Reviews of L'Anarchiste (2000)
by Caron

i think foetidus has it spot on here with his description of the orange blossom and mandarin notes in l'anarchiste - it's not harsh citrus accord by any means, but more of a tamed yet twisted, candied orange, yet not particularly sweet. that's not to say there isn't a degree of sweetness overall, but this combined with the vetiver as it starts to dry down impressed on me a somewhat traditional masculine soapy quality - as has been noted, hardly anarchic. the initial waft is perhaps almost orange liquer-esque, a sort of cointreau note progressing into wonderful sandalwood which softens the cedar assault into something i find almost beautiful, this boozey-orange tinged-woodsy symphony which almost should be a mess but really works. but as i've said, when the vetiver rears it's head it all goes soapy, spoiling l'anarchiste for me before i get to the gorgeous lingering skin-scent musk, which still retains a hint of the sandalwood and the merest, faintest whiff of what finally seems might be the orange blossom.

i'll buy this for sure, but the vetiver soapiness means this is no anarchist, rather almost formal.

As a gift to myself, I've gotten lots of samples of a wide range of scents. Once a week, I take one to work and 5 or 6 of us give it a try. We (all women) try the scents without looking at the information on the decant, so we don't have preconceived notions. We all found this very pleasant. It has a nice sillage but still seems close to the skin. My husband likes it on me, too ("cinnamon-y" to his nose). Perhaps we used smaller amounts that those who found this juice noxious. I'm still trying to figure it out. It is unusual. I'll put a heavier dose on today. Maybe I won't like that so much.

I wonder if those who pick up a "blood" note aren't picking up a little smell of copper? There's an enzyme in the blood, ceruloplasmin, that contains and also carries copper.

BTW, a scent that smelled really freaky to my husband and myself was Myrrh Ardente. A bit like visits to the doctor after a bad scrape, maybe a little like an embalming room, or your childhood dentist's office.

Bought it blind off the internet based on the sweet lookin bottle,the contents however not sweet at all. Matter of fact, i have yet to wear in the public to see what the world thinks about it,until then ill stay neutral

Spices often blur a fragrance, but whoever made this handled them with a relative degree of finesse, allowing for some clarity and enough dissonance between the citrus, spices, and wood to keep it interesting for a while. The spices dominate the scent and are followed closely by a lot of wood and something that gives it a little too much comfort and sweetness for a fragrance called L’Anarchiste. The only thing of any interest during the initial drydown is a vetiver note that peeks out a little further trying to establish itself. It never really does, and what you end up with is the remnants of a fragrance dominated by spices, the woods that have accompanied them, and a good deal of musk. It’s not a bad scent by any means, but it suffers from the tiresome affability of spices early on and never really recovers. Either way, if you like spices, woods, and musk, you might like it. It also works better in cooler temperatures giving liveliness to the spices, making it feel more brisk, and perhaps even a little edgy if you try hard enough.

I like the scent but I just couldn't force myself to buy it because of the bottle. It looks so ugly and weird to me. I think it should have been named R.I.P. instead and I don't think I can be in my bedroom alone with this bottle on my grooming table. Spooky...

A find it an interesting fragrance. Opening up it smells a lot like that Muscle & Joint Pain Relief ointment, Bengay. I don't hate it but not really excited by it either. Glad I got a decant first.

My feeling on L'Anarchiste falls directly between PigeonMurderer ("death's door...infected blood") and robyogi's ("alive"). To me this is the scent of the Living Dead, specifically, a zombie reanimation of Herrera for Men's cadaver. It's Clove, Cedar and Musk, but with this fructosey, battery-acid-like orange note shot through the whole composition, plus the floating, spectral presence of metal and blood. I can't account for these accords in the notes, but L'Anarchiste smells distinctly of metal and blood. It has a ghastly, vampiric aura to it that I can't say I'd really want to wear very much, but it's undeniably compelling.

This is perhaps the only fragrance that I haven't made up my mind about after years of exposure. I tried it in the States first and I thought it was a bad joke, I thought it smelled like old tobacco in a rusty bucket with rotten orange peels... Later on I got a sample of it from Mark (MJH) and I kind of enjoyed it. Now however I'm sceptical again. I most honestly say, pointing out there is a lot of niche stuff i haven't tried yet, that this is the most original and strange commercial fragrance I have ever tried. As much as I deeply respect the fine noses of this community I find it weird, almost disturbing,that so many love this one here! It's sooo strange. I've studied it's pyramid many times and I find some key notes missing. To me this sucker is entirely about: Orange zest, incredibly strong tobacco, mint/menthol, some very weird metallic "rusty" note and heavy, dirty musks. I have the feeling I 'll never quite "get" this scent...