Fou d'Absinthe (2006)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

L'Artisan Fou d'Absinthe

Notes: absinthe, star anise, dry pine, cistus, angelica flower, blackcurrant buds, clove, ginger, nutmeg, patchouli, pepper, pine needles, fir balsam (from luckyscent.com)

When I first apply Fou d'Absinthe, I smell mint, menthol, spices such as clove, rosemary, artemisia, pine and aromatic woods. The opening is very compelling--refreshing and bracing, although the herbs are heavily aromatic and a bit gruff. The overall impression is a mixture of conifer forest green and a mediterranean herb garden. The edginess of the conifer and herbal notes ease as the fragrance develops, and this allows the absinthe note to come out more--the fragrance becomes less "prickly" and more soft, with billowy wormwood wafts sharpened slightly with some anise to enhance the licorice-like effect. Eventually, Fd'A starts to smell a bit like traditional barbershop fragrance and more as I would expect from a fougere. Mixed spices start to take over the greenery--ginger, pepper, nutmeg, and a touch of clove. In the late middle development, Fd'A becomes more woody, along the lines of aromatic conifers such as spruce or pine, mixed with needles and cones from the respective trees. The artemisia stays constant throughout, and compliments the conifer notes very well. The aromatic woods extend to the drydown which is mostly a slightly sweet musk base. The drydown is not terribly impressive nor particularly unique. The best parts of Fou d'Absinthe are in the top and mid development, but there is nothing about the drydown that is offputting. It simply becomes a bit boring at the end, although I find it to be a rather solid fragrance composition overall.

L'Artisan Fou D'Absinthe

Absinthe made its re-entry into popular culture via Baz Luhrman's "green fairy" swigging heroines and heroes in his 2001 movie "Moulin Rouge". Absinthe or more correctly the wormwood used to make absinthe seemed to re-enter the perfume world not too long afterward. In 2006 Olivia Gicobetti created Fou D'Absinthe and has, for me, done the best job of capturing the essence of absinthe as a scent to date. One of the notes listed for Fou D'Absinthe is frozen alcohol and the top of this scent gives off that icy feel of something that is vaporous as well and with the wormwood in place right from the beginning this evokes a frozen alcoholic drink. It is unique and marvelous. The heart is full of a peppery kick reminiscent of the burn in your throat as the absinthe slides down your esophagus. The pepper is the most prominent of the spices but there is also a nice slug of clove there as well. Finally the shot of absinthe has settled in your stomach and you get that warm feeling all over. In the base a mix of pine and patchouli play with the wormwood to add some warmth to the end of this one. The use of wormwood and the pine make for an astringency to go along with the warmth that the patchouli brings to the base of this. Fou D'Absinthe is a scent which evokes one of Satine's lines from "Moulin Rouge" as she asks one of her compatriots about a man and wonders whether to attract him she should be "bright and bubbly" or a "smoldering temptress". Mme. Giacobetti has created in Fou D'Absinthe a scent that starts off bright and bubbly only to finish as a smoldering temptress.

The absinthe faded to pine tree as soon as it dried down...never smelled absinthe before but I'm sure it contains no pine? Because if it does who on earth would drink it? If you like pine then this is for you. If you want to smell like more, look elsewhere. I think I need to explore more versions of absinthe to get a better idea of how it would be. Also it stays very close to the skin, very little projection. So if you want anyone at all to smell you then look elsewhere. I'm giving it a neutral because I expected more, more of everything really. Lasting power, strength, booziness, and certainly less pine. The whole thing confuses me. I really wanted to love this, but I can't. But it is unusual so I won't give it a negative based on the creativity that L'Artisan is so good at.

I have only drunk Absinthe once in my life. It was this modern sort of wimpy stuff that has no special hallucinogenic effects. It has that herb only for the sake of the name, and it really wasn’t an actual reason why I (so people told me afterwards) acted like a fool when I was drunk; drinking water from the cat’s plate; making funny noises, crawling on the floor, eaten some stuff that I really should not suppose to and so on.
Nah….That’s quite usual for me to act this way (like a complete idiot) no matter what I was drinking. Fortunately that happens more and more rarely these days, and only when I drink way too much booze. Way too much.


Anyway, Fou d`Absinthe doesn’t drive me mad by any means. It isn’t that bad but it simply lacks of that something….It lacks of that wow-factor, although I wouldn’t call this particularly a boring scent.

FdA is a very, VERY resinous scent. Its very warm, almost burningly hot and slightly smoky especially in the beginning. Funny thing is that, although absinthe is listed as a top notes to me it is very much engaged for the base and the dry down. It really comes more and more notable by the time.
From the spice rack nothing stands out specifically; those spices just create a warm and, well, spicy edge to it.
Unlike some other reviewers I don’t get anise or liquorice in this scent especially and I don’t think this is a pine fragrance nearly as much as Polo, for instance.

This is a green herbal fragrance with lots of hot resins and balsams, saps, and assorted warm spices.
Very natural, forest-like fragrance with in addition of the lack of “that something”, lacks of the longevity that would be completely satisfying.

Spice, anise, pine, pine, pine, and an unusual, libidinous b.o. twinge. This is particularly weird because the pineyness makes it seem like a winter/holidaytime scent, yet there's elements of soapiness that make it seem appropriate for summer, and there's (as mentioned) a boozy, libidinous, body odor aroma to it that is evocative of outdoor romping. It's unexpected and rather unusual. It's not bad and is something worthy of purchasing a whole bottle.

Very nice fragrance, really BUT...
Eau de Parfum?
That's a joke.
Very bad lasting power on my skin.
Over applied, it makes me sick.
Won't buy it again, like the other Artisan I've tried.