Le Grand Bleu Extrait de Parfum

At SNOUF 2026 I had the chance to try this fragrance. Mark Buxton is a nose I follow with interest: he often works off the beaten path and has a very good way of handling fruit notes. You can definitely tell here. The pineapple in the opening is beautiful: juicy, realistic, not that synthetic candy-like stuff we so often get in commercial fruity fragrances. This is a real pineapple, almost biteable. The problem is that it lasts only a handful of minutes. After that it melts into a rather anonymous mix of vetiver and sweet notes. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s nowhere near as exciting as the opening. And considering we are talking about an extrait, finding an overall longevity of around three hours is honestly shocking. Three hours. From an extrait. You would expect at least double that. It’s a huge pity, because if that pineapple had lasted even just one more hour my judgment would have been completely different. The quality of the raw materials is perceptible, and you can clearly recognize the perfumer’s hand, but the overall performance—also in terms of projection (and I’m certainly not someone who loves nuclear fragrances!)—betrays what should be a long-lasting and concentrated format. Maybe it reacts differently on other people’s skin; I wouldn’t rule out that it might last longer elsewhere. It would be interesting to compare experiences. For now, though, I’m left with the feeling of a missed opportunity.

Best way I can describe this fragrance is a punchy pineapple opening similar to 9PM Rebel but toned down a fair bit in comparison, once dried down smells similar to talcum powder with some nuances of pineapple.

Pineapple opening dries down to powderiness similair to Black Afgano.