L'Artisan Parfumeur Seville a l'Aube



For fume blogger and The Perfume Lover author Denyse Beaulieu, the smell of orange blossom absolute sampled in perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour's lab was an "ah-HA!" moment. The sweet but sexually insinuating orange blossom was the quarter in the jukebox, the olfactory nudge that triggered Beaulieu's full-blown recollection of a long-ago night in the arms of her Spanish boyfriend. As she detailed the sights, sounds and smells of that night in Seville during the Holy Week parade, Duchaufour had his own "ah-HA!" moment. Beaulieu's story became the germ of the idea for Séville à l'Aube, springing like a genie from a nondescript bottle of solvent-extracted oil. 130-odd modifications later (detailed in full fume-nerd technicolor in The Perfume Lover), this interpretation of sultry/sacred Seville is the latest release from L'Artisan Parfumeur. Séville à l'Aube takes its place in the "innocent with a dirty mind" category of orange blossom fragrances: Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle, Guerlain Habit Rouge, Serge Lutens Fleur d'Oranger. I would say Séville à l'Aube is drier, less muggy than those louche numbers, owing to the subtly restraining hand of incense. The church reminds these lovers not to get too carried away -- after all, after the dawn comes a bright new day, with no shadows where reckless lust can thrive.
Séville à l'Aube is available from LuckyScent.com at $165 for 100 ml

30 comments:

  1. Wow! What an amazing thing to happen to someone. I'm looking forward to having a sniff. As a fact fan, I loved that you revealed what you wore on your wedding day and am not at all surprised that you matched the perfume to the occasion so well.

    Speaking of incense-y smellin' things, I recently received a sample of the frankincense night cream by skincare brand REN. I have never smelled a skincare product like it; I smell like a church when I use it. It's quite addictive.

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    1. Nash, I'm fascinated by that Ren frankincense cream. On me, it doesn't quite ratchet up to full church, but I love how sharp/dry/not quite sure what it is. Unexpected in a face cream!

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  2. Katie, you're trending now with perfumed dining tables. En pointe. Next you'll end up in a Nathan Branch column. Zooming' into the office now to soak my writing desk with Encre Noire. Looking forward to your next post on Seville Dawn. It's 6am in NZ, wearing Seville Dawn at dawn, birds flying high know how I feel, it's going to be One Fine Day.

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    1. Ya hear that, Nathan? Funny, Jordan! Perfumed furniture is the future, and the future is now. Encre Noire is the perfect writing desk fragrance.

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  3. I'm not particularly experienced with orange-flower perfumes (I am planning to smell a few to get a comparison) but I really liked Seville a l'aubewhen I smelt it: it felt very spacious, and very recognisable, whilst creating a very definite mental image (funnily enough exactly that of a burnished gold disc that Denyse mentions in her book). I'm going to have to retry. It may well become my favourite of the l'artisan range. I also liked the immediacy of the spaciousness; usually, one has to wait until the drydown for a fume to open out and relax, at which point the space created is often just the absence of what has gone before. However, this seemed like a fume you can walk around in from the start, whilst it being at the same time detailed and interesting, and I liked that.

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    1. That's it, isn't it: the spaciousnous, the immediate "ahhhhhh...." of Séville à l'Aube. No tense spikiness to grit your teeth through to get to the pillowy stuff.

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  4. I got goose-bumps when you talked about the possibility of teaming up with someone of Bertrand's experience to create a perfume from your memory. :)
    Btw, I'm wearing Seville today.

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  5. What a story! I can see it as a movie staring Audrey Tautou. I have fallen in love with incense of late so this perfume sounds right up my Rue de Lanier. I will have to start a little piggy bank for this one. Thanks Katie I am now off to look for Denyse Beaulieu's blog.

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  6. Hi Katie. I enjoyed hearing your insights into this gem. All the advance publicity made me nervous--would it live up to the buzz? Once again BD has transformed a note I don't like into a bottle that I must own. I'm talking about tuberose (Nuit de Tubereuse) and orange blossom in this new one. In fact, I notice a kinship between the two fragrances. And once again BD has created a perfume with brains. ~Suzy Q

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    1. But Suzy Q, I'm thinking you must be a stealth white floral fan if you fell for both a tuberose and an orange blossom...? Maybe your nose knows the truth, and your brain just hasn't accepted it yet!

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  7. I'm chomping on the proverbial bit to see your interview smell a whiff of this fume! This sounds so on the nose (ptp=pardon the pun) in terms of my hunt for the true "me" perfume. And you got me think'in...what would be the experience around which I would build a perfume? Definitely incorporating my obsession with French bulldogs.....I'd call it.."boubou" That's it! Cant' wait for your next intriguing post!

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    1. There have been a few wet dog perfumes, and a few dog paw perfumes. Perhaps "Boubou" might smell of fur and comfort.

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  8. I was so ready to love this, Orange Blossom, Bertrand Duchaufour, what's not to love? well...the lavender makes me feel like I'm wearing good bathroom cleaner....I do love the neroli note in POM homme. by FK. or Thirdman's Monumentale.

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    1. I think I expected Seville a L'Aube to be dirtier, somehow - the way Fleur du Male smells good'n'dirty to me. But SaL'A smells too dry to be properly dirty.

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  9. I have been enjoying this a lot this week, and realise that I may have softened my hard stance on lavender at last! As you say in your vid, it comes off more as a background whiff of green and herbalness.

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    1. The lavender isn't a botheration for me here, either.

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    2. Seville lavender (L. luisieri) actually smells nothing like lavender. It's closer to immortelle, actually. It's the freak of the lavender family.

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    3. Thanks for the clarification, Marla - luisieri's rogue nature is why its inclusion in the perfume isn't troubling the lavenderphobes. When I interviewed Bertrand and Denyse, they both stressed how different luisieri is to the lavender we're familiar with - and how animalic it is.

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  10. This sounds heavenly! Can't wait to peep your interview with Denise et Bertrand...What a beautiful story of inspiration!!!I feel a bit tipsy just imagining the embrace of the beautiful Spaniard combined with the wafting aromas!- Def gotta try this one! AND, you look so lovely in the video- but kept getting distracted by the background lamp- Katie, are we seeing a leg lamp with a spat shoed foot back there??

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    1. pinkcash, you and other eagle-eyed viewers have commented on the leg lamp, and although I can see why you're getting "spat" out of it, it's actually in the shape of a horse leg, with a white "sock" on top of the hoof.

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    2. horse leg in a sock, you say? How unexpected!that explains why the leg is so muscular- I did wonder why it was a male dancer's leg in tights wearing the spats, but now that I know it's actually a horse in socks- it all makes perfect sense!

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    3. Except I must clarify that by "sock" I don't mean a literal sock, but the part where the fur turns from brown to white in a sock-like manner.

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  11. and I am glad that you did clarify that for me:)

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  12. "No tense spikiness to grit your teeth through to get to the pillowy stuff."

    Pooka - if you ever give up writing on perfume, I believe you could be a great dating advice columnist as well.

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    1. Heh. A little off-label application of my perfume advice, eh?

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  13. Fantasy in a bottle, indeed. I told you perfume was like reading a book.

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  14. Love Duchaufour's perfumes, love Grain de Musc - a book about both of them creating a perfume is a dream come true for a fan, as well.

    I also like the touch of cologne-like freshness in Seville, which references the cologne that the Spanish men in the scene are wearing. ~~nozknoz

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    1. Yes nozknoz, I do remember Bertrand and Denyse talking about wanting that "Spanish man smell" in the perfume, via the luisieri lavender.

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