Préparation Parfumée (2001)
by Andrée Putnam

Preparation Parfumee does indeed come across as an airy, translucent, close wearing wood fragrance. And it does indeed conjure the olfactory equivalent of what driftwood looks like and feels like. There is a saltiness present that gives the impression of ocean washed wood. The drydown consist of a peppery vetiver that eases the watery impression along until the finish.
It is soft and somewhat short lived, but all of that seems appropriate for this type of fragrance. It is contemplative rather than extroverted. Unisex of course, but I would imagine it would appeal as a masculine for most. I really like it though for times my mood fits it's charms.

15th May, 2011.

Watery and transparent -- too much so for my liking. Opens nice and green, but settles into a "light musky base", which I do not like.

16th March, 2009.

PLease, do not take this comment negatively: this is a watered down Terre d'Hermes. Now, watered down can mean dilute, but here it means light BUT is feels watery (as another reviewer said). This is simple and free of pretentiousness which makes this feel so great to wear. Fresh, peppery vetiver/grassy scent to me. Very nice!

7th October, 2008.

Andree Putman's Preparation Parfumee is a cool, casually elegant fragrance which evokes thoughts of beaches in Pacific Northwest. It starts out with a distinct cedar/pepper/coriander note and then rather than veering off to a cozy log cabin in the woods like 10 Corso Como does, Preparation Parfumee takes the path to the beach on a cloudy day and settles herself near a pile of driftwood in quiet contemplation. Lovely scent but as other reviewers have noted, it does not last too terribly long.

26th April, 2008.

This is all that I love in Olivia Giacobetti's work. It smells like ocean air and ocean water at dusk in late summer, and it makes me feel so alive. It's similar to both En Passant and Navegar (two loves) yet it's outstanding all by itself. Very unisex, but I prefer it on my husband rather than on myself. He likes it better on himself, too. Putnam Préparation Parfumée is magnificent.

21st January, 2007.

A very versatile, well-made, uplifting fragrance with notes of pepper, water lily, coriander and a soft woody drydown. It's translucent, but clearly detectable. Whenever I smell it, I associate it with a scenery of ample trees around a mountain lake. It's cool, green and leafy - somehow similar to L'Artisan's Navegar. No big sillage, but lasting close to your skin for several hours.

29th August, 2006.