L'Eau Rare Matale 06

L'Eau Rare Matale is primarily bergamot & cool, peppery vetiver, clean, light and fresh with a delicate, woody edge. It's smoother on skin where its distinct birch tar smokiness is revealed. In fact, a beautiful, fragile, smoky vetiver is the main impression and it remains linear for the duration. I don't get much of the tea that gives this perfume its name, beyond a little clary sage-like earthiness. It has a similar smoky vetiver opening to Chanel's discontinued Sycomore Eau de Toilette and keeps pace with it in projection and scent in the linear drydown. L'Eau Rare Matale is more committed to its burnt match smokiness, than Sycomore with its softer, dusty cypress note, but they're close enough for L'Eau Rare Matale to be my long-searched-for Sycomore EdT replacement. If I could change one thing it would be to amp up its vetiver note a fraction more. Update: I've finally twigged what the tea note is, it's not black tea as listed it's the smokiness of Lapsang Souchong. Suddenly the penny drops and the name makes sense.

I can't beat the brilliant description of the scent by trabuquera (see few comments below), so I won't even try. But please! All perfume lovers - if you really love fragrances, please give Pierre Guillaumes No.6 this much respect as to not condemn the entire work just because its longevity is weak. It's kind of like denouncing exceptionally beautiful woman for not being able to cook. L'Eau Rare Matale is so beautiful that every time I refresh myself with another spritz I feel pure delight. And I have to repeat it every hour to feel it around, yes. Conclusion? No.6s weakness brings me more pleasure! 😊 Yes, it is pricey. Yes, the bottle won't last as long as an average bottle. But who the hell counts every penny spent when taking a beautiful woman out to make themselves (and the people around) happy?! Some luxuries are ethereal & transitory, dear people. Live with it. Or let go. But live. Peace.

If you want a citrus that lasts it will have to be supported by some fresh woods, resins or synthetics in the background. Pg06 is all about bergamot and its sweet zesty beauty. To build up the longevity of the central citrus note Pierre used background of black tea absolute, vetiver and scorched wood notes. Mind you the bergamots in pefumery nowadays are de-terpened so they will not smell same way as fresh fruit or Earl Grey do, but much milder as terpens are what makes them tangy in the first place. Pg06 is a very spring and totally unisex perfume, quietly radiant, woody a touch dry.

Wow, I woudn't say it was a fragrance for men. I even thought it was a female scent ;) It reminds of Tea for Two L'Artisan. Both are smoky teas, but PG is a little lighter and has more bergamot in it. It is not as smoky as Tea for Two, but that's not a flaw. L'eau Rare Matale is more elegant and balanced. The smoke does not "overpower" other ingredientes. The sad part is, that it lasted only 2-3 hours on my skin. But I'm still considering purchase ;)

Frustration.... Well call me a kettle hissing with spite, but this is an infuriatingly weak brew - in a very distinctive Pierre Guillaume way. Because it's so intensely desirable as an aroma but annoyingly flimsy in performance. The good: lovely fresh-zingy bergamot prickling with life; properly quirky, smoky, spicy, distinctive tea notes - a sense impression of many facets of the proper leaf, which is so hard to do - and with a really special, individual, characterful bite from the birch and cedar beneath. Deeply individual, classy, feels upscale but not aloof, just charming as well as cool - a high fashion hipster happy to hang out with you and upgrade your self-presentation. Makes you feel like your best, cleanest self on a good day. Easily unisex and appropriate for any sort of daytime setting where you don't have (or want) to make a dramatic impression, but want folks to think well of you - whoever you are. The bad: the price The ugly: so little lasting power, even on fabrics. 95% of it gone completely in under 2h on my skin, and although there's a wonderful level of pale, conifer wood beneath it all, even that watery pastel impression will only occur to you if you sniff a few centimetres away from your wrist, or get a magical puff of aromatic steam wafting from some other body part. (A part that's had Eau Rare Matale sprayed on it, I mean, of course.) Truly a gorgeous smell but just a letdown as an experience - and a flop in value for money terms. Oh, so sad. If this could be amplified way past 11 & fixed for longevity I'd be completely under its spell. It's a fix, a swizz, a fizzle. Too bad.