would be a warm, fresh, sparkling spring and summer fragrance.