L'Anarchiste (2000)
by Caron

This is far from the usual, pretty much on the edge at the very outset. Later it tames down a little, and winds up smelling creamy and elegant. An anarchist in youth that has come to the finer things of life later on? The early phase does have much of the firebrand about it; the drydown speaks of maturity, but definitely not of disenchantment or resignation, with a bit of powdery musk still showing the nonconformist edge. The bottle I have was a gift from a friend of excellent taste, but it was not brand new when I received it. On my skin it doesn't fulfill its reputation for longevity, but perhaps the bottle is old enough for the juice to have gone off a bit. i can always spray a little more to keep it going... and I do think it's worth keeping it going!

L’Anarchiste reminds me of the famous 19th century Russian Anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. Bakunin was both physically and intellectually striking, loved the good life, and was almost always busy trying to transform the world. Like Bakunin, L’Anarchiste is striking, brings the good life to mind, and never relaxes entirely.

L’Anarchiste opens with a heady mix of orange blossom, mandarin, and cedar leaves. The combination is a little bit boozy, a little bit sharp, a little bit fresh, sort of enthusiastic, and for me, at least, addictive. I thought that this accord would collapse into soft and round citrus, but it doesn’t. The cedar leaves keep this accord alive for up to ten hours on my skin, and the accord is constantly ducking and weaving to show how alive and interesting it can continue to be.

Beneath the citrus and cedar leaves an accord of elegant sandalwood and cedar wood begins to develop, culminating in a bond between the cedar leaves and cedar wood. This conjunction holds the top and middle together for the entire day, and provides a platform on which the top accord can strut its stuff.

At the base of L’Anarchiste is a combination of vetiver and musk. The vetiver is earthy without being dirty, and the musk is soft and round enough to not overwhelm the top or middle.

Unlike Third Man, L’Anarchiste is not a study in urbane sophistication. It is more forthright and practical than its stable mate, but no less pleasing or interesting.

* Months Later *

The thrill is gone.

The endless orange and mentholated cedar leaves now bore me.

I haven’t had any interest in wearing this since I purchased YSL’s Kouros.

I’ll take hyper masculine citrus, clove, and civet over odd and linear L’Anarchiste every time.

L’Anarchiste is still a well made and unusual fragrance, but be careful to think about whether you really feel like wearing it frequently before you buy the big flacon.

Rating changed from thumbs up to neutral.

This is a very sweet foody fragrance, reminiscent of an apple crumble at high-class bakery. Not the most anarchistic thing I've ever smelled, clearly. On my skin its not particularly dynamic, but what's there I like a lot. It manages to be sweet without being cloying, tart without being astringent and is just overall a good scent. Not much longevity but good while it lasts.

at first it smells like medicine on my skin .. a medicine of happiness i've recovered by now!
it really smells like the first days of december .. i can tell: i was born 11th december - and it recalls childhood memories! at least in my case!
it seems to be "my" fragrance!
warm, very spicy, different, enchanting, ..
even the flacon is a piece of art: it changes its looks during its use, due to its covering of copper!
let us call this fragrance: a piece of art!
definitely unique!

I have always liked this, but don't really want a bucket of it -- have only ever seen that huge almost organic copper bottle. It's a good name for the scent beacuse even though the notes seem innocuous enough, they all get in a ring and have a battle, especially the fruit, woods and vetiver. The orange blossom is a lovely rendition (not all are) --- oh enough -- the overall feeling is hard to explain, you just have to try it like all good empiricists.

Caron L'Anarchiste

It was early in my exploration of scents that I tried the Caron "masculine holy trinity" of pour Un Homme, Le 3me Homme, and Yatagan. They were all excellent scents on me. It took a little while longer for me to try L'Anarchiste. Richard Fraysse created L'Anarchiste in 2000 and it is encased in a striking copper bottle designed by Serge Mansau. This is one of those cases where everyone involved artistically on this should be pleased. The top notes are orange in the form of mandarin which quickly are joined by the clean lines of cedar. As this prgresses into the heart the orange becomes lighter and sandalwood joins the cedar to add a creaminess to the wood and to soften some of the edges that cedar brings to this scent. The woods stick around as a plush musk takes over and then the edge returns in the form of vetiver to round out the base. L'Anarchiste fits easily into the trio of Caron men's scents that came before. L'anarchiste falls closer to Yatagan than to either Le 3me Homme or pour Un Homme but really has its own unique place on the Caron spectrum. Looks like the "holy trinity" just gained a fourth.