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.

Wood smoke in a bottle. Like the wood burning on the end of an incense stick wafting in the air with freshly brewed tea. This could be Cheech and Chong's signature fragrance if they went on holiday in England and tried to put on a proper face. Didn't last very long on my skin. Perhaps layered with something else it may be able to play a longer role in my perfume closet.

I like this a lot: a true, elegant tea, without any spicy/floral distractions. I have to agree with other reviewers, though: longevity is poor.

From PG website: "An eau (12%) full of contrasts like an Italian Sfumato or a Flemish chiaroscuro in which the bergamot illuminates the black tea and scorched wood." So, this is a Cologne/Eau/Acqua etc... When you look at it this way, then it's 3-4 hour longevity seems what it's expected of it. It's a wonderul Bergamot-Matale black tea combo (bergamot is the stronger of the two). But, I would rather go for something else for a citrus cologne.

I am a huge fan of Pierre Guillaume's work, but what happened here?! A lackluster citrus cologne, that's what. I get intense and tangy bergamot (I thought it might be lime) at first, followed by some light woods. It actually reminds me of Chanel's Eau de Cologne from the Les Exclusifs line, except Chanel's perfume smells better, it just does. I don't detect any tea at all. Longevity isn't horrific, but it's such a light perfume that it just seems wispy, flimsy, anorexic.

Initially a blast of scorched wood. After a few minutes the bergamot and tea are evident, but it is a sour concoction. If they could have backed off a bit on the smoke, i would like it more. Just all too much to hold appeal. More of a conceptual scent than something one might wear because they like it or think others will.

Overall, I really enjoyed the scent elements of this fragrance. I can't think of anything else I've smelled that quite compares to it. The opening is strongly citrus, with the round, juicy bergamot note really bursting forth. Very quickly, the scent enters a beautiful tea-pepper-vetiver phase. The impression is dry and slightly smoky--I'm even inclined to call these notes somewhat tannic. There's a well executed balance between vegetal greenness and darker smoke/pepper, and I think the subtle inclusion of vetiver here is really inspired. The only real downside here is performance. Such a well done tea-based scent, combining green notes with citrus/spice/wood while avoiding becoming too sweet or too floral, really begs to be worn in the daytime, but I only get about 2 hours of longevity, which means you're really only wearing it in the morning unless you reapply. As long as you're prepared for that kind of quick dissipation, it's a delightful experience.

This is the kind of product I am looking for when I am testing those expencive niche perfumes! I am looking for something completely unique, but still wearable. L'eau rare Matale has powerful smoky aroma. The smokes is not dirty, like from sigarets. No, it's a clean, very natural smoke, maybe from burning leaves and moss in a fire in the woods. The notes also includes some fresh spices, which I find difficult to pinpoint. The perfumes sits long at the skin, maybe 6 hours. This is one of the first niche perfumes is ever tested. Though it is marked as a male-fragrance I would still wear it. Either way it is very far from conventional perfumes.

L'Eau Rare Matale opens with a nice peppery-citrus accord enriched by a smoky tea note. In this context, the composition feels pretty *contemporary* in its iteration of the modern masculine theme but, maybe, a bit uninspired. Other undetected spices and vetiver joins the party to give birth to one of the most fleeting and short lived fragrances in the PG's range. Nice and inoffensive, office-friendly but, in the end, really too weak to my tastes... Rating: 6/10

You are a skilled draftsman for a famous architect. You work in an elegant office surrounded but the iconic interior design classics from the Bauhaus period and tons of pencils. You only draw with perfectly sharpened pencils. Each morning your assistant sharpens your pencils for you and brings them to you with a cup of black bergamot tea. This unchanging order and predictability of your routines ensures your focus and dedication to your work which you love.

i got a sample and i couldnt smell a thing! tried again after a shower and its so light and woody. a great scent but i wish it projected more! slightly earthy clayish from what i can make out. i'm sniffing like crazy and maybe im used to powerful fragrances so this does not register for my nose :(