Annick Goutal created Sables (‘sand’ in English) as a cologne originally launched in 1985 for her beloved husband the famous cellist Alain Meunier. It’s a love letter she created for him as a souvenir of the summer vacations they spent together in Corsica.

On the Goutal website, Annick sets the scene:

“I am at the seashore, I’m having a nap. Wild everlasting flowers are growing in the sand. The sun is blazing, the air is filled with a warm, salty tang and the scent of pine resin.”

I have the vintage EDT of Sables, and on me, it opens with a bright note of sparkling bergamot softened with a note juicy mandarin orange. Soon, the immortelle wafts onto the scene, sticky, rich and a little sweet, and never leaves. It’s the North Star of the fragrance and threads through it all the way down to the base. Along the way, its different facets are released by body heat and heightened with a supporting cast of notes. First up is the balsamy aspect of immortelle. It’s fresh and green and leads to an herbaceous aspect that’s bitter, dry, green and a little boozy. A note of cinnamon adds sweetness and spicy warmth that links to the curry-like aspect of immortelle that balances the green beautifully. As it blooms, black pepper comes forward. It’s spicy, fresh and vibrant and sets up a note of sweet, musky jasmine that blooms heady and indolic, making Sables sultry and sensual. Jasmine and black tea are best friends, and they meet up here, with the black tea adding smoky and woody notes that set up a note of herbal, salty woody oakmoss. At the base, amber is warm, and sweet and brings the richness full circle as sandalwood rounds out the immortelle with its creaminess and woodiness.

Sables, dries down to a rich, seductive, masculine scent. It’s the smell of trees and plants, sun-warmed sand, salt-kissed skin and intimacy.

Notes: Bergamot, orange, Madagascan pepper, jasmine, oakmoss, Corsican Immortelle, amber, Indian sandalwood.