Note Pyramid
Mauvais Garçon
Spice and lavender make a very old fashioned pairing, and Brecourt Mauvais Garçon Eau de Parfum Gift Set uses it without the slightest embarrassment.
Cinnamon and nutmeg open the scent hot and dry, with bergamot adding brightness, basil a green anise edge and elemi a resinous lift. The spice is unmistakable from the first second and it never entirely leaves, which is unusual: most compositions use cinnamon as an effect and then drop it.
Lavender and artemisia make a short, dry heart. Lavender is clean and herbal, artemisia bitter and slightly medicinal, and together they are the traditional backbone of masculine perfumery, used here as a bridge rather than as the whole structure. That stretch lasts perhaps half an hour before the base takes over.
The base is sweeter and smoother than any of that suggests. Tonka bean brings a dry sweetness close to marzipan, vanilla warms it, sandalwood and virginia cedar add creaminess and dryness in turn, and patchouli grounds the lot in earth. The work is Emilie Bouge's, and the way she lets the spice run from top to bottom is what holds the two halves together.
Bought as a gift it suits a man who likes some spice in a fragrance and has no interest in smelling like everybody else at the table. It is at its best in autumn and winter and after dark, and it rewards restraint when applying, since the cinnamon carries further than most people expect. Two sprays will see out an evening and leave something behind on a coat collar the next morning. Brecourt is a French niche perfume house, small in scale, and its scents carry the signature of Emilie Bouge, a perfumer from the Grasse area.
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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