L’Heure Fougueuse IV is part of Cartier’s Les Heures de Parfum collection. Inspired by their classic timepieces, each scent is named for an hour, expressed in Roman numerals, which echo the face of Cartier’s watches.
Said to be perfumer Mathilde Laurent’s homage to Edmond Roudnitska’s great work, Eau Sauvage, L’Heure Fougueuse IV opens soft and refined with citrusy bergamot and creamy, floral magnolia. These are soon joined by the smell of horse hair – gentle and clean, not harsh and dirty. It’s a smell that takes you by surprise and is so captivating you could linger in it all day. At the heart floral jasmine and narcissus bolster the floral note of magnolia while yerba mate - a small evergreen shrub, which, when its branches are dried over smoke, are used to make a drink similar to tea - adds a note of hay. It also adds a slight bitterness, which is tempered by the white florals. The mate also contributes it a lovely smokiness. There’s vetiver here too, which adds a green earthiness. It all rests on a base of smooth white musk and oakmoss bolstered by an edgy note of leather.
It smells of horse and hay, and later of worn leather, which doesn’t smell dirty so much as it smells of having been used. The herbal and floral notes give it a sense of place – a clean, well-kept stable on well maintained grounds – that play off the crisp citrus at the opening. It is a well-crafted scent, complex and perfectly balanced. To me, this is the smell of the edge of spontaneity. It is the moment before the mounting, the galloping, and the thrill of a wild ride. It smells of promise, living up to its name: fouguese – reckless, impulsive, spontaneous.
Notes: bergamot, magnolia, horse hair, jasmine, narcissus, yerba mate, vetiver, musk, oakmoss, and leather.
Type: EdT
Parfumeur: Mathilde Laurent
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