Note Pyramid
Esprit Mondain
Red wine and grapes in the heart of a fragrance is a rare thing, and it is the whole argument for Brecourt Esprit Mondain Eau de Parfum Gift Set.
The opening gives no hint of it. Amalfi lemon is bright and rounded, galbanum fiercely green and bitter, like snapped stems, and black pepper adds dryness and heat. For a few minutes it is sharp and almost severe, and anyone judging the scent in that window will get it wrong. Then the middle arrives and it changes its manners entirely. Grapes and red wine together are fruity, tannic and faintly sour, lavender adds a clean herbal calm above them, tarragon a liquorice edged greenness and elemi a bright resin. It smells like a glass being poured in a room full of cut stems, and nothing else in the house range comes close to the effect. The turn out of the green opening takes a good twenty minutes and it is the most enjoyable stretch of the whole wear.
The base is dignified. Amber and myrrh are warm and resinous, myrrh carrying a dry, slightly medicinal bitterness, virginia cedar adds a pencil like dryness and musk closes the whole thing to the skin. Emilie Bouge composed it, and the balance she strikes between the fruit and the resin is the reason it stays wearable rather than becoming a novelty.
It makes a good present for someone who has already worked through the obvious designer bottles and wants something with an idea behind it. Autumn and winter suit it best, it is better in the evening than at noon, and it reads unisex. The maker, Brecourt, is a small niche perfumery based in France, and its fragrances are composed by Emilie Bouge, who was born in the Grasse countryside.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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