Fleurs de Sel (2007)
by Miller Harris

This is an amazing scent from Miller Harris. For me, it`s simple and complex at the same time, and always chic and structured. The main impression that i have is of a leathery fragrance wich is in the midway of the heavy leathery aroma of classics and the soft suedish touch of modern fragrances. And orchestrated with the leather you have a complex bouquet of herbs and flowers that creates an aura which is always green but with different aspects of green during the evolution: starting more sharp and herbal and going towards a green musky, slightly flowery aroma. The salty touch of ambrette seed is noticed during all the fragrance, but more after one hour. It does a beautiful bridge between the leather impression, the herbs and the flowers used. One of the bests from the brand and a incredible unissex frag.

19th January, 2012.

An aromatic mix of wild florals and herbs gives this beautiful leather fragrance a civility and wearability that is rare with leather. The fragrance smells like a fine pair of scented leather gloves that were so popular during the Victorian era. The interplay of florals (iris, rose, narcissus), green aromatics (clary sage, rosemary, thyme, vetiver) and dry leather gives this fragrance almost an abstract identity that is hard to sort out. The balance differing notes is so precise that you can almost pick which aspect you are going to smell the most. For me it is all about leather. A beautiful fragrance.

27th May, 2011.

According to Miller Harris, the brief was to recreate the sense of flowers growing at the edge of the Brittany salt marshes. I have sampled many attempts at creating the saline note, and making it both palatable and credible is a tough nut to crack.

There is undoubtedly a saline seam running through Fleurs de Sel, but it’s never really dominant. Within a couple of hours matters soften considerably, with the floral dimension of FDS nudging it towards the performance of a more conventional fragrance. A fairly conservative base ensures that the marshlands quickly become a distant memory.

Lyn Harris deserves much kudos(and a thumbs up) for creating something so original, and for fulfilling that initial brief. However, as much as I applaud the vision and production, it is sadly not something that I would actually want to wear.

18th April, 2011.

I was looking for a perfume that smelled of the Northern California coast, and thanks to Hanunani's generosity I've found one. Fleurs de sel smells very much like the dry, golden aromatic hills on the coast - with just a tang of salt in the air.

Fleurs de sel is not an exact match to California's coastal hills - there are other elements here, the floral heart blooms open (loudly, on my skin) moments after the initial brisk opening notes have passed - which makes me think the "Fleurs" in the name is a double entendre referring both to flowers and salt.

Then this all drys down into an enveloping woody-mossy-leatheryness. It's a wonderful rustic-yet-refined, luminescent and warm scent.

2nd November, 2010.

I bought this for my partner, a Breton, to remind him of home. I think Lyn Harris is very talented, her olfactory work is charming, sly and so pretty. I don’t like some scents, but others are glorious. L’air de Rien is filthygorgeous and Feuilles de Tabac is dark and autumnally slutty. Fleurs de Sel was created to remind Lyn of Batz-sur-Mer where they manufacture world famous sea salt. The conjuring up of salt water edged with grasses, iris and narcissi is remarkable. The vetiver base with moss is perfectly judged and the whole scent comes together with tremendous power. It is incredibly heady and on the skin has that magnificent dried down sea salt on hot skin scent that hardly anyone has truly managed to pin down in fragrance form. Like a painting by Corot, dry and green, drenched in warm pixillated light, textured to perfection. You can hear birdsong, reeds rustling; smell the iodine from the salt in the air. Breathe; Lyn has made her finest scent.

9th July, 2010.

Salty indeed, I smell roses and whiskey as well.. it smells very sharp and metallic in the opening. Stays quite close to my skin, but because it's so sharp you can still smell it even without sniffing your arm. The smell from the distance is far better than up close, but for somebody like me who has a tendency to smell my arm or wrist, this is a no-go. As it dries down a little bit it becomes quite herbal and smells like a mixture of green spices. I was gonna rule this out because I didn't like the opening so much, but give it 10-15 minutes and it calms down into something more tolerable. Not great, but not horrible. Not something I would buy more than a decant of.

12nd April, 2010.