Invasion Barbare / SB (2006)
by MDCI

The cardamom note is the dominant player here, conquering everything else. Later the other notes melt into the cardamom and gives a very anise/licorice illusion where it's a spicy aromatic gourmand. Very interesting but nothing something I'd wear regularly.

Hmm, Basenotes lists this as a feminine. I'm not sure what I would make of a feminine called "Invasion Barbare." Would that be something to spritz on as your hamlet is about to be pillaged, or something that Amazons wear?

Fortunately, however, this is actually marketed as a masculine (although I consider it a completely unisex fragrance). Formerly known as SB1, it was composed by Stéphanie Bakouche as part of the inaugural lineup for Parfums MDCI. Bakouche is a student of Jean Kerléo and graduate of the French perfume school ISIPCA.

Turin & Sanchez's PERFUMES: THE GUIDE (and, presumably, Michael Edwards's FRAGRANCES OF THE WORLD) classifies this as a "spicy woody," but I have to confess I don't smell any wood at all. Perhaps I'm anosmic to the putatively woody aromachemical in the formulation.

What Invasion Barbare reminds me of more than anything is Francis Kurkdjian's Le Mâle--in other words, it smells like a powdery lavender. As it so happens, Kurkdjian also composed the three feminine fragrances in the Parfums MDCI line. I don't know whether this is merely a coincidence, or Bakouche was paying homage to her MDCI colleague, or what, but it is rather curious.

There are differences however; where Le Mâle smells wildly synthetic and has supernatural longevity to prove it, IB flaunts its cash from first moment to last. The ingredients are of an intoxicatingly high quality, with what seem to be a high proportion of naturals. And yes, it is spicy--at least, spicier than Le Mâle, although my nose can't pick out exactly what those spices might be. There's also a very subtle, musky undertow to the base notes that I can't quite identify--it drifts in and out of consciousness in a most seductive way, and is actually my favorite aspect of this fragrance.

In a nutshell, this is a better, subtler, more complex, and more expensive (!) Le Mâle. I own it and enjoy wearing it during evenings out (it's a bit too powdery to make it as an office scent). Although I like it well enough as it is, I just wish I could smell the wood that everybody talks about, since it would make an already intriguing composition that much more interesting. Oh well, maybe the people around me get to enjoy that aspect at least.

EDIT: The notes, according to the Parfums MDCI website:

"Here we have an 'oriental fern', spicy and aromatic, with a captivating blend of headnotes of grapefruit, bergamot, violet leaves, white thyme, cardamom, lavender and ginger.

A warm heart of cedarwood, bourbon vanilla and musc creates a precious and definitely masculine base which here too contribute to a well-balanced construction, true to the demands of the brand: elegant, precious, masculine and extremely sophisticated."