Sables (1985)
by Annick Goutal

WARNING: Sables lasts extremely long. This could be good or bad; for me, it's a negative. I have a lot of fragrances, and if I wore this too often, they would never see the light. That's right.. Sables lasts for DAYS. Every time I have worn it, I have gotten no less than 48 hours longevity. Projection is very good throughout as well.. but obviously not so much in the 2nd day.

It opens up with a wonderful dark roasted coffee accord, this is likely to be the immortal note.. once it fades a little it becomes spicy and strange. This would be the pepper blending with the immortal. Result: smell of sand. Yes, it truly does smell like sand and maple syrup. Eventually the pepper wears off, and the sandalwood and vanilla kick in and dry down with the immortal.

The opening is very loud and somewhat brash.. but still enjoyable. The sand like accord gives character, and the dry down is beautiful and creamy. There is nothing quite like it, that I have found.. I would classify this as an aromatic/oriental/gourmand. The closest possible fragrances I can compare it to would be Chergui or New Harlem.

My personal preference: I very much enjoy it, but it just lasts too long.. even with showering.

5th November, 2011.

...smells like 'stopverf', as the Dutch say: google translates that as 'putty', the stuff to hold the glass window in its frame. Not really something to smell like as far as I am concerned.

5th October, 2011.

Sables follows a classical drydown arc: top, heart, basenotes. The real trick though is that is that it takes you from one genre to another over this progression.

Starting with immortelle dissolved in amber, Sables gives you either a strictly sweet maple syrup candy, or a sweet and savory curry with fenugreek and raisins. It’s up to your nose. I get the latter. Either way I find it principally gourmand.

Where Sables winds up, though is in the sandlewood/amber range. While the spice-like immortelle fades in the heartnotes, by drydown, there is a light, peppery sharpness that gives the amber drydown a mineral/dry inflections not miles from that of Ambre Sultan’s scent of hot stone. Sables is the only fragrance I can think of off the top of my head that isn’t categorized so much as a hybrid (eg. floriental, leather chypre…) but as a fragrance that starts in one genre (gourmand) and ends firmly in another (amber/oriental.)

A gorgeously constructed fragrance, appropriate across the multiple (and I believe there really are many) genders, but would be a particularly smart statement of a devil-may-care appreciation of prettiness on an assured straight man.

19th August, 2011. (Last Edited: 21st August, 2011.)

On my skin, Sables starts with the top notes of salty, sun drenched sand, and a little sweet syrup. Upon the top notes dissipating, and dry down setting in, it becomes completely dominated by maple syrup, creme brulee and caramel.

There is some depth of wood and salty air underneath, which I really like and would like to have more of. But, overall on my skin the gourmand dominates with maple syrup and caramel. Although I find it very pure and elegant and well executed, it is just not my style. Perhaps I could see having this for an occasional bit of fun, I don't see myself wearing this regularly.

21st July, 2011.

In perfumery Immortal is a dangerous element as it easily becomes overwhelming with its monolitic presence and with its "love or hate" smell. Only a very few perfumes listing this plant in the pyramid note list can be considered as completely successful (i.e. Histoires De Parfums 1740 or Eldo's Like This). Sables is surely among these.

If you ever happened to sniff a real plant of Immortal you probably realized how characteristic and unmistakeable its smell is, and Sables opening gives a tremendously realistic interpretation of the plant. An INTENSE and rich mixture of burnt sugar and fenugreek that's aromatic and almost pungent, bold with a "WTF" effect.
The perfumeur decided to push this effect to the limit creating an almost brutal and mono-note fragrance with the only addiction of an ambery note. Masculine and very distinctive yet not so easy to be appreciated. Wether you'll like this composition or not it really depends on how you like Immortal as basically is all we're talking about. Personally I'm addicted.

Note: be carefull, this stuff is insanely powerful.

17th July, 2011. (Last Edited: 5th August, 2011.)

I almost couldn't bring myself to review this because I remembered how vile I thought it was during the first two testings. The beginning is fine: light florals and amber with a maple syrup edge. A bit feminine for me, but OK, I can follow it through. More woodiness develops, but it's the sweetest, most stifling wood I've encountered in a while, with brighter notes of Pepsi. I don't know if there's oud in here, but the wood also has that familiar cherryness to it. During this phase the maple syrup had subsided a bit, but soon it's back in force, and getting all over my fingers and nose. By the end, the base is pure maple syrup with flowers: my own personal olfactory hell. I won't even say that it's too feminine, as I so often do, but rather that it's too sugary. I need to wash my face now.

14th May, 2011.