L'Antichambre




I hang around at Los Angeles' premier perfume shop Scent Bar so much that the owners decided to put me to work. "Smell some stuff!" they exclaimed, "Then tell some people!" Done and done.

What I'm smelling here is a line from Brussels called L'Antichambre. Scent Bar (and their online store, Lucky Scent) is the only joint outside of Belgium offering the brand. The perfumes are elegant and vivid, each with a distinct presence.

I go into detail on my especial favorites in the video, but here are my quickie notes on the ones that popped out for me from L'Antichambre:

Misreading "Pink Pepper" as "Pepper Rose", I went looking for a rose and found geranium. A pepper perfume with an incense moustache and a fruity kiss.


Speculoos.


Opulence with restraint, a smokey incense of vetiver, suede, black tea, birch oil, and pine resin. A hopped-up Donna Karan Fuel for Men.


Spicy fennel. Fresh! Electricity and green trees. Sandalwood milkiness with a bit of nutmeg. Reminds me of a cross between Comme des Garçons Odeur 71 and Satellite Padparadscha.


A lived-in, faded amber oriental that smells like it's already been living on a man's skin. Must be the sweaty cumin.

Metallic mint powder and cedar and patchouli. Like a mint version of Aki by Tann-Rokka (a perfume I bought on two consecutive trips to London, and used both bottles to the last drop). Coup de Coeur is a Lucky Scent exclusive.


A sample pack of Lucky Scent's entire L'Antichambre offerings is available at LuckyScent.com at $45 for 12 x 0.7ml vials


36 comments:

  1. Oh dear, you've gone all QVC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd totally stay up until 2 in the morning to watch you hawk perfumes on *either* channel. And I'd end up buying everything you talked about. Sorceress!

      Delete
    2. Bless you, Nathan! But you would say that - you're ready to shop at the drop of a martini olive.

      Delete
    3. I would stay up until 2 am to watch you read the phone book.

      Delete
    4. Do they still have phone books?

      Delete
  2. You've just stoked my already almost-frenzied craving to visit Scent Bar. OK, so it's a 17-hour plane journey away from me - but that's why planes were invented,after all. It looks like Les Senteurs, only with sunshine and no need to find somewhere to stash your umbrella. :) Justineantonia xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Scent Bar is the same deal as Les Senteurs, but with an even bigger selection of goodies. And yes, more sunshine.

      Delete
    2. Actually, a friend just left on a trip to LA, and I have directed her to Scent Bar. I may have been subliminally influenced by a tiny amount of self interest. I may have provided her with a little shopping list on my behalf. But essentially the gesture was selfless, really... :) Justineantonia xoxo

      Delete
    3. Of course it was selfless. You're only concerned with enhancing your friend's trip, that's all.

      Delete
  3. I was just there during my little trip to Southern California last week. I confess to being a little disappointed that you weren't hanging out there when I got there. But when I purchased a bottle of Loukhoum I was told that I had just missed Keiko Mecheri herself. I suppose that's something... I wish we had something at all like Scent Bar here in Chicago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, sorry to miss you, Blauriche. Funny, I had a "just missed Keiko" experience in London at Liberty.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Your version of Scent Bar is Les Senteurs, with two fantastic shops in London.

      Delete
    2. Katie, there's a new store that has popped up in Spitalfields which is sort of like a cross between Scent Bar and Les Senteurs. It's called BLOOM and they appear to stock some lines that Les Scenteurs doesn't. You may well be aware of it already but I thought it wouldnt hurt to bring it to your attention.

      Delete
    3. Bloom is a very nice shop! I stumbled across it last autumn.

      Delete
  5. I can not wait to get to Sent Bar! Hurry up Month of April and gt here! Katie, as far as this review goes and the line L'Antichambre, well, to borrow a line from Blanche Du Bois "You make my mouth water."
    Cheers
    Lanier

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looooved this video! I haven't purchased from ScentBar in a while, but now you make me totally want to order the discovery set from them.

    Beloved Woman has been haunting me. On my skin, it has that strange balance of slightly-masculine-vintage-beauty, with woods and incense. Your review makes these sound like they might be in the same vein, for waaay less money. I have to try them out!

    ReplyDelete
  7. PS - your french is so pretty! Would you consider doing a video where you just go through some of your favorite perfumes with french names, so that we brutish americans can know how to pronounce them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So kind of you to say. I strive for correct-ish pronunciation, but it's hit or miss. I certainly get it in the ear from angry French speakers when I make a misstep on YouTube, so I can't say I'm confident enough to instruct my fellow brutes!

      Delete
    2. They need to chill out. Whenever French people mispronounce English, we think it's charming or adorable.

      Delete
    3. That's always my defense. But I think the underlying reason for the raised hackles is the suspicion of cultural imperialism on the part of the "damn Yankees" - that we don't care enough to bother to get the details of other cultures correct. Which isn't the case here, of course!

      Delete
    4. I started learning French about a year ago--in fits and starts, so nowhere near fluent--but it was really difficult for me to wrap my brain around the pronunciation. I kept wanting to say things as though they were Spanish.

      That being said, I know that Americans have not always been on their best behavior when visiting Europe. Or maybe their "best" just wasn't cutting the mustard. Which makes me sick.

      Delete
  8. They all sound so interesting, what a cool place you must have felt like a kid in a candy store :0) xxxJoolsxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A kid with an insatiable appetite for candy!

      Delete
  9. Ash (from London)March 13, 2013 1:59 PM

    I'm not sure where to put in a request for this (other than by email and I'm not sure that is entirely necessary) but I would love, LOVE (LOVE!) to read (or watch, whichever you would prefer) your take on Parfumerie Générale's Louanges Profanes, Katie! It is a beautiful floral incense so should be right up your alley and really I think it deserves more than the smattering of sentences it has been afforded on t'internet.

    It has me completely bewitched. Louanges Profanes is quite simply divinity in a bottle!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmmmm....Louanges Profanes, you say? I must have made its acquaintance in passing at some point, but you have made a solid case for re-investigation.

      Delete
    2. Ash (from London)March 14, 2013 1:06 PM

      You should read this little piece from Les Senteurs:

      http://lessenteurs.wordpress.com/tag/louanges-profanes/

      Delete
  10. I loved the "petrified astronaut's breakfast" line. You are the ne plus ultra of kooky humourists. Or do I mean speculoos?

    I have actually been to a petrified forest, which was a bit random to say the least.

    Of the scents you describe, I am most intrigued about the peppery rose, as I love a lot of scents in that general vein. I recently committed Kenzo Flower Oriental to a Travalo - imagine that! Some past boyfriends never made it that far.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha...now that's a punchline I didn't expect!

      Delete
  11. Please report back to Scent Bar/ Lucky scent, specifically, - you have "paid your dues"- as, I am sure that I am only one of many who will be ordering the discovery set as a result of your good work! lovely review/ video!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yippeee!Just received my latest Luckyscent samples , included is the L'Antichambre discovery sample set- and what fun...!I'm glad that you introduced this to me- overall, after first sniff of each...smells like there will be some that will be fun "getting to know" in here....Also had to try Bruno Acampora Musc after watching your rave review....and several others...This brings me to a dilemma I frequently face and don't know how to resolve....For all the fumeheads and Katie..I would be interested to know methods for exploring a newly arrived set of samples....When I see that little box on my front porch..I get super excited and my typical M.O. is: retrieve box, hunker down in my office ( in front of computer) and open every single one to sniff one right after the other....the computer serves as a tool- as I may use it to confirm notes - or reference a review or two as I sniff. Typically, I only apply a few to my skin(this is actually the only restraint I seem to have in this situation-) and will apply a different scent to each wrist, smearing a bit of another couple on backs of each hand...but then I arrive in the condition that I am now....overwhelmed by fragrance...wanting to smell them all again, but nose is burned out...and I know I can't apply anymore to my skin...and then, I think, well whats the point if I don't test them on my skin?....b/c for me, it's the "living in it" part that has often taken me from thinking something is so-so to sublime..AND..sometimes the opposite occurs once I 'live in" a fragrance for a bit....I wish that I had been one of those kids who was able to "save" that special outfit for the first day of school- or just in general, were a more methodical, organized, patient being who could savor the moment better and leave something as a surprise...but...alas, I tend to usually favor the road to instant gratification...wonder if anyone has a method for handling a new set of samples that works well for them?..Katie?....p.s. next trip to trader joes is going to involve some sort of speculoos purchase

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My perfume pen pal Dan favors your instant gratification system and typically ends up making himself a tad ill, as if he'd eaten a whole box of speculoos cookies. I'm the opposite, I'll wear just one on each wrist and ponder on them for a while (unless there's a looming deadline, and then I'll binge).

      Delete
  13. I really want to sample Le Speculoos but it seems ridiculous that for a line that comes from mainland Europe, that I have to get it shipped from Los Angeles.

    Wasted air miles or what?!

    ReplyDelete