Eau des Îles (1988)
by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier

Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Eau des Iles

I used to spend my summers on a sailboat in the Caribbean instead of going to summer camp. When we would tie up in a local marina my friend Buddy and I would untie out bicycles from down below and be ready to go exploring. I can always remember my legs astride my bike looking at a new island and taking a deep breath. I would smell the flowers indigenous to the islands, usually there would be bags of spices to be shipped somewhere, the smell of smoke drifting, and somewhere the smell of roasting coffee. That was the smell of exploration for much of my young life. Thanks to a very generous Basenoter I have rediscovered this smell in Jean Laporte's 1988 creation for Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Eau des Iles. The top of this is the smell of myrtle and tarragon the mix of light floral and light spice is exactly what the breeze would bring. As we move into the heart, a beautiful coffee accord becomes evident along with a smoky incense, that is more smoke than incense, and the floral character deepens as ylang ylang adds to the myrtle from the top. The coffee accord deserves mentioning because this is an accord of the oily roasted bean, slightly woody and very aromatic. The base is a classic Laporte mix of patchouli and vetiver and this is the herbal kind of patchouli which mixes well with the green sharpness of vetiver. Eau des Iles is one of those scents that seems to last forever on my skin as I always detect it the next morning. Eau des Iles also was a scent that took me multiple wears for me to finally be able to wrap my head around it. Which, on reflection, is only appropriate for a scent which reminds me of my days of exploring new things.

Opening reminiscent of Aromatics Elixer from Clinique. Drydown is a wood/musk mixture similar to Muscs Koublai Khan from Lutens.

This was a find, several years ago, before MPG sold its fragrant soul to the ways of a cruel and fetid world... Eau des Iles distilled the passion of the islands, ostended tropical sensuality through corpulent coffees, shards of fresh green, and radiant bright spices projected over a background of deep browns and scuffed soft-skinned woods. It was a masterpiece of dynamicity... Eau des Iles was a compliment waiting to happen...

A leather-chypre slant with a strange, evocative set of notes. Labdanum serves for the leather note in this, with curious companions in the heart note of coffee, frankincense and the surprising floral ylang-ylang. Myrrh in the top (it's usually a base note) with a green, but slightly anise-like tarragon for support. Galbanum in the base (usually a top note) echoes the tarragon, and patchouli and vetiver are just typical of Jean Laporte. The effect is marvelous, even enrapturing (to me, at least); it is rich, with a green undernote that both delights and astonishes, so deftly tucked into a dry woody-oriental-leather scent. Laporte at his best, it is on a par with Santal Noble and Parfum d'Habit for masculine elegance.

Smells like oakmoss and coffee at first. This is very quirky. Gives into a civet-type note in the middle. Smoky. I can't describe this coherently. Whoa there's the coffee again. Now some incense. Now some florals. Something to wear five or six times in order to get the full gist of it. Cool.

First Sniff and here it comes, punch in my face!:
It’s a funny mix of soft Colombian green coffee beans and a very dry accord of grapefruit. The blend is very medicinal like.
Then the galbanum comes through:
The galbanum smell is acrid, resinous, balsamic, bitter note I understand now the medicinal previous touch. It’s accompanied with green herbal touches, I think is palmarosa (a mild sweet floral like odor with a strong herbal note), that mixes nicely with creamy ylang-ylang.
The drydown is placed by a smoky incense note , cedar, and a touch of shy clove.
The sillage is superb!.
It’s a strong smoky fragrance.
Will I wear it?. Not sure!.
After several hours, when this tenacious perfume dies, the close-to-skin scent reamins as something similar as the smell that your skin, hair and clothes have when you spend some time in front of a campfire.