Reviews of Méchant Loup (1997)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

A slightly bizarre scent with clear changes from top to base. The initial accord is surprisingly gourmand and spicy, like eating a curry in the middle of a wet, muddy forest. A couple of hours in, I get less of the spicy, turmeric-like notes and more of the cedar smokiness. This phase, between hours 2-3, is my favorite as the scent has a wonderful, warm, outdoors-y character with hints of wet fur and Autumn leaves. Then, all too quickly it's gone. By the 5th hour or so, this has faded to a dry-down akin to several L'Artisan scents, on me at least. Timbuktu, Dzongkha, Passage D'Enfer, Mechant Loup - all smell alike on me after 5 hours. There must be some regular L'Artisan basenote(s) that does this, but I haven't quite identified it yet. It sounds crazy and unlikely I know, but I did a test with the very dissimilar Passage D'Enfer on one wrist and Mechant Loup on the other. After 5 hours, I couldn't tell which was which. This makes me sad! So... a great forest-like scent but as with several other L'Artisans needs frequent reapplication to retain its true character.

From reading all the reviews here, I thought i would be greeted with a beautiful blend of hazelnuts and honey behind a woody backdrop, which sounds great to me. I DO get these notes, but it's hard to distinguish them most of the time because a black licorice accord keeps beating me over the head without mercy. This might be good for some; personally, I can only take anise in very small, controlled doses (and it helps when it's being overpowered by a series of other notes). It's a shame, because in the brief moments where the licorice gives me some olfactory fatigue, the true beauty of this scent shines though. If the licorice was gone, or even controlled, this would be worth of picking up a bottle. As it stands, I'll give it a neutral because as far as I can tell, I'm the only one to ever experience this excessive licorice phenomena. Plus, even with its faults, it doesn't smell *bad*. Just not my cup of tea.

I really like it at first, it's sort of boozy and woody and full-bodied enough to be slightly "foody" without being sweet. A masculine foody perhsp? But it fades fast and turns into a more traditional clean/alcoholic masculine scent.

Starts off like burning hazelnuts then quickly calms down to a creamy hazelnut with a little honey smell. But it doesn't last long at all

hazlenuts... I really dont get it. I bought this one blindly off the rave reviews and never wore it even once. I'd rather wear it than cool water by davidoff thats for sure, but it totally didnt make it into rotation for me

This one is quite alright. Although not as good as Voleur de Roses. Best suited for cold weather. Thinking of using it as my signature scent during the autumn./benb

The Baron de Charlus once told me: 'I quite like this, but why do they call this oh so reserved bunny a wicked wolf?'

Although the quality of this is impeccable I can't sniff it w/o getting a headache. Perhaps its the concentration of certain elements as this does last quite long and is a mellow, relaxingly sexy scent. Certainly worth a try.