You can be standing on the corner of Dull and Dreary watching all the usual stuff go by, until something catches your attention and you turn the corner onto Interesting and Worthwhile. That’s what it was like for me when I first smelled Dans tes Bras from Frédéric Malle.
Frédéric Malle is a pretty interesting cat. Grandson of perfumer Serge Heftler-Louiche, who was head of the perfume division at Dior and nephew of filmmaker Louis Malle, Frédéric Malle knows the business of fragrance and understands and appreciates the creative process, which may explain the concept behind his Edition de Parfums Frédéric Malle
A small indie house that doesn’t have to bow to the tastes and whims of the mass market, Edition de Parfums Frédéric Malle lets perfumers follow their noses and create the scents they want to make. And respectful of their work, Malle takes the perfumers out of the shadows and puts their names right on the bottle of juice. This gives the nose acknowledgment and let’s the customer know whose work they are buying. It also saves the rest of us a lot of tapping around and looking for who made what on the internet.
I like the concept behind Edition de Parfums Frédéric Malle, but, as my ob-gyn says, ‘The conception may have been great, but if you can’t deliver…[shrug shoulders here]’. I am a huge fan of this line and Dans tes Bras does deliver.
The opening of bergamot, clove and violet is quite strong. Once this subsides, what’s left is a warm woodsy, spicy, earthy scent, with a floral note from jasmine. After a while this gets salty and warmer still from sandalwood, patchouli, incense. Salicylates give it a whiff of sun tan lotion and a tanginess.
Maurice Roucel wanted to create a scent that evokes the intimacy of being in someone’s arms. Post-coital perhaps? Why not? Maybe.
To me, this EDP smells more of European skin than North American skin. Dans tes Bras is being in Menton on a summer’s day and meeting a close friend for a meal. You greet them with a hug and a kiss, and at that moment when you are close up and your nose brushes their cheek and neck you smell their day on their skin – bit of sweat, bit of fragrance, and bit of the sun. That moment of intimacy, of entre nous, is what Dans tes Bras captures so beautifully.
Dans tes Bras is listed in our Decant store. Decants are $9.00 for 1 ml.
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