Reviews of Sables (1985)
by Annick Goutal

I don't know what everyone is talking about - this doesn't smell like maple syrup. It's called "Sables", not "Sirop d'Erable". I smell a heavy, thick amber on the bottom, with a bit of dried fenugreek up top (that's probably the immortelle I'm smelling). Unlike most orientals, Sables is not a sweet scent, but a very rich and exotic scent. A few sprays will last a good 8 to 10 hours, so you can enjoy it all day long. The heavy, rich nature of Sables makes it great to wear in cold weather, but it's also suitable in warm weather because it really does exude the essence of sun-baked sand. If you're looking for a really unique scent and are sick of "sport" fragrances and Cool Water clones, Sables is for you. My only complaint is that sometimes it can be hard to wear - the tail end of its drydown can be a bit harsh in that it has a sharp and very dry wood smell at the very end that can be a little unpleasant. Otherwise, Sables is an excellent men's fragrance. Also would be very suitable for the ladies as well.

Essentially a maple syrup and immortelle combo, Sables is a unique creation from the '80s that was way ahead of its time. I don't find sables as sweet as others have mentioned but, overlooking the degree of sweetness, the immortelle is the key ingredient here – it tones down the sweetness, provides Sables with its unique identity and enables the scent to last on the skin for a ridiculous number of hours.

Its longevity is amazing, period. However, its weak spot lies in the lack of projection as it stays very close to the skin. Maybe this was originally how Sables was intended to be worn. Comparisons have been made to Chergui and Eau Noire, to which I can see certain parallels (more so with Eau Noire’s use of immortelle, spices and vanilla) especially with regards to their exotic origins. However, out of the three, I much prefer Chergui.

[Original submission date: 13 April 2008]

Annick Goutal Sables

In 1985 Annick Goutal wanted to design a masculine scent for her husband cellist Alain Meunier, from that inspiration arose Sables. Perfumery is rife with scents inspired by loved ones and I always find it interesting what a perfumer will choose to pay homage to that loved one. Mme. Goutal made a very interesting choice to center Sables around immortelle, also known as the everlasting flower. Immortelle is one of the most distinctive notes in perfumery as with its distinctive maple syrup and herbal smell it is rarely confused with anything else. Immortelle is also a difficult note to work with because of its strength, a perfumer can't add too much delicacy because it will get overwhelmed and so the choices of other notes have to be bold, as well. Mme Goutal chose three notes to stand up to the immortelle and they are sandalwood, vanilla, and pepper. At the top this is all immortelle as the herbal maple syrupy smell is all-enveloping and very strong. Sables is a scent one has to be very careful about overspraying because I imagine too much of this, particularly at the beginning, would put anyone off of this one. For the first 15 minutes or so immortelle is all you get but slowly but surely the sweet sandalwood starts to moderate the immortelle and in this first phase it realy does help turn down the volume from the beginning. It is when the vanilla starts to interact with the immortelle that Sables becomes special for me as the sweet and dry vanilla takes away the sweeter character of the maple syrup and accentuates the herbal nature. This gets reversed in the base as pepper has the opposite effect and accentuates the sweet while tamping down the herbaceous character. I think Sables is not a safely recommended scent for everyone as the intensity of the immortelle could be a drawback to some. If you are a perfumista who likes intense notes and scents then this is well worth a try.

A sedated Ambre Sultan. You'd say Annick Goutal stole this formula from Serge Lutens. It's bitter, it's herbal, it's medicinal with a leather undertone.

If you like thick, lush orientals in a typical Serge Lutens way, you'll like Annick Goutal's Sables.

Smells like breakfast gone bad. I hate to give bad reviews which aren't intelligent, but I don't feel this deserves any better.

Soo strong! You have the vivid feel of being inside a bacon smoker where someone spilled sugar. Intriguing scent. You could wear that at a book reading or a cigar club, but wait till the first wave calms down.

Whether you enjoy Sables will depend entirely upon how much you like immortelle. This is because 1) immortelle is a Godzilla note that tends to trample any accord it’s used with, and 2) Sables screams like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. (In case you haven’t experienced it, immortelle smells like gallons of maple syrup and a side of bacon.)

Try before you buy.

Sables is unlike anything else I’ve tried and I give it credit for that. It starts out with a note suggestive of quality brandy and then on to the main feature: maple syrup over sand! It smells better than it sounds and unless you hate sweet scents, it is worth a try. Immortelle is a key note here and since trying Sables it is one I have looked for in other fragrances as well. Great longevity. I can’t see myself buying a bottle, but I could go for this perhaps 3 or 4 times a year.

i wanted to love this one but after the first spritz it was just sickly sweet it almost made me sick and the longivity is exellent so no washing it of.but if you come by it you should try it because at least it's original en maybe my skin chemistry isn't right for this one

Wow, first reaction and a stong one at that was of a very good brand of brandy! Really thick, caramelized brandy. Then Sables settles into a wonderful, sweet and woody fragrance with bouts of floral green notes that lasts for hours. Thick and gooey like I'd expect from a Serge Lutens fragrance. This stuff is with you forever! This is good and strong and in your face... but the green notes put me off.

Indeed, the opening is very hars and even offputting, but the drydown is truly exceptional. Sweet, thick and warm, smells a lot like maple syrup. (it`s damn true, I have even made a side by side test!)
Groundbraking stuff because of the gourmand qualities. Could also be seen as a prototype for many Lutens`s creation.

Lasts longer than any other scent I know, it`s quite unisex too, and it definitely deserves every single bit of my apprecition.

My husband has been wearing this every day, exclusively, for something like two decades, so it's impossible for me to be objective about it. (Lately I've been getting him to sniff other things. His new fave -- Eau Noire!) That said, I do adore this, though I agree it never truly washes off and is pretty hard to detect without nose to skin contact. Still, it's odd and yummy and makes me want to keep figuring out how maple syrup and kelp can possibly smell so compatible. I don't get the "explosive" beginning on him. Maybe chemistry is a big factor here -- his own smell can be sort of darkly burnt-leaf-ish and the Eau Noire works perfectly well on him too.

A gourmand smell that is a bit between burnt wood and maple.The obvious brown color and its dry feel reminds you of sand (sables) if you think hard enough. It is a wee bit spicy and has good sillage. You will smell it on yourself every few minutes without having to move to smell your wrist.

The odor is not cloying however and did not even bother me. And I still felt like smelling my wrist up close every few minutes too because it smelled so good (and made me hungry).

It has very good longevity too and I find it very masculine for a gourmand scent. That must be because of the burnt wood aspect of it.

I adore several of Annick Goutal's scents (Mandragore being an absolute favorite), but I must agree with foetidus – this is an olfactory assault. So syrupy sweet, I can't detect anything else BUT maple syrup. Who on earth would wear this in public and WHY? Although the sillage is zip, nada, zero, it nonetheless sticks close to the skin for what seems like an eternity. After two days and three showers, it's still lingering on my right wrist. And, because I work at home, it absorbed itself into the melamine of my desk where I lay my right hand while working my mouse. So I keep getting re-infected! UGH! The last time I had this much trouble getting rid of a scent was Gucci EDP. But at least I LIKE that particular frag.

This perfume has a very similar opening to the "Opone" by Dyptique.
Dry, dark, gothic, overdoses of saffron and then the rose accord is subtitued by a dry soft amber and vanilla accords.
I can detect a litle of licorice and curry, just on the opening. Later is just like "Eau Noire" by Dior. In fact, It could be a brother of this one. There's here too that particular raw, smoky smell of non threated leather, that you can easily detect at the Marrakech Zoco. Moroccan raw leather.
There's a prominent smell of burnt woods, like the smell of a bonfire, and the remaining black logs. There's something that I like about it but I don't know... In my skin still a wispher of curry and dissected laveder?? :)
I'm puzzle, I may have to give it another go!. Anyway. Thumbs up!.
it deserve it!.

Unreal lasting power. Sweet, rough, powerfull and masculine. One of the very few sweet fragrances i like.

9/10

Think maple syrup after you've added suger to it. Sweet, strong and heady but not the least bit cloying. This is one of the most addictive scents I've ever tried and the fact that it lasts a solid 24 hours only makes it more impressive.

Once in a while I get a craving for chicken gizzards. It may come in the middle of the night; it may come in the middle of a meeting with a client. Don't ask me why, but it just comes upon me like some kind of secular Damascus Road experience, and I just CRAVE greasy, gristly, Southern fried gizzards. Then, the rest of the year, I go without and even turn my nose up at the sight of these little gnarled monstrosities.

AG's Sables is (gee, you guessed it) no different for me. Once in a blue moon, I just BOLT for Sables, then I go around in a frenzy all afternoon sniffing my forearms and wondering why I doused myself in this bitter herbal mess. Nevertheless, my curiosity aside, I love Sables, if only for that one day. The rest of the time, I stick it back until the craving comes again, and then I know that I must feed the craving else go mad.

This is some twisted stuff, Sables -- and I love it and hate it and puzzle over it all at once, all the time.

This has been compared to some SL fragrances. I agree: Sables is what Chergui really wanted to be when it grew up. Syrupy and all that? Yes, at first, but with such exquisite depth and nuance.

Think: Dr. Pepper with a dash of some kind of motor oil and wild growing French herbs, and you're on the right track, but there the adventure only begins. Sables is dark and intoxicating. It is reminiscent of Eau Noire not in the way it smells but in the way it projects: they both create a special ambience- -a little atmosphere all their own where the seduced air is just a little thicker than the common air around them. Where Eau Noire is dark green, Sables is ambery brown. Sables projects a moderate suave sweetness that is somehow totally masculine, warm and sophisticated. It has moderate projection and longevity. This is good. Anymore, and it could be too much. Just make sure to apply Sables prudently. The only way I can give even a glimpse of this is to come back to the opening and say there is a strong hint of Dr. Pepper, or maybe its root beer, cut with motor oil and exotic herbs, probably some little flowers, and maybe there is sandalwood in there as well. Who knows for sure? But whatever it is it is absolutely perfect for a man who loves rich fragrances. The verdict: Thumbs up? What a banal way to judge Sales. Annick Goutal, of happy memory, I salute you! What Estee Lauder did with JHL for her husband you did with Sables for yours, and we are so lucky for that!

Sables brings my senses to a height that few other fragrances manage to do. Bursting forth with a syrupy sweet opening, Sables reminds me of some of the SL's sweeter offerings. As time progresses.... Sable's magic unfolds. The overtly sweet notes are mellowed substantially by an herbal bouquet that keeps the sugar at bay. Sables is one of those rare fragrances where all the notes just "fit". The longevity and sillage are superior.... and though this fragrance beckons a coolish weather climate, it stuns. I will "never" be without a bottle of this Goutal.

I find this fragrance a little rough at the start (the first half hour or so) but by the time you get to the dry down it is pure heaven. The dry down is a sweet floral scent which has a slightly caramel note to it. I usually don’t go for sweet scents but this one works for me. The dry down lasts and lasts. I can put it on when I get up in the morning and still clearly smell it when I’m going to bed. It is one of the jewels of my collection.

I get a brutal olfactory assault from the opening of Sables. It lasts for over an hour before the fragrance settles down to an excellent linear immortelle note. I have no idea what component in the fragrance causes this reaction, and I’m sure most other people don’t get this abrasive note, because no one would buy it if they did. It’s about the same discordant note that I pick up from Dior’s Eau Noir. When this note finally dissipates, it’s a very good fragrance, but it is not good enough to make up for that hour of misery. This is so not my usual experience with Annick Goutal’s wonderful fragrances. Sables? No thank you—not in this lifetime.

One of those scents in which I just cannot find any beauty. Thick, syrupy, sweet and bitter at the same time, it has an overwhelming herbal bitterness to the topnotes. That seems to be a Goutal signature - a very harsh, sharp, bitter opening. Sad part is, I don't like the way Sables dries down either. Too sweet, too bizarre, like an herbal maple syrup. Not as much sillage as the topnotes would suggest, though it does last a long, painful time. By the way, it shares the immortelle with Eau Noire, and maybe even a weird cacophonic character; I find both to border on disgusting. As for Goutal...I have yet to find one that I like.

I dont understand the many comparisons between this and Dior's Eau Noire, they smell absolutley nothing alike. This smells something like dry pastries and herbs and some sweet spices as well but I dont like the mixture of it at all. smells like someone's spice cupboard at home. just all mixed up

This is the first men's scent I really fell in love with. There are so many cookie-cutter citrusy men's scents that remind me of shaving soap out there and this was a wonderful surprise. At first it was strangely like maple syrup but that goes away and leaves this luxuriant carpet of sandalwood and black pepper plus some other mysterious background notes, something a bit like camphor, there's more but I can't place it. I think I like not knowing, I just know it makes me wild. When a man wears this I want to stalk him like a leopard and bite his neck provocatively. When I wear it I'm distracted and just want to sit alone smelling myself all day. Purrrrrrr.

One that I didn't really "get" the first time I smelled it, at first I thought it was overly heavy: I smelled tobacco and caramel and something like cognac and it was a bit much. But that soon evaporated into a fantastic, creamy sandlewood. Not easily found in the US anymore, I have a bottle hoarded.

I like this scent very much. It's really warm and comforting. I love the the scharpness in combinatie with the warmth. You'll have to apply lightly, or else it will be really heavy and annoying. And it lasts forever!

Similarly to a flower blossoming in hot desert, this aroma strikes explosive chords which being softened do not lose the general charm. The immortele is the main thing a theme during all life, the anise adds density to this original east aroma.

It`s herbal cologne hard to bear in first 10-15 minutes. Smells very sharp, herbal and a bit boozy... Is it absinthe, or aniseed Ouzo?
Then immortelle comes shining - and only for that I LOVE this frag!!!
In immortelle heart it reminds Eau Noire by Christian Dior - but Goutal has more acid of aniseed...
And sillage is just amazing!!! It is unique - and it could be bought just for it`s uniqueness!

This is a marvellous masculine fragrance, an all time favorite of mine. Great

Wow! A superbly crafted fragrance that has multiple levels that develop magically. It reminds me of a more complex spice/herb concoction reminiscent in some respects to Arabie by Serge Lutens. Whle Lutens' fragrance tends to either be very quick in development or have only a very few notes it concentrates on, Sables is crafted in such a way as to release several layers or aroma. Good stuff!

The late Annick Goutal made this scent for her husband. The main note is immortelle which gives it an edgy, extremely strong herbal note. This plant grows on the beaches in France - hence the name, Sables (Sand). Totally unique.