Tumulte pour Homme (2005)
by Christian Lacroix

If a tree falls in a forest and there's nobody there to smell it, does it still smell? Tumulte is both confusing and exceedingly one-note at the same time. Confusing because is it cedar one is smelling or is it incense? Makes you think about incense's tree-origins. And one-note because that's all you smell during the life of it. Juniper, geranium, elemi? Don't think so. Having said that, it's quite a nice 1-note or 2-note if you can differentiate the cedar and incense. There really is no development at all. Question is do I recommend it? I would say yes but with caveats. If you have CdG Kyoto, don't bother as they are brother and sister. If you can't find a bottle under $25, don't bother. If you want a new take on cedar/incense, don't bother. However, if you are comfortable with these caveats and looking for a solid cedar/incense frag, go for it.

Phew, cedar all the way! I do not smell anything much apart from this. I get bored of the scent very quickly and I have only worn it a couple of times at the most. I live in Singapore, which is sunny 365 days a year, and the cedar smell is just not suited for the kind of weather that Singapore has.

Not easy to find this scent in shops here, I only stumbled upon it by accident, and was swayed to buy it by the pretty bottle.

What I do sometimes is to lie to my friends and tell me I'm using CdG Kyoto :)

Top notes: Bay Leaf, Laurel, Juniper Berry
Heart notes: Texas Cedar, Virginia Cedar, Atlas Cedar
Base notes: Frankincense, Balsamic Note

An ode to cedar .. Tumulte Pour homme (TPH) attempts to be the Iris Silver Mist for cedar fragrances, i.e., incorporate every cedar molecule used in the fragrance industry, and little else. No garish fireworks in this fragrance...its a very focused dry-woody resinous fragrance. The opulent and baroque aspects of Lacroix's style world are instead reserved for the fab bottle.

Although not listed, I get a burst of extremely short lived citrus when first sprayed...alongwith a whiff of juniper berry, and then its all cedarama within seconds. Smooth, comforting, well rendered cedar...the United Nations of cedar oils. Unlike iris notes which can display distinctive facets and provide the edge in Iris Silver Mist, it can be hard to detect differences between various cedar oils. Due to its extreme dry character, TPH seems to be loaded with texas cedar oil (although much less drier than pure texas cedar oil), with the atlas variety providing the minute spatterings of resinous woody highlights. Or it could be the incense note acting up with the texas oil and smoothing it out. Or it could be the virginian cedar variety at the forefront, its smoother and less parched distillation taking center stage. I really can't tell and you probably won't be able to either .. soon, the incense note slowly creeps up and imparts a resinous dark shadow till the drydown.

TPH lasts a good 7-8 hours on my skin, its woody resinous linear tone delivering a consistent performance with little deviation. For the price, one really can't complain. It lacks a distinctive edge which makes every single one of the CdG Incense series frags a must try...rather it feels like a well though out template for incense fragrances. A competent yet sparse framework that budding Duchaufours can use to create the next great cedar/incense frag...the Toyota Camry of cedar/incense fragrances.

Rating: 7.75/10.0

so much Cedar! so boring....Tumulte failed to impress it's rather boring

Lacroix Tumulte: Nice scent, very similar to Kyoto, only this is much more woody notes with a odd ink note and a very subtle vicks vaporub kinda coolness. lovely stuff, a definite for parties. if you are looking for something very mysterious, look no further!

With a fragrance like this, the key question is: am I going to get bored with it? I don't know if I like an aromatic sensation more than most people, but I find that if a fragrance has me breathing deeply once in a while, when I catch a waft, and it's a pleasant experience (no odd, sour, or "off" notes), it's something I'm likely going to want to wear at least once in a while. Compare this to my experience sampling Kouros. I found the scent unpleasant, and it was always there. With Gucci Pour Homme 2, I didn't get any aromatic experience. It wasn't pleasant enough for me to want to breath in deeply when I caught a waft of it. Something about Tumulte, on the other hand, makes me feel that it transcends a mere wood smell. It's like the essence of wood, an abstraction of the best wood, as a scent, has to offer. There's nothing unappealing about it, and I enjoy getting that waft once in a while. I haven't tried any of the CdG Incense frags, so I can't compare, but if money is a concern, try to get Tumulte on ebay, from a reputable seller, of course (and be sure to pay with paypal).