Poivre Piquant (2002)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Not digging this one at all. It's dry, spicy, and sour. The notes that are noticeable to me are the white pepper, milk, honey, and other various spices. The spice overpowers everything and makes the milk smell sour. The honey is there, but just barely, adding a touch of sweetness. The overall feel is a peppery, and basil fragrance with some woods in the background.

I wish the honey were the major player here, and the spices took a back seat, that would allow for the creamyness of the milk note to shine through, along with the uniqueness of the honey... a note I don't see utilized very often in fragrances. As this dries down, the spices become a little less intense, but they still own the fragrance. I agree with another reviewer in smelling pencil shavings in the dry down as well. This one was a big let down for me.

4th January, 2011.

This is a more lithe, elegant, and transparent composition than the other contemporary black pepper-centered oriental I’m acquainted with, Lorenzo Villoresi’s Piper Nigrum. In this regard it's closer to their mutual predecessor, Caron’s lovely peppered incense and rose Parfum Sacré. Very close, in fact. Poivre Piquant is quieter, drier, and woodier, with far less emphasis on rose, but Parfum Sacré’s fundamental architecture is legible, though in a stripped down and attenuated form. As a result, the black pepper note stands out more clearly, and the overall impression is much sharper, and comparatively even stark or harsh. In other words, more “modern.”

Poivre Piquant is less dense than either Piper Nigrum or Parfum Sacré, and it does not share the former’s complex, extended, and surprising development, hewing instead to a relatively linear course before fading into a powdery vanilla, woods, and incense skin scent. This it does over the course of just a couple of hours, with limited sillage and modest strength. If you like the idea of a peppery woody oriental, but crave more understatement than you’d get from some of the alternatives, Poivre Piquant might be your pepper. To me it seems a little bit too shy, and somehow incomplete next to its closest rivals.

30th May, 2010.

L'Artisan Poivre Piquant

Notes: white pepper, liquorice, milk and honey (from luckyscent.com)

I was expecting a hot pepper experience when I applied Poivre Piquant. What I got instead is a sweet, powdery, warm and light oriental. The most prominent notes are peppercorn, cedar, vanilla and sweet musk. It is interesting and compelling for about ten minutes while the nose-tickling pepper and vanilla do a dance in opposition. Soon, however, the cedar enters, and it is a woody "pencil shavings" type of note--not very appealing to my nose. Needless to say, the composition falls apart, leaving seemingly unrelated notes with no strong base to give PP more long-lasting substance. As a vanilla-musk fan, I can't say this fragrance is unlikeable, however, it is rather non-descript after the top notes are gone. Deep in the drydown, some licorice notes are apparent, but by then I have lost interest. Serge Lutens Douce Amere is a far superior fragrance for capturing this same idea. PP's Longevity is extremely short, and sillage is close to the body.

(PS, Iso E Super alert--this one gives me a headache!)

23rd August, 2009.

Poivre Piquant is permeated with eroticism - but no burnig passion dripping with bodily fluids - rather an affectionate sensuality, a carnality tender like a warm clean skin being kissed by loving lips instead.
The scent is like an enjoyment of voluptuosity granted only to the fallen in love. It's up to you whether you feel PP more like lovers makong out or a young beautiful mom breastfeeding her sweet baby.

22nd August, 2009.

Poivre Piquant is a unisex scent featuring white pepper. Notes of milk & honey add a mild sweetness, but for the most part, it's all about the pepper! Dry, which I love on my husband! I can't help but draw comparisons with Hermes Poivre Samarcande - which is superior in my opinion. (But the Hermes is also more than double the price!) Somehow Jean Claude Ellena's light-handed genius is showcased beautifully in the Hermessence line - sheer, transparent lasting beauty. It's almost impossible to beat THAT! L'Artisan's Poivre Piquant is a bit more 'dense' than the Hermes. Worth a test though, especially if you enjoy a good solid note of pepper!

29th November, 2008.

Poivre Piquant opens with a creamy-soft butteriness and reminds me a lot of Mechant Loup, another L'Artisan scent. There's also liquorice and very faint honey note. That phase is really nice. However, within moments, a pepperiness sets in that is very off-putting (too peppery, which doesn't leave room for much else to come through very well). From then on, the scent is a dry, milky pepper note that wears very close to the skin with very little sillage. Then suddenly, it disappears altogether.All that this scent has to offer comes within the first 15 minutes. I'll give it a neutral thumb instead of a thumbs down since the opening is nice.

16th November, 2008.