Eline Pajot

I’ve been putting off reviewing the four fragrance collection form Eline Pajot called Autour du Parfum and in the spirit of end-of-year catch up it is time to delve into it. Mme Pajot spent 15 years working for all of the biggest beauty brands but after she worked for IFF she realized she wanted to become an “Autour”. She would train at ISIP and in 2002 would create her own company called Autour du Parfum. Her first creations were solids meant to be used as ambient fragrances all to be placed in a silver case and placed wherever scent was desired in the home. It wasn’t until earlier this year that she was ready to release her first Eaux de Parfums. There are four perfumes in this inaugural group; Poudre d’Iris, Patchouli Tonka, Encens d’Ange, and Ambre Mystere.

As much as I complain about perfume names which have nothing to do with what is in the bottle, I cannot have the same issue with Poudre d’Iris. Poudre d’Iris is a soliflore powdery version of iris. Depending on how you like your iris, powdery or rooty, will very likely color how much you enjoy Poudre d’Iris. A very nice neroli is around at the beginning but only for a minute as the iris is present and accounted for right away. As I already mentioned this is the iris of powder and makeup. If you like the fullness of the iris, rhizome included, Poudre d’Iris is not that fragrance. The base is a sheer white musk and a bit of sandalwood but there is hardly a moment that Poudre d’Iris doesn’t wear its makeup proudly.

Based on the press materials I expected Patchouli Tonka was going to be my favorite as it was described as a modern chypre and the note list looked right for this to be the case. A funny thing happened on the way to being a chypre, Patchouli Tonka instead became a sweet sophisticated patchouli. The early moments of Patchouli Tonka weave the sweet citrus of orange with the green rose of geranium. The rich patchouli dominates the middle part of the development and it is bracketed by cedar and sandalwood to accentuate the woody characteristics of patchouli over the herbal qualities. The base is tonka plus vanilla and the two combine to provide an intensely sweet contrast to the woody heart. I like the orthogonal nature of Patchouli Tonka but chypre it is not.

Encens d’Ange is a celebration of all things balsamic and resinous. Mme Pajot just takes out both version of balsam, Tolu and Peru, then doubles down with benzoin and labdanum. The result is a deep rich perfume redolent of the forest. The two balsams are the opening salvo and it is not too long before the benzoin and labdanum also join in. From that point on Encens d’Ange rides like a pair of fragrant angel’s wings for a really long time. There is practically no development with this fragrance but the materials are all so well-proportioned that it didn’t matter to me that it smelled the same many hours after application because I really enjoyed the place it lingered.

Ambre Mystere is similar to Encens d’Ange in that all of its ingredients make themselves known fairly rapidly but once they are assembled they stay in a delightful place for hours. Ambre Mystere uses the same two balsam sources but this time it is a full on ambergris, patchouli, benzoin, and labdanum added in. Mme Pajot’s use of the patchouli and ambergris really creates a classical full-bodied oriental perfume. The salty rich ambergris is the core and the balsams begin to add complexity but once the patchouli and benzoin are in place that is when Ambre Mystere really rises to new heights. Ambre Mystere is an excellent ambergris based fragrance.

All of the Autour du Parfum fragrances have above average longevity and below average sillage.

I found the four fragrances in the Autour du Parfums collection to be fairly straightforward in construction but I enjoyed what was on display and sometimes simple straightforward perfume is just what I want to wear.

Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Fragrance & Art.

Thanks to our friends at Fragrance & Art we have a sample set of all four Autour du Parfum Eaux de Parfums to give away. To be eligible leave a comment naming which one of these fragrances you would like best. We will draw one winner on November 28, 2012.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor