French Lover by Frédéric Malle
Niche perfume house Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle has announced a new fragrance which will launch in May. Designed by perfumer Pierre Bourdon, it will be called French Lover:
Frédéric Malle’s original idea was to create a fuller-bodied version of the scent Angéliques sous la Pluie. But the creator and the perfumer soon went beyond that concept to come up with a sophisticated men’s scent, ‘super-sensual, but not trashy.’ The ingredients include dazzling green notes of pimento and galbanum, iris, cedar, trimofix, angelica, frankincense and vetiver. Mosses, musks, ambroxan and karanal bestow ‘a kind of plant-based animal quality that immediately evoked the smell of a man’ [for the creators] (via osMoz.com).
It is interesting to note that the idea for this new fragrance began with the delicate and ethereal Angéliques sous la Pluie.
Created by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, Angéliques sous la Pluie:
plays out like a chamber music arrangement. One detects the sparkling, spicy, tonic notes of this slightly musky flower, softened by a hint of juniper berries and coriander, and drying down to musk and cedar (via editionsdeparfums.com).
This is one of my favorite fragrances to wear when I want a scent that is light and pleasant and sure not to be cloying or overpowering. I will be interested to see how it compares to French Lover, which promises to be much bolder in character. Perhaps it will be the yin to French Lover’s yang.
To read more about this collection, please see my previous Frédéric Malle post.
Cost: 1.7 fl. oz.: €90; 3.4 fl. oz.: €135.
